Historical league, recalc turned off, development on

[David Watts]

Started a league in 1906, turned off recalc and left player development on. I'm managing the Detroit Tigers. The 1906 season saw Sam Crawford win the batting title in the AL with a .330 average. Ty Cobb hit .321 and had 203 hits. 1907, Crawford once again wins the batting title, but this time he does so hitting .316. Only one other player in the AL hit over .300. Cobb would hit in the .270's in 07. I'm now past the midway point of the 08 season and Cobb is hitting .281. So far in 08, only 3 hitters are above .300 in both the AL and NL, which is about right, but the league leader is hitting around 315. To me that seems low.

The league batting average is right around what it should be. So are runs per game. I'm just wondering why I'm not getting any superstar type hitting numbers. I turned recalc off so that my league will have a better flow from season to season. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that the only way one can play with recalc on is with real transactions. On the other hand, recalc does seem to provide a wider range of player performance, giving one superstars, midlevel superstars, average players and bad.

[scott1964]

I think you need to leave recalc on. Ty in my dynasty thread hit over .400 in 1907. And he has a career .366 overall into the beginning of 1909. Sam in my league is a .315 career hitter.

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by scott1964

I think you need to leave recalc on. Ty in my dynasty thread hit over .400 in 1907. And he has a career .366 overall into the beginning of 1909. Sam in my league is a .315 career hitter.

Thanks. What recalc are you using 1, 3 or 5? 1 year recalc provides the range of player performance I'm looking for, but the flow from season to season just doesn't work for me. I'm thinking maybe I should try 5 year. One thing I have never understood about recalc is what happens to all the players that retire in real life, but continue on in OOTP? What are their ratings based on.

[scott1964]

3 years

[David Watts]

I'm sticking with the recalc off, development on. Having too much fun. Should wrap up 1908 this evening.

[David Watts]

Well, I'm now more than 1/2 way through 1910. The averages are starting to climb. Cobb hit .325 in 09. He's hitting .340 at the start of August in 1910. Tris Speaker is close on his heals at .333. Shoeless Joe just can't stay healthy, but is hitting .368. I'm loving this league. So glad I moved away from Recalc.

[Cowboys3356]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Well, I'm now more than 1/2 way through 1910. The averages are starting to climb. Cobb hit .325 in 09. He's hitting .340 at the start of August in 1910. Tris Speaker is close on his heals at .333. Shoeless Joe just can't stay healthy, but is hitting .368. I'm loving this league. So glad I moved away from Recalc.

I also really enjoy recalc off. I like having the "names" but I also enjoy the random element of player development and you just never know what will happen each time you play. And to be honest most of the time the big names of each time period are still the major stars but you also get some random players that rise to greatness and of course the tragedy of great careers cut short.

Got to love it!!!

[David Watts]

UGh! August 20th and Ty Cobb breaks his hand. Out for 3-4 months. He had 79 RBI's and had the chance to be the first to yet to drive in 100 or more.

[David Watts]

Got a question regarding Babe Ruth. With recalc turned off and ratings based on remaining career, will Babe Ruth import in 1914 solely as a pitcher or will he have strong ratings potential as a hitter as well?

[David Watts]

I so love this game. I'm 14 games shy of finishing the 1912 season, For the second year in a row a rookie has broken the home run record. This year it's Cy Williams, who has 17 breaking the record of 15 set by Guy Zinn. I thought the Philadelphia Athletics were a sure bet to repeat and play for their 3rd straight championship, but Washington passed them up midway through August and now sport a 5 game lead. Brooklyn is 3 1/2 up on the Giants in the National League.

Once again my Tigers are floundering around the .500 mark. Ty Cobb is having an incredible season, hitting .371 with 70+ rbi. Cobb suffered two significant injuries during the season, forcing him to miss a total of 7 weeks. Sam Crawford has a chance to be the first Tiger to drive in 100, but he needs 11 more to do so. He hit in the .320's most of the season, but has slumped down to .304. Jay Kirke is finishing up another strong season as well, hitting .304 with 75 rbi. Bobby Veach has burst on the scene and should be a long shot for the rookie of the year award.

