Welcome to Diamond Dreams Baseball

Diamond Dreams™ Baseball is a sophisticated simulation of the Baseball Experience: hard hitters and slap hitters, speed demons and slugs, death-defying defense and hands of stone, over-powering pitchers and over-powered pitchers, injuries, trades… and it happens to be a lot of fun, too.

Part of that fun is drafting and playing with your own teams or using those that ship with the player ratings. The first step is to create a league using the Commissioner’s Office and Front Office features. After the league is set up, you can create teams to populate that league. Once you’ve created a team, you can draft a roster of major league players to play for your team. You might want to draft an opponent for your dream team as well, although Diamond Dreams™ Baseball allows one team to play against itself.

After the teams are ready, the game can begin. To play the game, choose the teams from the <t> Series and Team Option menu item on the Main Menu. Then select the BASEBALL GAME option from the Main Menu. The myriad of play options available to you are described below.

Once the game is complete, you may want to save statistics into a cumulative stat file and produce a record of the game. The Post Game Show does this. Cumulative statistics for all the games in this series are produced by the Post Game Show as well.

You may want to replay an entire season when you can complete what the Major Leaguers only started. Diamond Dreams Schedule Manager will let you do just that.

Once your season is complete, you will want to look at the statistics. The Manager’s Stat Pack, included with the game, will let you examine league leaders and team totals, covering over 150 different statistics.

The Table of Contents

Welcome to Diamond Dreams Baseball

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The Table of Contents

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The Diamond Dreams Fly-by

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What you need to run Diamond Dreams *

What to install *

How to install Diamond Dreams: *

How to Start Diamond Dreams Baseball *

How to find out what all the player ratings mean *

How to Play a Game *

How to Play a Series *

Exporting Statistics to send to a visiting opponent or the League Office *

How to Run a Replay *

Running Reports *

Creating a League *

Creating a new team *

Creating a roster *

Creating lineups *

Creating a manager *

How to Export a Manager so it can be used on a different computer *

How to import a manager *

How to use the Injury System in your league *

Setting Up a Schedule for a Replay *

Creating a custom set of players. *

How to add stats from games played on different computers to your league stat files *

How to add stats from your computer to league files for fancy stat reports *

How to run reports from a competitive league *

How to send a league structure to the entire league *

How to install a ZIP’ed league structure *

How to install an XCOPY’ed league structure *

Installation

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Summary of the Interface

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Using Diamond Dreams Menus *

Using Diamond Dreams Screen Forms *

Other commonly used keys *

Viewing and Printing Reports *

Yes or No Questions *

Selections *

Press <Enter> to Continue *

Starting the Game

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The Main Menu *

Run reports. *

Setting Options *

AutoManager Options *

Setting the Series Options *

The Game

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Overview of the Game

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Getting Information about players *

Starting a game *

Filling in the Lineup *

Choosing a pitcher *

Starting the Game *

Batting

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Choices *

Hit Away *

Selecting the Bat Menu *

Hit & Run (Bat Menu) *

Bunting (Bat Menu) *

Bunt for a base hit *

Sacrifice *

Squeeze *

Pinch Hitting (Bat Menu) *

Base Running *

Selecting the Bat Menu *

Pinch running (Bat Menu) *

Coaching (Bat Menu) *

Stealing (Bat Menu) *

Base Running Decisions *

Pitching

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The Pitch Menu *

Change Pitchers (Pitch Menu) *

Intentional Walk (Pitch Menu) *

Defense

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The Defense Menu *

Infield Defense (Defense Menu) *

Outfield Defense (Defense Menu) *

Substitutions

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One bench player for a field player *

Moving a player to another position *

Multiple Moves *

Double Switch *

Defensive Decisions during Play

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Details

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The Magic Keys

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Three Warnings *

Filling out the Scorecard *

Selecting the starting pitcher

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Starting Lineup Selection

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Changing teams

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Starting the Game

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The Game Screen *

Keys to Use Anytime During the Game *

Batting Menu

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Stealing *

Coaching the Runners *

Selecting a Pinch Hitter *

Pinch Running *

Pitching Menu

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Pitching Change *

Defense Menu

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Positioning the Infield *

Positioning the Outfield *

Defensive Substitutes

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Making Substitutions *

One bench player for a field player *

Moving a player to another position *

Multiple Moves *

Look menu

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Options Menu

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Quitting

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The Post Game Show

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Post Game Details

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Displaying and Printing Score sheets and Composite Stat Listings *

Important Considerations if you are saving statistics *

Important Considerations if you are starting a mail league *

Commissioner’s Office/Front Office

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Front Office Overview

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Leagues *

Divisions *

Teams *

Players *

Each player on a roster has a status which determines whether he is eligible to participate in a game: *

Each active pitcher can have one of three statuses: *

Commissioner’s Office Overview

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Select an existing League *

Editing League Information *

Editing division names *

Editing team abbreviations *

Print & View players *

Selecting Players *

Player Transactions *

Zero Rest for All Players in League *

Front Office

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Selecting a team *

Edit Team Information *

Park Description *

Roster Management

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Adding Players to the Roster *

Releasing an Entire Team *

Quick Add Mode *

Releasing Players *

Activating and Deactivating Individuals *

Dropping pitchers to the end of the roster *

Create, edit, import, export or delete a Manager *

Importing a Manager *

Exporting a Manager *

Deleting a Manager *

Selecting a Manager *

Clearing Rest and Off Days *

Activate or Deactivate Players *

Lineup Creation *

Creating a New League *

Creating a League with a Custom Set of player ratings *

The Utilities Menu

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Adding players to a custom set of player ratings *

Steps in creating a league with a custom set of player ratings *

Sorting the league index *

Make Stat Manager Index *

Resynchronizing the League Index *

Saving information *

The AutoManager

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AutoManager Introduction

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Copying a Manager

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AutoManager Overview

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The Depth Chart *

Pinch hitting Lists *

The Rotation *

The Bullpen *

Team Tendencies *

Individual Tendencies *

Manipulating lists in the AutoManager *

The AutoManager Main Menu

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Setting the Manager Password

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Changing the Manager Password *

Choosing the manager to edit *

The Auto Manager Editor Menu *

Lineups and Depth Charts *

The Depth Chart *

Spot Starter *

Platoon *

Defense *

Pinch hit lists *

Pinch runner list *

Pitching *

Specifying Starters *

There are two other options available from the starters screen: *

Reset Rotation to First Slot *

Usage for Reliever Lists *

Special Rules for the Closer list *

Special Rules for the Lefty Specialist List *

Reliever lists *

Manager Tendencies

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Setting Throwing and Running Tendencies *

Stealing *

Tendencies for players *

Running When Close *

Running When Behind *

% of time to Hit & Run *

Bunting for Players *

Minimum SAC rating required to play 3rd in *

Defensive Subs in Inning *

Tendencies for pitchers *

Bunting *

Pinch-hit for pitcher with fewer than X points *

Use intentional walks *

Bring in closers for starters *

Individual player tendencies *

Injuries *

Minimum days injured *

Eligible replacement *

Option set *

Replacements *

Global Settings for Individual Tendencies *

Custom Rotation *

Saving the manager *

Saving Tendencies, Rotations and Lineups *

Some General Guidelines *

Building a manager *

What you need as a minimum *

The next step *

Enhancing the offense *

Getting detailed *

Questions and Answers about the AutoManager for special situations *

The Schedule Manager

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Schedule Manager Overview

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Details

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Playing Games

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Interrupting a series of games *

Continuing with Games that are not Computer vs. Computer *

Resetting the schedule to indicate no games have been played *

Editing By Team *

Games that have been played *

Importing a schedule *

Rules for creating a schedule outside of Diamond Dreams *

Possible options *

An example game date: *

Importing the pre-existing schedule *

Editing the Schedule *

Editing by Date *

Selecting a single day *

Selecting a range of dates *

Copying one day to another *

Copying one day to a range of dates *

Copying a range to a range of the same size *

Copying a range to a range of a larger size *

Moving information *

Setting Options *

Possible options *

Editing a single date *

Exiting *

Manager's Stat Pack

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Producing Reports (The Reporter)

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The Global Limits *

Limiting Statistics *

Why Up Front *

The Main Menu

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Running a Stat Report *

The Report Options Menu *

Menu choices: *

Which style report should I run? *

Running a Report *

Choosing Statistical Breakdown *

Running Reports *

Keyboard Macros *

Cautions *

Setting the Printer Type *

Viewing the Report *

Report Disposition *

Report Types *

Stat Management

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The Simulation

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How the Players for a year are chosen

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Random Numbers

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Action Symbols Definitions

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Player Information

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Fielding Ratings

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Pitchers' Ratings

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Batting Ratings

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Pitchers' Matrices

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Dizzy Dean *

Clutch Pitching

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Ken Griffey Jr. *

Platoon Pitching

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Hitters’ Matrices

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A sample At-Bat

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Walk Ratings *

Base Running

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Stealing Bases

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Getting a Good Lead *

Stealing the Base *

Throwing Errors on Steal Attempts *

Holding a Runner Close *

Double or Triple Steals

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Hit & Run

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Bunting

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Squeeze Play

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Bunting for a Base Hit

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Defensive Play

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Range Checks

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Defensive Positioning

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Infield Back *

Infield Double Play Depth *

Infield IN *

Defense Against a Bunt *

Pitchers and Catchers IN *

Outfield IN *

Using Pitchers

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The Pitcher’s Endurance *

A point is: *

How a Pitcher Fades then Tires *

Effects of being Faded *

Effects of Being Tired *

Starting Pitchers Rest *

Bombing a Pitcher *

Relief Pitchers Use *

Critical Situations *

Relief Ratings of ‘0’ *

Cumulative Innings of Relief *

Relief Ratings with a ‘B’. *

Action Symbols definitions

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The Diamond Dreams Fly-by

This section briefly describes many of the things you can do with Diamond Dreams. To get into more detail about functions that interest you, read the sections that follow.

What you need to run Diamond Dreams

- 550K free RAM to play games manually
- 590K free RAM to use the standard game to run replays
- 4 MB of RAM to run replays
- 3.5 MB of disk space to install the game and one set of player ratings
- 10 MB of disk space for the statistics from a replay
- 6 MB to store ALL score sheets for a single season replay (you can, however, specify when a score sheet should be produced and not generate one for every game.)
- We do not recommend running replays under Windows 3.11; but do run replays under Win95 all the time. If you really like replays, contact us and we’ll send you some tools to help you along.

What to install

- Install DDB32, AUTOMGR, MGRSTAT and REPORTS for sure.

How to install Diamond Dreams:

From 3.5" diskettes:

- Place the diskette in your drive.
- Type A:INSTALL (or B:INSTALL) and follow the directions on the screen. Only install REPLAY if you plan to run full season replays. The Replay version may not run on certain machines. See the detail section of the guide if you want to run replays on an SX computer. If you need to remove it, simply install DDB32 again.

From a Zipped Archive you might have downloaded:

- Double click on the archive, and you will be prompted to enter an installation directory. The default is c:\Baseball. If this is okay, then proceed. Otherwise, enter the directory of your choice, and proceed.

How to Start Diamond Dreams Baseball

- Change to your Diamond Dreams directory: CD\BASEBALL
- Type: BASEBALL

How to find out what all the player ratings mean

Read the Simulation Guide (see below).

How to Play a Game

- Select two teams
- Choose <t> from the Main Menu
- Choose <t> Select both teams
- Select the home team’s league
- Select the home team
- Select the road team’s league
- Select the road team
- Accept the name of the series and game ID proposed by the program by pressing <F10>
- Set up for play
- Choose <b> to start the game
- Select the home pitcher, road pitcher, home lineup and road lineup in any order.
- Select home pitcher by pressing <h>, then <p> (you can press <p> first, then <h> )
- Use the arrows to select your starting pitcher from the list.
- Press <Enter> to select.
- Select the home lineup by pressing <h>, then <l>
- Press <Enter> for each slot in the lineup card. Use the arrows to highlight the player who will bat in that position. Press <Enter> again to select him. Choose his defensive position. Advance to the next slot and repeat.
- Or press <g> to Get a lineup that has been saved.
- Press <F10> to continue when all the positions are filled.
- Repeat for road pitcher and road lineup.
- Press <F10> to start play.
- During the game
- Press <Enter> to Hit Away
- Press <b> for Batting Options, such as Hit&Run, Bunt, Squeeze, Steal, Pinch Hit and Pinch Run
- Press <p> for Pitching Options, such as Intentional Walk and Change Pitchers
- Press <d> to set the defense or make substitutions
- Press <l> to look at player ratings or game statistics.
- Press <F3> to examine the road team’s bench, pen, lineup or starting pitcher.
- Press <F4> to look at the same information for the home team.
- Use the colors of the player’s position in the lineup to determine how he bats. A brown background means the batter is right handed. A blue background means a switch hitter. A black background denotes a left-handed batter.
- The end of the game.
- Press <q> to return to the Main Menu
- Saving the statistics
- Press <p> to run the Post Game Show, which saves the statistics and produces a score sheet and box score.

How to Play a Series

- First, clear all rest for either the league or the two teams
- Choose <c> Commissioner’s Office/Front Office from the Main Baseball Menu
- Choose <c> Commissioner’s Office
- Select the correct league with <s> Select League
- Choose <z> Zero all rest for a league

or

- Choose <l> from the Main Menu
- Choose <f> Front Office
- Select the correct league with <n> New League
- Select the home team using <s> Select team
- Choose <o> Off days, then <a> Clear All rest
- Select the visitors and repeat.
- Then, play games as above. Repeat for the entire series.

Exporting Statistics to send to a visiting opponent or the League Office

- Choose <f> Series File Handling from the Main Menu
- Choose <c> Copy Series Files to Disk

Printing all score sheets and composite stats after a series

- First, set up your printer
- Choose <g> Game and Screen Options from the Main Menu
- Choose <p> Printer
- Select the printer that best matches your printer. Use LaserJet/Deskjet for a laser printer, Epson RX/LX/Apex for 9-pin dot matrix, or Epson LQ for 24-pin if you can’t find your printer. Try IBM Pro Printer if none of the above work.
- Next, print the score sheets and reports
- Choose <f> Series File Handling from the Main Menu
- Choose <p> Print Series File

How to Run a Replay

You will need a league with an AutoManager for every team in the league, and a league schedule, to run replays. Diamond Dreams player ratings ship with everything you need to run a replay right out of the box.

1. Starting the Replay
2. Choose <r> from the main menu.
3. Choose <p> from the Replay Menu.
4. Choose the league from the list.
5. Press <r> to fix the first game of the schedule. Use the arrow keys to highlight the days you want to play games.
6. Press <Enter> when all the days are highlighted.
7. Press <c> or <Enter> for computer games.
8. Press <a> or <Enter> for all teams.
9. As the replay runs
10. The standings, updated game by game, display on the left side of the screen. The next game to be played is listed in the upper right-hand corner. The line score and pitchers for the game display in the lower right-hand corner.
11. Replay Complete
12. When the message comes up, the replay is complete. Press <Enter> to continue.

Running Reports

- From the Replay Menu, choose <r> Run Reports
- Fill in Global Limits if you plan to run leader reports. Use 502 plate appearances, 20 steal attempts, 20 pinch hit at bats, and 160 innings, leaving the rest blank. (Or set your own limits).
- Press <F10> to continue.
- Choose <r> Run a Report
- Select the report. Start with TMBPCOMP (Team Batting/Pitching Composite).
- Choose how to run the report. For TMBPCOMP, run it once for the league.
- Select the league for which you just ran the replay.
- Choose whether to break out by vs. Left or vs. Right, or Combined. For TMBPCOMP, choose <c> combined.
- Watch as the Batting Records count down, then the Line score records, the pitching records.
- Watch as the program prepares the results. When ready, the report displays on the screen.
- Move around the screen with Tab, Shift-Tab, Arrows, Page Up and Page Down.
- Press <F10> when finished viewing.
- Press <F10> again to run a new report.
- First, choose from the menu whether to throw away the report, save it to disk, or save it under a new name.
- Press <F10> to exit if you don’t want to run a new report.
- Press <F10> again once the replay is complete.

Creating a League

- From the Main Menu, choose <c> Commissioner’s Office/Front Office
- Choose <c> Commissioner’s Office
- Choose <s> Select a team
- Press <Insert> to create a new league. Type the league abbreviation, up to eight characters.
- Choose the player ratings you will use for the new league.
- If you want a custom set of player ratings, made from player ratings in other sets, press <insert> and type in a new name for your set of player ratings. We recommend the name of the league as the name of the player ratings.
- Fill in the league information as you are prompted for it.
- Fill in the division names, and the team names when prompted.

Creating a new team

- Choose <f> Front Office from the Commissioner’s Office/Front Office Menu
- Select a team with the <s> option.
- If the team does not exist, you will be asked to create it. Fill in the information as the program asks for it.

Creating a roster

- Choose <r> Roster Management from the Front Office menu.
- To add a player, press <Insert> and highlight his name from those that appear in the league list.
- To remove a player, highlight his name and press <Delete>.

Creating lineups

- Choose <l> Lineup Creation
- Fill in the lineups as you would for a game.

Creating a manager

- Choose <c> Create, Edit, Import or Export a manager
- Choose <c> Create or Edit a manager
- Press <Insert> to add the name of a new manager to the list.
- The first time through, you will be asked to enter your manager password. Choose anything and press <Enter>. You will not need to remember the password unless you move your files to a different directory or computer.
- Choose <d> Depth Charts to add lineups to the manager. You will need one lineup for lefthanders and one for right-handers.
- Choose the lineup (depth chart) you wish to create or change.
- Fill in the lineup in the usual way.
- Press <F10> when complete. Do the same with the other lineup.
- Press <p> for pitching.
- Press <r> for Rotation to fill in the starting pitchers for the team.
- Place the cursor on an open slot and press <Enter>.
- Choose the name from the list by highlighting and pressing <Enter>.
- Replace a pitcher on the list by highlighting his name and pressing <Enter>.
- Press <F10> when complete.
- Press <c> for Closers.
- Fill in your closing pitchers the same as starters. Choose people with a rating (RAT) greater than zero for your closers.
- Press <F10> when done.
- Press <g> for garbage men.
- Fill in the list with the rest of the bullpen.
- Press <F10> when complete.
- Press <F10> to go to the Main AutoManager Menu.
- Choose <s> to Save the manager.
- Press <F10> to accept the name of the manager.
- Press <Enter> when asked to save with password.
- Press <F10> to return to Front Office.
- Choose <m> and select the name of your new manager to tell the team what manager to use.

