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OOTP Dynasty Reports Tell us about the OOTP dynasties you have built! |
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09-17-2019, 12:45 PM | #1 |
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Robert Coover's Universal Baseball Association
There have been a number of OOTP re-creations of Robert Coover's book, "The Universal Baseball Association". Being one who has loved reading that book numerous times, I thought I would like to try playing the league through its first 55 seasons as close as possible to the results mentioned in the book. To do that, I would need a reasonably accurate statistical record of each UBA player - which of course does not really exist - so I meticulously researched each of the 103 players mentioned in the book and compiled what I could to try and create OOTP ballplayers that would perform in a similar fashion.
I ended up with a spreadsheet that provided the player's position, rookie year, age, and assigned a "Star" value based on the various references in the book (which I added to the spreadsheet with comments). When creating players in OOTP (through the Free Agent page), the options are Legend, Star, Good, Average, Bench, or Scrub. Six options to try and match with a 5 Star system. In addition, my experiments uncovered that a choice of Star (for example) could result in anything from a 3 star player to a 5 star player. A lot of randomness is built into the code. So, I had to sometimes create multiple players until I got someone near where I wanted. Once the players were on the right team, I edited them to try and fine-tune things like running speed, power, and defense based on the comments from the book. As you can imagine, there was no way to know for sure if the players would perform as I expected - and that variation was probably going to present a few surprises. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't trying to reconstruct an "exact" replay, just something close. A few surprises would be a good thing. Players mentioned without a position would be assigned a position at the time they were added - depending on the needs of the team. Players mentioned without a team were assigned a team initially to even out team rosters (The pioneers had 27 players mentioned in the book while the Excelsiors only had 2 mentioned. I would begin the replay in 1901 (but refer to it as "Season 1") but set all the internal tables to 1947. I could have set it in any year - and some might think the UBA fit the 30s better - but I liked 40s baseball and felt the increased power would be more in keeping with an 84 game schedule. The schedule runs from May to September (4.5 months), all 3 game series. Characters from the book would be introduced in the first decade as follows. Numbers represent Star ratings... Season 1, Fancy Dan Casey(5), Verne MacKenzie(5), Barney North(3), Marshall "Marsh" Williams(4). Season 2, Woodrow "Woody" Winthrop(4). Season 3 Season 4, Melborn "Mighty Mel" Trench(4). Season 5, Andrew Parsons(3). Season 6 Season 7, Agapito Bacigamupo(3), Phineas "Skinny Ass" Flint(4). Season 8 Season 9 Season 10, Raglan "Pappy" Rooney(5), Timothy Shadwell(4). I'll add the following decades as I continue this thread. There was no mention of the cities these teams were in, and for the story's purpose, they weren't needed. However, in OOTP a city must be used, and duplicating the team nickname as the city name results in some nasty story writing. I thus chose New England as my team base and assigned cities as follows... Lowell Haymakers Cambridge Keystones Stamford Pioneers Bridgeport Knickerbockers Worcester Excelsiors Providence Bridegrooms Waterbury Pastime Club Boston Beaneaters I'm currently designing logos and uniforms. I've chosen to use Text logos and team names on the jerseys - I didn't want team logos to be the focus of a player photo. That may change over time. I'm thinking about using a baseball card template from the actual year played (1947-2001, 55 years) but need some help finding what has been done by the OOTP modders. I guess that's it for today. I'll continue posting as I close in on Opening Day. Last edited by HRBaker; 09-28-2019 at 10:06 PM. |
09-17-2019, 11:27 PM | #2 |
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Robert Coover's Universal Baseball Association, Continued...
As the league organization moves forward, I've completed the team uniforms (Figure 1) and created the first four (4) characters from the book.
Joining the UBA replay is Marshall Williams, Barney North, Vern Mackensie, and Fancy Dan Casey. This is the first time we get to see them face-to-face. If all goes per fictional history, Williams will be the HR King of the UBA, North will rate as one of the best CF's ever before coming a future Chancellor of the UBA, Mackenzie will go down as the best UBA shortstop ever, and Casey will become one of the top three (3) pitchers in UBA history. Time will tell... Please feel free to engage us with your thoughts and comments. |
09-19-2019, 02:22 PM | #3 |
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UBA Season 1 Results
Once I completed the final preparations for my UBA dynasty, I moved forward into the inaugural season. The Haymakers grabbed the first Coover Cup award, and 3 of our 4 Coover characters turned in great seasons (Barney North was the only one that struggled a bit through his first year. .233ba, .333obp, .466slg, 4.7war.)
Here's the Season Summary... |
09-20-2019, 09:33 AM | #4 |
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On to Season 2!
The Haymakers made it two Coover Cups in a row by posting a 54-30 season behind Pitcher of the Year Mark Wilson (13-3, 1.84era). An interesting fact of this season; all 5 of the Robert Coover characters were named to the Season 2 All-Star Team.
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09-22-2019, 11:27 AM | #5 |
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Season 3 and a shocker...
For the first time, we have a new champion - the Stamford Pioneers finished the season with 25-11 rush to the finish as the two-time favorite Haymakers fell to 3rd Place.
The "shocker" this season was that the Haymaker manager, after posting a 3-year record of 155-97, and winning TWO "Manager of the Year" awards, was fired for dropping to 3rd place with a 50-34 record. It looks like he will sit out this season as well. The 6th Robert Coover player will be added in Season 4; Melborn "Mighty Mel" Trench_. |
09-23-2019, 11:27 AM | #6 |
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UBA - Season 4
The Haymakers come back to win their 3rd Coover Cup in 4 years.
However, a story situation created by the game would have caused an uproar at the time had it actually happened. At the end of last Season you'll remember the Haymakers fired their 3 year manager, Bernie Willis, after winning 2 Coover cups and posting a 155-97 record. They replaced him with Adam Kinley. Kinley came from the Knickerbockers and had posted a 88-163 record while there. As if the above wasn't enough to raise eyebrows, Kinley wins the 1904 Manager of the Year Award, and says in his acceptance speech, "This city has allowed me to craft a winning ball club." Turns out, the team he managed is the exact same team managed by the previous manager for 3 years... Oy vey. |
09-24-2019, 01:29 PM | #7 |
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UBA - Season 5 PLUS Coover Character Stats
The Haymakers continue their dynasty building, winning their 4th Coover Cup in 5 seasons. I've also added the 5 year stats for the 7 Coover players so far...
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09-28-2019, 11:50 AM | #8 |
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UBA 10th Anniversary Report - Part 1
I've played the UBA through Seasons 6-10 to the leagues 10th Anniversary.
UBA 10th Anniversary Part 1 contains the 6 though 10 Seasonal results, and UBA 10th Anniversary Part 2 contains the Robert Coover Players Stats, the 15 players that will be introduced over the next decade, the UBA History Index, and the Single Season & Career Batting/Pitching records for Seasons 1 through 10. Last edited by HRBaker; 09-28-2019 at 10:02 PM. |
09-28-2019, 10:04 PM | #9 |
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UBA 10th Anniversary Report - Part 2
I've played the UBA through Seasons 6-10 to the leagues 10th Anniversary.
UBA 10th Anniversary Part 1 contains the 6 though 10 Seasonal results, and UBA 10th Anniversary Part 2 contains the Robert Coover Players Stats, the 15 players that will be introduced over the next decade, the UBA History Index, and the Single Season & Career Batting/Pitching records for Seasons 1 through 10. |
09-30-2019, 10:24 PM | #10 |
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UBA - The 2nd Decade (being assembled now...)
Coming Soon
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