A New York State Of Mind: Replaying the New York Highlanders/New York Yankees History, 1903-Present - Page 5

gollum65 · 01-28-2009, 10:49 AM

1918 Season Recap:

Final 1918 Standings:

1918 New York Yankees Leaders & Rankings:

1918 Year In Review:
As I indicated in a previoius post, this season was not much of a challenge for the Yankees, or the Pirates for that matter. Both teams led wire to wire and were never really challenged. The Yankees are making their 3rd straight World Series appearance, and will face Pittsburgh for the 4th time in World Series history. It's tough to say which team has been more dominant in this era. The Highlanders/Yankees are appearing in their 8th World Series, and had 5 straight appearances from 1908-1912. The Pirates are making their 9th World Series appearance, and have made 6 trips to the Fall Classic this decade.

Babe Ruth's Transition To Hitting:
The good thing about having such an easy season is that it gave me the freedom to move Babe Ruth out of the pitching staff and really start working on his hitting. Ruth started 10 games from April till July, compiling a 5-2 record with a 3.88 ERA. In between his starts, I did as suggested by CaptainCarl, giving him at least 1 start in the field every week. After July 1st, Ruth was taken out of the pitching staff and spent the rest of the season platooning at 1B,3B, LF, CF, & RF. While his fielding wasn't exactly stellar, especially in the outfield, it was his hitting that I was watching. The Bambino got 313 at bats, compiling a .265 average with no homers & 30 RBIs. He had a .327 OBP, a .323 slugging %, a .649 OPS, and drew 28 walks while striking out 38 times. Ruth as a hitter is currently rated at 6/6/2/6/7. His pots are the same as when he was a rookie, 10/9/11/10/7

1918 New York Yankees Transactions:

September 5, 1918: Signed P Hank Robinson to a 2 year extension @ $45,000 per year
As you can guess by the date of the transaction, this was a long, drawn out negotiation process. Robinson started the season asking for over $60k per year for 4 years, but I couldn't justify that for a guy who at the time had only won more then 17 games once in his career. He flip flopped between demanding too much money and refusing to negotiate until after the trade deadline, then we got down to more serious negotiations. I guess all those attempts I made to trade him in July got him to soften his stance.

1918 World Series Recap:

Game 1 @ Pittsburgh: Lefty Caldwell made up for his own error by pitching a complete game, giving up 4 runs on 12 hits, 2 earned to beat the Pirates 5-2. The Yankees lead the series 1 game to none.

Game 2 @ Pittsburgh: The Yanks took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 12th inning, but Buddy Napier couldn't hold it. Pirates RF Bill Davidson scored the tying run with 1 out in the bottom of the 12th. One out later, Babe Ruth committed his 3rd error of the game, allowing Pirates 1B George Kelly to score and the Pirates won the game 4-3. The series is now tied at one game each.

Game 3 @ New York: The Yankees & Pirates combined to use 9 pitchers as a hitting barrage broke out in the Polo Grounds. The 2 teams scored 29 runs on 41 hits in 13 innings as the Pirates outlasted the Yankees 15-14. Pittsburgh now leads the series 2 games to 1 and has recaptured home field advantage.

Game 4 @ New York: The Pirates took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th, but Beals Becker led off with a home run. That was followed by a 1 out double by Johnny Bassler, an intentional walk to George Burns, and a walkoff triple by Dan Bancroft as the Yankees came back to win 2-1. I know. The scoring doesn't make sense. I guess the game never plated Burns' run. Anywho, the series is now tied at 2 games each.

Game 5 @ New York: The Pirates took a 4-0 lead after 3 innings over Lefty Caldwell, then coasted to a 5-3 win. The Pirates now leads the series 3 games to 2 going back to Pittsburgh.

Game 6 @ Pittsburgh: Hank Robinson pitched a complete game, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks, but it was enough to pick up the win 4-3. The series is tied again, 3 games each.

Game 7 @ Pittsburgh: The Yankees had a 3-0 lead after the 1st inning, but the Pirates kept chipping away. They scored 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the 3rd, another unearned run in the bottom of the 5th, and the series winning run in the bottom of the 6th as the Pirates came back to win 4-3.

Pittsburgh wins the series 4 games to 3.

World Series Tally:
Real Yankees: 26
My Yankees: 4

gollum65 · 01-28-2009, 08:49 PM

While I work through the offseason, I thought I'd share some stories with you guys about a player before his era was completely gone. We all know about some of the most famous "characters" in basball history. Mark Fidrych. Bob Uecker. "Spaceman" Bill Lee. But it seems to me there's one guy who has been lost in the annals of baseball history, and he might have been the craziest of all. His name was George Edward "Rube" Waddell.

Rube Waddell was a hall of fame pitcher who played for 5 different teams from 1897 to 1910. During his career he won 193 games, had a 2.16 career ERA, and had over 2000 strikeouts. Walter Johnson called Rube the greatest pitcher he ever saw. Waddell struck out over 300 batters in 1903 and 1904. Nobody would post back to back 300 strikeout seasons again until Sandy Koufax in the 1960s.

But it was Rube's "personality" that really made him famous. There are many stories about Rube Waddell, some of which were probably true, and others maybe not so much. Here are some of the more famous stories...

*Rube was allegedly so bad at holding onto money that the A's once paid him in dollar bills, hoping he'd spend it more slowly, and this was after they paid half his salary to his wife.

*Back in those days players not only shared the same room on the rood, they usually slept in the same bed. Rube's catcher had a provision put in Waddell's contract that prohibited Rube from eating crackers in bed. <---- Too much information!

*Several times over his career, during preseason games, Waddell would send his infielders & outfielders to the sidelines so he could strike out the side with no defensive support other then his catcher.

*One of more legendary stories about Rube was that he would often run off the mound or out of the dugout during a game to chase fire trucks. The truth has never really been known. Waddell was a volunteer fireman who was apparently fascinated by fires, but there was never a documented incident of Rube running out during a major league game.

*Two of the more stranger facts about Rube Waddell were the dates of his birth, and death. Rube Waddell was born on October 13, 1876 - Friday the 13th. He died on April 1st, 1914

*Rube was reportedly the first pitcher to record a "pefect inning" - striking out all 3 batters he faced on just 9 pitches. This occurred on July 1, 1902 in Rube's first home appearance for the Philadelphia Athletics. What's even more amazing is that the American League hadn't even adopted the foul strike rule yet.

There's lots of good reading about Rube Waddell if you're interested. There are a couple of books about him you can find on Amazon. There's rubewaddell.net, and you can look him up on Baseball Almanac for some more info.

gollum65 · 01-30-2009, 09:50 AM

Offseason Recap & 1919 Season Preview:

Hall Of Fame Inductees: P Doc White, P Christy Mathewson, P Addie Joss, P Bill Donovan, P Rube Waddell
White & Donovan are not in the real hall of fame, but they earned it in my league. In this league Christy Mathewson won 378 games, Doc White won 286 games, Addie Joss won 270, Bill Donovan won 262, and Rube Waddell won 192 games. Rube Waddell's numbers were very similar to his real life numbers. Just like in the real MLB, Waddell had back to back 300+ strikeout seasons in 1904 & 1905. He retires as the #2 career strikeout pitcher in my league behind Christy Mathewson.

Yankees 1918 Award Winners: P Lefty Caldwell won his 2nd straight AL Most Valuable Pitcher Award. 2B Dave Bancroft won his 2nd straight AL Gold Glove. SS Stuffy McInnis won his 2nd straight & 3rd career AL Gold Glove. RF Beals Becker won his 5th career AL Gold Glove.

