Having a blast replaying 1972 using full minors
 

Since I can't make up my mind what I want to do in regards to random debut, I decided to start a historical league in 1972 using the full minors feature. I do have vague memories of watching baseball with the family prior to 1972, but like I said, vague. 72 is the year I attended my very first baseball game at Tiger Stadium. I still remember coming home from school and seeing Campineris fire his bat over Lerrin LaGrow's head. 72 was the year I started collecting baseball cards. So, I figured it would be a great place to start.

Well, as I kind of figured would be the case, my beloved Tigers aren't faring so well. They got off to a nice start, but by June it was clear a finish above .500 would be an accomplishment. Still fun watching Kaline work his way towards hit number 3000. I try to watch as many Mickey Lolich starts as I can.

Roberto Clemente picked up his 3000th hit prior to the All-Star break. Will be interesting to see how many years he plays past 1972,

So far the big surprise has to be the Cleveland Indians. The Indians and the Orioles were tied at the top when the All-Star break arrived. During the break, the Indians made an interesting acquisition, by trading with the Cardinals for the services of Lou Brock. Will Brock be enough to drive the Indians to a division title?

The other 3 divisions are all close as well. The Twins sit atop the AL West, one game ahead of the Oakland A's. The A's have been hot over the last month, so I'm not sure the Twins have enough to hold on.

The NL East is a two team race between the Mets and the Expos. This one has been back and forth the entire first half.

In the NL West, Los Angeles currently has a 4 or 5 game cushion over the Reds. I have a feeling this one may go down to the wires as well.

Hank Aaron is blasting homers like he has no interest in waiting till 1974 to pass Babe Ruth. Aaron has 31 home runs at the All Star break.


One thing I really wish Markus would do is add the ability for a commissioner to subscribe to a particular leagues news feed. I'm used to playing random debut leagues in which I use the reserve roster, so I simply subscribe to news from my entire world. When you play a league with complete minors, subscribing to news from the entire world results in a massive amount of daily news stories. Especially on Sundays when league power ranking get released. As a manager or GM one can control the amount of news one gets. As a Commish, it ends up being an all or nothing type deal. I personally don't like the format of the newspaper.

Still wish the guys would go back and take a look at one aspect of Pure Sim baseball and bring it to OOTP. Pure Sim had a newspaper like report that came out once a week that highlighted all aspects of a league. It had a transactions section. A who's hot/who's not section. A list of the injuries that occurred over the prior week. A list of home runs and so many other things. I was like getting a weekly newsletter. In a way it reminded me of the Sporting News. Probably Pure Sims best feature.

Another good time to start, using your same set-up is:
Right Before WWII, the late 1930s.
See how players who missed years (Ted Williams, etc..) due to service time, career numbers might have looked, if they had played.

The game to me, is much more enjoyable in the historical area, because like you, I saw many of the players play or had their baseball card.

I love to watch players chase milestones. I know a lot of folks shy away from historical play due to things like Lou Brock getting traded to the Indians. For me, that's one of the many things I love. The moment something like that occurs, the league becomes mine.

Agreed.
That's what I like the most of historical play.
What if...? Lou Brock got traded to the Indians.
I started a new 1901 Historical League, about a week ago. I am playing as the Pirates and I am just starting the 1903 season.
I love watching players play for a different team and watching their performance on the new team.

Added:
I don't use random players, I use historical teams with full minors and I let things just play out.
I do manage the Pirates though. I initiate very few, if any trades, but I will sometimes trade for role players.

Are you a GM and/or manager for the Tigers?

Do you know if you can develop players when playing Historical?

Example: Developing minor league players who never made it to the majors.

Thanks

In my own world I have a guy by the name of Oscar Charleston. I never heard of him before. He was one of those guy that played in the Negro League, I did not know that before he was drafted for my Washington Senators in 1915. He was the first player to hit 3 grand slams in one year (1919) and has lead the AL in home runs twice.

No, I'm simply a spectator. I watch a game each day of the season. I usually pick an interesting series or a game that features an intriguing pitching matchup. I used to love to manage, but somewhere around 15 or 16 I discovered that I enjoy watching more than participating. Haven't been able to stay interested in managing since.

Well the trade deadline has come and gone. I'm currently up to August 8th. The AL East remains the closest race with Cleveland up by a game over Baltimore. I keep waiting for Baltimore to pull away or the Indians to go into a tailspin but so far that hasn't happened.

The A's and Twins had a 4 game series to start the month of August. The Twins started the series up by a game, but finished down by 3. Man the A's are stacked. Hard for opponents to overcome the top 3 of Hunter, Holtzman and Blue.

The Mets have been hot and now hold a 5 game lead over the second place Expos.

The Reds are showing some life in the NL West and have pulled to within 4 of the Dodgers. Still say the Red will win this division, but I'm usually wrong about most things.

Hank Aaron has now hit 38 home runs.

The A's have a guy named Bill McNulty starting in CF for them. He's hit 17 home runs so far and whenever I watch the A's play, he always seems to do something to make me notice him. I finally looked him up on BBREF, he has a whopping 9 big league games to his name and never hit a big league home run. I'm really interested to see what becomes of McNulty when this season comes to and end and 73 arrives. Will he stick with the team or will he fade into oblivion?

