Modeling OOTP v14 HOF on RL HOF

[bailey]

Are you still using very high injuries and high position fatigue?

[VanillaGorilla]

Originally Posted by bailey

Are you still using very high injuries and high position fatigue?

Yes. All settings have remained, and will remain, constant for the run of this league.

ADD: That doesn't count what might change through league evolution. As far as injuries and fatigue and others not subject to league evolution changes, those will stay the same.

[VanillaGorilla]

Which White? Which Howard?? Well, we know which Carlton....

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Bill D White was selected by the Angels with the 9th pick in the 2049 draft.

He exploded onto the scene by batting .358 (201 hits) with 38 HR and 118 RBI. He scored 107 times with an OBP of .409 and a slg% of .651 to give him a npa OPS+ of 168. These numbers, along with a Gold Glove, were good enough to crown him Rookie of the Year. His slash line figures would all stand as career bests.

White had a career slash line of 300/354/504. That tells you that he obviously had multiple .300 seasons...he did...eight. Twice he collected 200 hits in a season, also.

He wound up with 2695 hits in his career (27th, one spot behind Tony Perez). 556 of those were doubles (21st, two more than Hank Aaron) and 64 were triples (52nd). He hit 386 HR.

When White retired following the 2069 season he had appeared in 3 All Star games and had won 2 Gold Gloves. He enters the HOF 12 days after his 49th birthday. He played slightly more often in the OF than at 1B. He enters as a center fielder.

Black Ink: 5 (1)
Gray InK: 90 (85)
HOFm: 104.5 (63)
HOFs: 59 (22)

Gorilla Composite: 2.7 (1.5)

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Frank Howard was taken by the Indians with the 4th overall pick in the 2051 draft.

Like fellow classmate Bill White, Howard exploded on the scene and took ROY. He batted .311 with 57 HR and 141 RBI. Unlike White, this was not the crest of his production curve. His npa OPS+ was 160 for the season. This was also good for an MVP nod.

Three times he would lead the league in HR and RBI. Not in seperate years, but he led in both categories three times (including his rookie season).

He would also pick up 3 MVPs (including his rookie season).

In 2063 (now a Rockie) he had, perhaps, his best season. Though he did not lead the league in either HR or RBI he still managed to, in 122 games, swat 53 HR and drive in 133 while slashing 352/457/765 for a career best npa OPS+ of 219, and an MVP. In 2063 Howard put together a 40 game hit streak, 3rd longest in league history.

He followed up in 2064 by winning his third MVP. This time he did lead the league in HR and RBI as he belted a career high 62 round trippers and delivered a career high 160 RBI while slashing 360/442/744 (npa OPS+ 210).

4 times he hit at least 50 HR. 11 times he hit at least 40.

For his career, Howard clubbed 710 HR (11th, one spot ahead of Orlando Cepeda) and drove in 1954 men (8th, one spot behind Cepeda and one spot ahead of Dave Kingman). He crossed the plate, himself, 1551 times (26th, one spot ahead of Nap Lajoie).

He rapped 2612 hits (34th, one spot ahead of Sam Crawford) and walked 1048 times (53rd) en route to a career slash line of 312/389/619 (83rd, one spot ahead of Joe Torre/83rd/25th, one spot behind Barry Bonds). He hit 394 doubles. Howard enters the HOF 25th on the career OPS list.

An 8 time All Star, Howard played through the 2072 season, and retired in 2073. He enters the HOF on his first ballot, at the age of 47.

Black Ink: 36 (17)
Gray Ink: 191 (121)
HOFm: 290 (61)
HOFs: 66 (26)

Gorilla Composite: 5.9 (2.4)

Using the standards in place here and applying them to RL, Frank Howard falls short of Hall induction. Whereas I am completely on the fence re Gil Hodges entering Cooperstown, I tend to slightly favor Howard's induction.

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Steve Carlton was selected by the Tigers with the 47th overall pick in the second rd of the 2049 draft. WHAT?!? Were there 46 bonehead selections previously?

Well, the first pick was HOFer Bobby Mathews. The second pick was HOFer George Davies. The 9th pick was HOFer Bill White. And there was a lot of talent in between picks 9 and 47, also. Just a very deep draft pool.

But to see Carlton fall out of the top quintile of picks is quite amazing.

Carlton signed with the Tigers and made his debut as a 19 year-old. Perhaps the scouts saw him as not ML ready, and that is why he fell. It was not until his 4th season, when he went 15-9, that he started to mature into what we think of as a Steve Carlton talent. He struck out over 1 man per IP for the first time. He would accomplish that feat in each of his next 14 seasons.

In his 13th season as a Tiger, Carlton won 20 games for the first time. He chose to sign with Columbus for the 2063 season (after I had been fired).

In 2063 he led the Thunder in Starts, wins, Ks, and IP as he brought the pitching stability they needed to win the WS. Carlton was 16-10 with an OOTP ERA of 3.73 (npa ERA+ 123). He is the first player from that team to reach the converted tractor shed (which is this HOF), but he will not be the only one.

He followed up in 2064 by striking out 300 men for the first time in his career. He will reach this milestone in each of his next 4 seasons, as well.

He posted a career high 25 wins vs 7 losses and crafted an OOTP ERA of 3.18 (npa ERA+ 150) to win the Cy Young Award. He had other fine seasons, but this was the only time he received CYA hardware.

Sitting on 289 wins and 205 losses following the 2070 season, Carlton received no offers to play in spite of having tossed a very serviceable 116 innings for an 11-6 record and an OOTP ERA of 4.41 (npa OPS+ 96).

He did not retire until 2073, but 2070 was his last big league action.

Carlton enters the HOF with 4886 strikeouts in 4320 2/3 IP and a career ERA of 3.77.

Carlton is 5th on the all time CG list with 73, one spot behind Early Wynn. His 13 shutouts are one fewer than Lefty Grove and Tommy Bridges. They are one more than Sandy Koufax, Willie McGill and Early Wynn. The total places him 36th on the career list.

Carlton was an All Star six times and won one Gold Glove. He enters the HOF at the age of 48 on the first ballot.

Black Ink: 52 (69)
Gray Ink: 236 (285)
HOFm: 202 (266)
HOFs: 53 (58)

Gorilla Composite: 4.7 (5.8)

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All players inducted in the Class of 2079 are making their second appearance in an OOTP HOF.

Steve Carlton is the 36th RL HOFer (out of 123 entrants) to be inducted, here.

[VanillaGorilla]

Another surname that needs no further descriptor, here.

Harmon Killebrew becomes the 5th entry in the last 6 to have First Ballot Standard entry numbers.

Killebrew was selected by the Jacksonville Sonics (the former Dodgers)with the third pick in the 2051 draft. Good move.

Three years later they traded him to San Diego. Uhhhhh...not so good move.

It isn't like Killer was slow to hit his stride (like Steve Carlton was, for example). Heck, he crushed the Rookie of the Year competition by crushing 55 balls into the stands and driving in 138 while slashing 278/362/609 (npa OPS+ 145).

When he was traded he had hit 25 HR in 75 games.

Killebrew logged nearly 21 years of service time and was an 8 time All Star in his career. I wish I could tell you that Jacksonville received Greg Maddux in return, or something awesomely spectacular like that.

San Diego made the Brock-Broglio trade look like an act of sagacity by the Cubs. The Sonics received two players you will not see in the HOF: Charlie Grimm and Harry Stanton. You won't see them here because neither played 10 years. Heck, combined they played less than 9 (and had 1 AS appearance).

So...just how awesome was Killebrew?

6 seasons of 50 HR. 10 seasons of 40. 12 seasons with 100+ RBI, including 8 consecutively. 2 Barry Bonds Best Batter (brought to you by Balko) Awards and 3 WS titles.

A career slash line of 285/391/620 is awe inspiring.

865 HR, ditto, and then some. That places him 3rd, one spot ahead of Barry Bonds, on the career list.

Killebrew tallied 2114 RBI (5th, one fewer than Bonds, one spot ahead of Mike Schmidt) and scored 1759 times (10th). He hit safely 2490 times (50th) and walked safely another 1468 (5th, one spot behind Eddie Yost). He was also 12 for 13 in stealing bases.

He enters the HOF tied with Dick Hoblitzell for 78th spot on the OBP list. He is 22nd on the career slg% list, 0.0001 behind Reggie Jackson and 0.0001 ahead of Dave Kingman.

Killebrew enters the HOF 22nd on the career OPS list, again, one spot behind Reggie Jackson.

He signed a 5 year deal for $8M per with SD....deal of the century.

He left for San Fran when they offered him $14M per for 5 yrs. He continued his awesomeness there.

At the age of 35, the Giants didn't think he was $14M per awesome, anymore. Bad call.

