ok, it's August 5 and Killebrew seems to be channeling the spirit of McGwire

[uruguru]

Just thought I'd share. This is my first "serious" save for OOTP 25, where I actually play out every game and track everything. So it's taking me a while to progress... maybe 3-4 games every day.

However, over in the AL Harmon Killebrew is having a monster season. He and Willie Mays have been off and on a pace for 70 homers most of the season but both seemed to do the expected fade after the All-Star Break.

While Mays' pace is still at 62 (42 homers currently), Killebrew has decided that, no, he is definitely going to set the record. He just had his third 3-homer game of the season, which the league has now informally dubbed the "triple triple" although that might change if he does it again.

He's now up to 49 home runs on with 53 games left to play. Maris and Mantle are WAAAAYYY behind him, with 33 and 28 homers, respectively. It's to the point where if my wife sees OOTP up on my laptop, she asks how Killebrew is doing.

I've never seen a home run pace this insane in the 1960s and excited that it's happening in my daily play save so that I can savor it as it gets closer

edit: it's a 5-year recalc, no doubling of current season. fielding set to 3-year averages but I've zeroed out experience of unplayable positions.

[Brad K]

Glad to see Dale Long on the list.

[snepp]

Keep us updated. I'm rooting for Killer, one of the game's great ambassadors.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Glad to see Dale Long on the list.

Just checked. Those two 3-homer games by Long account for a full third of his 18 homers for the season.

Originally Posted by snepp

Keep us updated. I'm rooting for Killer, one of the game's great ambassadors.

Will do! I've been watching it closely since mid-June (of the OOTP season) and finally decided after that 3-homer game that it was worth sharing.

[Pelican]

Originally Posted by uruguru

Just thought I'd share.

It's to the point where if my wife sees OOTP up on my laptop, she asks how Killebrew is doing.

Some day we should do a thread on reactions from spouses, significant others, friends to our OOTP obsessions. "So, you're playing the 1911 Season out because why? Oh, right, you were a history major. That makes sense."

[uruguru]

mid-August update... it's 8/16 in the save and Killebrew has played 12 games. All homerless. He is still at 49 homers and his HR pace has plummeted from 73 to 65.

Willie Mays has added 2 homers to his total and is at 44 now. His pace has dropped to 59.

Roger Maris, the reigning single-season holder with 61 homers, hit 6 homers and is now at 39. His pace has increased to 52.

Basically, OOTP is reminding me how hard it is to maintain this kind of insane home run pace in the real world unless you are taking steroids, lol.

In other news, Roberto Clemente is leading the majors with a .372 average. He doesn't draw a lot of walks (27 so far), so his average underrepresents his hit total. He currently has 187 hits and is on pace for 252. That would be just 5 short of George Sisler's record from 1920 and the most hits since 1930, so... that's something to keep an eye on as well.

The Yankees are running away with the AL, 9 games up on the Tigers. In the NL, six teams have been over .500 and in contention all year. But the Cardinals just had a 16-game winning streak (wow!) to take over 1st. And 12 of those 16 wins came against the 3 worst teams in the league (Mets, Astros and Phillies) so they are doing what good teams are supposed to do... beat the bad teams.

The Reds are in 2nd, 3 behind, and are currently on a 10-game streak.

[jksander]

That's awesome! And thanks for the mid-August update! I too like to play out all my games in my offline sims, so I appreciate your enjoyment of the slow build.

[snepp]

Geez, I should have kept my mouth shut.

Here's to hoping that cold stretch ends.

[uruguru]

mid-September update.

The longest homerless streak Killebrew had this season BEFORE I made this post was 13 games at the beginning of July.

When he had that 3-homer game and was sitting at 49 homers with a third of the season left to play, I was emboldened to post about it.

As if to punish me, the baseball gods (who btw also exert control over our OOTP sims) sent my electronic Killebrew into an 18-game homerless tailspin (see attached img). This included an 0-for-20 stretch over 7 games. Remember: never anger the baseball gods.

At this point, Killebrew's season HR pace had dropped precipitously, to 62. Just a single home run above Maris'. He then rebounded with 4 homers in 3 games, raising his season total to 53 and his pace back to 65.

However, it is now mid-September and he currently sit at 56 homers and 152 RBI with 10 games to play. There is no point in tracking his pace anymore because he's so close. If he gets hot, he will break the record. If he doesn't, he won't.

Mays is at 51 homers with 149 RBI. Both are dominating their leagues in slugging and seem to be favorites for MVP.

Clemente still leads the majors in hitting but has dropped to .362. He's at 226 hits with 11 games left. The hit record is well out of reach.

The Yankees are holding onto the AL, but the Tigers have gotten hot and are within 3 1/2 games. It's about as close as they've been, but that's still a lot of ground to make up in 11 games. Still, 6 of those games are against the last-place Athletics.

