Power Hitting Pitchers
Possible, yes. But realistic?
Power Hitting Pitchers
What do we really mean by “realism?”
In other words — do players in our simulations have to perform exactly as they did in real life to be “realistic?”
If you have, say, a pitcher who never hit a home run hit two in your replay, is it a sign that the game engine is flaws?
I bring this up because it’s a controversial subject. There are some games (Strat-O-Matic being the most notorious) that will prevent players who never hit home runs in real life from hitting one in game. On the other hand, as we saw last time, games like National Pastime provide an avenue for every player to possibly hit a home run.
You might recall an earlier discussion on this subject regarding Howie Pollet, who has homered twice in my 1949 replay despite never hitting a home run in real life. He also only had 2 real life triples, both of which happened in the same game:
What do you guys think, though? What is realistic, and what is not realistic?
I’m going to open the comments on this post to everybody. Please let me know what you think.
If you gave every player at least a two-column card with 66-0-1 11-?-2 and 33-?-6 they would (ignoring Master pitcher effects) should get those extra-base hits once every 1296 plate appearances (a bit more as not every roll completes an plate appearance). A good starting in the 50s got about 150 plate appearances so he'd average each of those extra base hits about once every 8.6 years. With that card Duane Kuiper would hit between 2-3 home runs in his 12 year career instead of 1. I think that's close enough and would add some realism
I believe all players should be able to hit home runs in all situations. To not be able to hit a home run in all situations is unrealistic.
Though not much of an issue now with the dh, I remember back in the day seeing pitchers at Candlestick Park having home run contests during pre-game batting practice. And most of them had no trouble reaching the fence.
Juan Marichal, for example, always adhered to the old dictum "swing hard in case you hit it" during batting practice and in regular season games.
So, no, I have no problem with pitchers hitting home runs. Though Tony Cloninger was known to hit a few, I was present at Candlestick when he hit two grand slams in July 1966. And his sacrifice fly later in the game almost went out, too.
Thanks for letting me reply. I enjoy your blog.