Results from my Baseball History League

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

Completely unrealistic!

Yeah, I hate those wildly ahistorical occurances. Of course, Chicago's not looking much like a powerhouse through the late 1870s, so that spot is ripe for the taking.

Here's the preview I've written for the 1876 season, as the offseason stuff is finished and the new season ready to begin:

1876 Preview:

BOSTON RED CAPS: Another year, another championship. Although they were pressed to the limit in 1875, the Beantowners won their fourth straight title and again brought the same squad back to defend their crown. They will again be one of the favorites, as it does not appear that any of their main competitors improved much this offseason.

1B – Charlie Gould (2-39-.343-15 for 19 SB)
2B – Ross Barnes (0-59-.351-9 for 13 SB)
SS – George Wright (0-37-.361-14 for 17 SB)
3B – Harry “Silk Stockings” Schafer (1-46-.281-13 for 16 SB)
LF – “Orator Jim” O’Rourke (1-66-.334-10 for 16 SB)
CF – Joe Simmons (0-51-.353-6 for 8 SB)
RF – Eddie Booth (2-26-.231-1 for 1 SB)
C – Cal McVey (0-62-.330-6 for 9 SB)

P – Cherokee Fisher (22-2, 2.03, lifetime 71-35)
P – Frank Buttery (21-10, 1.98, lifetime 48-21)
P – Al Spalding (9-4, 2.00, lifetime 71-49)

CHICAGO WHITE STOCKINGS: Chicago improved markedly in 1875, but doesn’t figure to take many steps forward this season, as they didn’t upgrade their hitting much. The only major additions to the Chicago lineup were a few guys who were benchwarmers with the Philadelphia Whites and a new catcher. Although the pitching is improved, look for Chicago to struggle this season.

1B – Jim Devlin (0-9-.318-0 for 0 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .255 hitter)
2B – “Black Jack” Burdock (0-42-.332-18 for 21 SB)
SS – Pony Sager (1-42-.357-23 for 37 SB)
3B – George Fields (0-31-.251-0 for 1 SB)
LF – Ned Cuthbert (0-10-.237-2 for 3 SB for Phil. Whites, lifetime .279 hitter)
CF – Holly Hollingshead (spent 1875 in Phil. Whites’ system, lifetime .218 hitter)
RF – Elmer White (0-34-.332-1 for 1 SB)
C – John Clapp (0-17-.274-1 for 1 SB with Brooklyn)

P – “Uncle Al” Pratt (10-14, 3.74 with Brooklyn, lifetime 58-57)
P – Joe Blong (5-7, 3.55 with St. Louis Red Stockings as rookie)
P – Henry Luff (6-13, 4.23 with New Haven as rookie)

CINCINNATI REDS: This new team is going to struggle this season, but does have some talent. They’ve got an assortment of journeymen hitters, led by the talented Bob Ferguson, who is coming off a great year for Brooklyn. They won’t win too many games, but expect them to at least be better than some of the bad Association teams.

1B – Tim Murnane (0-3-.214-2 for 2 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .257 hitter)
2B – Bob “Death to Flying Things” Ferguson (1-30-.366-2 for 2 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .292 hitter)/Tom Carey (1-8-.351-0 for 0 SB with St. Louis Red Stockings)
SS – Carey/John Peters (0-1-.176-0 for 0 SB with Chicago, lifetime .279 hitter)
3B – Frank Selman (0-7-.258-0 for 0 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .314 hitter)
LF – Charley “Baby” Jones (0-2-.321-0 for 0 SB with Keokuk as rookie)
CF – Jack Remsen (0-25-.287-0 for 0 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .294 hitter)
RF – Ham Allen (0-4-.375-0 for 0 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .275 hitter)
C – Paddy Quinn (in minors in 1875, lifetime .226 hitter)

P – Bill Stearns (16-5, 2.00 with Phil. Whites, lifetime 53-50)
P – Dale Williams (rookie)
P – Dory Dean (rookie)

HARTFORD DARK BLUES: Hartford was the worst team to survive the collapse of the Association, and they were determined not to be the worst team in the new National League. They went out and spent a ton of money to upgrade, adding four new free agent hitters and three new pitchers. The result is a completely new team, and one that could be surprisingly good this year. They had a long way to go after last season’s finish, but could be a darkhorse contender this season.