One thing I'm wondering about is whether I should turn on the draft or continue to just let players appear on the teams they debuted with?

[bigMatt]

Hey David, do you actually manage each game, or auto-play some/all?

I like playing each game, but it does take a good while.

Intrigued about recalc=off. What did you set as your randomness factor? Also, did you adjust Dev Speed and/or aging for batters and pitchers?

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by bigMatt

Hey David, do you actually manage each game, or auto-play some/all?

I like playing each game, but it does take a good while.

Intrigued about recalc=off. What did you set as your randomness factor? Also, did you adjust Dev Speed and/or aging for batters and pitchers?

I play out all my teams games. I simply act as the manager, turning over trades, roster moves etc to the AI. The randomness factor is set at 30. I have never messed with that before and simply went by someones suggestion in another thread. Left Dev Speed for both batters and pitchers alone.

[captaincarl]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Got a question regarding Babe Ruth. With recalc turned off and ratings based on remaining career, will Babe Ruth import in 1914 solely as a pitcher or will he have strong ratings potential as a hitter as well?

Babe Ruth will be imported as a pitcher in 1914 as he was a pitcher only. Babe Ruth, with recalc off, will come in as a pitcher then turn into an outfielder if you have the player's position based on real stats. Otherwise, he will remain a pitcher.

As far as his ratings are concerned, with the recalc off, all of the ratings, as pitcher and batter, will come in at his 1914 ratings then will be decided upon your development.

[dickysty]

Originally Posted by captaincarl

Babe Ruth will be imported as a pitcher in 1914 as he was a pitcher only. Babe Ruth, with recalc off, will come in as a pitcher then turn into an outfielder if you have the player's position based on real stats. Otherwise, he will remain a pitcher.

As far as his ratings are concerned, with the recalc off, all of the ratings, as pitcher and batter, will come in at his 1914 ratings then will be decided upon your development.

Where is that setting? "Player position based on real stats"

I couldn't find it under the historical settings.

[dickysty]

I found it.

I didn't even know that feature existed at all. Thinking that function wasn't available stopped me from starting a league.

I'm pretty stoked now!

[captaincarl]

Originally Posted by dickysty

I found it.

I didn't even know that feature existed at all. Thinking that function wasn't available stopped me from starting a league.

I'm pretty stoked now!

A word of warning, though. Babe Ruth may not blossom into the monster power hitter that we know in this situation. He will just change from a pitcher to an outfielder when the time comes.

For those new to ootp, the positions based on real stats option is found at the historical section of the league setup screen in the game setup under the heading "Historical Progressing Options".

[David Watts]

I just started the 1916 season last night and I have to say that I am getting anxious for the Dead Ball era to be over. The 1915 season was won by the Boston Red Sox. Babe Ruth won 20 games in his first full season(pitched 12 games in 1914) and the Sox defeated a dominate Brooklyn squad that won 101 game during the regular season in 6 games to take the crown. Shoeless Joe, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker battled for the AL batting crown all season with Jackson finally winning it hitting .320 to Cobbs .319. Speaker finished third hitting .317. Chick Gandil who was traded to the Red Sox prior to the season was the only player to drive in over 100 runs in either league.

My Tigers once again finished in the lower half of the standings. Ty Cobb finally had an injury free season for us, but his offensive numbers were down overall. This year it was Sam Crawford that spent time on the DL. Crawford continues to drive in runs when healthy, but has seen his average fall to below .250 for the second consecutive season. Age may be catching up to him. The Tigers had 2 youngsters burst onto the scene during the season in Harry Heilmann and Wally Pipp. Both players finished the season hitting in the .290s and displayed a knack for getting hits with runners on base. George Suggs followed up a 16 win season in 1914 with a 20-11 mark in 15.

A couple of new players joined the league in 15 and I will be anxious to follow their progress. George Sisler joined the St Louis Brown and picked up the Newcomer of the year award. Rogers Hornsby joined the Cardinals.

