bdj610's 1998 End of Year All-Star Teams Simulated Games Results

I have finally finished simulating the All-Star Games using my 1998 End of Year All-Star Teams. And once again, streaks were snapped this time around as the 1998 American League All-Stars took the seven game series 4-3 over their National League counterparts. Will this mean a win for the AL in the one-game ASG? Stay tuned.

As previously stated, I simulated seven games (six series between starters, and one series where the lineups, starting rotations changed on a daily basis), by playing each one 10,000 times.

The first six games I simulated used each starting pitcher on both sides at least once, and all position players started a minimum of two games each. Here are the results:

• Game 1: NL vs. AL, Tom Glavine vs. Roger Clemens. The AL wins 5,793 games out of 10,000 simulations (using a DH).
• Game 2: NL vs. AL, Greg Maddux vs. Pedro Martinez. The NL wins 5,233 games (using a DH).
• Game 3: AL vs. NL, Rick Helling vs. Shane Reynolds. The AL wins 5,416 games.
• Game 4: AL vs, NL, Aaron Sele vs. Kevin Brown. The NL wins 6,587 games.
• Game 5: AL vs. NL, David Cone vs. Kevin Tapani. The AL wins 6,382 games (maybe I should have had Sele take on Tapani here...Ouch on both series!!!).
• Game 6: NL vs. AL, David Wells vs. Curt Schilling. The NL wins 5,091 games (using a DH, closest series, lots of lead changes, definitely could have gone either way).
• Game 7: AL vs. NL, anything goes. The AL wins 5,329 games (using a DH).

In twelve years worth of series, the AL has a 7-5 lead. They snap a two series losing streak, and even win the ever important "anything goes" series. But they NL presently have a 6-5 lead in the one-game ASG. This seventh series seems to be a good indicator as to who wins the big one. Does this mean good luck for the junior circuit?

For the official All-Star Game, I decided to just simulate one game and one game only. The starting pitchers were Glavine and Clemens and I let them pitch two innings (unless they struggled badly). The rest of the pitchers would get one inning each (unless they struggled badly). The position players were replaced every three innings. No pinch hitters here, (as in previous tries, the pinch hitter is taken out of the game). The DH's (Tony Gwynn of the NL and Shawn Green of the AL) were never replaced.

The starting lineups, first for the National League (I'm using 1999 Topps cards because these are the cards I used to represent the players on my All-Star teams):


Now the American League starting lineup:


Here is the result:


The 1998 NL All-Stars beat the 1998 AL All-Stars by a final score of 6-3 in what turned out to be another home run showcase, this time for the National Leaguers.

The box score is below (Just click on the picture to take a closer look.


The scoring plays were as follows:

Bottom 2: Glavine pitching. Cal Ripken singles. Shawn Green flies out to Sammy Sosa (8). Ivan Rodriguez is hit by a pitch, goes to first base, Ripken advances to second. Chuck Knoblauch flies out to Barry Bonds (7). Kenny Lofton singles, Cal Ripken scoring, IRodriguez advances to third.

Top 3: Pedro Martinez pitching. Chipper Jones advances to second base on an error by Kenny Lofton (E8). Barry Larkin hits a home run, Jones scoring.

Top 4: Aaron Sele pitching. Barry Bonds grounds out to Sele (1-3). Mike Piazza hits a home run.

Bottom 5: Kevin Brown pitching. Albert Belle reaches first on an error by Javy Lopez (E2). Mo Vaughn singles, Belle advances to third. Manny Ramirez strikes out. Wade Boggs reaches on an error by Jay Bell (E6), Belle scores. Shawn Green singles, Vaughn scoring.

Top 7: Mike Jackson pithcing. Javy Lopez grounds out to Roberto Alomar (4-3). Vladimir Guerrero flies out to Paul O'Neill (9). Vinny Castilla hits a home run.

Top 8: Troy Percival pitching. Greg Vaughn singles. Mark Grace hits a home run, Vaughn scoring.