He signed with Philly for $12M per and showed the Giants to be idiots. All he did was establish a career high with 65 HR, establish a career high with 146 RBI, and establish a career high by scoring 126 runs while walking a career high 115 times. He posted a slash line of 337/454/742 for a career high npa OPS+ of 212. This would be his first of 4 consecutive seasons with a npa OPS+ above 200. A freaking bargain for $12M per.

Oh, btw, the Phillies won the WS and Killebrew the MVP. All he did in the post season was hit 7 HR and drive in 13 in 11 games.

With his contract up, the Cardinals decided Killebrew was worth $15M per year of awesomeness. He proved them right. In 2067 he hit 54 HR and put up what would be a career best 223 npa OPS+.

In 2068, at the age of 38, he reestablished career highs in HR (73), RBI (162) and runs (146) and won his second MVP, in the process. Oh, btw, he led the Cardinals to a WS win.

At age 40, the Cardinals didn't think he was awesome, anymore. So, they let him go to Washington as a FA. Bad move STL, good move DC.

Killebrew missed some time with injuries, but still slashed 280/417/610 (npa OPS+ 160) in 111 games and, yep, led the Nationals to a WS win.

Killebrew is the first player from each of these teams to reach the HOF. He will not be the last, from any of them.

Sitting on 857 HR, and Hank Aaron's long standing career HR record in sight, Killebrew could not sign with a team in either 2072 or 2073. Toronto gave him a minor league deal in 2074 (though he went straight to the majors) and he hit 8 HR, but batted .228. He retired following that season.

Killebrew enters the HOF at the age of 50 with a position designation of 1B.

Black Ink: 17 (48)
Gray Ink: 176 (193)
HOFm: 264 (178)
HOFs: 62 (46)

Gorilla Composite: 4.8 (5.2)

Using the standards in place here and applying them to RL, there is no reason Killebrew should not have been a First Ballot inductee into Cooperstown. His RL career, relative to his competition, was better than the one he had here.

I guess the RL writers were all a bunch or Ryan Dempsters....it took them four shots to achieve the obvious intended result.

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Of 124 entrants, Killebrew is the 37th RL HOFer.
Killebrew enters his first OOTP HOF.

[VanillaGorilla]

I really enjoy seeing pitching match-ups along the likes of Pedro vs Whitey, or see batting races between Gwynn and Cobb, or seeing Tim Jordan battle Willie McCovey for a HR title. This is all really cool, to me.

One thing that is difficult for me to wrap my head around, though I like trying, is when an active player gets inducted by the Veterans Committee. Some day I may come to grips with that paradox.

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Josh Johnson becomes the third Johnson (Randy and Walter) to make the HOF.

JJ was taken by the Braves with the 16th pick in the 2011 draft.

Johnson pitched through the 2032 season. He compiled a career mark of 223 wins (23rd, one more than Tim Keefe and Dazzy Vance) and 199 losses (7th). He struck out 3277 men (41st, one spot ahead of Bill Hawke) in 3785 1/3 IP (12th).

Jonson missed the entire 2017 season due to injury. Other than that season, he tallied double digit wins in all but 4 seasons. Twice he fashioned marks of 17-9.

Johnson didn't win a WS, and he never won a CYA. He pitched in an era with a lot of strong SP in the league.

As noted previously by his career rank, 223 wins here is very meaningful, more so than 3000 strikeouts.

Johnson enters the HOF 25th on the career VOrp list and 24th on the career WAR list. Figuring in the players selected by the writers this year, no eligible player ranks higher on either list that is not in the HOF.

A three time All Star, Josh Johnson enters the HOF at the age of 88.

Johnson is a floor breaker.

Black Ink: 0
Gray Ink: 90
HOFm: 44
HOFs: 37

Gorilla Composite: 1.5

[VanillaGorilla]

Probability and sample size are oft discussed in the forum. Here we had a slight improbability: Four of four entries were granted to pitchers for this class. The chances of that happening are about 1 in 250. But wrting a narrative in the context of a simulated HOF process is more fun.

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With the Veterans Committee tabbing Josh Johnson for induction, the writers collectively acknowledged their overlooking of pitchers, previously, and sought to balance their representation, a bit.

One overlooked player was Ed Walsh. If Josh Johnson is a HOFer, then Walsh is a no brainer.

Walsh was taken by the Pirates with the top pick in the 2041 draft.

Like Johnson, he never won a WS. His 226 wins are more than Johnson (22nd, one spot ahead of Josh). His 145 losses are less than Johnson. His 3.50 ERA (81st) is also better than Johnson's (omitted) 3.72.

His 3530 K (27th, one spot behind Jim Bunning) are more than Johnson and his 983 walks are fewer than Johnson's (omitted) 1049. Yes, if there ever was an "If that guy is in, then this guy has to be in" argument to be made, it applies here (and it is so cool that the induction sim works out as such, here).

In 2060 Walsh put up an 17-8 record with an OOTP ERA of 2.59 (npa ERA+ 170) to win the Cy Young Award. Johnson had no CYAs. Walsh fanned 365 men in 274 2/3 IP that season.

He followed up with a 20-6 2061 season with 305K, but 2060 would be the only year he took home Cy Young. Walsh led the league in strikeouts both of those years.

Walsh threw 45 CG (45th, one fewer than Tim Keefe). 13 of those were shut outs (t-36th Steve Carlton)

A six time All-Star, Walsh enters the HOF at the age of 50 with one GG to his credit.

Black Ink: 38 (67)
Gray Ink: 126 (178)
HOFm: 128.5 (146)
HOFs: 47 (52)

Gorilla Composite: 3.4 (4.4)

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Pedro J Martinez was amazing. Taken by Indianapolis (the former San Diego Padres) with the second pick in the 2057 draft, Martinez takes his place in the converted tractor shed at the age of 42 yrs 104 days. He is the youngest pitcher to be enshrined in this HOF, which is amazing considering the five year wait that is in effect, now.

Martinez made his debut in 2058, at the age of 19. He got knocked around quite a bit as he learned the league. Once he learned the league, the league never learned him.

In 2059 he was 7-3 with an OOTP ERA of 2.88 (npa ERA+ 153) when he had to undergo midseason elbow surgery. Though he could not participate in the Stripes championship run, he celebrated with Roberto Alomar and the rest of the squad when they brought the hardware to Indy.

While rehabbing in AAA in 2060, Martinez had his elbow go again, before he made a ML appearance. This time he underwent Tommy John surgery.

Martinez rehabbed, but was still dropping chunks of seasons dye to health issues.

In 2067, now a Met (interesting) Pedro became the Pedro in this universe that we know from RL.

Injuries again cut into his PT, but when he was on the mound, he was never off. In 26 starts he posted a 15-6 mark with an OOTP ERA of 1.59 (npa ERA+ 277). He struck out 286 men in 181 IP, while walking 26....yep, that is a K/W ratio of 11:1. Holy wow. He won the CYA.

In 2068 he made a career high 34 starts and won a career high 22 games while dropping only 4 decisions. He struck out a career high 368 men in a career high 249 1/3 IP. He walked only 33 for a K/W ratio better than 11:1. Holy wow frick wow. He won the CYA, again as he posted his second consecutive ERA+ above 200 (2.27, 207).

2068 was a drop off....his npa ERA+ was only 193. Some years a 15-7, 2.32 line wins a CYA. For Martinez in 2068, it did not.

In 2075 he was 13-6 when elbow tendinitis shelved him in September. Though not a CEI, the cumulative effect of all of his injuries and surgeries told Pedro that at the age 36 it was time to say "Good-bye".

Pedro won 172 games (80th, one fewer than Bill Hawke) vs 115 losses (win % .5993, 72nd) in his career. He struck out 3360 men (36th) in 2270 1/3 IP (100th place is 2616....K/9 rate of 10.916 ranks 29th). He walked only 620 men in his career. He ranks 7th on the career WHIP list with a 1.06.

Pedro appeared in 6 All Star games and enters the HOF with a Koufaxian type of career.

Martinez enters the HOF in his first ballot appearance.

Black Ink: 32 (58)
Gray Ink: 159 (215)
HOFm: 116 (206)
HOFs: 45 (60)

Gorilla Composite: 3.2 (4.9)

Using the method here and applying it to RL, Pedro Martinez should be a no-brainer first ballot entry into Cooperstown.

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While Pedro was Pedro and got in on his first try, Don Sutton had been overlooked, previously. He, perhaps, was the beneficiary of the writers saying to the Veterans Committee "If you are putting in Josh Johnson, then we have to put in Don Sutton."

Sutton was selected by the Mets with the 8th pick in the 2046 draft. Like IRL, Sutton took the hill ots of times, pitched lots of innings in lots of years, and won lots of games. However, here, he pitched with a less than stellar supporting cast for the vast majority of those seasons.