The Cardinals are also 3 1/2 up in the NL against the Pirates after holding off a furious charge by the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds were just a half-game out of 1st a few days ago but have just lost 3 in a row TO THE METS -- the worst team in the majors playing spoiler.

The Reds are 4 out and now have a 3-game series with the 2nd-place Pirates. Perfect for the Cardinals as the two contenders beat up on each other.

[uruguru]

My team just finished a 3-game series against the Mets.

However, Killebrew's Twins played 3 games against the Tigers. He went homerless in the first two games, and then hit 2 homers in final game of the series. A two-run shot in the 1st against Mickey Lolich, then another two-shot against reliever Terry Fox in the 8th, which erased the Tigers' 3-2 lead. Unfortunately the Twins made two errors in the 9th and lost the game anyway.

He's now at 58 homers with 7 games left. He can still pull it off!

[jksander]

Originally Posted by uruguru

My team just finished a 3-game series against the Mets.

However, Killebrew's Twins played 3 games against the Tigers. He went homerless in the first two games, and then hit 2 homers in final game of the series. A two-run shot in the 1st against Mickey Lolich, then another two-shot against reliever Terry Fox in the 8th, which erased the Tigers' 3-2 lead. Unfortunately the Twins made two errors in the 9th and lost the game anyway.

He's now at 58 homers with 7 games left. He can still pull it off!

Here's hoping he manages to do it, and that the Twins media is treating him better than the New York media treated Maris lol ... I assume you're holding press conferences rather than letting the press mob the locker room?

[uruguru]

Killebrew is in Minnesota so he's not getting the widespread attention that Maris got.

The media in New York is convinced that the 162-game schedule and watered down expansion pitching is the cause of all of this.

[uruguru]

The Twins were just swept 3 games by the Orioles. Killebrew hit his 59th home run of the season, a grand slam, in the 5th inning of the 3rd game against Camilo Pascual.

He has 59 home runs with 4 games left. It could still go either way. He could end up with 59, or he could get hot and finish with 62.

[uruguru]

59

It was a great season. For starters, there was an exciting home run record chase that just fell short.

The NL pennant involved about 6 teams until mid-September when the Cardinals pulled away. They finished 3 ahead of the Pirates.

In the AL, the Yankees held a sizeable lead most of the season -- they were up by 9 over the Tigers on August 19th. But the Tigers got hot and chipped away at the lead, moving to within 2 games by Sept. 10th. The lead then fluctuated between 2 and 4 games until the Tigers finished the season with 7 straight wins, tying the Yankees at 95-67.

This forced a one-game playoff in Yankee Stadium with Whitey Ford facing off against Mickey Lolich. The Tigers were up 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th, on the verge of their first World Series since 1940. But the Yankees pounced on Lolich in the 7th for 5 runs and 6 hits and ended up winning, 7-4.

The Cardinals then kicked the Yankees to the curb in 6 games to win the World Series. All of the games were close (Game 6 went 12 innings) and Stan Musial was named the Series MVP.

I know this thread was going to be about Harmon Killebrew but he came up short. But it was still an interesting season! There's real value in playing out each game so you can enjoy the progression of the season.

[snepp]

Damn, took a hell of a run at it though.


I had Ruth take a shot at his own record in my league for me. A cold September left him at 54 in a 154 game season.

[Pelican]

Wow.

[Sweed]

Great thread. Thanks for sharing.

[uruguru]

ha, I need maybe a two-week break. I pushed out the rest of the season to see how it would turn out and now I'm just going to relax, compile some detailed stats for my team, and maybe work on a program to parse the box scores and game logs.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by uruguru

ha, I need maybe a two-week break. I pushed out the rest of the season to see how it would turn out and now I'm just going to relax, compile some detailed stats for my team, and maybe work on a program to parse the box scores and game logs.

How did Don Mincher do? I started a league in 61 using historical minors, no recalc. Mincher hit 46 bombs in 61, second to Maris 54. Mincher then won the AL MVP in 62.

[uruguru]

Originally Posted by David Watts

How did Don Mincher do? I started a league in 61 using historical minors, no recalc. Mincher hit 46 bombs in 61, second to Maris 54. Mincher then won the AL MVP in 62.

Don Mincher was the Twin's backup 1B. He started 19 games at 1B, hit 7 HRs with 22 RBI and a .209 average over 129 AB. Real world: 20 starts, 9 HR, 29 RBI, .240 avg.

Vic Power was the everyday 1B for the Twins. He started 141 games at 1B, hit 7 homers with 57 RBI and a .310 average over 516 AB. Real world: 141 starts, 16 HR, 63 RBI, .293 avg.



My player evaluation for the AI is set to 0/60/30/10. No ratings, just on-field performance with a strong recency bias. My sim starts in 1962, and includes minor leagues. As a result, Mincher's real-world .188 average in 1961 is what the AI sees.