How to Export a Manager so it can be used on a different computer

- Go to Front Office and select the team.
- Choose <c> Create, Edit, Import or Export a manager
- Choose <e> Export a manager
- Select the manager to export
- Name the export manager.
- Enter the DOS path name where you want to manager written. The default is your baseball directory, or whatever you typed in last time. Press <Enter> to continue.
- If you need to, insert a diskette.
- The program creates a MEX file (Manager Export). Send this file to your opponent.

How to import a manager

- Go to Front Office and select the team.
- Choose <c> Create, Edit, Export or Import a Manager
- Choose <i> Import a Manager
- Enter the DOS path name where the manager resides. Press <Enter> to continue.
- Select the manager to import from the choices. Highlight the manager and press <Enter> to select it.
- Confirm the name of the manager to be written.

How to use the Injury System in your league

- Set each team in the league that you intend to use as the home team. The fastest way to do this is from the scorecard. Choose <h> then <t> and choose your team. Then choose <o> Options.
- Set Injuries On for each team as the Home Team.
- Set Enforce Injuries for each team as the Home Team.
- For each team you intend to use, make changes in the AutoManager
- From Front Office, select <c> Create, Edit an AutoManager.
- Choose <c> Create or Edit
- Choose the manager to be changed.
- Choose <a> Automatic Disabled List Management. Set it to YES.
- Choose <i> Individual Tendencies
- Select replacement players for each player who could be injured long enough to go on the Disabled List. Only players with replacements will be disabled. Generally, a player with a ‘D’, ‘E’, ‘F’ or ‘G’ injury rating, as displayed on the screen, could become injured for more than 14 days. Players with a ‘C’ rating vary from 7 to 13 days; thus, you may want to enter replacements for them as well. Be sure to enter a minimum number of days before disabling for ‘C’ players, or they still won’t be disabled (since they won’t be injured for the default minimum of 15 days). Highlight the player to change and press <F8> to enter replacement players. Press <Enter> when the player is highlighted to change his minimum number of days to disable.

Setting Up a Schedule for a Replay

- Create a word processing or spreadsheet document with your schedule in the appropriate format. The format is listed in detail in this Guide.
- Choose <i> Import a Schedule from the Replay Menu.

Creating a custom set of players.

- Create a new league. When selecting the player ratings, press <Insert> and enter the name of the league. This creates a league with no players.
- Choose <u> Utilities from the Commissioner’s Office/Front Office and Roster Management Menu.
- Choose <i> Import Players
- Select the league FROM which you want to import players.
- Choose whether to import an entire League, a team or an individual player
- To import a league, choose the league.
- To import a team, choose the team. You can import active or all players, as well as team rosters, by answering the appropriate questions on the screen.
- To import a player, highlight his name and press <Enter>.

How to add stats from games played on different computers to your league stat files

- Choose <m> Stat Management from the Main Menu
- Choose <p> Post statistics
- Select the league from the choices
- Enter the path where the external stats can be found (the diskette drive, most likely)
- Select the stat file to post.
- Confirm the file by checking the home and road team in the box on the screen. Press <F10> to confirm.

How to add stats from your computer to league files for fancy stat reports

Follow the same procedure as above. The path will be: C:\BASEBALL\<league>\STATS where <league> is the League Abbreviation for the stats you want to post.

For example, if you are playing 97AL games, the path would be: C:\BASEBALL\97AL\STATS

How to run reports from a competitive league

Choose <s> Diamond Dreams Statistical Service from the Main Menu

How to send a league structure to the entire league

We highly recommend that all the managers in your league play using the same league structure. This greatly simplifies stat management.

1. First, assume the league we wish to send out is called LEAGUE.
2. Use PKZIP
3. Choose the name for your ZIP file. Here we call it <zipname>. Substitute your own name.
4. Type: PKZIP <zipname> -a -rP LEAGUE\*.* LEAGUE.LG
5. Type: ZIP2EXE <zipname>
6. Copy <zipname>.EXE on the diskette to send to the league members.
7. Copy INSTALL.EXE from your Diamond Dreams diskette onto the diskette to send to the league members. (We own it, but you can use it.)
8. Send the disk.

or

- Use DOS:
- Type: XCOPY LEAGUE A: /s/e
- Type: COPY LEAGUE.LG A:
- Repeat for each manager.

How to install a ZIP’ed league structure

This assumes that it was made the way we just described.

1. Type: CD\BASEBALL (or the name of your Main Baseball Directory).
2. Put the diskette in the drive.
3. Type: A:INSTALL (or B:INSTALL if it’s in your B: drive).
4. Be sure the source is the A: drive (or B:).
5. Be sure the target is your Main Baseball Directory.
6. Press <i>. Highlight the name of the league archive and press <Enter>.

How to install an XCOPY’ed league structure

- Type: CD\BASEBALL (or the name of your Main Baseball Directory)
- Put the diskette in the drive
- Type: XCOPY b:\LEAGUE /s/e
- Type COPY b:\LEAGUE.LG

Installation

Put any Diamond Dreams disk in your diskette drive. If the disk is in the A: drive, type A:INSTALL. If it is in your B: drive, type B:INSTALL. After the introduction screen, the Diamond Dreams Installer menu will appear.

The source tells the program the drive your diskette is in. The target names the directory into which the Diamond Dreams programs and data will be copied.

If you need to change the source drive letter (you should not have to), press <s> and enter the drive letter of the install disk. If you need to change the target directory, press <t> and enter the directory where you want the game to go. If you’re not sure, choose C:\BASEBALL as your main baseball directory.

To install any product, press <i> for install. A list of products will appear. At a minimum, these will include (although sometimes on more than one disk):

- DDB32 (or a higher version number) - an archive containing the game and associated features.
- MGRSTAT - the Manager’s Stat Pack, which let’s you produce complete statistical reports based on your game play.
- REPORTS - report descriptions used by the Manager’s Stat Pack to format your reports.

To install the products, choose the first by pressing <Enter>. The product will be installed. When the disk has more than one product, press <i> again. Use the arrow keys to highlight the next product. Press <Enter>. If this is your first experience with Diamond Dreams, you may have more than one disk with Diamond Dreams products on them. After you install all the products from the first disk, remove that disk and put in another disk. Press <i> and choose a product off the next disk. Continue using this approach until you have install all the products from all the disks.

Note: It makes no difference what order you install the disks.

Summary of the Interface

Using Diamond Dreams Menus

Most Diamond Dreams menus work the same way. A box appears with the possible options listed. The first option on the list will be highlighted. You can select the option of your choice by:

- using the arrow keys to highlight the choice, then pressing <Enter>; or
- pressing the letter associated with the option. If you select an option this way, do not press <Enter>.

The Main Baseball Menu is a good example of a Diamond Dreams menu. You can exit almost all Diamond Dreams menus without choosing an option by pressing the <F10> key or the <ESC> key. There is usually a QUIT or Return to Main Menu option to select as well.

Note: Within the game, the menus work a little differently. For example, you cannot use the arrow keys. <F10>, <ESC> and pressing the key associated with the option work exactly the same as with other menus.

Using Diamond Dreams Screen Forms

Especially when building and editing a computer manager, you will fill out forms that appear on the screen. These forms prompt you for several pieces of information related to each other. There are several special keys that work on every form:

<F2>: the function key <F2> will clear all the fields on a form. All the information will be erased.

<F3>: will clear the highlighted field. The information under the cursor will be erased.

<F8>: will perform some special function on a few fields. The screen will tell you when.

<F9>: will pop up a list of choices related to the location of the cursor.

<F10>: will get you off any form and return you to the menu from which you came. In one case in Front Office, two forms are linked together, and <F10> gets you from the first to the second.

<TAB>: will move you to the next field.

<Enter>: usually moves you to the next field as well. Occasionally, <Enter> will pop up a list instead. Generally, <Enter> will do what you expect.

<Shift-TAB>: will move you back to the previous field.

Other commonly used keys

<F3> and <F4>: within the game can be used to view a myriad of information about the road and home teams, respectively. See the game guide for more information, but don’t forget about these keys.

<F7>: will display player ratings if the name of a player is highlighted on the screen.

Note: <F10> and <ESC> will get you out of nearly everything.

Viewing and Printing Reports

When you use the Manager’s Stat Pack to produce a report or Post Game to generate a score sheet or composite stat report, the entire report can be displayed on the screen. You can move around in the report with the arrow keys, Tab and Shift-Tab, and PageUp and PageDown. The Home key will return you to the upper left hand corner of the first page.

To print a report that is displayed on the screen, press <p>. If you have selected your printer type, the report will print 132 columns wide without wrapping to the next line. Press <Enter> or <F10> to leave the report display.

Yes or No Questions

When presented with a YES or NO question, the program will insist you use the following:

Use ‘Y’ for YES

Use ‘N’ or <Enter> for NO

Case is not important. You do not need the shift key to answer YES and NO questions.

Selections

There are several parts of the program that require you to select from a list of options. Use the arrow keys to highlight the entry to be selected. You can also use PgUp to jump to the top of the list and PgDn to jump to the bottom. Press <Enter> to select the choice that is highlighted.

If the selection is from a list of names (players, managers, leagues and so on), typing the first letter of the first name will help you jump to the right player. For players, simply type it again if there is more than one player with the same first letter.

Press <Enter> to Continue

You will often see a box in the lower right hand corner of the screen, asking you to ‘Press <Enter> to Continue.’ You can continue the program by typing any key, although you may find the Enter key the most convenient. From time to time, you may see the symbol ‘<cr>.’ This symbol refers to the carriage return, another name for the Enter key.

Starting the Game

To start Diamond Dreams™ Baseball, follow these two steps:

Change to your baseball directory. If you use the default directory name, you can accomplish this by typing: CD\BASEBALL

If you chose your own directory path name, use your path name instead of BASEBALL.

Type: BASEBALL

First, you will see the Diamond Dreams™ Baseball Title Screen.

After you press <Enter> to clear the title screen, you will be presented with the Diamond Dreams™ Baseball Main Menu.

The Main Menu

You have several options from the main menu:

<b> play a baseball game. The play of the game is detailed later in this User Guide. Before you play your first game, you should set all the options, but especially choose a home and road team.

<p>: Post statistics. There are options which allow you to run this function automatically.

See the section on Options for more information.

<l>: Commissioner’s Office/Front Office. Used to create and change leagues, teams, player ratings, and computer managers.

<r>: Season replay. Use the Schedule Manager.

<t>: Set series and team options. Pick the teams, and name the series.

<o>: Set baseball options. Set several options about base runners and defense.

<a>: Auto-manager options. Set computer or human manager for home and road, as well as other options.

<g>: Game environment. Set the game speed and color options.

<v> File Viewer

If you own our special file viewer, you can start it from the Main Menu. FileViewer is a separately priced product.

<f> Series file handling

Print or copy series files to disk.

<m> Stat Management and Posting

Post files from other computers or from your own series for stat reporting.

<s> Diamond Dreams Statistical Service

Run reports.

The menu box also displays the current home and visiting teams, what league they come from, whether the computer is managing the teams or recommending moves, and the current series and game IDs.

Setting Options

These options can be set from the Baseball Options menu:

Default speed for runners

The program coaches runners automatically. You can set the break points for Normal runners using the <r> option. The program will prompt you for the slowest and fastest Normal runners for both the visitors and the home team. The parameters can be set separately for each team. The defaults are four (4) and six (6). That means that all runners with speeds greater than three and less than seven will be coached Normal. Runners three or less will be coached Conservative. Runners seven and faster will be coached Aggressive. See the Simulation Guide for more information.

Automatic Defense for Bunt

The program brings the third baseman in automatically in bunting situations. A bunting situation is defined as less than two outs, a good bunter at the plate and a runner on first with third unoccupied. The program also will consider it a bunting situation if there is a good bunter and his speed is seven or greater (to defend against the bunt for hit). You can define the minimum SAC rating for a ‘good’ bunter using the <3> option. The default is six (6). This can be defined separately for each team.

Delay

<d>: allows you to determine how fast the messages are displayed. Some people don’t want to wait at all, and set the delay to 0 (by typing zero when prompted, or simply hitting return. Others prefer a more leisurely pace. Here are some guidelines:

1200: slow; good if you are not familiar with the game.

300: not too slow, but retains some of the drama built into the description of the plays.

0: no delay; the text simply appears. No drama, but very fast. Experiment to find a pace you like, then set it from this menu and save it permanently.

Pitcher Rest Rules

<u>: Use Pitcher Rest Rules.

<n>: No rest rules

The game will enforce rest rules if you select this option. That means that pitchers will have to wait a certain number of days between starts, and relief pitchers with heavy loads will be forced to miss a game.

If Pitcher Rest Rules are in effect, there are two additional options which affect who will be able to pitch in relief. These are selected by pressing <p>. Choosing <p> when one option is in effect changes to the other option. They are:

Show only rated relief pitchers in the pen.

Select this option if you wish to select only from those pitchers who actually appeared in relief during their major league season.

All pitchers appear in the pen.

Select this option to list every pitcher on your staff in the bullpen, regardless of whether the pitcher appeared in relief during the year for which he is rated.

Note: Even if you generally don’t use all pitchers in your bullpen, you may want to in a playoff situation.

Field

<g>: play on grass

<t>: play on turf

Injuries

<i>: will toggle on and off whether injuries occur during the game.

The following options work in conjunction with injuries and the new Disable and Injured statuses of players. See Commissioner’s Office/Front Office for more information about player status.

<e>: Enforce injuries in succeeding games. Players in Diamond Dreams Baseball are injured for a number of days that reflects their actual health history from the rated season. Of you want players to serve out the length of their injuries before appearing in a game, choose this option. Note: If you don’t enforce injuries in succeeding games, injured players who are allowed to play perform up to their normal ability.

<a>: Allow previously injured players to play.

Color

<c>: the game will display in color

<m>: the game will display in monochrome (black and white) There are several features in the AutoManager and in Roster Management which will be lost completely in monochrome mode. We highly recommend a color monitor.

Warning Message

<u>: Use active roster size. Select this option to tell the game to warn you when your roster has more or fewer active players than the league active roster size.

<i>: Ignore roster size. Select this option to ignore active roster size.

Printer

Diamond Dreams™ Manager Stat Pack and Post Game Show, as well as a few other places, give you opportunities to print documents after viewing them on the screen. Use the option to select the printer you own. If your printer does not appear, follow these simple rules:

Check your printer manual for a printer to choose instead.

If that is no help, choose HP LaserJet if you own a laser printer, or a DeskJet.

Choose Epson RX/LX/Apex if you have a nine-pin dot matrix printer.

Choose Epson LQ if you have a 24-pin dot matrix printer.

If nothing works, try IBM Proprinter.

Basically, Diamond Dreams wants to set your printer to condensed mode to printer 132 characters on 8.5x11 paper.

Script

<s>: turns on the facility that saves the running commentary of the game. It will be kept in a file on your baseball directory. The name will be determined by the series and game ID. For example, if the series is WORLD, and the game is 7, the script will be written to a file called WORLD7.LST.

<k>: kill the script. Don’t keep the file.

Delay

You can set the delay from this menu as well.

AutoManager Options

Use this menu to determine who will manage the teams. You have your choice of three levels of computer control:

COMPUTER

- the computer makes all the decisions.

RECOMMEND

- the computer tells you what it would do. You make the decisions. The computer will still select the starting pitcher and the lineups. Further, it will prompt you to make defensive substitutes at the appropriate time, volunteering to make them for you (although you can decline and make the changes yourself).

HUMAN

- you do it all yourself.

If you wish to select the computer to manager a team, the team must have at least one computer manager already built. Diamond Dreams player ratings ship with AutoManagers for all the teams. However, if you create your own league, you will need to create your own managers. See the section on Editing the AutoManager for the details.

Note: Creating a basic AutoManager, which will do a credible job of managing the team, can take less than ten minutes. If you override the defaults and fine tune the manager, of course, it will take longer.

Other options related to Computer-controlled games

<p> Automatic Post Game Show. Set this option to YES if you want the computer to run the Post Game Show at the conclusion of the game. This is largely a matter of taste. The President and Secretary of Diamond Dreams never run Post Game automatically. The Vice-President and Treasurer always do. You decide.

<m> Automatic posting to the Manager’s Stat Pack. This option tells Diamond Dreams to send the results directly to the league stat files. You can post a series later, so this isn’t necessary. However, if you prefer, you can choose this option by saying YES. Most Diamond Dreams players leave this NO.

<v> View Computer vs. Computer games. Select this option if you want the game to go slow enough to appreciate the play-by-play while the computer manages both teams. Say NO if a Line score will suffice. The games will play faster without the full display.

<o> Options for generating score sheets. This option, for replays only, will determine the criteria under which the program will save the score sheet from the game. This cuts down tremendously on the number of score sheets generated. Please note that most of the numbers are minimums (achieve this level as a player or a team to kick off a score sheet). Two, though, are ceilings. These are Hits Allowed and Runs Allowed. These will generate sheets only if a team reaches that level or less. Thus, if you put one (1) in the Hits Allowed field, that criteria will trigger score sheets only if a team allows one or fewer hits.

Hint: Put a minus one (-1) in runs allowed or hits allowed to turn off that criteria. Use 99 to turn off other criteria.

Setting the Series Options

These options can be set from the Series Option menu:

<t>: Set the series leagues and teams.

If you select the <t> option, a list of the leagues you have set up is displayed. Highlight the league from which your home team will come and press <Enter> to select it. Then a list of divisions will appear, if your league has more than one division. Select the division from which your team comes by highlighting it and hitting return. Finally, a list of the teams in the division is displayed. Highlight the name of the home team, and press <Enter> to select it.