1B – Clipper Flynn (0-48-.323-0 for 1 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .318 hitter)
2B – Bob “Magnet” Addy (0-42-.267-8 for 12 SB)
SS – John Bass (1-68-.298-0 for 0 SB)
3B – Ed Pinkham (0-23-.316-8 for 15 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .303 hitter)
LF – John Glenn (0-42-.331-1 for 1 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .305 hitter)
CF – Lip Pike (0-42-.319-34 for 36 SB)
RF – Candy Nelson (0-29-.333-4 for 4 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .334 hitter)
C – Fred Waterman (0-44-.281-28 for 38 SB)

P – John “Lefty” McMullen (18-12, 3.34 with Phil. Whites, lifetime 63-62)
P – Joe Borden (6-3, 2.29 with Phil. Whites as rookie)
P – Mike Golden (5-8, 2.83 with Keokuk as rookie)

LOUISVILLE GRAYS: Which is more important, hitting or pitching? The Grays, unlike Cincinnati, have several first-run hitters in Foran, Hines, Stires and especially Mike McGeary. However, they have no experienced pitching at all. Will their hitters keep them competitive (or at least better than Cincinnati), or will the lack of pitching haunt them?

1B – Jim Foran (2-24-.314-0 for 0 with Brooklyn, lifetime .316 hitter)
2B – Henry “Lucky” Kessler (1-29-.298-0 for 0 with New Haven, lifetime .293 hitter)
SS – Denny Mack (0-11-.256, 4 for 6 with St. Louis Red Stockings, lifetime .240 hitter)
3B – Mike McGeary (0-42-.374-12 for 13 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .362 hitter)
LF – “Pigtail Billy” Riley (0-4-.224-0 for 0 SB with Keokuk as rookie)
CF – Paul Hines (0-24-.318-4 for 5 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .288 hitter)
RF – Gat Stires (0-21-.335-10 for 11 SB with New Haven, lifetime .313 hitter)
C – Pop Snyder (in minors in 1875, lifetime .185 hitter)

P – NFN O’Rourke (2-4, 2.29 with Boston, lifetime 5-8)
P – Martin Malone (1-1, 3.86 with Phil. Athletics, lifetime 6-3)
P – J. O’Neill (0-0 in 13 1/3 innings with Brooklyn as rookie)

NEW YORK MUTUALS: Mostly the same team that finished a strong fourth last season, but they have two additions that they hope will be key components this year. Second baseman Bill Craver was added from the Philadelphia Whites, and outfielder Al Thake will start the season in left field. Look for these additions to improve New York, but probably still not enough to overtake Boston.

1B – Joe Start (1-51-.305-4 for 4 SB)
2B – Bill Craver (1-39-.333-12 for 15 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .326 hitter)
SS – Dickie Flowers (1-39-.340-44 for 57 SB)
3B – Cap Anson (0-50-.305-10 for 13 SB)
LF – Al Thake (1-20-.321-1 for 2 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .330 hitter)
CF – George Hall (2-55-.391-1 for 1 SB)
RF – Dick Higham (0-65-.346-4 for 5 SB)
C – Charlie Hodes (0-27-.281-0 for 0 SB)/Tom Foley (0-9-.350-0 for 0 SB)

P – Candy Cummings (13-5, 1.66, lifetime 32-32)
P – Asa Brainard (20-9, 2.71, lifetime 53-40)
P – Rynie Wolters (7-4, 3.03, lifetime 61-56)

PHILADELPHIA ATHLETICS: They almost won their first championship in 1875, but might have a more difficult time this season. For financial reasons, they were unable to add any significant players over the offseason, and so are standing pat with the same roster that came up just short last season. Look for them to do so again unless all of their top players repeat their breakout 1875 performances.

