Attached are the official files for 1906.

Thanks to everyone for their patience. Getting the stats to work out in deadball seasons is something of a bugbear with DMB, and for some reason, 1906 was trickier than most (because the AL had a very high number of strikeouts compared to other seasons).

When setting up your profiles, please bear in mind that deadball seasons have certain mandatory settings. They are mandatory because otherwise your usage and the statistical outcomes (which are products of certain era-specific strategies) will not work out.

1) You MUST also set the personal player tendencies to “never” for pinch-hitting for each and every one of your pitchers. This does not actually mean that they will never be pinch hit for. But, it will greatly and realistically reduce this practice. Pitching changes only happened when a pitcher was getting shelled or in very close, late inning games. Sometimes pitchers would stay in a game even when the game was lop-sided and very often when the games went into the late innings. Pitch counts are not really a problem, as I have seen in the few games I have played so far.

2)  You need to set the following general tendencies to “least frequently:” Pinch-hitting for pitchers, using relievers, and using closers. Complete games were far and away the rule in this era, and when relievers were used at all, which was in only about 20% of the games, they were rarely more than one or two in a game. If you don’t set these tendencies, then your reliever usage on the road will not be what you want it to be. Your pitcher fatigue should hold up nicely for games at home. Remember, all hooks were slower in those days.

3)  You need to set stolen bases to most frequent. To play and get results similar to what actually occurred in 1906, you need to get into the mindset of what they described at the time as “scientific baseball.” Lots of bunting, for all reasons, hit and run, and, above all, stolen base attempts. The logic is evident in the dominance of pitchers in this era. One often has to work hard to scratch out runs. If 1906 is anything like 1905, we will come very close to a realistic deadball experience in our league.

4)  You must have at least one pitcher indicated at each of the roles in the pitching profile, else the computer manager will select a pitcher at (what you will think of as) random, and this could be a pitcher you don’t want used.

5)  You may also set the profiles individual players. If you never want someone as a reliever, or to be relieved, this can be indicated there. Of course, if a pitcher gives up 8 runs in an inning, he will be relieved no matter what. The computer manager can’t defy certain kinds of logic, after all.

6)   As always, remember also to set your rotation to “strict” and depth charts to “game by game.”

7)   EVERY SPB-100 player who hits less than .235 on the season may now make an additional 75 extra at bats over his real life season totals for the season being played, regardless of the number of AB's that player has. All other players are limited to their actual number of AB's

8)   All Starting Pitchers with an ERA of 3.50 or higher making fewer than 24 real starts may double their actual number of starts not to exceed 24 total starts.

9)   All Relief Pitchers with an ERA of 3.50 or higher, and who have fewer than 60 real relief appearances, may double their actual number of relief appearances up to a maximum of 60.

10)   During ANY series from April through August on the league calendar, a team's active roster is not to exceed TWENTY-TWO players, whether the team is AWAY or at HOME. During the month of SEPTEMBER, the active roster size may be expanded to no more than FORTY players. Players without statistics for a given year, who are provided with a roster marker indicating their next future year of appearance, are never eligible for play under any circumstances.

And lastly, all overusage rules are in effect this season, so please follow the guidelines Chris laid out when setting up you MP's so that your relievers are used properly on the road.

Remember to send your completed home results to each of your visiting opponents, and to statistician Terry Baxter, by January 20, 2006.

Happy New Year! And Play Ball!

Chris