GHT: Round 1 Matchups and Byes

ROUND 1 BYES

Here are the players that receive a bye in the first round, along with their ranking. The year in parentheses represents the single season in which they were imported into the Out of the Park Baseball X (OOTP X) game:

#1 – Babe Ruth (1921)

#2 – Ted Williams (1941)

#3 – Lou Gehrig (1931)

#4 – Ty Cobb (1911)

#5 – Rogers Hornsby (1922)

#6 – Honus Wagner (1905)

#7 – Joe DiMaggio (1937)

#8 – Jackie Robinson (1949)

#9 – Stan Musial (1948)

#10 – Jimmie Foxx (1932)

#11 – Willie Mays (1955)

#12 – Mel Ott (1929)

#13 – Hank Aaron (1959)

#14 – Mickey Mantle (1956)

#15 – Hank Greenberg (1938)

#16 – Duke Snider (1953)

#17 – Eddie Mathews (1953)

#18 – Carl Yastrzemski (1967)

#19 – Ernie Banks (1959)

#20 – Al Kaline (1955)

#21 – Frank Robinson (1962)

#22 – Joe Morgan (1976)

#23 – Roberto Clemente (1967)

#24 – Pete Rose (1969)

#25 – Rod Carew (1977)

#26 – Cal Ripken, Jr. (1991)

#27 – Wade Boggs (1987)

#28 – George Brett (1980)

#29 – Mike Schmidt (1980)

#30 – Albert Pujols (2003)

#31 – Kirby Puckett (1986)

#32 – Tony Gwynn (1997)

ROUND 1 MATCHUPS

The matchups for Round 1 of the 2010 Greatest Hitter Tournament are listed below. In parentheses, the single season in which they were imported into the OOTP X game is listed along with their playing style:

#33 George Sisler (1920, SPD/AVG) vs. #96 Andre Dawson (1987, PWR)

- Newly-minted Hall of Famer Andre Dawson takes on George Sisler, who was the single season hit king (257 hits) until Ichiro surpassed his record.

#34 Nap Lajoie (1901, AVG/PWR/SPD) vs. #95 Derek Jeter (1999, AVG)

- Nap Lajoie was the top player in the game at the turn of the century and Derek Jeter was at the top of his future Hall of Fame game at the end of last century.

#35 Joe Jackson (1911, AVG/SPD) vs. #94 Roberto Alomar (1999, SPD)

- “Shoeless Joe” was always a great hitter, but will always be remembered and possibly kept out of the Hall of Fame for the 1919 Black Sox scandal, while Roberto Alomar’s spitting incident has temporarily kept him out of the Hall.

#36 Tris Speaker (1920, AVG) vs. #93 Gary Carter (1982, PWR)

- Two players with different styles matchup here, as Tris Speaker and his .388 average takes on Gary Carter, who hit 29 HR as a catcher.

#37 Johnny Mize (1947, PWR) vs. #92 George Bell (1987, PWR)

- Johnny Mize and George Bell combined for 98 HR in these two seasons, 40 years apart. Both hitters also topped .300, 130 RBI, and 110 runs scored.

#38 Hack Wilson (1930, PWR/AVG) vs. #91 Keith Hernandez (1979, AVG)

- The all-time single season RBI king, Hack Wilson (191 RBI), plays one of the better clutch run producers of the 1980s in Keith Hernandez.

#39 Lefty O’Doul (1929, PWR/AVG) vs. #90 Willie McGee (1985, SPD/AVG)

- Lefty O’Doul had a great mix of power and average, but Willie McGee made the 1985 Cardinals go, mixing hitting (.353 AVG, 82 RBI) and speed (56 stolen bases).

#40 Eddie Collins (1914, AVG/SPD) vs. #89 Craig Biggio (1997, SPD)

- Eddie Collins and Craig Biggio were both fast second basemen, combining for 105 stolen bases, but played in completely different eras.

#41 Charlie Gehringer (1936, AVG) vs. #88 Rusty Staub (1969, PWR)

- Rusty Staub was the best player on an expansion team in frigid Montreal while Charlie Gehringer was at his best coming off a World Series victory in 1935.

#42 Ralph Kiner (1949, PWR) vs. #87 George Foster (1977, PWR)

- Ralph Kiner was in the middle of his run of seven straight years leading the National League in home runs (1946-52), while George Foster had the best single-season power year between 1965-1995 (52 HR).