Repeat the procedure for the visitors, who need not come from the same league

<h> Change only HOME team

Use this option to change only the home team.

<v> Change only VISITOR team

Use this option to change only the road team.

Every time you select new teams, the program will automatically reset the series ID. The ID will be the home abbreviation followed by the road abbreviation. For example, if you were playing the Atlanta Braves (ATL) at the Minnesota Twins (MIN), the program would default to a series ID of MINATL. The program will pop up a box giving you an opportunity to edit or change the Series ID.

<s>: Set the SERIES ID and GAME ID.

You can use this option to set the series ID to anything you want, six characters or less, including letters and numbers. The game ID can be any one character. The program will set it to ‘1’ when you select the teams. This ID can be reset later, but you must be careful, or certain files will be overwritten. The Post Game Show will increment this ID automatically, whether it is a number or a letter.

As you exit the Series Option menu, you will be given an opportunity to save the options. If you answer ‘Y’, the options will be saved as you have specified them. If you answer ‘N’, the options will be reset to the way they were when you entered the menu.

The Game

Overview of the Game

Getting Information about players

Diamond Dreams Baseball has one Magic key for each team that can be entered at anytime to gain information about the team. Use <F3> for the Road Team and <F4> for the Home Team. The Magic key gives you access to the lineups, the bench, the bullpen, the current pitcher for the team, and composite statistics for the series.

Starting a game

The Diamond Dreams Scorecard screen allows you to fill in the starting pitchers and lineups in any order. If the computer is managing one of the teams, the manager fills in the starting pitcher immediately.

Filling in the Lineup

Choose <l> to select your lineup. If both the home and road teams are managed by people, rather than the computer, you will need to tell the program whether you are filling in the home or road lineup. You can tell it before or after you select <l> for Lineup.

If your lineup has a slot for the pitcher, and you have selected a pitcher, highlight the pitcher’s slot and press <p>. The pitcher’s name will appear in the slot. If you have not yet selected a pitcher, pressing <p> will send you to the starting pitcher selection screen.

Choosing a pitcher

Choose <p> to select your starting pitcher. See the Details section on Selecting a Pitcher for more detail. If the other team is using the AutoManager, the opposing lineup will be selected as soon as you return to the scorecard screen.

Starting the Game

Once two lineups and two pitchers have been filled in the scorecard, you can start the game by pressing <Enter> or <F10>.

Batting

Face-to-face Protocol

Protocol requires the defense to be set before you select any batting items. If you choose to pinch hit, protocol requires you to wait once again until the defense is ready.

Choices

You can make the following baseball moves in Diamond Dreams while batting. Moves dealing with runners can be found under the category Base Running.

Hit Away

Press <Enter> to hit away.

Selecting the Bat Menu

Press <b> while viewing the main baseball screen to select the Bat Menu.

Note: The menus available from the main screen are listed under the line score. The first letter is highlighted to tell you which key to choose to select the menu.

Hit & Run (Bat Menu)

Choose <h> to Hit & Run. You can only Hit & Run with a runner on first, first and second, or first and third.

Bunting (Bat Menu)

To bunt, choose <b> from the Bat Menu. You may call any of three bunts:

Bunt for a base hit

If your batter is at least a speed of 7, he has a chance to beat out a bunt for a base hit. You will want to bunt for a base hit only with good bunters (at least 5 and probably higher).

Sacrifice

If third base is open, you will be bunting for a sacrifice. If there are runners on first and third, the program will ask you to clarify whether you are squeezing or sacrificing. Choose <b> for bunting to sacrifice.

Squeeze

With a runner on third, you will usually be squeezing. If the are runners on first and third, the program will ask you to clarify if you are sacrificing or squeezing. Choose <s> for squeezing to try to score the runner from third.

Pinch Hitting (Bat Menu)

Choose <p> to select a pinch hitter for the current batter. Details on selecting a pinch hitter are found in the section devoted to Pinch Hitting.

Note: You can also select pinch hitting from the Pitching menu, by entering <p>, then <h>. ‘PH’ is the abbreviation for pinch hitter.

Base Running

Protocol requires the defense to be set before you attempt to steal bases. You can pinch run, as well as coach runners, at any time that is mutually convenient.

You can make the following baseball moves in Diamond Dreams with base runners. Moves dealing with batters can be found under the category Batting.

Selecting the Bat Menu

Press <b> while viewing the main baseball screen to select the Bat Menu.

Pinch running (Bat Menu)

Choose <r> from the Bat menu to select a pinch runner. Details on selecting a runner are found in the section on Pinch Runners.

Note: You can also select pinch running from the Pitching menu, by entering <p>, then <r>. ‘PR’ is the abbreviation for pinch runner.

Coaching (Bat Menu)

Choose <c> to coach the runners. Runners can be coached Aggressive, Normal and Conservative.

Aggressive runners force things to happen, gaining advantages on ground balls and plays at the plate, as well as taking extra bases when other runners cannot. They also take more chances, and depending on the speed of the runner and the defensive ratings, may get thrown out more often.

Normal runners take bases when they can, going first to third and second to home with some regularity. They take some chances, but will not get thrown out as often as aggressive runners (nor advance as quickly).

Conservative runners play station to station baseball, seldom getting thrown out.

Stealing (Bat Menu)

Choose <s> to view the probability of going and the probability of success if the runner can go. You will then be asked if you want to steal. Answer ‘Y’ to steal.

Choose <g> to attempt to steal without viewing the percentages.

A runner can attempt to steal only once per base. A runner on first, who attempts to steal second but can’t go, for example, cannot attempt to steal again until he reaches second or third. If the defense changes pitchers, the runner may attempt to steal even if he has not advanced a base.

Note: The player’s GOES rating is his chance to attempt a steal, and his STEALS rating is his chance to steal if he can go.

Base Running Decisions

During the course of play, you will occasionally be given the opportunity to decide whether to try for an extra base or play it safe. Make your decision based on the information available. Enter a <Y> for YES if you wish your player to advance. Press <Enter> or <N> to hold up the runner.

Pitching

Protocol requires the defense to be set before your opponent selects any batting items, except pinch running and coaching the runners. If your opponent chooses to pinch hit, protocol requires him to wait once again until the defense is ready.

You can make the following baseball moves in Diamond Dreams which affect pitching. Moves dealing with defense can be found under the category Defense.

The Pitch Menu

Select <p> to display the Pitch Menu. The Pitch Menu contains two choices for pitchers, changing pitchers and intentional walk, and two choices for the batter (because ‘P’ also stands for Pinch), pinch hitting and pinch running.

Change Pitchers (Pitch Menu)

Select <c> from the Pitch Menu to Change Pitchers. Details on changing pitchers can be found in the section on Changing Pitchers.

Intentional Walk (Pitch Menu)

Select <i> from the Pitch Menu to issue an intentional walk.

Defense

Protocol requires the defense to be set before your opponent selects any batting items, except pinch running and coaching the runners. If your opponent chooses to pinch hit, protocol requires him to wait once again until the defense is ready.

You can make the following baseball moves in Diamond Dreams which affect Defense. Moves dealing with pitching can be found under the category Pitching.

The Defense Menu

Select <d> to display the Defense Menu.

Infield Defense (Defense Menu)

The program does most infield defense positioning automatically. However, you can make the following moves:

First base

<i> Infielder in

<h> Hold the runner

<b> Back

<g> Guard the line

Note: The game requires the first baseman to hold the runner in many situations. A message will inform you when certain positioning is not allowed.

Second base and Shortstop (must be positioned together)-

<i> Infielders in

<d> Double play depth

<b> Back

Note: The game requires the middle infielders to play at double play depth under certain common conditions. A message will inform when certain positioning is not allowed.

Third base

<i> Infielder in

<b> Infielder back

<g> Guard the line

All

<i> All in

<b> All back

Outfield Defense (Defense Menu)

Select <o> from the Defense Menu to bring the Outfield in or move them back.

Substitutions

Choose <s> to begin defensive substitutions.

One bench player for a field player

Enter the number of the batting order slot for the player to be replaced. Indicate that you want to replace him. Select his replacement.

Moving a player to another position

Enter the number of the batting order slot for the player you wish to move to another position. Indicate that you want to move him. Select his new position. If a player is presently playing that position, you will need to move or replace him as well.

Multiple Moves

The program will not continue until you have exactly one player in every position. It will successive ask about players who do not have positions until every player has a position and every position is filled.

Double Switch

There are two ways you can do a double switch:

- Select the batting order slot into which you want to insert the new pitcher. Indicate that you want to replace the player with a pitcher. The game will then let you select a pitcher. Once the pitcher is in position, it will ask what you want to do with the pitcher you replaced. Follow the usual procedures to replace him with a position player.
- Select the pitcher’s slot in the order. Replace the pitcher with a field player. When the field player comes up (because he no longer has a position), replace him with the pitcher.

Defensive Decisions during Play

From time to time, you will be asked to decide where to throw the baseball during a play. Most often, you will be given a series of options with an indication of the likelihood of throwing out the runner. Occasionally, the game will indicate that an attempt to throw out the runner will allow the batter to take an extra base, and the defense can choose to cut off the throw.

Highlight the base to which you want to throw and press <Enter>. Alternatively, you can press <Enter> and the game will select the "best" base to throw. The "best" base is defined as follows:

The farthest advanced sure out. Take the out at home, third, second or first, in that order.

The farthest advanced base runner, if there is no one who can be thrown out for sure.

Hold the batter at first, if throwing could allow the batter to move up and there is any chance for the lead runner to be safe.

Details

The first screen you will see, the Title Screen, will contain a box with the name of the Baseball Game, and a version number. Please refer to this version number whenever you contact Diamond Dreams.

The Magic Keys

At any time, <F3> will allow you to examine the visitor’s team, and <F4> the home team. These keys pop up the Magic Menus, which allow you to examine:

<l> the Lineup

The lineup is displayed. The next player to bat is indicated by a white arrow. To view the player ratings for anyone in the lineup, highlight the player’s name and press <F7>. The lineup display is not available from the Scorecard during Pre-game activities. You must actually begin the game to use the lineup display (it won’t hurt to try; there’s nothing to see).

Note: When planning a pinch hitting move, the Lineup screen, along with the bench, is useful for determining whether the player to be pinch hit for has a defensive substitute.

<b> the Bench

The program displays eligible pinch hitters and defensive replacements. Again, display ratings by highlighting the player’s name and pressing <F7>.

<p> the Pen

Relief pitchers can be viewed.

<c> the Current Pitcher

The ratings of the current pitcher is displayed.

<s> statistics

Up to game time statistics for the current series can be displayed with this option. This allows you to track at bats, or which pinch hitter is beating your brains in.

These choices can be popped up literally at any time the program expects you to type something. They make very valuable information available.

Three Warnings

The game will check for three conditions which are symptoms of possible problems for the way you have things set up. First, it will check to be sure that if the game ID is set to one, that no stat file exists. This could happen the second time during a season you play the same team. The program will ask if you want to delete the stat file. If you say YES, the file will be deleted and the game will continue. If you say NO, the game will be stopped immediately.

Second, the game will make sure that there are no stats to post for the current series, to prevent you from forgetting to post your statistics after each game. To save statistics in Diamond Dreams™ Baseball, you play the game, then run the Post Game Show to post the statistics to the series stat file. The game will remind you to run the Post Game Show if you haven’t when you start the next game.

Third, the program will check to see if each roster has the same number of active players as the league active roster size. A warning box will appear for each team that does not match the league active roster size.

Filling out the Scorecard

Diamond Dreams uses a Scorecard display to help you choose starting pitchers and lineups for your game.

After the Title Screen clears, the scorecard appears. The card displays the date, the home and road teams, and spaces for the pitchers and lineups. If one team is being managed by the AutoManager, its starting pitcher will be displayed.

You can choose lineups and pitchers in any order. It may make sense to choose the opponent’s starting pitcher before you select your lineup. However, it’s a simple matter to change your lineup once selected.

The menu for selecting teams, lineups and pitchers is displayed on the screen. If one team is managed by the AutoManager, you need only type in <l> for lineup selection, or <p> to select a pitcher. Otherwise, the program will want you to specify whether you are choosing a lineup or pitcher for the home or road team. You can specify the team before you select the pitcher or lineup menu item, or you can specify the team after you choose the pitcher or lineup item.

You can exit without playing a game by pressing <ESC>. You can start the game by pressing <Enter> or <F10>, but only after both pitchers and both lineups have been selected.

Selecting the starting pitcher

Choose <p> from the scorecard to select the starting pitcher. If both teams are managed by people, you will also need to specify for which team you are selecting a starting pitcher.

A list of possible starters will be displayed on the screen. You’ll see major league statistics and some data which will affect how the pitcher performs in the game. One critical rating is the pitcher’s distance. This number roughly represents the number of innings he will pitch before he runs the risk of tiring. A ‘B’ after the distance means the pitcher is Brittle. A pitcher with a Brittle rating will tire at the start of the ninth inning, unless he is throwing a no-hitter.

Pitchers who are fully rested will be listed as FRESH. Those who need one more day of rest to fully recover will be listed as SHAKY. To choose your starting pitcher, use the Up and Down arrows to highlight his name. You can also use PgUp and PgDn to jump to the top and bottom of the list, respectively. Additionally, you can press any letter to jump to the player whose first name begins with that letter. Press the letter again to go to the next player whose name begins with that letter. When the pitcher of your choice is highlighted, press <Enter> to confirm your selection. The program will ask you to verify your choice. When you say YES, the pitcher will enter the game. You can look at any pitcher’s ratings by highlighting his name and typing <F7>.

If the computer is managing your opponent, you will notice that the computer has selected its starting lineup when you return to the Scorecard.

Starting Lineup Selection

Choose <l> from the Scorecard to select a lineup. You will need to specify the team if neither team is managed by the computer.

You have several options when filling out the lineup card:

<arrows> Use the arrow keys to highlight the batting position you wish to change.

<PgUp> Jump to the first slot

<PgDn> Jump to the last slot

<Enter> The enter key will do one of two things. If there is no player in the highlighted batting slot, you will add a player by highlighting his name in the player list, similar to the way you selected the starting pitcher. If there is a name, it will be removed from the lineup.

<ins> will insert a blank slot at the highlight and move everyone below down one slot. The player in the ninth slot will be removed.

<del> will remove the highlighted slot including the player, and move all below up one slot

<c> will allow you to change the position of the currently highlighted player without removing him from the lineup

<F7> will display the ratings for the player in the current slot, or the current highlighted player depending where the cursor is

<g> will allow you to fill the lineup card with a previously saved lineup (Get).

<w> will allow you to write the current lineup card to a file for later use.

<s> same as <w> (for Save)

You can save an unlimited number of lineups per team.

If you are not using a ‘dh,’ use the following option:

<p> inserts the pitcher in the current batting slot

Note: If you choose <p> and you have not yet selected a starting pitcher, you will go to the Starting Pitcher Selection screen to choose on.

When you add a player to the lineup, you will be asked to specify the position he will play. The menu will display the positions not yet filled in your current lineup. You may enter one of these, or you may enter the position of a player already in the lineup. The program will check when you specify a position to see if another player is already playing that position. The program will ask you to change the position of the player already in the lineup. Sometimes this can cause change reactions that will ripple throughout your lineup. The program will not let you continue until everyone in the lineup is specified to be playing a different position. If a player you intend to remove is still in the lineup, just arbitrarily assign him a position until you can remove him. Once every one who has been added to the lineup is in a different position, the program will allow you to continue. When your lineup is complete, type <F10> to continue. The program will not let you exit until all the defensive positions on the field are occupied. If you type <F10> and there are positions yet to be filled, they will be displayed on the screen.

Changing teams

You can change teams from the Scorecard. Select <t> for team, then specify home or road. If you change teams, you will be asked if you want to change the Series and Game IDs (once for each team you change). Also, you will need to select pitchers and lineups again.

Starting the Game

Once the pitchers and lineups are chosen, press <Enter> or <F10> to start the game.

The Game Screen

The game screen displays most of the information you need to make the right call when playing Diamond Dreams™ Baseball. In the top center of the screen is a running line score. The current inning is indicated by a dot, or a bright numeral if one or more runs has scored. The top border of the line score contains the Series and Game ID. The bottom border holds the name of the home park.

Under the line score is a menu to help you remember the keys necessary to take actions during the game. Below the menu is an indicator for the type of field surface, GRASS or TURF.

The lineups can be found in the corners, the visitors in the upper left and the home team in the upper right. The highlighted player will bat next for the team in question.

Underneath the visitor’s lineup are two boxes for the pitcher. The first is the pitcher’s performance in the current game up to the minute. The second is the pitcher’s real life major league statistics. The bottom box on the left side contains the inning and outs.

On the right are similar boxes containing statistics for the batter. The top box is the batter’s performance in the current game, and below is his real life major league statistics. If the batter is a pitcher, his current pitching statistics are displayed instead of his major league batting statistics. The box in the lower right is the copyright box for Diamond Dreams™. The dice rolls will appear here once the game begins.

The defensive players are listed in their relative positions. Underneath the name of each defender is key information regarding that defender’s ability. For outfielders, the first number is his range (on a scale of 1 to 12), the second is his arm (1 to 10) and the third is his error rating (0 to 20). In each case, higher is better. For infielders, the first number is his range, the second his ability to turn the double play, and the third the error number. For catchers, the first is range, the second the ability to throw out runners who are attempting to steal (-5 to +5, -5 the best). For pitchers, the first letter represents whether the pitcher is left- or right-handed (L or R). Next is his hold, a rating about how effective he is at keeping runners from stealing (-10 to +10, -10 the best), then his range.

The batter is listed in either the right-hand batter’s box or the left, depending on whether he is right- or left-handed. A switch hitter will switch boxes if you change from a left-handed to a right- handed pitcher, or vice versa. Underneath the batter are two key hitting abilities, the SAC rating (how good a bunter from 1 to 10, 10 the best) and the H&R rating (how good at the hit and run play, with no rating, GD for GOOD and EX for EXCELLENT possible).