Your starters, Tom Glavine and Roger Clemens. Vinny Castilla is the MVP.
So on the strength of four home runs (Larkin, Piazza, Castilla, and Grace), the NL powers their way to victory. If this game actually existed, the MVP award would have gone to Vinny Castilla (1-1, 1 hr, 1 rbi). Curt Schilling takes the win, Mike Jackson gets the loss, Trevor Hoffman gets the save, and the only players who didn't get in the game were pitchers Jeff Shaw & Kevin Tapani from the NL and Tom Gordon & David Wells from the AL.

If you want to see the .DAT files that I used (I still don't know how to download these onto the blog , so please just take a look at the screen caps below). If anyone can e-mail me instructions, please do so at bdj610@hotmail.com. Below is the NL .DAT file, then the AL .DAT file:




Now that the 1998 All-Star Games are officially over, at 9:00 AM CST on Tuesday, I will introduce the 1999 End of Year All-Star teams. Simulations for games with those rosters to come hopefully by Sunday night.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1972 Topps #713 Gene Michael

It's Retro Sunday!!! Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Sunday, January 17, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1972 Topps #60.
• Player Name, position, team: Gene Michael, shortstop, New York Yankees.
• Major League Debut: July 15, 1966.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1971 stats (Yankees): 139 G, 458 AB, 36 R, 102 H, 15 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 35 RBI, .224 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Signed by Pirates as a Free Agent before 1971. Purchased by the Yankees from the Dodgers 11/30/1967. Bats: both, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Michael's sixth regular Topps card (total does not include all-star, highlights, or league leader cards). This is actually the first of two cards that Michael appears in the 1972 Topps set (card #714 is an "In Action" card or Gene Michael). Psychedelically, the 1972 Topps design was truly a sign of the times with its wild color scheme and lettering. The back of the card includes a cartoon asking "How are earned run averages computed?" The answer shows a cartoon statistician trying to figure out the answer (Earned Runs x 9 + innings pitched).
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $10.00-$20.00.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 3 cards.

In case you're actually wondering, I don't own this card, but was able to get a crystal clean copy of the image from the from the Baseball Card Cyber Museum. So thank you Joe McAnally and the folks at the BCCM.

Well, it's back to normal on Monday. Tomorrow's card will be: 1996 Topps #289. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Come on back then to see what the Topps Card Randomizer gets us to look at then.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1981 Topps #443 Jim Beattie

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Saturday, January 16, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1981 Topps #443.
• Player Name, position, team: Jim Beattie, pitcher, Seattle Mariners.
• Major League Debut: April 25, 1978.
• Last Line of Statistics: 1980 stats (Mariners): 33 G, 187 IP , 5-15, 115 R, 101 ER, 67 SO, 98 BB, 29 GS, 3 CG, 0 SHO, 0 SV, 4.85 ERA.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Yankees #4th June 1975. Traded by the Yankees to the Mariners 11/01/1979. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Beattie's third regular Topps card (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards). The word Topps makes an appearance on the card, albeit not the familiar logo we've all been accustomed to (that begins in 1982). The design this year is mostly remembered for the use of the hats as an integral part of the design. Note that all the hats, except for the Pirates hat, are all regular baseball caps, with the button top. The Pirates hat is flat. Why? I don't know. Beattie didn't do too well in 1980, and the statistics show it. The card itself was double printed, meaning there are more of this card than others. Topps printed all their cards on six sheets that would be 11 cards across, and 12 cards down. However, there are only 726 cards in this set, on each sheet containing 132 cards, 11 cards were printed twice. With six different sheets, that's 66 DP cards.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.05-$0.15.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 10 cards.

