OPENING POST
To facilitate this re-telling of history, I’ll be using a variety of programs, for a variety of individual sports. The ability to realistically re-sim these sports is why I’ve chosen the ones I have, along with my own personal biases and interests.
The sports I’m beginning with are baseball, basketball, and hockey. In the case of baseball and hockey, I’ll be using the latest version of Out of the Park Baseball and Franchise Hockey Manager, the two well-known games from OOTP Developments. When it comes to basketball, I’ll be using basketball-gm.com, an online browser game that is better than any game I’ve bought, as far as historical simming, when it comes to basketball.
The big chance with baseball is I’ll be adding the Pacific Coast League as a Third Major League, including a post-World Series playoff between the PCL Champion & the MLB Champion, which will be explained below. As a preview, it’s connected to Dwight Eisenhower. In the ’70s, I’ll be adding pro football, either through Draft Day Sports Pro Football or Front Office Football, after I double-check how both games handle historical simulations, along with also adding Tennis in the form of Tennis Elbow Manager 2, which allows simming all the way from the start of the Open Era.
In addition, there will be other sports I might possibly add, depending on what’s available, and if there are decent enough ways to sim those sports, but I’ll be focusing on these ones, especially baseball, basketball, and hockey for the beginning.
Some quick Q&A’s
Q: Why not soccer?
A: Two main reasons – there are good historical databases for long-term sims in Football Manager from what I could find, and frankly, as a filthy American, I don’t have the historical context for the changes in soccer, and honestly, the knowledge to figure out when somebody is outdoing or underplaying their IRL history.
Q: Nothing with college sports?
A: Again, a lack of good simulation games, plus I’d need a connection to the pro version of each game, and that’d just cause chaos.
Q: Free agency, team movement, etc.?
A: I’ll be using the in-game financial information, where possible, along with RNG rolls to determine what and which teams in various sports will be moving, folding, etc. As far as the rise of free agency and such, I’ll be also rolling for the advances in player power within various sports, to see if it happens quicker or slower than our universe.
Q: How will posts be set up?
A: In general, each post will be a focus of a month of news, notes, stats, and such, with obvious focuses on All-Star Games, playoffs, post-season awards, the draft, and if necessary, off-season changes to the rules, team structure, etc.
Q: Will there be any way for readers to get involved?
A: To a certain extent, I’ll be simming ahead so there can’t be too much involvement, but there may be various polling on things like changes to rules, various awards, borderline Hall of Fame players in various sports, etc.
HEADLINES OF A DIFFERENT PAST
September 19th, 1950 – PLANE CARRYING EISENHOWER, FAMILY CRASHES OUTSIDE WASHINGTON
October 4th, 1950 – STATE FUNERAL FOR EISENHOWER, 250,000+ PAY RESPECTS
March 29th, 1952 – TRUMAN DECLINES RE-ELECTION BID AFTER PRIMARY LOSS
June 19th, 1952 – MORSE, WARREN, TAFT, STASSEN, MACARTHUR ALL IN BID FOR PRESIDENCY
July 8th, 1952 – MACARTHUR SPEECH NOT WELL RECEIVED, STASSEN ENDORSES WARREN
July 10th, 1952 – DEWEY BACKS KNOWLAND BID TO STOP TAFT; WARREN FURIOUS
July 11th, 1952 – TAFT / KNOWLAND WILL BE GOP TICKET; DEWEY RUMORED TO BE 'SHOO-IN' AT STATE
July 18th, 1952 – TRUMAN ILL; WILL NOT GO TO DNC
July 22nd, 1952 – SPLIT FIELD; KEFAUVER, KERR, HARRIMAN, RUSSELL AMONG LEADERS
July 24th, 1952 – KEFAUVER AGREES TO LIMITED CIVIL RIGHTS PLANK, DOUGLAS AS VP; WINS NOMINATION
November 4th, 1952 – KEFAUVER/DOUGLAS WIN CLOSE ELECTION FOCUSING ON UNITY AND CONTINUATION OF NEW DEAL
January 13th, 1953 – HUGO BLACK NOMINATED CHIEF; CLARK CLIFFORD NAMED TO COURT
November 10th, 1954 – HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR FREUND NOMINATED TO COURT
March 30th, 1955 – TEAMS ON PACIFIC COAST WANT TO BE EQUAL TO MLB
June 9th, 1955 – MLB OPEN TO TEAMS MOVING TO WEST COAST?
July 15th, 1955 – KEFAUVER LABOR CHIEF SPEAKS ON BASEBALL MONOPOLY IN INTERVIEW WITH LA TIMES
August 13th, 1955 – O’MALLEY, STONEHAM WANT COMPENSATION FOR NO WEST COAST MOVE
September 8th, 1955 – TOP SHELF BASEBALL EXPANDS TO WEST COAST; COCA-COLA WILL SPONSOR CHAMPIONSHIP
January 9th, 1956 – O’MALLEY WANTS NEW STADIUM OR HE WILL FIND NEW HOME FOR DODGERS, EVEN IF EAST OF MISSISSIPPI
The sports I’m beginning with are baseball, basketball, and hockey. In the case of baseball and hockey, I’ll be using the latest version of Out of the Park Baseball and Franchise Hockey Manager, the two well-known games from OOTP Developments. When it comes to basketball, I’ll be using basketball-gm.com, an online browser game that is better than any game I’ve bought, as far as historical simming, when it comes to basketball.
