Simulating Jackie Robinson in Fiction League

[Silent_Thunder]

So I've always found the story about how Jackie Robinson busted open the color line (and some of the controversies about if he is truely the one who can be considered to have done it) to be one of the most fascinating and inspiring stories in baseball. And it got me thinking about how such a thing could really help "flesh out" the history behind a fictional league.

So what I wanted to set up was a long term game starting late 1800s, early 1900s with the "color line" firmly intact, untill a Jackie Robinson type would come along and break open that line. I was wondering if there was aything I could do in the setup, including XLM editing, in order to make this happen. I know the tallest part of that order would likely be the shifting demographics, as well as the inclusion of the breakout star.

Basically my plan would be to as the years get closer to Robinson's actual debut, use a RNG and a slowly lowering number each year, to determine when that debut would be, allow him to gain some momentum, and slowly normalize the ethnicities of generated players. Is there any way to make this plan happen? If there is some method that involves constantly editing files, I'd be ok with that too. Wouldn't be the first time I've got database diving in order to achieve a more historical result.

Another question would be if there is a way to instead use "historical rookies" but have them show up with randomized names and slightly jumbled stats. The reason I don't want to use historic players is I'd hate to "cheat" by going "Oh hey, it's Babe Ruth, he'd probably be a great sign, even if he never reaches his full potiential.

[Déjà Bru]

You would have to edit the ethnicities.txt file, which is keyed to language ID, which is selected in the Nation Editor for your league's nation, to eliminate minorities. Then you would go to Game Setup, Global Setup, and click Re-Import Name & Ethnicity Database (and hope that it works), bearing in mind that this will only apply to new player creation, not existing players.

You will see in the ethnicities.txt that the numbers are proportional, so you could start off with a very small number of a certain minority and keep an eye out for the first "Jackie Robinson" player of color to make it to the big leagues. Or you could orchestrate it yourself using the Player Editor.

Regarding your other question, that's a headscratcher. Why use historical rookies if you don't know their true identities? It would be simpler just to use fictional players.

[VanillaGorilla]

Bru's question spawned what I believe is the answer to the OP's question.

In League Setup you can scroll down on the right hand column and select 'Randomize Player Names.'

If you turn off recalc, you have, in effect, a group of fictional players that represent the historical ethnicity of MLB.

So, Jackie Robinson will debut in 1947, but as a different name. You could always create a player to break the color barrier prior to Robinson, if you wanted to do that, also.

I have not done this with the idea of replicating ethnicity, but I did not notice any randomization of ethnicities when I randomized the names. I am 99% sure that this will give you something similar to what it is you are wanting to do.

ADD: I just did the randomization of names as a one time thing. I did not play multiple seasons. I do not know if the historical draft pools will import with randomized names, or not, after you perform the initial randomization. Sorry, my suggestion was not as solid as I thought it was.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

Bru's question spawned what I believe is the answer to the OP's question.

In League Setup you can scroll down on the right hand column and select 'Randomize Player Names.'

If you turn off recalc, you have, in effect, a group of fictional players that represent the historical ethnicity of MLB.

So, Jackie Robinson will debut in 1947, but as a different name. You could always create a player to break the color barrier prior to Robinson, if you wanted to do that, also.

I have not done this with the idea of replicating ethnicity, but I did not notice any randomization of ethnicities when I randomized the names. I am 99% sure that this will give you something similar to what it is you are wanting to do.

ADD: I just did the randomization of names as a one time thing. I did not play multiple seasons. I do not know if the historical draft pools will import with randomized names, or not, after you perform the initial randomization. Sorry, my suggestion was not as solid as I thought it was.

Still, nice thought, VG. I was dimly aware of this option but never seriously gave it any thought. Here it is, but would that not randomize everybody's name at once?

[VanillaGorilla]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Still, nice thought, VG. I was dimly aware of this option but never seriously gave it any thought. Here it is, but would that not randomize everybody's name at once?

It randomizes the players already imported. I do not know if you are importing historical rookies according to history if those historical rookies come in with their names randomized or with their actual names.

[Thundercrack]

Originally Posted by VanillaGorilla

It randomizes the players already imported. I do not know if you are importing historical rookies according to history if those historical rookies come in with their names randomized or with their actual names.

This was a good idea, though I'm pretty sure rookies will come in with real names. Would be great if we had the ability to randomize every name in the database.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Thundercrack

This was a good idea, though I'm pretty sure rookies will come in with real names. Would be great if we had the ability to randomize every name in the database.

I requested this when the random debut feature was added, but it never made it into the game.

[MarkInCincy]

I just finished modifying a master.csv where I made the following changes:
jumbled first and last names
place of birth to US or Foreign only (all born in US have state/city blanked, others Country = Foreign
Randomized hts and wts
Month and day of birth = January 1
all nicknames, HS and College blanked

[Silent_Thunder]

So I edited the world and ethnicities files in order to exclude minorities. Now if I keep changing the values as time goes on to slowly bring it up to modern values, the "Re-Import Name & Ethnicity Database" button should bring in the updated files each time right?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Silent_Thunder

So I edited the world and ethnicities files in order to exclude minorities. Now if I keep changing the values as time goes on to slowly bring it up to modern values, the "Re-Import Name & Ethnicity Database" button should bring in the updated files each time right?

It should. Bear in mind, this will work only on newly created players. Which is silly to say, of course, but perhaps overlooked.

[Silent_Thunder]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

It should. Bear in mind, this will work only on newly created players. Which is silly to say, of course, but perhaps overlooked.

Well naturally. I wouldn't expect it to be a button to magically turn someone a different race. That'd be hard to explain to the guy's wife. "No honey! I swear it's still me!"