Could There Be An America's Team? Let's try

[Brad K]

Is there a baseball team that could be called America's Team? Some might say the Yankees and its true they have lots of fans. But they also have lots of anti fans. So they don't do well on net rating.

Dodgers fans might argue they are America's team but despite their regular season success they collect a lot of scorn for lack of post season success. The Braves have had good winning streaks but streaks they are. However they do show the power of TV... IF you're winning.

There was a missed chance for a team to become America's Team. They won the World Series and drew the third most fans in MLB. In a time before instant updates on cell phones, before internet, before cable TV sending games well outside the home area, before the only game outside the World Series a person was likely to see on TV was NBC's Saturday Game of the Week, WHEN most fans followed teams by radio, their broadcaster was a clear channel station that could be heard hundreds of miles away at night. They had the media covered and they were known and appreciated nation wide.

But after the World Series triumph, mostly standing pat with a largely age 30 plus team, the next year they collapsed to four games under .500. It was ten years after that before they got back to the World Series again. Interest dissipated and the opportunity was lost.

In the next post we'll join the meeting a couple of weeks after the World Series win where team owner Sean Walsh explains the goal of seizing the opportunity to become America's Team in OOTP. He then turns the meeting over the the GM who explains the methods and obstacles.

[Brad K]

Presentation by the owner and GM to the front office staff and team manager on October 27, two weeks after the end of the World Series.

(Team owner Sean Walsh speaking, joining meeting in progress)


... bigger than winning the Series and having great attendance and having clear channel KDKA broadcast our games. We beat the most disliked team in baseball. It was so exciting for people that those without televisions stood on the sidewalks outside the local RCA and Magnavox dealers and watched the games on the TVs in the display windows.

Don't underestimate the dislike of the Yankees. Remember the book and the Broadway play with over a thousand performances and the film "Damn Yankees" where the Yankees didn't win the American League pennant. And a great touch was where it was revealed at the end that the Yankees greatest fan is Satan!

They loved us for beating the Yankees. Now we want fans nation wide to love us for us. We want to become America's team.

It won't be easy but we must seize the opporunity. Now here's Joe to explain the details.


(GM Joe Brown speaking)

1960 was a great year for us and we want to repeat it. As Mr. Walsh explained, various circumstances have coincided and we have a chance to become America's Team. A best case would be us winning again in 61. But we have our work cut out for us.

Amid the victory celebrations its easy to forget many of our key players are 30 years old or older, having reached their peaks and perhaps already on the downhill side. While we can hope, we can't expect them all to perform as they did this year.

We must begin rebuilding the team with younger players while staying in contention. We need to trade for some experienced players who are approaching their peak rather than leaving it. To get these players will will have to package some prospects with our veterans to trade them. It's a balancing act.

In addition to providing a good team on the field we need to increase awareness of us. We plan advertising in distant areas letting people know they can listen to Pirates night games on KDKA even though hundreds of miles away. And we're going to offer weekend bus trip packages for people in distant areas to attend games.

Mr. Walsh is willing to spend money to expand our market and also provide money for us to keep the team in contention. Let everyone do his best to let us achieve our goal in the unprecedented opportunity to become America's Team.

(Meeting ends.)



Analysis

This job is a mountain. The real life 61 Pirates fell to 75-79 and the combined 1961 - 1964 record was 322-317, hardly the record expected for America's Team. Can an an OOTP simulation of the historical starting point turn out better than reality? Or will Joe Brown by the mid 60s create a dismal team with losing record, overpaid veterans, and no fans?

[Pelican]

Remember that expansion happened in the AL in 1961 and the NL in 1962. Expansion drafts tend to hurt the best teams, by diluting talent. Also the NL was incredibly competitive in the Sixties. Even the Phillies (1964-1967) were competitive. By the end of the decade, the lowly Mets were World Champs. It was a hard time to remain competitive. And don't discount the spread of integration, with the last holdout teams signing and promoting black stars. As to the Pirates, they held on, rebuilt, and were very very good by 1971.

[Brad K]

Yea, its big mountain. Good point on the effect of expansion drafts. And in OOTP teams get hit with expansion drafts twice regardless of league.

[David Watts]

I've already missed out on learning the answer to 2 or 3 important historical game questions due to this thread. Off to do some tests.

[luckymann]

Bring it, Bradley. Now we'll have an almost direct correlation to compare and contrast!