1B – Everett Mills (0-41-.331-1 for 1 SB)
2B – Al Reach (0-40-.325-0 for 0 SB)/Joe Kernan (rookie)
SS – John Radcliff (0-35-.352-11 for 14 SB)
3B – Ezra Sutton (1-66-.357-34 for 36 SB)
LF – Charlie Pabor (5 for 8 as reserve, lifetime .314 hitter)/Steve King (0-24-.239-0 for 0 SB)
CF – George Bird (0-48-.338-1 for 1 SB)
RF – George Heubel (2-67-.355-3 for 4 SB)
C – Scott Hastings (0-41-.321-7 for 10 SB)

P – Dick McBride (26-4, 2.20, lifetime 70-40)
P – George Zettlein (13-5, 2.08, lifetime 94-71)
P – Bobby Mathews (3-0, 2.21, lifetime 33-26)

ST. LOUIS BROWN STOCKINGS: This is another team that got a complete overhaul in the offseason. Since their 1875 squad couldn’t hit, the ownership replaced all eight of the everyday position players. Look for this team to be a major upgrade over last year’s squad – maybe not enough to actually contend yet, but this is a team on the rise.

1B – Charlie Hautz (0-14-.338-0 for 0 SB with St. Louis Red Stockings as rookie)
2B – Jimmy Wood (1-28-.350-16 for 18 SB with New Haven, lifetime .307 hitter)
SS – Davy Force (0-27-.310-3 for 4 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .315 hitter)
3B – George Trenwith (0-5-.250-1 for 1 SB with Phil. Centennials as rookie)
LF – Andy Leonard (1-30-.304-13 for 15 SB with Phil. Whites, lifetime .325 hitter)
CF – “Long Jim” Holdsworth (1-14-.325-0 for 0 SB with Washington, lifetime .282 hitter)
RF – Deacon White (0-1-.281-0 for 0 SB with Phil. Centennials, lifetime .322 hitter)
C – Tom Barlow (0-8-.266-1 for 3 SB with Brooklyn, lifetime .308 hitter)

P – Tricky Nichols (12-16, 3.50 with New Haven as rookie)
P – George Bradley (15-26, 3.38 as rookie)
P – Bill Parks (8-6, 4.57 with Washington as rookie)

OPENING DAY ODDS TO WIN CHAMPIONSHIP:

Boston – 2 to 1
New York – 7 to 2
Philadelphia – 7 to 2
St. Louis – 6 to 1
Hartford – 10 to 1
Chicago – 12 to 1
Louisville – 35 to 1
Cincinnati – 45 to 1

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

Yeah, I hate those wildly ahistorical occurances.

By the way, how did the Athletics fare in season one?

Edit: Had a look at the first post in the thread. Hmmm....you missed by a half game having same teams win all the NA titles.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

By the way, how did the Athletics fare in season one?

Edit: Had a look at the first post in the thread. Hmmm....you missed by a half game having same teams win all the NA titles.

Yeah, and that was probably because for some reason Levi Meyerle has been decidedly unimpressive in my replay. He lost his starting job sometime in 1872 and has been a benchwarmer ever since.

Anyway, here are my standings as of May 1, 1876. Obviously, the schedule doesn't start until late April:

Chicago White Stockings 3-0
New York Mutuals 2-0
Boston Red Caps 3-1
St. Louis Brown Stockings 2-1
Cincinnati Reds 1-2
Hartford Dark Blues 0-2
Philadelphia Athletics 0-2
Louisville Grays 0-3

Off to a 6 for 9 start to the season is the Mutuals' veteran first baseman Joe Start, so he's won the right to spend a little time as my new avatar.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

Yeah, and that was probably because for some reason Levi Meyerle has been decidedly unimpressive in my replay. He lost his starting job sometime in 1872 and has been a benchwarmer ever since.

