Survival Guide for Nostalgia Baseball
by Brad Hickey
This guide has been created for new owners. Why would I take time to devise one you ask? There are many pitfalls awaiting the new unwary owner, and it has been my aspirations in this effort to provide them with an easy, informative guide that they can peruse that will hopefully provide them with signposts to help them become the best Nostalgia owners possible in as little time as possible. There is one thing to keep in mind about this guide however. I do not pretend to have a magical formula that, if followed, will turn your team into an overnight contender for a ring. Many times I have thought to myself, "Eureka! I have found it!" only to find myself outside the playoff picture looking in, grumpy and confused about why my team didn't perform to my expectations. What I have put down are some facts that I consider to be non-subjective substance that I have discovered about the league that should at least mark a starting point for you to begin your conjectures on whether so and so is worth drafting or whether or not this scenario or that will be fiscally responsible. I hope that at the least, that this guide will help you enjoy Nostalgia Baseball as much as I do, and cause you to feel better about the choices you make in the everyday strategy decisions all managers find themselves having to make. I would like to thank Keith Waddle and any others who contributed in any significant way to this project.
Drafting
The road to becoming a great manager/owner begins on your draft card. Avoiding costly mistakes here can avoid frustration and heart ache later. You only have to look a far as the many teams that have fallen by the wayside to realize that if you don't put together a team with a specific plan in mind, your asking for trouble right off the bat.
1. You cannot have all that cost 150 units or more at every position, while having a full retinue of bench help and relievers, and expect to stay financially feasible. It is usually best to field a team that costs under 2000 units since the average amount you might expect every year (if you actually have a decent team) is around 2000 units or so. I base this on the fact that a decent but not great team will make around 300 units of concessions, will receive the customary per year Owners Salary of 1640 and will make around 50 units of gate. The reason why you don't want to field a team above this is because if you have a bad year, your concessions may be only 100 which would possibly put you into a negative balance. So my advice to young owners is to come up with a budget on an excel spreadsheet or whatever, and kind of figure out what positions you do or do not mind sinking money into. You can also check out teams who do well, but don't have a lot of payroll, to see how they did it for reference sake.
2. In Nostalgia Baseball, learning to interpret data you see in the drafting pools can be the difference in you drafting the player of your dreams, and drafting a dud who looks nice at first but is, in fact, an AB/IP wasting time bomb.
Stats of Relevance for Pitchers
A) Opponent Average vs. League Average-The differential between the two will determine to some degree, the effectiveness of your pitchers ability to get people out. A pitcher like Sandy Koufax, who has a great track record in the league has a tremendous differential in this category (56 points) while a pitcher like Ken Holtzmann has a rather mediocre differential and on the converse side, has never actually pitched well in Nostalgia. This is not the only statistic that makes a difference for your pitcher, but it is always a good place to start.
B) Home Runs allowed-Another relevant statistic is home runs allowed. This stat can have a tremendous impact upon your pitchers ability to succeed in a given game. Pitchers who give up tremendous amounts of home runs traditionally do not do well, while those who give up few home runs, generally do much better. I don't know of another stat for pitchers however, that depends so much on other factors around it. First of all, the total innings that a pitcher has any given year can impact what may be an acceptable amount of home runs allowed. For instance, if a pitcher pitched 190 IP in a given season, and he gave up 32 home runs, I would not even consider drafting the guy unless his other peripheral stats were very, very good. Now on the other hand, using the same scenario of HR allowed, if the pitcher in question pitched 300 IP in a given season, then 32 would not be such a lousy amount since it would really spread out those home runs in theory. Also, you have to check out your prospective pitchers other stats of relevance to see if the home runs would be a major problem. If the pitcher you want walks a tremendous amount of batters a year, lets say 160, AND gives us 32 home runs in 200 IP of work, then that pitcher may not do very well, since he might in a given inning, walk two batters and then give up a home run. Finally, a owners home ball park factors may very well influence you as to whether or not you draft a guy who gives up a lot of home runs. Coors field for instance, almost requires you to take pitchers with low home run totals, while stadiums that are home run dampening graveyards may allow you to take pitchers who serve up gopher balls for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
C) Walk to Strikeout ratio-This is definitely a stat column that is really up to you whether it is of relevance or not. Some owners love drafting high K pitchers since a strikeout keeps your defense from having to work, and thereby helps cut down on errors. Some owners don't mind high walk pitchers because sometimes the peripheral stats are so good, that they can handle the walks. (Check out Sam McDowell's stats in the 1960-67 draft pool for a good example of a great pitcher with walk problems.)
D) Home/Road, Lefty/Righty Splits, Innings pitched-The splits that sometimes occur in spreadsheets for certain players are possibly relevant to you. If a pitcher looks pretty good but has a severe handicap one way or the other it may hurt performance or help it. For instance, if you have a pitcher who absolutely dominates lefties but is inept at best against right handed hitters, then you may very well have a problem on your hand since the majority of hitters in Nostalgia are right handed. Innings pitched obviously is important because of the fact that the more innings pitched the more you will be able to use them. Realize though, that the majority of the time a pitcher with more innings will cost more since a big chunk of their cost sometimes is IP.
