"I grew up in Dallas area, and my first games were watching the late 80's/early 90's Texas Rangers," recalls Peter Burns, who co-hosts
The Press Box weekday mornings on Denver's Mile High Sports Radio (AM 150/FM 93.7). "My first season I put together in Out of the Park Baseball, I was so excited to have Nolan Ryan as my ace and build around him."
He continues: "I made a few offseason moves and put together an incredible starting rotation. In the fourth spring training game, Nolan tore his rotator cuff and was gone ... forever. I sat in front of my computer for a good 10 minutes, feeling like I was slapped in the face. It was then that I knew OOTP was the game for me."
Thus began Burns' love of OOTP, which he says he discovered through Twitter, where he maintains an active presence as
@peterburnsradio. "I kept seeing people tweet about OOTP like it was a real life game," he says. "I figured I had to check it out and once I got the game, I knew exactly what everyone was talking about. It consumed me like no other game ever has."
A New Appreciation For the Front Office
In his role as a sports radio co-host, Burns participates in many discussions about how the Colorado Rockies' management should run the team, so he has taken over the club in OOTP too. He says that it's been a learning experience, one that has tempered his attitude toward a team that only has three playoff trips, and no World Series wins, in its two decades of existence.
"The Rockies have struggled lately, so I enjoy taking over the current roster and seeing how well I would do if I was the coach/GM," he explains. "What I learned as a radio show host is that it's a lot tougher being a day-to-day GM than I ever thought before. I'm a little nicer to the Rockies' front office after seeing what can happen in OOTP."
However, one thing he does that the Rockies' front office can't do is modify their home run-friendly stadium. "I lessen the big curve of Coors Field when I start a season," he says. "I still give hitters an advantage, but I think the advantage is as much mental as it is physical, so I adjust those settings."
A baseball fan for over 27 years, Burns grew up rooting for the Rangers, "but now living in Denver and covering the Rockies, my heart lies at 20th and Blake with the Rockies," he says.
He also grew up playing Earl Weaver Baseball on DOS, which was his first introduction to baseball management games. "I always enjoyed the gameplay with stats," he says. "A while ago, I dabbled in Baseball Mogul, but it wasn't quite detailed enough to really grab me. OOTP was the perfect fit."