Old Time Baseball

After all, 1930 isn't 2018, so what differences in gameplay and strategy do I need to remain cognizant of?

Sacrifice Hits

In "old-time baseball" the sacrifice hit was used much more than in today's game. While I may not be a fan of this strategy, it was definitely a part of the 1930 baseball season. A quick glance at the final 1930 team stats shows that every team averaged between .94 to 1.25 successful sacrifice hits per game. One successful SH per game per team will have to be the general guideline during the replay.

Stolen Bases

A quick look at stolen bases attempt (SB) in 1930 shows that each team attempted a steal attempt in about three of every four games. The overall stolen base success percentage was right around 60%. Analytics has shown us that 66% is about the breakeven point required to consider this a successful strategy. It will just have to be something I will have to monitor and account for, including SB attempts that really don't have a good percentage of success. This will also include double steals, maybe even an attempt at a steal of home.

In BBW 5.75 there is a multiple of game factors that come into play with a stolen base attempt - the pitcher, the catcher, and the runner all figure in. I will monitor attempts and try to stay within the range of normal for 1930. To help in this I modified the Steal Allowance Letters (SAL) as follows:

• R's and N's were untouched
• All others were set to A's unless their success rate was 0
• This way, since I will be playing manually if I wanted to attempt a steal, the player won’t be further penalized by the game for being otherwise ineligible to attempt a steal

I will use some basic Stolen Base attempt guidelines:

• Less than two outs
• Score within three runs
• Appropriate batter/runner
• Manager discretion

Hit and Run

(Jackie Hayes) Hit-and-Run (H&R) rules have long been a hot point for abuse in the BG.  Obviously, BBW 5.75 will have opportunities for H&R attempts, but the abuse factor is a little more penalized. Regardless, I will use some basic H&R guidelines:

• Less than two outs
• Score within three runs
• Appropriate batter/runner
• Manager discretion

General Managerial Strategy

The first thing I noticed was that even though this was still "old-time baseball" that managers were still cognizant of their player usage and the need for keeping them fresh:

• Part-time players were generally used a couple of times a week to keep them ready and used to give someone a day off, a late-inning replacement, or to pinch-hit
• Catchers were routinely not expected to catch both ends of a double-header. Most catchers seemed to platoon to some degree
• With the hitting explosion of 1930, there were only about 45% of the games ending in a complete game for the starter
• Similarly, most relievers were called upon to make a spot start occasionally, sometimes as part of a doubleheader, or generally to give the regular starters an extra day of rest
• Starters that relieved tended to not relieve the day after a start, but most did get relief opportunities throughout the season
• Many teams carried an older player that appeared to serve as kind of a part-time coach, maybe a third-string catcher, and had some level of pinch-hitter duties as well. Again, looking at their player logs shows that these players appeared throughout the season, albeit in a very spotted fashion