[David Watts]

Finished up 1916 yesterday morning. Another middle of the pack finish for my Tigers. Sam Crawford bounced back from 2 sub .250 seasons to hit .294. Harry Heilmann emerged as a major run producer for the Tigers driving in 98. The pitching was blah. George Suggs started the season horribly going 1-11. He then turned things around and finished the season 9-12. He even picked up a pitcher of the month award in August.

The Philadelphia Athletics beat St Louis in the World Series. Shoeless Joe was the AL MVP. Chief Bender became the first 200 game winner in league history.

UGH! 1917 begins and I almost feel like simming it out in order to get to 1918. I lost Ty Cobb for the season only 2 weeks in. Looks like Ty will have to wait another season to reach 2000 hits. Sure hope this injury doesn't lead to a sharp decline. George Mullins, the pitcher with the most wins in Tiger history went down for the season a few games later. I fear this will be the end for him.

I love this game more and more each day. Don't you love it when a league starts to come to life and becomes more than just a game? I love the reserve clause as well. I have trades set to very low and I think there is just the amount of player movement to keep things interesting. I'm a fan of dynasties and the combination of the reserve clause and low trades seems to produce them.

[Carlton]

I have recalc off as well

So far I am at 1908 and two big players George Mullin of Detroit and Tom J Hughes of the Highlanders have had career ending injuries.

I do major trades, such as Sam Crawford jumping to the Tigers and such...but I had to do one hypothetical

In 1907, Hughie Jennings, new manager of the Tigers offered Ty Cobb to the Cleveland Naps straight up for Elmer Flick...Nap Lajoie said no (probably due to his dislike of Cobb's personality) but I did that trade and after winning two titles in a row...Cleveland fell to 5th place...Curse of Cobb?

I also have 3 AA type leagues, the PCL, American Association and International League

I filled those with fictional players at 1st, and they each draft 3 rounds of players and they trade with MLB

That has gotten some fictional players a spotlight such as

Stephane Legrand, a french Canadian who with the help of Nap Rucker in 1908 beat the A's . He is a great defensive 3B who steals 55 bases (CS 48 times, actually good for deadball era) and walks ...he is a slap hitter

Another is Andy 'Doc' Lotshaw a 1B for Philly after bouncing from Toledo to the Highlanders and finally came alive in Baker Bowl with 15 HRs and 91 BBs

But my favorite is Derek 'Hopalong' Pelkey, who went from being the #1 prospect in the PCL to blowing out his arm and being released by Vernon, to being picked up by Boston Beaneaters and has done a good job, mainly because he doens't walk anyone and even beat Rube Waddell in K/9 in 1907 with 6.15 to Rube's 6.08 and beat Cy Young in K/BB with 6.08

I love historical sims

[David Watts]

Had a strange thing happen during the 1930 season. I allow the computer to make my trades. So the trade deadline is approaching and I get the message that my team has just acquired Mickey Cochrane. I say strange, cause it was strange seeing the Tigers acquire Cochrane, a player that came to them in real life as well. I pump my fist in the air, thinking WOW!, this will really improve my team. UGH! The price was Charlie Gehringer Charlie was in the midst of his best season ever.

It's looking like Babe Ruth will finish his career with somewhere in the 400's in home runs. He had the monster 65 home run year and another 50 home run year, but after that he tapered off quite a bit.

The Philadelphia Athletics now have 3 players that reached the 3000 hit mark, Eddie Collins, Stuffy McInnis and Shoeless Joe Jackson.

The New York Yankees made the post season for the first time in 1930 and did it in style with a World Series victory.

Walter Johnson retired just prior to the 1930 season with 370+ (at work) victories. He also had 3000+ strikeouts.

I am up to May of 1931. I made a major change to the game that will occur following the 31 season. For the first time ever, I will have a draft. So far I have allowed players to debut with their original teams, but felt like it was time to spice things up a little. Wouldn't you know my Tigers who finished last in 1930 with the worst overall record would improve in 1931. So much for getting the first pick in the draft.