International League/Random Debut League

[David Watts]

It's over. I just don't like managing anymore. Probably last time I ever try. Done. Back to what I love.

[David Watts]

Juan Gonzalez called it a career following the 1961 season. He missed the majority of 1960 and all of 1961 before calling it quits. Finished his career with 394 home runs. Was really hoping he could make it back for a season or two, in order to go over the 400 home run mark.

Webster McDonald joined the 200 win club.

Al Oliver continues to work his way towards 3000 career hits. He's now less than 200 hits away. I like his chances, but you just never know what the OOTP Gods will do, so all we can do is wait and see. Ginger Beaumont has a chance to reach 3000 hits as well.

Mariano Rivera notched his 300th save and is still going strong at 41 years old. He now has 320+ saves total. He actually signed a new 2 year deal prior to the 1962 season.

Can't wait to reach the 70's and 80's so stolen bases will become a bigger part of the game. Currently playing out the 17th year of my league and the most stolen bases in a season is 36.

[David Watts]

The St. Paul Saints won the 1962 League Championship Series. Only the Arkansas Travelers, Lansing Lugnuts, Peoria Chiefs and the Biloxi Shuckers are left without a championship. The Shuckers and Chiefs are both expansion teams, while Lansing came close to winning one this season, losing to the Saints 4 games to 2. Pretty amazing that the Lugnuts found themselves in the league championship series, as they finished with the worst record in baseball in 1961.

Rube Waddell and Tris Speaker were the biggest names is this years amateur draft. Waddell comes into the league just as strikeouts are starting to blow up across the league. Figure it won't be long before we have our first pitcher to reach 300 strikeouts in a season.

As June 1963 begins, Al Oliver is 25 hits shy of 3000. Oliver is still starting for his team the Birmingham Barons, but he began the season hitting 9th in the order. He's worked his way up to 7th. Guessing his ratings are declining fast due to age.

George Hunter retired following the 62 season. At his retirement, Hunter is the International Leagues career win's leader. Want to say around 230 or 235. I need to check if Dave Brown is still starting. If he is, I'm not sure if Hunters lead will hold for long. Webster McDonald joined the 200 win club and he too will probably make a run at Hunter's lead.

Duke Snider is now a part of the 300 home run club. As of June 1st Snider has 307 career home runs.

Mel Ott is in striking distance of 500 home runs, but has move passed his recalc years, so the decline can and will come at any moment. So far he is still thriving though. Ott added another league MVP trophy to his long list of career achievements following the 1962 season. Debate around the league is whether the MVP honor should be renamed the Mell Ott Award following his retirement.

Frank Tanana is another new member of the International League. I'm a huge Tanana fan, so I was pumped to see him make his debut.

Still think something changed over the last version or two that decreased the numbers of modern day(current) players entering random debut leagues. I keep waiting to see these players start flooding my league, but so far the faucet is set to a very slow drip.

Still trying to decide when to expand and where to expand to. I will probably expand the draft size a season or two ahead of the expansion in preparation. I'm still using very high for all injuries, so I need the roster depth.

[David Watts]

Hank Aaron jumped to around 65 per cent of the votes in his 3rd go round with the voters. Have a feeling he makes it the next time the vote is held. New on the ballot this year was Tom Seaver. Tom Terrific received enough votes to stay alive for another go at it. Same for Pedro Martinez.

[David Watts]

The leagues first Hall of Fame inductee.

[David Watts]

The leagues second Hall of Fame Inductee

[David Watts]

I decided to expand following the 1963 season. Added the Tulsa Drillers to the Southern Division and the Cedar Rapids Kernels to the Northern Division. Crazy thing is, I ran through the entire expansion process and on to opening day, completely forgetting about importing a new schedule. Thought I was screwed for sure. Simmed the 64 season expecting disaster, but believe it or not every team played 162 games. I didn't delve into the particulars of the schedule---the options page still showed the schedule I was using for the prior 14 team setup. I made sure to import the correct schedule for 65.

1965 will mark the 20th season of International league play. I decided to play out the entire 65 season instead of fast simming to June or July 1st like I've been doing. I'm currently sitting around the middle of June. St. Paul continues their run of Northern Division dominance with a 5 or 6 game lead over the Toledo Mud Hens. Birmingham, Corpus Christi and San Antonio are all bunched atop the Southern Division.

I can expand the league one more time, as that's the last available 1 subleague schedule that the game supplies. I have zero knowledge on how to add a schedule that doesn't come with the game.

[David Watts]

Mel Ott is now 50 home runs shy of 600. Keep waiting for Mel to slow down but he's once again having a great season in 1965. This is his 17th year in the league. Got to looking at his career. Over 16 1/2 seasons in the league, Ott has never once made a trip to the IL. He's suffered 6 injuries over the course of his career, but all of them very minor. Starting to think this is something OOTP needs to improve on. Seeing way too many players having lengthy careers without a single trip to the IL. I don't want to play M*A*S*H ball, but I don't like having to crank up player fatigue either. Oh and I'm using Very High for both short term and long term injuries.

