A Special Thank You to the OOTP Team

[chrismeglan]

Good Morning, Afternoon, or Evening wherever you may be located across the globe.

My name is Chris, and for the past couple of seasons, I've had the privilege of beta testing for Out of The Park Developments. I've mainly spent my time doing historical sims, and double checking for historical player accuracy i.e. stats, player info, etc. In fact, one the coolest feathers in my cap is that OOTP 18 was the first time my name ever appeared in the credits of any video game. And for that, I give my thanks.

When I'm not testing out historical play, I've usually spent time re-organizing the minor league structure, cleaning up schedules, and designing jerseys and caps. (I would also love to get into 3D Modeling for stadiums, but I don't have quite have the skill set for that).

Regretfully though, this past Summer and Fall I've not been nearly as active in the community as I normally would. Without overwhelming you all with details, I feel the need to share that my father, who is as responsible as anyone for me getting into baseball in the first place, passed away from cancer last October. He was hospitalized back in August, and died just 37 days later.

It is impossible to talk about such a tragedy while avoiding the cliches, such as I never thought this could happen to my dad, or This is the worst experience of my life. But the thing is, all of the cliches are true.

Back in April, my father and I joined forces in his fantasy baseball league for the first, and sadly, last time. I took it upon myself to do most of the player related research he would normally do. Funny enough, I even used OOTP for player rankings, which contained between 250-300 players. And we had success with it, finishing with a record of 10-7!

But it wasn't about the records. It wasn't about beating up on teams in the early going. It was about calling my dad on the phone every day to tell him Hey, Ozzie Albies did this last night, or I'm gonna pick up Juan Soto and put him in the lineup for next week. Once my dad left us, I didn't know what to feel. It was a combination of sadness, anger, confusion, isolation, and many other emotions. Here we are three months later, and it's only just beginning to sink in that I'm not going to be able to leave him voicemails about lineup changes.

I've learned that everyone experiences tragedy differently, and that everyone has their own unique way of coping with loss. As crazy as this may sound, I'm grateful that I had OOTP to lean on in this dark period of my life. When I had no one to talk to, I had OOTP to keep me company. When I had people to talk to, but no one seemed to understand what I was going through, I played OOTP to feel somewhat normal again. When I finished a 14 hour work day, and needed to unwind before I could relax, again, OOTP was there.

I've always been a baseball fan, and a statistical nerd, and this wonderful game allows to put both of those passions into practice. Unfortunately, it appears I wont be contributing much, if at all, at any point in the future. Due to unforeseen circumstances, I must vacate my current residence, and at the time of this writing, I am unsure as to where I will ultimately wind up. Not to mention, my computer is several years old, and experiencing massive slow down. Soon, I will have to invest in a new laptop in order to accomplish anything in a timely fashion, including testing for OOTP 20. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear I'll be able to do that once Spring rolls around

So, instead of falling off the face of the Earth, and vanishing into nothingness, I want to take a moment to send a special thank to all of you who have helped make Out of The Park Baseball what it is. To Markus and Andreas, for having the vision to create an alternative baseball simulation that was more rewarding for players of the game, and for allowing me to be a part of it. To Lukas, for the wonderful conversations we've had, and for being responsive to all of the feedback I've given about the game.

And to all of you -- the OOTP junkies who's continued support has helped make the game an award-winning experience! Not everyone loves the game of baseball the way we do, but I take solace knowing that it is one of the few things in life that has ever loved me back.

“Baseball is a good thing. Always was, always will be.”
- Stephen King

[Orcin]

Thanks for writing this. It was very touching and made me think of talking baseball with my dad (who has been gone for nearly 50 years... yes, I am the old dad now).

I hope your circumstances improve soon. I wish you all the best in 2019 and I urge you to keep baseball in your life in whatever way possible. We all need something to lean on.

[Thundercrack]

You seem like a good person, good luck with wherever life takes you