Note: Posted here as OOTP 9, but we are going to convert to OOTP X soon. Thought I'd share a little success for one of online baseball's oldest leagues.
Happy 9th Birthday, eMLB!
Longtime league prepares for a full decade of operation - Expands to include Nippon Leagues
July 19, 2009
BIDDEFORD, ME - Today is a special day for
Electronic Major League Baseball, affectionately known as eMLB. Back on July 19th of 2000, when Bill Clinton was still in office, and before the Commissioner had a wife and children, James LeBlond (also known as "LB" to many) and former Asst. Commissioner John Comey had officially announced the creation of what became eMLB.
What began as a High Heat league for its first 2 years of existence, eMLB enjoyed 6 seasons using the High Heat, Sammy Sosa High Heat, and High Heat 2002 game engines. However, seeing the concerns arising from the now defunct 3DO, and with LeBlond's approach for not supporting a "dead product", LeBlond looked at the widely popular Out of the Park Baseball series created by Markus Heinsohn to run the league going forward. LeBlond had been familiar with OOTP, having purchased both OOTP 3 and OOTP 4, and was looking at using OOTP 5 as where eMLB would find its new home. But there were serious hurdles to address. The most important being the history, as the league was rich with it already.
With the help of charter members like Kevin Bensel and Chris Holland, eMLB began the painstaking task of creating a formula that would be fair for all. Using this setup, players with a certain amount of at bats or innings pitched would have their ratings based predominantly on their results, while the remainder would be rated using a formula created for this event alone. Once all the parameters were agreed upon, the task of creating a "fake" Lahman database rested on the shoulders of Bensel, who constructed a wonderful model that continues to stand the tests of time, more than a half decade after he originally created it.
The biggest task LeBlond, Bensel & Holland then had to contend with once the database was intact...was manually editting
every single at bat or inning pitched in eMLB's Major League history! This would not have been possible without the magnificent third party programs people created, especially noting Pierre's "Career Editor" for OOTP 5 as the most useful of all available tools. To this day, some form of inputting career stats into the database continues, as eMLB strives to keep its history intact. Many additional thanks to Jeff "Raidergoo" Evans for his assistance here.
Back to the story: How long did it take for eMLB to begin the 2006 season? It took
six months of tender loving care! And the great news: We lost only
one owner during that time, due to the sheer passion and energy level of the league...not to mention wonderful communication from the League Officers.
Now, six years later, eMLB has converted to OOTP 6, OOTP 6.5, OOTP 2006, OOTP 2007, and is spending one more season in OOTP 9. eMLB will have an "accelerated" 2018 season so that it will switch over to OOTP X before summer's end.
eMLB is in its 19th sim season, has not done any restart, and remains a modern league despite time marching on by adding new real life players each and every season for the Amateur Drafts (anywhere from 50 to 150 names and "lifelike ratings" put in). Recent drafts saw the likes of a Evan Longoria, Edinson Volquez, Geovany Soto, Luke Hochevar, and Japanese star Kosuke Fukudome added into our unique league model, and we'll soon see additional players like David Price & Daniel Bard. This helps, along with the batch of fictional names the game creates to give eMLB a rich history that shows why there are still
EIGHT of the league's original owners still with the league today, and that 13 of the owners in the league have been in the league for more than half of its existence! eMLB enjoyed another successful and highly active season where everyone is returning to contend for the crown next season and de-throne 6 time World Champ Kevin "Evil Empire" Bensel.
With such little turnover, and such a high demand from people wanting to join, LeBlond was growing concerned about the fact that he had 19 people on the wait list, including some who were there for a year! Therefore, with the 19th season getting ready, LeBlond announced an expansion that would give Human GMs the opportunity to manage the Nippon League teams included in the game file since the 2013 season when we converted to OOTP Baseball 2006. Only one declined of the 19, while 12 were happy to hear they finally get to see from first hand experience what they'd been seeing and hearing about as a fan. The 30 eMLB GMs unanimously approved the move, and the eMLB Family has grown to 42 strong, mature, dedicated people all with a unique approach and passion for the sport of baseball!
LeBlond, a believer of W. Edwards Deming's theories in "Total Quality Management", takes pride in his league just as much as his Financial Planning & Investment Management practice he created in 2005. His commitment to balancing his family life with his wife of eight years, a four year old daughter, and the recent birth of his 2nd daughter 6 weeks ago remains just as dedicated as it is to what his wife calls "His long time girlfriend (eMLB)". On top of this, he has his golfing habit, and the fact he has played four seasons in a 25 yrs and older wood bat fast pitch baseball league (See
here for information - He's on the Braves, played one game this year, striking out the first 3 times due to rust but scoring the game winning hit and RBI in the 8th!).
Even with this busy life, LeBlond still finds the time to speak with other eMLB members about their teams, what they think of the league, and how he can improve it. LeBlond has 3 World Championships in eMLB, having made some very risky moves at the expense of a rich farm system that have paid off, but questioned the long term health of the team. But the first thing he'll tell you...he loves seeing new success, and there's never a better year in eMLB when someone not named Boston, San Francisco or Toronto win the title.
While not having the time he once had, he still looks to provide a high quality product. Not caring if he's the "Best", LeBlond wants to know if people enjoy their eMLB experience, and really values the longtime friendships he's built through it and past leagues, where some of eMLB's owners have been playing together in some way, shape, or form, as far back as 1995!
With the continued affiliation to
Total Sports World, and the enhancements to the eMLB brand, eMLB continues to provide a mature HUB for baseball savvy minds to show their genius in managing their team to a World Title! Visitors are always welcome to stop by and see one of the older leagues in the internet gaming world, and what makes it a good story to tell!
Happy 9th Birthday, eMLB! It's almost been a full decade, and it has been the considered opinion of many that you may only now be hitting your stride! May you continue to have many more wonderful years with great people committed to its continued success!
For more information: visit the
eMLB Home Page. eMLB is a Proud Member of
Total Sports World.