[David Watts]

This is one of the things that makes me love this game. Take a look at Dave Staton's 1965 season. It was so much fun watching this season develop out of thin air. I was really interested to see how he would follow that power outburst in 1966. As you can see not so well. Staton is now on the Kernels bench.

[David Watts]

Mel Ott is now just 6 home runs shy of reaching 600. He's 40 years old, but he just signed a 3 year deal just prior to the 66 seasob, keeping him in Birmingham.

[David Watts]

The strikeout pitchers are really starting to emerge now that we're in the 60's. Last season Frank Tanana had a 10+ k's per game rate and whiffed over 300 batters, becoming the first pitcher to do so. This season(1966) Rube Waddell is on pace to break Tanana's mark and then some.

[David Watts]

[David Watts]

The Peoria Chiefs defeated the San Antonio Missions 4 games to 3 in the 1966 League Championship Series. This was Peoria's first championship. The Chiefs were an expansion team along with the Biloxi Shuckers back in 1952. Peoria ran away with Northern Division, 19 games in front of the 2nd place Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Wisconsin was good enough to secure the 2nd wild card spot, which shows just how strong of a season Peoria had in 66, The Chiefs set a new International League record for wins with at least 110(At work and having a brain fart on the actual total). They would defeat Wisconsin 4 games to 2 in the Wild Card Series, before defeating the Missions for the title.

Back in the 63 draft, the Chiefs drafted some cat named Tris Speaker. Speaker would have a rather Lamar Mundane rookie season in 64. He suffered a couple injuries in 65 that kept him out of the lineup, limiting his game played, but it was obvious the Chiefs had themselves a great one. Speaker would hit 25+ bombs in 65 and hit about .340. Speaker was an absolute BEAST in 1966, playing to 12+ WAR. Tris took won the batting title with a +360 average hit 30+ home run, scored 100+ runs and drove in a 100+

Hank Aaron still holds the mark for most home runs in a single season with 58. Until this season he also held the record for second most with 52. John Beckwith made a run at the 58, but ended up shy of the mark hitting 53 or 54 on the season.

No one was inducted into the Hall of Fame during the offseason. Tom Seaver, Pedro Martinez and Oscar Charleston are all on the cusp of induction, but only time will tell if they will get the required votes.

Scott Brown who pitched a whopping total of 13 big league innings for the Cincinnati Reds back in 1981 is taking the International League relief world by storm. It's both amazing and painful to watch. Random debut does so many things right, but one of the bad things I see happen is when a pitcher that had next to no career at all, but decent stats, gets locked into what is clearly a loop of greatness, Somehow Brown has completely bi-passed the make bad settings. Over 5 or 6 seasons, he's had one season with an ERA above 1.99. Hopefully, my 130TCR setting will grab him at some point. If not, I'm afraid he will simply repeat the same season over and over again. I just find it strange that the adjust/weaken settings nail like 98% of the leagues players, but will let a few slide by. Above I posted a screenshot of the great home runs season little know Dave Staton had for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Staton had little life in the Bigs in real life, but came out of nowhere to have a great home run season, but unlike Brown, Staton was out of the starting lineup by the midway point of the following season. I don't even think he's on the Kernels 25 man roster to start 1967.

[David Watts]

[David Watts]

Holy Cow, Peoria is once again running away with the Northern Division in 1967. The Chiefs should win 100 games again, but I don't think they will match last years 112. Peoria has already clinched the division with 2 weeks left to play. They lead second place St. Paul Saints by 20 games. Tris Speaker the Chiefs number 3 hitter is on course to win his second batting title in a row.

The Southern Division is where the pennant race excitement roams. 5 teams are all bunched together vying for the division title and the 2 wild card spots. Corpus Christi, Arkansas, Louisville, Birmingham and San Antonio are on a daily roller coaster ride for a chance to play in the post season. It's a blast to watch, as just when you think a team is going to take control, they hit a road block allowing one or two or three of the other team to gain ground. Louisville was is 1st place for most to the season, but started to falter around mid August. Since then, Corpus Christi, Arkansas and Birmingham have all spent time in first place.

John Beckwith is emerging as a power force to be reckoned with in the International League. Beckwith hit 53 home runs in 1966 and currently sits a top the league with 40 in 1967. Beckwith is just 31 or 32 years old, so it will be interesting to see how many career home runs he ends up with. He's already a member of the 300 club. For most of his career Beckwith has been a steady and consistent 20 or 30 guy, but his power numbers have exploded over the last 2 seasons. Interesting too, as home runs are down quite a bit league wide in 67.

Have to say, 1969 can't get here soon enough. I'm sure by the end of 1968, I will have have had enough of pitching dominating the game. One thing I'm loving though, is the emergence of the strikeout pitcher. Rube Waddell has once again reached 300+ k's in 67. Ad Lankford, Vinegar Bend Mizell and Frank Tanana are some of the other notable strikeout pitchers to emerge during the 60's.

The next stat I'm anxious to see burst on the scene, is the stolen base. My league has run from 46-67 and I'm not sure whether I've even had a player reach 40 steals. Vince Coleman was drafted in the 66 draft, so it will be interesting to see if he turns into the pioneer of the stolen base, pushing the stat into the forefront of league strategies.

