Update on The Legends

[Spanky]

Legends Update for 10/06/03:

Just a small note to say that everything is going very smoothly.

I'm now done with 1/2 of the 1990's (American League) and have another few days or week before I finish the other 1/2 of the 1990's (Natonal League).

I am also going to include:

(1) the actual League names for each teams minor league system's ... AAA, AA, & A;

(2) Each teams Logo (bmp format);

(3) I will also try to include a stadium for each team. Here I would like to use TEFLONS stadiums - they are simply awesome!
However, the last time I tried using them all the batters (Lefties, Righties and switch hitters) came up to bat standing in the lefties batter box. I've written to Teflon but have never rec'd a reply.
Has anyone any ideas on this issue?

As mentioned earlier - my initial "unedited" Legends League will include 36 teams - six in each division. Each team will have as its core roster those players who were on the team during its best WON-LOST season providing (with a few exceptions) they played in at least 25 games or more. Each team will have an initial roster of 40 players. Of course, you can edit each team to suit your own preferences.

Just imagine - the 1998 Yanks fighting it out with the 1917 Chicago White Sox or the 1933 Philadelphia Athletics or how about the 2001 Mariners battling it out with the 2002 Angels or the 1988 Oakland A's?

Let me know should you have any suggestions regarding the above as I would like to hear from you before I complete this project.

Spanky

[Bohica]

Will you be able to export all the players into a draft pool and then hold a draft. I really like this project, but what I was looking for was a fantasy league of legends. It would be great to have Bonds and Ruth on the same team. Wont happen, but would be cool. Thanks for the update, whatever steps you do will be great. Also I did not know that about Teflons Stadiums, never used them, but I have seen them really amazing!!!

[Spanky]

Reply to question regarding "Draft Pool"

With the exception of each teams 40-man roster, all the other players will be in the FREE AGENT POOL. Since I have not used the "draft" features in OOTP, I'm not sure if this is the same pool as the draft pool you describe above.

However, you can manually draft any player you desire from the Free Agent pool - so, you could have Bonds and Ruth on the same team.

Since I'm here writing, I may as well let you know that I'm almost 3/4 of the way done with the 1990's (remember, I started in 1900) and 1/2 way done with the 1990's National League. And, then its only 2000 to 2002 left to go before I'm done with this 6 month project.

However, that's when the real fun begins as I work to "polish" things up and work on establishing the 36-team, 40-man, rosters.

Remember, the 1st version of the Legends will focus on great teams from the past spiced up with enough players from their era so as to round out a 40-man roster as competitively as possible.

The 2nd edition will focus on the all-time great players on each of their respective teams.

Both versions will be a blast from the past!

Spanky

[Bohica]

Thanks for the update. Also I really cant wait for the second version, that would be great. Anyways Thanks for all your hard work and effort, if you need any advice or help, please let me know? Thanks Spanky

[Spanky]

Well, only about 8 more National League teams to go before I hit the 2000's ...

Last night my old Brooklyn Dodgers (who I tweeked to be just a little better than their rivals) clinched the 1901 National League Pennant beating out their old rivals the Giants by 6 games and posting 100 wins along the way - not easy in the Legends League. The Dodgers best pitcher, Dazzy Vance is 20-15. So, he's taken as many lumps and his dished out!

I've been impressed with the overall statistical performance of the league and I have not even tweeked the numbers in the League setup menu where the league is set to dead-ball era.

While playing these games along the way it has been demonstrated over and over again just how important FIELDING is in this game. My old Dodgers overall are very poor in this area sometimes committing as many as 4-6 errors per game and having to play catch-up ball. This means, in the upcoming LEGENDS LEAGUE fielding ... i.e., fielding .Pct, Range and Arm will be even bigger factors. That is way I have included 100's of supporting players who may not have done well at the plate but who can play additional positions and use the glove!

Looking ahead, I'm starting to think about which baseball STADIUMS to include in the Legends League. I've looked at some of TEFLONS and his are definitely first choice.

