After extensively using the Dark Skin for the first time in my OOTPB career - it really is well-done this time around - I nevertheless have gravitated back to the Classic Skin because it is easier on the eyes over long periods of time.
The only thing about the Classic Skin that I did not like was the header. What is that, package wrapping paper? The header looks much better with a traditional wood grain IMO:
Here is how I did this, in case you are interested. First, find a suitable wood grain image on the internet. Not too light, or you will not be able to read the words in white font. Also, a fine grain looks better.
The image must be decently sized. The game will accommodate various sizes but YMMV, if course. Save it in PNG format.
Of course, you need to download and install the Classic Skin files (you need to open OOTPB as administrator to do this). I went to the folder named C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 21\data\skins\ootp classic\style_sets\upper_area and found the two files that comprise the header background. As you can see, I renamed both by appending "OLD" to their file names.
Note the new "top_smid" file taking the place of the old file. Also note that I did not make a new "top_right" file; I purposely left it out, hoping that the "top_smid" file would suffice for this purpose (remember, it has to be somewhat wide). It did. The reason for this is to not have a seam between the two files with mismatched grain.
Then I deleted the skin.bin file in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 21\data\skins\ootp classic folder and restarted the game. The game rebuilds the skin using the new images. The result is as you see above.
You may not get the same good result right away. (This was my third attempt, as a matter of fact) but you can get there with a bit of time and effort. If you like this look, here is the file that I used:
