Have you ever wanted to be a baseball GM? Here's your chance!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The Unofficial Straight Dope Message Board Out of the Park Baseball League has two openings for people who think that they can be a general manager of a baseball team.

Out of the Park baseball is a computer simulation game where players take control of a fictional team. They draft rookies in the annual amateur draft, sign free agents, make trade with other owners, assign players to the majors or one of the three minor leagues and set the lineups and pitching rotations.

The league simulates two weeks’ worth of games every week. Between each simulation, you can make changes to your roster, make trades, etc. You upload your changes to the FTP site (all done with a button that is pressed in-game – you don’t have to have any advanced computer knowledge for this) and wait for the results.

We have just finished our ninth season, with the Seattle Monarchs winning their second Cecil Cup (our championship trophy) in a row. At this time, we have two openings. You can take control of either the Covington Demons or the Denver Zephyrs . Of course, you’ll be able to relocate/rename the teams to a place and name of your choosing.

When you take control of the team, your first task will be to determine which of your impending free agents you wish to re-sign and how much you want to offer them. After that, we will begin the 2011 season (we just finished the 2010 season) and one of you (to be determined randomly) will have the #1 pick in the amateur draft next year (the other will have the #2 pick).

You can view the league site (where you can get stats, league history, etc.) here , and the league blog (where we analyze the game, talk trash, boast, etc.) is located here .

The game is called Out of the Park baseball and can be downloaded from here. We are using version 6.5 of the game. It can be downloaded from here. The cost for the game is $30. To participate in our league is free.

Are you interested? Up to the challenge? Let us know. Please feel free to ask questions; either I or another league member will answer for you.

Zev Steinhardt

2

If one were to get involved, and wanted to pay enough attention to play the game properly, what sort of time investment are we talking? How much time do you spend working out trades, etc., etc.?

3

You can essentially invest as much as you want, mhendo. It’s not hard to spend very, very much time on your team, but nor is it anything like required. Since the mechanic for the league is a weekly simulation, and you can upload changes to your team at any time in between sims, as long as you can find 15-20 minutes once a week or so, you can keep your lineup in order, take care of injuries, move guys around in the minors, etc., and you won’t be letting anybody down. And then at various points during the season you’ll want to spend a bit more time – the last sim before the season starts, maybe, or the first day of free agency, and so forth. The regular maintenance requirement, though, is very manageable.

Beyond that you can fine-tune things to whatever degree you prefer – there’s an incredible amount of detail available to you if you choose to take advantage of it in terms of substitution frequency, contract negotiations, team strategies, minor league development, and all that.

As far as talking trades, I have at times knocked out 50 emails over a three or four day stretch working out deals – and people are almost always willing to talk in this league – but again, that was because I wanted to. It’s definitely true that some owners in this league spend a lot of time on their teams, but not because the game wouldn’t work otherwise. It’s just fun.

So, to answer your question more simply, the level required to maintain a team is pretty minimal; on the order of an hour a week averaged out, and probably less. If the game sounds like fun to you, it’s almost certainly true that the amount of time that you’ll want to spend playing with your team will exceed the amount of time you need to spend on your team.

4

I’m another player in this league and have been for many years.

I agree with Jimmy that one can field a competitive team in only a few minutes per week. I’ve been competitive for several seasons now and it rarely takes me more than 10 minutes per sim to make whatever changes/fine tuning/research that I want.

I hope you all will see fit to join. It’s a fun league with some fun guys.

5

This sounds like so much fun it’s ridiculous. I can’t decide if I have the time for it.

6

Well, I can tell you that as a player (and as the person who has been running the league for the last four years), I’ve had a blast… and most of the other owners have often told me that they, too, have a good time participating.

Zev Steinhardt

7

I just sent you a PM - I am interested in one of the slots.

8

Glad to have you aboard! I replied to your PM and I’ll follow up with you after Yom Kippur.

OK, folks that’s one. There’s still one slot available.

Zev

9

OK, sign me up!

10

Yes! Congratulations, guys!

You won’t regret it. This game is a blast. I’ve have, almost literally, played all the baseball sims out there (one of my other lives is as the owner of a computer game review firm) and OOTP is the best there is.

11

Too late, darn! Hey, if you guys ever look into expansion teams, IM me! :slight_smile:

12

Diomedes,

You’re in luck. One of the new owners had to back out (he only has a Mac). I’m sending an IM to you.

Zev Steinhardt

13

Keep my name posted somewhere in case you do decide to expand a little bit. I’d like to try this out and see how it works. It sounds amazing.

14

Will do. Please send me an email and I’ll let you know if an opening occurs.

Zev Steinhardt