Chet Lemon was actually getting playing time early in the season for the A's, before going on the 60 day DL. Never knew the A's drafted Lemon originally.

I've decided to let the game follow history for this one, so right now my league is using the reserve clause. I wonder how crazy things will get when free agency kicks in. I'm also letting players go to their original teams instead of having a draft each season. I have injuries set to high realistic.

September has arrived and the not a lot has changed at the top of each division. Cleveland is a half game up on Baltimore. Oakland has a 2 game lead over Minnesota. Los Angeles is 4 up on the Reds. The Mets have a 5 game lead in their division, but it's now over the Pirates instead of the Expos. The Expos have fallen to 3rd place, 8 games back.

Jim Palmer is the first pitcher to reach the 20 win mark. Kind of enjoying seeing Palmer succeed. He tends to be hit or miss in random leagues.

Hank Aaron now has 42 home runs.

Kind of interested to see what the AI does in Cleveland. Graig Nettles is playing 3B and having a very nice season, but a young Buddy Bell has now made his debut as well. So far, Bell is mainly pinch hitting and such, but it won't be long and he will be demanding everyday playing time.

My Tigers are rolling in last place in the AL East. This scares me, as 72 was in real life the last hurrah for Tigers of my early childhood, but it looks like OOTP has decided to speed things up in terms of decline. Now it will be interesting to see if the AI decides to start wheeling and dealing my boyhood heroes.

Looks like a fun project. I was thinking when Campy rifled that bat back up the middle it actually hit Legrow somewhere in the knee area. But, this link shows he in fact helicoptered it over Legrow's head. Curiously, the pitch was thrown down at his feet??
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2pRNQuKS40

The end of the 1972 is approaching, Just over a week to play. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the first team to clinch a spot in the post season. They also look like they may reach the 100 win plateau.

The Mets and A's should be the next two teams in. The A's have a 6 game lead over the fading Twins. In fact, Minnesota better watch out or they may fall all the way to 3rd, as the fast charging Kansas City Royals are right on their tail. The Mets are 5 up on the Pirates. Looks like the Pirates waited too long to make their push and will run out of game to claw their way back.

The AL East is still the closest race, but the Orioles now have a 3 game cushion over the Indians.

I can't wait to watch the post season play out. The pitching matchups alone will be a blast to witness.

Aaron has 45 home runs. Giving him 684 career home runs.

Rod Carew will take the AL batting title as he has a solid cushion, but the NL batting race looks like a sure bet to go do to the wire. Right now Roberto Clemente and Manny Mota are both sitting at .314.

In a pennant race no less.Attachment 619754

Holy Cow! Cleveland takes the AL East by winning both games of a doubleheader from the Orioles on their final day of the season. Did not see this coming.

Fun read. Am planning to do a historical league of 1993 with full minors, one of my earliest baseball memories, early nineties. Will watch if the Braves can win one before ‘95 and see all the players again I had half forgotten about.
Are you using real lineups and transactions or ootp development engine? Not really sure how close to real life I want it to be.

Not using real lineups and transactions. That option isn't available when using full minors. I'm using a combo of 5 year recalc and the OOTP development engine.

Well the 72 season is in the books. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the World Series Champions.

In the American League, the Indians took care of the A's in 4. Ray Fosse was the series MVP coming up big whenever the Indians needed a big hit.

The Dodgers took care of the Mets in 4 as well. The Mets took game 1 in a extra innings pitching dual between Don Sutton and Tom Seaver. Walter Alston probably stuck with Sutton too long and it cost him. Meanwhile Seaver and Tug McGraw combined for a shutout to give the Mets their only victory. Dick Dietz took home the series MVP honors...…(go figure). Much like Fosse it seemed like every Dodger rally featured Dietz.

The Dodgers pitching would prove to be too strong for the Indians to overcome during the World Series. The Dodgers win the series in 6. Dick Dietz would continue to shine during the World Series. Frank Robinson on the other hand struggled mightily all post season long. Going into the final game of the World Series Frank was hitting under .100, but in the final game he would crush two mammoth home runs to give him 3 home runs total for the post season and get his average to .100. The World Series MVP was Bill Singer. Singer won two games during the World Series, giving him 3 post season victories in total. Claude Osteen was a workhorse out of the pen for the Dodgers, tossing 9 scoreless inning during the World Series.

Got to see one of OOTP's new features during the post season. In the A's game 5 loss to the Indians, Ken Holtzman was on the mound. He got into a jam and Catfish Hunter came in to relieve him. This was one to the features OOTP advertised, so it was cool to see it in action. unfortunately it backfired on the A's manager as Hunter gave up a run scoring hit. He was lifted for Rollie Fingers and he gave up 2 more and the Indians won the game.

Yes,It is the way I play all my Historical Leagues. When setting up the league and you get to Step 3 Player Development... Choose "use Talent ratings and OOTP development engine" Players will develop independently of their Historical counterparts