[jmknpk2]

Many years ago I tried playing in historical mode, but reverted to playing in fictional game universes.

The main reason was because I quickly learned/realized that I had a choice to allow my historical game universe to diverge from reality. To various degrees based upon settings. When things deviated far enough, it seems history was almost entirely lost and I ended up with a fictional league other than mostly names. Might as well start with fiction.

Or, I could play out something very near real life history. Which ended up seeming boring. History has already played out.

I created leagues from different historical times to reviewed the real-life statistics.
And played fiction when I wanted to have meaningful impact.

The other part I never felt completely comfortable with, is that I felt I had an unfair advantage over the AI when I know a player's full real-life career history while said player is just a rookie. I'm not sure if the AI took advantage of this information.

I'd like to try again with a historical league. I'm seeking advice and suggestions about how best to set things up so that I feel I have some control, with a reasonable ability to change history or make an impact. While still having a league resulting in something very similar to history. It is certainly a matter of balance and personal preference. I'd like help guiding me to a balance I like.

My current thoughts are:
Have rookies start on their real life historical rookie teams.
Have auto-calc and other options set up so that the league and player statistics match historical reality as close as possible (other than trades and lineup/pitching moves I make).
Figure out some way to remove any advantage I have over the AI knowing history before it happens.

Not sure yet, what other settings I might focus on.