That's something I've never seen in any of my 19th century replays. He's especially savage if translated to 21st century norms.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

Off to a 6 for 9 start to the season is the Mutuals' veteran first baseman Joe Start, so he's won the right to spend a little time as my new avatar.

After reading volumes about Joe Start at Baseball Primer in the Hall of Merit threads, I have much respect for this great player.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

That's something I've never seen in any of my 19th century replays. He's especially savage if translated to 21st century norms.

He seems to have imported a little low in OOTP6. I'm trying not to tinker with the talent ratings unless it's clear that there was just an error in importing (as with fielding percentages or bit players). In retrospect, I'd probably have considered it an error and boosted him somewhat. However, Barnes and Anson also had lower initial ratings than I expected, and they've both overcome it to be standout players so far (Barnes more so than Anson).

As for Start, he enters the 1876 season tied with Ross Barnes as the career hits leader with 420. He's 33 now, so I figured he's going to be starting the inevitable slide soon, but so far this year he's going strong.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Well, it's May 15, 1876 in my Baseball History League, so I thought I'd update with some standings and leaderboards:

Chicago White Stockings 8-1
Philadelphia Athletics 6-3
Boston Red Caps 5-3
Cincinnati Reds 5-4
New York Mutuals 4-6
St. Louis Brown Stockings 3-6
Hartford Dark Blues 2-5
Louisville Grays 2-7

League Leaders:

Batting - Joe Start, New York Mutuals, .512
Home Runs - Pony Sager, Chicago White Stockings, 1
Runs Batted In - Joe Start, New York Mutuals, 14
Runs Scored - George Hall, New York Mutuals, 14
Hits - Joe Start, New York Mutuals, 22
Doubles - Deacon White, St. Louis Brown Stockings, 5
Triples - Lip Pike, Hartford and Pony Sager, Chicago, 2 each
Stolen Bases - Dickie Flowers, New York and Ezra Sutton, Philadelphia, 5 each

Wins - Al Pratt, Chicago White Stockings, 4
ERA - Al Pratt, Chicago White Stockings, 0.50
Strikeouts - Tricky Nichols, St. Louis Brown Stockings, 7
Opponent Average - Al Pratt, Chicago White Stockings, .181

Since Al Pratt's pitching has the White Stockings out to an early lead, I'll switch my avatar over to his photo for a while. So far in my replay, he's managed a 62-57 record with Cleveland, Baltimore, Brooklyn and now Chicago. In other news, Charlie Gould of the Boston Red Stockings has quietly amassed a 29-game hitting streak. I'll be following his progess as he shoots for the record of 39 games, established by Joe Start in 1874.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 1, 1876 Report

Boston Red Caps 11-5
Chicago White Stockings 11-5
Philadelphia Athletics 9-6
Cincinnati Reds 8-8
New York Mutuals 7-8
St. Louis Brown Stockings 7-9
Hartford Dark Blues 6-8
Louisville Grays 3-13

League Leaders:

Batting - Joe Start, New York Mutuals, .515
Home Runs - 5 tied with 1 each
Runs Batted In - Joe Start, New York Mutuals, 20
Runs Scored - George Hall, New York Mutuals, 19
Hits - Joe Start, New York Mutuals, 35
Doubles - 6 tied with 6 each
Triples - Ross Barnes, Boston and Pony Sager, Chicago, 3 each (all three of Barnes' were in the same game)
Stolen Bases - Dickie Flowers, New York Mutuals, 10

Wins - Al Pratt, Chicago White Stockings, 6
ERA - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, 1.89
Strikeouts - Al Pratt, Chicago White Stockings, 10
Opponent Average - Al Pratt, Chicago White Stockings, .234

Chicago jumped out to an 11-2 start, but have lost three straight on their first eastern road trip of the year. Meanwhile, Charlie Gould's hitting streak has reached 36 games. I'll probably be watching game-by-game to see if he can get to the magic number 39..... and in the meanwhile, he'll be the new avatar in celebration of his achievement.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 1, 1876