Yankees Draft Recap: Our first pick in the draft was a guy named George Winn. Not much else to discuss for the Yankees. Frankie Frisch was the most famous name from this draft. He was taken by the White Sox #2 overall.

Notable Offseason Transactions: One move basically precipitated a few others. I decided to void the last contract year on C Johnny Bassler because a better catcher was slated to be available in free agency. Also released Pol Perritt as I felt his arbitration award was going to be too much.

December 4, 1918: Signed free agent LF Armando Marsans to a 1 year contract @ $1,800
Marsans can't hit very much, but he's a great defensive outfielder and he's got great speed.

January 19, 1919: Signed free agent C Steve O'Neil to a 3 year contract @ $67,000 per year (year 3 is a mutual option)
This was the catcher I wanted to replace Bassler. His current ratings are 8/8/2/7/10 and he's a gold glove worthy defensive catcher. He's already won 3 gold gloves in the NL with the Pirates.

February 14, 1919: Traded CF George Burns, CF Pat Maloney, 1B Ted Cather, & a minor league catching prospect to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcoate & infielder Frank O'Rourke
I wasn't happy with Burns' production, and I needed to cut some costs after the O'Neil signing. But Heathcoate wasn't exactly what I was looking for either....

February 15, 1919: Traded CF Cliff Heathcoate & C Frank Snyder to Cleveland for CF Braggo Roth
Roth has unbelievable speed and is better defensively then Heathcoate.

February 29, 1919: Signed free agent C Ivey Wingo to a 1 year contract @ $3,500
With all the catchers I lost in the offseason, I needed to add some depth back.

March 4, 1919: Signed free agent CF Frank Butcher to a minor league contract
After I traded all my center fielders, I needed some depth. Butcher runs like the wind and is very good defensively.

April, 1919: Signed 1B Wally Pipp, P Lefty Caldwell, and IF/OF Babe Ruth to contract extensions
These deals were struck during spring training. They were to avoid messy contract situations next season.

Strengths: Our pitching battery will still be excellent, and we've added a ton of speed on the basepaths. We just need guys to get on base so they can run.

Weaknesses: We're still kind of weak at 3B because Ruth's bat hasn't developed a lot yet, and Jack Barry isn't a top drawer 3rd baseman. CF will be a weak spot.

Projected Record: The Yankees won 94 games the last 2 seasons. I think this team is a little weaker. I'll predict 87 wins. That would put us right in the mix for the AL pennant.

1919 Budget: $393,000

1919 Opening Day Salaries:

1919 Opening Day Roster:

gollum65 · 01-31-2009, 09:01 AM

1919 Season Recap:

Final 1919 Standings:

1919 New York Yankees Leaders & Rankings:

1919 Year In Review:
Well my first problem was that I didn't realize until mid-September that it was a 140 game season. Clearly had I had those extra 14 games, there's a good chance I would have caught the Red Sox. Cleveland actually led the AL on September 1st, with the Red Sox 2nd and the Yankees 3rd, 5.5 games back. The Indians collapsed, the Red Sox sprinted, and we tried to keep up. We lost 3 of 5 to the Red Sox in September, which basically cost us our 5th straight trip to the World Series. In the NL, the Pirates cruised to an easy pennant, clinching in early September.

Babe Ruth:
Ruth wasn't showing much progression during the season. He was having a very good year, hovering around .300 for the whole season, but he wasn't improving and was still not showing any power. He hit only 1 homer in 1919 for me. So I decided in late July to end the 50/50 platoon with Jack Barry and traded Barry, who was unhappy anyway. Ruth still didn't progress through the end of the season, but at least he started every game. I may move him into the outfield next season if I can move one of my current outfielders. Ruth just doesn't seem to be taking well to being a 3rd baseman. He comitted 65 errors this season, most in the majors by far.

Braggo Roth:
Roth was the big surprise for the Yankees. He batted .305 with 5 homers, 56 RBIs, and 50 stolen bases. He's due a big pay raise now in arbitration, and he clearly earned it.

Walter Johnson:
Right after the trading deadline passed, I noticed that Cleveland had waived Walter Johnson. The Big Train's pots have improved and he seems to have regained his throwing speed. He won 20 games last season, so maybe he's turning it around. So I claimed him off waivers. He's still a 1 star player, but I'll stick him at the bottom of the rotation and see what he does next year. He's still only 31 years old.

1919 New York Yankees Transactions:

July 28, 1919: Traded C Ivey Wingo & $1,300 to Washington for 2 catching prospects
I was surprised when Wingo demanded a trade in June because he expected to be a top of the lineup hitter. He was never known for his bat. So I was happy to oblige him. The 2 guys I got back weren't much, but they can both serve as ML bench players.

July 29, 1919: Traded 3B John Barry to the St. Louis Cardinals for P Lou Bauer & $5,000 cash
Bauer is a very good pitching prospect. He put up a 1.57 ERA in AA this year

July 31, 1919: Traded P Buddy Napier, P Red Oldham, & $6,900 cash to Washington for P Dan Woodman & P Pat Murray
Napier wanted over $40k next year, and while he pitched very well for me, I didn't feel he was worth that kind of money. Woodman and Murray are both very good prospects, and they're both under 26 years old.

1919 World Series Recap:
The Red Sox were making their 1st World Series appearance since 1905, while the Pirates are perenial favorites in the National League. The series went the full 9 games, with Boston winning their 2nd World Series title.

Real Baseball History:
Of course this was the year of the Black Sox in the real MLB when they threw the World Series and lost to the Reds in 8 games. The players involved were banned for life about a year later. Most famous of course was Shoeless Joe Jackson.

The real Shoeless Joe probably would have been a Hall of Famer had he kept playing. He had 1772 hits before he was thrown out of the game in 1920. The Shoeless Joe in my game is on his way to being a Hall of Famer. To date he has 1646 hits and a .301 lifetime average.

I've been thinking about this whole situation and what I would do in my game with the players involved. I could have mimicked real life by "retiring" all of them in 1920. But I decided that the stain scandal doesn't happen in OOTP, so why should I punish the players in my league for it? Now, had Chicago made the World Series this year and lost in 8 games, I might have changed my mind.

Finally, this was basically the end of the "deadball era". It kind of continued through 1920, but by 1921 the balls were flying out of the park with great regularity. This was due to 2 main factors. First was the Black Sox scandal. The other was the death of Ray Chapman in 1920 after he got hit by a pitched ball that he supposedly couldn't see coming. After Chapmans death, baseball changed how the ball was constructed, and ordered umps to make sure the ball in play was always clean and white. There were other factors, such as the spitball which was also banned, but those were the main 2. That gave rise to Babe Ruth and the hitting happy roaring '20s.

gollum65 · 02-01-2009, 11:03 AM

Offseason Recap & 1920 Season Preview:

Hall Of Fame Inductees: 2B Johnny Evers, 2B Miller Huggins
Huggins is in the hall for his managing, not his on the field play. I decided to induct him anyway to preserve continuity. Evers was a hall of famer on the field and was part of the famous "Tinker to Evers to Chance" Chicago Cubs infield. He was most famous however for his role in the "Merkle Boner" play detailed in an earlier post that propelled the Cubs to the World Series in 1908, the last time they've won it in real life.

Yankees 1919 Award Winners: P Hank Robinson won his 2nd AL Most Valuable Pitcher award. Yankees pitchers have won 4 straight. 2B Dave Bancroft won his 3rd straight AL Gold Glove. LF Ken Williams won his 1st AL Gold Glove. Babe Ruth did NOT win a gold glove. I think he was made of swiss cheese.