Runners will appear at the appropriate base. Underneath each runner, you will see the runner’s speed (from 1 to 10, 10 the fastest), how he is coached (C for CONSERVATIVE, N for NORMAL, A for AGGRESSIVE), his GOES (his ability to beat the pitcher and attempt to steal, from 0 to perhaps over 20; the higher, the more likely to go) and his STEALS (his success rate, from 13 to 19).

Keys to Use Anytime During the Game

The basic pitcher/batter interaction takes place when you hit the Enter Key (with no menu showing). If you press <Enter>, you are telling the program that your batter will hit away, and that your pitcher will pitch to him. If you want to bunt, steal, hit and run, substitute, or intentionally walk the batter, you must select a menu first. The menus are listed under the line score. The highlighted letters are the letters to type to select each menu. Messages describing the action appear in a pop-up window which covers the playing field. There is no information on the field you need while the play is progressing.

When appropriate, the official scorekeeper will inform you of his decision in a box that appears over the playing field.

At the end of each half inning, the official scorekeeper will summarize the inning for you.

Batting Menu

The batting menu is used to select various offensive options. If you are playing face-to-face, be sure that the defense has had an opportunity to set options before you choose a batting option.

These options are available from the Batting Menu:

<b>: The batter will bunt

<s>: Any runner who can beat the pitcher’s holds will be given a chance to steal

<g>: Any runner who can beat the pitcher’s holds will steal (no option)

<h>: A hit & run play

<c>: Coach the runners to be Aggressive, Normal, or Conservative

<p>: Select a pinch hitter

<r>: Select a pinch runner

You can exit any menu without a selection by pressing <Enter> or <ESC>.

The bunt can be called with no one on base. It is assumed you are bunting for a base hit. Only batters with speed 7 or higher can successfully bunt for a base hit.

Stealing

There are two options for stealing in Diamond Dreams™ Baseball:

<s> The ‘Steal’ option will tell you the runner’s chances to get the jump on the pitcher, and successfully steal the next base. You are then asked whether to attempt the steal. If you answer Yes, the runner will attempt to get the jump, and steal if he can. If you answer No, the runner will not attempt to steal.

<g> The ‘Go’ option assumes you answered Yes to the question about whether the runner should attempt to steal. It assumes you want all runners on base to steal. If the runner gets a jump, he will attempt to steal, regardless of the chance of success. The <g> option is the same as the <s> option if there are runners on first and third to keep you from inadvertently attempting to steal home.

Coaching the Runners

Use the arrows keys to select the runner you wish to coach. When the name of the runner you wish to coach is highlighted, press <Enter> to select him. You can exit without selecting a runner by striking the <F10> key. After you have selected the runner you wish to coach, you will be asked to decide whether he will be Aggressive, Normal or Conservative:

A

: Aggressive . an aggressive runner will attempt to advance at every opportunity. It is risky for slower runners to run aggressively. However, Aggressive runners gain advantages on ground balls and advancing on base hits.

N

: Normal . a normal runner will often attempt to advance, but not as often as aggressive.

C

: Conservative . will clog up the bases but is not likely to be put out.

You can exit without coaching a runner by striking the <F10> key.

Selecting a Pinch Hitter

Highlight your choice for a pinch hitter using the arrow keys and PgUp or PgDn to jump to the top or bottom of the list, respectively. You can also use the first letter of the player’s name to jump directly to him. Press the letter more than once to advance to the next player whose name begins with that letter. Press <Enter> to select the player. You will be asked to confirm your choice. You can examine a bench player by highlighting as above, then striking <F7> to view a player’s ratings. You can exit without pinch hitting by striking the <F10> key.

Hint: You can select Pinch Hit by typing ‘PH’ and Pinch Run with ‘PR’, even though that sounds more like a pitching choice. That’s because PH and PR are so natural to choose.

Pinch Running

The procedure for pinch running is a combination of the procedure for Coaching and the procedure for Pinch hitting. First, select the runner whom you want to replace. Use the arrow keys to highlight the name of the runner and press <Enter> to select him. You can exit without selecting a runner by striking the <F10> key Highlight your choice for a pinch runner using the arrow keys, the first letter of a first name, and PgUp or PgDn to jump to the top or bottom of the list, respectively. Press <Enter> to select the player. You will be asked to confirm your choice. You can examine a bench player by highlighting as above, then striking <F7> to view a player’s ratings. You can exit without pinch hitting by striking the <F10> key.

Pitching Menu

The pitching menu displays two pitching options, and offers two other features. The two options are:

<i>: Intentionally walk the batter

<c>: Change pitchers

Also listed are <h> and <r>, which will call pinch hitting and pinch running options respectively as if from the Batting Menu. This allows you to enter ‘PH’ to pinch hit and ‘PR’ to pinch run.

You can exit any menu without a selection by pressing <Enter> or <ESC>.

Pitching Change

The pitching change screen displays helpful information about possible relief pitchers. It shows the name of the pitcher, whether he is right- or left-handed, his major league ERA, the number of major league games in which he appeared (and the number he started), and some other useful major league statistics. In addition, there is a rating to show how long he can go before he tires (higher means longer, roughly one inning for each rating point), the number of innings he has pitched in consecutive games, the number of games since he last rested. If this is a non-critical situation (not yet time for the big man out of the bullpen), the pitcher’s rating will show as two numbers, separated by a slash. The first is his rating in this non-critical situation. The second is the rating which will be used when the game becomes critical. Either of these ratings could have a ‘B’ after the number. This represents a Brittle rating. A non-critical Brittle rating means the pitcher will tire at the end of the inning he entered the game. A critical Brittle rating means the pitcher will require two days of rest if he enters the game in a critical situation.

Note: The ‘B’ Brittle rating means two different things for relievers.

To make a pitching change, use the Up and Down arrows to select the new pitcher. You can jump directly to a pitcher by typing the first letter of his first name. You can also use PgUp and PgDn to jump to the top and bottom of the list, respectively. When the pitcher of your choice is highlighted, use the Enter key to confirm your selection. The program will ask you to verify your choice. When you say YES, the new pitcher will enter the game. You can look at any pitcher’s ratings by highlighting his name and typing <F7>. You can exit without changing pitchers by striking <F10>.

Defense Menu

The Defense Menu allows you to position the defense, or make defensive substitutions. These are the available options:

<i>: Select to position the infield

<o>: Select to position the outfield.

The outfield can be brought in late in a close game to cut down a critical run at the plate.

<s>: Make a defensive substitution

Positioning the Infield

Infielders can play in or back. The second baseman and shortstop can play at double play depth. The corners can guard the lines. The first baseman usually has to hold a runner on first if second base is open. Menus will display possible positions as you place your defense.

Positioning the Outfield

Outfielders can play in if the winning run is on third in an effort to try to throw him out at the plate.

Defensive Substitutes

First, select the number of the lineup position for the player to be changed. The lineup for the defensive team will be numbered for your convenience. Once the player to be changed is selected, decide whether the player is to be replaced by typing <r>, moved to a new position with <m>, or replaced with the pitcher <p>. Pitchers can only be moved to a new position if they are rated for that position. Players can only be moved to pitcher if they are rated for pitcher. If you select ‘<m>’, you will be asked to enter the number of the position where the player is to play:

1: pitcher; 2: catcher; 3: first baseman; 4: second baseman; 5: third baseman; 6: shortstop; 7: left fielder; 8: center fielder; 9: right fielder

If another player is already occupying that position, you will be asked to replace or move that player. If you select ‘<r>,’ you will choose a replacement from the bench by highlighting the name of the substitute and pressing Enter. You can look at the ratings of the bench players by highlighting a name and striking <F7>. Occasionally, the program will force you to make a defensive move. This occurs when:

- you pinch hit for someone in the preceding half inning, or
- you just made a defensive move which vacated one of the defensive positions.

You must have all nine defensive positions covered to continue. Select whether the player is to be replaced by typing <r>, moved to a new position with <m>, or replaced with the pitcher <p> and proceed as if you selected the Defensive Substitution option.

Making Substitutions

One bench player for a field player

Enter the number of the batting order slot for the player to be replaced. Indicate that you want to replace him by pressing <r>. Select his replacement.

Moving a player to another position

Enter the number of the batting order slot for the player you wish to move to another position. Indicate that you want to move him by pressing <m>. Select his new position. If a player is presently playing that position, you will need to move or replace him as well.

Multiple Moves

The program will not continue until you have exactly one player in every position. It will successive ask about players who do not have positions until every player has a position and every position is filled.

Look menu

This menu allows you to examine the players, game sheet, or statistics during the game. There are three options for batters:

<b>: look at this batter

<l>: look at the last batter

<o>: look at the on-deck batter

Selecting <b>, <l>, or <o> will allow you to examine the ratings of the current batter, the previous batter or the on-deck hitter respectively. From the LOOK menu, enter the number of a base (1,2,3) to look at a runner’s ratings. Two options are available to examine the defensive team’s ‘cards’:

<p>: Look at the pitcher

<d>: Brings up another menu to select a defensive player to examine Two options let you look at the official scorekeeper’s information about the current game:

<s>: Look at the up-to-the-minute game stats

<g>: Look at the game sheet (scorecard) for the current game

<F3>: The Magic Key for the visiting team

<F4>: The Magic key for the home team.

Options Menu

The Options menu is used to customize the game to your tastes. This display is the same as the options screen discussed earlier. Please note that you are not allowed to change field surface, injuries, and pitcher rest rules during a game. You can exit any menu without a selection by hitting the Enter key.

Quitting

One of the options displayed under the line score is not really a menu, but is single choice to quit the game. If you select this option, you will be asked to confirm your choice. If you answer YES to the confirmation question, the game will be ended prematurely. Of course, the other way to quit is to fulfill the conditions of a complete game as defined by the rules of major league baseball. When you choose to quit, or the game is complete, you will be presented with the disclaimer box, and then the end of game menu.

The Post Game Show

The Post Game Show has the following features:

- it adds the statistics to the just completed game to the cumulative stat files for the series.
- it generates a game sheet consisting of: the line score from the game; a complete, play-by-play score sheet showing how each runner achieved every base, how the outs were made, and so on; batting and pitching statistics for the game, including winning and losing pitcher, earned runs, stolen bases, errors and all the standard box score information.
- it writes a file containing the series statistics to date. This file also lists the line scores for every game in the series.

Post Game Details

To run the Post Game Show, select the <p> option from the main menu. The program generates a file on your baseball directory. The file name will depend on the series ID and game ID you set from the series options menu. For example, if the series ID is WORLD and the game ID is 7, the file will be called WORLD7.SCO.

The Post Game Show will display the files to which the game sheet and the composite statistics were written.

Special Note:

The Post Game Show increments the game ID automatically. You can play the next game of a series without worrying about whether the game sheets will be saved. The only way they can be destroyed is if you reset the game ID without changing the series ID. Then the files will be overwritten. Even then, the Baseball Game will not let you start a game with a Game ID of 1 and an existing stat file. You must either delete the stat file or change the series ID to continue.

This program also produces a file with the statistics from the cumulative stat files for the two teams involved in a series. The name of this file depends on the series as well. If the series is called WORLD, the listing file is called WORLD.LST. It can be found on your baseball directory.

Displaying and Printing Score sheets and Composite Stat Listings

When Post Game is done generating its files, it will present you with a short menu, allowing you to view and print the score sheet and the composite stat listing. Choose <s> to view the score sheet and <c> to view the stats. You can print the reports, once they are displayed on the screen, by pressing <p>.

Note: This is the standard report viewer. See the section early in this guide which describes how to use it.

Important Considerations if you are saving statistics

If you are saving statistics from each game and accumulating them, you must run the Post Game Show every time you play a baseball game. Or set the game options to run Post Game automatically. The baseball game reuses the game sheet files, and they will be lost if the Post Game Show is not run. The game will warn you that Post Game Show has not been run since the last time the game was played and give you an opportunity to exit without destroying the files so you can run the Post Game Show.

Important Considerations if you are starting a mail league

The Structure of the league (consisting on the .LG file in your baseball directory and the team .IDX files in the league directory) are critical for proper league organization. If starting a mail league, we recommend the commissioner or statistician create the league organization and team files and then send a copy of those files on disk and have everyone in the league copy them to the proper directories. This will insure that when STS files arrive at the league office, you will have no trouble posting them.

Note 1: Each of the symbols E, S, D, T, HR, F, G, LD, DP, and SF is followed by the number of the fielding position where the play took place. For example, F8 is a fly out to center, HR7 is a home run to left, and E6 an error on the shortstop.

Note 2: An IH is not considered to be hit anywhere in particular in the infield. If you see an S1, S3, S4, S5, S6, these are failed range checks where the fielder knocked the ball down, but could not make an out. For your information, a failed range check on the catcher is an S8, and a failed range check on an outfielder is indistinguishable from a single or double.

Note 3: Capital letters are used for errors and plays involving the batter. Plays which involve only base runners are displayed in lower case. Thus, a walk is /W, and a wild pitch is /wp.

Commissioner’s Office/Front Office

The Commissioner’s Office/Front Office feature of Diamond Dreams Baseball lets you create leagues and teams, and manipulate the rosters of the teams.

Front Office Overview

You need a league to play games in Diamond Dreams. Each league has one or more divisions (up to eight) and each division has teams (up to 12). Each team has a roster, which not surprisingly contains players. Each player has a status which determines whether he is eligible to appear in a Diamond Dreams game. A player can be Active, Active but Injured, Disabled, and Inactive. Active pitchers can be Ineligible to Start, and Tired.

Leagues

Diamond Dreams let you specify the number of divisions in your league, and the maximum number of teams per division. Divisions can have fewer teams than the maximum.

You can designate the active roster size. The game will let you play with any number of players, but it will warn you when a team roster has more or fewer Active players than the league active roster size. You will indicate the name of the league, its divisions and its teams when you create it. You will also choose the player ratings to be used during league play.

Divisions

Divisions play little role in Diamond Dreams Baseball other than to group teams within a league.

Teams

You will specify a city name, a nick name and a manager name for each team. You will also describe some details of the home park which will be used in the play-by-play to add "local color." You will also decide whether the home field is a grass field or uses artificial turf.

Teams have rosters, which contain the names of the players who perform for that team. A roster must have players before you can use a team to play games.

Some tactics for play get stored with the team: what speed runners will be conservative, normal and aggressive (unless otherwise coached), and when to bring the third baseman in to cut down the bunt.

Players

Players are either on team rosters, or are free agents (available for insertion onto a roster). Some competitive leagues also have players who are not available (N/A). Players on team rosters can play in games. Free agents can be added to rosters. Players who are N/A are not allowed on team rosters.

Each player on a roster has a status which determines whether he is eligible to participate in a game:

Active - full participation is allowed.

Injured - not available for play if League Rules prohibit previously injured players from appearing in games.

Inactive - not available for games; minor league status; does not count toward the active roster size limit.

Disabled - not available for games due to injure, but not considered active, and thus does not count toward the active roster size limit.

Each active pitcher can have one of three statuses:

Active - available to pitch and to start (if a starter)

Can’t start - appeared in a previous game and therefore is not available to start

Tired - cannot appear in a game due to fatigue, but counts toward the active roster size limit.

Commissioner’s Office Overview

The Commissioner’s Office section allows:

<s>: Select an existing or create a new league

<e>: Edit league information, such as the name of the league, the number of divisions and teams, and the active roster size. The full roster size defaults automatically to 40 players, and cannot be changed.

<d>: Edit division names.

<t>: Edit team abbreviations for the teams in this league.

<c>: Selection Criteria for Viewing & Printing

<v>: View players

<p>: Print all the players.

<n>: Print only non-roster players

<w>: Perform player transactions, such as trades and waiver claims or drops.

<z> Zero Rest for All Players in League

With the <x> option, you can return to the Roster Management Main Menu.

Select an existing League

To select a league, choose the <s> option. You will be presented with a list of leagues already created. Highlight the league you wish to select with the arrow keys, PageUp or PageDown, or typing the first letter of the league abbreviation for the league you wish to select. If you wish to Create a new league, you may press the enter key instead of highlight a league, and enter the league abbreviation for the new league. You can find more on creating a league later in this Users’ Guide.

Editing League Information

You can change the name of the league, the number of teams and divisions, and the active roster size by selecting the <e> Edit League Information option. Fill in the information the way you want it, pressing Tab or Enter to advance to the next field. Press <F10> when you have completed the information.

Editing division names

When you choose the <d> options, you will see a list of the divisions in your league, one slot for each division. Fill in the name of each division, pressing Tab or Return to advance to the next field. When finished, press <F10> to return to the Commissioner’s Office Menu.

Editing team abbreviations

To edit the team abbreviations, select the <t> option. First, select the division for the teams you want to change. Either highlight the division name, or press the number associated with the division. When you select a division, the teams in that division will appear. If this league has only one division, you will jump immediately to the team abbreviation box. Type in the new abbreviation, pressing Enter or Tab to advance to the next team. Press <F10> when finished to select another division. By pressing <F10> again when at the division box, you can return to the Commissioner’s Office Menu.

Print & View players

If you want to print the names and actual statistics of all the players in a league, choose the <p> option off the Commissioner’s Office Menu. If you want only free agents (players not on a team roster), choose the <n> Non-roster print option. The listing will be displayed on the screen as it would appear if you printed it. Choose <v> to view the ratings of the players in the league. Highlight the name of the player you want to view and press <Enter>. You can also type the first few letters of a player’s last name to highlight him.

Selecting Players

You can select players for printing and viewing by setting criteria beforehand. Choose the <c> option to set the criteria. You can choose players by position and by range. You can choose pitchers by Distance (for starters), and Critical and Non-Critical rating (for relievers). You can also choose to view only free agents. When you print a list after setting criteria, only players who meet the criteria will appear in the list, whether printed or on screen. When you choose the <v> View option, players who meet the criteria will be displayed in Red if you have a color monitor. If your Monitor is Mono, only players who meet the criteria will appear in the list, but they will be spaced out leaving room for the other players. If your criteria are very limiting (such as only pitchers with Distance 8), there may be no names showing on the first screen. Page through the list in the usual way until some names appear.