However, I'd like to include both the classical and modern ballparks that were actually used by the MLB over the past 100 years. Since I have absolutley no experience is setting up or selecting stadiums or configuring the data for the PARKS.DAT and LEAGUE.DAT (or whatever files).

Is there anyone out in OOTP land who would like to contribute some baseball stadiums and configuration files to the LEGENDS project? If so, write and let me how to contact you.

The "unedited" version of the Legends league contains thousands of players dating back from 1901 to 2002. It will be a must have OOTP mod for us historical baseball fans and your stadiums will be the icing on the cake!

Ps. Logos will be needed to ... any volunteers?

Thanks
Spanky

[Spanky]

Legends League Update (10/10/03)

Happy to say I'm 96% done with the 1990's - only a few expansion teams to sift through before I start on the 2000's.

And, then only 2000 & 2001 to do before I'm finished gleaning players into the database. Oh, but I'm thinking about those
1800's players too! I probably won't go there but who knows!

However, there is still more work to do before I can say I'm finished with the "unedited" version - some of the "polish" I mentioned in my earlier posts.

I'm still waiting for some help and ideas on the best Stadiums and dat files to use. I can't believe nobody has come forward to offer any advice or help with this. Surely, there must be somebody out there who has a great set of "Legs," err ...
Stadiums.

As for Eugene's legitimate concerns regarding player ratings - especially fielding - I only have these observations:
(1) The player ratings including fielding are based upon the particular players overall or whole career beginning with the year he was chosen to be included in the database. So, for example, you may find a player such as Ozzie Smith rated as a "B" and not as an "A" for the year he hit .300+. I have found that is it much more exciting and better for the team to use a player during the year he was more productive with the bat than with the glove.
However, one can always change the ratings. Again, make a backup of the database before you go off and start tinkering with the ratings. This way, you'll always have something to fall back on.
(2) Eventually somebody will come up with a reliable reference tool and, at that point, the ratings can be standarized. But remember, the ratings are based upon the players whole remaining career. This makes things much more exciting and puts more emphasis on fielding substitutions late in the game.

Since teams like the Florida Marlins & Tampa Bay Bucs have such a short team history they will probably be replaced with teams like the 1933 Philadelphia Stars (Athletics) and the New York Black Sox (Giants). The Rockies and DBacks may be left in but populated other respectable players. Of course, you can change any of this to suit your interests.

Now is the time to speak up if you have any ideas on which teams to include and/or team names. Next week, I'll be working to finish off this part of the Legends League.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas. Don't forget the Stadiums!

Spanky

[Eugene Church]

Originally posted by Spanky
Legends Update for 10/06/03:


(3) I will also try to include a stadium for each team. Here I would like to use TEFLONS stadiums - they are simply awesome!
However, the last time I tried using them all the batters (Lefties, Righties and switch hitters) came up to bat standing in the lefties batter box. I've written to Teflon but have never rec'd a reply.
Has anyone any ideas on this issue?


Spanky

I recently saw a post about this...it said you could switch the coordinates in the ballpark editor and correct this.

Sorry, I don't have any knowledge in editing stadium coordinates.

Do a search on "Teflon".
*********************edit*************************
SORRY...I'M ALWAYS A WEEK LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT...YOU ALREADY GOT YOUR ANSWER FROM KTULU.
*********************EDIT************************
Good Luck on your Legends database...it sounds great.

[Boozie1580]

Sounds great, I am really looking forward to this!

[Spanky]

Legends Update 10-13-03

After 6 months and two failed attempts, I'm happy to say that I've finally included almost every major league player from 1900-2002 who was a "gamer" into the Legends League.

This is an awesome database for those of us who enjoy historical baseball.

Now, I'm working on including 34 franchise teams into the league.
I've cut out two teams which were fictional but whose rosters I was going to seed with real players.

So far, the American League East consists of: 1998 Yankees, 1946 Red Sox, 1931 Philadelphia Starts (Athletics), 1992 Toronto Blue Jays, 1969 Baltimore Orioles.