Yankees Draft Recap: There were a couple of famous names in this draft. Most notable was Pie Traynor who went to the Indians. Not sure how OF Bob Meusel fell to my pick, but he did. In real life he played 10 seasons for those powerhouse Yankee teams of the 1920s.

Notable Offseason Transactions:
Quite a few new faces in New York this season as I try to retool for the 1920s. The most notable departure was Beals Becker. He had an option year which I declined that paved the way for Babe Ruth to move to RF.

Pete Alexander Acquisition:
Better known as "Grover Cleveland Alexander", who won 373 games in real life, this Pete Alexander was not developed properly in my league. While his pots and ratings are still there, he's now just a 1 star pitcher. He was the #1 overall pick by the Browns in 1909, but he's only won 18 games in the majors so far. Another reclamation project comes to New York. I bought his rights off the Giants for $1500, roughly the value of his contract. Time will tell if he and Walter Johnson can ressurect their careers at the bottom of my rotation.

November 22, 1919: Signed free agent 3B Charlie Deal to a 1 year contract @ $4,500
Deal will play 3rd base now that Barry is gone and Ruth is moving to the outfield.

Strengths: Our bullpen and lineup should be strong, if the game remembers that players started hitting home runs now. The top 2 pitchers in our rotation are great.

Weaknesses: The bottom of the rotation, with Johnson, Alexander, & Vance will be a big questionmark.

Projected Record: Only because I don't know what I'm getting out of my rotation am I going to the low end here. I'm going to predict around a .500 record, about 78 to 80 wins.

1920 Budget: $387,018

1920 Opening Day Salaries:

1920 Opening Day Roster:

gollum65 · 02-01-2009, 11:33 AM

Almost missed a HoF inductee. P Ed Walsh won 195 games in real life and was inducted. In my league he won 197 games, so I inducted him despite a higher lifetime ERA.

PhillieFever · 02-01-2009, 11:46 AM

Wow,you sure have the Yankees alright.A payroll pf about $325,00(once your 4 rookies play a game) in 1920!! Whats the league average about $150,000? I love the fact that they're(and you're) so aggressive,it keeps the rest of the league on their toes by making them compete the only way they can,by drafting and scouting well.I often wondered how good they'd be if they just bit the bullet for a couple of years and put their money into scouting and the draft to build a team from the ground up.I think they could be like they were in the 40's and 50's,I really do.Sooner or later you would think that they would,because what they're doing now isn't working.

gollum65 · 02-01-2009, 12:11 PM

Actually, I have the #4 budget & #5 payroll. The league average payroll is about $290k. There are 3 teams with payrolls over $400k (Red Sox, Giants, Pirates). Remember, I've had free agency going since the start of the franchise. No reserve clause to keep salaries down.

PhillieFever · 02-01-2009, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gollum65

Actually, I have the #4 budget & #5 payroll. The league average payroll is about $290k. There are 3 teams with payrolls over $400k (Red Sox, Giants, Pirates). Remember, I've had free agency going since the start of the franchise. No reserve clause to keep salaries down.

Thats right,I forgot about that.I'm surprised to see the Buccos up there,considering they're in such a small market.

gollum65 · 02-02-2009, 07:42 AM

Your post really got me thinking however, and I'm probably going to restart this dynasty. Supposedly about the max player salary in 1920 was around $25,000. But in my league I already have players making over $89,000. This doesn't bode well for future league finances. I don't believe teams will be able to earn enough to pay free agents in future years.

Assuming I do restart this thing, I have 2 choices that I've found to try to cure this issue. The first is to just turn off financials until 1977 when MLB free agency came into effect. And the second is to use a financial model I found described in a forum thread about historical finances that was detailed in a forum post by Spritze. Here's what he does:

Here are a couple of things I use for pre-1970 leagues

I set the service year to 365 days, free agency to occur only after 12 years, disable the right to refuse minor league assignment, no rule 5 draft and arbitration after either one year or never (depending). This inhibits player movement by putting the team in charge of movement as it was then rather than the player in charge as it is now.

Then I use an altered financials.txt file to really inhibit team cash. I do this by setting media contracts pre-1920's to zero. I also set the average ticket price to bleacher seat prices to offset the artificially high merchandising revenue.

The result is the maximum contracts track historical trends much closer. As an example the max contract in 1950 is around $100,000 (Teddy Ballgame). Player movement also better mimics those olden days and teams have less cash to hoard.

He did attach his financials.txt file to the thread, so I have that too.

I also want to start over and use player recalc like I originally said I would. It almost seems to me that without it, player development doesn't occur, or at least not in this era. For example, I just completed the 1920 season in game. Babe Ruth played every game, yet his ratings didn't progress a bit, and his "overall rating" decreased. He batted .281, but only hit 5 homers. So it doesn't seem to me like it's working. If I use recalc (like someone suggested), that would solve this problem.

If you were in my boat, and you were going to restart, what would you do about the finances? Turn them off or use Spritze's model?

CatKnight · 02-02-2009, 09:12 AM

I would not restart.

The salary/financial model is a known issue of OOTP. It exists, IIRC, because OOTP adjusts finances by adjusting modern figures with inflation. In other words, if something cost $1.00 today and 10 cents in 1920, then salaries would similarly be reduced by 90 percent.

Because of this, you won't run out of money. Nor will anyone else - unless their team is really bad. If salaries and revenue are both reduced by 90 percent (as in the example above) then it rebalances.

I understand the same problem exists even if you were to eliminate FA.

Regarding player recalc, again IMHO that's far too much of an exploit for a long term run like this. If you automatically know who will be the great players and actively pursue them, while the AI is left to 'guess' from ratings, then of course you're going to dominate the league. In all honesty, my first reaction when I saw you trade for Ruth the year he came out was "exploit."

I've enjoyed watching your struggles precisely because you DON'T win every year. You remain competitive, but you don't always win the championship. Watching you start a 40 or 50 year dynasty of championships because you can always research who will be good next year while the AI can't? Eh...

Naturally this is your dynasty and you need to remain satisfied with it. I'd regret if you did this however. Your finances LOOK weird, but they're not on the verge of collapse, and you've already put together an impressive run without having to resort to a restart.

gollum65 · 02-02-2009, 09:21 AM

Thanks for the comments Cat. You make some good points, especially about having an unfair advantage if I always knew which players would be good. I remain skeptical about the financial situation, but I have tried to keep my salaries down, and while I am in the top 5 in the league, I'm not the highest payroll. And obvioiusly that means there's about 10 teams who have lower payrolls.

All that really concerns me about the financial thing is that by 2000 I'll be paying players in the hundreds of millions per season. If that doesn't happen, I'm fine. If it does, then this isn't very realistic.

I'll think about this some more, but your comments certainly have me leaning towards continuing.

captaincarl · 02-02-2009, 10:09 AM

I'm with Cat. Please keep this going.

Renner · 02-02-2009, 10:27 AM

I'd also say to keep it going...I have a comment on the Ruth hitting thing (and I'm going off my memory here, so it's not guaranteed

) I seem to recall that if a guy is a Pitcher his hitting ratings will never progress no matter how much you play him in the field. I didn't search, but I remember others mentioning about how OOTP can not handle guys like Ruth/Ankiel/ and others.

gollum65 · 02-02-2009, 10:36 AM

If I remember correctly, he did progress the first year or 2, but has stopped. But I could be wrong. I know this isn't exactly "kosher", but if I removed his pitcher rating completely, that might fix it. Then again, if Babe Ruth doesn't hit 714 homers, will the world end? No. I'll be very disappointed, but I can live.

