OOTP vs Real Life performance

[Philly]

No one answered this after a week in the Newbie forum, so I'd appreciate any info I can get here. I'm in a league playing 1966 at the moment. On a scale of, say, 1-4, how closely should I expect an established player's ootp performance to match his real life performance? Both in mid career, and at the end. If he had one crazy year, like Norm Cash in 61, for example, will that also happen in OOTP the same year? If someone's useful career (his last good year) ended in 1969 when he was 32, but he stuck around a few years longer, should I expect a big dropoff after 32 or could it be more gradual than in real life? Thanks for the help.
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[ctorg]

It completely depends on your settings. If you have it set to auto-recalc every year based on single-year stats, it will be relatively accurate on a year-by-year basis. But if you have it recalc based on three year averages, it will be weighted more toward surrounding years. If you have recalc off, careers can deviate very widely from real life.

[falkonisback]

That depends on if you are playing with Recalc on or not. If it is on and set to, say, every 3 years, then that player's stats and performance should closely resemble his real life performance. It won't be 100% hit for hit, but it should be similar. For example, if you have a player who basically stopped perfoming in 1969 but stuck around until 1974, then his ratings and performance will have a big drop off around that time just like he did in real life. He may stick around a bit longer than in real life before he retires, but his stats should be similar.

[Philly]

Thanks, guys, I'll check with my commish on recalc.