Tomorrow is Retro Sunday, the one day of the week that we feature a card from 1951-1975. The card we will feature tomorrow is: 1972 Topps #713. Come back at 1:00 PM CST to see who it is.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1992 Topps Traded #101T Dick Schofield

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Friday, January 15, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1992 Topps Traded #101T.
• Player Name, position, team: Dick Schofield, shortstop, New York Mets.
• Major League Debut: September 8, 1983.
• ast Line of Statistics: 1991 stats (Angels): 134 G, 427 AB, 44 R, 96 H, 9 2B, 3 3B, 0 HR, 31 RBI, 8 SB, .260 SLG, 50 BB, 69 SO, .225 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Angels #1st, June 1981. Traded by the Angels to the Mets 04/12/1992. Bats: right, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Schofield's tenth regular Topps card (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards). The long-time Angels shortstop found his way to New York via a trade three games into the 1992 season. The back of the card shows Schofield's career numbers with the Angels at that point (he came back to the Angels later in his career). The back of the card shows a color panoramic view of Shea Stadium. This is the third Mets card in a row that the randomizer has picked. This should make the girls at Dinged Corners (or at least any Mets fan) happy.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.02-$0.10.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 15 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1981 Topps #443. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Join us then, won't you? Maybe if this keeps up, we'll change the name of this segment to the Random Mets card of the day (although I think somebody else has a blog for Mets cards).

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 1994 Topps #122 Jeromy Burnitz

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Thursday, January 14, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 1994 Topps #122.
• Player Name, position, team: Jeromy Burnitz, outfielder, New York Mets.
• Major League Debut: June 21, 1993.
• ast Line of Statistics: 1993 stats (Mets): 86 G, 263 AB, 49 R, 64 H, 10 2B, 6 3B, 13 HR, 38 RBI, 3 SB, .475 SLG, 38 BB, 66 SO, .243 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Mets #1st, June 1990. Bats: left, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Burnitz' fourth regular Topps card (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards). After sharing his first two cards with three other players (he was stuck in Prospect Land in both 1992 and 1993 Topps, he finally gets his first solo Topps card in 1994 (he did get his own Topps Traded card in 1993, but that's another issue). Nice large picture in front showing Burnitz celebrating with teammate Bobby Bonilla. Now, Jeromy, at the time this picture was taken, was listed at 6 feet even in height. If anything, this shows how big a guy Bonilla really is as he looks to be at least 3-6 inches taller than the young Burnitz. The blurb on the back talks about the game where Jeromy drove in 7 runs, one short of both the Mets' team record and the NL rookie record on August 8, 1993. However, the date on the blurb is wrong as this 7-RBI game happened on August 5, 1993, three days earlier.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.07-$0.20.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 27 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1992 Topps Traded #101T. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Until tomorow everybody.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Random Topps Card of the Day: 2008 Topps #471 Brian Schneider

Thanks to the Topps Card Randomizer, introducing the Random Topps Card of the Day for Wednesday, January 13, 2010:

• Official Card Set Name and Card Number: 2008 Topps #471.
• Player Name, position, team: Brian Schneider, catcher, New York Mets.
• Major League Debut: May 26, 2000.
• Last Line of Statistics: 2007 stats (Nationals): 129 G, 408 AB, 33 R, 96 H, 21 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 54 RBI, 0 SB, 56 BB, 56 SO, .336 SLG .662 OPS, .281 AVG.
• Any special information about player: Drafted by Expos #5th, June 1995. Traded by the Nationals to the Mets 11/30/2007. Bats: left, Throws: right.
• Any special information about this specific card: Schneider's fifth regular Topps card (total includes both Topps and Topps Traded cards). Because this card was included in Series 2 of the 2008 Topps product, Topps had the time to "update" Brian's picture, changing his outfit from the Nationals to the Mets home whites. Since I highly doubt that this picture was taken during the 2008 regular season, (and I'm pretty sure Shea Stadium does not have seats in that shade of red), this had to have been "altered." I'm pretty torn about how these cards are produced. Part of me wants the cards to include players in their "current" unis, but part of me still wants to stay with tradition. They could have left Brian with the Nats, and then produced a Traded (or Updates and Highlights) card of him with the Mets. But, whatever works. The back of the card states that the Mets traded for him because of his 40% success rate in throwing out would-be base stealers.
• Lo-Hi Beckett value: $0.12-$0.30.
• How many cards of this player do I own?: 14 cards.

