MLB Replay....A new History

[George_Bell]

1989 Regular Season

Here are the top prospects entering the 1989 season

Emerging stars are the early story in the 1989 season. Youngsters Roberto Alomar, of the Atlanta Braves, and Larry Walker of the California Angels both win player of the month awards for April. Walker is now in his 3^rd season. People probably took notice last year with a 30hr/100rbi season, but he’s off to a monster start this year. Alomar, also in his 3^rd season, hit .351 in April, and is making the Braves a contender in the NL West.

Alomar and Walker

So, I went on record saying that the first pick in this years draft, Jim Thome, wasn’t that great of a prize. Well, Jim Thome is now beginning a career to prove me wrong. He’s skipped the minors completely, and become a starter in St. Louis as a 18 year old. Three months in, he has 9 home runs, and he’s walked more then he’s struck out. My batting average in regards to predictions just keeps getting lower!!


George Brett, in his 2^nd year with the Detroit Tigers, just recorded his 3000^th hit!!! At age 36, Brett is still one of baseball’s best hitters. He’s got a lifetime average of .312. He is the 20^th player to accomplish this feat, and should be 14^th all-time by the end of this season.



Here are the trades that got down in the first half of the season.

Here are the trades that occurred after the all-star game and before the trade deadline.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are back ontop of the NL east after a 1 year absence. They are the only team on cruise control entering September. The Giants lead the Reds by 3 games, as do the Rangers over the Twins, and Detroit, two time defending champs, are tied with Baltimore!

3 American league players have a shot at 60 home runs this year. Mark McGwire has 47 entering September, Bob Geren and Darryl Strawberry each have 44. These 3 have the top power ratings in baseball. McGwire is 19 at the moment, while Straw and Geren each sit at 18.

Pittsburgh, Texas and San Francisco all wrap up their divisions with room to spare. Defending champion Detroit, goes 16-7 in September, which seems like enough to win the AL East. Baltimore goes 16-8, just about matching them, and find themselves 1 game back with 3 games remaining. As a Jays fan, I remember that in real life, at the end of the 89 season, the Orioles trailed Toronto by 1 game entering the final series of the season. The Jays won twice to take the east. The Orioles find themselves in the same situation. Only the Jays are not playing for anything and Baltimore will be scoreboard watching. Here's how the final 3 games played out for the O's and Tigers.



AL East PLAYOFF


This pitching matchup clearly favors Detroit, who have baseball's best road record. Jamie Moyer was a much better pitcher at home though, so we should expect better then his 5.12 ERA.

Bob Horner hits his 49^th homerun of the season to open the scoring in the 2^nd inning. That’s his highest HR total since leaving the Cubs 6 seasons ago. Andre Dawson ties the game in the next frame with an RBI double.

Ellis Burks grabs the O’s the lead back, hitting his 42^nd home run, a 2 run shot and its 3-1 Baltimore after three innings.

Ron Gant leads off the 4^th with a triple, and later scores, cutting the lead to 1. Some early fightback from the Tigers!

The Orioles break out with 6 hits and 4 runs in their half of the 4th, and go up big. 7-2. All of a sudden, it’s not looking good for Detroit.
They trade solo shots, but that’s really it. The Orioles win the AL east with an 8-3 win over Detroit.

Larry Walker is slowed down by a midseason stint on the DL, but still hits .291, with 23 home runs 67 RBIs. Roberto Alomar hits .325, with 21 home runs and 102 RBI’s. He'd get some MVP votes, if there were mvp voting…..

Jim Thome finishes his rookie season early, tearing his abdominal muscle. He hits .242 with 14 home runs and 54 RBI’s. He drew an impressive 84 walks, and had a .390 OBP. I think that's great for an 18 year old.

The big 3 power hitters in the AL all slow down in September, and don't really come close to challenging 60.

[HerbertMcHoover]

Great finish to the season; pleasantly surprised on how the Yanks did.

[chrisvasey]

George......probably been asked this many times but, where exactly did you get the "historical" faces......and do you think they would work on OOTP16. Can't seem to get the correct faces...or least skin colour even though I have downloaded what they say to.


Hope you can help

[George_Bell]

Originally Posted by chrisvasey

George......probably been asked this many times but, where exactly did you get the "historical" faces......and do you think they would work on OOTP16. Can't seem to get the correct faces...or least skin colour even though I have downloaded what they say to.


Hope you can help

I don't have 16, and wouldn't know what works, but i downloaded my historical facegens from the ingame add-on central, then i went and downloaded alot of updated, newer ones from the facegen thread here in the forum, and then, i made a few when i couldn't find any that satisfied me.....Rickey Henderson is one example.

So, the facegen thread is the best place to start.

[George_Bell]

[George_Bell]

This is a rematch of the 1984 World Series won by the Pirates. It’s the only championship won by Pittsburgh in their run of 4 straight appearances. This year will make the 5^th WS appearance by Pittsburgh in 6 years.

Roger Clemens, Sid Fernandez and Mike Moore have all leveled off in terms of talent. All are still very good pitchers, but none of them possess the HOLY CRAP type of talent they once did. Steve Trout, the Pirates best pitcher, will miss the series with a torn meniscus. Oddibe McDowell, Don Mattingly and Mickey Tettleton still lead the offense that was near the top of every NL batting stat.