#43 Ted Kluszewski (1954, PWR) vs. #86 Willie Stargell (1971, PWR)

- Both were big power hitters and though Stargell had more staying power, Kluszewski had the single best year. At least Stargell and his 1971 Pirates won the World Series.

#44 Al Simmons (1930, PWR/AVG) vs. #85 Lou Brock (1974, SPD)

- The best base-stealer in an era of base-stealers, Lou Brock set a Major League record with 118 stolen bases in 1974. Al Simmons was a different player, hitting for a sterling .381 average, smacked 36 HR and drove in 165 runs.

#45 Paul Waner (1927, AVG) vs. #84 Tim Raines (1983, SPD)

- Paul Waner, nicknamed “Big Poison”, only had 9 HR in 1927, but still won the MVP on the strength of a .380 average and 131 RBI. Tim Raines was good player, but his 90 stolen bases helped propel him to greatness.

#46 Joe Medwick (1937, PWR/AVG) vs. #83 Don Mattingly (1985, PWR)

- The most recent Triple Crown winner in the National League, Joe Medwick, goes up against a player who was as much of a triple threat in the 1980s as anyone, Don Mattingly, who was 3rd in average, 4th in HR, and 1st in RBI.

#47 Lou Boudreau (1948, AVG) vs. #82 Mike Greenwell (1988, PWR)

- Lou Boudreau and Mike Greenwell were similar players separated by 40 years, much like the Johnny Mize-George Bell matchup. Boudreau played and managed to a 1948 MVP while Greenwell was second to tarnished MVP Jose Canseco in 1988.

#48 Heinie Manush (1928, AVG) vs. #81 Dick Allen (1972, PWR)

- There are many differences between Heinie Manush (.378-13-108, 14 K) and Dick Allen (.308-37-113, 126 K), so this will be a study in cross-era and cross-discipline players and how the pitchers will handle each.

#49 Roy Campanella (1953, PWR) vs. #80 Reggie Jackson (1969, PWR)

- Two of the premier players at their positions of their era are matching up in this one. Roy Campanella was an eight-time All-Star as a catcher whose career was cut short by an automobile accident. Reggie Jackson was a 14-time All-Star and his 1969 season put him on the map.

#50 Tommy Davis (1962, PWR/AVG) vs. #79 Joe Torre (1971, AVG/PWR)

- Tommy Davis and Joe Torre put up amazing seasons for right-handed hitting players. Davis was MVP-worthy in 1962, leading the majors in average, hits, and RBI. Torre won the MVP in 1971, hitting 38 points higher than any other season and 66 points higher than his career average.

#51 Tony Oliva (1964, PWR) vs. #78 Gil Hodges (1954, PWR)

- Tony Oliva and Gil Hodges are not in the Hall of Fame and many think they both deserve to be. The winner of this matchup will add another achievement to his wonderful career, but will the Hall of Fame ever be in the cards for either of them?

#52 Harmon Killebrew (1969, PWR) vs. #77 Rocky Colavito (1961, PWR)

- In this matchup of similar players, Harmon Killebrew has the edge in ranking because of his career numbers. Rocky Colavito had his best season as a Tiger, though he is more synonymous with the Indians.

#53 Willie McCovey (1969, PWR) vs. #76 Zack Wheat (1925, AVG)

- Willie McCovey has the slugging advantage going into this series, but Zack Wheat hit for a much higher average points (.359 to .320) and produced 64 more hits (221-157).

#54 Billy Williams (1970, PWR) vs. #75 Norm Cash (1961, PWR/AVG)

- Billy Williams was a better player over his career, but Norm Cash’s unbelievable 1961 season (.361-41-132) despite his .271 career average. But, both players had very similar power seasons, as Williams was .322-42-129 in 1970.

#55 Jim Rice (1978, PWR) vs. #74 Roger Maris (1961, PWR)

- The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry continues, as two of the greatest single seasons by each franchise will be in action, as Jim Rice’s tour-de-force 1978 season (406 total bases) will face off against Roger Maris’s 61 home runs.

#56 Robin Yount (1982, AVG/PWR) vs. #73 Goose Goslin (1931, PWR)

- The career numbers of Robin Yount and Goose Goslin are not very different, with Yount amassing 3,142 hits and 251 HR over a 20-year career and Goslin putting together 2,735 hits and 248 HR over 17 years.

