My Personal Time Machine
 

Hello All,


This might be a rather long post, but I have some thoughts to share for those interested. I am a long time APBA player and got my first APBA Baseball game in 1981. I am also a Cincinnati Reds fan and was 12 years old in 1975 when our family probably went to 10 games or so at Riverfront Stadium. My dad and I shared a bond with baseball and unfortunately he passed away about 25 years ago. So baseball and my dad are very special to me.

In getting the APBA game in 1981, I was on top of the world and would replay various teams through the season. I never had time to replay all of a major league season. I thought APBA was the best and played the dice and cards for many years and still do, although not on a large scale anymore. I remember doing the stats all by hand off of my scoresheets that I would use to score each APBA game that I played. I then moved to Broadcast Blast by APBA that featured the late great Ernie Harwell calling each game. That was great! I thought it could never get any better.

Fast forward to today, I first bought OOTP about a year ago but had not had much time to learn the features until about 2 months ago. I began learning and reading on the forums and so I decided to replay the entire 1949 season with actual lineups and pitchers assignments. I chose to manage the Boston Red Sox. They fought hard be we finished tied with Cleveland at end of season, but lost the one game playoff 8-6. So, just like real life the Red Sox did not get in the World Series. But all of that aside, what really gets me is that I am a history buff and when I play OOTP or APBA or Broadcast Blast I like to think of the times I am in. If doing 1949, I can imagine the joy of WWII soldiers making their way to the ballparks after being in such a horrific war. I think of the technology and the values of those times.

Now I am doing 1975, a year in which I was 12 years old and my heroes wore Cincinnati Reds uniforms. Our family listened to their games on radio and followed them as they steamrolled the competition, winning the National League West by 20 games over the Dodgers. Then sweeping the Pirates in the playoffs. Then the best World Series ever against the Boston Red Sox in 7 games. Now in this replay on OOTP, I manage the Reds of course, but I watch all other games, every one of them on the schedule. The names of the past that I had forgotten about in some cases for other teams, now get to perform for me again. The stadiums that I loaded (using 2D as I have OOTP 2017) make it so real and I try to imagine sitting in the seats with my 1973 Chevrolet Caprice station wagon in the stadium parking lot (lol). I try to think of the times back then with gas prices, and my times in middle school as a 7th grader. In other words, I get to be in the closest thing to a time capsule that I can think of. My dad is "alive" again as i relive 1975.

The evolution from APBA dice and Cards, to Ernie Harwell and Broadcast Blast in mid 90s to now the Cadillac of OOTP has been an amazing journey for an amazing sport of baseball.

So to make an analogy, APBA cards and dice are like the Model T Ford, Broadcast Blast is like a 55 Chevy and now OOTP is like a new Lexus with all the bells and whistles.

Sorry, I know I rambled but OOTP has pulled my nostalgia and I admit sometimes I get a tear in the eye as I remember the past and what baseball meant to my family. Are there any others out there like me who see this great game of OOTP as a time capsule to the past? What do you feel when you play the teams of your boyhood?

Thanks for all who chose to read my post and comments are more than welcome. Thanks to the developers of OOTP for such a beautiful product with all seasons at finger tips. No more waiting on cards to come in the mail for a particular season (although that had a special feeling as well). OOTP is truly a great game and I am so addicted and it is wonderful.

I remember after little league was over. all of us would make to the trip to the Twin Cities to see the Twins play the Red Sox in a Sunday doubleheader.

Awesome post!

Great write up, mirrors my path except I started with All Star baseball before APBA

This post gets to the heart of my love for OOTP. I played Strat O Matic for 30 years and thought I had it made. Then in 2012 I discovered OOTP. Now my huge Strat O Matic collection has sat untouched for nearly 7 years.

Also, I love the "time machine" aspect OP is talking about. My father got me into baseball when I was a kid. He died of cancer in mid 2014 and didn't get to see his beloved Kansas City Royals play in two consecutive World Series. Often when I'm simming a KC Royals season (I play every game) I imagine my dad kicked back on a recliner, in some other universe, sipping his beer and watching the games OOTP is playing out. It's a nice thought anyway.

That's an awesome post. I've been playing OOTP since version 4(?) and like you I'm amazed at the game still. Takes me back and makes me smile.

Yes, a time machine. I never thought of it that way, but that is the main appeal of playing OOTP. I play random debut historical leagues, usually starting somewhere around the 1940s, sometimes the 1960s. I use the old historical ballparks, and the game seems to beautiful and elegant that I am able to imagine myself as well in a different time. Thanks for the moving post.

I bought my first baseball game in 1975. I was 8 years old at the time.
The game was called Statis Pro Baseball. It was made by Avalon Hill.
I was a big Pirate fan. I loved that game.
When I went to college my mother threw the game away, she was spring cleaning.
That was a very sad day for me...

I think my mother knows that had she ever thrown out any of my tabletop baseball games (Extra Innings, Strat-O-Matic, in particular) that I still wouldn't be talking to her to this day. (An exaggeration for sure, and I have a very good relationship with my mom, but this is a mistake she would have known to never make. ;) )

Any mention of a time machine requires me to post the following exchange from an episode of Futurama:

Prof. Farnsworth: "So many loves half-loved, so many inventions half-invented. Why, that damn time machine alone set me back fifteen years!"
Dr. Zoidberg: "If only it had worked. You could go back and not waste your time on it."

Great post, thank you for sharing

I recently purchased this game for much the same reason. The nostalgia of reliving those days when how the Dodgers did that day determined how well my day was.