International League/Random Debut League

[David Watts]

Roberto Clemente doesn't sign with San Antonio, so we have a year to wait for Roberto to join the league.

This years Hall of Fame class, Webster McDonald, Dave Brown and Ginger Beaumont. It was the first year on the ballot for McDonald and Brown. The 2nd year for Beaumont. McDonald received 91.5 per cent of the votes. Brown 77.9. Beaumont 76. Both Brown and McDonald entered the Hall as Birmingham Barons. Ginger Beaumont entered as a Lansing Lugnut.

Mel Ott is now 44 years old and it appears the end is near. Ott went down with strained abdominal muscle on 05/18/1970 and is out 4-5 weeks. Thing is, Ott had only started 9 games up to that point. He is homerless and hitting .143 so far. So sad, as he only needs 15 home runs to reach 700.

Jim Thome signed a contract with the Arkansas Travelers prior to the 1970 season. It's a one year deal, so I'm guessing Arkansas figured at 41 years old any longer of a contract would be foolish. Looks like they were smart. Thome is still starting and pretty much playing everyday, but he's hitting only .199 with 4 home runs. Unlike the majority of his career, he's struggling to get on base as well .288. Thome currently has 550 home runs.

39 year old Carl Yastrzemski is now a member of the 3000 hit club. As of June 2nd he has 3034 hits. Meanwhile, 42 year old Sam Rice has 2999 hits. Rice is no longer starting and has appeared in just 10 games in 1970 so far for the Lansing Lugnuts. He is hitting .302 though, so I'm thinking he gets that 3000th hit soon.

[David Watts]

Was watching a Tulsa Drillers game this morning and Dick Sisler was brought in to pinch hit for the number 9 hitter. This is so cool Father and son on the same team. Even cooler the son is older than the dad. Dick is 27 and George is I want to say 23 or 24. George continues to be a two way player for the Tulsa Drillers.

[David Watts]

Jose Mendez is now just 2 wins away from becoming the leagues first 250 win pitcher. Mendez is 248-153 with a 2.94 era. Mendez is also the International Leagues first 3000 strikeout pitcher with 3151. Mendez is tops on the career WAR list with 97.51.

On the other side of the ledger, Rick Reuschel is closing in on 250 losses. Reuschel now has 243 losses over his 18 year career. Reuschel has 231 wins and a career 3.76 ERA. His 75.2 career WAR is 5th best in the International League.

[David Watts]

Wow, this is a strange one. Tug McGraw debuted way back in 1948. From 1948 - 1969 Mcgraw appeared in 716 games, starting only 2 times in 1950. All of a sudden in 1970, McGraw is in the St. Paul Saints starting rotation and he's made 23 starts. At 41 years old, McGraw has become a starting pitcher. Wow. He's 8-10 with a 4.06 ERA.

[David Watts]

Sam Rice got his 3000th hit on 8/21/1970. Rice is finally back playing after a lengthy stint on the IL. He's only been to the plate 51 times so far.

[David Watts]

September 20, 1970.Peoria has just clinched the Northern Division for the 5th straight season. The Chiefs are 98-51, so they're well on their way to another 100 win season. Crazy thing is, the Chiefs only have 1 ring, the one they won back in 1966. Will 1970 bring them their 2nd?

Tris Speaker is looking like he will be the 1970 batting champion. Speaker is currently hitting an amazing .363. Speaker hit .363 in July, .432 in August and is currently hitting .450 in September.

Buck Freeman is leading the league with 39 home runs, 5 better than Ken Phelps and Dave Robertson.

Rick Reuschel is currently the leagues only 20 game winner. The Peoria Chief's starter is inching his way to a career .500 record, 239-243.

Watty Clark and Rube Waddell are both tied with 18 wins.

Ad Lankford still has a chance to reach 300 strikeouts(290), but is quite a ways behind league leader Rube Waddell(349), so his run as strikeout king will come to an end after 2 seasons.

One thing I find thrilling is Johnny Grubb is hitting .321, following up his rookie season of 69 when he hit an amazing .334. Where did this come from?

Peoria's Buzz Arlett is leading the league with 115 RBI. Arlett has now drove in 100+ runs in all but one of his six seasons in the league. The 36 year old now has 691 career RBI in a career that didn't begin till he was spry you age of 31.

Shane Guenther is currently leading the league with a 1.55 ERA. Guenther began the year as a relief pitcher, but has now made 21 starts on his way to a 11-6 record. Guenther pitched exclusively out of the bullpen in his 4 previous seasons in the league. Shane has a career 28-14 record with 33 saves and a 2.80 ERA.

