What happened to Pursue the Pennant?
In the fall of 1995, PtP sent out a mailing to old customers indicating that the company had lost a significant amount of money on the 1994 card set, and that all orders for the 1995 set must include a $15 deposit. The 1995 card set never shipped.
What are the big differences between PtP and TIG?
The stealing system was completely overhauled, introducing a “bad jump” and increasing the chance that basestealers will get nagging injuries. Batter and pitcher cards are now completely park neutral with respect to all hits, and the vLH/vRH splits on the cards are produced using a regression algorithm. The defensive range system was expanded to have 11 range ratings, and the number of range plays was increased. The bunting system was changed significantly. Each card set includes a CHANGES file with a complete list of modifications from the previous season.
When do the new cards come out?
The target date for availability is early April. If you would like to be notified when the cards are available you can join the TIG Announcement Mailing List. You can also check the blog for updates (RSS feed).
Are you planning on producing card sets for past MLB seasons?
The mandate for our project is to create a card set for the most recent MLB season so that the Internet Baseball League can play its 162 game schedule. Given that this is a 100% volunteer effort, and that most members of the Design Team have IBL commitments, it is extremely unlikely that card sets for past MLB seasons will ever be released.
I want to create my own card set, can you help me?
The Design Team is happy to share the general concepts behind our card generation process, including data sources and methodology. At this time there are no plans to release anything other than a finished product to the general public, as the card generation process is not sufficiently documented to be useful to third parties. The best way to learn is to join the IBL and become a member of the Design Team.
Are all card sets backwards-compatible?
No, there can be significant changes to game play from season to season. Each card set is released as a stand-alone product and previously released sets are not updated. You should download the all of the pertinent files (cards, rules, charts, etc.) for each season you wish to play. Read the CHANGES files for more information.
Where can I get the cards?
The IBL Design Team is making their cards available via anonymous FTP at ftp://ftp.ibl.org/ibl/cards/
How can I print the cards?
Recent card sets have been distributed in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or higher. Get the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader here. It is recommended that you set your page margins to zero before printing. It has been our experience that a full-service printer like Kinko’s will charge about $30 to duplicate onto a nice sturdy card stock and cut the cards.
What are those numbers on the top of the player cards?
These are: total hits / total on-base numbers / total bases
Have a question that isn’t covered in the FAQ? Leave a comment below:
Thanks for your interest in the game. I figure a good way to grow this FAQ is to answer questions here in the comments section, so fire away!
I am trying to learn how to play the game, after having been a Statis Pro junky for years. I notice the charts refer to clutch situations, but I can’t find the definition of a clutch situation anywhere.
Also, can you give an idea of the number of associats there are, how often owners give up a team and how long it might generally take to become an owner, as a dedicated associate?
Thanks for your time.
I thought we had the clutch definition in the playing instructions, but they do not appear to be there. I believe the original PtP rules defined a clutch situation like this:
- prior to the 7th inning, two outs with a runner in scoring position and the batting team tied or behind by 1 run
- 7th inning or later, tying or go-ahead run is on base, at bat, or on deck
We no longer assign clutch ratings but we haven’t removed the references from the charts in case we bring them back. Clutch ratings were removed because the PtP system did not properly balance the batting & pitching adjustments nor did it adjust the cards for non-clutch opportunities (if a player is better than his overall stats in a clutch situation he should be worse in non-clutch).
Regarding your IBL question, we have a few associates but they are generally people who do not have enough time to run a team. If you become an associate with the intention of becoming a full-time owner it usually doesn’t take long. There’s also the option of helping out an existing team by becoming a co-owner.
Thanks for your reply to my previous question. It really helped.
Now I am confused by bunting.
In the playing instructions it says that with men on base, the manager can declare if the bunt is a sacrifice or for a base hit. But in the charts, it says that with men on base, all bunts are sacrifices. Which one is right?
What is the definition of each term? I guess if all the runners are holding, the bunt is for a base hit, otherwise it is for a sacrifice.
Also in the instructions, it says that with men on first and third, the manager can hold the runner on third. In the chart, there are no restrictions, suggesting that the runner on third can be held at other times, such as if there is only a runner on third. Can he be held, while the batter tries for a base hit?
And what about other bases? If there is only a batter on second, can he be held while the batter tries to bunt for a base hit?
Thanks again for your help!