Charlie Gould wasted no time at all moving his hitting streak to 37 games, as he knocked a base hit in the bottom of the first of the Red Caps' game against Chicago White Stockings at the South End Grounds in Boston. He now stands only two games away from Joe Start's record of 39.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 3, 1876

Thanks to an outstanding pitching performance by Henry Luff of the Chicago White Stockings, Joe Start's record will remain intact. Luff held Charlie Gould hitless in four at-bats, as four simple ground outs were the best the star hitter could muster in the 6-1 Chicago victory. Despite falling just short of the record, his 37-game hitting streak is still worthy of some real praise - he'll remain as my avatar for now. Congratulations to Gould on a great streak.....

[darkhorse]

Me likey this thread, immensely. Keep on chooglin', Mr. Eck.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Well, thanks to some assistance with a horrific Catobase problem, I've finally got (non-park adjusted) Win Shares for 1875. I still plan to keep working on this, because the current solution is basically a stopgap, but for now, here are the Win Share leaders by position for 1875:

1B - Charlie Gould, Boston Red Stockings (second overall appearance)
2B - Ross Barnes, Boston Red Stockings (second consecutive appearance)
SS - George Wright, Boston Red Stockings (third consecutive appearance)
3B - Mike McGeary, Philadelphia Whites
LF - "Orator Jim" O'Rourke, Boston Red Stockings (third consecutive appearance)
CF - George Hall, New York Mutuals
RF - Dick Higham, New York Mutuals (second consecutive appearance)
C - Cal McVey, Boston Red Stockings (third consecutive appearance)

Unsurprisingly, Win Shares sees Dick McBride's 26-4 season for the Athletics as the best overall performance for the year. George Hall of New York was considered the best overall position player for the year.

[cknox0723]

If you have the numbers available, Eck, I'd be curious to know how many pitchers ranked ahead of Mr. Hall in terms of Win Shares.

Thanks. Cracking thread this is.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Here's the top ten in overall Win Shares:

Dick McBride - 30.0 (0.6 batting, 29.3 pitching)
Frank Buttery - 24.3 (1.8 batting, 22.5 pitching)
Dan Collins - 23.4 (0.0 batting, 23.4 pitching)
George Hall - 21.8 (19.5 batting, 2.3 fielding)
George Bradley - 21.7 (0.3 batting, 21.4 pitching)
Mike McGeary - 20.4 (17.1 batting, 3.4 fielding)
George Wright - 20.4 (16.0 batting, 4.4 fielding)
Ross Barnes - 19.7 (15.7 batting, 4.0 fielding)
Ezra Sutton - 19.7 (12.7 batting, 7.0 fielding)
Cherokee Fisher - 17.9 (0.0 batting, 17.9 pitching)

So, while the three-man rotation that's starting to develop still leaves pitchers an advantage, there were five position players in the top ten.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

June 15, 1876 Update

Boston Red Caps 15-8
Chicago White Stockings 15-8
New York Mutuals 12-10
Philadelphia Athletics 12-10
St. Louis Brown Stockings 11-12
Cincinnati Reds 10-13
Hartford Dark Blues 9-12
Louisville Grays 6-17

League Leaders:

Batting - Holly Hollingshead, Chicago White Stockings, .465
Home Runs - 12 tied with 1 each
Runs Batted In - Joe Start, New York and George Wright, Boston, 23 each
Runs Scored - George Hall, New York Mutuals, 24
Hits - Holly Hollingshead, Chicago White Stockings, 46
Doubles - John Bass, Hartford Dark Blues, 14
Triples - Ross Barnes, Boston and Holly Hollingshead, Chicago, 4 each
Stolen Bases - Lip Pike, Hartford Dark Blues, 13

Wins - Asa Brainard, New York Mutuals, 7
ERA - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, 2.02
Strikeouts - Candy Cummings, New York and NFN O'Rourke, Louisville, 13 each
Opponent Average - Candy Cummings, New York Mutuals, .241

There are a couple interesting stories now taking place. The first involves injury - I only had enough pitchers to turn injuries on this season, and the first big injury just happened - a season-ending injury to George Zettlein, ace pitcher of the Philadelphia Athletics. Zettlein is the career leader in wins (99), complete games (167) and shutouts (7). It remains to be seen both how well Philadelphia will be able to compete with him and how well he'll be able to return from his injury next season at the age of 32.

