Historical League Tips

[jdw]

One of these years, our more experienced Historical League players here should put together a simple FAQ/Tips Post that can get dragged from OOTPxx version to the next. Updated as needed given changes in the game.

There just is a ton in the game that is non-obvious / non-simple, and not always the best documents/explained in the manuals. I find myself always asking our gurus questions every few versions when I come back, and if I can't easily find answers via Mr. Searchy up in the corner. I feel like I'm being a pest sometimes when asking people.

Anway, an example of one of the things not always documented in the next post.

[niu354]

Is there a specific section or page on the wiki that would make sense? One thing that might be useful are suggested/realistic settings not depicted in the game by default.

[jdw]

Post-Star/Import Free Agent Pool

Always check Transactions --> All Free Agents for players who are unassigned to teams.

Some players will be in this buckets as they Debuted prior to the Current Year, didn't play in the Current Year, and will return in a Later Year.

OOTP in its current form doesn't know what to do with these players, so it places then in the FA bucket. If you as the Commish do nothing with them, any player of value in that bucket will be "signed" by teams as you advance the days.

Example:

1970 is one of my common starting seasons to make a career run from. There are 59 players in the Free Agent pool. Many of them are meaningless and will have no impact on the game if you ignore them. However:

Carlton Fisk

Called up in 1969 for a sip of coffee. Returned in 1971 for a cup of coffee before his rookie year in 1972. It can be jarring if you advance the game, and at some point notice Fisk on the Senators rather than the Red Sox.

Toby Harrah

Cup of coffee in 1969, didn't play in MLB in 1970, had his rookie year in 1971. This actually is even more problematic than Fisk. The Senators/Rangers produced very little talent of their own in the 1970s. If you're running a league where players are automatically assigned to the team they debuted with, the Rangers are doomed by this.

Those are the two big ones.

There are smaller ones like Ron Blomberg & Tony Solaita + Bill Robinson of the Yankees all being on the FA List. If you were to manually GM the Yankees, this is a 1B/DH trio that would cover most of the 1970s with solid hitting for most of 1971-79 with LHB+RHB combo. It is basically a "position" the Yanks would be cost by them being Free Agents.

Ramon Hernandez comes back from the Mexican League to become a good LHP reliever for the Pirates from 1972-75, who could Recalc well in both 1971 & 1976 if you're using 3 year Recalc. I always find value in "positive" RPs in the pen rather than guys I fear being called on or using myself.

So review this List. Assign or "Sign" then onto their proper team/organization using the Commish powers in the fashion you see fit.

I typically Open Report in the Report drop down, then Open In Browser to get a List. Copy & Paste that into Excel. Then check each person in Baseball-Reference to see their Transactions and which team's roster they should be on, placing it in a new column. Example below.

Some will be complicated.

If someone on the List is a "free agent" in Real Life at the start of the year, but very soon gets signed by a team, I typically just assign that player to that team. That team basically benefited from that player for most of the year, I'm starting my league run in that season... it fits for them to be on that team.

In the end, three players were complicated forcing me to make it up on the fly what to do with them.

Zoilo Versalles
April 6, 1970: Released by the Washington Senators.
May 31, 1971: Purchased by the Atlanta Braves from Gomez Palacio (Mexican).

Truly a Free Agent the whole season in Real Life. His ratings are not good. He was washed up when he returned in 1971.

Ramon Hernandez
March 31, 1970: Released by the St. Louis Cardinals.
February 10, 1971: Traded by Mexico City Reds (Mexican) to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Danilo Rivas.

In Mexico all season. As mentioned, he's a Good RP in 1972-75, with a chance of being good in 1971 & 1976.

Curt Flood
October 7, 1969: Traded by the St. Louis Cardinals with Byron Browne, Joe Hoerner and Tim McCarver to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Jerry Johnson and Cookie Rojas. Curt Flood refused to report to his new team. The St. Louis Cardinals sent Willie Montañez (April 8, 1970) and Jim Browning (August 30, 1970) to the Philadelphia Phillies to complete the trade.

November 3, 1970: Traded by the Philadelphia Phillies with a player to be named later to the Washington Senators for Greg Goossen, Gene Martin and Jeff Terpko. The Philadelphia Phillies sent Jeff Terpko (April 10, 1971) to the Washington Senators to complete the trade.

Flood was historic and at the very least rare if not unique.

There likely will always be a few like these three where you need to use a little judgement on what to do with them.

[jdw]

Originally Posted by niu354

Is there a specific section or page on the wiki that would make sense? One thing that might be useful are suggested/realistic settings not depicted in the game by default.

What "wiki'?

This is one of the quirky things for someone who has been coming here since 2003 when there are questions and they're not in the Manual(s).

Or in the case of the Tip that I gave above - wouldn't be something for the Manual, but a Historical Player should learn. It actually is something that I tend to forget when taking one of my 3-5 year breaks from the game... only to find Carlton Fisk playing on the Dodgers without being traded there.