Quickstart: Hall of Fame League

BennyTheMarlin · 12-17-2017, 08:39 AM

I'm sharing a quickstart for my 10-team Hall of Fame league. This is a long-term project that I put off sharing for a long time while I added things like personalities and managers. I could've gone on further perfecting it, but I liked everything enough to finally start playing and get it out there for others to enjoy. Here's how I laid it out:

-10 Teams with 25 players each, taken from the 250 current Hall of Fame honorees inducted primarily as players. No 2018 inductees yet, as I don't want to deal with expansion for at least a few months.

-Players were divided with attention to spreading out eras, teammates, and talent. The result is imperfect but getting it where it this adaquate was challenge enough. I like how it turned out.

-Stats have generally been normalized to fit each player's era, so no pitchers getting perfect movement ratings just for playing in 1910. I re-calculated things like fielding ratings; pitcher stuff, movement, and control; stolen bases, etc. One thing I didn't change much yet was power-hitting for dead-ball and 19th-century hitters. Suggestions accepted on how best to fix this up for the next go-round.

-The historical stat year for the game is 1945, an unscientific choice for a season with fairly neutral stats. I may change this from year-to-year as I play it out for myself. 1906 one year, 2001 the next. I like the possibilities.

-I have based projected stats closer to a player's peak performance than his average season. It's somewhat subjective, but grounded mainly in the raw numbers. In some cases, pitcher ratings were shaded up more, often to nudge stats into ratings more appropriate with where guys might rank historically (Hitters seemed to do this more organically). There's room to improve pitchers more than I have, in general.

-Personalities are included. This pushed the whole project back about two years as I pored through whatever old SABR bios and baseball books I could get through without going crazy (this is also why gameplay begins in 2015). I knew I was getting carried away, but in the end I just needed the realism. I don't pretend to have everything right here, and would love input from any and all OOTP'ers with expertise on certain players.

-Managers, bench coaches, hitting coaches, and pitching coaches are culled from Hall of Fame managers and players, with appropriate ratings. Most HOF managers fit into a manager or bench coach role, though a couple wouldn't fit and had to be coaches. Other coaches are made up from the players on each roster who managed (based on who happened to be on the team, not necessarily the best managers among HOF players).

-Owners, GM's, Scouts I planned to add, but ran out of time and interest. I'll probably get them in on the next update.

-I've done nothing with injuries, mainly because I have them turned off.

-After toying with the idea of resurrecting the ghosts of dead ballparks, I went with neutralized playing fields in the name of fair stats.

-Team names are the same as I dreamed up as a kid playing Lance Haffner: Based off of 10 towns and villages surrounding Cooperstown, with nicknames from the first ten teams of the National League. I like the old-time flavor it gives things.

Please give things a try and let me know what you think. I am open to any and all comments. I'd love to continue to refine things and make this awesome for everyone!

https://ln.sync.com/dl/5e6987cd0/8qr...98dwk-k7p9aci4

The Game · 12-17-2017, 11:21 AM

1st thoughts.

lack of logos is mildly annoying but i can fix that
6 man strict rotation is going to decimate many teams. i know injuries are off but i will turn them on.
why did you import players as old men? Hoyt Wilhelm is 41. Why not just have them all as rookies?

Cool concept but not a league i will play.

BennyTheMarlin · 12-17-2017, 01:36 PM

Thanks for the thoughts.

I couldn't really figure out what to do with the pitching rotations. Each team has 7 legit starters, and you'd like to give them all enough work, while still giving most innings to the best of the bunch. No 7-man rotations, so maybe I manually rotate the fourth starters and below for a work around? There's probably a better way to do this.

I picked ages based upon their peak years. Because I have player development disabled, the age thing is basically arbitrary. It's basically a field-of-dreams fairy-dust concept, with each player at his best at all times, rather than a development league. You'd have to tinker a lot to make it into one.