[David Watts]

Once again the Northern Division champions are the Peoria Chiefs in 1967. The Chiefs ran away with the division winning 110 games. That's 2 less than they won in 66, so it's clear that they're on a downward spiral Tris Speaker had another MVP type season, but finished second in the batting title race to Bibb Falk.

The Arkansas Travelers outlasted Louisville, Birmingham and Corpus Christi to win the 1967 Southern Division title. Louisville and Birmingham nabbed the 2 wild cards.

Peoria defeated the Birmingham Barons 4 games to 2 in their series, while Arkansas knocked off the Louisville Bats in 6 games as well.

Arkansas holds a 1-0 lead in the League Championship Series

The home run title once again went to Fort Wayne's John Beckwith. Beckwith hit 48 home runs, giving him 101 over the last 2 seasons.

Can't wait to see if Mel Ott returns for the 68 season. I assume based on his performance in 67, that he surely will, but one never knows when it comes to the OOTP gods. If he returns it will be fun to see just how close he can get to reaching 700 home runs.

Towards the end of the 67 season, I tuned into a game that featured Rick Reuschel on the mound. Ricks been in the league for quite some time now, but I didn't realize he pitched long enough to lose 200+ games. If he sticks around a little longer, he has the chance to win 200+ as well. The ultimate innings eater. He's accumulated 60+ WAR over the course of his career.

Ad Lankford has emerged as one of the leagues most dominant pitcher in the last few years. He whiffed 300+ batters in 1967. Lankford didn't pitch his first game till he was 30 or 31 years old. Kind of cool to see Lankford(35+ now) emerge at as a star when most are just starting to wind down their careers. It will be interesting to see how many years the game allows Ad to keep on trucking.

Keep waiting to see if the Dayton Dragons will ever return to greatness. The Dragons won 2 International League titles in the very early years of the leagues existence. Since that time the Dragons haven't even sniffed the post season. There have been rumblings that the team may move to Columbus or Omaha, but I'm holding out hope that they stay put.

[David Watts]

Did not see that coming. The Arkansas Travelers swept the 110 win Peoria Chief to win the 1967 League Championship Series. This was Arkansas first league championship. There are now just 4 teams remaining that have yet to win a championship, the Lansing Lugnuts, Biloxi Shuckers, Cedar Rapids Kernels and the Tulsa Drillers. The Lugnuts have been in the International League since its inception, while the other three teams entered as expansion teams.

1968 has begun and as expected pitching is flat out dominating the scene. Ad Lankford was predicted to strikeout a mammoth 435 batters when the pre season predictions came out. I scoffed at this, but a week into June, Lankford already has 146 strikeouts. I watched his first game pitched in June and he whiffed 14 over 8 innings.

John Beckwith is once again smashing home runs left and right. Beckwith is leading the league and started the month of June with a 3 home run game.

Prior the the start of the 68 season, Mel Ott signed a 3 year contract extension with the Birmingham Barons. 700 home runs is not out of the realm of possibilities if he manages to play out that contract. Ott is also on the verge of getting his 3000th hit. Guessing that should happen at some point over the next couple weeks. RBI number 2000 isn't far off either.

Jim Thome also signed a new contract that will keep him in Wisconsin for another 3 years. Pretty cool that the leagues premier power guys have played their entire career with just one team.


Pedro Martinez was elected to the International League Hall of Fame. Martinez joins Hank Aaron and Smoky Burgess as the Halls only 3 members. Was sad to see both Tom Seaver's and Oscar Charleston vote numbers drop from their previous totals this time around.

Yesterday I mentioned the struggles of the once mighty Dayton Dragons. Well, when the predictions were listed, the Dragons were slated to finish in second place in the Northern Division. That's where the Dragons sit to start the month June, in second place a few games behind the Peoria Chiefs. Last years champs the Arkansas Travelers are once again on top of the Southern Division.

I also mentioned Rick Reuschel yesterday. Reuschel is now sitting at 198 wins. 2 more wins and he joins the 200 win club. He will also be he only member of the 200/200 club as well.

George Sisler was the biggest name to enter the league this year.

[David Watts]

Mel Ott is now 50 home runs shy of 700. Amazing. Meanwhile, Ad Lankford is on pace to strikeout 445 batters.

[David Watts]

Ad Lankford just reached 400 strikeouts in a single season. Lankford has 402 strikeouts over 32 games pitched, 249 innings. Guessing he will make 3 more starts in 1968 . His K/9 is currently 14.5

Mel Ott reached 3000 hits and now has 3008. He need 39 home runs to reach 700 and 52 RBI to reach 2000. He has 2048 career walks. 20 years in the league and his career OBP is .408 and his career OPS is .936.

[David Watts]

Duke Snider just became the 4th player to reach 400 home runs. Snider is behind only, Ott 662, Thome 540, and Beckwith 407. Snider has also scored 1318 runs and driven in 1414 over the course of his career. He has a .260 career batting average with a .799 career OPS. Duke has 49.4 WAR.