Buccos4Life

[Brad K]

Settings

I'm starting in 1961, full minors, 3 rear recalc not weighted, development on, TCR 100, injuries normal (OOTP Classic), scouting normal, AI evaluation 50% on ratings 30% on current year 15 and 5, all psychology turned off, free agency applies. Due to real life success in 1960 OOTP assigns the Pirates a large market and high fan interest, fan loyalty, budget, and payroll.

Consistent with the goal of the save I edited the the team ownwer to prioritize winning and to be generous with money. However Joe Brown doesn't get all the money as the owner sets the budget. Owner goals are off and Joe Brown can't be fired.

OOTP made Danny Murtaugh manager. I made historically correct Joe Brown as GM (and gave him an experienced GM's salary). Teams didn't have scouts and there were none to hire so I used the button to auto create one scout for each opening. I didn't check other personnel positions but just in case did the same with them. (Taking the button as it is presented which is it wouldn't create personnel if there were no openings.)

Recall that there is no off season. OOTP starts the save a couple days before spring training, so off season trades etc all have to happen in March.

Joe Brown, Danny Murtaugh, etc, will talk in the language of and context of the time. When I post as me I'll include discussion of ratings, modern stats, and real life events.

[Brad K]

March 25 1961

Issues to address prior to season start were identified as

Trade for a four star SP
Trade for a four star RP
Trade for a more traditional LFer than Bob Skinner (ie, a power hitter)
Train Clemente to play CF as insurance against a Bill Virdon defensive decline
Extend selected players (almost entire roster is in last year of contract and this is typical around the league)


Trade

Obtained 4.0 star SP Camilo Pascual age 27 for minor league SP Jack Lamabe age 24 2.0 star 2.5 star potential, minor league SP Tom Parsons age 21 1.5 star 2.5 star potential, and major leage SP Al Jackson age 25 2.5 star both. As with many players in league Pascual is in the last year of his contract. Negotiations are so far unsuccessful. He wants over $300k x 6. Current highest paid players in MLB are Eddie Mathews and Willie Mays at $175k.

On a spot check of other teams none of the six or seven I checked have signed any players to contract extensions. However arbitration estimates indicate substantial salary inflation is coming. So maybe Pascual is being reasonable.



Extensions

2B Bill Mazeroski age 24 $620k/5yr $124k AAV
CF Bill Virdon age 28 $190k/2yr $95k AAV
RF Roberto Clemente age 26 $1.8m/8yr $225k AAV


Desired Extensions

SP Bob Friend age 30 current $109k
SP Camilo Pascual age 27 current $105k
SS Dick Schofield age 26 current $75k

Note that OOTP created the game with some pre-arbitration players signed to more than minimum wage contracts. I did the extensions on Clemente and Maz.

[Brad K]

Here we go to start the season.

Predicted to finish fourth, the problem of an aging team mentioned in Joe Brown's speech.

Market size, fan interest, fan loyalty ratings are high due to 1960 success. Historically Pirates were 3rd in MLB in attendance in 1960.

[OmahaBaseball]

Love it -- looking forward to following along!

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by CHOWDERHEAD

Love it -- looking forward to following along!

Thank you!

[Brad K]

May 1 1961

Extensions signed late April 1961

SP Bob Friend age 30 $1.664m/6yr $277k AAV last two vesting 160 IP required
SS Dick Schofield age 26 $255k/3yr $85k AAV
SP Camilo Pascual age 27 $1.704/6yr $284k AAV last two players option at $272k. I had to concede players option as Pascual was ready to break off negotiations.

The team is off to a bad start, 6-11. Contract extensions have boosted fan interest and attendance is a bit higher than last year despite lower season ticket sales.

On a connection to real life, I discovered real life ex Pirate Carlos Bernier as the starting 3B for the Reds. Bernier played MLB only in 1953 but is getting ratings based on his excellent minor league career. He, rather than Curt Roberts, was probably the first Black Pirate. At the time the white press considered Bernier to be Puerto Rican not Black. The Black press considered him Black as did Bernier. He had the misfortune of playing when minority players had to be stars to make the teams.

[Brad K]

May 5 1961

Chicago put CF Richie Ashburn on the trading block. He's older than CF Bill Virdon and makes more money and is a FA after the season but he provides better offense than Virdon while an almost equal defense.