[David Watts]

The Corpus Christi Hooks must really have their hearts set on Roberto Clemente. Clemente was drafted last year by the San Antonio Missions, but failed to sign a contract, making him an almost sure bet to be the number one pick in the upcoming amateur draft. Corpus Christi finished the 69 season above .500, but man have the tumbled in 1970. Going into the final week of play, the Hooks have already tallied 110 losses. They've been flat out awful. Their starting rotation is a total mess and Sammy Sosa is their only semi bright spot in the lineup.

Of course, there are always surprises when the draft class gets announced, so it's not a sure thing Clemente is the first pick.

Memphis has clinched the Southern Division. The Wild Card race is still to be decided. Dayton holds a 3game lead with a magic number of 2 for the 1st slot. Fort Wayne holds the 2nd slot, 1 1/2 games ahead of Lansing. Biloxi still has a chance as well. Kind of hoping the heavy weights Peoria and Memphis advance their way to the League Championship Series, as that matchup should be a great one.

Jose Mendez is the first pitcher to reach 250 wins.

[David Watts]

The Peoria Chiefs didn't mess around in their wild card series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps, winning the series in 4 straight.. The Chiefs did have to come from behind in game 4, but for the most part the series was a rather dull one. Carl Yastrzemski earned series MVP honors hitting hitting .533 over the 4 games. Fort Wayne fans left the series with a bitter taste in their mouths, as fan favorite and one of the International Leagues best all-time sluggers, John Beckwith rode the bench all series. Beckwith's only at bats came in the role of late inning pinch hitter. Beckwith's home runs were down considerably in 1970, but he still hit 23, second only to Bill Dahlen among TinCaps hitters. Two way player Charles Bender started all 4 games at DH for the TinCaps and had a rather fruitless series at the plate and on the mound. Fans were even more upset when it was leaked that Bender had a huge white snowflake next to his name on the lineup card all series. TinCap's management commented that finding out the source of the leak will be their top priority during the offseason. Rick Reuschel threw a 2 hit shutout for the Peoria Chiefs in game 3 of the series. Peoria's Ad Lankford got hurt in his only start of the series. Injury is a minor one, so hopefully it won't effect him in the League Championship Series.

In the other wild card series the underdog Dayton Dragons hold a 3 games to 2 lead over the Memphis Redbirds. This is Dayton's first trip to the post season since 1954. Back in the early 50's the Dragons were a force to be reckoned with, winning two titles and making 5 trips to the post season. Memphis won the Souther Division pretty easily, but their season record against the Dragons was well under .500, so the outcome so far, may not be that surprising. The final two games are in Memphis, so the Redbirds still have a fighting chance.

Tris Speaker won his third International League batting title.

Buck Freeman hit 41 home runs to lead the league in home runs. Freeman had to hold off a late surge by Ken Phelps to win the crown. Phelps wound up with 40 home runs.

Corpus Christi wound up with 115 losses on the season. I want to say this tied the record for most losses in a season. Thing is, until this time, the worst finishing teams were all expansion teams. Corpus Christi actually finished above .500 in 1969.

Rube Waddell whiffed 374 batters to lead the league in strikeouts. Ad Lankford rolled in with 303.

[David Watts]

Been thinking a lot about what will probably be my final chance to expand the International League. The final 1 subleague setup schedule available in the OOTP's schedule DB is a 18 teams, 2 divisions of 9, 162 game schedule. I'm not computer savvy enough to import a schedule from outside the game, so my one subleague expansion options are limited. I really wish it was possible to add a subleague, as that ability would make future expansion so darn easy.

Trying to decide when to expand and to what cities do I expand to? Years I have in mind are 1976, 1978, 1982 or 1985. As for the cities, there are several possibilities. In the Northern Division, I could add any of the following, Buffalo Bisons, Omaha Storm Chasers, Great Lakes Loons, West Michigan Whitecaps or the South Bend Cubs. In the Southern Division possibilities are Chattanooga Lookouts, Nashville Sounds, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Durham Bulls, El Paso Chihuahuas, Midland RockHounds, Sugarland Space Cowboys, Round Rock Express, Frisco RoughRiders or the Montgomery Biscuits.

I'm leaning towards adding the Great Lakes Loons, as I grew up in Saginaw, so a team in Midland would be a lot of fun. Plus, it would give the Lansing Lugnuts an instant rival. Another option is, if Lansing(only founding team without a title) continues to struggle, I could move them to Midland, but I really like the Lugnuts name and logo, so I don't see that happening. West Michigan is a great option as well.

I'm leaning Chattanooga or Pensacola for the Southern Division, but I just thought of one city I forgot to mention. New Orleans. If the game still has the Baby Cakes logo in the db, New Orleans might jump to the top of the list. I live in Shreveport, so New Orleans would be a fun team to follow. Has the Space Cowboys uniform and logo been added to OOTP? I know in the past it wasn't available.

