Alternative History: the Eternal Manager

JustinM · 07-03-2011, 04:13 PM

A little back story is appropriate. With each new release, I typically do a "let's turn the Pirates around" dynasty thread, I run short on time, and the thread dies. I see that there's already a nice Pirates thread started, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I decided to start in 1872 and sim the first 139 years of league history. (This took basically all day in case you were wondering.) Of course, given that my manager has been alive this whole time, he's now 278 years old, which is hilarious to me.

Also interesting is the history of the league so far. I forced the game to expand and move teams as they did in real life, so nothing strange there yet, but looking through the leaderboards is a trip.

Single Season Batting:
At Bats 727 Rod Carew, who never got close to that in real life
Doubles 64 Michael Barrett!
Triples 45 Jack Doyle, nobody got close to that in real life
Homers 77 Frank Robinson, who hit 60+ 4 times and ended with 744 HR

At that point I started wondering what sort of careers some of the real-life big stars had.

Babe Ruth played his whole career as a Cardinal and never left the mound. He did manage to get 300 wins before he retired, but barely, ending with a 313-237 record. He did make the Hall of Fame, but he wasn't at all the revolutionary player he was in real life.

His counterpart, Barry Bonds, was a Yankee except for 4 games at the end of his career when he was with the Mariners. He hit 545 home runs, hitting 52 twice, once in 1987 and once in 1995.

Nolan Ryan was a lifelong Dodger, but only spent 14 years in the league before calling it quits. Nolan never started a game, instead being an elite closer right up to the end, topping out at 55 saves in 1981, ending with 337.

There have been 19 player-seasons with at least 60 home runs. Frank Robinson did it 4 times, Aramis Ramirez and Mark Ryal have done it 3 times so far, Ryan Howard twice, and so on.

John Rocker is still in the Majors and doing very well. Oh, and the career leader for strikeouts? None other than Bert Blyleven, with 4404.

And the Pirates haven't reached the playoffs since 1927. They've been under .500 every season since 1989, and haven't had a winning record since 1986.

JustinM · 07-03-2011, 04:32 PM

What's a guy to do? I've been on this earth longer than anyway and some Short Season club thinks it's a good idea to suit me up and make me manage the team. I spent all week thinking about it, how I've always wanted to break into baseball someway or another, so I decided to go for it.

You're looking at the newest 278-year-old manager of the Oxford Hares, affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.

JustinM · 07-03-2011, 06:28 PM

And just like that, it's over. Rather than sign a bunch of free agents, the game decided to empty the lower minors of all their players in order to keep AAA full. Looks like that shows me not to run with ghost players turned on.

Storm · 07-03-2011, 11:11 PM

Did Pedro Martinez do well? What about the Rocket?

I'm following by the way! Try not to break a hip (or leg)!

JustinM · 07-04-2011, 01:47 PM

Storm, I'm re-running the sim because of the minor league issue. I didn't think to look up Clemens, but I did notice that Pedro was still as elite a pitcher as he was in real life. He had the ML career record for K/9 and similar stats IIRC.

JustinM · 07-05-2011, 12:29 AM

Interesting. I was watching some of the simming going by while I wait for this to finish again, and Tom Carroll appears to have carved himself out a really nice career. As a position player. More tomorrow when the simming finishes.

07-03-2011, 04:13 PM	#1
JustinM Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cranberry Twp, PA Posts: 445	Alternative History: the Eternal Manager A little back story is appropriate. With each new release, I typically do a "let's turn the Pirates around" dynasty thread, I run short on time, and the thread dies. I see that there's already a nice Pirates thread started, so rather than reinvent the wheel, I decided to start in 1872 and sim the first 139 years of league history. (This took basically all day in case you were wondering.) Of course, given that my manager has been alive this whole time, he's now 278 years old, which is hilarious to me. Also interesting is the history of the league so far. I forced the game to expand and move teams as they did in real life, so nothing strange there yet, but looking through the leaderboards is a trip. Single Season Batting: At Bats 727 Rod Carew, who never got close to that in real life Doubles 64 Michael Barrett! Triples 45 Jack Doyle, nobody got close to that in real life Homers 77 Frank Robinson, who hit 60+ 4 times and ended with 744 HR At that point I started wondering what sort of careers some of the real-life big stars had. Babe Ruth played his whole career as a Cardinal and never left the mound. He did manage to get 300 wins before he retired, but barely, ending with a 313-237 record. He did make the Hall of Fame, but he wasn't at all the revolutionary player he was in real life. His counterpart, Barry Bonds, was a Yankee except for 4 games at the end of his career when he was with the Mariners. He hit 545 home runs, hitting 52 twice, once in 1987 and once in 1995. Nolan Ryan was a lifelong Dodger, but only spent 14 years in the league before calling it quits. Nolan never started a game, instead being an elite closer right up to the end, topping out at 55 saves in 1981, ending with 337. There have been 19 player-seasons with at least 60 home runs. Frank Robinson did it 4 times, Aramis Ramirez and Mark Ryal have done it 3 times so far, Ryan Howard twice, and so on. John Rocker is still in the Majors and doing very well. Oh, and the career leader for strikeouts? None other than Bert Blyleven, with 4404. And the Pirates haven't reached the playoffs since 1927. They've been under .500 every season since 1989, and haven't had a winning record since 1986.

07-03-2011, 04:32 PM	#2
JustinM Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cranberry Twp, PA Posts: 445	What's a guy to do? I've been on this earth longer than anyway and some Short Season club thinks it's a good idea to suit me up and make me manage the team. I spent all week thinking about it, how I've always wanted to break into baseball someway or another, so I decided to go for it. You're looking at the newest 278-year-old manager of the Oxford Hares, affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.

07-03-2011, 06:28 PM	#3
JustinM Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cranberry Twp, PA Posts: 445	And just like that, it's over. Rather than sign a bunch of free agents, the game decided to empty the lower minors of all their players in order to keep AAA full. Looks like that shows me not to run with ghost players turned on.

07-03-2011, 11:11 PM	#4
Storm Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 243	Did Pedro Martinez do well? What about the Rocket? I'm following by the way! Try not to break a hip (or leg)!

07-04-2011, 01:47 PM	#5
JustinM Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cranberry Twp, PA Posts: 445	Storm, I'm re-running the sim because of the minor league issue. I didn't think to look up Clemens, but I did notice that Pedro was still as elite a pitcher as he was in real life. He had the ML career record for K/9 and similar stats IIRC.

07-05-2011, 12:29 AM	#6
JustinM Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cranberry Twp, PA Posts: 445	Interesting. I was watching some of the simming going by while I wait for this to finish again, and Tom Carroll appears to have carved himself out a really nice career. As a position player. More tomorrow when the simming finishes.