Games played count:

• Diamond Mind Baseball: 115

• NPIII: 65

Welcome to The Baseball Replay Journal

I’m a replayer.  It’s sort of like being a gamer, though it has an older, somewhat geekier connotation.  I enjoy playing games yes – baseball simulations in particular.  In fact, I enjoy them so much that my chief hobby is conducting full replays of old baseball simulations.

This requires stamina, as you can imagine.  We’re talking about well over 1,000 individual games for a single season – all using the same simulation engine.  And that’s not counting the time spent doing historical research, reading up on player biographies, making strategic adjustments for the sake of realism, and a bunch of other tasks that you probably never would have thought of.

I’m part of a dying breed.  There are other baseball replayers out there, though most of us are hidden away in dusty, antiquated forums, neatly sequestered away from the mainstream internet.  Most of us are old.  Just shy of 40, I’m on the young end.

I started this blog for two purposes.  First, I want to make sure that my projects are out there for the world to see – not hidden away in some Excel spreadsheet somewhere on a forgotten hard drive.  And second, I want to tell the story of the dying art of baseball replaying – before the art completely vanishes.

Subscription Options

All my posts are free and will stay free.

Free subscriptions ensure that you will receive each post as an email when it comes out.  I post once per day, and will not send spam or advertisements.

Subscribers are able to comment on posts, and can also contact me directly through Substack.  If you enjoy my work, I strongly urge you to consider a paid subscription.  I’ll keep the price low, and am absolutely grateful for those who feel inspired to support this project financially.

What To Expect

This isn’t your standard replay blog.  Oh yes, there will be statistics – we’ll talk about stats frequently.  But this isn’t a long collection of simulation-created boxscores and raw statistics.  I’m going to engage in extensive analysis and discussion, and will show you things that you never would know about outside the replaying world.

This is not a stats-driven blog, however.  I’m a writer at heart, and my plan is to make a daily habit of writing interesting stories, opinion pieces, and analysis.

I call this a “journal” for two reasons.  One is as a homage to The APBA Journal, an old specialized publication that, for a brief moment in the late 1980s, was once the greatest publication the hobby has ever seen.  The other reason is because I consider this to be my personal journal – my own public diary as a replayer.

Rules

First and foremost, I intended to post every day.  I will do my best to post every single day, though some of my early posts might seem awkward as I find my voice.

My posts will be focused and centered on specific topics.  We will talk about complex subjects; however, I plan on breaking those subjects into smaller pieces to allow us to focus on a single topic every day.  You’re not going to see a lot of 3,000+ word attempts to woo the Google algorithm in my favor.  What you will see, however, is insightful writing on topics of contemporary interest – all from the perspective of a replayer.

I’m also planning on running this blog for years – not a few weeks or a few months.  We’ve got a lot to cover, and I’ve got a lot of planned projects for you.

Project Rules

I chiefly use Diamond Mind Baseball for my projects; however, do not be surprised if a few other sims show up from time to time.

I will use the as-scheduled MLB schedules, rather than the as-played schedules, to play out my replays.  I am fully aware that this breaks with popular practice.  There is a method to my madness – we’ll get to that in due time.

I’m also not going to use real-life lineups.  Using real-life lineups has become standard practice among replayers in the computer era.  Again, I have my reasons for doing so, and will address them by and by.

I play out every single scheduled game.  I control the home team, and allow Diamond Mind’s computer manager to control the visitors.  I do know that it’s much faster to use autoplay features to complete season replays; however, I strongly feel that the increased efficiency does not compensate for the loss of personal attachment to the project.  And you can bet I’ll be repeating that to myself over and over again while playing games between basement-dwelling teams in late August.

Some posts on this blog contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, this blog may earn a commission. Thank you.