Uniforms? Hey, if you're buying, I suppose...

mgom27 · 12-19-2017, 05:36 PM

No reserve or Minor League Teams? Started in 2015 not 2017?

tomnov · 02-02-2018, 04:59 PM

Did just a quick 1 yr sim of this quickstart, and you may want to do some adjusting to the beginning stat year, or to the multiplier affecting the stats. I wound up with Ruth hitting 82 HRs, with 5 others over 60HRs. In OPS, at least 6 with 1.100. 180 RBIs from Eddie Mathews.
In early July, it looked like Ruth could wind up with a 120 HR season and a few others over 100, but he must have tired of running round the bases. (Or more likely, the game factor that keeps the overall league statistics roughly level for the season kicked in and squashed HRs for everyone at that point).
Before I rerun the sim, I'm gonna cut the HR numbers down to 90% of historical, and see if the numbers are more "realistic". I think I may also check the ratings in this quickstart vs. some players' career years in the game database.

BennyTheMarlin · 03-11-2018, 01:27 PM

Thanks for looking. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I'm still in late April on my own season (partly due to slow-playing the games), but I've found the home runs a bit high as well. Over the first three weeks of the season, runs are at 5.39/game, (which is not at all ridiculous given the talent and actually below 1930 and 1800's levels), but HR's are at 1.87/game (no comp in real life, last season 1.26). Also interesting is strikeouts being at 7.97/game, rates we've only seen this decade in real life MLB. What are numbers did you end up with for a full season?

When I have time, I will try to test the game like yourself and see if some base numbers need adjusting. I had originally expected pitching to be a bit overwhelmed, perhaps that I had rated pitchers too lightly towards average rather than peak. If anything they seem to be doing better than I figured and so far, the home runs are the main surprise. I wonder if there is something in the game that makes some adjustment for lineup protection/lack of weaknesses 1-8? Any other ideas, anyone?

BennyTheMarlin · 01-25-2019, 08:05 AM

A new version of this with all the new inductees will be on its way within a week or two. We'll now have 12 teams, up from 10. I just need a little more time to work out some roster changes and other housekeeping. Stats problems have already been worked out.

mgom27 · 01-27-2019, 04:06 PM

Hopefully more Pitchers because only one in Bullpen and maybe Triple-A and Date be in 2019.

12-17-2017, 08:39 AM	#1
BennyTheMarlin Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Hamden, CT Posts: 131	Quickstart: Hall of Fame League I'm sharing a quickstart for my 10-team Hall of Fame league. This is a long-term project that I put off sharing for a long time while I added things like personalities and managers. I could've gone on further perfecting it, but I liked everything enough to finally start playing and get it out there for others to enjoy. Here's how I laid it out: -10 Teams with 25 players each, taken from the 250 current Hall of Fame honorees inducted primarily as players. No 2018 inductees yet, as I don't want to deal with expansion for at least a few months. -Players were divided with attention to spreading out eras, teammates, and talent. The result is imperfect but getting it where it this adaquate was challenge enough. I like how it turned out. -Stats have generally been normalized to fit each player's era, so no pitchers getting perfect movement ratings just for playing in 1910. I re-calculated things like fielding ratings; pitcher stuff, movement, and control; stolen bases, etc. One thing I didn't change much yet was power-hitting for dead-ball and 19th-century hitters. Suggestions accepted on how best to fix this up for the next go-round. -The historical stat year for the game is 1945, an unscientific choice for a season with fairly neutral stats. I may change this from year-to-year as I play it out for myself. 1906 one year, 2001 the next. I like the possibilities. -I have based projected stats closer to a player's peak performance than his average season. It's somewhat subjective, but grounded mainly in the raw numbers. In some cases, pitcher ratings were shaded up more, often to nudge stats into ratings more appropriate with where guys might rank historically (Hitters seemed to do this more organically). There's room to improve pitchers more than I have, in general. -Personalities are included. This pushed the whole project back about two years as I pored through whatever old SABR bios and baseball books I could get through without going crazy (this is also why gameplay begins in 2015). I knew I was getting carried away, but in the end I just needed the realism. I don't pretend to have everything right here, and would love input from any and all OOTP'ers with expertise on certain players. -Managers, bench coaches, hitting coaches, and pitching coaches are culled from Hall of Fame managers and players, with appropriate ratings. Most HOF managers fit into a manager or bench coach role, though a couple wouldn't fit and had to be coaches. Other coaches are made up from the players on each roster who managed (based on who happened to be on the team, not necessarily the best managers among HOF players). -Owners, GM's, Scouts I planned to add, but ran out of time and interest. I'll probably get them in on the next update. -I've done nothing with injuries, mainly because I have them turned off. -After toying with the idea of resurrecting the ghosts of dead ballparks, I went with neutralized playing fields in the name of fair stats. -Team names are the same as I dreamed up as a kid playing Lance Haffner: Based off of 10 towns and villages surrounding Cooperstown, with nicknames from the first ten teams of the National League. I like the old-time flavor it gives things. Please give things a try and let me know what you think. I am open to any and all comments. I'd love to continue to refine things and make this awesome for everyone! https://ln.sync.com/dl/5e6987cd0/8qr...98dwk-k7p9aci4

