Accurate Salary Info

ervinn · 03-28-2007, 06:08 PM

Does anyone know where I can find accurate salary information for historical leagues. I just started one in 1980 and noticed that the default salary information is not correct. I'm referring to the Rules tab under Game Setup.

ervinn · 03-29-2007, 11:22 AM

Best information I've been able to find to show that the information is incorrect is this bit of information about Reggie Jackson was the hightest paid player in the American League in 1981 (NYY) at $588,000. Although I'm pretty sure Nolan Ryan became the first 1 million dollar a year player in 1980 (HOU).

Also, once detailed salary information is readily available (from 1985) the salary leaders in each league are far below the numbers suggested in the game setup. In 1985 Mike Schmidt (PHI) earned $2,130,300 and Dave Winfield (NYY) made $1,795,704.

Anyone interested?

WrightWing · 03-29-2007, 12:40 PM

Accurate salaries flat won't work with the way OOTP handles finances.

Actual 1985 average team salary $10.6 million
OOTP 1985 ticket price $7.25
OOTP 1985 average attendance 24,547
OOTP 1985 average ticket revenue $17.8 million
OOTP 1985 average media contract $9.9 million
OOTP 1985 (rough) average merchandising revenue $8.0 million

So you end up with an average team at around $35 million in revenues and $10 million in salaries if you use accurate salary info. It would be nice to have, since greatly over-inflated salaries take away from the feel of a historical sim IMO...

Le Grande Orange · 03-29-2007, 02:27 PM

Finding good data of the financial side from MLB's past years is difficult, since the information is rarely made public to any great degree.

The best sites I've found with data are:

http://www.bizofbaseball.com/
http://www.super70s.com/Baseball/Tea...nd/Financials/
http://www.rodneyfort.com/SportsData/BizFrame.htm

In terms of finances in OOTP, one must remember that, while the game models reasonably well the income side of the ledger, it does not model all the costs on the expense side of the ledger. For an OOTP team, the only expenses it has are its players and coaches. That's it. A real club, of course, has a lot more things to spend its money on, such as spring training, travel, taxes, front office staff, stadium upkeep, minor league affiliates, just to name a few. A real-world major league club only spends roughly half its revenue on its players and coaches.

Thus, in OOTP, if you want salaries to approximate those typical in a certain era, you must use settings for club income which are below the actual historical values for that historical era. That means either using lower ticket prices, lower attendance, lower media contracts, or some combination of the three, in order to compensate for the expenses that an OOTP ballclub doesn't have.

chriskelly · 04-01-2007, 06:56 PM

how do historical salaries work? It looks like every player begins w a 1 yr deal. I see there is an option for historical updates, but.....what does this mean to free agency in a historical league?

03-28-2007, 06:08 PM	#1
ervinn Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 65	Accurate Salary Info Does anyone know where I can find accurate salary information for historical leagues. I just started one in 1980 and noticed that the default salary information is not correct. I'm referring to the Rules tab under Game Setup.

03-29-2007, 11:22 AM	#2
ervinn Minors (Single A) Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 65	Best information I've been able to find to show that the information is incorrect is this bit of information about Reggie Jackson was the hightest paid player in the American League in 1981 (NYY) at $588,000. Although I'm pretty sure Nolan Ryan became the first 1 million dollar a year player in 1980 (HOU). Also, once detailed salary information is readily available (from 1985) the salary leaders in each league are far below the numbers suggested in the game setup. In 1985 Mike Schmidt (PHI) earned $2,130,300 and Dave Winfield (NYY) made $1,795,704. Anyone interested?

03-29-2007, 12:40 PM	#3
WrightWing All Star Reserve Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Kansas City, MO Posts: 709	Accurate salaries flat won't work with the way OOTP handles finances. Actual 1985 average team salary $10.6 million OOTP 1985 ticket price $7.25 OOTP 1985 average attendance 24,547 OOTP 1985 average ticket revenue $17.8 million OOTP 1985 average media contract $9.9 million OOTP 1985 (rough) average merchandising revenue $8.0 million So you end up with an average team at around $35 million in revenues and $10 million in salaries if you use accurate salary info. It would be nice to have, since greatly over-inflated salaries take away from the feel of a historical sim IMO...

03-29-2007, 02:27 PM	#4
Le Grande Orange Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Up There Posts: 15,644	Finding good data of the financial side from MLB's past years is difficult, since the information is rarely made public to any great degree. The best sites I've found with data are: http://www.bizofbaseball.com/ http://www.super70s.com/Baseball/Tea...nd/Financials/ http://www.rodneyfort.com/SportsData/BizFrame.htm In terms of finances in OOTP, one must remember that, while the game models reasonably well the income side of the ledger, it does not model all the costs on the expense side of the ledger. For an OOTP team, the only expenses it has are its players and coaches. That's it. A real club, of course, has a lot more things to spend its money on, such as spring training, travel, taxes, front office staff, stadium upkeep, minor league affiliates, just to name a few. A real-world major league club only spends roughly half its revenue on its players and coaches. Thus, in OOTP, if you want salaries to approximate those typical in a certain era, you must use settings for club income which are below the actual historical values for that historical era. That means either using lower ticket prices, lower attendance, lower media contracts, or some combination of the three, in order to compensate for the expenses that an OOTP ballclub doesn't have.

04-01-2007, 06:56 PM	#5
chriskelly All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 753	how do historical salaries work? It looks like every player begins w a 1 yr deal. I see there is an option for historical updates, but.....what does this mean to free agency in a historical league?