I've got about 10 or so other teams to set up before I'm finished with this step.

Afterwards, I've got to round-out the 40-man rosters for each team. I've decided to use Bill James concept of "Win Shares" as a method to provide balance to whole league. It will be very interesting to see how well his system is in providing the competitive balance for the league. Each team will be alotted approximately the same number of "Win Shares" to start the season.

As you can see, this is going to take a little extra time to put together but it will be well worth the wait.

I figured out how to use Teflon's modern parks but I would really prefer having access to some old-time classic ballparks with DAT files. IS THERE ANYBODY WHO CAN HELP OUT IN THIS REGARD?

(Sidebar: My Brooklyn Dodgers who won 102 games played the Philadelphia Athletics who won 93 games in the World Series. Guess who won? Yep, the bums lost! The A's beat them pillar to post 5 games to 2).

Well, that's the rest of the story ...

Spanky

[Goodsox]

Sounds like it will be fantastic!!

[Spanky]

HISTORICAL LEAGUE PLAY
VOTES NEEDED


Here's the issue: there are two modes of play in OOTP - "REPLAY" mode and "CAREER" mode.

"Replay mode" resets most of the accumulated stats to zero (keeping best stats only in the record books) and offers the choice of replaying the same season over and over again.
For example: If one had just finished playing the 1901 season the only choice is to "RESET" the season stats to zero and begin the next season by starting the same year all over again.

"Career mode" allows the user to "roll stats over" to the next year and keeps accumulated records for every other year in which a season is played. The downside for historical leagues is that players age and develop. In otherwords, the historical effects of players change. Players in the FREE AGENT pool would also age and change.

This means that, at some point, the historical leagues would run out of a significant number of players who may or may not have played (due to the large number of players in the database).
In otherwords, the database would soon become "exhausted" - excuse the pun!

So, here's the issue and vote:

1) How many of you would be in favor of a 'REPLAY" mode which does not allow for aging and development but includes the option of "rolling stats and salaries, etc." over to following years?
This way, one could play as many seasons as they want and have each players and each teams stats accumulate year by year.
This would allow for 'CAREER" mode play without aging and development.

Vote: "YES" on the "REPLAY ROLLOVER" Prop.

2) How many of you are happly with the way the two modes are set up now?

Vote: "NO" - I'm happy eating chicken pot-pie!

Spanky

[Spanky]

Legends Update 10-16-03

Well, I'm 98% done adding players to the database and I've set up the basic outline for the 2 leagues - looks like its going to be 36 teams - 3 divisions and 6 teams per division. In order to do this I created some fictional teams, ie., in the AL West I added Portland and Sacramento and in the NL West I added Pasadena.

Note: Portland is really the 2002 RedSox, Sacramento is the 2002 Athletics and, Pasadena is the 1996 Dodgers.

You may delete these teams anytime before the beginning of a season and the players will simply go back into the Free Agent Pool. All the players are "tagged" for easy identification.

By the way, I'm hoping you will read my posts regarding the "Replay Mode" and take a moment to stop into my other forum here in OOTP MODS and take the poll. I'm hoping you'll vote "Yes" on the issue.

In any case, I will now be setting up each teams 40-man roster using Bill James Win-Share concept. Afterward that, I will delete some of the more "unworthy" duplicates from the database and then, finally, be done with the "unedited" version of Spankys Legends. Hopefully, I can get this done within the next 2 to 3 weeks or sooner.

Also, I did get some of Teflon's stadiums to work and will most likely include them with the Legends League including the DAT files. I will also include a logo for each team.

The "Legends League" - reliving the fun of baseballs past, present and future.

Damn Cubs - congratulations to the Florida Marlins. They played like Champs!

Spanky

[Spanky]

Just a minor update (10/20/03)

Whew! For the most part, I'm finally done importing players into the database. Of course, as I'm putting the rosters and lineups together, I'm still dipping into the cookie factory and grabbing a few more players here and there.

