The Ghost at Second Base (A Bug)

WarFisch · 03-14-2003, 11:18 PM

The Ghost at Second Base

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in OOTP. It is also a bug. There is a lot of backstory to the cool part, but the bug is very simple. Somehow a retired player ended up on my roster after I browsed through the retired player list. This is a fictional League that I began in OOTP v3, with a starting year of 1899. After the 1902 season, I upgraded and imported the league into OOTP v4. I played through 1933 (I play all of the games out), and then imported the league into OOTP v5. It is now mid-May 1934, and our story begins:

I had played a month and a half using v5, and was browsing through the league history. As I looked through the Hall of Fame, I saw the plaque for Jonathan Wheeler. I remember him, because he was the first Hall of Famer ever to play for my team, the Evansville Aces. Jonathan was drafted in the first round of the 1907 amatuer draft by the Howell Bombers. He was traded to Evanville during his rookie year (1909), and played second base for the Aces for 18 years, never missing more than a couple of days at a time for various minor injuries. Finally, at the age of 39, he retired and was inducted into the Hall of Fame after the 1926 season. All told he took the field with me and my Aces 2670 times. He retired with 2944 hits and 509 Home Runs. He also drove in over 2000 runs and had a lifetime average of .303. He was player of the game 205 times, won player of the week 12 times, and won batter of the month twice. He also won the "Tot Batsch Award" (MVP) in 1918 and in 1924. I can tell you after playing out 2670 games with him on the field, he was sorely missed in 1927. It took me six years to find a second baseman I could settle for.

Fast forward to 1934, as I said I was browsing through the retired players and looking at Jonathan's player card. I then went back to my currant roster screen. There on my roster was a second baseman named J. Wheeler. I stare for a second in confusion, thinking I don't remember having another Wheeler on my team. (I have had very similar names pop up in the past, which is why I was confused). I pull up the player card, and sure enough it is THE Jonathan Wheeler, listed as 39 years old. His birth date is listed correctly, so he should be 48 years old, but he is not. I had only had 24 people on my roster due to an injury, so no one was displaced by him, but he obviously should not have been there.

I looked at his ratings, out of curiosity, and they were pretty poor. Ones and twos straight across. I though maybe if I played a game the roster would reset itself, so I went to the schedule and started my next game.

The game was unreal. I was into the 16th inning, at home, with the score tied at 1 to 1. All of my pitchers had been used. I was down to my last out in the 16th, and the pitcher was coming up to bat. The pitcher was already tired, and I didn't want him to get injured, so I looked to the bench. Every hitter had been used. Except one, I hadn't wanted to mess up Jonathan Wheeler's stats, so I hadn't let him hit. But this was it. I handed him the bat and sent him in. Jonathan stepped up to the plate, and quickly had 2 strikes on him. He battled though, and after fouling off a few pitches, he had a full count. Jonathan fouled off one more, and the opposing pitcher turned red. I was holding my breath now. I could feel the weight of destiny pushing my finger down. Click! Jonathan fouled off another pitch. Click! Foul. Click! Foul. Click! A TOWERING SHOT! Jonathan crushed the baseball and the crowd roared in approval. The Aces had won the game 2 to 1.

After the game I got an e-mail that my second baseman was ready to come off of the disabled list. I intended to put Wheeler into the minors until the end of the season, when I was sure he would retire again. However, John refused. I wondered why, but I soon found out. I was forced to release him, ready to sign him again to the minors, but when I went to the free agents, he was gone.

I went back to the Hall of Fame, and there was Jonathan's plaque. 509 homeruns, 2944 hits. No mention in his career stats of the miracle of 1934.

elmwood44 · 03-14-2003, 11:24 PM

That is UNBELIEVABLY wild and cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great, great story!!!!!!

Ragin Cajun · 03-14-2003, 11:32 PM

WOW. Definite Field of Dreams stuff.

Dargone · 03-14-2003, 11:48 PM

Wow! Great story, I think that is the coolest bug in a game I've ever seen

potatoman · 03-14-2003, 11:49 PM

great story lol

WarFisch · 03-14-2003, 11:57 PM

Yeah, it was pretty cool, I hope Markus notices it wrapped up in that story.

Maybe I should post a more condensed bug report in the support forum.