I think you guys have convinced me to continue, at least for now. I want to make sure players actually start hitting homers in the 1920s. If they don't, it would probably indicate that recalc is needed assuming the game is importing the stats modifiers correctly.

As I mentioned earlier, I did finish the 1920 season. I'll post it later...

gollum65 · 02-02-2009, 07:25 PM

1920 Season Recap:

Final 1920 Standings:

1920 New York Yankees Leaders & Rankings:

1920 Year In Review:
So this was obviously not a good season for the Yankees. We hung around the .500 mark until that awful July, then finished up with winning records the final 2 months of the year. I was probably worrying too much about Ruth, Alexander, & Johnson and not paying enough attention to how the rest of the team was playing. At least we get a decent draft pick for the first time in a while.

Babe Ruth:
As I've discussed the last few posts, Ruth doesn't seem to be progressing. I'm going to try to give him another season or 2 to show me he can improve, but I can't keep having 1 guy committing so many errors in the field. This year Ruth had 28 errors in RF. But the good news is he did finally show a RF rating at the end of the season. For the year Ruth hit .281 with 34 doubles, 6 triples, 5 homers, & 50 RBIs. He walked 40 times, and struck out 83 times. His VORP was 5.6. His potentials are still 10/9/11/10/7, so there's still hope he can develop properly.

Walter Johnson:
The Big Train was pretty good, despite a 12-17 record. He won 3 of his last 4 starts. Johnson put up a 3.62 ERA with 82 strikeouts & 81 walks. If he can bring the walks down, I think he still has a chance.

Grover Cleveland Alexander:
Alexander wasn't very good for the times, but I still hold out hope. He went 8-9 with a 3.91 ERA, 37 strikeouts & 46 walks. I'll give him another season to see if he can improve.

Bob Meusel:
Well, the rookie definitely proved he can play. Now I have to find a spot for him in the outfield. For the season Meusel hit .349 with 17 homers & 70 RBIs and wasn't even starting every day. Ken Williams is up for a new contract this year, and I'm probably going to let him walk and replace him with Meusel.

1920 New York Yankees Transactions:

June 23, 1920: Signed P Hank Robinson to a 2 year contract extension @ $52,000 per year
The roller coaster ride that is Rube Robinson's career continued this season with a down year. But he's still got tons of talent and is only 31 years old. It made sense to extend him, and he only needed a $7,000 per year raise to stay (although he did as for more).

July 6, 1920: Signed 3B Charlie Deal to a 2 year contract extension @ $5,000 per year (year 2 being a mutual option)
Deal wasn't great at the plate, but he was gold glove quality in the field. Because of his defense he earned an extension.

Stuffy McInnis:
The one name you didn't see signing an extension was Stuffy McInnis. He's just asking for too much money. His latest demand was for $60,000 per year, which is an amount I'm not willing to pay him. He's too streaky. But, I couldn't find an acceptable trade offer before the deadline, so he'll be hitting the free agent market.

1920 World Series Recap:
The Pittsburgh Pirates are making their 3rd straight WS appearance and 11th trip since 1903. Going into the series the Pirates are 3-7 in their first 10 trips. It's the 3rd WS appearance for Cleveland, who are 1-1 so far. This series was another best of 9 series.

The Indians won the series 5 games to 3.

gollum65 · 02-02-2009, 07:27 PM

BTW, Bob Meusel finished 2nd in the AL (and MLB) in home runs. I'd say he's got a great shot at rookie of the year.

gollum65 · 02-03-2009, 09:18 AM

Offseason Recap & 1921 Season Preview

Hall Of Fame Inductees: RF Turkey Mike Donlin
This was a clear case of a player who earned HoF status in my league, but did not in the real world. The real Turkey Mike Donlin had 1282 hits. In my league Donlin piled up 3119 hits over a 21 year career. At the time of his retirement Donlin is the all time leader in singles (2382) and home runs (110). For some reason I think those records will fall.

In a bit of a strange development with the game, it's showing the HoF empty except for Donlin. Yet if I search for individual players I know are in, it does say they're in the HoF. Yet another OOTP glitch I guess.

Yankees 1920 Award Winners: LF Bob Meusel won AL Rookie of the Year. 2B Dave Bancroft won his 4th straight AL Gold Glove. 3B Charlie Deal won his 2nd AL Gold Glove.

Yankees Draft Recap:
Goose Goslin & Kiki Cuyler were probably the 2 biggest names in this draft. Goslin went to the Cardinals, and Cuyler was picked by the White Sox. I got 3 interesting players. Since C Steve O'Neill had opted out of his contract & Stuffy McInnis was leaving, I needed a catcher & a shortstop. The catcher I took was a guy named Bill Warwick, who has a decent bat and is ok behind the plate. The shortstop was a guy named Frank Parkinson, who should win lots of gold glove awards. The 3rd guy I took was a 1st baseman named Mule Suttles, who was a HoF 1st baseman with a big bat who played in the Negro Leagues. I also grabbed SS Johnny Mitchell, who was a real Yankee in 1921.

Notable Offseason Transactions:
One thing I wanted to do with this franchise was to try and win with Yankee teams that had many of the same players the real Yankees did, so a lot of these trades were to acquire guys who played for the Yanks in 1921. In every case I traded players of similar talent so as to not tip the scales in my direction. And because of guys I already had on the team, a lot of these players will be in the minors.

October 20, 1920: Signed CF Braggo Roth to a 2 year contract extension @ $32,000 per year (year 2 is a mutual option)
Roth didn't have the breakout year he did in 1919, but he was still pretty good.

November 10, 1920: Traded 5 relievers & a minor league 2nd basemen to various teams to acuire P Alex Ferguson, P Tom Rogers, P Jack Quinn, P Carl Mays, & P Bill Piercey

November 19, 1920: Signed free agent P Harry Harper to a minor league contract

November 20, 1920: Released P Grover Cleveland Alexander & signed free agent P Bob Shawkey
For some reason Alexander got a hefty raise to over $5k, and at 34 years old I couldn't justify it. Shawkey was a real Yankee in 1921, so I signed him to a minor league contract.

December 24, 1920: Signed free agent C John Henry to a 1 year contract @ $2,500
Henry was signed to be a defensive backup off the bench.

Strengths:
Honestly, I don't know that we have many now. Our offense should be ok, but we clearly have holes. The bullpen is probably our strongest point, but bullpens are rarely used in this age.

Weaknesses:
Pretty much every part of the roster has holes now. The big question mark continues to be Babe Ruth. If he starts progressing, we're in a lot better shape. If not, it'll hurt us a lot.

Projected Record:
I think we'll struggle to win 70 games. I'll go on the high side and say 70-84.

1921 Budget: $394,000

1921 Opening Day Salaries:

1921 Opening Day Roster:

captaincarl · 02-03-2009, 11:34 AM

The one thing that I have noticed with ootp is that the AI seems to take care of itself as far as trades are concerned. What you could do, when dealing with the AI, is look at the other team's needs and then look at their strategy to see what they are thinking before offering a trade.

As far as the Babe is concerned, you might have to go into "commisioner mode" and edit out his pitching rating or permanently change his position from pitcher and give him left field/right field/first base. He has played all three positions in his career from this point on anyway.

gollum65 · 02-03-2009, 04:33 PM

Yeah, I never force a trade on the AI. I just keep negotiating until I get an offer it'll accept. And I have trades set to hard and very few.