So far, I've put together 4 outta 36 team rosters: Anaheim 2002,
Atlanta 199? (My mind is numb), Arizona 2001; Baltimore 1969.
Each one of these teams is comprised of the "core" 20 (+) or (-)
best players on the team that year. The remaining 20-25 players
making up the team roster are selected from "years" nearest
to the year they played on that team.

Each of the four teams I've set up so far have an average payroll of $79 Mil and $51-Mil left for extensions & 12.7 Mil for Free Agents. How does this sound?

Not surprisingly, I'm having a hard time deleting duplicates - I simply like and enjoy having "everybody" in the database.
Why? Because, many players had almost identical stats in different seasons playing for different teams. So, for the most part, I'm going to leave them "all" in the database for the "unedited" version. It will be up to "you" to decide who stays and who goes. For example, if your a pirates fan, you can select Barry Bonds from his days in Pitttsburgh. Or, as a Giants fan you can choose his stats from his San Fran days.

Remember, be sure to make a backup copy or two or three before you start modifying the database or league. That way, you can create as many different scenarios in the "snap" of a finger. Some of you may not like my idea of listing each player in the database as follows: Mantle'61Y (For: Mickey Mantle 1961 Yankees). This gets a little long when it comes to a player like Davey Concepcion'76R or a player with a longer last name.

However having each players "ID Tag" as I call it, makes putting teams together a snap and its more fun to know which year's
version of a player or players is doing the job. Of course, you could delete the tags if they bother you.

Its taking a little longer to build each roster than I first imagined in part because of the financial aspects of setting salaries, contracts and team finances. I am sure "you" will greatly enjoy playing and modifying the Legends League.

I'd be more than happy to hear anybody's thoughts, ideas, or suggestions.

Spanky

[jened]

bump

[Spanky]

Creating rosters is a lot more time consuming that I thought - seems like I'm likely to get one a night done. So far: Anaheim 2002, Atlanta'93, Arizone'01, Baltimore'69, Brooklyn'53, and Chicago Cubs'06. Not surprisingly, the Cubs have phenomenal pitching, great fielding, stealing and running abilities. Their hitting pales in comparison to the other teams but they just keep coming at you ... you can't afford to make many mistakes. They beat Brooklyn'53 in a practice game 5-0. (Yes, I'm taking time out to do a little playing!). The winning pitcher was J.Pfiester and the losing pitcher was C.Erskine. The night before Brookly'53 just edged out the Angels'02 by a score of 3-2. D.Newcombe over C.Finley. The Angels have a solid bullpen and they showed up to hold the bums to just 3 runs.

So far, I'm very pleased and excited over the progress of the Legends League. This database will save so much time in setting up and creating new leagues that we will all have more time to enjoy playing the game instead of working on the game.

I've still got to finish the financials for the Cubs and then
its onto the Chicago White Sox 1917 team (at least that's what I think it is ... don't have my notes with me).

Spanky

[asaintsfan]

Dude????? Put out what you have - Id love to play a couple of these matchups you already have completed!!

Thanks ahead of time for what appears to be one of the best roster sets to come.

[Spanky]

The Legends League - Where The Past, Present, & Future Collide

Just a minor update - I've got 10 or 11 of 36 team rosters made up. This has been more "time" consuming than I had envisioned but its a lot more fun than gleaning players into the database.

At this point, I can see that some teams will need a revision so as not to be undermatched with some of the more powerful teams.

Last night I finished up with the Colorado Rockies'93 and the Detroit Tigers'68. I had to dig deep to bolster the Rockies pitching rotation but they don't have as much depth as other teams. But, I'm sure, GM's will have fun working on the bullpen.

The reverse was true for the Tigers - great pitching but definitely lacking at the plate. So, I scrapped together as good a lineup as possible from 1950 to 1983 (most players are from the 60's).

In a practice game with the Brooklyn Dodgers'53 Denny McLain out-pitched Don Newcombe as the Tigers won 4-3 on a two base throwing error from the outfield. Dick McAuliffe slugged an early 2-run HR and Duke Snider answered with one of his own but it was not enough to overcome the pumped up Tigers.