#57 Rickey Henderson (1990, SPD/PWR) vs. #72 Maury Wills (1962, SPD)

- Speed with be the name of the game between Rickey Henderson and Maury Wills. This matchup skips a generation, as Wills was the best runner in the 1960s and Henderson dominated the 1980s and 1990s.

#58 Tony Perez (1970, PWR) vs. #71 Harry Heilmann (1923, AVG)

- Two players who dominated their decade lock up in this matchup. Tony Perez was second in RBI in the 1970s with 954. Harry Heilmann won four American League batting crowns in the 1920s (1921, -23, -25, -27).

#59 Dave Winfield (1979, PWR) vs. #70 Bill Terry (1930, AVG/PWR)

- Dave Winfield may have the counting statistic of 3,110 hits, but Bill Terry is the only one of the two with 200 hits in a season and Terry had six seasons of 200 or more hits.

#60 Eddie Murray (1984, PWR) vs. #69 Frankie Frisch (1923, AVG/SPD)

- Two of the best switch-hitters of all-time are in this matchup. Eddie Murray reached 3,255 hits and 504 HR while Frankie Frisch had a .316 average and his 419 stolen bases was a record for switch-hitters until 1977.

#61 Ken Griffey, Jr. (1997, PWR) vs. #68 Al Rosen (1953, PWR/AVG)

- A tough draw for all-time great Ken Griffey, Jr, whose amazing 56 HR and 147 RBI season goes up against Al Rosen, who was a unanimous American League MVP in 1953, but retired three years later at the age of 32. Griffey has 630 HR and counting while Rosen finished with only 192.

#62 Paul Molitor (1993, AVG/PWR) vs. #67 Chuck Klein (1930, PWR/AVG)

- This matchup features players at opposite ends of their careers. Paul Molitor had 211 hits in a season in which he turned 37. Chuck Klein hit an other-worldly .386-40-170 at the age of 25.

#63 Ichiro Suzuki (2001, SPD/AVG) vs. #66 Earl Averill (1931, PWR/AVG)

- Ichiro was a “rookie” in 2001 and took home American League Rookie of the Year and MVP honors for the Seattle Mariners. Seattle-area native Earl Averill still has all-time Cleveland Indian records in total bases, RBI, runs scored, and triples.

#64 Frank Thomas (2000, PWR) vs. #65 Sam Crawford (1911, AVG/SPD)

- In this matchup, a 500 HR player goes up against a player who holds the all-time record for most inside-the-park HR in a season (12). Frank Thomas finished an 18-year career with 521 HR. Sam Crawford played in the dead-ball era but led the American League in RBI, extra base hits, slugging percentage, and total bases every year from 1905-1915.

ROUND 1 PITCHING STAFFS

Here are the pitchers that were selected to throw to this motley crew of hitters in Round 1:

Babe Ruth (1916) – 23-12, 1.75 ERA

- Ruth can only pitch in this round because this is the only round we know he will not face himself.

Wilbur Wood (1971) – 22-13, 1.91 ERA

- Wood had a great one-off season in 1971 for the White Sox. The knuckleballer might be a great reliever to provide a nice change-of-pace.

Dave McNally (1968) – 22-10, 1.95 ERA

- McNally was one of the four 20-game winners of the 1971 Orioles. But, the lefty had his best season three years earlier.

Dazzy Vance (1924) – 28-6, 2.16 ERA

- Home runs started flying out of the parks around baseball by 1924, but Vance’s numbers were better than anyone else, winning the pitcher’s Triple Crown and the MVP.

Sam McDowell (1965) – 17-11, 2.18 ERA

- 1965 was the only year McDowell lead the league in ERA and set a career-high with 325 strikeouts.

Frank Tanana (1976) – 19-10, 2.43 ERA

- Tanana set personal bests in the 1976 season in wins, ERA, and WHIP (0.988). His 1979 shoulder injury sapped him of his blazing fastball, but in his prime, he struck out almost a hitter an inning.

Curt Schilling (2001) – 22-6, 2.98 ERA

- Schilling was great in 2001, but his postseason showing (4-0, 1.12) directly led to a World Series victory and a co-MVP in the Series.