I think I already removed Ruth's pitching abilities, but I don't remember. He had a great start to the season, hitting almost .500 over the first 10 games or so. I haven't had time to continue yet.

02-01-2009, 11:46 AM	#87
PhillieFever Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Elk Twp. NJ Posts: 6,763	Wow,you sure have the Yankees alright.A payroll pf about $325,00(once your 4 rookies play a game) in 1920!! Whats the league average about $150,000? I love the fact that they're(and you're) so aggressive,it keeps the rest of the league on their toes by making them compete the only way they can,by drafting and scouting well.I often wondered how good they'd be if they just bit the bullet for a couple of years and put their money into scouting and the draft to build a team from the ground up.I think they could be like they were in the 40's and 50's,I really do.Sooner or later you would think that they would,because what they're doing now isn't working. __________________ We're All Wednesday Aren't We? WAWAW

02-02-2009, 10:27 AM	#94
Renner Major Leagues Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Connecticut Posts: 416	I'd also say to keep it going...I have a comment on the Ruth hitting thing (and I'm going off my memory here, so it's not guaranteed ) I seem to recall that if a guy is a Pitcher his hitting ratings will never progress no matter how much you play him in the field. I didn't search, but I remember others mentioning about how OOTP can not handle guys like Ruth/Ankiel/ and others. __________________ I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure-grain alcohol.

02-02-2009, 07:25 PM	#96
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	1920 Season Recap: Final 1920 Standings: 1920 New York Yankees Leaders & Rankings: 1920 Year In Review: So this was obviously not a good season for the Yankees. We hung around the .500 mark until that awful July, then finished up with winning records the final 2 months of the year. I was probably worrying too much about Ruth, Alexander, & Johnson and not paying enough attention to how the rest of the team was playing. At least we get a decent draft pick for the first time in a while. Babe Ruth: As I've discussed the last few posts, Ruth doesn't seem to be progressing. I'm going to try to give him another season or 2 to show me he can improve, but I can't keep having 1 guy committing so many errors in the field. This year Ruth had 28 errors in RF. But the good news is he did finally show a RF rating at the end of the season. For the year Ruth hit .281 with 34 doubles, 6 triples, 5 homers, & 50 RBIs. He walked 40 times, and struck out 83 times. His VORP was 5.6. His potentials are still 10/9/11/10/7, so there's still hope he can develop properly. Walter Johnson: The Big Train was pretty good, despite a 12-17 record. He won 3 of his last 4 starts. Johnson put up a 3.62 ERA with 82 strikeouts & 81 walks. If he can bring the walks down, I think he still has a chance. Grover Cleveland Alexander: Alexander wasn't very good for the times, but I still hold out hope. He went 8-9 with a 3.91 ERA, 37 strikeouts & 46 walks. I'll give him another season to see if he can improve. Bob Meusel: Well, the rookie definitely proved he can play. Now I have to find a spot for him in the outfield. For the season Meusel hit .349 with 17 homers & 70 RBIs and wasn't even starting every day. Ken Williams is up for a new contract this year, and I'm probably going to let him walk and replace him with Meusel. 1920 New York Yankees Transactions: *June 23, 1920:* Signed P Hank Robinson to a 2 year contract extension @ $52,000 per year The roller coaster ride that is Rube Robinson's career continued this season with a down year. But he's still got tons of talent and is only 31 years old. It made sense to extend him, and he only needed a $7,000 per year raise to stay (although he did as for more). *July 6, 1920:* Signed 3B Charlie Deal to a 2 year contract extension @ $5,000 per year (year 2 being a mutual option) Deal wasn't great at the plate, but he was gold glove quality in the field. Because of his defense he earned an extension. *Stuffy McInnis:* The one name you didn't see signing an extension was Stuffy McInnis. He's just asking for too much money. His latest demand was for $60,000 per year, which is an amount I'm not willing to pay him. He's too streaky. But, I couldn't find an acceptable trade offer before the deadline, so he'll be hitting the free agent market. 1920 World Series Recap: The Pittsburgh Pirates are making their 3rd straight WS appearance and 11th trip since 1903. Going into the series the Pirates are 3-7 in their first 10 trips. It's the 3rd WS appearance for Cleveland, who are 1-1 so far. This series was another best of 9 series. The Indians won the series 5 games to 3. Last edited by gollum65; 02-02-2009 at 07:32 PM.

02-03-2009, 11:34 AM	#99
captaincarl Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2003 Location: Barrington, RI Posts: 4,362	The one thing that I have noticed with ootp is that the AI seems to take care of itself as far as trades are concerned. What you could do, when dealing with the AI, is look at the other team's needs and then look at their strategy to see what they are thinking before offering a trade. As far as the Babe is concerned, you might have to go into "commisioner mode" and edit out his pitching rating or permanently change his position from pitcher and give him left field/right field/first base. He has played all three positions in his career from this point on anyway. Last edited by captaincarl; 02-03-2009 at 11:37 AM.

01-28-2009, 10:49 AM	#81
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	1918 Season Recap: Final 1918 Standings: 1918 New York Yankees Leaders & Rankings: 1918 Year In Review: As I indicated in a previoius post, this season was not much of a challenge for the Yankees, or the Pirates for that matter. Both teams led wire to wire and were never really challenged. The Yankees are making their 3rd straight World Series appearance, and will face Pittsburgh for the 4th time in World Series history. It's tough to say which team has been more dominant in this era. The Highlanders/Yankees are appearing in their 8th World Series, and had 5 straight appearances from 1908-1912. The Pirates are making their 9th World Series appearance, and have made 6 trips to the Fall Classic this decade. Babe Ruth's Transition To Hitting: The good thing about having such an easy season is that it gave me the freedom to move Babe Ruth out of the pitching staff and really start working on his hitting. Ruth started 10 games from April till July, compiling a 5-2 record with a 3.88 ERA. In between his starts, I did as suggested by CaptainCarl, giving him at least 1 start in the field every week. After July 1st, Ruth was taken out of the pitching staff and spent the rest of the season platooning at 1B,3B, LF, CF, & RF. While his fielding wasn't exactly stellar, especially in the outfield, it was his hitting that I was watching. The Bambino got 313 at bats, compiling a .265 average with no homers & 30 RBIs. He had a .327 OBP, a .323 slugging %, a .649 OPS, and drew 28 walks while striking out 38 times. Ruth as a hitter is currently rated at 6/6/2/6/7. His pots are the same as when he was a rookie, 10/9/11/10/7 1918 New York Yankees Transactions: *September 5, 1918:* Signed P Hank Robinson to a 2 year extension @ $45,000 per year As you can guess by the date of the transaction, this was a long, drawn out negotiation process. Robinson started the season asking for over $60k per year for 4 years, but I couldn't justify that for a guy who at the time had only won more then 17 games once in his career. He flip flopped between demanding too much money and refusing to negotiate until after the trade deadline, then we got down to more serious negotiations. I guess all those attempts I made to trade him in July got him to soften his stance. 1918 World Series Recap: *Game 1 @ Pittsburgh:* Lefty Caldwell made up for his own error by pitching a complete game, giving up 4 runs on 12 hits, 2 earned to beat the Pirates 5-2. The Yankees lead the series 1 game to none. *Game 2 @ Pittsburgh:* The Yanks took a 3-2 lead in the top of the 12th inning, but Buddy Napier couldn't hold it. Pirates RF Bill Davidson scored the tying run with 1 out in the bottom of the 12th. One out later, Babe Ruth committed his 3rd error of the game, allowing Pirates 1B George Kelly to score and the Pirates won the game 4-3. The series is now tied at one game each. *Game 3 @ New York:* The Yankees & Pirates combined to use 9 pitchers as a hitting barrage broke out in the Polo Grounds. The 2 teams scored 29 runs on 41 hits in 13 innings as the Pirates outlasted the Yankees 15-14. Pittsburgh now leads the series 2 games to 1 and has recaptured home field advantage. *Game 4 @ New York:* The Pirates took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th, but Beals Becker led off with a home run. That was followed by a 1 out double by Johnny Bassler, an intentional walk to George Burns, and a walkoff triple by Dan Bancroft as the Yankees came back to win 2-1. I know. The scoring doesn't make sense. I guess the game never plated Burns' run. Anywho, the series is now tied at 2 games each. *Game 5 @ New York:* The Pirates took a 4-0 lead after 3 innings over Lefty Caldwell, then coasted to a 5-3 win. The Pirates now leads the series 3 games to 2 going back to Pittsburgh. *Game 6 @ Pittsburgh:* Hank Robinson pitched a complete game, giving up 3 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks, but it was enough to pick up the win 4-3. The series is tied again, 3 games each. *Game 7 @ Pittsburgh:* The Yankees had a 3-0 lead after the 1st inning, but the Pirates kept chipping away. They scored 2 unearned runs in the bottom of the 3rd, another unearned run in the bottom of the 5th, and the series winning run in the bottom of the 6th as the Pirates came back to win 4-3. *Pittsburgh wins the series 4 games to 3.* World Series Tally: Real Yankees: 26 My Yankees: 4