The big chance with baseball is I’ll be adding the Pacific Coast League as a Third Major League, including a post-World Series playoff between the PCL Champion & the MLB Champion, which will be explained below. As a preview, it’s connected to Dwight Eisenhower. In the ’70s, I’ll be adding pro football, either through Draft Day Sports Pro Football or Front Office Football, after I double-check how both games handle historical simulations, along with also adding Tennis in the form of Tennis Elbow Manager 2, which allows simming all the way from the start of the Open Era.
In addition, there will be other sports I might possibly add, depending on what’s available, and if there are decent enough ways to sim those sports, but I’ll be focusing on these ones, especially baseball, basketball, and hockey for the beginning.
Some quick Q&A’s
Q: Why not soccer?
A: Two main reasons – there are good historical databases for long-term sims in Football Manager from what I could find, and frankly, as a filthy American, I don’t have the historical context for the changes in soccer, and honestly, the knowledge to figure out when somebody is outdoing or underplaying their IRL history.
Q: Nothing with college sports?
A: Again, a lack of good simulation games, plus I’d need a connection to the pro version of each game, and that’d just cause chaos.
Q: Free agency, team movement, etc.?
A: I’ll be using the in-game financial information, where possible, along with RNG rolls to determine what and which teams in various sports will be moving, folding, etc. As far as the rise of free agency and such, I’ll be also rolling for the advances in player power within various sports, to see if it happens quicker or slower than our universe.
Q: How will posts be set up?
A: In general, each post will be a focus of a month of news, notes, stats, and such, with obvious focuses on All-Star Games, playoffs, post-season awards, the draft, and if necessary, off-season changes to the rules, team structure, etc.
Q: Will there be any way for readers to get involved?
A: To a certain extent, I’ll be simming ahead so there can’t be too much involvement, but there may be various polling on things like changes to rules, various awards, borderline Hall of Fame players in various sports, etc.
HEADLINES OF A DIFFERENT PAST
September 19th, 1950 – PLANE CARRYING EISENHOWER, FAMILY CRASHES OUTSIDE WASHINGTON
October 4th, 1950 – STATE FUNERAL FOR EISENHOWER, 250,000+ PAY RESPECTS
March 29th, 1952 – TRUMAN DECLINES RE-ELECTION BID AFTER PRIMARY LOSS
June 19th, 1952 – MORSE, WARREN, TAFT, STASSEN, MACARTHUR ALL IN BID FOR PRESIDENCY
July 8th, 1952 – MACARTHUR SPEECH NOT WELL RECEIVED, STASSEN ENDORSES WARREN
July 10th, 1952 – DEWEY BACKS KNOWLAND BID TO STOP TAFT; WARREN FURIOUS
July 11th, 1952 – TAFT / KNOWLAND WILL BE GOP TICKET; DEWEY RUMORED TO BE 'SHOO-IN' AT STATE
July 18th, 1952 – TRUMAN ILL; WILL NOT GO TO DNC
July 22nd, 1952 – SPLIT FIELD; KEFAUVER, KERR, HARRIMAN, RUSSELL AMONG LEADERS
July 24th, 1952 – KEFAUVER AGREES TO LIMITED CIVIL RIGHTS PLANK, DOUGLAS AS VP; WINS NOMINATION
November 4th, 1952 – KEFAUVER/DOUGLAS WIN CLOSE ELECTION FOCUSING ON UNITY AND CONTINUATION OF NEW DEAL
January 13th, 1953 – HUGO BLACK NOMINATED CHIEF; CLARK CLIFFORD NAMED TO COURT
November 10th, 1954 – HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR FREUND NOMINATED TO COURT
March 30th, 1955 – TEAMS ON PACIFIC COAST WANT TO BE EQUAL TO MLB
June 9th, 1955 – MLB OPEN TO TEAMS MOVING TO WEST COAST?
July 15th, 1955 – KEFAUVER LABOR CHIEF SPEAKS ON BASEBALL MONOPOLY IN INTERVIEW WITH LA TIMES
August 13th, 1955 – O’MALLEY, STONEHAM WANT COMPENSATION FOR NO WEST COAST MOVE
September 8th, 1955 – TOP SHELF BASEBALL EXPANDS TO WEST COAST; COCA-COLA WILL SPONSOR CHAMPIONSHIP
January 9th, 1956 – O’MALLEY WANTS NEW STADIUM OR HE WILL FIND NEW HOME FOR DODGERS, EVEN IF EAST OF MISSISSIPPI