Obtained CF Richie Ashburn age 34 3.0 stars for CF Bill Virdon age 29 2.5 stars and age 21 0.5 star 1.5 potential minor leaguer Pat Owens.

While the offense could use some help what needs more help is defense. It's making the pitching look worse than it is. Ashburn is a small step in the wrong direction for the defense but a bigger step in the right direction for offense. The fans liked the trade.



May 8 1961

Fan interst is 100 despite 7-15 record. Attendance is up 4.6% and revenue is plus 8.9%. How long is this ride?

[Brad K]

Harold Cooper was the GM of the Jets in 1961 and I preferred to have photos of him and Joe Brown in the article. However the only photos I could find of Cooper is from his obituary and he was too old in the photo for it to be used in this article.

Also I could use a Budweiser ad since the article isn't in a Pittsburgh paper.

[Brad K]

June 1 1961

A 17-10 May boosted the Bucs from 7th place to 4th. First baseman Dick Stuart led the way the last week of May hitting .483 with six HRs. He won the NL Player of the Week award.

[Brad K]

July 1 1961

The team has fallen back to 5th place at 35-36 after a 12-15 June. The month was characterized by scoring fewer runs and allowing more.

In player news, 3B Don Hoak is hitting a surprising .321. LF Bob Skinner is hittng the same. Prior plans were to upgrade to a power hitter at LF but Skinner is hanging in there. C Smokey Burgess is hitting an even .300 while 2B Bill Mazeroski is at .299.

RF Roberto Clemente is having a poor year (for him) hitting .272. This is 79 points below his actual 1961 batting average of .351 which won him his first of four NL batting titles.

CF Richie Ashburn has not converted his better ratings into better performance than Bill Virdon. He's hiiting .262. Ashburn is 34 years old and wants a big multi year contract so I'm not keeping him for 62.

Except for Rocky Nelson (.323) the bench players are hitting under .219. But still the biggest problem is run prevention. It appears much of this is due to poor fielding.

Don Hoak, Bob Skinner, Smokey Burgess, Roberto Clemente, Richie Ashburn

[Brad K]

July 10 1961

The Pirates placed three players on the NL All Star team including C Smokey Burgess (.285 5 HRS) as the starter. Selected as reserves were SP Bob Friend (7-5 3.48 ERA) and 3B Don Hoak (.321 9 HR). Its a strange situation for a 38-42 5th place team. I have the influence of player popularity in the voting set to moderate rather than the default of high.

Attempts to extend Burgess have not been successful. He's 34 years old and started at $200k x 4. He's dropped all of $2k a year and is getting angry. He has a few star caliber years left and is extremely popular with fans and there's nothing on the farm so an agreement is almost imperative.

The man who looked like he won the World Series for the Bucs last year with a three run homer (until the Yankees later tied) C Hal Smith is back on the 25 man after Orlando McFarland failed to hit.

Interestingly there were to MLB players named Hal Smith who played late 50s and early 60s and both were catchers.


Bob Friend, Hal Smith

[luckymann]

Originally Posted by Brad K

Interestingly there were to MLB players named Hal Smith who played late 50s and early 60s and both were catchers.


Bob Friend, Hal Smith

Yes, both in fact played for the Bucs, though not at the same time. The slightly younger non-1960-hero one had a quick stay in 1965, his final year in the bigs. I wonder if they were trying to pull a shifty and get the lesser one back on the cheap and hope nobody would notice it wasn't the 1960 homer guy...

[Brad K]

Originally Posted by luckymann

Yes, both in fact played for the Bucs, though not at the same time. The slightly younger non-1960-hero one had a quick stay in 1965, his final year in the bigs. I wonder if they were trying to pull a shifty and get the lesser one back on the cheap and hope nobody would notice it wasn't the 1960 homer guy...

I didn't realize both were Pirates at some point. Good info.

Hal was charming at the 50th anniversary celebration of the 7th game. He spoke briefly from the audience. Those on the speakers platform were Bill Virdon, Dick Groat, and Bobby Richardson.

[Brad K]

August 1 1961

A 9-1 streak put the Bucs back in 4th with a 49-47 record but still 10 1/2 games out. The people are still coming to the park and it appears that total revenue will exceed last year's by a bit.

However I think its too late for a pennant push and so didn't do anything at the deadline. The most interesting players available in trade were usually pending free agents. So now its to hoping the fans stay despite the mediocre performance.