Sutton enters the HOF with the most wins of anyone not already in the Hall who is eligible, 240 (11th, four fewer than Percy Coleman and 4 more than Carl Hubbell). He also enters with the most strikeouts of any eligible player, 4044 (16th, between Brit Burns and Bobby Mathews).

He also enters with the most losses of anyone in league history, 245.
He also enters the HOF having given up the most HR in league history, 616 (Bert Blyleven says "Thank you" as he still awaits his call from the Hall).

As a rookie he went 17-11 (a mark he would replicate his sophomore season) with an OOTP ERA of 3.32 (npa ERA+ 147). His 261 strikeout victims (in 256 IP) would stand as his career best.

In a career that spanned through the 2068 season, Sutton would pitch 200+ inning 14 times.

His teams only made the post season twice, and he never threw in a WS.

His career OOTP ERA of 4.23 is slightly below the league average for his career.

Sutton made more starts than any pitcher in league history, 661.

He threw 47 CG. That ties him with Rube Waddell in spot number 53 on the career list.

Sutton made one AS appearance.

As I pulled up Sutton's BBREF page I see something very cool. At this moment he is ranked 16th on the Fan Elo meter, one spot behind classmate Ed Walsh.

Black Ink: 3 (8)
Gray Ink: 185 (243)
HOFm: 65.5 (149)
HOFs: 34 (58)

Gorilla Composite: 2.1 (3.5)

As noted, Sutton pitched for a lot of bad teams. He probably didn't pitch as well here as he did IRL. It is a testament to how great a player was when his simulated achievements are not up to his RL self, yet he still finds his way to the HOF, here.

[VanillaGorilla]

For this run through, I have not been breaking up classes into "hitters" and "pitchers" as I did, previously. This is so my master spreadsheet matches up with the entries here, better. With the exception of Veterans Committee selections (they get posted before the writers vote), the order of the players listed is just how they happened to order when I run the process. Because a player appears before another is not an indication of anything in regards to career strength.

Here, it just happened that 4 pitchers got slots, but there were 4 hitters that were inducted by the software. They received First Ballot Screenings once the other entries (who all happened to be pitchers) were chosen.

With two FBS entries, these spots will come from future hitter slots.

Currently, the hitters spreadsheet has several candidates that will gain entry, based on current numbers. With these FBS entries, those candidates will have to wait longer for entry (and longer, still, if more FBS enter in upcoming years).

The pitchers spreadsheet does not contain any player that would gain entry on current standards (at least none that I have screened). This means that pitcher entries, in the foreseeable future, will probably come from the leaderboards.

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Rafael Palmeiro was taken by the Yankees with the 10th overall pick in the 2051 draft.

Palmeiro had a fine rookie season and started his career in stark contrast to his RL one. He hit 45 HR as a rook and drove in 130 while batting .315. Suspicions of the source of his power, perhaps, cost him ROY honors.

In 2056 he had, perhaps, his best season when he took home the batting title with a .342 average while collecting a career high 209 hits. He slashed 342/396/595 for a npa OPS+ of 161. He hit a career high 53 doubles, that season to go along with 32 HR and 123 RBI.

Starting in 2056, Palmeiro drove in 100+ runs in 10 consecutive seasons, hitting at least 31 HR in each. In 2062, now with Tampa, he had career highs in HR, 55, and RBI, 136.

For his career, Palmeiro had 2827 base hits (16th, one spot ahead of Hal Trosky Sr), 505 doubles (49th, one more than Billy Williams), and 621 HR (29th, one spot ahead of Manny Ramirez). He collected 1889 RBI (13th, between Chipper Jones and Manny) and scored 1528 times (32nd, between Billy WIlliams and Dan Brouthers). He had a career slash line of 302/363/561. He is 93rd on the career slg% list.

Palmeiro wanted to get to 3000 hits. In 2070 he batted .289 with 25 HR in 99 games for the Astros, but was not offered a contract for 2071. He came back in 2072 batting .314 with 30 HR in 121 games, again for the Astros, and again was not offered a contract for the next year. He sat for two seasons before taking an offer from Jacksonville for 2075. He hit .310 in 35 games for the Sonics, at age 43. He decided to retire after that.

Note: The AL got rid of the DH in the 2070 season. Neither league has a DH since that time. This may have been the difference in Palmeiro not reaching 3000.

A three time All Star, Palmeiro played in 1 post season, but no WS. He won one Gold Glove at 1B. Palmeiro enters the HOF at the age of 49.

Black Ink: 14 (8)
Gray Ink: 169 (183)
HOFm: 195 (178)
HOFs: 59 (57)

Gorilla Composite: 4.1 (3.8)

Using the standards here, and applying them to RL, Palmeiro, based on his output, should be a RL HOFer.

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With the 8th pick in the 2052 draft, the Cubs selected Joe Adcock. Stunning.

Adcock would be a fixture in Wrigley through the 2065 season. Adcock would play the second most games for the Cubs in franchise history. He owns the second place slot on many of the franchise leaderboards. The player with the most games as a Cub is named Hank Aaron.

In 2060, Adcock went from being an oft injured solid player with huge potential, to a perennial superstar. He slashed 327/389/645 (npa OPS+ 170) and hit 51 HRs. He drove in 146 and took the league MVP. This would be his first of 6 consecutive 50+ HR seasons and 10 consecutive seasons with at least 99 RBI.

In 2061 he hit a career high 65 HR.

In 2062 he collected a career high 175 RBI to compliment his 52 HR. With a veteran Don Mincher as a teammate, he led the Cubs to the Land of the Impossible Dream and a WS win.

For the 2066 season, Adcock left Chicago for Kansas City. His 50 HR streak was halted, but 39 HR and 100+ RBI and runs were what the Royals needed to get to the WS and win. No other player from that team is in the HOF.

Adcock had 2883 hits in his career (15th, between George Davis and Rafael Palmeiro). His 760 HR place him 8th on the all time list, between Willie Stargell and Frank Robinson. He drove in a staggering 2127 runs (3rd, one spot ahead of Barry Bonds) and scored 1565 times (26th, one place ahead of Frank Howard). He also hit 489 doubles (61st, one spot ahead of Cesar Cedeno).

He had a career slash line of 318/368/630. That's good for 54th on the career BA list and 15th on the slg% list (behind Mike Schmidt). Adcock enters the HOF 28th on the career OPS list.

A 9 time All Star, Adcock won 4 GGs at 1B. He enters the HOF at the age of 49.

Black Ink: 43 (0)
Gray Ink: 188 (56)
HOFm: 320 (22)
HOFs: 64 (22)

Gorilla Composite: 6.3 (1.0)

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Ed Walsh and Pedro J Martinez enter their third OOTP HOF.
Don Sutton enters his second OOTP HOF.
Rafael Palmeiro, Joe Adcock, and Josh Johnson enter their first OOTP HOF.

Sutton and Walsh are the 38th and 39th RL HOFers to enter this HOF, of 130 entrants.

[VanillaGorilla]

Ralph Kiner was taken with the 7th pick by...ME! (running the Columbus Prairie Thunder) in the 2059 draft.

Though I received my walking papers in 2060, Kiner was my legacy and it is great to see him inducted here as a First Ballot entrant.

Kiner hit 35 HR as a rookie, in 101 games.

He won the MVP in 2061:

G: 154, R: 135, H: 174, HR: 68, RBI: 144, BB: 118, BA: .303, OBP: .425, SLG: .704, npa OPS+: 199

He won the MVP in 2062:

G: 106, R: 96, H: 128, HR: 58, RBI: 115, BB: 83, BA: .327, OBP: .444, SLG: .814, npa OPS+ 227

He won the MVP in 2063:

G: 118, R: 137, H: 147, HR: 67, RBI: 130, BB: 72, BA: .316, OBP: .408, SLG: .794, npa OPS+ 207

With Steve Carlton as the ace of the staff, Kiner helped power the Thunder to a WS in 2063.

Considering the number of games he played, Kiner's 2062 and 2063 totals are off the charts incredible. What would happen if he had played a full season at such a rate?

In 2064 he did just that. He rewrote the record books (and stretched conventional credulity) several times over and won his fourth consecutive MVP:

G: 159, R: 170 H: 209, HR: 96, RBI: 182, BB: 107, BA: .351, OBP: .451, SLG: .877, npa OPS+: 234, OPS 1.329

Bold indicates career high. Bold italics indicates league record.

Kiner also set the marks, still standing, for seasonal VORP 164.3 and WAR 16.5.

The Columbus ball park does have a HR adjustment of 1.030 for RH. A slight plus, yes. However, it also has a BA adjustment for RH of 0.870, as well.