[David Watts]

If you're Corpus Christi and you just finished the 1970 with a 47-115 record, do you take Roberto Clemente with the first pick, or do you take Mark McGwire? I take Clemente and based on the last couple drafts taking him and knowing he will sign makes him a way smarter pick than McGwire. Other notables in this years draft class, Chet Lemon, Sean Casey, Ray Boone and Dazzy Vance.

Dayton completed the upset of Memphis, winning the series 4-2. The final game was an exciting one, as the Dragons got out to huge lead, taking a 10-5 lead into the bottom of the 9th. Memphis would score 4 times to pull within one and lose the game with the bases full.

The League Championship is currently tied 1-1, with Dayton taking game 1 and Peoria winning game 2.

[David Watts]

Peoria capped off a 107-55 season with a League Championship Series victory. The Chiefs finished off the Dayton Dragons 4 game to 1. Bibb Falk hit .421 in the series to take home MVP honors.

Pretty cool, Jim Thome and Mel Ott both entered the league in 1949. They both leave the league together retiring after the 1970 season. Ott finishes his career with 685 home runs and 2032 RBI. Ott hit .287, with a .405OBP and a .524 SLG. Thome finished with 562 home runs and 1782 RBI. His career average was .262. His OBP was .384 with a .475 SLG.

Another notable retirement is that of Jeff Kent. Kent hit .247 with 249 home runs.


Well, San Antonio couldn't sign Clemente last year, so they give it another try in this years draft. Thanks to the Corpus Christi Hooks choosing Mark McGwire with the 1st pick of the 1970 draft. San Antonio selected Clemente with the second pick.

[David Watts]

39 year old Rick Reuscel is a Spring Training casualty and will miss the entire 1971 season. Reuschel signed a deal to pitch for the Toledo Mud Hens in 71, but one has to wonder if he will ever pitch again. Rick has a 240-243 career record. I was really hoping he would at least reach the 250 wins mark. Reuschel won 22 games for the Peoria Chiefs in 1970, the most wins of any International League starter.

3 time International League batting Champion Tris Speaker is letting everyone know he intends to win another batting title in 1971. As of June 1st Speaker is hitting at an amazing .400+ clip. No player has ever hit .400 for a full season. Will Speaker be the first?

Peoria is once again leading the Northern Division, but their lead is only 5 games. That's actually subpar for Chiefs. We have a new team on top of the Southern Division. The Tulsa Drillers. Nap Lajoie and George Sisler are both off to great starts in 1971 and it's paying huge dividends for the Drillers.

[David Watts]

A guy I'm keeping my eye right now in my league is Sean Guenther. Guenther's International League career started out like it would be brief and ugly. His first couple seasons on the mound were pretty awful. Then something clicked and he's been lights out since. Guenther's career began in the bullpen. He worked as a relief pitcher for several years, doing so with a a very low earned run average, before moving into the starting rotation a month or so into the 1970 season. Guenther would finish the 70 season with a ERA under 2. Heading into July 1971, Guenther remains a starting pitcher and once again his ERA is under 2 for the season. At work, but I think his record is 8-2 in 71. Looking at Guenther's real life stats, he was awful in his first big league season in 2021, then missed all of 22 with an injury, did not pitch in the MLB in 23 and then returned briefly in 24. His stats over 21 inning in 24 were really good. I'm guessing the adjust/weaken settings may have missed this dude somehow. Then again, I am using 130 TCR, so maybe he got a bump as well. Whatever the case, he's locked in right now and it will be interesting to see how long the game lets him flourish.

Tony Armas has come out of nowhere to lead the league in home runs. Armas currently has 22 bombs on the season. Tony's career has been a complete roller coaster ride. The power has always been there, but hitting above .200 hasn't been something Armas has been able to do on a regular basis.

After a brief return to the .300's, Tris Speaker is back above .400 with a .409 average to begin the month of July. Luis Arraez has to be thinking he picked the wrong season to have his best season at the plate. Arraez is hitting close to .350 so far, but with Speakers brilliance at the plate, he's hidden in the shadows.

George Sisler and Nap Lajoie have continued to hit for high averages in the middle of the Tulsa lineup and the Drillers remain in 1st place, leading the Southern Division by a slim margin over the Birmingham Barons and the San Antonio Missions.

As usual Peoria leads the Northern Division. The Chiefs lead is only 4 games with Fort Wayne, Lansing and Toledo all within striking distance.

Hilton Smith went down with an injury and is out for at least 5 weeks. Ad Lankford is still showing moments of greatness, but it's easy to see that age is starting to catch up to him. He's in his 40's now, so I'm guessing the end is near.

