The Around the Horn League (AtHoL)

[luckymann]

I've been playing my main save for 20+ seasons and have recently found myself falling out of love with it to some degree. I'll always go back to it because it was my first OOTP universe and so much passion and time and effort have been put into it.

But I needed a change.

So a few months back I started the conceptual phase of the replacement (ad)venture and have been working feverishly to turn conception into inception.

She is finally ready.

I present to you The Around the Horn League - fondly known as "AtHoL".

Next year marks the 75th anniversary of easily the most important decision made in the history of baseball, and AtHoL is getting in early to celebrate this monumental change to the game we all love, one that was immeasurably for its betterment.

Accordingly, it begins in 1947 and features teams from a variety of leagues and historical players from all eras. I will be manually importing these players so that all appear as rookies at the same age they did IRL - no age-37 Randy Johnsons for AtHoL. I have also been working extensively on NeL players, many of whom OOTP is unable to handle automatically at this stage - something I dearly hope will change with future iterations of the program - who will be also added over the years as rookies entering the Draft. Finally, it seems only fitting that Jackie Robinson will be among those eligible for selection in the inaugural Rookie Draft.

Here are the nuts and bolts:

• 36 teams in 2 Associations, each with 3 Bands of 6.
• full financials with arb set at 2 years and Free Agency at 5, and with contracts limited to 5 years in length
• manual evolution with the end goal still TBA at this point, but probably either out to 48, 64 or even 72 teams
• to make things interesting I shall be randomising (by dice roll) the historical LTMs setting each season, so that any type of baseball may become the norm for a year - but only a year, as each season can only be used once - which means a year of prime deadball era might be followed by a season from the heart of the BALCO ball period; 1947, however, will be played as 1947
• 40 round Inaugural Draft in 1947
• Reserve Roster will be in use until 1949, and then the first of three MiLB levels - the 3B, 2B, and 1B Leagues - will be added; this will be the 3B league, with the others to come in at some stage in subsequent years
• TCR set at 125, 5-year recalc with dev ON, 30/40/20/10 AI eval
• trading difficulty and preference both skewed toward hard and prospects
• upper age limit of 47, 12-day IL for both hitters and hurlers
• 166-game season in which all intra-Band fixtures will be played in the final weeks of the season

I will be playing every game out - initially as GM and manager of the Chicago American Giants, but able to be fired should my performance not be up to snuff - and handling most franchise-related responsibilities personally. Which means, after an initial flurry of news designed to familiarise you with the league's setup, this will be a slow burner. It won't be my usual info-heavy type of deal, but rather just a drip-feed of key points of note throughout the season, recaps at their conclusion, trivia and fun stuff.

As always I must express my extreme gratitude to all of the modders whose skill and hard work add so much more to this game. In particular I want to thank txranger and knuckler for the graphics, silvam and adlon and eriqjaffe for the stadia, and my friend LansdowneSt for the facegens.

Those who have followed one or more of my other leagues would know how much love I pour into each. This one will be no different. I hope you enjoy it as much as I know I am going to.

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

[luckymann]

I like our squad. It's virtually impossible to establish the perfect group from scratch via the Draft so, sure, it has its weaknesses. But we'll get to those when they cross the bridge to Unbearable Island, that moss-strewn morass upon which I throw my managerial tantrums.

Some interesting tidbits from their IRL careers:

• Clay Buchholz threw a no-no in his second MLB start and was introduced to his wife by POTUS 45.
• Liván Hernández was only the fourth player to be named MVP of both a League Championship Series and a World Series in the same season (1997 with the Marlins).
• In 1907, while playing for the Cardinals, Ed Karger pitched the only major league abridged perfect game or no-hitter not shortened by weather or darkness.
• Mike Caldwell was one-third of the "Three Lefties Named Mike" to deal Ron Guidry a loss in his 25-3 Cy Young Award season (the others were Flanagan and Willis).
• Johnny Grodzicki - who made his debut with the Cardinals in 1941, the same year as Stan Musial - was wounded in WW2 and never fully recovered.
• Sam McMackin pitched for the White Sox and Tigers in 1902, going 0-1 with a 3.24 ERA, but died of pneumonia less than six months later. Alan Storke also died young.
• Dennis Musgraves had a sparkling 0.56 ERA over 16 IP for the Mets in 1965, with his only earned run conceded on a bunt single, but never appeared in the bigs again.
• Similarly, Juan Pena had a promising start to his MLB career, going 2-0 / 0.69 in two starts for the '99 Red Sox, but was injured and never played in the majors again.
• In nearly 2500 ABs in the late 19th century, Mike McGeary never hit a home run and had just 13 triples.
• In a mystery pitcher appearance against the White Sox earlier this year, Willians Astudillo served up a 47.1 mph eephus that Yermin Mercedes knocked out of the park, making it the slowest pitch ever recorded by Statcast to end up as a HR (note to self, do NOT under any circumstances put Tortuga on the mound...).
• Ben Chapman's success on the field has rightfully been overshadowed by his reputation as an aggressive racist and the fact that he once punched an umpire in the face (there'll be none of that sort of stuff in the AtHoL, thanks Ben).
• Willy Aybar had a bit of a drinking problem that saw him out of the majors before he was 28.
• HOFer Freddie Lindstrom appeared 9th on John McGraw's list of all-time best players. His son, Chuck, played one game in the bigs and finished with a career 1.000 BA.
• Our other HOFer, Joe Sewell, held the record for fewest games started before playing in the World Series - which he set in 1920 with the Yankees - until 1997, when it was broken by none other than his new teammate, Liván Hernández.
• Benny Ayala was the first member of the New York Mets and first Puerto Rican to homer in his first major league at bat, taking Tom Griffin of the Houston Astros deep on August 27, 1974.
• Jimmy Ripple sparkled in World Series play, posting a line of .320/.433/.480 in 50 at-bats and was only the second player (after Kiki Cuyler) ever to hit World Series home runs for two different teams.