Tomorrow's card will be: 1994 Topps #122. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Hope you will be too.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

Now That We've All Calmed Down About 2010 Topps National Chicle

It seems that there are very good explanations as to why there are cards of Babe Ruth in an Atlanta Braves outfit, Ichiro in a Seattle Pilots outfit, and what could possibly be some White Sox rookie (I'll let you know who this could be later on in the article...keep reading) doing his best Frank Thomas impression in the highly anticipated, yet so far critically panned 2010 Topps National Chicle set. And while there is some logic behind these cards, because there was not a whole lot of written explanation (or a sell sheet for that matter) at the time the images cameout, everybody, including myself, jumped the gun because of the information (or lack thereof) passed on by the number one source of the hobby.

Beckett's initial article about this new product included a 330 card checklist. What probably was overlooked was the fact that of the 330, there are 275 base cards. The 275 base cards are divided into two seperate categories: 205 active players (see the Pujols card below):


40 legendary players (HOF's, All-Time Fan Favorites, etc...see the Robinson card below):


and 25 Rookies (using that brand spanking new MLB Rookie Card logo).

The remaining 55 cards are split between three subsets: 25 "Retired Stars," 10 "Vintage Veterans," and 20 "Rookie Renditions." However, the number one source of the hobby initially forgot to give a description of what these three subsets are about, leaving us with only images of each of the three subsets (and hobby bloggers everywhere preparing the torches and pitchforks). But thanks to the gentleman over at Field Level View, (and because I didn't see this article from the boys and girls at Beckett), there is finally an explanation.

Okay...let's bring out the offending cards shall we???


The example above of Babe Ruth in an Atlanta Braves uniform is one of 25 cards within the subset called "Retired Stars Revisited." The concept utilizes 25 retired stars in the MODERN DAY JERSEYS of a team they played for. To wit, the Babe here ended his career with the Braves...the Boston Braves. So, we see him here, looking his "Chipper" best, in the Atlanta Braves outfit. In a subsequent article written by the boys and girls at Beckett (to calm the mass hysteria, I guess), it was explained that, yes, Topps did request these kinds of cards, and that other subjects in this set would include Walter Johnson of the Washington Senators wearing a modern day Washington Nationals uniform. Does this mean we could see Ernie Banks wearing the blue alternate Cubs jersey (the one that Carlos Zambrano INSISTS on wearing, whether away or AT HOME??!), or Ryno possibly wearing a 2009 Phillies outfit???


Ichiro here is one of ten players included in the Vintage Veterans subset. This puts ten modern day heroes in the jerseys of teams from a bygone era (is 1969 really bygone???) Example above of Ichiro wearing a Seattle Pilots jersey makes sense (although really Prince Fielder should be wearing this). Based on the checklist, we could see Pujols wearing a St. Louis Browns uniform, Chipper Jones wearing the Boston Braves outfit (trading off with the Babe again), Manny being Manny in a Brooklyn Dodgers uni, or even Ryan Zimmerman wearing the red, white, and blue...of the Montréal Expos!!!


Now comes the final subset. Twenty MLB Rookie Card Logo players (most who already are in the base set) will be featured in this subset called Rookie Renditions. The concept, take these twenty green athletes, and drop them into noteworthy cards in Topps' sixty year history. The above card is of the infamous 1990 Topps Frank Thomas No-Name-in-Front (NNOF), down to the missing black border at the bottom and that blue parallelogram without a name. But instead of it being the man who would be the "Big Hurt," it's White Sox catcher/infielder Tyler Flowers (most likely him, seeing that he's the only White Sox player on the rookie checklist).

Now that we've come to an understanding about these cards, I'm starting to warm up to them. I still think there will be collectors who just hate these concepts with a passion, but most of us have extinguished the torches and put away the pitchforks. I still will wait for a complete set to show up on eBay in April and buy it then.

But you have to admit, now that we know the rest of the story, don't you feel better about the product???

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama