[f.montoya]

Actually, theobscure, you're in good company in that about 50% of those who play OOTP use real players, or at least prefer to start that way. The majority have come to grasp the fact that OOTP does not replicate or duplicate performances. Instead it gives you several ways in which to affect your "alternate reality". Just the fact that you are controlling the league/universe adds a new dynamic to the mix, not to mention the coaches, scouts, A.I. and all the multitude of settings available to you in the game. While the game imports players from a database resulting in ratings which govern his ability and potential, anything can and does happen in the world of your OOTP with all of those dynamics in play. If you want to be sure that Barry Bonds hits 73 homeruns in 2001, you may be better off with other games which are made to re-create stats within a certain margin of error.

OOTP gives so much more than those games and is why I prefer to play historical leagues with it. I don't want to repeat history and OOTP actually is a game that frees me from those constraints.