01-28-2009, 08:49 PM	#82
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	While I work through the offseason, I thought I'd share some stories with you guys about a player before his era was completely gone. We all know about some of the most famous "characters" in basball history. Mark Fidrych. Bob Uecker. "Spaceman" Bill Lee. But it seems to me there's one guy who has been lost in the annals of baseball history, and he might have been the craziest of all. His name was George Edward "Rube" Waddell. Rube Waddell was a hall of fame pitcher who played for 5 different teams from 1897 to 1910. During his career he won 193 games, had a 2.16 career ERA, and had over 2000 strikeouts. Walter Johnson called Rube the greatest pitcher he ever saw. Waddell struck out over 300 batters in 1903 and 1904. Nobody would post back to back 300 strikeout seasons again until Sandy Koufax in the 1960s. But it was Rube's "personality" that really made him famous. There are many stories about Rube Waddell, some of which were probably true, and others maybe not so much. Here are some of the more famous stories... Rube was allegedly so bad at holding onto money that the A's once paid him in dollar bills, hoping he'd spend it more slowly, and this was after they paid half his salary to his wife. Back in those days players not only shared the same room on the rood, they usually slept in the same bed. Rube's catcher had a provision put in Waddell's contract that prohibited Rube from eating crackers in bed. <---- Too much information! Several times over his career, during preseason games, Waddell would send his infielders & outfielders to the sidelines so he could strike out the side with no defensive support other then his catcher. One of more legendary stories about Rube was that he would often run off the mound or out of the dugout during a game to chase fire trucks. The truth has never really been known. Waddell was a volunteer fireman who was apparently fascinated by fires, but there was never a documented incident of Rube running out during a major league game. Two of the more stranger facts about Rube Waddell were the dates of his birth, and death. Rube Waddell was born on October 13, 1876 - Friday the 13th. He died on April 1st, 1914 Rube was reportedly the first pitcher to record a "pefect inning" - striking out all 3 batters he faced on just 9 pitches. This occurred on July 1, 1902 in Rube's first home appearance for the Philadelphia Athletics. What's even more amazing is that the American League hadn't even adopted the foul strike rule yet. There's lots of good reading about Rube Waddell if you're interested. There are a couple of books about him you can find on Amazon. There's rubewaddell.net, and you can look him up on Baseball Almanac for some more info.

01-30-2009, 09:50 AM	#83
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Offseason Recap & 1919 Season Preview: Hall Of Fame Inductees: P Doc White, P Christy Mathewson, P Addie Joss, P Bill Donovan, P Rube Waddell White & Donovan are not in the real hall of fame, but they earned it in my league. In this league Christy Mathewson won 378 games, Doc White won 286 games, Addie Joss won 270, Bill Donovan won 262, and Rube Waddell won 192 games. Rube Waddell's numbers were very similar to his real life numbers. Just like in the real MLB, Waddell had back to back 300+ strikeout seasons in 1904 & 1905. He retires as the #2 career strikeout pitcher in my league behind Christy Mathewson. Yankees 1918 Award Winners: P Lefty Caldwell won his 2nd straight AL Most Valuable Pitcher Award. 2B Dave Bancroft won his 2nd straight AL Gold Glove. SS Stuffy McInnis won his 2nd straight & 3rd career AL Gold Glove. RF Beals Becker won his 5th career AL Gold Glove. Yankees Draft Recap: Our first pick in the draft was a guy named George Winn. Not much else to discuss for the Yankees. Frankie Frisch was the most famous name from this draft. He was taken by the White Sox #2 overall. Notable Offseason Transactions: One move basically precipitated a few others. I decided to void the last contract year on C Johnny Bassler because a better catcher was slated to be available in free agency. Also released Pol Perritt as I felt his arbitration award was going to be too much. *December 4, 1918:* Signed free agent LF Armando Marsans to a 1 year contract @ $1,800 Marsans can't hit very much, but he's a great defensive outfielder and he's got great speed. *January 19, 1919:* Signed free agent C Steve O'Neil to a 3 year contract @ $67,000 per year (year 3 is a mutual option) This was the catcher I wanted to replace Bassler. His current ratings are 8/8/2/7/10 and he's a gold glove worthy defensive catcher. He's already won 3 gold gloves in the NL with the Pirates. *February 14, 1919:* Traded CF George Burns, CF Pat Maloney, 1B Ted Cather, & a minor league catching prospect to the St. Louis Cardinals for Cliff Heathcoate & infielder Frank O'Rourke I wasn't happy with Burns' production, and I needed to cut some costs after the O'Neil signing. But Heathcoate wasn't exactly what I was looking for either.... *February 15, 1919:* Traded CF Cliff Heathcoate & C Frank Snyder to Cleveland for CF Braggo Roth Roth has unbelievable speed and is better defensively then Heathcoate. *February 29, 1919:* Signed free agent C Ivey Wingo to a 1 year contract @ $3,500 With all the catchers I lost in the offseason, I needed to add some depth back. *March 4, 1919:* Signed free agent CF Frank Butcher to a minor league contract After I traded all my center fielders, I needed some depth. Butcher runs like the wind and is very good defensively. *April, 1919:* Signed 1B Wally Pipp, P Lefty Caldwell, and IF/OF Babe Ruth to contract extensions These deals were struck during spring training. They were to avoid messy contract situations next season. Strengths: Our pitching battery will still be excellent, and we've added a ton of speed on the basepaths. We just need guys to get on base so they can run. Weaknesses: We're still kind of weak at 3B because Ruth's bat hasn't developed a lot yet, and Jack Barry isn't a top drawer 3rd baseman. CF will be a weak spot. Projected Record: The Yankees won 94 games the last 2 seasons. I think this team is a little weaker. I'll predict 87 wins. That would put us right in the mix for the AL pennant. 1919 Budget: $393,000 1919 Opening Day Salaries: 1919 Opening Day Roster:

01-31-2009, 09:01 AM	#84
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	1919 Season Recap: Final 1919 Standings: 1919 New York Yankees Leaders & Rankings: 1919 Year In Review: Well my first problem was that I didn't realize until mid-September that it was a 140 game season. Clearly had I had those extra 14 games, there's a good chance I would have caught the Red Sox. Cleveland actually led the AL on September 1st, with the Red Sox 2nd and the Yankees 3rd, 5.5 games back. The Indians collapsed, the Red Sox sprinted, and we tried to keep up. We lost 3 of 5 to the Red Sox in September, which basically cost us our 5th straight trip to the World Series. In the NL, the Pirates cruised to an easy pennant, clinching in early September. Babe Ruth: Ruth wasn't showing much progression during the season. He was having a very good year, hovering around .300 for the whole season, but he wasn't improving and was still not showing any power. He hit only 1 homer in 1919 for me. So I decided in late July to end the 50/50 platoon with Jack Barry and traded Barry, who was unhappy anyway. Ruth still didn't progress through the end of the season, but at least he started every game. I may move him into the outfield next season if I can move one of my current outfielders. Ruth just doesn't seem to be taking well to being a 3rd baseman. He comitted 65 errors this season, most in the majors by far. Braggo Roth: Roth was the big surprise for the Yankees. He batted .305 with 5 homers, 56 RBIs, and 50 stolen bases. He's due a big pay raise now in arbitration, and he clearly earned it. Walter Johnson: Right after the trading deadline passed, I noticed that Cleveland had waived Walter Johnson. The Big Train's pots have improved and he seems to have regained his throwing speed. He won 20 games last season, so maybe he's turning it around. So I claimed him off waivers. He's still a 1 star player, but I'll stick him at the bottom of the rotation and see what he does next year. He's still only 31 years old. 1919 New York Yankees Transactions: *July 28, 1919:* Traded C Ivey Wingo & $1,300 to Washington for 2 catching prospects I was surprised when Wingo demanded a trade in June because he expected to be a top of the lineup hitter. He was never known for his bat. So I was happy to oblige him. The 2 guys I got back weren't much, but they can both serve as ML bench players. *July 29, 1919:* Traded 3B John Barry to the St. Louis Cardinals for P Lou Bauer & $5,000 cash Bauer is a very good pitching prospect. He put up a 1.57 ERA in AA this year *July 31, 1919:* Traded P Buddy Napier, P Red Oldham, & $6,900 cash to Washington for P Dan Woodman & P Pat Murray Napier wanted over $40k next year, and while he pitched very well for me, I didn't feel he was worth that kind of money. Woodman and Murray are both very good prospects, and they're both under 26 years old. 1919 World Series Recap: The Red Sox were making their 1st World Series appearance since 1905, while the Pirates are perenial favorites in the National League. The series went the full 9 games, with Boston winning their 2nd World Series title. Real Baseball History: Of course this was the year of the Black Sox in the real MLB when they threw the World Series and lost to the Reds in 8 games. The players involved were banned for life about a year later. Most famous of course was Shoeless Joe Jackson. The real Shoeless Joe probably would have been a Hall of Famer had he kept playing. He had 1772 hits before he was thrown out of the game in 1920. The Shoeless Joe in my game is on his way to being a Hall of Famer. To date he has 1646 hits and a .301 lifetime average. I've been thinking about this whole situation and what I would do in my game with the players involved. I could have mimicked real life by "retiring" all of them in 1920. But I decided that the stain scandal doesn't happen in OOTP, so why should I punish the players in my league for it? Now, had Chicago made the World Series this year and lost in 8 games, I might have changed my mind. Finally, this was basically the end of the "deadball era". It kind of continued through 1920, but by 1921 the balls were flying out of the park with great regularity. This was due to 2 main factors. First was the Black Sox scandal. The other was the death of Ray Chapman in 1920 after he got hit by a pitched ball that he supposedly couldn't see coming. After Chapmans death, baseball changed how the ball was constructed, and ordered umps to make sure the ball in play was always clean and white. There were other factors, such as the spitball which was also banned, but those were the main 2. That gave rise to Babe Ruth and the hitting happy roaring '20s.

02-01-2009, 11:03 AM	#85
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Offseason Recap & 1920 Season Preview: Hall Of Fame Inductees: 2B Johnny Evers, 2B Miller Huggins Huggins is in the hall for his managing, not his on the field play. I decided to induct him anyway to preserve continuity. Evers was a hall of famer on the field and was part of the famous "Tinker to Evers to Chance" Chicago Cubs infield. He was most famous however for his role in the "Merkle Boner" play detailed in an earlier post that propelled the Cubs to the World Series in 1908, the last time they've won it in real life. Yankees 1919 Award Winners: P Hank Robinson won his 2nd AL Most Valuable Pitcher award. Yankees pitchers have won 4 straight. 2B Dave Bancroft won his 3rd straight AL Gold Glove. LF Ken Williams won his 1st AL Gold Glove. Babe Ruth did NOT win a gold glove. I think he was made of swiss cheese. Yankees Draft Recap: There were a couple of famous names in this draft. Most notable was Pie Traynor who went to the Indians. Not sure how OF Bob Meusel fell to my pick, but he did. In real life he played 10 seasons for those powerhouse Yankee teams of the 1920s. Notable Offseason Transactions: Quite a few new faces in New York this season as I try to retool for the 1920s. The most notable departure was Beals Becker. He had an option year which I declined that paved the way for Babe Ruth to move to RF. *Pete Alexander Acquisition:* Better known as "Grover Cleveland Alexander", who won 373 games in real life, this Pete Alexander was not developed properly in my league. While his pots and ratings are still there, he's now just a 1 star pitcher. He was the #1 overall pick by the Browns in 1909, but he's only won 18 games in the majors so far. Another reclamation project comes to New York. I bought his rights off the Giants for $1500, roughly the value of his contract. Time will tell if he and Walter Johnson can ressurect their careers at the bottom of my rotation. *November 22, 1919:* Signed free agent 3B Charlie Deal to a 1 year contract @ $4,500 Deal will play 3rd base now that Barry is gone and Ruth is moving to the outfield. Strengths: Our bullpen and lineup should be strong, if the game remembers that players started hitting home runs now. The top 2 pitchers in our rotation are great. Weaknesses: The bottom of the rotation, with Johnson, Alexander, & Vance will be a big questionmark. Projected Record: Only because I don't know what I'm getting out of my rotation am I going to the low end here. I'm going to predict around a .500 record, about 78 to 80 wins. 1920 Budget: $387,018 1920 Opening Day Salaries: 1920 Opening Day Roster:

02-01-2009, 11:33 AM	#86
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Almost missed a HoF inductee. P Ed Walsh won 195 games in real life and was inducted. In my league he won 197 games, so I inducted him despite a higher lifetime ERA.

02-01-2009, 12:11 PM	#88
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Actually, I have the #4 budget & #5 payroll. The league average payroll is about $290k. There are 3 teams with payrolls over $400k (Red Sox, Giants, Pirates). Remember, I've had free agency going since the start of the franchise. No reserve clause to keep salaries down.