The other good story involved Holly Hollingshead of the Chicago White Stockings. In real life, Hollingshead played for the National Association entries in Washington in 1872, 1873 and 1875, none of which survived their inaugural season. He did moderately well, going 70 for 261 for a lifetime .268 average.

In my replay, Hollingshead started with the 1872 Washington Nationals just as he did in reality. The 19-year-old wasn't really a standout even on the weak Nationals, batting .217 in 11 games for the team. When they disbanded after the season, he was left one of many mediocre players without a team.

Just as he did in real life, he was able to stay in Washington, hooking up with the 1873 Washington Blue Legs, another one-year National Association entry. This time, Hollingshead batted a whopping .241 in 11 games, as he wasn't even a full-time starter for the team. Again, he was left looking for work when the team disbanded at the end of 1873.

However, he was able to move north to Philadelphia and catch on with the Philadelphia Whites, the second-best team in the City of Brotherly Love. Of course, "catch on" is something of a relative term - he spent two years on the bench in Philadelphia, and got only four major-league plate appearances in that time. When the Whites disbanded after the 1875 season, it looked like he might be done as a player.

The Chicago White Stockings, however, needed a few extra bodies, and signed him to a one-year contract before the season for just over the league minimum. Hollingshead gladly reported to the team, simply hoping for a job as a reserve outfielder.

Then, a funny thing happened. Hollingshead started hitting in practice. A lot. (In the preseason, Holly got a "takes his game to a new level" ratings bump.) After several weeks of this, the team decided to let Hollingshead have a shot at the regular center field job - after all, Holly was five years younger than center fielder Count Sensenderfer, and Sensenderfer had been solid in 1874 and 1875, but nothing too amazing. Besides, the White Stockings weren't really expected to contend anyway - why not give the kid a shot?

Well, the kid has been amazing. After a 6 for 21 start while he got his major league bearings, Hollingshead has been 40 for 78 on the year, and has torn apart some of base ball's best pitching in that time. There's certainly no more talk of Sensenderfer in the outfield - now Chicago is just wondering how good he's actually going to be. Along with second baseman "Black Jack" Burdock, shortstop Pony Sager, and catcher John Clapp, he's hitting at an unprecedented level, and has Chicago actually looking like they may be ready to challenge the mighty Boston Red Stockings. When the teams met for a three-game series at the beginning of June, Chicago took two of three and Hollingshead went 10 for 14. Amazingly, it looks like Boston may have some competition on their hands if Holly and the White Stockings can keep up their current pace.

I don't have a photo for Holly Hollingshead, so I think I may improvise something for the next few days..... but so far he's been my first small-time player to break out in a big way.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Saturday, June 17, 1876

Prior to today's game, New York Mutuals pitcher Candy Cummings had started in 77 major league games. In those games, Cummings had yielded a lifetime total of 2 home runs.

Meanwhile, Chicago's new sensation Holly Hollingshead had had 177 career at-bats, and had hit no home runs.

All that changed today, as Hollingshead went 4 for 4 against the Mutuals in New York, with two singles, a sacrifice bunt, and TWO home runs. He hit his first career home run in the top of the first inning off of Cummings to give the White Stockings a 1-0 lead. Then, in the top of the third, he hit a key sacrifice bunt that contributed to a two-run inning to make it 3-0. In the top of the fifth, he got a single in another two-run inning to give Chicago a 5-0 lead. Then, in the top of the sixth, he hit a second home run off of the stunned Cummings. This one was a two-run shot to make it a 7-0 game. After the Mutuals pulled to within 7-4, Hollingshead got one more single in the top of the ninth, as the White Stockings added three more insurance runs, to make the final total of the game 10-4.