Here is but a small note on how the financials are being worked up. I have looked up and noted each players "Win/Shares" for the season he representing on the roster. For example, let's say Al Kaline had 20 Win/Shares for 1961. Since I'm assigning $100,000 per Win/Share this means his annual salary would be $2,000,000. But I'm allowing for a discount if the player is signed up for multiple seasons (usually not more than 2 yrs and seldomly for 3 yrs). So, if Al Kaline were signed up for 2 yrs his annual salary might be $2,500,000 or so. This way, knowing that you'll have to pay the balance of his contract, one would think twice before replacing him with another "all-time" great or even another duplicate of the same player, i.e., Al Kaline'56 (Al Kaline and his stats for 1956). Of course, using the games "editing" features one can actually do anything they desire and not be committed by my financial planning.

Upwards and onwards - its the Houston Astros'98 this evening -
the "Killer Bees."

Spanky

[Spanky]

Just a minor word before the weekend sets in and the Halloween fun begins ...

14 out of 36 team rosters are done. The Kansas Royals'77 and Houston Astros'98 and the Los Angeles Dodgers'74 have been born into the league. The Royals'77 and Astros'98 were a little tough since as expansion teams they do not share a long history with other teams. The Dodgers'74 were difficult too as they only took roots in L.A. in 1958. And, they are sandwiched in between the Brooklyn Dodgers'53 and the LA Dodgers'96 (The LA Dodgers'96 have had their name chg'd to Pasadena. Remember, I made up a few teams (who are really other MLB teams in disguise) so as to have 2 leagues, 3 divisions and 6 teams each.
There won't be any slackers in the Legends League. And, I'm purposely avoiding many teams whose "year" included the performance of many "all-time" greats so that there will be alot
of activity in bidding on players from the Free Agent Pool - imagine getting a Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson,
Joe DiMaggio, and on and on, as a free agent? Of course, in this high-salary, payroll busting environment, money is tight and each GM will be plotting, scheming, and stratigizing to find a way to
bring that big franchise player to his/her team. But, after the big bucks are spent, what if your big star gets hurt? Oh well.

The Astros with the "killer Bees" have a potent lineup and above average pitching - Mike Scott is their ace. They Royals have a very good lineup that includes George Brett and Bret Saberhagen on the mound. The L.A. Dodgers will have that old vaunted infield of Garvey, Russell, Lopes, and Cey - an aging Maury Wills is still stealing a few bases here and there too. I was happy to see one of my old favorites - Reggie Smith, too. Always known for their fine pitching, the Dodgers have Andy Messersmith as their #1 starter. Of course, they will have one of the premier pitching staffs in the league to include Iron Man Mike Marshall as their closer.

The LA Dodgers'74 lost in a practice game with the Brooklyn Dodgers'53 (temporarily named the Bridegroooms) 9-6. The game was scoreless for 4 1/2 innings until Brooklyn scored 4 times in the bottom frame as Messersmith reeled from one hit after the other coming off the bats of Snider and Campanella.
However, the LA teams rallied for 5 runs in the top of the 5th only to succumb to the constant hitting attack of Brooklyn in the end.

This weekend its on to Milwaukee Brewers, Montreal Expos,
Minnesota Twins, etc.

Happy Halloween All
Spanky

[Spanky]

The NY Giants'13, NY Mets'86, Milwaukee Brewers'82, Minnesota Twins'65, Montreal Expos'93, and NY Yankees'98 have joined the Legends League.

In a practice game held in one of Teflon's ballparks, the M & M field, home of the mighty Yankees, the Brookly Dodgers'53 squared off against the NY Yankees'98.

The Dodgers sent Clem Labine to the hill and the Yanks gave the ball to an aging Ron Guidry. The Yankee sluggers made their presence felt almost immediately as they opened up their home half of the 1st inning by scoring 5 runs off the beleagured Labine.