For the 2068 season he left Columbus for St Louis. There he had what would be a fantastic tenure, by normal standards, 150 HR over 5 seasons.

As part of a rehab in 2068, he hit 2 HR in his only game appearance in the AAA Championships, and has that on his resume, also.

He retired following the 2076 season with 1950 ML hits. 662 HR place him 17th on the career list (between Duke Snider and Jose Canseco). 1561 RBI place him 52nd, one spot ahead of Jim Gentile. 1313 R place him in a tie at #87 with George Burns. His 1081 BB place him 42nd on that career list, three fewer than Manny Ramirez.

His career slash line of 303/403/659 (*/33rd/9th, between Frank Robinson and Kevin Mitchell) places him 8th on the career OPS list, 0.0003 ahead of Johnny Mize.

Kiner won one GG in the OF and appeared in 9 AS Games. He enters the HOF at the age of 44.

Black Ink: 34 (52)
Gray Ink: 112 (145)
HOFm: 261 (136)
HOFs: 58 (34)

Gorilla Composite: 5.0 (4.5)

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George Hendrick was an amazing talent, IRL. Watching some footage from the 70s he reminds me a bit of both Daryl Strawberry and Milton Bradley in his grace on the field and the seeming ease with which he played the game.

I will admit to heckling Mr Hendrick on more than one occasion from the RF bleachers when he came to town, in the 80s. I perceived him as a guy that went through the motions and put more effort in breaking bats over his knee than patrolling his position. In fairness, this was my youthful perception and I had no knowledge of his persisting pains that he played through as an older player. I am much more understanding of that sort of thing, now.

With all of that said, I am happy to welcome George to my little HOF in the imaginary cornfield where he can play with the greats since the beginning of the sport, for the rest of time. Easy on the bats, though, George. I am on a budget.

As he was IRL, Hendrick was highly regarded here, too. He was taken with the second pick of the 2054 draft by the Phillies. He was named the #1 prospect, immediately after the draft.

He batted .302 in 40 games, his rookie season. He would bat above that in each of his next 10 seasons.

IRL Hendrick was a legitimate 20 HR guy for many years, back when 20 HR meant something.

Here, Hendrick was a legitimate 35 HR guy, which means about the same thing as 20 HR meant back in his day. From 2057 through 2067, Hendrick hit at least 32 HR each year.

In 2060 he posted career highs in HR (45) and RBI (136) while batting .327.

During this stretch of excellent productivity, he was on 3 WS winning Phillie squads.

He is the only player inducted from the 2061 and 2064 Phillie teams that won it all. This will change.

In 2065, helping the Phillies to a repeat, he was joined by HOFer Harmon Killebrew.

Hendrick had a Hallworthy career slash line of 316/365/567 (66th, one spot behind Jackie Robinson/*/79th).

He picked up 2294 hits (90th), stroked 394 doubles, and clubbed 459 HR(82nd, two more than Alex Rodriguez). He scored 1209 times and tallied 1492 RBI (63rd), even though he never played for Columbus.....

Twice an All Star, Hendrick enters the HOF at the age of 47, as a CFer.

Black Ink: 1 (0)
Gray Ink: 123 (68)
HOFm: 136.5 (30)
HOFs: 61 (23)

Gorilla Composite: 3.0 (1.1)

-------------------------------------

George Hendrick enters his first OOTP HOF.
Ralph Kiner enters his second OOTP HOF.

Kiner is the 40th RL HOFer to be inducted, here.

[VanillaGorilla]

Another active player IRL is selected by the Veterans Committee. This still is a brain bender circumstance I have yet to fully reconcile.

That Francisco Liriano is in the HOF is quite amazing. He is having a great year in 2013, however, the stats for 2013 are not in OOTP14. He developed into a HOFer without this breakout season he is currently having a part of the statistical mix.

Liriano showed enough talent to be the 4th overall pick by the Mariners in 2045.

As a rookie in 2046 he was 10-5 in 26 ML starts and carried an OOTP ERA of 3.38 (npa ERA+ 135). He struck out 163 men in 157 1/3 IP. He would comfortably strikeout over a batter an inning in each of his first 7 seasons.

In his first seven seasons, Liriano was 112-49. He had missed a few weeks with shoulder inflammation as a rookie. A torn triceps cost him half of the 2049 season. He pitched through them and was dominating. In 2048 he was 20-7 and won the Cy Young Award (though somehow he didn't make the All Star team).

Coming back from the torn tri, he again went 20-7 in 2050, and actually had a lower ERA (3.09 vs 3.26) but did not win Cy.

In 2052 he went 19-7 and was the ace of a WS winning Mariner staff. HOFer and member of the All-Time great team, Shoeless Joe Jackson, contributed as a 35 year-old veteran to the successful effort.

In April of 2053 Liriano was sent to the DL for 4 months because of, again, shoulder inflammation. When he returned his K/9 rate hovered around 1.

In 2058 shoulder inflammation again sent him to the DL for a lengthy stay. After that injury, his K/9 rate was significantly below 1.

In 2061, he was now a crafty 35 year-old veteran and was able to use his guile to post an 18-6 record. A solid 2062 season followed, but when 2063 rolled around, he couldn't make it work any longer, and retired.

Liriano, after his first 7 seasons, was about a .500 pitcher. No longer blessed with the physical skills that had made him a high draft pick and Cy Young winner, he adjusted and gave himself a career that was better than solid. It is HOF worthy.

Liriano retired with a record of 233-156 (t-16th for wins with Brit Burns and Bobby Mathews) and an OOTP ERA of 4.02. He struck out 3313 men (39th) in 3273 2/3 IP (38th, between Willie McGill and John H Murphy)

Liriano had 10 career shut outs. This ties him for 75th with Percy Coleman and Jim Whitney.

A three time All Star, Liriano enters the HOF at the age of 57.

Black Ink: 9
Gray Ink: 132
HOFm: 118.2
HOFs: 43

Gorilla Composite: 2.4

[VanillaGorilla]

Ryan Klesko was selected by the Mariners with the 9th pick in the 2056 draft.

Klesko retired in 2075, and enters the HOF, having played all of his ML games as a Mariner.

While classmate Francisco Liriano won a WS with the Mariners, Klesko was Ernie Banks. He set all sorts of franchise records, but never played in a post season.

It was not the fault of Klesko. He began his career by winning Rookie of the Year as a 19 year-old. He hit 35 HR and drove in 104 while batting .306. He would hit at least .306 that in each of his first 5 seasons. He would hit 30, or more, HR in each of his first 6 seasons. He would wind up with 10 30HR seasons for his career. He would also drive in at least 104 runs in each of his first 6 seasons.

In 2059 he hit a career high 58 HR. He drove in 139 and scored a career high 124 times. He slashed 313/404/675 (npa OPS+ 186). This would be his best slg% season. His OPS and OPS+ totals equaled his output from 2058.

In 2060 he had a career high, and league leading, 151 RBI off of 56 HR and a .310 BA.

For his career he had 556 HR (46th) and 425 doubles amongst his 2330 hits (t-86th Duke Snider). He had 1581 RBI (52nd, two fewer than Dale Murphy), scored 1408 times (58th, one more than Bob Watson), and had 1001 walks (72nd).

He slashed 291/370/562. He is one spot ahead of Mike Donlin on the career slg% list at #94. He is 97th on the career OPS list.

Klesko was named to 5 All Star teams. He enters the HOF at the age of 45.

Black Ink: 10
Gray Ink: 104
HOFm: 136
HOFs: 52

Gorilla Composite: 3.0

--------------------------------

If you can't say something nice about someone.....

drafted 3rd overall in 2056 (Oakland)
571 HR (44th, one less than Gary Carter)
1486 RBI (65th, one spot behind George Hendrick)
297/363/621 (t-21st with Dutch Zwilling in slg%, 41st in OPS)
Won 2066 WS with the Royals (Joe Adcock)
Won 2069 WS with the Diamondbacks
three times hit 60 HR
six times hit 50 HR
6 ASG
1 GG
retired in 2077
First Ballot Entry

Black Ink: 27 (28)
Gray Ink: 124 (137)
HOFm: 210 (135)
HOFs: 47 (36)

Gorilla Composite: 4.2 (3.6)

Based on his RL numbers and using the system in place here, Albert Belle should be in the RL HOF.

[VanillaGorilla]

What a class of sluggers this has become. 4 players with nearly 2400 HR between them.

The one with the most, and the most truly amazing career, in spite of it being cut short by a CEI, is that of Mark McGwire.

Hmmmmm....Canseco is in. Palmeiro is in. Now McGwire is in. I think that gives us a Congressional quorum.

Mark McGwire was taken by the Tigers with the 9th overall pick in the 2064 draft.

He cracked 60 HR his rookie campaign and drove in 144. Nice start, ROY.

