Diamond Mind Baseball Play By Play

The Industry Leader

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Play By Play

I’ve always felt that Diamond Mind Baseball has the best play-by-play in the industry. In fact, after fiddling around with some of its competitors, I strongly feel that nothing else on the market comes close to the variety, unpredictability, and originality of Diamond Mind’s play-by-play text.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw this line in Derek Bain’s review of Diamond Mind Baseball:

Now, I might not be as qualified as Derek to make these statements. I don’t have the reach of his blog, nor have I published any books on baseball roster building. However, I do believe that I have more than ample evidence to show that he is simply wrong about Diamond Mind Baseball’s play-by-play text.

In the few games I’ve played so far in this project, I’ve managed to come up with a few examples of Jack Wood’s play-by-play text that I consider absolutely superb. But, of course, you can judge for yourself.

Pitch Descriptions

It’s one thing to call a pitch a “breaking ball,” another to call it a “BIG breaking ball.” But the “whiffle ball pitch” phrase evokes the perfect mental image of a rising and sinking ball with an absolutely huge arch. And, of course, you know that Castiglione was licking his chops when he swung and missed at the pitch – that part doesn’t even need to be written.

Surprise

Again – the text here paints a very clear picture in your head as you read it. I thought it was going to be a routine flyout to the center fielder. Not only was it a hit – but it winds up being a double, a crazy stretch depending entirely on the legs of Stanky. This screenshot doesn’t really do the actual text justice, of course, because you don’t have the experience of watching the play slowly unfold before you, line by line.

And I just love the last line – the five-cent double on a completely surrounded pop-up. I think that exceeds the abilities of every radio play-by-play professional I’m aware of.

After “seeing” this play live, I’m still trying to figure out exactly what happened. I’m just not quite sure how a bunt turned into a line drive to the first baseman. The surprise sure does evoke an interesting mental image, though.

Ambiguity

This description creates quite a bit of suspense and ambiguity. Stephens crashes into Astroth, you start wondering if the catcher was okay – and then the game slowly informs you that he held onto the ball after all, and that the runner is out. It’s a lot more fun to read this than the standard runner thrown out at home text you’ll see in most other games.

I purposely included the line score and the situation for this one. This was a key moment in that White Sox - Tigers game I described yesterday. Once I saw the “OFF the base of the wall!” text, I thought both runners had scored. And only then, after a brief delay, did I realize that it was a foul ball, and that we had to go through all that tension and suspense again. Again, the ambiguity and suspense here is brilliant.

Humor

Humor has got to be the hardest thing to put into play-by-play text. I haven’t seen it in any other game, regardless of the sport. And yet, Jack Wood has somehow made it happen here. Seriously – plays like this are why I insist on playing every game myself. I don’t want to miss anything good.

More to Come

I collected all of this after only a handful of games. There’s more to come – I just want to pace myself a little bit.

There are weaknesses and problems with Diamond Mind Baseball. However, I am absolutely convinced that its play-by-play system is not one of them. The play-by-play in this game is so good that I would actually turn off a 2D or 3D animation system if it existed. I’d much rather read this than watch pixels run around the screen. And this is coming from a guy who maintains a full-time Football Manager blog.

Forum Roundup

• More from Mike Mathias’ 1934 replay, where the Tigers have fallen apart – and the Brooklyn Dodgers just might win the National League.

• Mark Ruckhaus gives us the Giants’ opening game in 1959, complete with comments on the cold of Seals Stadium.

• And often last but never least comes more final stats from Frank108 in the latest from Boothby Marsh, the most famous Diamond Mind project out there.

Thank you again for your readership and your patience!