National League pitchers are beginning to wonder how Chicago knew about this Hollingshead character, and where he's been before this year.

[seth70liz76]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

I use league totals to come up with results that I think are pretty realistic

Just out of (self) interest--are you using actual totals, or totals born out of research and hard work?

I'm playing around with a historically based fictional league (Real players, but not real teams kind of thing) and the 19th century portion is a little indimidating too me. I not looking for the accuracy guys like you and Carlton obviously go for, but would like the league totals/ratios to be somewhat "realistic."

BTW, researching this has shown me, how shall we say, lacking the search function is.

Go White Stocking! Go Holly Hollingshead!

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by seth70liz76

Just out of (self) interest--are you using actual totals, or totals born out of research and hard work?

Uh.... neither one. For 1871, I used the totals that shipped with the game - I didn't alter them at all, other than to proportionally reduce everything to a base at-bat total of 100,000, to make the numbers a bit easier to work with.

For each subsequent year, I have a spreadsheet that I've devised that basically looks at the fictional totals for one year, and the desired totals for the next. So, if one year the league bats .300 and the next year I want them to hit .270, the spreadsheet will tell me to increase the league hit totals by 10%.

It's not quite as simple as that for a couple of reasons which I could get into here but won't.... but that's the basic concept. Each year, I just plug my numbers into the spreadsheet and it gives me the totals. So far, I've mostly found that I'm getting a little more hitting than the actually MLB did for these years.

There are a couple of reasons for this:

1. Because the average 1871 player age is around 22 or 23, I'm still seeing things adjust every year as hitters are on the upward slope of their careers. This should level off within a year or two.
2. Some teams occasionally run out of pitchers and have to use position players, which tends to lead to more hitting.

I actually don't mind the extra hitting too much at this point, because it compensates for the fact that OOTP doesn't give as many errors as it should even with the reduced 1870s fielding percentages. Also, because OOTP tends to move toward a universe like modern baseball where players aren't at the extremes like they were in the 1870s, this gives me the chance to have some players batting in the .400s like they did back then.

Overall, the difference is slight though. In reality, the batting average in 1876 was .280 I think, and the last time I checked my league was hitting at a .289 clip for the year.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

The other good story involved Holly Hollingshead of the Chicago White Stockings. In real life, Hollingshead played for the National Association entries in Washington in 1872, 1873 and 1875, none of which survived their inaugural season. He did moderately well, going 70 for 261 for a lifetime .268 average.

BB Pro rates him as a pretty godawful player. .239 career EQA and RATE figures him as perhaps the most horrid defensive player major league baseball has ever produced.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by darkhorse

.239 career EQA and RATE figures him as perhaps the most horrid defensive player major league baseball has ever produced.

Actually, the defensive numbers have been one of the most difficult things to deal with in my replay. Here's how I've handled it:

Fielding Percentage

All players who played in at least 50 major league games as a position get their career fielding percentage at that position assigned to them. Others get the league-average fielding percentage assigned to them.

Range

For players who played enough to have any written commentary on them that I could readily find, or who Bill James has rated for defensive ability in Win Shares, I use a corresponding rating in-game. This covers maybe 10% of the 19th century players.

For the rest, I use this method: players who played at least one full season at a position get a "50" range rating at their primary position. Those who played somewhere around 25-70 games get a "30" or "40." Those who play from 6-25 games get a "20," and those playing from 1-5 games get a "10." I believe this helps the game engine tend to play the guys who actually got real life playing time. This has usually worked pretty well; Hollingshead, for instance, was rated a "40" in range and got some playing time with the Washington teams, although the AI didn't consider him a key player. He's the kind of guy who'd probably be on the verge of slipping into oblivion now but for the ratings boost.