This was a typical season for Big Mac. He sat out his 28 year-old 2071 season. He suffered his CEI in the middle of the 2077 season. Only one other season did he not play in at least 108 games.

In each season that he played 108 games, he hit at least 48 HR. His next lowest total of games played was 129. In each of the 10 seasons he played at least 129 games, he hit at least 50 HR and drove in at least 114. Yaaaaooowzer freaking wow.

In 2067 he picked up the Barry Bonds Best Batter (Brought to you by Balko) Award, aka the MVP.

He hit a career high 83 HR and drove in a career high 192 while slashing 319/403/762 for a npa OPS+ of 196.

He didn't stop, there. He led the Tigers to the WS and hit 7 HR in 8 post season games as the Tigers LOST the WS. Wasn't Mark's fault. They ran into a 117 game winning buzz saw Washington team, and were swept.

He would appear in one more WS, but would wind up on the losing end, once again.

For his career he hit 716 HR (12th, between Frank Robinson and Frank Howard) in 6311 AB, for a stunning rate of 1 HR every 8.8 AB.

In 1709 games he tallied 1698 RBI (35th) and scored 1329 runs (82nd, between Benny Kauff and Dick Hoblitzell). He had a career slash line of 294/394/670. Not too freaking horrible.

He ranks 5th on the career slg list, one spot ahead of Gavvy Cravath.
He ranks 8th on the career OPS list, one spot ahead of Ralph Kiner.

McGwire walked 990 times, 2 behind Jim Wyn for 78th place, all time.

McGwire won but the one mentioned MVP, but he did take home two GGs at 1B.

An 8 time All Star, McGwire enters the HOF at the age of 40 on his first ballot.

Black Ink: 38 (36)
Gray Ink: 165 (110)
HOFm: 272 (170)
HOFs: 51 (42)

Gorilla Composite: 5.4 (4.0)

Using the standards in place here, and applying them to McGwires RL record, he should be in Cooperstown. My call is that McGwire will get in the HOF, and it will be the same year Pete Rose gets in. Barry will come after.

------------------------------------------

Ryan Howard is the second Howard inducted into the HOF (Frank) and the second Ryan in this class (Klesko).

An even greater oddity is that he received a WS ring for the 2058 season and then won Rookie of the Year in 2059.

Howard was taken by the Indians with the 19th overall pick by the Indians in the 2057 draft. A blown knee in July put him on the DL, in 2058. Ken Griffey Jr, Hal Trosky Sr and Gavvy Cravath carried the load and filled Howard's void and brought the WS trophy to the shores of Lake Erie.

In 2059 Howard launched 65 jacks and drove in 161 to take ROY honors. He helped the Tribe to another WS, but they fell in October.

In 2060 he launched 75 more jacks (career high) and drove in 146 while scoring 134, himself (career high) as he, Trosky, and Carl Hubbell brought a second WS trophy to what was no longer a mistake of a franchise. Win TWO WS for Cleveland, you are a HOFer and a universal freak.

For his career, Howard hit 551 HR (49th), drove in 1385 runs (86th, two more than Brouthers) and scored a fabulously cool looking 1111 runs.

He slashed 282/357/593 for his career. He ranks 45th on the career slg% list. His career OPS is the 72nd highest, 1 slot behind Hack Miller.

He retired in 2073 with 4 All Star games and one GG at 1B to his credit. He enters the HOF at the age of 48.


Black Ink: 21
Gray Ink: 88
HOFm: 157.5
HOFs: 34

Gorilla Composite: 3.1

-------------------------------------

Albert Belle and Mark McGwire are entering their second OOTP HOF.

Francisco Liriano, Ryan Klesko and Ryan Howard enter their first OOTP HOF.

[VanillaGorilla]

George Mohart enters the HOF at the age of 91. He is not the oldest player to be inducted. That honor still goes to Huston Street (which as I mentioned before, still trips me).

Mohart was selected by the Cardinals with the 21st pick in the 2018 draft. He chose not to sign with them. He was drafted by the Braves with the 26th overall pick in 2019. He decided to play in The Ted. I guess he figured that at the age of 27, he better not wait around another year.

Mohart turned 28 in his first Spring Training. Amazing part number one of his HOF career. Amazing part number 2 is that he was not a player with a great RL reume. It is longer than Alex Serrano's, but then everyone that side of, well, me, has a longer ML resume than Serrano.

Mohart pitched in 16 ML seasons and retired in 2035 at the age of 43.

Choosing the Braves was a good call for George. His rookie season he pitched in 59 games in MR. He posted an OOTP ERA of 2.40 (npa ERA+ 179), collecting 5 saves. That team featured HOFers Dan Brouthers and Ed Konetchy. The brought home the WS hardware. Though not the featured closer, Mohart certainly played his role on the team very well.

In 2021 Mohart became the closer and saved 38 games. The Braves were swept in the LDS by the Cardinals.

In 2022, Mohart ruptured a finger tendon in April and missed most of the regular season. However, he was 100% for the post season, and was put back in the role of closer. He notched 4 saves in post season outings. He again raised the WS trophy with teammate Dan Brouthers.

Note: Personal favorite (because of his OOTP interest) Pat Nashek was also a member of both of these championship teams.

In 2025 he posted a career high 45 saves with an OOTP ERA of 1.94 (npa ERA+ 224).

Mohart was not a big strikeout guy. For his career he fanned 758 men in 844 1/3 IP. What he was marvelous at was keeping the ball in the park. He gave up only 24 HR in his career. That's less than 1 HR per 35 IP. Nice.

Mohart is second on the career OpSLG list (behind only Lefty Wolf, and ahead of Ben Tincup by 0.0002) with a 0.3222 figure.

Mohart saved 327 games (10th) in his career. His 815 appearances rank him 42nd, all time.

Mohart was an All Star 6 times.

Black Ink: 3
Gray Ink: 23
HOFm: 105.7
HOFs: 10

Gorilla Composite: 1.0

-----------------------------------

Mike Mussina, at the age of 88, is the youngster of the pair of Veteran inductees. However, he does enter the HOF as the oldest SP to be enshrined.

Mussina was the 14th overall pick of the Yankees in the 2016 draft.

He broke into the league by going 18-12 with an OOTP ERA of 3.44 (npa ERA+ 129) for a Yankee team that would finish 2 games below .500. This fate of pitching for non-winning teams would be the norm for his career.

The Yankees were again a sub .500 team in 2021. On June 1st, Mussina took the hill against Minnesota and threw a Perfect Game, striking out 10. Before July was out, the Yankees rewarded him by trading him to a cellar dwelling Tampa team. Who did the Yankees get in return? Ray Joblonski and Bob Gallagher. Yeah, it was as lopsided as it looks.

The Rays had been a dynasty in the 2010's. Mussina signed and extension with them prior to 2022 and rewared the Rays with a record of 18-10 on a 76 win team. His OOTP ERA of 2.83 was good for a full season career best npa ERA+ of 154. Mussina was rewarded with a Cy Young trophy for his shelf.

For his career, Mussina won 209 games (38th, three behind Tommy Bridges) and lost 176....and saved 4. He struck out 3339 men (39th, between Pedro Martinez and Francisco Liriano) in 3555 2/3 IP (22nd, 1 spot ahead of Lefty Grove) before he retired in 2038. He threw 43 CGs (t-74th, Willie McGill and Dazzy Vance). 10 of those were shutouts (t-75th, Percy Coleman, Francisco Liriano and Jim Whitney)

Mussina won a GG and was twice an All Star. He enters the HOF with the highest WAR of any eligible player not already inducted.

A note to the purpose of the Veterans Committee:

When Mussina retired, the only pitchers in the HOF were Sandy Koufax and Toad Ramsey. If they set the standard for all HOFers to follow, then there were would be very few pitchers in the HOF...just as there would be very few hitters if they were all judged against Mantle and Aaron.

Over the course of the 46 years since his retirement, Mussina's career has stood up to be that of a HOFer. There was no way anyone would have known this in 2038.

Black Ink: 12 (15)
Gray Ink: 189 (250)
HOFm: 82.5 (121)
HOFs: 38 (54)

Gorilla Composite: 2.5 (3.4)

Using the standards in place here and applying them to his RL career numbers, Mussina should find a place in Cooperstown.

[VanillaGorilla]

The writers, having seen that the Veterans Committee gave the nod to Mike Mussina and his 209 career wins, decided to elect Wilbur Cooper and his 209 career wins (38th).

Cooper was selected by the Angels with the 11th overall pick in the 2055 draft.

As a 19 year-old, he appeared in 27 games, all as a starter, and put together a 9-6 record for a 72 game winning squad. His OOTP ERA of 3.82 gave him a npa ERA+ of 116. A nice start.

In his sophomore season of 2057, Cooper appeared in 37 games, but started only 9.

