Happy 7th Birthday, eMLB!

[eMLBCommish]

<img src="http://www.totalsportsworld.net/images/eMLBlogo.png" style="float:center; padding:3px;">

Happy 7th Birthday, eMLB!

Longtime league celebrates milestone anniversary

by: Ethan Knight (aka- LB's writing personality)
July 19, 2007

BIDDEFORD, ME (AP) - Today is a special day for Electronic Major League Baseball, affectionately known as eMLB. Back on July 19th of 2000, when Bill Clinton was still in office, and before the Commissioner had a wife and child, James LeBlond (also known as "LB" to many) and former Asst. Commissioner John Comey had officially announced the creation of what became eMLB.

What began as a High Heat league for its first 2 years of existence, eMLB enjoyed 6 seasons using the High Heat, Sammy Sosa High Heat, and High Heat 2002 game engines. However, seeing the concerns arising from the now defunct 3DO, and with LeBlond's approach for not supporting a "dead product", LeBlond looked at the widely popular Out of the Park Baseball series created by Markus Heinsohn to run the league going forward. LeBlond had been familiar with OOTP, having purchased both OOTP 3 and OOTP 4, and was looking at using OOTP 5 as where eMLB would find its new home. But there were serious hurdles to address. The most important being the history, as the league was rich with it already.

With the help of charter members like Kevin Bensel and Chris Holland, eMLB began the painstaking task of creating a formula that would be fair for all. Players with a certain amount of at bats or innings pitched would have their ratings based predominantly on their results, while the remainder would be rated using a formula created for this event alone. Once all the parameters were agreed upon, the task of creating a "fake" Lahman database rested on the shoulders of Bensel, who constructed a wonderful model that continues to stand the tests of time, 4+ years after he originally created it.

The biggest task LeBlond, Bensel & Holland then had to contend with once the database was intact...was manually editting every single at bat or inning pitched in eMLB's Major League history! This would not have been possible without the magnificent third party programs people created, especially noting Pierre's "Career Editor" for OOTP 5 as the most useful of all available tools.

How long did it take for eMLB to begin the 2006 season? It took six months of tender loving care! And the great news: We lost only one owner during that time, due to the sheer passion and energy level of the league...not to mention wonderful communication from the League Officers.

Now, four years later, eMLB has converted to OOTP 6, OOTP 6.5, OOTP 2006, and now OOTP 2007. eMLB is in its 15th season, has not done any restart, and remains a modern league despite time marching on by adding new real life players each and every season for the Amateur Drafts (anywhere from 50 to 150 names and "lifelike ratings" put in). This year will see the likes of a Hideki Okajima, Ian Snell, Adam Lind, and Victor Martinez. This helps, along with the batch of fictional names the game creates to give eMLB a rich history that shows why there are still 20% of the league's original owners still with the league today, and that 13 of the owners in the league have been in the league for more than half of its existence!

LeBlond, a believer of W. Edwards Deming's theories in "Total Quality Management", takes pride in his league just as much as the business he created in 2005. His commitment to balancing his family life with his wife of six years and two year old daughter, along with his golfing habit, and the fact he is in his third season of playing in a 28 and older wood bat fast pitch baseball league (See here for information - He's on the Braves, and sucks at the plate this year, but is a sweet fielder!), LeBlond still finds the time to speak with other eMLB members about their teams, what they think of the league, and how he can improve it. While not having the time he once had, he still looks to provide a high quality product. Not caring if he's the "Best", LeBlond wants to know if people enjoy their eMLB experience, and really values the longtime friendships he's built through it and past leagues, where some of eMLB's owners have been playing together in some way, shape, or form, as far back as 1995!

With the recent affiliation to Total Sports World, and the upcoming changes to the league website (click here for preview of still in progress piece...we know there are football helmets and links!), eMLB continues to provide a mature HUB for baseball savvy minds to show their genius in managing their team to a World Title! Visitors are always welcome to stop by and see one of the older leagues in the internet gaming world, and what makes it a good story to tell!

Happy 7th Birthday, eMLB! May you continue to have many more!

[Raidergoo]

Originally Posted by eMLBCommish

and the fact he is in his third season of playing in a 28 and older wood bat fast pitch baseball league (See here for information - He's on the Braves, and sucks at the plate this year, but is a sweet fielder!)

Your career OPS is similar to Bill Cullen's.