Player Transactions

The waiver option in Commissioner’s Office is designed to handle large numbers of player transactions at once. There are two steps:

1. Select the player to be moved from the league list. Use the first few letter of his last name to jump to him in the list. Press <Enter> when his name is highlighted to select him. If there is more than one player with the same name, verify you have the right one by pressing <F7> and examining his player ratings.
2. Type the abbreviation of the team you want to move him to. Alternatively, you can leave the field blank to release him, or enter N/A to make him not available to the league.

Note: There is nothing to stop you from using an N/A player; he is simply marked as Not Available (and will not appear in the list of free agents, should you select players that way.

Press <F10> when you have completed your list of transactions. The program will ask you to verify that you want to make the roster moves. If you say YES, the moves will be made.

Zero Rest for All Players in League

Especially when using Diamond Dreams for replays, you may want to set all players rested (for example, at the beginning of the season). This option will rest every player in the league. It has no effect on injuries.

Front Office

To change or review team information, including roster, select <t> from the Main Commissioner’s Office/Front Office menu.

The Front Office Section allows you to:

<s>: Select a team to edit or review.

<e>: Edit team information, such as the team and manager names.

<r>: Add or remove players from a single roster, as well as activate and deactivate individual players. You can check on the rest status of players using this option as well. Further, you can display the number of players on the roster, and the number of active players on the roster.

<c>: Create, edit, import, export or delete an automatic manager. Details on creating a manager are described in a different section of this Users’ Guide.

<m>: Select a manager. You can choose the manager that the game will use when computer managing your team using this option. If you have more than one manager, you should use this option to select the manager of your choice.

<l>: Lineup Creation. Using this option, you can create, save and edit lineups before you get into the game.

<o>: Off days provide your team with a day off, or you can completely clear rest.

<a>: Activate or Deactivate the entire roster.

<p>: Produce an output file of the roster, including rest and active status, as well as Major League statistics.

<n>: Change to a new league

Selecting a team

After you choose the <s> option from the Front Office Menu, use the arrow keys to highlight the team of your choice and press Enter.

Note: If you have just chosen a new league, the program will force you to select a team before you do any team management.

Edit Team Information

Select the <e> option from the Front Office Menu to view or change the team information. This will display a box containing the team city and nickname and the manager’s name and address. The team city and name and the manager’s name are used from time to time in the game, if present. The team city must be filled in if you want to view statistics from this team in the Stat Package.

Use Tab or Enter to highlight the field you want to change. Use <F10> to go on to the Park Description form.

Park Description

Diamond Dreams uses park description to enhance the play-by-play. It uses the field surface in several ways to affect the results. Descriptions for the walls of your stadium are optional.

Choose <G> for grass or <T> for artificial turf when selecting a home field surface. Any other value defaults to grass.

Be sure to include the word "the" in your descriptions. Say, for example, "the Green Monster," rather than simply "Green Monster." This allows the program to say things like "Waveland Avenue" and have it make sense in the game descriptions (as opposed to "the Waveland Avenue").

Roster Management

Choose <r> from the Front Office Menu to manage the team roster. The players will be displayed on the right side of the screen. The name will be highlighted if the player is active; that is, available to play in a game. At the top of the window, the display will show the name of the team, the number of players on the roster, and the number of active players on the roster. While you are working on a roster, you are not limited to 40 players; however, the program will not let you exit roster management if you have more than 40 players on the roster.

Note: All roster management activities, including activating and deactivating players, can take place from Roster Management. Activating and deactivating is easier on the Activate Screen.

To view information about a player, use the arrow keys, or the PageUp or PageDown keys to highlight his name. Alternatively, type the first few letters of his last name. When the correct player is highlighted, you can view his player ratings by pressing the <F7> key.

You can view a player’s rest data, his active status, his injury time, the number of active players, and the number of players on the roster by pressing the <F9> key. You can change his active status to inactive, disable him, set his injury time to a number of days, and set his rest to a number of days through this menu.

Adding Players to the Roster

To add a player to the roster, highlight the place in the roster into which you want the player to go. For example, if you want the new player to go in the third position, highlight the third player. All the other players will be moved to make room for the new addition. Once you have highlighted the position, press the <Insert> key. The league index will appear on the left, with the first name in the index highlighted. You can quickly identify which team a player is on, because it is displayed as part of the league index. Players with no team abbreviation are non-roster players. Highlight the player you wish to add to the roster with the arrow keys, PageUp or PageDown, or the Home and End keys. Alternatively, you can highlight a player by typing the first few letters of his last name. You can use a combination of approaches.

Once the correct player is highlighted, you can add him to your roster by pressing <Enter>. You may wish to verify you have the right player (Pedro A. Martinez and Pedro J. Martinez, for example) by viewing his ratings with the <F7> key. The ratings can be viewed either from the league index or the team roster.

If the player you have highlighted is on another roster, you can still add him to the present roster. The program will ask you to verify that is what you want to do. When asked if you want to release a player from a different roster, answer Yes with a ‘Y’ if you wish to drop him from the roster he is on, and add him to the present roster. If you answer ‘N’, you will be returned to the roster listing, and the player will not be added to the roster.

Similarly, if the player is already on this roster, you will be asked if you want to release him. Again, answer "Y" for Yes if that is your intent. You "add" a player already on your roster if you want to move him from one place to another on your roster listing.

Releasing an Entire Team

You can release all players on a team by entering Roster Management and pressing <F2>. You will be asked to confirm your choice. If you confirm by entering a ‘Y’ for YES, the entire roster will be released.

Quick Add Mode

Normally, the league index returns to the first player if you press <Insert> from the roster listing. You can get the index to "stick" to the player following the last player inserted instead. To enter "Quick Add Mode," press the <F3> key. While in Quick Add Mode, the name which appears at the top of the league index when you display it will be the name after the last player added. To exit Quick Add Mode, press <F3> again. The index will again appear with the first player listed at the top.

Releasing Players

To remove a player from the roster, highlight the player’s name in the usual way. Press Delete to remove him from the roster. You will be asked to verify that you want to release the player. Answer ‘Y’ to remove him from the roster, and ‘N’ to cancel the transaction.

Activating and Deactivating Individuals

Only active players are eligible to play games. To activate an individual player, highlight his name and press the <F9> key. A small information box will appear, showing his active status, his status regarding the Disabled list, and his injury time. Pitchers will also display the days they must rest before eligible to pitch at full strength, the number of consecutive games in which he has pitched, and the number of outs he has recorded in consecutive games in which he has pitched.

Note: A pitcher with exactly one day’s rest remaining can start a game, but he will be SHAKY. Additionally, team counts of active players will be displayed, as well as the total size of the roster.

To activate a player, press ‘Y’ when the cursor highlights the active field. To deactivate, press ‘N’. The active count will not change until the next time you open an active status box. Press <F10> when you are finished.

Disabled:

to remove a player from the roster and send him to the Disabled List, place a ‘Y’ in this field. The program will automatically deactivate the player. To activate him manually, enter an ‘N’ in the Disabled field.

Injury Time:

some leagues play games through the mail, which means that injuries will occur on different machines, and players will spend time on the Disabled List while the team plays on different computers. We allow you to set the Injury Time to account for days spent "away from the computer." For example, if a player should be activated after the third game of a series, you would set the injury time to three (3). The AutoManager can activate players from the Disabled List automatically. See that section of the guide for more details.

Rest:

Especially during a playoff series in a competitive league, some games within a series will not be played on your computer. Assuming an off day after game 5, a pitcher who appeared in game 6 could start under Diamond Dreams rules, but he should be SHAKY. You can make him SHAKY by entering a one (1) in his Rest field.

Hint: The size of the roster and the number of active players appears at the top of the roster box.

Dropping pitchers to the end of the roster

A feature in Version 2.0 which many people liked was the way the roster manager added field players to the beginning of the roster and pitchers to the end. Version 3.0 does not do that; however, the "Drop pitchers to the end of the roster" option, from the Front Office menu, accomplishes much the same thing. When you elect this option, the program will sort out all the pitchers and add them to the end of the roster in the same order you placed them on the roster in the first place. If you added all your players and pitchers to the roster in alphabetical order, for example, you could move all the pitchers to the end of the roster at once by using this option. The players would still be listed alphabetically, followed by the pitchers, also in alphabetical order.

When you select this option, no menu option will be highlighted for a moment. When the screen briefly flashes, and the Select or Create a Team option is highlighted, the action is complete.

Create, edit, import, export or delete a Manager

Choose the <c> option to manipulate an AutoManager for this team. You can create or edit a manager. That is described in detail in a different section of this guide. You can import a manager, a utility used to move a manager from computer to computer. You can export a manager, the way you prepare a manager for shipping to a different computer. And you can delete a manager you don’t need anymore.

Importing a Manager

You may want to use a manager created on another computer. Use the Import Manager feature to bring the manager into your league.

You can import a manager if it meets two criteria:

It was created using the same set of player ratings as your currently selected league.

It was exported from a team with the same two or three character abbreviation as the currently selected team.

Note: The currently selected league and team are displayed at the bottom of the Front Office menu.

To import, choose the <i> Import a manager option. The program will display a path name, the same path you used to import or export a manager the last time. The first time you choose this option, the default path will be your main baseball directory. Press <F10> to accept the path, or type in a new one. To import from your A: drive, for example, enter "A:".

A box will appear containing the names of managers in that directory (or on that diskette). Highlight a manager intended for this team, and press <Enter> to select it. The program will read the manager, confirming it is intended for the selected team, then confirm it is writing a manager to your hard drive. The name of the manager it is writing will probably not be the name of the export file you selected. Press <Enter> to write the imported manager to disk.

An imported manager brings with it its own team roster, which will overwrite yours. It will have active, inactive, disabled and injured players just as they were set when the manager was exported. It is possible after an import that the same player will appear on more than one team. This will not cause a problem in the play of the game.

Exporting a Manager

The export a manager, choose <e> Export a Manager. First, specify the path, just as you did when importing a manager. Then type the name of the export file. The default is the team abbreviation, but you can call it any name up to 8 characters. When correct, press <F10> to continue. The manager will be exported.

Note: If you choose a diskette drive, the program will prompt you to insert a disk.

During an export, all rest will be cleared (though injury time will not).

Deleting a Manager

To delete a manager, choose <d> Delete a Manager. The managers associated with the currently selected team will be displayed. Choose a manager to delete. The program will confirm your intent to delete a manager. Answer the question with a ‘Y’ to remove the manager.

Selecting a Manager

Use this option to tell the program which manager to use when the computer is managing this team. You can develop more than one manager, or perhaps get updated managers from Diamond Dreams, so there could be more than one manager per team. Use this option to specify which manager should be used.

Clearing Rest and Off Days

To clear the rest settings on players, select the <o> Off days options from the Front Office Menu. You will be given a choice to clear all the rest (and clearing injury time or not as you clear all rest), or act as if one off day went by (which applies to rest and injury time). Choose One Off Day repeatedly to simulate multiple off days, for example, around the All-Start break.

Activate or Deactivate Players

To activate or deactivate the entire roster, choose the <a> Activate or Deactivate option from the Front Office menu. Next, choose to activate or deactivate the entire roster by selecting <a> for activate and <d> for deactivate from the small Activate/Deactivate menu. To activate a few players, choose <s> Activate or Deactivate Some Players from the Activate/Deactivate menu. A roster listing will appear. Highlighted players are active, and normally displayed players are inactive. Players in Green are injured. Players in Blue are pitchers with a certain level of fatigue. To activate, position to an inactive player and press <Enter>. To deactivate, position to an active player and press <Enter>. The total number of players, and the number of active players will appear at the top of the roster. The number of active players will change as you make changes in the status of each player. You can use <F7> to view a player’s ratings.

Typically, you will activate the entire roster, then use <s> Some to deactivate the 10 to 15 players you do not wish to use.

Lineup Creation

The lineup creation function works as described in the section for the game. Please see that section for more information.

Creating a New League

From the Commissioner’s Office Menu, choose <s> Select or Create a new league. To create a new league, press the Insert key when the Select League menu appears on the screen. Type in the abbreviation of the league you wish to create. If you type the name of an existing league, the program simply selects it for you.

You will be asked to verify that you indeed want to create a new league. Type ‘Y’ to create a league and ‘N’ to return to Commissioner’s Office Menu without creating a league.

If you answer ‘Y’, you want to create a league. You must select which player ratings will be used in this league. Highlight the player ratings set you wish to use and press <Enter>. Information on building custom sets of player ratings can be found later in this guide. If you wish to create a league which uses players from different sets of player ratings, please refer to the section in the Guide on Custom Player ratings.

After you select the set of player ratings for this league, you will guided through the league information screen, the division name screen and the team abbreviation screens. Fill in the information as described in the section for each information box above. When you have completed each screen, the league information is complete, and you can create teams to play in the league. Teams are created from the Front Office Menu by selecting a team that has not yet been created.

Creating a League with a Custom Set of player ratings

To create a league with players from different player ratings first create a league the way you would normally. When the program asks for a set of player ratings, press the <Insert> key and type in the name of the custom player ratings We highly recommend that you use the same name for the player ratings as you did for the league. For example, if the abbreviation for your league is COMBO, name the player ratings COMBO as well.

You will continue to create the league as if it were a normal league by filling in the information for the league, the division names and the team abbreviations. At this point, you have a perfectly valid league, with an extremely short list of players (that is, none).

The Utilities Menu

The Utilities Menu provides four functions for dealing with player ratings. You won’t need them very often, but they are here in case you do need them. Often, you will use these functions to work with your own custom player ratings.

These are the options:

<i>: Import players from one league to another

<s>: Sort a league index

<m>: Make a Stat Manager Index

<r>: Resynchronize the League Index

Preparing to Add Players to a set of custom ratings

If you plan to add many players from teams in an existing league, you may want to examine the teams you intend to include in the custom set of ratings, deactivating the players you have no wish to use in your custom league. The ‘Import by Team’ feature will let you choose to include only active players. Some Diamond Dreams experts deactivate the entire team, then simply activate the players they want in their custom league.

Adding players to a custom set of player ratings

To add players to a custom set of player ratings, choose the <i> Import Players option from the Utilities Menu.

Before you get to the Import Menu, you will be asked to select a league from which players will be imported. This will be listed as the Source League at the bottom of the Import Menu. All players to be added to the new league at this time will come from the source league. If you wish to change leagues, return to the Commissioner’s Office Main Menu and select Utilities again.

Once the Source League has been chosen, you will be given a choice of importing an entire league, all the players from one team in a league, or an individual player. To import an entire league, choose the <l> Import by League option. After you verify your choice, the entire league index will be added to the new player ratings. It is not a good idea to add more than one league to a set of player ratings, because certain Diamond Dreams products, including the Game, are limited to 1500 players in one league.

To import an entire team, choose the <t> option, Import By Team. Select the source team in the usual way from the abbreviations.

After you verify your choice, the program will ask if you want to add all players or only active players. Choose <t> to add the entire team and <a> to add only active players. The players will be added to the league index for the new league, and the player data will be copied to the new set of player ratings.

You will be given a further opportunity to import the team’s roster, and assign it to a team abbreviation in the new league. When the program asks if you want to copy the team index to the new league, answer ‘Y’ to assign the roster to a team abbreviation in the new league, and ‘N’ to add the players to the player pool without assigning them to a team. If you answer ‘Y’, you will be asked to select the team abbreviation from the new league to which to assign the roster. If that team does not exist, the program will ask you to create it before continuing. You will be able to add team information immediately; then the import will continue.

To import a single player, choose <p> Import by Player. The Source League index will appear. Highlight the name in the usual way and press <Enter> to add the name to the player ratings and index of the new league. As usual, you can use <F7> to view player ratings.

Steps in creating a league with a custom set of player ratings

There are two final steps to creating a new league, Sorting and Making a Stat Manager Index. These functions can be found on the Utility Menu.

Sorting the league index

Choose the <s> Sort the League Index By Name option to rearrange your league index by name. Usually, you will use this option after you have added players to a league through the import option. When you choose the option, a box will appear with dots and colons flying by. When the box goes away, the index will be sorted.

Make Stat Manager Index

The Stat Manager uses a different index for statistical reports than either the team index or the league index. Generally, the index is created by taking the last name of the player. However, as you may have noticed, some players have the same last name, like Martinez, for example. When you choose this option, the program will display players whose last names match. The program will try to differentiate between players by listing their Last Name, followed by First Initial. This will work in most cases. If the name on the screen are unique, press <F10> to continue. If not, you can position the cursor and change the name as it will be displayed in the stat package. When you have made your changes, press <F10> to continue.

Resynchronizing the League Index

It is possible for the league index to lose synchronization with the team rosters. This is likely if you are in a competitive league that trades during the season and uses AutoManagers. This is because the AutoManager imports its own copy of the team index, writing over yours. If a trade had been made on the road manager’s computer, but not on yours, players may show as appearing on his team in the league index when they no longer do, and some players may be on more than one team.

Before you resynchronize, you should be sure the team rosters are correct. The computer will not check for players on more than one roster; it will simply record the player as appearing on the last team that has him on the roster.

Choose the option to use this feature. The program will flash the teams as it recreates the league roster.

Saving information

Much information is saved automatically. For example, when you save a team index, the league index is saved along with it without your intervention. However, you can save or not save changes you have made under these circumstances:

When you change active teams, the program will prompt you to save roster changes and changes to the team information file. If you say ‘Y’ for Yes, the changes will be saved.

When you change leagues, you will be asked to save changes to the league information file.

The AutoManager

AutoManager Introduction

The Diamond Dreams AutoManager will manage one or both teams for you. You set up the lineups and the pitching rotation, and the computer does the rest. You can simply give it a lineup to face left and right-handed pitching, lay out a four or five man rotation, and specify the rudimentary bullpen usage, and let the computer do the rest. Alternatively, you can add several layers of detail, overriding the default decision making, and even specify what to do with specific batters in specific situations. The strength of the Diamond Dreams AutoManager is that you can supply the level of detail you want. The end of this section gives some hints about how to build a manager for the first time. Even if you don’t like to read manuals, you should read that part of this section.