In 2058 he was given the role of closer. He saved 40 games. His 2.57 OOTP ERA was good for a npa ERA+ of 171.

He was such a good closer that the Angels decided to make him a starter....head scratcher, but it was the right call. In 2059 he won a career high 21 games vs 9 losses. In the 11 seasons from 2059 through 2069 all of Coopers appearances would be as a starter.

In an amazing display of durability, Cooper started at least 33 games in each of these 11 seasons. From 2059-2069 Cooper won at least 15 games in each season except for an 11 win campaign in 2060.

In 2063 Cooper was 15-9 with an OOTP ERA of 3.18 (npa ERA+ 144). He struck out 271 men in 248 2/3 IP, walking 51. He was honored as the recipient of the Cy Young Award for that campaign.

Cooper never made the post season with the Angels, so he left them for the 2066 season for Ft Worth. He pitched there through 2070 and never saw the post season with them, either.

Sitting out the 2071 season, he made his Swan Song season with the Cardinals in 2072. Again, no luck in reaching the play-offs.

Cooper retired in 2073 with a record of 209-147 and 43 saves. He had an OOTP ERA of 4.00. He had allowed an even 1500 runs. He had struck out 2700 batters, on the nose (75th).

Cooper had 67 complete games (12th) and 15 shutouts in his career (t-19th, Bob Feller, Randy Johnson and Bobby Mathews).

A 5 time All Star, Wilbur Cooper enters the HOF at the age of 46.

Black Ink: 9 (17)
Gray Ink: 167 (173)
HOFm: 92 (76)
HOFs: 38 (33)

Gorilla Composite: 2.4 (2.4)

Though Cooper's RL numbers are comparable to his simmed career, and his RL numbers would gain him entry to this HOF, when compared to those currently in the RL Cooperstown, by the method in place here, Cooper falls short of RL HOF entry.

----------------------------------

George Moohart and Wilbur Cooper enter their first OOTP HOF.
Mike Mussina enters his second OOTP HOF.

[VanillaGorilla]

Two teams were added to the NL, Milwaukee and El Paso.

The existing teams left many big contracts unprotected and the expansion clubs gobbled them up and have instantly competitive teams. The teams don't look to be as dominating as when a similar thing happened in the previous league, but they are darn good.

The league had been EXTREMELY sound financially since contraction. Teams had let a lot of high dollar Free Agents sit in the free agent pool. With the addition of two teams, that dynamic should be altered.

The league now has 4 8 team divisions. I am keeping with the play-off format of division winners and no WC. I like the purity of playing to win, not shooting for a WC. The overriding factor in not having a WC is that OOTP does not handle the tie breaks properly and this does affect player points for post season appearances. There will be a much lesser chance of a three way tie occurring and being mishandled by the software without any WC. The integrity of the numbers used for the HOF process takes priority.

ADD: At the All-Star Break, El Paso is 61-21 with an 18 game divisional lead. I think that qualifies as instantly dominant. The had 8 players named to the ASG.

Milwaukee is 56-25, clinging to a two game lead. They had 5 players named to the ASG. I think this qualifies as instantly competitive.

ADD: The play-offs featured 4 expansion teams. Austin and Ft Worth came into the AL in 2059 along with Milwaukee and El Paso in the NL, this year. Elpaso won 124 games, but was swept by Milwaukee, who won 119. OK, Milwaukee was instantly dominant, also.

Milwaukee fell behind to Ft Worth 3 games to none, but came back to force a game 7, which was won by Ft Worth.

The upcoming HOF class is going to be a fun one, for me.

[VanillaGorilla]

What I thought would be fun about this class didn't happen. I was sure Greenberg would get in as he became eligible. I had thought that would put all of the top 10 HR hitters into the Hall, however two active players joined those ranks (one retired at the end of the season). I will post the leaders in a category one the top 10 is filled with inductees (will count players in the Top 10 who played less than 10 years as being in the Hall for these).

Now, it looks the first list posted will be on the pitching side in a couple years, unless someone active jumps in between now and then.

-----------------------------------------------------

Hank Greenberg was selected by the Red Sox with the 10th overall pick in 2053.

He gave the Red Sox scouts job stability, immediately. He hit 32 HR in 105 games to win the 2054 Rookie of the Year.

Greenberg played in the majors through 2078. He retired in 2079. He hit at least 20 HR in any year he played at least 92 games. Twice he led the league in HR.

In 2059, he did not lead the league in HR. He did have 56 HR amongst his career high 205 hits. He drove in 143 and scored a career high 130 while slashing 328/408/666 for a npa OPS+ of 185. This was good enough for him to win league MVP.

In 2073, at the age of 38 and now an Angel, he hit a career high 69 HR. This was his second consecutive season with 60+ HR. He hit 50 HRs in a season six times.

For his career he knocked 892 HR (2nd, trailing Hank Aaron, ahead of Harmon Killebrew). He also had 515 doubles (44th, one spot ahead of Dick Hoblitzell) amongst his 2989 base hits (11th). He collected 2238 RBI (2nd, behind Aaron, ahead of Joe Adcock) and scored 1987 career runs (4th, between Aaron and Shoeless Joe Jackson). His 1456 career walks ties him with Mike Schmidt for 6th All-time.

He posted a career slash line of 292/382/609. He ranks 32nd on the career slg% list. His OPS rank of 34th places him between Duke Snider and Dutch Zwilling by 0.0002 each way.

Greenberg picked up a GG at 1B at appeared on 12 AS rosters. He enters the HOF at the age of 50 on his first ballot.

Greenberg appeared in 4 post seasons and one Fall Classic, but came up short in capturing a title.

Black Ink: 28 (46)
Gray Ink: 211 (171)
HOFm: 300 (188)
HOFs: 68 (46)

Gorilla Composite: 5.8 (5.1)

-------------------------------------------

Greenberg is the 41st RL HOFer to be inducted, here.
Greenberg enters his first OOTP HOF.

[VanillaGorilla]

Home Run Baker and Stan Musial are the 100th and 101st hitters to be inducted. With 101 hitters, the expected number of pitchers in the HOF would be about 43. We now have 42, so we are on target, there. We are pretty much synched up with the RL HOF, at the moment, in so far as the time table of the league ending in the equivalent 2012 season. That would be 2110, here. The addition of 2 teams will slightly hasten the end of the league. I haven't kept track of the number of players who have entered. I could calculate that, but it really doesn't matter. The number of players that have played at the ML level, thus far, is 13221. This includes players drafted in 2085 who are on ML rosters.

The number of players who had played in the ML through 1987 is 13037.

With the induction of Willie Stargell in 1988, there were 158 players in the HOF (not counting players who got in as managers, executives, or Negro League players). This league population had trailed the historical corresponding size of RL in relation to the HOF years, so I figured to be somewhat behind the RL total, at this point. 15 entries is a large number to gain, over the historical number, in 25 years. It can happen. A couple fluky high numbered classes can bring these numbers together.

If the number of players who have entered the draft, but never played in the ML is about 10% of the total pool, then we have about 20 years left in this league.

--------------------------------------------------------

Home Run Baker was the chosen by the Royals with the 6th overall pick in the 2060 draft.

At the end of his first Spring Training, Baker knocked his noggin and missed 4 1/2 moths due to PCS. He joined the team in August and batted .310 with 10 HR in 51 games.

There appeared to be no lingering effects from the concussion. Baker would bat over .300 in 13 of his first 14 seasons.

In 2069 he batted well above .300. He slashed 369/427/714 (npa OPS+ 192) and tallied career highs in hits (228), HR (59), RBI (156), R (162), and SB (45).

ADD: The 162 runs scored is the second most in a season in league history, trailing only Ralph Kiner's 170.

He won the league MVP and, more importantly, led his Royals to WS victory. Previously inducted HOF teammates Joe Adcock and Albert Belle welcomed him to the converted tractor shed that is this HOF.

Following the 2068 season, he signed a 6 year deal with the Reds. In 2071, Baker batted .336 with 35 HR and 91 RBI in 100 games, leading the Reds to the WS. Baker is the first member of that WS winning Reds team to be enshrined. He will not be the last.

In 2076, the Cardinals traded a then 35 year-old Home Run Baker to Arizona, in July. Baker was not the player he once was, but Arizona gave up a starter and reliever to acquire him. Baker provided alizing veteran influence for the Diamondbacks as they won the WS. Baker is the first, but not the last, player from this team to enter the HOF.

For his career, Baker collected 2483 hits (59th), 473 of which were doubles (72nd, 1 fewer than Hans Lobert), 62 triples (64th), and 460 HR (87th, one fewer than Gorman Thomas). He drove in 1477 (68th, two more than Ron Cey) and scored 1469 (47th, between Sam Crawford and Ken Griffey Jr). He posted a career slash line of 327/386/587 (26th/*/54th, one spot ahead of Jim Gentile).