02-02-2009, 07:42 AM	#90
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Your post really got me thinking however, and I'm probably going to restart this dynasty. Supposedly about the max player salary in 1920 was around $25,000. But in my league I already have players making over $89,000. This doesn't bode well for future league finances. I don't believe teams will be able to earn enough to pay free agents in future years. Assuming I do restart this thing, I have 2 choices that I've found to try to cure this issue. The first is to just turn off financials until 1977 when MLB free agency came into effect. And the second is to use a financial model I found described in a forum thread about historical finances that was detailed in a forum post by Spritze. Here's what he does: Here are a couple of things I use for pre-1970 leagues I set the service year to 365 days, free agency to occur only after 12 years, disable the right to refuse minor league assignment, no rule 5 draft and arbitration after either one year or never (depending). This inhibits player movement by putting the team in charge of movement as it was then rather than the player in charge as it is now. Then I use an altered financials.txt file to really inhibit team cash. I do this by setting media contracts pre-1920's to zero. I also set the average ticket price to bleacher seat prices to offset the artificially high merchandising revenue. The result is the maximum contracts track historical trends much closer. As an example the max contract in 1950 is around $100,000 (Teddy Ballgame). Player movement also better mimics those olden days and teams have less cash to hoard. He did attach his financials.txt file to the thread, so I have that too. I also want to start over and use player recalc like I originally said I would. It almost seems to me that without it, player development doesn't occur, or at least not in this era. For example, I just completed the 1920 season in game. Babe Ruth played every game, yet his ratings didn't progress a bit, and his "overall rating" decreased. He batted .281, but only hit 5 homers. So it doesn't seem to me like it's working. If I use recalc (like someone suggested), that would solve this problem. If you were in my boat, and you were going to restart, what would you do about the finances? Turn them off or use Spritze's model?

02-02-2009, 09:12 AM	#91
CatKnight All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 1,199	I would not restart. The salary/financial model is a known issue of OOTP. It exists, IIRC, because OOTP adjusts finances by adjusting modern figures with inflation. In other words, if something cost $1.00 today and 10 cents in 1920, then salaries would similarly be reduced by 90 percent. Because of this, you won't run out of money. Nor will anyone else - unless their team is really bad. If salaries and revenue are both reduced by 90 percent (as in the example above) then it rebalances. I understand the same problem exists even if you were to eliminate FA. Regarding player recalc, again IMHO that's far too much of an exploit for a long term run like this. If you automatically know who will be the great players and actively pursue them, while the AI is left to 'guess' from ratings, then of course you're going to dominate the league. In all honesty, my first reaction when I saw you trade for Ruth the year he came out was "exploit." I've enjoyed watching your struggles precisely because you DON'T win every year. You remain competitive, but you don't always win the championship. Watching you start a 40 or 50 year dynasty of championships because you can always research who will be good next year while the AI can't? Eh... Naturally this is your dynasty and you need to remain satisfied with it. I'd regret if you did this however. Your finances LOOK weird, but they're not on the verge of collapse, and you've already put together an impressive run without having to resort to a restart.

02-02-2009, 09:21 AM	#92
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Thanks for the comments Cat. You make some good points, especially about having an unfair advantage if I always knew which players would be good. I remain skeptical about the financial situation, but I have tried to keep my salaries down, and while I am in the top 5 in the league, I'm not the highest payroll. And obvioiusly that means there's about 10 teams who have lower payrolls. All that really concerns me about the financial thing is that by 2000 I'll be paying players in the hundreds of millions per season. If that doesn't happen, I'm fine. If it does, then this isn't very realistic. I'll think about this some more, but your comments certainly have me leaning towards continuing.

02-02-2009, 10:09 AM	#93
captaincarl Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2003 Location: Barrington, RI Posts: 4,362	I'm with Cat. Please keep this going.

02-02-2009, 10:36 AM	#95
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	If I remember correctly, he did progress the first year or 2, but has stopped. But I could be wrong. I know this isn't exactly "kosher", but if I removed his pitcher rating completely, that might fix it. Then again, if Babe Ruth doesn't hit 714 homers, will the world end? No. I'll be very disappointed, but I can live. I think you guys have convinced me to continue, at least for now. I want to make sure players actually start hitting homers in the 1920s. If they don't, it would probably indicate that recalc is needed assuming the game is importing the stats modifiers correctly. As I mentioned earlier, I did finish the 1920 season. I'll post it later...

02-02-2009, 07:27 PM	#97
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	BTW, Bob Meusel finished 2nd in the AL (and MLB) in home runs. I'd say he's got a great shot at rookie of the year.

02-03-2009, 09:18 AM	#98
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Offseason Recap & 1921 Season Preview Hall Of Fame Inductees: RF Turkey Mike Donlin This was a clear case of a player who earned HoF status in my league, but did not in the real world. The real Turkey Mike Donlin had 1282 hits. In my league Donlin piled up 3119 hits over a 21 year career. At the time of his retirement Donlin is the all time leader in singles (2382) and home runs (110). For some reason I think those records will fall. In a bit of a strange development with the game, it's showing the HoF empty except for Donlin. Yet if I search for individual players I know are in, it does say they're in the HoF. Yet another OOTP glitch I guess. Yankees 1920 Award Winners: LF Bob Meusel won AL Rookie of the Year. 2B Dave Bancroft won his 4th straight AL Gold Glove. 3B Charlie Deal won his 2nd AL Gold Glove. Yankees Draft Recap: Goose Goslin & Kiki Cuyler were probably the 2 biggest names in this draft. Goslin went to the Cardinals, and Cuyler was picked by the White Sox. I got 3 interesting players. Since C Steve O'Neill had opted out of his contract & Stuffy McInnis was leaving, I needed a catcher & a shortstop. The catcher I took was a guy named Bill Warwick, who has a decent bat and is ok behind the plate. The shortstop was a guy named Frank Parkinson, who should win lots of gold glove awards. The 3rd guy I took was a 1st baseman named Mule Suttles, who was a HoF 1st baseman with a big bat who played in the Negro Leagues. I also grabbed SS Johnny Mitchell, who was a real Yankee in 1921. Notable Offseason Transactions: One thing I wanted to do with this franchise was to try and win with Yankee teams that had many of the same players the real Yankees did, so a lot of these trades were to acquire guys who played for the Yanks in 1921. In every case I traded players of similar talent so as to not tip the scales in my direction. And because of guys I already had on the team, a lot of these players will be in the minors. October 20, 1920: Signed CF Braggo Roth to a 2 year contract extension @ $32,000 per year (year 2 is a mutual option) Roth didn't have the breakout year he did in 1919, but he was still pretty good. November 10, 1920: Traded 5 relievers & a minor league 2nd basemen to various teams to acuire P Alex Ferguson, P Tom Rogers, P Jack Quinn, P Carl Mays, & P Bill Piercey November 19, 1920: Signed free agent P Harry Harper to a minor league contract November 20, 1920: Released P Grover Cleveland Alexander & signed free agent P Bob Shawkey For some reason Alexander got a hefty raise to over $5k, and at 34 years old I couldn't justify it. Shawkey was a real Yankee in 1921, so I signed him to a minor league contract. December 24, 1920: Signed free agent C John Henry to a 1 year contract @ $2,500 Henry was signed to be a defensive backup off the bench. Strengths: Honestly, I don't know that we have many now. Our offense should be ok, but we clearly have holes. The bullpen is probably our strongest point, but bullpens are rarely used in this age. Weaknesses: Pretty much every part of the roster has holes now. The big question mark continues to be Babe Ruth. If he starts progressing, we're in a lot better shape. If not, it'll hurt us a lot. Projected Record: I think we'll struggle to win 70 games. I'll go on the high side and say 70-84. 1921 Budget: $394,000 1921 Opening Day Salaries: 1921 Opening Day Roster:

02-03-2009, 04:33 PM	#100
gollum65 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 925	Yeah, I never force a trade on the AI. I just keep negotiating until I get an offer it'll accept. And I have trades set to hard and very few. I think I already removed Ruth's pitching abilities, but I don't remember. He had a great start to the season, hitting almost .500 over the first 10 games or so. I haven't had time to continue yet.