BaseballMan · 03-15-2003, 12:00 AM

would be nice to be able to choose or edit what could be
said on the hall of fame plaque. Instead of just stats.
Could take some from player history and say like "played on 7 world series teams, or was mvp 3 times. Sorta like Tigerfan does when doing his hall of fame announcement. Of course it would have to be much shorter.

WarFisch · 03-15-2003, 04:25 AM

Has anyone else seen this bug with retired players, or is it just me?

DonD · 03-16-2003, 12:10 AM

Great story.

You have a gift for storytelling, my friend.

- Don

Pretecf · 03-16-2003, 02:24 AM

I am betting that it is just you.

Hmmm, I can see it now, late September, the Phillies vying for first place but not wanting to lose a full-year of a minor leaguers eligibility (sic) so they add McGraw and Schmidt to their 40-man roster...

Hehe, superb story, wonder if the SS/3B combo I have going now would mind returning after they make the Hall of Fame?

Antonin · 03-16-2003, 02:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by WarFisch

...but when I went to the free agents, he was gone.

I went back to the Hall of Fame, and there was Jonathan's plaque. 509 homeruns, 2944 hits. No mention in his career stats of the miracle of 1934.

This is an amazingly cool story, even if it is a bug. It's also a great piece of storytelling by you. It sounds like one of those "Grandpa sitting in the rocker telling stories to the younguns about how it was back in the day" stories.

I really enjoyed reading this!

WarFisch · 03-16-2003, 02:50 AM

I am a little suprised that no one else has seen this. I know it is rare to have fewer than 25 on the active roster, but I would think that if it happened to anyone else they would notice.

It is not a huge deal, because you can't really exploit an extra 1 to 2 rated player on your roster, I am just concerned about screwing up retired players' statistics.

mtw · 03-16-2003, 03:22 AM

I saw a similar bug in either OOTP3 or OOTP4. Same sort of scenario--Looked through Retired Players List, went to look through rosters, and then, as I recall I went to Spring Training to assign training points. It was on the Spring Training screen that I noticed retired players on the rosters.

I too thought it was a cool bug, until I realized how *many* retired players came out of retirement (it was around 12 or 14), and also that some other *current* players disappeared at the same time. It only happened the once and I corrected the error by restoring my backup of the league.

Since that time though, after I look at the Retired Players list, I exit and restart the game.

WarFisch · 03-16-2003, 04:46 AM

>>>I too thought it was a cool bug, until I realized how *many* retired players came out of retirement (it was around 12 or 14), and also that some other *current* players disappeared at the same time.<<<

Hmm, maybe I should look at the rosters of some of the other teams, and make sure this was an isolated problem. Anyone have any ideas on how I can do a search for these guys? I guess I can search by age and just examine the older guys in the league, but I will have to read each player card one at a time I guess.

After a little more thought, I guess it doesn't matter since I don't have a recent backup anyway. I guess they will all retire again at the end of the year if there are more of them out there.

Thanks for the nice comments on my story.

Katrina · 03-16-2003, 07:37 AM

Very interesting thread

jeheinz72 · 02-04-2004, 01:01 PM

Wow, this is one sweet story...albeit a bug

Henry · 02-04-2004, 01:58 PM

Maybe a bug that shouldn't be fixed, eh ?

jeheinz72 · 02-04-2004, 02:45 PM

Quite possibly...of course if he grounds out to third, this thread doesn't exist...

Henry · 02-04-2004, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jeheinz72
Quite possibly...of course if he grounds out to third, this thread doesn't exist...

LOL... THAT'S funny, and very true

Henry

UD411Flyer · 02-04-2004, 06:56 PM

I enjoyed every bit of that I read. Definately some field of dreams stuff. It almost makes me cry

I think the thread would continue. It was an awesome story the fact he was a ghost was amazing, Unbelievable! Did you really think he would ground out? THIS WAS A STORY TOO GOOD TO GO BAD! :-)