He ranks 45th on the career OPS list between Jim Gentile and Jim Wynn.

Home Run Baker was a 9 time All Star and won one GG at 3B. He enters the HOF at the age of 45 on his first ballot.

Black Ink: 20 (26)
Gray Ink: 139 (196)
HOFm: 200.5 (81)
HOFs: 72 (33)

Gorilla Composite: 4.5 (3.5)

--------------------------------------------------

Stan Musial enters the HOF as the the all time leader in triples with 105. This shocked me. Then I looked up his record and learned that he led the league IRL 5 times. I did not know that.

Musial was the top pick in the 2054 draft by Oakland. He did not come to terms with Oakland and went back into the pool for the 2055 draft.

There he fell to the 5th pick and was taken by the Phillies. He would call the City of Brotherly Love home for 17 years.

The Phillies realized they had a good thing, right away.

As a rookie he smacked 200 hits while batting .358 with 26 HR and 86 RBI. He scored 106 runs and took home Rookie of the Year. He would collect 200 hits in a season twice more in his career.

The next time he collected 200 hits was in 2061 when he cracked 220. He slashed 376/461/641 (npa OPS+ 186) with 26 HR and a career high in doubles (53) and triples (12). He would hit double digit triples three times in his career and would lead the league each of those three times.

This output was good for an MVP season. It also powered the Phillies to a WS celebration where he and fellow HOFer George Hendrick celebrated victory.

Musial carried an OBP over .400 in each of his first 9 seasons and 14 of his first 16.

In 2064 he and Hendrick again led the Phils to victory.

In 2065 they were joined by Harmon Killebrew and pulled the repeat.

In 2070 Musial posted a career best 230 hits and a career best 50 HR to go along with a career best 152 RBI. He won his second MVP for his effort, at the age of 34. His slash line of 378/442/691 for a npa OPS+ of 194.

After stops in Chicago and Denver and a 2 year hiatus, Musial closed his career in St Louis. Pinch hitting for the Cards, he batted .291 with 17 HR in 244 AB at the age of 41.

Musial won 4 batting titles on his way to 3096 career hits (9th, one spot behind Larry Doyle). He had 618 doubles (10th, again, one spot behind Larry Doyle) and 553 HR (51st, 2 ahead of Ryan Howard and three behind Ryan Klesko). He posted 1834 RBI (17th, between Manny Ramirez and Billy Williams) and scored 1768 times (10th, one spot behind Chipper Jones).

Musial drew 1165 walks (28th, 3 behind Gavvy Cravath) which contributed to his slash line of 348/425/627 (2nd, behind Shoeless Joe Jackson/7th, one spot ahead of John McGraw/17th, behind Joe Adcock). Musial ranks 12th on the career OPS list, one spot ahead of Kevin Mitchell.

Black Ink: 41 (116)
Gray Ink: 256 (390)
HOFm: 389.5 (454)
HOFs: 77 (76)

Gorilla Composite: 7.4 (11.5)

Musial had an outstanding career here. Comparing these numbers to his RL numbers illustrates just how amazing his RL career was.

-----------------------------------------------------

Home Run Baker enters his second OOTP HOF.
Stan Musial enters his first OOTP HOF.

Baker and Musial are the 42nd and 43rd RL HOFer to be inducted.

[VanillaGorilla]

One thing I left out in the previous post noting the 100th hitter entering the Hall is a bit obvious, but it snuck up on me, so I will share my myopia.

With 100 hitters in the HOF, that means it is conceivable that all 100 spots on a leaderboard could be held by HOFers. This makes a note of a position on a leaderboard more valuable. Being 97th on a list for someone entering in the class of 2087 is more meaningful than it was for someone entering in the class of 2057.

The class of 2087 has been selected, and it is an incredible class. For the first time since the Inaugural Class there are 4 First Ballot entrants (out of four).

One will be making his third Tractor Shed speech.

One is a RL immortal who will never get into Cooperstown as an inductee (Rose and Shoeless Joe are both in, already, so it aint one of them).

One should be in Cooperstown right now, imo.

And the last one should have been in Cooperstown long before he got there.

As the league population has grown I am tapping my daily quota from random.org with every season I run. I actually called on a friend to have 10000 numbers run for me so I could see how this class turned out.

But I am in a holding pattern as I like to do these when I get on a roll, and there will be no roll after I write the post. So, I am going to hold off on posting this super killer cool class until tomorrow.

Two pitching category Top 10s were filled out. Those will be posted after the Class post.

[VanillaGorilla]

Sometimes things don't work out as planned. Sometimes the unplanned works out.

I was off and about thinking about the players coming in (you KNOW you are an OOTP addict when you care about players that were never on your team) and I sat back down at the comp and was looking them over.

I then realized that this past season was the equivalent of 1988 IRL. That is meaningful because that is the year Roberto Alomar debuted. So, if the league holds to RL form, no more debuting players will make the HOF.

Following the yearly posts, for the rest of the run through, I will post notable players who entered the draft pool. This will just be an eyeball check for RL HOFers, previous Gorilla Ball HOFers, as well as players who are of some significance to me, for whatever other reason.

And now, on with the countdown of the most rocking class in 50 years.....

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Once is an event. Think Unknown Edwards.
Twice is a coincidence. Think Alex Serrano.
Three times is a trend. Think Charlie J Ferguson.

The love of OOTP for players trends hard for CJF.

Ferguson enters his third OOTP HOF, and in dominant fashion.

Things were not looking good for CJF as he underwent two major surgeries in his first three seasons. Fortunately for him, medicine had advanced considerably in the 200 virtual years from when he really pitched. Maybe that is why he only lasted as long as he did IRL?

Charlie Ferguson was the 9th overall pick by the San Diego Jewels (formerly the Texas Rangers) in the 2057 draft.

They stuck with him through is rehabs. After never pitching 75 innings in any of his first three major league seasons, he made 30 starts in 2061 and tossed 217 1/3 innings with a 11-15 mark and an OOTP ERA of 4.18 (npa ERA+ 105). He struck out 203 men while walking 39. Why mention this? Well....

Over the next 14 years he would never strike out as few of a number as 203, and he would never walk as great of a number as 39.

2061 started a string of 15 consecutive 200 IP seasons. It also started a string of 16 consecutive double digit win seasons.

This guy was good.

In his career, Ferguson won four Cy Young Awards. In 2062, he won his first.

In what might have been his best season (it is hard to tell), CJF posted an 18-8 record in 2062. His OOTP ERA of 2.66 makes for a npa ERA+ of 170. He fanned 337 men while walking 34 in 267 1/3 IP.

2062 started a string of 15 consecutive seasons with a winning record. It also marked the start of a ten season span where he would strike out 300 men 8 times.

He was good.

In 2065 he was 22-8 and won the CYA as a Cleveland Indian (who nearly doubled what SD gave him in his last extension, on a per year basis).

In 2066, he did not win CYA honors, but he set the still standing records for IP in a season with 279 over 37 starts. You want to call someone an elite pitcher in a 21st Century environment? Give me a guy that goes 7 1/2 innings a start, and we can begin that conversation.

Ferguson, while minimizing walks like few others, did give up the gopher ball. He served up 613 taters during hs ML career, 2nd most All-Time (3 behind Don Sutton).

In 2066 he tied the record for most HRA in a season with 52. Who did he tie? Himself.

23 wins in 2067 and 21 wins in 2068, while striking out over 300 both times, earned him consecutive CYAs.

He won 20 in 2069 and again struck out 300, but no 5th trophy.

Speaking of trophies, the one that really counts eluded him. He only pitched in 2 post seasons and never got to the Fall Classic.

In 2076, at the age of 38, Ferguson was now practicing his trade in Atlanta. The grizzled vet was toying with the youngsters. In 16 starts he was 12-2, striking out over a batter an inning and allowing a walk every other start.

The snap in his elbow prompted a call to Frank Jobe VI and he underwent Tommy John surgery.

In his 8th start in 2077 that elbow weasel went pop again, and a reconstruction of his TJ tendon was required which forced him to mis all of 2078.

Making a go of it again, at age 41, Ferguson was effective for 29 starts, though now walking men at a mortal's rate. A ruptured finger tendon halted that campaign. He thought he could still pitch, but no one else did. He stayed available until 1981 when he decided everyone else was right.

Ferguson retired with 285 wins (obviously why he didn't want to quit) and 175 losses. He ranks 6th on the career win list, landing between Steve Carlton and Toad Ramsey. His .6196 winning % places him 46th on that career list, one slot ahead of Willie McGill.