The charts are correct, you may only bunt for a base hit with the bases empty. Therefore, all bunts with men on base are considered sacrifice attempts. When I re-designed the bunting system I must have forgotten to modify the instructions accordingly. I’ll update the instructions.
Regarding holding runners, it is the intention of the rules that this be limited only to holding the runner at third. This is so that the offensive manager is not required to put the squeeze play on with a runner on third. All other baserunners should be considered in motion on a bunt.
In general I think one of the problems you run into when simulating a game like baseball is that if you try to keep your charts simple you unfortunately end up with ambiguous resolution in certain situations. In order to account for every possible base/out situation it would require much more text than is feasible given the space constraints. I’m thinking it might be useful to start a page on the Wiki to document some of the rulings the IBL has passed to deal with these situations.
Okay, hopefully my last question: does case mean anything on a batter’s card when the positions he plays are listed? For example, is there a difference between SS and ss?
This is something that is done to assist IBL owners. Players who have their position listed in upper case played in 24+ games at that position in the previous MLB season. This is important because that is the cutoff for being eligible to start at that position in the playoffs.
I can’t seem to match up the hit totals shown at the top of the pitchers card with the hits on the card. How do you value the deep fly? Does that explain the difference?
When calculating the H/OB/TB numbers for the pitchers we assume an average conversion rate for DF (30%) and IFR/OFR (50%).
Here’s another one: suppose a runner with a jump rating of 1 wants to steal third, and he is being held. This reduces his jump rating to -1. The jump chart only goes down to zero, so does that mean he can’t ever get a jump, or should the 0 column be used?
A player attempting to steal third with an adjusted jump of less than zero should simply use zero. Note that the rules specifically forbid attempting to steal home with an adjusted negative jump.
Yet another question from me . . .
I’m having trouble understanding the CHOICE chart. For example, an HF play says that the runner on 3rd can try for home. Suppose the bases are loaded, and I send the runner on third home. What about the other runners? Can I send them, or can only the man on 3rd go? Can I hold the guy on 1st, and send the guys on 2nd and 3rd? How does safety advance figure into it? Or does safety advance only apply if more than one guy explicitly has a choice?
Thanks again, for your help.
You can only send a runner if the play explicitly allows a baserunner the option, usually via the keyword “choice” (e.g. “1 + choice”). So, in the case of a HF only the runner on 3rd may try to advance. Of course, there are CHOICE CHART results which will allow the trailing runner(s) to advance (e.g. SAFE+, OUT+).
The “safety advance” option was added to allow the offensive manager a way of ensuring that trailing runners are not caught by the “cutoff” play. Of course when you invoke this option those trailing runners also may not advance due to SAFE+, OUT+, etc. If there are no trailing runners then neither the “cutoff” or “safety advance” options are necessary.
Hi, I have a question about pitcher’s fatigue. In the rules, batters who reach base on a fielder’s choice are not counted towards the eight baserunners needed to fatigue a pitcher, but is the runner who got out on the play also not counted, since he was out on the basepaths. And if so, is it the same thing for the third out, or do the fielders always throw to first to make the third out rather than trying to get the lead runner? Thanks.
In order for a baserunner to be counted against the pitcher the batter needs to reach base safely without any other outs being recorded on the play. Since an out is made in the case you are asking about, no baserunner is counted. Hope that helps.
Hi: Randomly happened on this website and was impressed. I never played PtP but was a fan of its descendant Dynasty League.
I am more interested in the math behind the game, and had some questions as to how the dice roll numbers on the card are created. How do you “neutralize” the player’s statistics by home park, and what other factors do you apply? What assumptions do you make about the average results of IFR/OFR/Park/DF and the average opposing pitcher/hitter that goes into the numbers? Where do you get the data? Baseball-reference.com, or are there better sources?
Also, a sillier question: How does pitcher’s fatigue work? I see the charts, but don’t see where the complete rules behind it are spelled out. Are they the same, or more or less the same, as the PtP fatigue rules?
For park effects 2-year park data is used (weighted 2:1), unless it is a brand new park in which case only the previous season’s data is used. Once the PARK? ranges are determined then each player receives an individualized adjustment based on a weighted average of PA per park. The same thing happens with HR data and fence distances. For pitchers it is assumed that cumulatively they face batters with Av power, who convert a DF to a HR with an average fence distance (12) 30% of the time. All of the data is obtained from Retrosheet.
The pitcher fatigue rules should be detailed in the playing instructions.