Ron Santo was just named the player of the month in June 1971. Santo is 25 and is just starting to show signs he might be heading to stardom. Another guy that's coming into his own is Bobby Murcer. Murcer drove in 100 runs in 1970 and is having a nice season so far in 71, as well.

Duke Snider just notched his 2500th hit. Snider also has 400+ home runs. When he finally hangs up his spikes, it will be interesting to see if Snider makes the Hall of Fame. The first half of his career was definitely hall worthy, but he second half has been pretty darn average if not below average.

Greg Maddux has become a regular in the Cedar Rapids rotation. I'm so looking forward to seeing how this guys career plays out. Will he become the league's winningest pitcher?

Roberto Clemente is starting in CF for the San Antonio Missions. The rookie is hitting in the 250's so far.

[David Watts]

Forgot to mention, Mariano Rivera was the only person inducted into the Hall of Fame prior to the start of the 1971 season. Rivera notched 300+ saves over the course of his long career, putting him 150+ saves ahead of his closest competitors in that category. Mariano is one of the leagues pioneers and earning so many saves during the late 40's, the 50's and into the 1960 is just flat out amazing. Did OOTP just prove all the real life skeptics that constantly whine about Rivera only being great, because he only had to go one inning, completely full of it?

I need to check when I get home to see what team Rivera chose to enter the Hall of Fame a member of. He pitched for quite a few teams over his long career, so off the top of my head, I have no idea.

[David Watts]

Prior to the start of the 1971 season fans were told that wearing a baseball hat backwards while attending an International League game will not be tolerated and will result in the fans ejection from the park. Fans caught a second time will be banned for life and have their pictures posted on the wall of shame that every International League stadium must maintain in a well travelled portion of the stadium concourse.

[David Watts]

It's August 1st 1971 and Tris Speaker is hitting .416. Speaker is 157 for 377, with 47 walks and a .481 OBP. He has 31 doubles so far. It's going to be interesting to see how things play out over the final 2 months. Can Speaker make history by hitting .400?

[David Watts]

Who in the world is Osvaldo Bido? On 8/10/1971 Bido throws a no-hitter against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, striking out 10 while walking 2. On 08/15/1971 Bido throws 7.2 innings of one hit ball against the Fort Wayne TinCaps, striking out 8, walking 2. Bido is 9-11 on the season for the Biloxi Shuckers.

[David Watts]

Jose Mendez continues his trek towards 300 wins. Mendez has notched 17 win so far in 1971, giving him 272 career wins.

As of September 1st Tris Speaker is hovering right around the .400 mark. He will drop to .399 or 398, but then bounce back to .400. I'm pulling for him to make history, but I'm starting to have my doubts he will succeed.

Tony Armas hit 28 home runs by the end of July. He then hit a grand total of 2 in the month of August and no longer leads the league in home runs. He's 1 home run behind the league leader.

Peoria remains on top of the Northern Division, but on September 1st, their lead is down to 3 1/2 games. The St Paul Saints have been hot and have been putting pressure on Peoria as of late. The Tulsa Drillers are 4 games up in the Southern Division.

[DCG12]

I’m setting up a random debut league and am curious if you use a reserve roster or minor league. If reserve roster could you share number of players allowed and does the AI handle it well. I would like to use a 20 or 25 limit.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by DCG12

I’m setting up a random debut league and am curious if you use a reserve roster or minor league. If reserve roster could you share number of players allowed and does the AI handle it well. I would like to use a 20 or 25 limit.

I use reserve rosters, but I don't use any limits. My reserve rosters are probably way bigger than what most users would prefer, but I play using the Very High injury setting for both short term and long term injuries. I also use high fatigue. My teams usually carry in the range of 35-45 players on the reserve roster. I use a 7 round amateur draft with either enough players created for 8 or 9 rounds. I have a huge pet peeve in regards to players playing out of position, so I like my teams to have deep enough rosters that I don't end up with Al Bumbry catching. One thing I've noticed over the years playing random debut leagues is, when the amateur draft gets run, I usually recognize the players in the first 2 rounds of the draft. After the second round, I will notice a name here or there, but often times, the only thing proving the player actually played in the big leagues, is his real stats page. For that reason, I don't think having a large reserve roster is blocking any significant players from getting playing time.

I'm pretty easy going in regards to how the AI handles rosters, trades, drafting and free agency. I don't manage or gm, I simply watch my league grow history. I love watching the AI build dynasties and or historically bad teams. It's all part of the leagues storyline.

If you plan on using reserve rosters with limits, I would suggest running a few tests to start out. I don't think you will have any problems, but would hate to say that and then you end up with crazyness down the road.