Where did your obsession begin?

[christian troy]

I found myself just now thinking about an old game that I used to play and really love as a kid. As I reflect, I think that it was this particular game that ignited my now long standing love for GM similation games for all sports.
The game I am referring to is Tony Larussa Baseball. It must have been the early 1990's when I played the game so feverishly. I was amazed by the depth of the game and thought that it was well ahead of its time. Fortunately high school hit and new obsessions took over (girls, money, etc.) and I ended up losing track of this game. Does anyone know how many volumes were made and why production was stopped?

This led me to wonder: what video games from the past introduced others into this genre of game? Were there other awesome GM simulations that I wasnt aware of?

[AirmenSmith]

For me it was the game called season ticket baseball. Don't know if there was a connection to ootp but it looked exactly like the old ootp. From season ticket baseball I went and played baseball mogul for about 3 years. Then I tried OOTP6 and fell in love with OOTP. OOTP 6 is still the best sim game ever IMO.

[Charlie Hough]

MicroLeague Baseball on the Commodore 64. I only wish that OOTP would provide a simple graphical representation of the games like MicroLeague did. Or even something like Strat-O-Matic in the early 90s.

[KentCol]

APBA Baseball board game in the mid 60's. First PC game was Statis Pro on the Apple IIC. I replayed the 1961 season twice, playing every game for every team. Great memories!

[Crimguy]

Playmaker Football on the Mac about 12 years ago.

But I'm not obsessed.

[greendiver]

Strat-O-Matic Baseball- 1971

[SDtwin]

Triple Play 99. First Baseball game I owned. It was fun to use the cheats and hit HRs into space, literally. But I have always liked to manage more than play. I suck at pitching in most of the games anyways.

[Beach23BoyP]

Som -- 1963.

[silvam14]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

MicroLeague Baseball on the Commodore 64. I only wish that OOTP would provide a simple graphical representation of the games like MicroLeague did. Or even something like Strat-O-Matic in the early 90s.

""

I was 10 when I first played Microleague and had the 1985 Team disk. In the ensuing years, I would add the general managers/owners disk and then my all time favorite box score/stats compilier disk. I used to create schedules with pitching matchups on giant poster boards. I remember penciling in names such as Tom Browning, Jim Deshaies, and Floyd Bannister.

Good Times

[jasonn29tn14]

I also got into it with Microleague for the C64. When Earl Weaver Baseball for the Amiga came out a couple of years later I was hooked for life.

[emcgman]

Well, I've been playing video games of all kinds, including baseball, since arond 1990.

What got me interested in games like OOTPB 2007 was an old Stratomatic board game I had several years ago. I remember it was cool to call the plays, roll the dice and let the players do the rest.

A couple years ago I first bought OOTPB 2005 and Pure Sim.

I've recently got both OOTPB 2007 and Pure Sim 2007.

Both great games.

I like OOTPB 2007 for the full pitch count play by play, and that you can start as a lowly manager of a minor league and work your way up.

I like Pure Sim for the streamlined interface, quicker play, and the reports presentations.

emcgman

[eriqjaffe]

Originally Posted by AirmenSmith

For me it was the game called season ticket baseball. Don't know if there was a connection to ootp

Season Ticket was the boxed retail version of OOTP. IIRC, there were a couple of very minor differences between the two versions.

For me, I used to play Cadaco All-Star Baseball (the one with the discs and spinners) when I was a kid, got into Strat-O-Matic (the tabletop version), and spent waaaaay too much time playing SSI's "Computer Baseball" on the C-64.

"Casey is thinking about making a change..."

When I finally graduated to a PC, I got Front Page Sports Baseball, and played that until I discovered OOTP (via Season Ticket Baseball).

[Mattymo]

I fell in love with Front Page Sports Baseball '98 I believe it was, or '97. I played out games occasionally, but mostly liked the way it simmed...I was very sad when they stopped making that game. I also played Front Page Sports Football.

[jasonn29tn14]

Originally Posted by Mattymo

I fell in love with Front Page Sports Baseball '98 I believe it was, or '97. I played out games occasionally, but mostly liked the way it simmed...I was very sad when they stopped making that game. I also played Front Page Sports Football.

I loved FPS BB '98 as well. If that game had had a little more depth to the minor leagues it would have been the best ever. I was commish of an FBPro league (the SSFL). That was a great game.....

[Mattymo]

Originally Posted by jasonn29tn14

I loved FPS BB '98 as well. If that game had had a little more depth to the minor leagues it would have been the best ever. I was commish of an FBPro league (the SSFL). That was a great game.....

The thing that was great about FPS BB '98 was that, when you simmed a game, it saved "highlights" from the game, which were cool to go back and watch. I loved that feature

[treedom]

When I was about 14 my friend and I made up a game where we'd have a bunch of charts and we'd roll dice to determine at-bats. We didn't know that games like that already existed, and thought we were being very clever. We got a bunch of other kids in the league, drew up a schedule and kept a record of all the stats.

Myself, I was an old hand at stuff like this already, as I'd already made up a similar type of game for gladiator fights.

[jasonn29tn14]

Originally Posted by Mattymo

The thing that was great about FPS BB '98 was that, when you simmed a game, it saved "highlights" from the game, which were cool to go back and watch. I loved that feature

I think the thing I really loved about it was that it was physics based. Watching the games (I managed them out usually) had an incredible feel of realism to it that I've never seen in any other baseball sim. What really got me hooked was when I started playing the games out in 'pitching coach mode', calling all the pitches and locations and watching my awful pitching staff miss the target by two feet.

[cbbl]

Earl Weaver Baseball. King of all computer baseball sims (pre-OOTP, of course!)

[Dvdmanny]

I started with a game on the Nintendo called Baseball Simulator 1.000. It was like most baseball video games but I liked it best. I would edit in players using their baseball card stats and simulate seasons and keep track of individual records and other things in a binder.

I moved onto a PC game called Hockey League Simulator and fell in love with the GM aspect of the game. I stumbled upon Season Ticket and have been hooked ever since.

[magnet]

Originally Posted by SDtwin

Triple Play 99. First Baseball game I owned. It was fun to use the cheats and hit HRs into space, literally. But I have always liked to manage more than play. I suck at pitching in most of the games anyways.

Still have this for PSX. I don't have a PSX anymore, but I have this game!