The Bronx Bombers lit up the stadium before the fans were even in their seats by pounding out 3 doubles in the first inning off the bats of Dion James'93, Jason Giambi'00 and Don Pasqua'86.
Robin Ventura'99 added a solo blast to cap off the 5 run uprising.

Pee Wee Reese'53 opened the Dodger 2nd inning with a solo blast and the Dodgers added another 3 runs in the top of the third to close the gap to 5-4.

However, the mighty Yanks pushed another 3 runs across in the bottom of the fourth to take what looked like a commanding 8-4 lead. Labine was yanked after only 3 2/3 innings having surrendered 8 hits and allowing 5 earned runs. The ball was handed over to Johnny Podres'53 who went on to silence the Yankee bats and scattering 3 hits over the next 4 innings.

The Dodger bats finally woke up in the top half of the 8th as Guidry'85 was tiring. The Dodger uprising resulted in 3 runs before Guidry'85 was sent to the showers and the Yankees called upon their bullpen to shut the Dogers down. Graham Lloyd'98 and Mariano Rivera'98 combined for 1.1 innings of hitless pitching to shut the door on the Dodger attack and preserve an 8-7 win for the home team.

After the game Spanky, who was managing the Dodgers was asked where might have gone wrong by coming up a buck short.
He said, "Maybe I left Clem out there one or two batters too long.
Or, maybe I should've just started old Johnny instead. I'm sure we'd lick'em the next time!"

The Yankee's pounded out 11 hits to include 3 by Paul O'Neil'98 and 2 by Jason Giambi'00. Derek Jeter'98 and Alfonso Soriano'00 each had a stolen base.

Ironically, the Dodgers out hit the Yankee sluggers 15 to 11 as
Babe Herman'43 and Jim Gilliam'53 contributed 3 hits apiece and Campanella'53, Hodges'53 and Snider'53 kicked in 2 hits each.

Ron Guidry'85 was the winning pitcher but his outting was less than stellar as he got pounded for 15 hits and surrendered 7 earned runs over 7 2/3 innings. When asked after the game why he took such a beating Guidry'85 simply said, "Hey, they handed me the ball and I was up against a tough bunch of guys on the other side. Its days like today that make be think about retirement."

That's all today folks - stay tuned.


Spanky

[Spanky]

The Legends League

The Pasadena Trolleys'96 have been added to the the National League West as an expansion team (they are really the 1996 Dodgers). Unfortunately, at this time, they are a very weak team.
They might get a good #3 and #6 hitter before I finish with them but, unlike other teams, I will have to break with tradition and assign a couple players from out of the organization. The same goes with the pitching staff.

This weekend I will be adding: Philadelphia Phillies'77 (both the Phils and another expansion team, the Philadelphia As'33 (temporarily named the Stars'33 - they should give the Yankees'98 a good run for the money in the A.L. East).

After this the remaining teams are: Pittsburgh Pirates'09, Portland Beavers'02, San Diego Padres'98, San Francisco Giants'62, Seattle Mariners'01, St. Louis Cardinals'42, St. Louis Browns'44, Texas Rangers'89, Toronto Blue Jays'92 and Washington Senators'33.

Since I'm only getting one team done per week day evening and maybe two on Sat and two on Sun, I just may be done with this phase of the Legends League within the next 7-10 days.

Afterwards, I've got to:

(1) finish up the payrolls for about 25 teams but this goes much faster since I'm not having to hunt and pick through the books scouting for players to embellish rosters with.
I've actually found this phase to be much more tedious and time consuming than importing players into the database - that was almost mindless in comparison!

(2) Go over each roster and make a few adjustments here and there. Add/delete/change a few players.

(3) Clean up the Free Agent pool - just some minor housework.

(4) Format a dozen or more Stadiums so that each team has its own ballpark.

And, then I will be done with the first "unedited" version of the Legends League. Remember, I said I would make an uneditied version available so that YOU could choose which players you want to keep or discard or fill your rosters with - the possibilities are nearly endless!

Spanky