He struck out 4766 men in his career (9th, between Jim St Vrain and Sandy Koufax) over 4227 1/3 IP (7th, between Toad Ramsey and Britt Burns). I guess it is ok to give up a lot of HR if your walks are less than your HRA. Yep, Ferguson only walked 606 men in his career. His BB/9 rate of 1.290 ranks him 7th All-Time, one spot behind Jim Whitney.

He appeared in 600 games, 598 of them as a starter (9th). He threw 87 complete games (3rd, between Walter Johnson and Early Wynn), 20 of which were of the shut out variety (t-5th, Rube Waddell).

His career OOTP ERA of 3.519 ties him with Dazzy Vance for 93rd.

A first ballot inductee, as all in this class are, Ferguson gives his acceptance speech at the age of 48 with 9 AS appearances to his credit.

Black Ink: 83
Gray Ink: 262
HOFm: 226
HOFs: 58

Gorilla Composite: 5.8

This post took longer than I planned. Will follow up later today with the rest of the entries.

[VanillaGorilla]

Johnny Vander Meer is a true baseball immortal. Someday someone will hit 100 HR in a season. Someone will hit 1000 HR for a career. Someone will have a 60 game hitting streak. Someday every record will be different from what it is now.

All of these somedays will arrive long before the someday that someone throws consecutive no-hitters. For that, Johnny Vander Meer is immortal. It is awesome that he joins this HOF and will play in the virtual cornfield, forever.

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Vander Meer was selected by the Pirates with the 4th overall pick in the 2063 draft.

He was a work horse for the Pirates. He played for them through the 2079 season. In that time he became the team leader in career IP and starts. The pirates rich history of pitching includes the likes of HOFers Bob Feller, Ed Walsh, Rube Waddell, and Lefty Grove.

On May 7, 2066, Vander Meer spun a no-hitter against the Washington Nationals, fanning 13.

On May 12, 2066 he took the hill and, well...did not throw a no hitter. C'mon, THAT would have been insane.

He was a great pitcher for a long period of time. In 2069 his pitching was at its zenith. He posted a 23-5 record with an OOTP ERA of 1.52 (npa ERA+ 291!!). He struck out 355 men in in 237 1/3 IP to take the NL Triple Crown as well as the Cy Young Award.

In 2078, at the age of 35, Vander Meer was assigned the closer job. He responded by saving 43 games.

Back in the role of starter in 2080, Vander Meer's shoulder became too sore to pitch and he ended his season in July. A brief attempt to pitch was given in 2081, but Father Time had finally won out (as he always does) and Vander Meer hung up the cleats.

Johnny Vader Meer won 201 career games (43rd) and suffered 117 losses. His .6321 win% ranks him 29th on the career list. His career OOTP ERA was a dazzling 3.07 (20th).

He struck out 3501 men (33rd, one spot behind George Davies) in 2954 2/3 IP (66th).

Vander Meer appeared in one post season, but no WS chance.

An 8 time All Star, Vander Meer is the youngster of the class, entering the Hall at age 44.

Black Ink: 22 (17)
Gray Ink: 199 (116)
HOFm: 148 (33)
HOFs: 49 (12)

Gorilla Composite: 3.4 (1.4)

[VanillaGorilla]

Mike Piazza is the greatest hitting catcher IRL in baseball history. In this alternate universe, he is the greatest hitting catcher as well.

I get the RL Writers making the statement they did for the 2013 ballot, and I give them a pass for not voting in Piazza, and others. If it should happen again in 2014, I will not be so forgiving.

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With the 7th pick of the 2060 draft, Los Angeles selected Piazza. How cool! He would play 15 of his 16 seasons in Los Angeles. Very cool! The rub is, that he was a career Angel...oh, well.

Piazza was awesome, and a horse. He ranks second on the All-Time List for games caught with 2134.

In 16 seasons he played in over 100 games 15 times. In ALL of his seasons, he hit at least 21 HR. In 2070 he played in 97 games and still connected for 33 bombs.

He hit 50+ HR three times. He did that in consecutive seasons from 2065 through 2067. He hit between 40 and 49 HR five times.

He broke in with a ROY winning season by slashing 344/393/636 for a npa OPS+ of 173. He connected for 46 HR, drove in 124 and scored 100.

Piazza would bat .300 in 12 of his first 13 seasons.

Having played out a 6 yr/ $90M contract in 2073, he signed a 1 year deal with Jacksonville for $6.5 M.

Following the 2074 season, the Angels offered him a 3 year $30M deal, which he accepted.

At the age of 38, the Angels did not offer him a deal. Piazza stayed active, but found no takers until he retired in 2081.

For his career Piazza had 660 HR (t-18th, Jose Canseco) amongst 2664 hits (34th, one spot ahead of Joe Torre). He had 1738 RBI (t-28th, Carlton Fisk) and scored 1495 runs (42nd, one more than Don Mincher).

He retired with a career slash line of 322/378/609 (44th, 0.0001 behind George H Burns/*/34th, between Duke Snider and Hank Greenberg).

Piazza ranks 42nd on the career OPS list, between Jim Ray Hart and Albert Belle.

Piazza never won a WS and he never won a GG. This is what differentiates his career from that of Gary Carter.

An 11 time All Star, Piazza enters the HOF at the age of 48.

Black Ink: 18 (0)
Gray Ink: 137 (101)
HOFm: 301.5 (207)
HOFs: 81 (62)

Gorilla Composite: 5.3 (3.3)

Using the standards in place here and applying the to RL, Piazza should be in Cooperstown.

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Ron Santo was the 11th player taken in the 2057 draft. He did not reach an agreement with the Braves and was selected with the 3rd pick in 2058 draft by the Mariners. He signed with them.

As a 20 year-old rookie, he hit 42 HR, drove in 104 and scored 100 times while slashing 318/377/613 for a npa OPS+ of 162.

Santo batted over .300 in each of his first 8 seasons.

Santo played in at least 100 games in each of his first 16 seasons and hit at least 21 HR in each.

9 times Santo drove in 100 runs. 8 times he scored 100 runs.

He hit at least 25 doubles in each of his first 16 seasons. Talk about money in the bank.

In his free agent season of 2064, Santo smacked 47 HR, drove in 128 and scored 123 times. His slash numbers were all career highs as he posted 352/464/702 for a npa OPS+ of 198. This came on the heels of a 2063 season where he posted career highs in HR, with 56, and runs scored, with 128 and drove in 132.

Santo was expecting a big pay day. No one wanted to pay. he sat out the 2065 season.

The Cardinals jumped on him following the 2065 season by signing him for 6 years and $92.4M.

In 2066 he rewarded them with 52 HR, 135 RBI, and a career high 208 hits.

In 2067, he fought through some injury time, but still slashed 335/411/521 (npa OPS+ 141). He, and HOFer Harmon Killebrew, led the Cardinals to the post season and a WS win.

After a stop with the Whte Sox (ironic), Santo found himself in Colorado for the 2078 season. At the age of 40, he was still getting it done. He hit .298 with 21 HR and led the Rockies to a WS win. No other player from that squad has yet to be inducted.

He sat out the 2079 season when he found no suitors for his talents. In 2080, he signed a 2 year deal with the Cubs (finally!). In a case of VR simulating reality, the Cubs traded him.

In 2081 he called it quits with 3090 hits (10th of 10 players with 3000 hits, between Stan Musial and Hank Greenberg) in a cool looking 2727 career games (5th, one slot behind Barry Bonds). He had a career slash line of 309/388/567. He ranks 81st on the career slugging list, one spot behind Manny Ramirez. He is 69th on the career OPS list, one spot ahead of Kent Hrbek.

Santo hit 636 career HR (26th, between Jim Gentile and Mickey Mantle), 589 doubles (18th, between George Burns and Pete Rose) and 43 triples. He drove in 1924 runs (13th, between Willie Stargell and Chipper Jones) and scored 1767 runs (11th, one fewer than Stan Musial). He drew 1276 walks in his career (16th).

A 6 time All Star, Santo won 7 Gold Gloves at 3B. He enters this HOF as a no-brainer on the first ballot at the age of 48.

Black Ink: 12 (11)
Gray Ink: 201 (147)
HOFm: 301.5 (88)
HOFs: 81 (41)

Gorilla Composite: 5.5 (2.8)

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Johnny Vander Meer enters his first OOTP HOF.
Ron Santo and Mike Piazza enter their second OOTP HOF.
Charlie J Ferguson enters his third OOTP HOF.

Ron Santo is the 44th RL HOFer amongst the 147 entrants, here.

Players of note entering the league this year include: Zack Wheat, Ellis Burks, Norm Charlton, Dennis Eckersley, Babe Ruth, Keith Moreland,Pete Runnels, Bert Campaneris, Tommy John, Brett Lawrie, Warren Cromartie and Nellie Fox.