12-17-2017, 11:21 AM	#2
The Game Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Inside The Game Posts: 30,807	1st thoughts. lack of logos is mildly annoying but i can fix that 6 man strict rotation is going to decimate many teams. i know injuries are off but i will turn them on. why did you import players as old men? Hoyt Wilhelm is 41. Why not just have them all as rookies? Cool concept but not a league i will play. __________________ Go today don't wait for tomorrow It isn't promised, all the time you get borrowed Don't live your life for other people Don't bottle your emotions till they crack and fill a couple just sorrows Take your mind and refocus go get a paper write your goals out Throw your middle fingers to all your haters "Stay Strong"

12-19-2017, 05:36 PM	#4
mgom27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,520	No reserve or Minor League Teams? Started in 2015 not 2017? __________________ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

01-27-2019, 04:06 PM	#8
mgom27 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 3,520	Hopefully more Pitchers because only one in Bullpen and maybe Triple-A and Date be in 2019. __________________ Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

12-17-2017, 01:36 PM	#3
BennyTheMarlin Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Hamden, CT Posts: 131	Thanks for the thoughts. I couldn't really figure out what to do with the pitching rotations. Each team has 7 legit starters, and you'd like to give them all enough work, while still giving most innings to the best of the bunch. No 7-man rotations, so maybe I manually rotate the fourth starters and below for a work around? There's probably a better way to do this. I picked ages based upon their peak years. Because I have player development disabled, the age thing is basically arbitrary. It's basically a field-of-dreams fairy-dust concept, with each player at his best at all times, rather than a development league. You'd have to tinker a lot to make it into one. Uniforms? Hey, if you're buying, I suppose...

02-02-2018, 04:59 PM	#5
tomnov Minors (Double A) Join Date: Nov 2017 Posts: 118	Did just a quick 1 yr sim of this quickstart, and you may want to do some adjusting to the beginning stat year, or to the multiplier affecting the stats. I wound up with Ruth hitting 82 HRs, with 5 others over 60HRs. In OPS, at least 6 with 1.100. 180 RBIs from Eddie Mathews. In early July, it looked like Ruth could wind up with a 120 HR season and a few others over 100, but he must have tired of running round the bases. (Or more likely, the game factor that keeps the overall league statistics roughly level for the season kicked in and squashed HRs for everyone at that point). Before I rerun the sim, I'm gonna cut the HR numbers down to 90% of historical, and see if the numbers are more "realistic". I think I may also check the ratings in this quickstart vs. some players' career years in the game database.

03-11-2018, 01:27 PM	#6
BennyTheMarlin Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Hamden, CT Posts: 131	Thanks for looking. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I'm still in late April on my own season (partly due to slow-playing the games), but I've found the home runs a bit high as well. Over the first three weeks of the season, runs are at 5.39/game, (which is not at all ridiculous given the talent and actually below 1930 and 1800's levels), but HR's are at 1.87/game (no comp in real life, last season 1.26). Also interesting is strikeouts being at 7.97/game, rates we've only seen this decade in real life MLB. What are numbers did you end up with for a full season? When I have time, I will try to test the game like yourself and see if some base numbers need adjusting. I had originally expected pitching to be a bit overwhelmed, perhaps that I had rated pitchers too lightly towards average rather than peak. If anything they seem to be doing better than I figured and so far, the home runs are the main surprise. I wonder if there is something in the game that makes some adjustment for lineup protection/lack of weaknesses 1-8? Any other ideas, anyone?

01-25-2019, 08:05 AM	#7
BennyTheMarlin Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Hamden, CT Posts: 131	A new version of this with all the new inductees will be on its way within a week or two. We'll now have 12 teams, up from 10. I just need a little more time to work out some roster changes and other housekeeping. Stats problems have already been worked out.