Randy Myers (1997) – 45 saves, 1.51 ERA

- One of the best left-handed closers in history, he scored his lowest ERA and second-highest save total in a career that netted 347 saves.

Joe Nathan (2006) – 36 saves, 1.58 ERA

- Nathan was 7-0 and finished fifth in the Cy Young Award voting in 2006 and the best season to-date for a player who has six straight 35-save seasons and counting.

Tom Henke (1995) – 36 saves, 1.82 ERA

- Henke was known as a Blue Jay, but his final Major League season, which was in a Cardinals uniform, was one of his best statistical seasons.

Duane Ward (1993) – 45 saves, 2.13 ERA

- Ward spent years in Tom Henke’s shadow, his one year as a true closer of the Blue Jays was a career signature.

Next post: Hopefully this weekend, the first pitch of Round 1.

GHT: Determination of Seeds

As we get ready for the kick-off of the 2010 Greatest Hitter Tournament, let's take a look at how the matchups and pitching staffs were determined.

The seeds were determined by separating players into tiers of greatness. There are 32 players in each “tier”, representing players across eras and players with different playing styles. Within those tiers, the players were ranked according to their best single season in their career. That single season was used as the model for each player, as the 14 hitters on each team are representative of that single season.

Each round contains a 11-man pitching staff to complete each team’s 25-man roster. There are different pitchers that will be featured in each round. Each staff has seven starters and four relievers. Based on the matchup and based on overall talent, a five-man rotation and bullpen roles will be determined. During the season, after each month, changes may be made to staff roles, but the personnel will stay the same throughout the entire season. For hitters, even though all players have the same statistics, their ratings may differ slightly and hitters get on hot and cold streaks. Each lineup will be revisited after each month.

The tournament will be played in a bracket format. Every hitter in the first tier (ranked #1-#32) receives a bye in the Round 1. The bottom 64 teams will play each other in 162-game head-to-head “seasons”. The 32 teams that win more games than they lose will move on to the round of 64. Even if a team has “clinched” a 162-game series victory, the full schedule will be played out so that a full season could be played by each hitter and pitcher. In the event of a 81-81 tie, a one-game playoff will be played at the end of the “season” in order to crown the winner of that matchup.

In Round 2, those teams will all face players that received the Round 1 bye. From there, the 64 teams that remain would constitute a normal bracket with four “regions” of 16 teams. Play will continue until there is one team remaining. Players and pitchers will be re-imported for each season so that they do not age. The eventual champion will participate in seven seasons if the winner is not among the top 32 teams or six seasons if the winner is one of the top 32 teams.

In the next post, we will reveal the seeds and analyze the Round 1 matchups and pitching staffs.

Greatest Hitter Tournament 2010

This blog normally keeps its eye on baseball, football, and hockey. I offer my thoughts on the professional game and players from a fantasy perspective. But, as this blog evolves, so will the content. Enter the wonderful world of simulations and this is an ambitious task for this year. All throughout this year, we are going to hold the Greatest Hitter Tournament, matching up the best hitters of all-time against some of the greatest pitchers in a simulation to see which virtual players rise to the top. I think it will be something interesting to follow and something that might arise some debate as to who belongs in this field and who does not, as well as the seedings and the results. What follows is the idea for the tournament, the timeline, and the format.

Tournament Idea
Who would win in a game with nine Ted Williamses against nine Joe DiMaggios? We might find out in the Greatest Hitter Tournament. This tournament will pit the best hitters of all time in their best single-season performances against each other to see who really is the best of all-time. Throughout this year, the games will be simulated on Out of the Park Baseball X (OOTP X), from the first pitch on New Year’s Day to the Final Round, which is scheduled to be completed in December.

Who would pitch to this Murderers’ Row? There have been seven pitching staffs compiled to make these hitters work for their hits, 77 pitchers in all in their best single-season performances in a major league uniform. With each round of this tournament, the pitching staffs will be tougher and the hits and home runs will be harder to come by. We will find out how pitchers from the present and recent past would have fared against the greatest hitters of all-time.