03-14-2003, 11:18 PM	#1
WarFisch Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 150	The Ghost at Second Base (A Bug) The Ghost at Second Base This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen in OOTP. It is also a bug. There is a lot of backstory to the cool part, but the bug is very simple. Somehow a retired player ended up on my roster after I browsed through the retired player list. This is a fictional League that I began in OOTP v3, with a starting year of 1899. After the 1902 season, I upgraded and imported the league into OOTP v4. I played through 1933 (I play all of the games out), and then imported the league into OOTP v5. It is now mid-May 1934, and our story begins: I had played a month and a half using v5, and was browsing through the league history. As I looked through the Hall of Fame, I saw the plaque for Jonathan Wheeler. I remember him, because he was the first Hall of Famer ever to play for my team, the Evansville Aces. Jonathan was drafted in the first round of the 1907 amatuer draft by the Howell Bombers. He was traded to Evanville during his rookie year (1909), and played second base for the Aces for 18 years, never missing more than a couple of days at a time for various minor injuries. Finally, at the age of 39, he retired and was inducted into the Hall of Fame after the 1926 season. All told he took the field with me and my Aces 2670 times. He retired with 2944 hits and 509 Home Runs. He also drove in over 2000 runs and had a lifetime average of .303. He was player of the game 205 times, won player of the week 12 times, and won batter of the month twice. He also won the "Tot Batsch Award" (MVP) in 1918 and in 1924. I can tell you after playing out 2670 games with him on the field, he was sorely missed in 1927. It took me six years to find a second baseman I could settle for. Fast forward to 1934, as I said I was browsing through the retired players and looking at Jonathan's player card. I then went back to my currant roster screen. There on my roster was a second baseman named J. Wheeler. I stare for a second in confusion, thinking I don't remember having another Wheeler on my team. (I have had very similar names pop up in the past, which is why I was confused). I pull up the player card, and sure enough it is THE Jonathan Wheeler, listed as 39 years old. His birth date is listed correctly, so he should be 48 years old, but he is not. I had only had 24 people on my roster due to an injury, so no one was displaced by him, but he obviously should not have been there. I looked at his ratings, out of curiosity, and they were pretty poor. Ones and twos straight across. I though maybe if I played a game the roster would reset itself, so I went to the schedule and started my next game. The game was unreal. I was into the 16th inning, at home, with the score tied at 1 to 1. All of my pitchers had been used. I was down to my last out in the 16th, and the pitcher was coming up to bat. The pitcher was already tired, and I didn't want him to get injured, so I looked to the bench. Every hitter had been used. Except one, I hadn't wanted to mess up Jonathan Wheeler's stats, so I hadn't let him hit. But this was it. I handed him the bat and sent him in. Jonathan stepped up to the plate, and quickly had 2 strikes on him. He battled though, and after fouling off a few pitches, he had a full count. Jonathan fouled off one more, and the opposing pitcher turned red. I was holding my breath now. I could feel the weight of destiny pushing my finger down. Click! Jonathan fouled off another pitch. Click! Foul. Click! Foul. Click! A TOWERING SHOT! Jonathan crushed the baseball and the crowd roared in approval. The Aces had won the game 2 to 1. After the game I got an e-mail that my second baseman was ready to come off of the disabled list. I intended to put Wheeler into the minors until the end of the season, when I was sure he would retire again. However, John refused. I wondered why, but I soon found out. I was forced to release him, ready to sign him again to the minors, but when I went to the free agents, he was gone. I went back to the Hall of Fame, and there was Jonathan's plaque. 509 homeruns, 2944 hits. No mention in his career stats of the miracle of 1934.

03-14-2003, 11:32 PM	#3
Ragin Cajun All Star Starter Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Atascosita, TX Posts: 1,173	WOW. Definite Field of Dreams stuff. __________________ Former NBSL Commissioner: 16 years Former Online League Owner; six time champion

03-14-2003, 11:48 PM	#4
Dargone Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Interwebs Posts: 2,862	Wow! Great story, I think that is the coolest bug in a game I've ever seen __________________ I was never one to patiently pick up broken fragments and glue them together again and tell myself that the mended whole was as good as new. What is broken is broken -- and I'd rather remember it as it was at its best than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.-Margaret Mitchell

03-14-2003, 11:49 PM	#5
potatoman Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 2,410 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	great story lol __________________ GFBL - Storm - 5 seasons - 500 - 310 New Jersey Nighthawks (1227-717) Last 5 seasons 2011: 118-44 2012: 100-62 2013: 111-51 2014: 106-56 2015: 108-54 OTBA Champions: 2008, 2010,2011

03-16-2003, 12:10 AM	#9
DonD Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 71	Great story. You have a gift for storytelling, my friend. - Don __________________ GGNL Athens Pirates

03-14-2003, 11:24 PM	#2
elmwood44 Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Peoria, Illinois Posts: 257	That is UNBELIEVABLY wild and cool!!!!!!!!!!!! Great, great story!!!!!!

