Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Hibbs
That's very impressive! When did you switch to OOTP and what did you use before that to play out your games?
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I began on the Commodore 64 using a program called PureSTAT Baseball from a company called Software Simulations and/or SUBLogic. I believe these people were either responsible for, or at least connected to the extremely popular Flight Simulator series of games. They also made an NBA basketball game for awhile that was quite good.
I ran that program for probably 7-8 years, keeping a C64 just for that purpose. The game had a lot to offer -- graphics on par with OOTP's first try at it (and I would argue actually better, as players pathed more accurately, even though the graphics quality was lower), real MLB player names, a good stats engine. What didn't work so well was there were no injuries and you couldn't easily make roster moves. Plus you were locked into an 8-man pitching staff and couldn't expand it. The company would release discs every year with the previous year's rosters and stats. I kept up with stats manually using a program I wrote under the GEOS software. Talk about labor-intensive. And I had to play out most every game (albeit in accelerated speed mode) for all teams whether I cared about them or not.
For one year, I thought I'd found a better option, and switched over to a different product, I can't remember which. I do remember having to manually transfer all stats one player at a time over, then go back to PureSTAT the next year after it proved to be a failure. It typically took me 3 months working about 3-4 hours/day to set up each year's league.
I finally bought a Gateway computer and found the Pursue The Pennant/Diamond Mind Baseball platform. This cut down my setup time greatly after the first year, when I still had to input everyone the first time by hand. And when I say everyone, I mean I bought a Baseball America Almanac every year and input, manually,
every single professional player for every team for every league in the United States baseball universe.
So when I first found OOTP, and realized there were people doing all the work for me, you can imagine how happy I was. If I had to manually set up my league every year now, I couldn't do it, because I don't have the time. But I continue to adhere strictly to the real calendar. What I don't do is adhere strictly to the current MLB structure. I have an extra team in each division; I expanded my MLB universe back in 1990 because I would have guys excelling in my leagues that were getting released/retired in real life, and thought, if my universe was the "real" universe, there's no way someone would get cut after hitting .300 with 40 homers. So I ended up making 2 teams (finally expanding to 6) to house all those misfit toys.
My current OOTP universe includes MLB AL clubs in Brooklyn, Birmingham and San Antonio, and NL clubs in Montreal, New Orleans and Salt Lake City. I started managing the Mariners in 1987, switched to the Cubs in 2003 and to Birmingham in 2013.
I still have all my old stats from years past and thus have an almanac of my own baseball universe that I can refer to.
And because I track so closely to reality, I remember events in my league, old players that have come and gone, etc., just like they actually existed. It makes me more invested in the fates of guys I draft and develop under the OOTP platform. I not only play out all of Birmingham's games, I also play out every game for each of its minor league affiliates.
The only downside is, as I get older, I realize that I probably have fewer years ahead of me than behind me. I wonder when I'll reach the age where I'll die before I see some of the guys I draft and develop get to the league. And it's a bit of a funny feeling to know when I do pass on in real life, this whole world that I've created, the players that exist in my league that don't in real life (because I can't import draft classes into OOTP, I have to make do with a lot of fictional players) will all cease to exist. Nothing more than raindrops in the ocean, an old man's imagination. It's not exactly something you can pass down to someone else to care for.