TIGER FAN'S SPORTING NEWS: A multi-sport dynasty

[Tiger Fan]

As many of you know I have done a number of historical replays with OOTP and thoroughly enjoyed watching my new history of baseball unfold each time. In the past few months I have also enjoyed a solo football league I started with Total Pro Football from .400software. I have also been spending a little time replaying some hockey seasons using the online software at WhatIf Sports. All of that got me thinking.

I am a huge fan of hockey, baseball and football and in particular the history of each of these great sports. OOTP does a fantastic job of solving my historical baseball craving. Replaying baseball careers from the greats of the past allows me to learn so much more about the game and the men who played it. Anyone who has followed my HOB replays knows the name Cliff Markle as well as they would Christy Mathewson. Playing OOTP has not only given me many, many hours of enjoyment but it has also greatly enriched my knowledge of baseball history. I would love to see hockey and football games that would allow me to do the exact same thing. In fact, my dream game would allow me to do a historical replay of all the major North American sports at one time. Of course, that is just a dream right now.......so I have decided to do the next best thing. Using whatever games are at my disposal for each of the major sports I am going to recreate my own sporting history and document it here.

I know this is a baseball game dynasty thread but I am hoping there will be interest in what I am going to begin doing.

My starting date will be July of 1946 and my posts will be the weekly issues of a newspaper dedicated entirely to sports, and baseball in particular. Thus TSN - Tiger's Sporting News is born.

Like the real Sporting News I will be the 'Bible of Baseball' with OOTP's baseball sim being my number one focus. However, I will also spend a fair chunk of the "paper" following developments in NFL, NCAA and CFL football, NHL hockey and the new pro basketball league called the BAA.. I have also found games that will allow me to incorporate golf and the Indy 500 into my articles.

Every article will be rooted in real life fact but the results of all events will be ones simmed out by me on various games.

Here are the games I will be using:

Major League Baseball of course using my existing HOB league with OOTP

NFL Using Total Pro Football from 400 software. I had to make some big concessions here but I simply enjoy the game too much to leave it out. I am adding the hall of famers from the era but the replay will have 32 teams rather than the real-life totals. It will also be dominated by fictional players but a number of real life players will be thrown in. I want the baseball and football games to act as the flagship sports and they will get the most press.

NHL :I thought about a board game called Quick Play Hockey but I think Whatif Sports will suit my needs better. Hockey is my favourite sport and will receive plenty of attention in the articles.

NBA or more precisely the BAA as it was called in it's first season which was 1946-47. I will be using an excel based game I found that was created by Jim Barnes. It provides decently accurate team scores with a formula to include individual points as well. Pro basketball was in its infancy at this time and will receive just a small amount of press from me.

CFL and NCAA Football Using an excel program called Quick Play College football I have found rating charts that will allow me to play out the real CFL and NCAA skeds but only team scores no individual stats will be generated. I will augment my reporting on this by including coverage on the college pool from TPF to bring more life and personality to the college game.

I am taking a lot of creative license in all aspects of my football replay since their is nothing akin to the Lahman database that can be used with a football game...at least nothing I have discovered.

GOLF -Another quick play game, Quick Play Golf will generate results for the 4 majors. I am in the processing of finishing my own rating chart for players of this era. I will only report on the majors and when I have the information they will take place at the proper venues and on the proper dates. I cannot vouch for the complete accuracy but I think it will be a fair representation for a minor sport that will receive occassional press in TSN.

INDY 500 Will make its debut in May 1947 with results from a little game called Replay Auto Racing by Thomas Mink. It has ratings for every Indy 500 so it will be the basis of my auto racing coverage.

If I can find a game that will simulate it I would like to add college basketball and horse racing's triple crown to the slate but so far no luck. Since I have virtually no interest in horse racing it would have to be a freeware game or something very inexpensive. As for the basketball, I considered Tournament Dreams but I am really looking for something less detailed but more historically accurate for the era.