23 year old Moises Alou broke out with a monster year. You can see his number up top. He makes everyone in the lineup better, and is a threat each at bat. The pitching is good, and in an offensive era, it’s a team strength. 21 year old Masumi Kuwata has already pitched 4 complete big league seasons. He’s emerged as the Rangers best starter, and seems to be getting better.

Pittsburgh has the better team, but that hasn’t really helped them in a while. I predict Texas wins in seven!

[BCBF82]

Great looking dynasty, how do you add so many photos on one post?

[George_Bell]

Originally Posted by BCBF82

Great looking dynasty, how do you add so many photos on one post?

Im not really sure what you mean. I don't do anything special. Just add in the links. Are you not able to? I have had no such issue

[George_Bell]

Texas gets to Pirates starter Sid Fernandez quickly, getting a run in the first. Pittsburgh answers right back in their half of the inning, scoring twice, then add a 5 spot in the third thanks to a 2 run shot from Mickey Tettleton, and a 3 run shot from Jeff Kunkel. Pittsburgh puts the game out of reach in the fourth. Orlando Merced hits a 3 run homer. Pittsburgh wins game one, 11-6.

Texas strikes first again, getting three straight hits and a run off of Roger Clemens, who settles down and minimizes the damage to just that lone run. The Rangers though strike twice in the 2^nd, because of an error and go up 3-0. Knuckleballer Tom Candiotti wasn’t fooling anyone, and the Pirates respond with back to back triples from Merced and Kunkel. Dion James would homer, and Mattingly would score after walking. Just like that, it’s 4-3 Pittsburgh. They would add an insurance run, and shut down the Rangers offense the rest of the way. Pirates win 5-3 and lead 2 games to 0.

Game 3 is never in doubt. Mickey Tettleton, the games 4^th batter, hits a 3 run home run. Howard Johnson hits a 3 run home run in the fourth, and just like that, it’s over. Pittsburgh wins easily, 7-1.

Don Mattingly decides not to wait for Tettleton, and as the third batter of game 4, hits his own 3 run shot. Mattingly then triples in 2 more in the third. Mattingly would score in the 5^th, when Tettleton hits a 2 run shot. The runs just kept coming, and a dominant sweep was complete. Pittsburgh wins 13-1 and sweeps the Rangers!

[George_Bell]

[HerbertMcHoover]

Fun high-scoring WS for a change.

[rjl518]

gotta admit...those Pirates know how to dominate dont they?

[George_Bell]

[George_Bell]

1989-90 Offseason News and Notes

With the move to OOTP16, baseball has introduced the silver slugger awards, given to the player judged to be the best hitter at his position. Now, I'm not sure if I will treat these like gold gloves, and only acknowledge their existence when talking about a players accomplishments, or display the winners each year, but the bottom line is it’s another thing to help judge ability and career achievements.

Pedro Martinez is the first pick in the 1989 MLB draft, and he looks way better than Jim Thome did!! I don’t have any idea who Tate Seefried is, despite being picked third. A lot of depth guys going this year. The Jays, Red Sox and Royals were the big winners methinks…

There’s a new Hall of Fame process this year. 83 players appear on this seasons ballot. Baseball writers will vote for upto 10 players to enter the hall of fame. 75% is needed for induction. 5% or lower drops the player from the ballot for next season. I will reserve the right to remove players I don’t feel are worthy. Lets just call that my God complex!!

Bill Stoneman is elected to the Hall of Fame being named on 93.7 percent of the ballots. He’s a good choice, and I approve. Jim O’Toole, a Pirates pitcher in the 60s and 70s received 81 percent of the votes, but did not pass on my ballot, which means he will not be inducted this year. He’s close, and maybe at another time, but I’m shutting the door at one for now.



Moving to OOTP, i was looking back at some older players, just to see how they look, taking in new screens and such, and I found myself over in the accomplishments section, looking at triple crowns! These things are pretty rare. Not as rare as perfect games(only 5), but still. Here is a list of all the instances of triple crowns in baseball history. Lou Gehrig was good!

Free agency is different this year, and will probably forever be different. For the first time, it looks like money will matter. In previous seasons, players got big contracts, but they were deals everyone can afford. That’s changing quickly. Top free agent Dwight Gooden, for instance, wants a 7 year deal worth 28-30 million dollars. That’s not a contract every team in baseball will be able to give out. The money era has begun…

Gooden settles for less then his ask, but still gets a huge deal. The Giants get a steal with Saberhagen only being paid half of what Gooden got. The Blue Jays lose their two best players, and the Pirates take a hit.

Here are the 6 offseason trades

[rjl518]

my mets couldnt keep Dr. K...ouch!!!!

and NO 1st round draft choices in this draft...we are gonna stink for a while

oh well...just 3 years left till the Florida Marlins are born!!!

oh..here's Tate Seefried if you want to know

Tate Seefried Minor League Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com

[George_Bell]

1990 Season Preview

Top Player

Top Pitcher

Top Prospect

[JcBoscan]

Call me crazy, but that 6.90 ERA forecast for the Toronto Blue Jays might be an issue this year.

[George_Bell]

Originally Posted by JcBoscan

Call me crazy, but that 6.90 ERA forecast for the Toronto Blue Jays might be an issue this year.

I'm too months into the season, and its not far off at all!!! I will be picking on a few blue jays pitchers when i update again!!

[HerbertMcHoover]

Wow, that prediction for the Blue Jays.

[ArcAngel]

Wasn't Sadaharu Oh a *** only player, though?

Just my thought, but that throws out any realistically the reply had, IMHO.