Statistics of no relevance for Pitchers
The stats that I put down here, were stats that were compiled while the player you are looking at was playing for a certain team. YOUR team will, of course, be remarkably different. For instance, imagine if you will, that you took a very good player (just use your imagination here) from the horrid 1962 Mets. Now, though his differentials, and walk to strikeout ratios etc may be very good, he would most likely have a very bad record through no fault of his own. The defense around him was different which could also impact his statistics such as ERA. Now, take that player and put him on a good team in Nostalgia. Suddenly, though maybe the year he got indicates a five win, 4.20 ERA, he could very well end up with a CY Young award and a very fine 2.50 ERA. Thus, the categories below do not generally matter or do not necessarily have a large impact on your players performance.
WINS/LOSSES
ERA
GAMES STARTED
SHUTOUTS
Statistics of Relevance for Hitters
a) Average/League Average Differential-This is very similar to the opponent differential for pitchers. Pay attention to it the same way. Good contact hitters will have a higher differential than poor hitters. (Pete Rose for instance has a 60 point differential to the positive while Mickey Tettleton has a horrendous differential of 20 to the negative. Pete Rose is far more likely to be a very good hitter.)
b) Doubles/Triples/Home runs-These stats are relevant and depending on your park and year will stay generally within a reasonable range close to what it says on the spreadsheet for a given year. High home run/average players generally command more units in salary, though there are always players who are very good that cost less.
c) Walks/Strikeouts-Walks and strikeouts appeal depends on what kind of team you want. Some teams like to put together a bunch of sluggers who walk little and strikeout a lot, while other owners love players who get on base a lot while not wasting opportunities to make the other teams defense work with strikeouts. Depends on your preference as an owner, but these statistics WILL affect your team one way or the other.
d) Defense categories-You can read your Nostalgia Help file for more info on this, but the gist of it is that a bad defense puts tremendous stress on your pitching which in turn puts stress on your hitters. Thus, you may not wish to have TOO many holes on defense if you could help it. Of course, if your team is a juggernaut and scores 10 runs a game, maybe it doesn't matter.
e) Stolen Bases-Steals and caught stealing are relevant and should be carefully looked at. A 100 steal man is a fine thing……unless he gets caught 60 % of the time which nullifies the advantage you would have possibly gained to a large degree.
f) Left/Right, Home/Road Splits-See Pitching columns above for dialogue on splits. Same idea applies here.
Statistics of No Relevance for Hitters
Though Runs and RBI's generally indicate a good player, they should not be the primary factor in choosing a player.
RBI
RUNS
Post Draft
3. Ok, it's the post draft era and you have drafted some good players that you liked, some mediocre players that you were lukewarm on and a couple players who were inept players that you drafted because you could find nothing better. You are now entering a crucial time in which the future of your franchise is being determined and shaped. A few points to consider……..
a) Players like Mantle, Mays, Koufax etc. should always be signed to a type 1 maximum year contract. Even if you end up not being able to afford them, these ballplayers are franchise players and could net you some serious units or recompense to help you in trade. Also, most owners do not like dealing for franchise players on type 2 or 3 contracts since that raises their cost considerably.
b) Players that you are lukewarm on should usually be signed (if they are cheaper players) to type 2 or 3 contracts, so that in the future you can let them go. Its better to not lock yourself in if you don't have to.
c) Players you take just because there is nothing else really remaining that perks your interest should probably be signed to a type three contract for one year since there is always next draft to pick someone you really like. Getting stuck with an inflexible contract with someone you despise is not the best way to start on your path to the team of your dreams.
Trading
4. Trading errors are one of the biggest mistakes young owners make in Nostalgia. More veteran owners sometimes look for an easy hit in trading by preying on new owners. I don't advise not trading at all, but it is a very good idea to ask for time looking it over while asking for help from teams who seem to be doing well, or by sending out a general email asking for help, just to make sure you make the best decision possible.
Specific scenarios to beware are:
1) Trading Franchise players for lower picks (2nd-4th rounders)
2) Trading 1st round picks for mediocre players and small amounts of cash.
3) Trading for good players whose contracts are coming to an end for players who are great and have a lot more years left.
Its up to you to make the right decisions concerning your franchise, but being aware of certain pitfalls may help. It could mean the difference between being locked up with a bunch of bad players or having a chance to put together a good team. See also my piece on Trading Etiquette.
General Rules of Thumb
Finally, the best piece of advice is to look at a team who has done well consistently such as the Rhetors, Bronx Bombers or Loonies and to try and emulate them. (Keith Waddle has kindly placed a fabulous Franchise History on the download database for those who are curious) Generally you cannot go wrong by this and will learn a great deal a long the way.
Final Thoughts
In the end, the path to a World Series ring is as varied as the many strategies that you can come up with. As long as you are patient, and execute your plan to perfection while avoiding pitfalls that many owners before you have made, you will most likely enjoy your time in Nostalgia immensely, which is after all, what it is all about.