03-14-2003, 11:57 PM	#6
WarFisch Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 150	Yeah, it was pretty cool, I hope Markus notices it wrapped up in that story. Maybe I should post a more condensed bug report in the support forum.

03-15-2003, 12:00 AM	#7
BaseballMan Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 6,536	would be nice to be able to choose or edit what could be said on the hall of fame plaque. Instead of just stats. Could take some from player history and say like "played on 7 world series teams, or was mvp 3 times. Sorta like Tigerfan does when doing his hall of fame announcement. Of course it would have to be much shorter.

03-15-2003, 04:25 AM	#8
WarFisch Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 150	Has anyone else seen this bug with retired players, or is it just me?

03-16-2003, 02:24 AM	#10
Pretecf Minors (Single A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 62	I am betting that it is just you. Hmmm, I can see it now, late September, the Phillies vying for first place but not wanting to lose a full-year of a minor leaguers eligibility (sic) so they add McGraw and Schmidt to their 40-man roster... Hehe, superb story, wonder if the SS/3B combo I have going now would mind returning after they make the Hall of Fame? __________________ ENJOY THE CARNAGE

03-16-2003, 02:50 AM	#12
WarFisch Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 150	I am a little suprised that no one else has seen this. I know it is rare to have fewer than 25 on the active roster, but I would think that if it happened to anyone else they would notice. It is not a huge deal, because you can't really exploit an extra 1 to 2 rated player on your roster, I am just concerned about screwing up retired players' statistics.

03-16-2003, 03:22 AM	#13
mtw All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 653	similar bug I saw a similar bug in either OOTP3 or OOTP4. Same sort of scenario--Looked through Retired Players List, went to look through rosters, and then, as I recall I went to Spring Training to assign training points. It was on the Spring Training screen that I noticed retired players on the rosters. I too thought it was a cool bug, until I realized how many retired players came out of retirement (it was around 12 or 14), and also that some other current players disappeared at the same time. It only happened the once and I corrected the error by restoring my backup of the league. Since that time though, after I look at the Retired Players list, I exit and restart the game.

03-16-2003, 04:46 AM	#14
WarFisch Minors (Double A) Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 150	>>>I too thought it was a cool bug, until I realized how many retired players came out of retirement (it was around 12 or 14), and also that some other current players disappeared at the same time.<<< Hmm, maybe I should look at the rosters of some of the other teams, and make sure this was an isolated problem. Anyone have any ideas on how I can do a search for these guys? I guess I can search by age and just examine the older guys in the league, but I will have to read each player card one at a time I guess. After a little more thought, I guess it doesn't matter since I don't have a recent backup anyway. I guess they will all retire again at the end of the year if there are more of them out there. Thanks for the nice comments on my story.

03-16-2003, 07:37 AM	#15
Katrina Minors (Triple A) Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: California Posts: 221	Very interesting thread __________________ OOTP5 Beta Tester OOL Rockford Peaches Anaheim Angels Fan MSN-girlprincess1@cox.net

02-04-2004, 01:01 PM	#16
jeheinz72 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 2,164	Wow, this is one sweet story...albeit a bug __________________ Join The Dugout!

02-04-2004, 01:58 PM	#17
Henry Hall of Fame Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 6,498	Maybe a bug that shouldn't be fixed, eh ?

02-04-2004, 02:45 PM	#18
jeheinz72 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 2,164	Quite possibly...of course if he grounds out to third, this thread doesn't exist... __________________ Join The Dugout!

02-04-2004, 06:56 PM	#20
UD411Flyer All Star Reserve Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 583	I enjoyed every bit of that I read. Definately some field of dreams stuff. It almost makes me cry I think the thread would continue. It was an awesome story the fact he was a ghost was amazing, Unbelievable! Did you really think he would ground out? THIS WAS A STORY TOO GOOD TO GO BAD! :-) __________________ Behind The Pl8-Chicago Cubs/Commissioner EIBL-Atlanta Braves/Commissioner NOBSL-Tampa Bay Devil Rays AAA-Sacranton-WB Red Barons ATGC-Orrville Red Riders