Hint: If you tell the manager to use the same lineup against both lefthanders and right-handers, by listing the same name twice, you really only need one lineup.

The end of this section on the AutoManager contains some hints about building your first manager, and how to develop it to your tastes. At the very end are questions and answers which highlight some of the subtleties of the manager.

For each individual section of the AutoManager editor, we detail some hints about ways to use the manager that may not be obvious. You may want to read the Hint section for each part of the manager, even if you consider yourself a DDB AutoManager expert. The hints will appear in the margin of the guide.

Copying a Manager

To copy a manager, select <s> Save the Manager from the Main AutoManager Menu. Then, when the box pops up with the name of the manager, type in a new one. When you press <Enter> to continue, the manager will be saved under the new name you typed. As you continue editing, you will be working with the new manager.

AutoManager Overview

The AutoManager is designed to handle pitching, hitting and defensive moves you would make during the course of the game. It serves two primary purposes: to provide the brains necessary to run a season replay without human intervention, and to allow a competitive league manager to send out an "electronic instruction sheet." The manager can be as simple or as complex as you want.

There are seven key pieces to each AutoManager: the depth chart, pinch hitting lists, the pinch running list, the rotation, the bullpen plan, team tendencies, and individual tendencies.

The Depth Chart

The depth chart stores information about the lineup, platoon substitutions, defensive substitutions and pinch hitting information. The rest of the depth chart information is tied to the lineup. For each position, you can specify a spot starter, how often to pinch-hit, a platoon substitute and a defensive substitute.

The only depth chart information that is required is a starter for each position. Of course, without the other information, the manager will not pinch-hit or make defensive substitutions, nor will the manager occasionally sit a regular.

Pinch hitting Lists

The AutoManager now allows you to set up lists of people to come off the bench and pinch hit. There is a list to use when the opposing pitcher is left-handed, and one to use when the pitcher is right-handed.

The Rotation

Another required piece of the AutoManager is the starting rotation. The rotation comes in several flavors. You can specify four or five starters, and the manager will cycle through them, starting again at the top of the list after the last pitcher has pitched. You can specify the rotation for the entire year, up to 162 starts. You could make a longer list, where some pitchers appear more than once, to work in less frequently used starters.

The Bullpen

The bullpen allows you to specify with a great deal of detail when the manager should use what relievers. The AutoManager offers seven lists, which you can customize to your own style (although you may not want to). The lists are:

Closers:

your Ace relievers for the end of the game.

Setup:

seventh inning on, close game.

Middle:

sixth inning with a lead.

Long:

very early with a lead, or fifth inning and reasonably close.

Mopup:

whenever

Extra:

extra innings

Lefty

Specialist: for those one or two batter guys who face only lefthanders.

Team Tendencies

Team tendencies cover a wide range of details during the game. The AutoManager defaults are perfectly acceptable, but you can tune the tendencies to your own particular style.

The tendencies cover base running, defensive tactical decisions about when and where to throw, and stealing bases. They cover when to hit and run, when to pinch-run, and when to bunt in general terms, using the player ratings to make the decision. There are tendencies for when to make defensive substitutions, and when to bring the infield in. Some tendencies tell the manager how to coach the base runners if the game is close, and if it’s not.

Separate tendencies cover pitchers, so pitchers will bunt more, for example. You can determine when you want to pinch-hit for pitchers who aren’t tired.

Virtually no work is necessary to specify a reasonable manager. With the investment of some time, the manager can be tuned to meet your expectations.

Individual Tendencies

You can use individual tendencies to override some of the team tendencies. You can specify that the manager must not pinch-run for certain players (like Frank Thomas). You can state that a player who is sitting will not be used as a pinch hitter (to keep the number of games appeared relatively correct). You can also override the team hit and run and sacrifice ratings on an individual basis. You can list possible replacements for your players who may become injured.

No individual tendencies are necessary for a basic manager.

Manipulating lists in the AutoManager

The AutoManager has many lists: starting pitchers, bullpen by specialty, pinch hitters and pinch runners. These lists are presented to you on screen with a series of slot into which you can place players. You can manipulate every list in pretty much the same way:

Hint: All the lists work virtually the same way.

- To enter a name, highlight the appropriate slot and press <Enter>, then choose the player from the pop-up list. Highlight the player’s name and press <Enter> to add his name to the list.
- To replace a player already on the pinch hit list, highlight his slot and press <Enter>. Select the new pinch hitter the usual way.
- To remove a pinch hitter without replacing him, highlight his slot and press the <Del> key.
- To add a pinch hitter in the middle of the list, highlight the slot where you want the new pinch hitter to go. Press <Insert> to move everyone from that slot on down one. If the list is already full, the last name will be dropped.
- You can move from slot to slot with the arrow keys.
- The highlighted player’s ratings can be viewed by pressing the <F7> key, either on the list or in the pop-up box.
- The <F9> key initiates special action on lists that allow you to enter extra information. For example, on pitcher lists, you can change a player’s faith rating by pressing <F9> and filling out the form. In the pinch hit lists, <F9> turns the Key Situation Only indicator on and off.

The AutoManager Main Menu

Choose the <c> Create, Edit, Import or Export the Auto Manager option from the Front Office Menu in the Roster Management function to reach the Auto Manager Main Menu. The Auto Manager Menu has the following choices:

<c>: Choose or Create a Manager to Edit

Use this option to select a new or existing manager to edit.

<e>: Edit the Manager

Use this option to get to the editing menu, to make changes in the Manager you have already selected. If you have not yet chosen a manager, you will be asked to do so first.

Hint: We find it just as easy to choose this option when entering the program, since we will then pick the manager anyway.

<l>: Change leagues

While you first select a manager, the program will ask you for a league from which to select a team, from which in turn you will select a manager. If you subsequently change managers, the program normally assumes that the next manager you want to edit comes from the same league. Most of the time, it will. For those times you need to select a new league, choose this option.

<s>: Save the Manager

Choosing this option allows you to write the manager to disk immediately in version 3.2 format. The program will prompt you to save the manager when you exit, but if you want to be sure, you can choose this option.

<x>: Export the Manager

Choose this option to copy the manager to a diskette so it can be imported onto a different computer. This is primarily used for competitive leagues. You will need a diskette for this option, even if you expect to send the AutoManager via on-line services. This option creates a ".MEX" file for exporting.

<q>: QUIT

By choosing this option, you will return to the Front Office Menu.

Setting the Manager Password

The first time you enter the Computer Manager Editor, you will be asked to enter your personal Manager password. You need not remember this password, and there is no way to change it. The program uses it to verify that you created the manager that you are trying to edit. This prevents home managers from examining computer managers from their road opponents and thereby gaining an advantage of advance knowledge. When you save a manager, the program will ask if you want to password it. You should only password managers you plan to export (to send to an opponent). Even then, you should seriously consider whether you want to ensure no one can edit your manager. If there are problems with a password-protected manager, only you can fix them, which may mean you’ll be sending a new manager through the mail.

Because the program adds the password to your manager file automatically, you won’t have to pay any attention to this password. Make it weird and strange to ensure that no one uses the same password as you.

Note: If you copy Diamond Dreams to a new directory, you may need to enter the password again. You could also enter a new password at that time, but if you did, you could not edit managers you created on one directory from the other directory.

Changing the Manager Password

It is dangerous to change the manager password, because you may stop yourself from editing your own managers. However, if you feel you must, here are the steps:

1. Save all your managers without a password.
2. From DOS or Windows, delete the file MANAGER.PWD from your PLAYERS subdirectory. If your Main Baseball Directory is C:\BASEBALL, the PLAYERS subdirectory would be C:\BASEBALL\PLAYERS.
3. Edit any manager and repeat the process above for setting the manager password.

Choosing the manager to edit

When you select a manager, you will first be prompted to select a league, then a team within the league. Next, choose a manager by highlighting the name of the manager you wish to change. To select a new manager, press the insert key and type the name of the new manager.

A new manager automatically creates an empty rotation named MAIN, a set of tendencies called NORMAL and two empty depth charts named LHP and RHP. The new manager specifies that LHP will be used 100% of the time against lefthanders and RHP will be used 100% of the time against right-handers. If there is a rotation named MAIN that has been saved, the new manager will load it automatically. Similarly, the manager looks for NORMAL tendencies and lineups LHP and RHP and attempts to load them. If these elements of the manager do not exist, the manager simply creates empty place holders for them (except tendencies, which get loaded with the defaults).

The Auto Manager Editor Menu

When you select an existing manager, or finish naming the strategies when creating a manager, the program presents the Auto Manager Editor Menu. From this menu, you can change the different elements of the manager:

<d>: Depth Charts and Lineups

Lets you specify the lineups from which the manager will choose to play a game, and how the lineup will change during the game. Included in the depth chart are spot starters, platoon substitutes, and defensive substitutes, as well as how often to pinch-hit.

<p>: Pitching

Allows you to set up the starting rotation and the bullpen, as well as how to use the bullpen.

<h>: Pinch Hitter and Runner Lists

The AutoManager will select pinch hitters and runners from your bench automatically. This option gives you more control over pinch hitter and runner selection. You can specify players to pinch-hit against lefthanders and other players for pinch-hitting against right-handers. You can indicate that certain pinch hitters can be used only in key situations, where the potential tying or go-ahead run is on base or at the plate.

<t>: Tendencies

Gives you an opportunity to specify when to throw and run, when to steal, when to bunt and Hit & Run, when to make defensive substitutions, and so on.

<i>: Individual Player Tendencies

These tendencies allow you to override the general tendencies with specific behavior for individual players, including bunting, Hit & Run, replacements in case of injury, and so on.

<r>: Custom Rotation

You can also enter a custom rotation, specifying each starting pitcher by date. This option is only available if you have already developed a schedule for the league. The description of this option appears later in this guide.

<c>: Change Lineup Usage

You can specify up to five lineups to use during games. This screen lets you determine how often a lineup will be used relative to other lineups facing pitchers who throw the same way, and whether to use the lineup against right-handers or lefthanders.

<a>: Automatic Disabled List Management

This is a switch which tells the manager to pay attention to injuries, or to ignore them. This switch must be set for the AutoManager to manage the Disabled List automatically.

By pressing <x> or <F10>, you can return to the Main Menu.

Lineups and Depth Charts

Edit lineups and depth charts by selecting the <d> Depth Charts and Lineups option. The program will display a list of the currently specified lineups. You can add new lineups through the Change Strategy screen. Select the lineup to edit by pressing the number to the left of it.

When you select a lineup, the lineup will be displayed on the screen. There are, however, three major differences:

1. You can edit the depth chart by pressing the <F9> key.
2. The <s> Save option saves the depth chart, not a lineup for the game. The AutoManager can use depth charts for lineup selection, but you cannot.
3. The <l> option, which displays the player ratings of the highlight player in the game and in Roster Management, saves the lineup in game format here. In other words, if you use this screen to develop a lineup, and you want to use the lineup yourself (not reserving it for the AutoManager), save the lineup by pressing <l>. Unless you save the lineup in game format, using this option, the lineup you create here will not be available when the computer is not managing the team.

You can display the ratings of any highlighted player in the lineup card (the upper right hand corner) or the player list (to the left) by pressing <F7>.

Note: Be sure to insert a pitcher in the lineup in the appropriate spot by pressing <p>. If the program detects an open slot when you try to save the depth chart, it will ask if you want to convert it to a pitcher.

The Depth Chart

Depth is defined by position. To edit a depth chart for a position, highlight the player in the lineup card assigned to that position, then press <F9>. For example, if the lead off batter is playing first base, highlight the lead off batter, then press <F9>. The Depth Chart Information box will appear at the bottom of the screen.

The first position will list the starter. You cannot change the starter from this box. Each of the items you can change is listed below:

Spot Starter

If you occasionally want to sit your starter and play someone else, use the spot starter item to specify who will replace the starter. When the item is highlighted, press <F9> to select a name from the list of players. You should not use another starter as a spot starter unless he also has a spot starter listed for him. Remember that you will likely specify a lineup against right-handers and a lineup against lefties. If you simply want to platoon, you probably do not want a spot starter. If your player plays almost every game, though he missed 16 games during the year, you would want to specify a spot starter in this lineup and the other who would appear 10% of the time. You can also specify up to five lineups and how often each is used. That gives you three ways to control player starts.

The program uses the spot starter slot to fill vacant positions caused by injuries, ejections and pinch hitting.

Pct:

the percentage of time the spot starter substitutes for the starter. This item is ignored if you did not specify a spot starter.

Hint: If you want to list a player as a possible substitute in case of ejections or injuries, you can list him as a spot starter who will appear 0% of the time. He will never spot start, but he will be chosen if the manager needs a substitute.

High Slot:

the highest position in the batting order in which the substitute will bat. If you have Bob Zupcic substituting for Barry Bonds, you certainly do not want Bob batting third just because Barry does. (Well, maybe you do, but I don’t). The program will try to get the player as close to the slot you specify as possible.

PH % in Crit:

how often you want to pinch-hit for the starter in critical situations is specified here. The program will not pinch-hit before the sixth inning, nor will it pinch-hit with two outs and no one on until the last inning. Otherwise, it will pinch-hit for the starter in close games the percentage of time you specify.

Hint: If you have a player for whom you do not want to pinch-hit if you are ahead, list him as his own defensive substitute.

Platoon

If you want to replace your starter when he loses the platoon advantage on the pitcher, put the name of the replacement here, using <F9> and choosing the name from the list. The manager will not necessarily pinch-hit with this player, but he will pinch-hit for the starter and bring the platoon player into the game. The program will use this player as a possible substitute following an injury, an ejection, or when the starter has been removed from the game for a pinch-hitter.

Defense

Use this item to fill in the best defensive player for the position. Obviously, this could be a glove man off the bench. However, it may be your starter himself. If you set the defensive item as the starter, the program will not pinch-hit for the starter if the team is ahead. For example, Ozzie Guillen is the starting shortstop, a great glove, but not much with the bat. You may specify that he should be pinch-hit for 50% of the time. Normally, after the fifth inning, the manager would pinch-hit for him 50% of the time, considered each at bat. If you specify Guillen as your defensive player, however, then the manager will not pinch-hit for him if your team is ahead.

Pinch hit lists

The AutoManager now allows you to set up lists of people to come off the bench and pinch hit. There is a list to use when the opposing pitcher is left-handed, and one to use when the pitcher is right-handed.

You can also tell the manager to use players from the list only in "key" situations. A key situation occurs when the potential tying or go-ahead run is on base or at the plate.

If the AutoManager can’t find a pinch hitter from the list, it will select a pinch hitter from among the bench players depending on the situation. If you use Pinch-hit Lists and indicate players for use only in key situations, you should be careful to leave some pinch hitters to use when it is not a key situation.

Note: The Key Situation Indicator only works when the AutoManager is using this list. If it fails to find a hitter on the list, it may choose a player you specified as Key Only using its usual decision making process.

Pitchers rated for pinch hitting are available for this list. This is the only way a pitcher will pinch hit before all the other bench players have been used.

The manager chooses the first player off the list, so you should put them on the list in the order you want them used.

To establish a pinch hit list, first choose the list you wish to modify, the list for use against lefthanders or the list for use against right-handers.

To indicate that the player is to be used only in key situations, press <F9>. If you later change your mind and decide the player should pinch-hit in any situation, press <F9> again. The screen displays a ‘Y’ for key situation pinch hitters and ‘N’ for players to use in any situation. Press <F10> when you have completed the list.

You can put a player on the list more than once, marked for only key situations toward the top of the list, and marked otherwise toward the bottom. This way, the manager will choose the marked player once those not marked for key situations have been used. An example:

Player/Key Only

Dave Hansen/Y

Harold Baines/Y

Lenny Harris/N

Mike Aldrete/N

Harold Baines/N

In this list, Dave Hansen will be used first in key situations, with Harold Baines pinch hitting if Hansen is not available. Then the manager will choose Lenny Harris. In other situations, Harris will pinch-hit first, then Aldrete, then Baines if needed. So essentially, you can mix your key list and other list together.

You are limited to ten names. Once the list is exhausted, the manager will choose a pinch hitter from available players on the bench.

Pinch runner list

You can set up a pinch runner list the same way as a pinch hit list. The manager will use the pinch runner list to determine possible substitutes in pinch running situations. The manager will also use the list to determine the best pinch runner should a batter abruptly leave the game through ejection or injury.

Pitching

You will specify how to use your pitchers many different ways using the AutoManager. First, you will specify the starting rotation. Then you will specify which relievers to use in each of seven situations.

Specifying Starters

Note: Pitcher lists can be manipulated like any other list in the AutoManager Editor.

You can specify your starting rotation one of two ways. You can either enter four or five names, and let the manager cycle through them (a short rotation), or you can specify the starting pitcher for each game (a complete rotation). A short rotation can be any number of names. You can repeat names in the list as well. You should remember a pitcher’s rest requirements when planning a short rotation. You can examine a pitcher’s ratings when you go to insert him into the rotation.

If you choose to specify a short rotation, you have the opportunity to specify a spot starter for each of the starting pitchers. You can specify how often the spot starter will replace the regularly scheduled starter. Spot starters can only be used for the first ten spots in the rotation.

You also have control over when to pull a pitcher. You can specify one of six grades of starting pitcher. This rating is called Faith, because it represents how much faith you have in your starter’s ability to escape jams.

Note: A starter’s Faith Rating determines how long he will stay in the game. A reliever’s Faith Rating determines whether he will enter the game.

When you select a pitcher from the list, his Faith Rating will default to Normal. A normal pitcher is removed when he fades.

If you wish to change the Faith Rating or specify a spot starter, highlight the appropriate pitcher and press <F9>. Choose a Faith Rating for the pitcher from the following values:

1) Journeyman

. Pull the pitcher after the fourth inning if the game is close.

2) Brittle. Pull the pitcher after the fourth inning if the game is close and he allows a base runner.

