Boy, that’s a fun game; Albert Pujols just finished his career with 871 HRs.

:)

The new one looks awesome.  I can’t wait for May 31.

I remember some wacky careers I had in OOTP2 before the really started tightening up the age progression.  I had Larry Bigbie break Babe Ruth’s HR record, though he wasn’t quite good enough to catch Aaron.

Yeah; Albert’s stats were the only really wonky ones; everyone else has (relatively) normal stats.

But Pujols:

stats here

My top 25 HR list (don’t know WTF happened to Bonds; I was messing with the retired players file

#  Career HRs HR
1 A. Pujols 874
2 H. Aaron 755
3 B. Ruth 714
4 K. Griffey Jr. 712
5 G. Sheffield 678
6 W. Mays 660
7 A. Rodriguez 656
8 P. Fielder 649
9 M. Ramirez 645
10 D. Young* 632
11 T. Helton 599
12 F. Robinson 586
13 M. McGwire 583
14 H. Killebrew 573
15 R. Buckley 571
16 R. Jackson 563
17 S. Rolen 557
18 M. Schmidt 548
19 A. Jones 547
20 N. Langdon* 544
21 M. Mantle 536
22 J. Foxx 534
23 D. Stubbs* 531
24 S. Drew* 525
25 A. Jones* 523

So I’ve never played OOTP but I’m intrigued by the new version being released next month.  I play DMB frequently, so what are OOTP’s strengths and weaknesses compared to DMB? 

Basically, give me a good sales pitch.

OOTP is more if you’re interested in a fictional career mode.  DMB has nothing like that.  For the micro-level, the actual in-game simulation, I find DMB’s far more compelling.  It depends really on whether you’re going for more a competitive game on a strategic level of a simulator on a tactical level.

Thanks Dan, how accurate is its GM and salary stuff?  I’ve heard it is really good with roster problems, but I’m just curious to actually hear it described from a player.

Also, just wait until I get home to my real computer and bust out a much better picture.  I know you all want to see my student ID mugshot staring at you whenever I make a post in the ThinkTank.

I agree with Dan about the differences between OOTP and DMB.  OOTP is great if you want to create a baseball universe - majors and minors - and have it run for 100 years with players coming in to the minors, developing their skills, hitting the majors, and then declining to retirement.  And the new OOTP06 is going to expand that on a grand level to include things like winter leagues, international play, Arizona fall leagues, more minors, etc. 

But it lacks head-to-head play capabilities (and from what I understand that may still be true in the new version), which is perhaps the best feature of DMB.  If you want to manage your team game in and game out - pitching changes, pinch hitting, double switches, the whole Dusty Baker experience - then DMB is your game.  If you want to take control of an organization like a GM and run the finances, the draft, sign free agents, etc., then OOTP is the better choice.

I’m in one OOTP league and one DMB league, and I like them both.  They just do very different things.

I fully expect to buy OOTP on a random day this summer when my wallet is feeling frisky, and then I expect to take a month or two of intensive playing (summer at my job is pretty slow, a finish my Master’s Coursework in the beginning of July -BOOYAH!!!!) and then I’ll probably be looking to join a league in the fall.

How common are OOTP leagues?  I know there was that Primate one that always looks interesting and in which I would be destroyed as a noob.

Also UCCF, did you ever latch onto a law school to teach at?  I know you were about to interview at William Mitchell when we met in DC last fall or winter or whenever that was.

There are a ton of OOTP online leagues.  The Primate one you’re thinking of is probably the RLPA.  We’re full right now, but you never know when an opening will come up.

And nothing yet on the job front.  I’m waiting to hear from a school in Chicago, and that looks like my last option for next year.  I’ve got a friend who works at a pharm company in California, and he assures me that I can have a job there working drug safety if I want one.  So that’s kind of plan B at this point.  We’ll see what happens.  Hopefully I’ll hear one way or other about the teaching job in the next couple of weeks.

Oh ok.  Well good luck on the job front.  I’m starting to look for a job back in MN beginning in the fall and I wish finding one was easy.

Will, OOTP5 is available for free download on the OOTP site. It’s close enough to OOTP6 to give you the gist of what you’d be getting into. OOTP6 has an improved stats engine, and a few other cool new features, but they’re pretty similar.

I downloaded the OOTP demo from their site and, to be honest, it really is awful.  The fonts are impossible to read, it’s barely navigable, and it crashed after my first full game.  Any ideas on what is gonig on?

The RLPA OOTP league is the greatest OOTP league ever.  Easily.