A new issue will be released once a week and I will advance my play in all sports that much each week. The reports will obviously go very slow but my goal is to cature the flavour and the feeling of the sports world in a far simplier time rather than just quick sim a whole lot of seasons. I see the main focus for the summer issues being baseball with football coming to prominence after the World Series. Once January rolls around my focus will be on the NHL until the new baseball season takes over. All of the other sports are really just running in the background will brief tidbits being added as filler to kind of round out the totatlity of my universe.

I choose 1946 because it is the beginning of my favourite era for baseball, hockey is just entering its peak with the so-called Original 6, football is a few years away from great popularity but it is growing quick and pro basketball has its beginning. Also it is a much simplier time, well before free agency (although I will have to contend with that in TPF) and so many great stars were just reaching their peak or beginning their careers - Musial, Williams, Dimaggio, Feller, Howe, Richard, Otto Graham etc.

Hopefully I do not drift too far from this board's purpose and you find something of interest in this sports flashback.

PREMIER ISSUE COMING SOON
Here is a sneak peak of what will be in the July 3, 1946 premier issue:

Our cover story tries to answer a question that will surely open a can of worms. 3 men in the history of baseball have hit more than 600 homers. But which one is the greatest slugger of all time?

Washington and Pittsburgh lead the way as we close in on baseball's allstar break. A recap on the first 3 months of the season and a look at what's ahead.

From the world of football we look at what kind of an impact the graduation of 4 first round NFL draft picks, including number 1 overall Lou Groza, will have on the Ohio State Buckeyes chances this season. Also a quick peak at who the NFL regards as the top college seniors? You can bet RB Glen Davis of Army and Northwestern signal caller Otto Graham will make the list.

We also get you prepared for this year's second major, the British Open which returns to St. Andrews after a 6 year layoff due to the War. Also news of a new pro basketball league being formed and a rookie right winger the Detroit Red Wings have high hopes for.


The first issue will be released in the next couple of days. Feedback, as always is welcome.

[TexasLonghorns]

this sounds great

[Tiger Fan]

Forgot to include the collectible first issue cover, suitable for framing.

[Le Grande Orange]

Sounds like a huge undertaking! It should be a very interesting read.

By the way, if you need any CFL info, let me know. There are a couple of good websites I can pass along, plus I've got some CFL stuff of my own on hand if you want it. For example, I have the schedule and final scores for the 1953 season, including ORFU games (since the ORFU champion did play in an Grey Cup semi-final against the IRFU winner, though they usually had little chance of winning, I felt the ORFU results should be included and thus recorded its games). I also have the 1960-69 schedules and final scores, along with 1979-present seasons.

For 1946, keep in mind the 4 team IFRU played a 12 game schedule while the 6 team ORFU played a 10 game schedule. In the west, the 3 team WIFU played an 8 game schedule.

By the way, Canadian football at that time started usually started its regular season in early to mid-August, I believe.

[Tavarin]

This sounds really cool, can't wait to read it

[pat]

wow, sounds like a lot of work.. g'luck tigerfan..

[metsgeek]

Wow, if you're married, I feel sorry for your wife

[NYJuggalo45]

as the rest, this sounds amazing and an incredible amount of work...looking forward to the 1st issue

[Tiger Fan]

THE COVER STORY - WHO IS THE GREATEST SLUGGER OF ALL TIME?
The bible of baseball is dedicated to providing the reader with all the current baseball news and to try and spark some serious debate when it comes to deciding who the greatest team, pitcher or player of all-time was. We get one of those debates kick-started quickly with some thoughts on who was the greatest power hitter to grace the game. Without further ado, let's dive right in.

When it comes to the longball, only 3 names in major league baseball clear the fence. Those 3 men : Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth each hit over 600 homers. Others like Hack Wilson and Mel Ott made a go of it but compared to the big three they only have warning track power.

ALLTIME HR LEADERBOARD
Jimmie Foxx 622
Lou Gehrig 616
Babe Ruth 615
Hack Wilson 479
Mel Ott* 393
Wally Berger 340
Hank Greenberg* 318
Chick Hafey 312
Joe Hauser 304
Billy Dickey 303
*active

No one in the game has hit more homers in his career than Jimmie Foxx. Living up to his nickname Jimmie Foxx was truly a beast in the eyes of opposing pitchers. Foxx surpassed the 50 homer plateau on 4 occassions including his personal best total of 64 in 1937. Only Babe Ruth has hit more in a seasons than Double X. He made his major league debut at the tender age of 20 but surprisingly Foxx walked away from the game in 1944 at the age of 36. He hit 15 homers in his final season and possiby might have challenged the 650 mark had he so desired. Foxx truly is a great power hitter but in our books he is not the greatest.

Only 5 men have played more major league games than the 2617 that Lou Gehrig appeared in during his 19 years as a New York Yankee. Gehrig joined a Ruth-led New York club as a 22-year old in 1925 but it wasn't until after the Babe's retirement that Lou reached his peark. He won 4 straight MVP awards from 1931 to 1934 and hit a career best 55 homers in the '34 season.

Gehrig hung on until age 40 because he was trying to pass Ruth for the all-time homerun lead. He did so by hitting his 4th and final homer of the 1943 on September 25th off of Les McCrabb of the Athletics. Standing at first base for the A's when Gehrig hit his shot was no other than Jimmie Foxx who would surpass Gehrig as the all-time homerun leader less than a year later.

He may be number 3 all-time in homeruns but Babe Ruth gets our vote as the greatest power hitter to play the game. Quite simply the Babe revolutionized baseball. When he entered the HOB in 1918 as a 23 year old 15 homers seemed like a dream season. In Ruth's second pro season he hit 24 homers. Only one other man in either league managed double figures that season and his total was 11. For the next decade Ruth continued to lap the field, hitting 50 or more homers seven times when the next best player was barely breaking 30. In 1926 Ruth had the most dominant year in baseball history slugging 70 homers. Number two on the list that season was Cy Williams of the Cubs and Bob Meusel of Cleveland - each with 23 round-trippers. In fact Ruth's total of 70 was more homeruns than 7 other teams hit that season.

To say the 1920's belonged to Ruth was a huge understatement. He won 9 straight American League MVP awards from 1921-29, led the AL in homers every season from 1918 to 1929 and won the Triple Crown in 1926.

CONCLUSION
Foxx and Gehrig were outstanding hitters but it is clear that no one so thoroughly dominated the power categories like Babe Ruth. He would routinely hit twice as many homers as the next guy and on many occassions hit more homers in a season than other teams in the league hit. For those reasons it is clear to TSN that Ruth is the greatest slugger in major league baseball history.

AT BATS PER HOMERUN
--------------------------------------
Babe Ruth 10.56
Jimmie Foxx 13.96
Lou Gehrig 15.12





AROUND THE MAJORS
The Boston Red Sox are the hottest team in baseball and moved to within 3 games of first place Washington in the American League. Could this finally be the year the Red Sox end their 23 year pennant drought and claim a title? As usual 27 year old Ted Williams (.332,11,34) is leading the Red Sox offense but the Splendid Splinter is getting plenty of support from first baseman Babe Young (.314,10,54) and speedy centerfielder Mel Almada (.280, 10 sb). Offense has seldom been an issue in Beantown but the big difference is that for a change the pitching is rock solid. 35 year old journeyman Bob Bowman (9-3, 2.27)looks like the second coming of Cy Young this season after showing little in his career prior to 1946. Bowman was named the AL pitcher of the month for June.

Don't expect the Senators to roll over for Boston. Washington has the most balanced offense in the league and reigning pitcher of the year winner Joe Beggs (12-5, 2.74) who is off to another strong start. The third place Yankees are also in the thick of things thanks to the re-emergence of pitcher Vito Tamulis (13-2, 2.26). Tamulis seems to have Brett Saberhagen syndrome as he consistantly alters between a good year and a terrible year. This one is turning out to be a great year.

It has been 9 years since Pirates fans lasted celebrated a National League championship and if pitcher Cliff Melton (16-2, 2.49) has any say the drought will end this year. Melton, who has won 23 games each of the past two seasons appears to have a shot at being the first 30 game winner since 1938.





GRIDIRON GRUMBLINGS - NEWS FROM COLLEGE AND THE NFL
During the off-season Gridiron Grumblings is a brief look at what's going on in both the college and the National Football League. During the season TSN will in-depth coverage on all the action, pro and college, during the week.

-----4 BUCKEYES SELECTED IN FIRST ROUND------
The Ohio State University Buckeyes have a lot of holes to fill if they wish to duplicate or improve upon their 12th place ranking in the College Football Coaches Poll from a year ago. 4 Ohio State players, including the top two overall were selected in the first round of the NFL draft this past spring. The four, guard Lou Groza (1st to Detroit), WR's Dante Lavelli (2nd to Washington) and Marquis Woodson (18th to San Diego), and DT Bill Willis (23rd to San Francisco) had all used up their college eligibility. However, do not count the Buckeyes out so quickly. There is still plenty of talent left in Columbus and another 4 Buckeyes could go in the first round of the NFL draft next year. They include standout QB Les Horvath, offensive linemen Warren Amling and Bill Hackett, and LB Jack Dugger. The preseason college poll will be released next month.

----FORD AND DAVIS SIT ATOP PROSPECT LIST ----
College teams have yet to report to training camp but NFL scouts are already busily preparing for next year's draft. TSN has surveyed a number of NFL executives in order to compile this exclusive list of the top college seniors. Opinions are divided but most of those we talked to feel if they had the first overall pick right now they would use it on either Michigan DE Len Ford or Army RB Glen Davis. A couple of QB's also received plenty of consideration. Otto Graham of Northwestern and Charles Trippi of Georgia. Graham does not appear to have the supporting cast to get Northwestern to a bowl game but Trippi's Bulldogs are favoured to win the SEC and could challenge Army for a National Championship.






GOLF GREATS PREPARE FOR RETURN TO ST.ANDREWS
The top golfers from around the world are travelling to St.Andrews, Scotland this week to prepare for next weekend's British Open championship. It will be the first championship after a five year hiatus due to the war with Germany. Dick Burton won at St.Andrews in 1939 and he will be back to defend his hold on the Claret Jug. Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson are, as always among the favourites but they could receive stiff competition from South African Bobby Locke, Peter Thomson of Australia and Max Faulkner from England.

With the return of a major championship in Britian this year also marks the first of what the golf experts are calling the Grand Slam. The Masters Championship at Augusta, Georgia, along with the US Open and the match-play PGA championship round out the major foursome. The US Open will be contested at the Canterbury Golf Club in Cleveland early next month while the PGA title will be determined at the Portland Country Club at the end of August.

The Masters was played in April with Ben Hogan claiming the title after finishing 9 under par. Herman Keiser and Lawson Little tied for second, three strokes off the pace. Dai Rees and Byron Nelson rounded out the top 5.

[Tiger Fan]

NEW PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL LOOP TO BEGIN PLAY IN THE FALL
With the war over and more people with entertainment dollars to spend a group of business men have set their eyes on the formation of a professional basketball league. The new league to be called, the Basketball Association of America, is hoping to have at least 10 franchises ready to begin play this fall. Maurice Podoloff, the president of the American Hockey League, appears to be the driving force behind the new league. Podoloff was named commissioner of the BAA this week and thus becomes the first person to simultaneously lead two professional leagues.

Podoloff has announced that franchises will be granted to Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Providence, St Louis, Washington and Toronto. Representatives from each city committed $1,000 for their franchise fee. However, it remains to be seen if all 13 cities will have teams ready for this season.

"Certainly, we will be ready," said Ned Irish of Madison Square Garden and a driving force behind the New York franchise. "The New York franchise, just like the Garden itself, will be first class all the way."

Walter Brown of Boston is another major force in creating this league. He, like the operators of other large sports arenas, feels that pro basketball could be a fine attraction to fill their venues on dates not taken by pro hockey and college basketball. Brown feels his new league will be able to compete head to head with the National Basketball League which operates mainly in small midwest cities.

-------FULKS SIGNS WITH PHILADELPHIA, AUREBACH TO COACH WASHINGTON-------
The league may have it's first superstar with the annoucement that former Marine and Murray State star Joe Fulks has signed with the Philadelphia club. Fulks, an all-American as a junior in 1943, left Murray State before his senior year to join the war effort.

Meanwhile, Washington has announced it's club will be known as the Capitols and that a 29 year old former high school coach named Red Aurebach will guide the squad. Aurebach's top player will likely be guard Bob Feerick, a superb floor general who jumped over from the NBL.




RED WINGS EXPECT BIG THINGS FROM ROOKIE
Hockey season is still a few months away but the Detroit Red Wings took some time to introduce what they feel will be their next star player to the local media. Gordie Howe, just 18 years old and a long way from his hometown of Floral, Saskatchewan, seemed overwhelmed by the reporters questions. The shy rightwinger was outgoing enough when was on the ice for the Omaha Knights a year ago. Howe scored 22 goals and added 26 assists in 51 games for the USHL runner-ups.
"The kid looks big enough," said third year pro Ted Lindsay, "but the NHL is a big jump from the bush leagues. Still he seems to have the right attitude."

Howe, who left a New York Ranger tryout a year ago because he reportedly was homesick, says he is ready to play pro hockey this time around. "The Red Wings have been really nice. They gave me a team jacket and everything as a signing bonus."

The NHL season starts in mid-October.





THE WEEK AHEAD IN SPORTS

BASEBALL - The season continues in full swing as we enter the last week before the all-star break. Next week's issue will feature an all-star game preview.

GOLF - The Claret Jug is up for grabs as golf greats vye for the coveted British Open title at historic St. Andrews.

FOOTBALL - News is starting to heat up from the NFL as teams beginning to assemble for training camp. The college's still have a couple of weeks before camps open.

BASKETBALL - The new BAA is expected to finalize it's franchise for the opening season.

HOCKEY - Not much going on in the NHL as we are still months away from the season opener in October.


STATS AND STANDINGS

[TexasLonghorns]

great 1st issue

[Steve Kuffrey]

Sweet, great work.

[NYJuggalo45]

excellent job....gordie howe a rookie cant wait to see how he pans out in your league

im salivating for the early 1980's reports about my Islanders, and the beginnings of the Mets/Giants teams that were soo good in the 80's

[Dagrims]

This is truly superb, and if it were nearly anyone else I'd give it an over/under of 1948. With you at the helm, however, I can truly look forward to reading about this for decades to come. Great idea, and great first issue.

[Tiger Fan]

Don't know how far I will get as it is quite detailed and I will be moving at a slow pace. My personal goal is to try and get through a decade or so. I am trying to decide if it is better to have more in depth stories and progress through time at a much slower pace or shrink the stories down and go quicker.

I am leaning towards the former as I expect I will find a lot of interesting things (at least I hope they are interesting to everyone) as my "sports world" progresses.

By the way, I just finished my article on the British Open and it was a very dramatic tournament to watch unfold- even when all I am doing is watching numbers appear on a screen.

[NYJuggalo45]

just my 2 cents, but how about you go indepth in the reports/issues, but scale it back to a monthly magazine rather than weekly?

[TC Dale]

My St. Louis (A) team is back in the race... Oh horrors!

The pain... The pain. Go Indianapolis! Win the pro basketball league!

Love it TF.. Love this a lot.

[HolyCow98]

This is awesome.....I kinda do the same thing as far as I have a league for Basketball, College basketball and football, NFL...and of course OOTP for baseball, each on the same year.....it moves kinda slow....but I like tracking it all....

[Tiger Fan]

Originally posted by HolyCow98
This is awesome.....I kinda do the same thing as far as I have a league for Basketball, College basketball and football, NFL...and of course OOTP for baseball, each on the same year.....it moves kinda slow....but I like tracking it all....

Are you doing fictional or real life with your leagues?


As for the idea of scaling recaps back to one a month. I thought about it but I decided on weekly for a couple of reasons. The biggest is I wanted to be able to follow the day-to-day flow of my leagues and weekly works far better for this. If I went monthly there would be so much that would be overlooked.

The second reason for weekly is remember I have to sim out all of these games (which is quick for OOTP and TPF but a little slower for hockey and basketball) so it would be a long time between updates.

That is not to say I won't change in the future but for now weekly is the way I would think works better.

[HolyCow98]

Fictional. Except for my various historic replays (ootp) I always play fictional.