3) Second Line. Pull a pitcher in his distance inning or later if the game is close and he allows a base runner.

Note: For pitchers with a distance rating of 4, this is actually sooner than Brittle. With a distance rating of 5, there is no difference between Second Line and Brittle.

4) Normal. Pull the pitcher when he fades.

5) Horse. Pull the pitcher when he fades if the game is close. If the game is not close, pull the pitcher when he is tired and either there are less than two outs, or the batter has the platoon advantage with two outs.

6) Ace. Pull the pitcher when he fades if the game is close. If the game is not close, pull the pitcher when he is tired and there are less than two outs. Do not pull him with two outs until the game becomes close, or the inning ends.

Next, select a spot starter for this slot, if you want one. Press <F9> for the list of eligible pitchers. Highlight the pitcher of your choice and press Enter.

If you select a spot starter, set the faith rating for the spot starter, and the percentage of time he should start instead of the regularly scheduled pitcher.

Note: You can only set spot starters for the first ten slots. Generally, if your rotation is longer than ten starters, you will be specifying the entire schedule, and you will not need spot starters.

Note: The rating goes with the SLOT not with the pitcher. If you change the pitcher in a slot, you will need to reset the Faith Rating. This is true for starters and spot starters.

There are two other options available from the starters screen:

<c>: Count supplies a count of the pitchers in the rotation, and how often they appear in the list. The special name "(null)" refers to the slots you have not yet filled.

<v>: View allows you to customize how many pitchers you wish to view. The default is five, but you can display up to 22 pitching slots.

Reset Rotation to First Slot

After the manager has been used in games for a while, you may need to reset the rotation so the first pitcher in the list will be the first starter used. With the cursor highlighting any starter, press the number one <1>, and the rotation will be reset.

Note: The AutoManager clears rest (but not injuries) when you export a manager. If you are using the manager on your own computer, you will want to clear rest to ensure the first pitcher starts the first game.

Usage for Reliever Lists

The Diamond Dreams AutoManager uses six lists of relief pitchers to determine who to use in any game situation where a pitcher must be changed. These lists are intended to represent seven different situations:

Note: This is very complex. For the modern era, you will not likely need to adjust the reliever usage lists.

Extra Innings.

Use after the ninth inning.

Closer.

The Dennis Eckersley role.

Setup.

Close to the end, but not ready for the closer.

Middle.

Not yet close to the end.

Long.

Early, but still in the game.

Mopup.

No chance for a change in outcome.

Lefty Specialist:

Bring in the lefty to punch out Barry Bonds or Ken Griffey.

While there are defaults for when to use these lists, you can change them to suit your style by choosing <u> Usage Rules for Reliever Lists from the Pitching Menu.

For each list, you can specify two sets of conditions which, when met, tell the manager to select a pitcher from that list. If either condition is met, the list will be used. The manager checks the lists in the order shown on the screen in order to determine which list to use. For each set of conditions, there are three criteria: the minimum inning of use, the maximum runs ahead to use the list, and the maximum runs behind to use the list.

When setting the inning, specify the first inning in which you would use the list if the run limits were met. For example, you will usually set the Extras list inning to 10, meaning you would not use this list until the 10th inning. If you only wish to use one of the criteria, you would leave the inning blank. If you do not wish to use the list, leave both innings blank.

Next, set the most runs that your team could be ahead when you would use this list. For example, if you would only use your closer when the lead was three runs or less, you would place a three (3) in the "Up by" item.

Then, set the most runs your team could be behind when you would use this list. For example, if you would only use your Setup list when you were behind by one run, you would enter a one (1) in the "Down By" box.

There are two special values that can be placed in the runs items. If you enter an ‘A’ the program will use the list under any conditions. For example, if you place the ‘A’ in the Up By item, then the manager will use the list with any lead. Alternatively, you can specify that you would never use a list, by placing an ‘N’ in a runs item. For example, if you never use your closer list when you are behind, place an ‘N’ in the Down By runs item.

There is a difference between Never and zero runs. When you specify never, you will not use the list in tie games. When you specify zero runs, you can use the list in a tie game.

In the sample shown here, you would use the following lists under the following conditions:

Lefty Specialist: Sixth or later behind or ahead by no more than two runs (tie games as well)

Extras. Anytime from the 10th inning on.

Closer. Ninth inning with a lead of no more than three runs, or eighth inning with a one run lead.

Setup. Seventh or later with a three run lead, or down by no more than two runs. You would also use this list in a tie game.

Middle. Sixth or later and up or down by no more than three runs.

Long. Fourth inning or later with any lead or down by no more that four runs. Also, any inning with a lead.

Mopup. Anytime.

+———————— Edit Reliever List Usage ————————-+

Inning Up By Down By or Inning Up By Down By

LeftSpec: 6 2 2 or ANY ANY

Extra: 10 ANY ANY or ANY ANY

Closer: 9 3 NEV or 8 1 NEV

Setup: 7 3 2 or ANY ANY

Middle: 6 ANY NEV or ANY ANY

Long: 1 ANY NEV or 5 ANY 4

Mopup: 0 ANY ANY or ANY ANY

The manager checks the lists in order until it finds a list whose conditions are met. For example, assume it is the sixth inning and your team trails 6-2. Because it is only the sixth inning, the Extras, Closer and Setup lists would not be used. The Middle list would not be used because your team is down by more than three runs. The Long list would be chosen, because it is the fourth inning or later, and you are down by no more than four runs. The manager would only check to see if the Mopup list qualified if there were no eligible pitchers on the Long list.

Note: We suggest that you leave the Mopup list specified as first inning, any lead or any deficit, to ensure the manager checks this list as the last resort.

Special Rules for the Closer list

The closer list will be check under critical conditions. The current pitcher will be removed from the game if Closer conditions are met (once) and replaced with a pitcher from the closer list. You can tell the manager not to remove starters of a certain faith level or higher on the Pitching Tendencies Box, reachable from the Manager Editor menu. The default is level 5 (Horse) or higher will not be removed for the Closer.

Special Rules for the Lefty Specialist List

The manager applies some fuzzy logic when deciding whether to use the Lefty Specialist list.

First, the batter must be left-handed. Second, the current pitcher must be right-handed. Then, the manager considers several factors in making the determination:

- What inning is it?
- Is the batter dangerous?
- Does the batter hit third, fourth or fifth in the lineup?
- Is the on deck batter left-handed as well?
- Does the batter generally hit right-handers better than lefthanders?
- How many base runners are there?
- Is the batter the tying or go-ahead run?

Based on a weighting system, the manager decides whether to make the pitching change.

A pitcher selected from the Lefty Specialist list will remain in the game only as long as the current batter is left-handed. Then he will be removed.

Note: Lefty specialists often have brittle ratings as well. Therefore, they may be pulled for a new pitcher to start an inning, even if the batter is left-handed.

Reliever lists

You can set up each reliever list by selecting the appropriate option from the Pitching Menu. Choose any number of pitchers for inclusion on each list. You can also put a pitcher on any number of lists. You can also specify the percentage of use. Press <F9> and enter a number which reflects the relative use of the pitcher compared to others on the list. The default is 50 for all pitchers, meaning they have an equal opportunity to be chosen for the game.

Note: The Reliever Faith Ratings do not need to add up to 100 (or anything else). A pitcher with 50 will be used five times more often than a pitcher with 10.

You may also set a pitcher to zero percent use. All other pitchers on the list must be ineligible (due to fatigue, injury or having appeared in the game) before a pitcher with zero percent use will be chosen. If there is more than one pitcher on a list with zero percent use, the manager will select the first pitcher listed who is eligible to appear in the game.

Hint: You can control the order that pitchers enter a game by assigning an entire list zero percent use.

If the first pitcher on the Closer list entered the game because he appeared on another list, he will not be forced out of the game by the manager trying to bring in the closer. If any other pitcher on the Closer list is in the game because he appears on another list, the manager may go to the Closer list to replace him.

Manager Tendencies

You can specify your tendencies for throwing, running and stealing bases, among other special settings.

You have two different settings for throwing on defense. To specify when to throw on a ground ball, where there is a sure out at first, choose <d> Defense on Grounders. To specify when to try to throw out runners advancing on base hits, choose <t> Throw on Base Advances.

There are three settings for offense. To specify when to move up on ground balls, choose <m> Moving up on Grounders. To set when to try for extra bases on hits, choose <a> Base Advances on Hits. To set your rules for stealing bases, choose <g> Going for the Steal (<s> means Save, so we use <g> instead).

There are miscellaneous tactics for hitters, such as when to bunt or Hit & Run, which can be set by choosing the <h> Other tactics for Players (Hitters). Similarly, there are some tactics for pitchers which can be set through the <p> Other Tactics for Pitchers option. Choose <r> Tactics for pinch runners to specify when to use pinch runners. The <I> Tactics for Bringing the Infield In lets you customize how the manager will set the defense with a runner on third.

You can save the tendencies independent of the manager by choosing the <s> Save these Tendencies option.

Setting Throwing and Running Tendencies

To set tendencies for throwing or running, choose the appropriate option from the Tendencies menu. Except for stealing, you will be presented with a menu which allows you to set options to standard default levels. Choose <c> Conservative to go only for the sure thing, <n> Normal to take the usual risks, and <a> Aggressive to take chances, but perhaps gain an edge. These choices can be made for each type of decision. For example, you may choose to be conservative on ground balls, almost always taking the sure out, but aggressive when throwing against base advances, always throwing and letting the batter/runner move up.

The default for each category is Normal. You can view the percentage values by choosing <z> Custom. You can also enter your own values this way, if you do not like the defaults. The numbers presented are your chance for success. When throwing at a base, 100 means you will throw only if you can always get him out, while 10 means you would throw if you had any chance to get him out. When running, a 100 would mean you would go only if you would be safe for sure, and a 10 would mean you would go with only a 10 percent chance to be safe.

Stealing

While there are defaults for stealing, there are no preset Conservative, Normal or Aggressive settings. Stealing is so much a matter of taste we left the decisions for the percentages up to you. Again, the percentage is the chance to be safe.

Tendencies for players

Several miscellaneous items are set from the <h> Tendencies for Hitters and Players option.

Close when behind and close when ahead

IMPORTANT

Note: Close when ahead will be used in future editions of Diamond Dreams Baseball.

The program uses the Close When Behind value to make defensive substitutions and decide whether to pinch-hit. The manager is more likely to pinch-hit for pitchers when the game is not close, and less likely to pinch-hit for players. Enter a number of runs which is one more than you would consider a close game. If you believe the game is close when you are down by no more than three runs, you would enter four (4).

Running When Close

Set the standard values for running when the score is close.

Running When Behind

Set the running values to use when behind by enough runs that the game is not close. These values will generally be more conservative than running values for close games.

% of time to Hit & Run

Specify the percentage of time you would choose to Hit & Run with a non-rated player (generally never), a Good player and Excellent player.

Bunting for Players

Specify the minimum bunt rating and percentage for sacrificing and the squeeze play. The percentages are used as specified with no one out. With one out, the percentages are multiplied by themselves (squared). For example, if you say to bunt 40% of the time, with one out, the manager will bunt 16% of the time (.4 times .4 is .16 or 16 percent). Bunting for pitchers is not affected by these values.

Minimum SAC rating required to play 3rd in

This value sets the game value for bringing in the third baseman in bunt situations.

Defensive Subs in Inning

Use this item to specify which defensive inning you would bring in defensive substitutes. Players listed as Defense on the depth chart will be brought in to play if the game is close and your team is ahead.

Tendencies for pitchers

You can set several options for pitchers as hitters, and a few as pitchers, from the <p> Tendencies for Pitchers option on the Tendencies Menu.

Bunting

Using the Tendencies for Pitchers box, you can set SAC ratings and percentages for sacrificing and squeezing. The minimum SAC rating is the lowest rating for bunting a pitcher can have before you will consider sacrificing or squeezing. The percentage is how often a pitcher with that rating will bunt, given the opportunity.

Pinch-hit for pitcher with fewer than X points

If it is likely that a pitcher will become tired the next inning, you may want to pinch-hit for him when his turn to bat comes up. This option lets you specify how close to FADED (how many points left) the pitcher should be before you pinch-hit for him. The game always pinch-hits for relievers in close games, except the premier closer. If you do not want to remove a pitcher who has points left, set this value to zero (0).

Use intentional walks

If you want the manager to use intentional walks, set this value to YES. If not, set it to NO. The manager, when told to use intentional walks, will use intentional walks with one or two outs and first base open, to:

- get to the pitcher slot before the sixth inning;
- move one slot down in the batting order to gain a platoon advantage; or
- get past a dangerous hitter with first base open.

The manager will never intentional walk the first two batters in the lineup.

Note: Our auto manager tends to intentionally walk the number eight hitter more than real managers.

Bring in closers for starters

Especially in historical years, you may not want your closers entering the game until the starting pitcher is unable to continue. You can control what level, or faith rating, a starter must have to prevent the closer list from use. For example, if you never want to go to the bullpen when your Ace is on the mound, choose level 5 (Horse) for this value.

Individual player tendencies

There may be certain players who do not fit the general rules you specify for your team. For example, because Tony Gwynn hits into a lot of double plays, you may want to Hit & Run with him, even if no other player on your team will Hit & Run. Perhaps your cleanup hitter is a good bunter, but you never want to bunt with him. In these two cases, you would override the general rule, set on the Tendencies for Players screen, and use individual tendencies instead.

To change individual tendencies, choose the <i> Individual Tendencies option from the Tendencies Menu. All your players, batters and pitchers will be displayed in a list. You can set individual tendencies for anyone on your roster.

The individual tendency screen for a given player gives you better control over his particular performance in a game. To set the tendencies, highlight the correct player and press <Enter>. Use <F8> to specify replacement players who will be called up when the player becomes injured. Press the <F9> key to set some general values for the whole team at once.

The first column shows whether a player can pinch-hit if he has not started a game. A ‘Y’ indicates the manager will use him as a pinch hitter. An ‘N’ shows that he is unavailable for pinch hitting.

The next column indicates whether the manager can pinch-run for the player. A ‘Y’ indicates that the manager can pinch-run for the player. An ‘N’ tells the manager that you do not want to pinch-run for the player. If the player is Frank Thomas or Ken Griffey, you may not want the manager to pinch-run for him.

The third column indicates whether you wish to use personal tendencies for bunting, squeeze plays and Hit & Run. A ‘Y’ indicates that the individual tendencies will be used, even if all the values are zero (which means never bunt, never Hit & Run with this player). An ‘N’ means that the team tendencies will be used for this player, even if other values are set here.

Highlight the player’s name and press <Enter> to change the value of these settings.

To activate the choices you enter on the screen, enter a ‘Y’ in the Use Personal Tendencies item. You can leave the other tendencies set, but turn them on and off with this item.

For bunting, squeezing and Hit & Run, set the percentage of time you want this player to use these options based on the number of outs.

You can specify how long a player will be hurt before you disable him. Assuming you are using the injury system, the manager will only disable the player if he is hurt for at least the number of days indicated. The default is 15 days.

Note: If a player is placed on the disabled list, he must miss at least 15 days, regardless of the length of the injury (and assuming you don’t clear rest).

Injuries

These conditions must be met for the manager to deactivate an injured player:

Minimum days injured

The player must be injured for the number of days indicated in the Individual Tendencies, at a minimum.

Eligible replacement

The player must have eligible replacements listed in his Individual Tendencies. You can choose players for this list within Individual Tendencies by pressing the <F8> key. Any player or pitcher on the roster can be added to this list, and the list can have up to five names on it.

Option set

You must set the option within the AutoManager, discussed earlier, to use this feature.

Replacements

You can specify replacement players for regulars who become injured. From the Individual Tendencies screen, highlight the player for whom you need to specify replacements. Press <F8> to gain access to the replacement list. Add players to the list the same way you would add pitchers to a reliever list, by pressing <Enter>, highlighting the replacement, and pressing <Enter> again. You can have up to five players listed as possible replacements.

When a player has been disabled long enough to exceed the value set in his personal tendencies, the manager will disable him if the option to enforce injuries is turned on, and if there replacements listed for the injured player. This takes place as part of the Post Game Show. The first eligible player from the list will be activated. If no player on the list is eligible to be activated, the player will not be deactivated by the manager.

Once the player has served his time on the disabled list, the AutoManager will activate him, deactivating a player from his replacement list. The manager chooses a player to deactivate from the bottom of the replacement list to the top, choosing the last active player on the list to deactivate. It is possible that the player who replaced the injured player will not be the player deactivated when the injured player returns, if there has been an intervening injury to another player.

Global Settings for Individual Tendencies

The AutoManager editor gives you the ability to set certain individual tendencies for every player at once. Press the <F9> key when any name is highlighted to activate the Global Options menu. From that menu, you can:

- Turn off all individual tendencies. This option leaves the bunting and Hit & Run number intact, but sets the option for each player to ignore them. You can later turn on the options for individuals if you wish.
- Let all players pinch-hit. This sets the "Can Pinch-hit" flag to ‘Y’ for every player.
- Clear all bunt, squeeze and Hit & Run numbers. This resets all the numbers for all the players to zero.
- Pinch-run for anyone. This sets the "Can Pinch-run for" flag to ‘Y’ for all players.
- Set Minimum injury length to disable. This option pops up a box which lets you enter the minimum length of injury before disabling. This value is used to set the minimum injury number for every player.

These global options set the individual tendencies for each player. Since these options reset the whole team at once, you may believe that you are setting some team option, but that is not the case. Team options are set from the Tendency menus.

Custom Rotation

Note: The Custom Rotation option can only be used if you have an existing schedule for this league which has games for your team.

You can specify a rotation by date, as well as by game number, using the Custom Rotation option from the Editor Menu.

In addition to the options available from the short rotation box, there is a special item which allows you to fill in games with a given pitcher. Here’s how:

1. Position the reverse video bar to the first game in which this starter is to appear.
2. Press <Enter>. Select his name from the list and press <Enter> to insert him in the rotation.
3. Now press <F> for fill. The pitcher will be inserted every so many days, depending on his rest. If his rest rating is 4, he will be placed in the rotation every fifth day, for the actual number of games in which he appeared. The program takes into account off days and days already filled with a starter. Off days are considered days of rest. If the day on which the pitcher is to appear is filled already, the pitcher will be inserted in the next open slot.