Tournament Schedule
November 23-December 31, 2009 – Bracket Determination
January 15, 2010 – Tournament First Pitch
January 15-February 25 – First Round (Field of 96) – 6 weeks
February 26-April 8 – Second Round (Field of 64) – 6 weeks
April 9-May 20 – Third Round (Field of 32) – 6 weeks
May 21-July 1 – Fourth Round (Field of 16) – 6 weeks
July 2-August 12 – Quarterfinal Round (Field of 8) – 6 weeks
August 13-September 23 – Semifinal Round (Field of 4) – 6 weeks
September 24-December 16 – Final Round – 12 weeks

Tournament Format
Each tournament “game” will consist of 162 games between two teams in which all hitters on each team are the participant in the Greatest Hitter Tournament. The pitching staffs will be the same for all hitters in a specific round to keep everything else constant, but the pitching will be tougher with each passing round. Each Greatest Hitter Tournament team roster will consist of 14 versions of the same hitter and an 11-man pitching staff, which will have seven starters and three relievers with one wild-card. To neutralize the different eras these hitters and pitchers played in, all players’ statistics will be smoothed out so that a hitter from the Dead Ball Era is not at a disadvantage against a hitter from the Steroids Era or the Expansion Era.

The 162-game schedule will be split between both participant’s home parks and will take place in six months of playing time. For the first six rounds, one month of time will be simulated each week. This means, while the field dwindles from 96 players to two players, each round will take six weeks to complete. In the Final Round, two weeks of time will be simulated each week, which will take 12 weeks of real time to complete. During these simulations, we will stop for major events. Injuries will be turned off and any need for backup players will be handled by creating another version of the player that has to be replaced.

Along the way, a recap of each simulation will be written, covering the results, statistics, and any news that transpired during the simulation.

Stay tuned to this blog for the seedings and pitching staff assignments, which will be reported later this week. For all blog entries about this tournament, search for "Greatest Hitter Tournament 2010".

There's a Light...Over at the Frankenstein Place

The naming of David Ortiz to the list of offenders of 2003's Major League Baseball survey testing for steroids shined a brand-new light on the performance enhancing drug controversy. He was not the first to be named, as Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, and Manny Ramirez have been reported by The New York Times to be on the list. In all, there are 104 names on the list and, with 30 teams, that makes an average of 3 players per team. Major League Baseball wanted to get a handle on how rampant the problem was, and the Mitchell Report found the 2003 "hit rate" was about 7.94%, or 104 of the 1310 players that appeared in a game in 2003 (643 hitters, 667 pitchers).

My guess is that every "big-market" team or team that was trying to contend in 2003 probably has more than average. Why? Two reasons are clear as to why players take PEDs: to get to the Show and to stay in the Show. The prospects and players hanging on who felt they had to get to the big leagues through questionable means probably amount to about the same for every franchise. Every farm system has those players trying to do whatever it takes to make the majors. But, big-money veterans are more likely to command big money and the teams in contention want the veteran presence on their ball club and are willing to pay handsomely for those services. So, how many juiced players did the teams in contention average? 4? 5?

One of the great "side effects" for players and an allure for PEDs is the thought of another big free agent payday. When age starts eroding their talents, get another payday by staying in the Show for a few more years. When free agency was still shiny and new, you had two big paydays: one in your late 20's and one in your early 30's. Now, you have three, and don't think that is by accident, as players in the mid-to-late 30s scored big when they peddled their services around the league.

Whether your team is a "big-market" team or not, it is all just speculation anyway. Right now, the whole PED drama is more about the trash talk if you root for one of those teams. If you root for the Red Sox before Thursday, you trash-talked the Yankees and their fans. You laughed about how their fan base was duped and how their numbers are inflated or you would be angry at the shot they cost your team from making the playoffs or winning it all. Their records and titles are tainted, you would say. You could say the same if you root for the Mets now. You could call out the teams and the fans who root for them. But, we all know that it is a matter of time before a big name who played for the Mets in 2003 is "outed". You know what they say about people in glass houses?

If a player you loved has not already been tied to "the list" or failed a test since 2003, just wait. Just about every baseball fan out there has a jersey or a poster or a piece of paraphernalia that touts a player who has or will be tied to performance enhancing drugs. The Ortiz situation has helped me arrive at a (possibly convenient) conclusion. Red Sox fans will most likely offer David Ortiz a pass, not because he may not be guilty, but because they cannot possibly fathom disliking him. We all have players we love and we may hold him up higher than we should. But, what is more important: a clean game or a beloved player? The answer is always "a clean game" until you hear a player you love is on "the list".