I guess it's fair to assume that, with this bunch, life sure won't be dull as Manager of the 1947 Chicago American Giants.

[luckymann]

There's not a huge amount of real star power among the foundation group. Tris Speaker. Harry Heilmann. Mike Schmidt. Mad Dog Maddux, Zack Greinke and Max Scherzer. Dick Allen, Jackie, Fernando, Minnie Minoso, Roberto Clemente and Cesar Cedeno. Mr October and Señor Octobre. Mo the Hit Dog. Fernando Tatis jr, Juan Soto and Josh Hamilton among the still active ranks.

So it will be really interesting to see who else steps up to fill the void. Whomever they might be, given all players are rookies, this should be quite the ride.

Here's a screenshot from the very first AtHoL game for the Chicago American Giants, facing the Jacksonville Red Caps at Durkee Field. Jacksonville's Hank Robinson with the honor of throwing out the first ever pitch, Ben Chapman with that of facing it.

The league's first hit is recorded by Chicago shortstop Joe Sewell, with teammate George Bjorkman knocking out the first homer and Willie Aybar committing the first error.

Chicago go on to win the game 3-0 on the back of a fine 5-hitter by Ed Karger.

Other teams to enjoy Opening Day success are Detroit, Chattanooga, Louisville, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Toronto, Indianapolis and Keokuk in the Lincoln Association; and Norfolk, Brooklyn, Rochester, Walden, Richmond, New York, Boston, Homestead and Wilmington in the King Association.

So there you go, just a taster of what's in store for the AtHoL.

[OmahaBaseball]

This is great -- I really like the setup idea.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by CHOWDERHEAD

This is great -- I really like the setup idea.

Thanks mate, should be a lot of fun.

[luckymann]

One of the league's brightest stars (which I guess mean he's on the right team...) has begun his career in the majors with aplomb.

Detroit has flown out of the gates at 5-0. So glad they're in our Band...

Across in the King Association, the Pittsburgh Crawfords have lost promising outfielder Andre Dawson for six weeks to a broken hand.

[Brad K]

You are amazing. You are running more leagues than I can follow.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

You are amazing. You are running more leagues than I can follow.

Anyone would think I didn't have a heavy-workload full-time job to attend to...

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Anyone would think I didn't have a heavy-workload full-time job to attend to...

I used to do that. It can be done if you don't sleep.

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

I used to do that. It's easy if you don't sleep.

Or have a social life.

[Brad K]

COVID motivates me not to have a social life now. I recently declined free tickets to see the Rays.

[luckymann]

I was a massive party boy - club DJ AND stockbroker, so lived a full life. But gave it all up - including booze - to live as small as I can. I was the poster boy for social distancing before it all went Pete Tong.

We're in full lockdown here in Sydney, not that it changes my MO. My work is running two financial websites, all done from home. Haven't been off my property in 11 weeks.

[luckymann]

Screenshot before the first pitch in our home opener at the beautiful Foster Field (actually "Parco" by the sublimely-talented deft) against the Philadelphia Keystones.

Greg Hibbard threw the first pitch to Herm Winningham, who grounded out. In the bottom 1st, Jimmy Ripple knocked out the first home run in the just-opened park.

We had a pretty rough first road trip, going 2-4 and generally playing poorly, but Hibbard goes the distance in this one and the bats come alive - Sewell also cracks a homer and young Freddie Lindstrom goes 3-for-4 with a double and 2 ribbies - as we take a nice 10-1 win to christen our new abode in style.

[luckymann]

I realise it's a bit hard to engage with a league you know so little about. The plan is to wait until all of the Service Time manipulation nonsense is out of the way and squads are properly settled and then give you a rundown of the various clubs and players on them so you can pick your team if so desired and feel more immersed.

Until then I'll just be posting random snippets as they come to hand.