Note: The program counts the first date as a game appeared, but any other dates which already have the pitcher inserted will not be counted. You could therefore end up with too many appearances. Use Count to verify.

Saving the manager

There are several opportunities to save your work. You can save pieces of it from different menus, and the entire manager from the AutoManager Main Menu. When you select the <s> Save the Manager option, you will see a box with the name of the manager. At this time, the program will ask if you wish to password your manager. You should opt to password the manager only if you intend to export it for use by an opponent in your league, and then only if you really don’t trust your opponent.

Hint: Don’t password your manager. If there is something wrong with it, only you can fix a passworded manager. Our experience says nobody goes poking around a manger. Of course, if you must.

Use this option to make a copy of your manager. When the box pops up, type in the name of the copy. When you press <Enter>, the manager will be saved under a new name, and the old manager will remain unchanged. As you continue editing, you will now be working on the new manager (the copy).

Hint: This section describes how to copy a manager. This is a very useful feature.

Saving Tendencies, Rotations and Lineups

The Tendencies Menu and the Rotation Menu have Save options. These refer to saving that part of the manager, not the manager as a whole. The tendencies or the rotation is written out with its own name. These can be read back in later, either to change the same manager back to the way it was when the save took place, or to import the tendencies or rotation into a new manager.

Hint: If you save a set of tendencies as NORMAL and a rotation as MAIN, these will be automatically loaded into a new manager as you create it.

Lineups can be saved from the lineup creation screen. Type <s> or <w> to save the lineup. You can import lineups that have been previously saved by choosing the <i> option from the depth chart selection menu. When you choose that option, the program will ask you what lineup number you wish to replace. Enter a number from 1 to 5. If you choose a number of a lineup already in the manager, the old lineup will be replaced. If you choose the number of a blank slot, the new lineup will be added to the list. Next, choose the lineup from the list. If you are creating a new lineup, you can press the <Insert> key and type in a new name.

Tendencies, rotations and lineups can be renamed as you save them. The program will pop up a box with the current name of the piece to be saved. Simply type a new name to make a copy of the piece.

Hint: If you save a lineup as LHP or a lineup as RHP, the lineup will be automatically loaded into any manager you create.

As you add more lineups, you will need to adjust the way the AutoManager selects a lineup. Choose the <u> Lineup Usage option from the depth chart selection screen. The program will display a box listing each lineup, whether it is to be used against lefthanders or right-handers, and what percentage (or ratio) of the time the lineup is to be used.

These percentages do not need to total 100 or anything else. If one lineup has a "percentage" of 20 and another against the same kind of pitcher has a "percentage" of 10, the first lineup will be selected twice as often.

Hint: If you need to use one lineup exactly twice and another exactly once, you can change the percentages between games, setting one or the other to zero to force the AutoManager to choose a particular lineup.

Some General Guidelines

Building a manager

The Diamond Dreams manager can be very detailed and complicated, but it does not have to be. Your first manager can be simple and straightforward, and then you can add more detail as you go.

Hint: the best way to test your AutoManager is to play your own team against itself, letting the computer manager the visitors and you managing the home team.

What you need as a minimum

You need to specify the following for the manager to work correctly:

1. two lineups, one against lefties and one against right-handers. Alternatively, you could specify the same lineup for use against both kinds of pitchers.
2. a starting rotation, which can be a list of four or five starting pitchers.
3. a bullpen. The simplest form would be your closer listed alone on the Closer list, and several other bullpen specialists on any other list.

All the other information the manager needs has been set by defaults, including throwing, running, stealing, bunting, and so on. Bullpen usage also defaults to a basic standard approach.

The next step

After trying a few games with this basic manager, spend time arranging the bullpen pitchers into a more meaningful arrangement, spreading them out among the lists to tune how they would be used in a game. Identify a lefthander who you want to use in key situations to retire one left-handed batter and put him on the Lefty Specialist list.

Enhancing the offense

Once the pitching is reasonably well set, identify some batters in the lineup who would be treated differently. Look for weak hitters, and indicate that the manager will pinch hit for them. Look for weak defensive players and enter defensive substitutes. Find players with extreme platoon numbers and specify a platoon replacement for them.

If you have a starter who is strong defensively, you may want to consider entering him as his own defensive substitute. This keeps the manager from pinch hitting for him if your team is ahead.

Getting detailed

You can get into a lot of detail by studying the tendencies. Each tendency defaults to Normal, but you may want to be conservative sometimes, and aggressive others. You may want to tune the tendencies very specifically to your wishes.

You may decide the bullpen is not used the way you want. You can specify with a lot of detail exactly when each list should be used.

Hint: Tuning the bullpen usage is complex. The default chart works very well for modern seasons. You may not want to change it.

You may want certain starters to be pulled sooner or later than others.

All of these things can be set as you become more comfortable with what the manager does. The best thing to do is experiment.

Questions and Answers about the AutoManager for special situations

Q. I want to start with Kirby Puckett in center and Dave Winfield in right. If I get ahead, I want to move Puckett to right and bring in Shane Mack as a defensive replacement in center. How do I do this?

A. Specify Mack as a defensive replacement for Puckett, and Puckett as a defensive replacement for Winfield. When the time comes for defensive substitutions, the manager will move Puckett to right and stick Mack in Winfield’s slot, playing center. (Of course, if there are multiple substitutions, Mack may end up in someone else’s batting slot, but he will still be in center.) This suggests, by the way, that you should not use the same defensive player in more than one position. In fact, the AutoManager editor will not allow you to do so.

Q. I want to pinch-hit for Gagne if I am behind or tied, but not if I am ahead. What do I do?

A. Specify Gagne as the defensive substitute for Gagne. This tells the manager that Gagne is the best defender in that position, and therefore, do not pinch hit for him if defense is more important than offense (that is, if the team is ahead).

Q. I have Gagne as a starter and Rossy as a spot starter. With your advice above, I made Gagne the defensive substitute. What will happen in games that Rossy spot starts?

A. The manager does not pinch hit for spot starters, but will bring Gagne in as a defensive substitute.

Q. What if in the above situation, I want Gagne to stay on the bench if he did not start? That means I both want Gagne to stay in the game if I am ahead, and to not enter the game if he does not start?

A. Set Gagne’s personal tendency to indicate he should not PH if not starting. This item will also keep him out of the game as a defensive substitute.

Q. I want Brosius as my starting left fielder, but sometimes I want him to spot start at shortstop for Bordick. What do I do?

A. Specify Brosius as your starting left fielder. Specify a spot starter for Brosius. Then, enter Bordick as your starting shortstop and Brosius as the spot starter. The trick is to be sure you have a spot starter specified in left field. If you don’t, Brosius has to play there, and will therefore never spot start at shortstop. If you want to see just how complicated this can get, check out the lineups for the 1993 Oakland A’s.

Q. I want to tell the manager the exact order to bring in the pitchers from my middle relief list. I have three guys, one with an ERA of 2.50, one at 3.50 and one at 4.25. I want the best guy brought in first. How do I do it?

A. Put all three guys on the list, setting their percent use (Faith Rating) to zero. Put the 2.50 guy in the first slot, the 3.50 guy in the second and the 4.25 in the third. The manager will take them in order, since no one has a percent use value.

Q. I have one real good pinch-hitter against right-handers. I want to use him in a key situation, but after my two mediocre pinch-hitters have been used, I want to use the real good hitter regardless of whether it’s a key situation. How can I do that?

A. Put him on the list twice, once at the top with the key situation flag set, and once at the bottom with the flag turned off. Since the manager takes players off the list in order, it will skip him unless it’s a key situation, or the other players have been used. If you don’t put him on twice, the list will not give the manager a pinch-hitter, so the manager will go and take what it feels is the best pinch-hitter for the situation, which may or may not be the player you want.

Q. I have two pitchers who can get hurt, Stottlemyer and Swift, and two replacements, Cummings and Converse. Regardless of which pitcher gets hurt, I want Cummings to come up first, the Converse. If they both get hurt, I want both up. Then when the first comes off the DL, I want Converse sent down. How do I do that?

A. Put Cummings and Converse on the Replacement Lists of both Stottlemyer and Swift, in that order. The manager will pick from the top when activating, and pick from the bottom when deactivating. So what you describe is exactly what will happen.

Q. During the next two games, both against right-handers, I have to use RHPA once and RHPB once, due to player restrictions. How can I guarantee this happens?

A. Change the usage of the lineups. Set RHPB to zero before the first game, and RHPA will be chosen. Then between games, set RHPA to zero and RHPB to some value. The AutoManager will not choose a lineup set to zero use.

Q. During the next five games, I can only use my reliever Metzger three times. How can I do this?

A. Watch Metzger’s use. When he appears in his third game, deactivate him in Front Office.

Q. I’m about to export a manager to send in the mail for a road series. It’s a five game series. After the third game, I want Andres Galarraga activated. How do I do this?

A. Using Front Office, set Galarraga’s injury time to 3. Set Disabled to YES. Activate Galarraga’s replacement (for example, Floyd). Using the AutoManager (Individual Tendencies), select a replacement for Galarraga (in this case Floyd). Set Automatic Disabled List Management to YES.

After the third game, the manager will deactivate Floyd and activate Galarraga.

The Schedule Manager

Schedule Manager Overview

The Schedule Manager is used to schedule and play many Diamond Dreams baseball games. You will use it to set up and execute season replays. There are three basic functions:

- Editing the schedule
- Importing a schedule from a data base, spreadsheet or word processor; and
- Playing games

Details

Selecting a league

When you first choose an option, editing, importing or playing, the program will ask you for the league you want to use. Use the standard Diamond Dreams method to choose a league (highlight the league of your choice with the arrows or by pressing the first letter of the name, and press <Enter>).

Playing Games

If your league has a schedule, you can launch games from the <P> Play Games option from the Main Menu. After you choose the option, you will be asked two questions: whether to play all games, or the games for just one team, and whether to play computer only games, or any game. Select your choice from the menus displayed.

Note: You need a schedule to play games. Diamond Dreams leagues ship with a schedule. You will need to create one for your own leagues. See below to learn how.

All computer games for a single day will be launched first. The program will announce the game and the date. If there is a double header, it will say when the second game is being played.

Then the screen will clear. Depending on you setting for View (see the Options menu for a description of the View option), the computer will either display full text, or a special line score only screen. In line score only mode, the teams, the line score, the date, the current pitchers and available memory will be displayed on the screen during the game. At the end of the game, the winning and losing pitchers, and the pitcher who earned the save will be displayed. The Schedule Manager updates the league standings after every game and displays them on the screen.

At the end of the game, the Post Game show, and the StatManager will be run automatically. You will see a brief message about reading the stats before the computer moves on to the next game.

Note: On a P-166MHz, a game, plus post game and StatManager takes well under 5 seconds. A complete 8-team 154 game schedule takes about 15 minutes.

Interrupting a series of games

If you press any key during the actual playing of a game, you can interrupt a replay. The program will ask you if you really want to interrupt. If you answer with ‘C’ for Continue, the replay continues as if you never pressed a key. If you press any other key, the program will Post Stats and run Post Game. The program will then ask if you wish to finish out the day’s games. If you answer "Y" for YES, the replay will continue until the current day’s computer games have been completed. If you answer ‘N’ for NO, the replay stops immediately.

Continuing with Games

that are not Computer vs. Computer

After all computer games for a single day are played, the computer will launch games for you to manage. For each game, the computer will display an option box. You may choose at this time to play the game (you will manage the indicated team), skip the game (The computer will go on to the next game), or have the computer play the game (the computer plays the game as if the options read ‘hCrC’). Press the letter of the option you wish.

Resetting the schedule to indicate no games have been played

Highlight a range and press <Z> for Zap to reset the Games Played indicator for each game in the range. This way, you can reuse a schedule even after games have been played.

Editing By Team

Often, a replayer will want to play the games of one team, while letting the computer play the rest of the games. To set all the options for one team, choose <T> Edit by Team from the Edit Schedule Menu.

You will be asked to fill in a form with the possible team options:

- Human or Computer

Choose ‘H’ if you wish to play the games; ‘C’ if you wish the computer to play the games.

- Home, Road or All

If you wish to affect only home games, enter ‘H’. For road Games, enter ‘R’. For all games, place an ‘A’ in this item.

- All games or a range of games

If you enter ‘A’, every game for this team in the schedule will be affected. If you enter ‘R’, you will choose a range of dates from a month calendar for the games that will be affected.

Use the <Tab> or <Enter> key to move from field to field. <Shift-Tab> will allow you to back up. When the form is correct, press <F10> to make the changes. The computer will display each date in the range as it makes the changes. If your computer is very fast, or the range is very short, you may not see the display.

Games that have been played

The schedule indicates games that have been played by replacing the ‘@’ with a ‘#’.

Importing a schedule

You can create a schedule using the Diamond Dreams Schedule Manager or any data base, spreadsheet or word processor. For leagues of significant size, you may find an external method easier.

Rules for creating a schedule outside of Diamond Dreams

For each date, you need at least two things:

- the date itself, in mm/dd/yy format; e.g. 4/16/94 for April 16, 1994.
- a pairing for a game

Each game must be separated from the date and from every other game. You can separate items with spaces, commas or tabs. Any options for a game, such as double header or night game, follow the pairing without spaces in parentheses. For example, a night game between Boston and Oakland at Oakland would be:

BOS@OAK(N)

You can have spaces around the team abbreviations, but any options must follow immediately without spaces. The above example could look like this:

BOS @ OAK(N)

Possible options

Using the options, you can determine how a game will be played. These are the options that can appear between the parentheses:

N(*) - night game

D - day game

1(*) - single game

2 - double-header

C - computer plays both home and road teams

HC - computer plays home team

RC - computer plays road team

HR - game is played in recommended mode for the home team

RR - game is played in recommended mode for the road team

HH - human manager for the home team

RH - human manager for the road team

(*) default is a single night game played human vs. human.

The computer will replace the C option with hCrC, which means home and road will both be managed by the computer.

An example game date:

4/11/94 OAK@BOS(DC) MIL@MIN(C) CLE@NYY BAL@KC(hC)

In this example, Oakland at Boston is a computer-only day game. Milwaukee at Minnesota is a computer-only night game. Cleveland at New York is a human-played night game. Baltimore at Kansas City is a night game, human managing Baltimore and the computer handling Kansas City (the home team).

Opening Day

The opening day defaults to April 1 of the year of the playing ratings in use for that league. For example, if you use the 1993 set of player ratings for a replay, opening day will default to April 1, 1993.

If you import a schedule, opening day will be set to the first date on the first line of the import file.

In either case, the season must end within 210 days of the opening day. When you are editing, you can see if you are within the season itself. If the date January 1, 5000 shows up in the edit box, you are outside the confines of the season.

Importing the pre-existing schedule

To import a pre-existing schedule prepared with a database, a spreadsheet or a word processor, save the data as an ASCII document. Consult the documentation for your program for the exact procedure.

Next, enter the Schedule Manager. Select the <i> Import a Schedule option from the Main Menu. First, the program will ask you to choose the league. Next the program will display a box which contains the names of every file on your main baseball directory. Highlight the name of the file containing your ASCII version of the schedule, and press <ENTER>. The schedule will be imported.

Note: If the first letter of the name your ASCII file is an unusual letter, such as ‘Q’ or ‘X’, you can jump directly to the file name by pressing that letter. We use QSCHED.TXT as the name of the import file. By pressing ‘Q’, we jump directly to the file name.

Editing the Schedule

To edit the schedule, choose the <e> Edit or create schedule option from the Main Menu. There are two primary ways to edit the schedule: by Date and by Team. Generally you will want to edit by Date. You would want to edit by team if you want to adjust options for one team only. For example, assume you want to play all the games of the Texas Rangers in an American League replay, but you want the computer to play all the rest of the games. The fastest way to accomplish this is to Edit by Date, to set all the games to computer play, then Edit by Team to change the Rangers games to Human play.

Editing by Date

The options to edit by date are displayed across the top of the screen. Generally, the first letter can be typed to execute an option. The standard procedure is this:

- select the date or range of dates over which you want to perform a function; then
- press the letter of the function you want to execute.

The only exception is this: you can only edit one day at a time.

Selecting a single day

Use the arrow keys to highlight the day on the calendar that you wish to edit. You can use PageUp and PageDown to advance by month. Press the option key when the date you wish to use is highlighted.

Selecting a range of dates

First, select the first (or last) date of the range using the technique described above. Then press <R> or <.> to signify the beginning of a range. Next, highlight the rest of the range. When the range is highlighted, press the key for the option you wish to perform on the range.

Copying one day to another

First, select the date that contains the information you want to copy. Press <C>. Next, select the date to which you want the information to be copied. Press <Enter>. The information from the first date selected will be copied to the second date.

Copying one day to a range of dates

First, select the date you wish to copy. Press <C>. Now select the range of dates to which you want the information copied. Press <Enter>. The information from the first date will be copied into each date in the range.

Copying a range to a range of the same size

First, select the range of dates you want to Copy. Next, select the first date to which you want to copy the range. Then press <C>. The information, game pairings and options, will be copied to the new date. The rest of the range will be copied to subsequent dates.

Copying a range to a range of a larger size

You can repeat a range several times when you copy. First, select the source range to copy. Press <C>. Then select a target range to which to copy. Make the target range larger than the source range. Press <Enter>. The information from the first day in the source range will be copied to the first day of the target range, the second day to the second day, and so on. When the days in the source range have been used up, the first day will be copied into the next day in the target range.

For example, assume you want to copy April 1 and April 2 to all of June. First, highlight April 1 and April 2. Press <C>. Now highlight all of June. Press <Enter>. April 1 will be copied to June 1, April 2 to June 2, April 1 to June 3, April 2 to June 4, and so on.

Moving information

Moving works exactly the same way as Copying, except the information in the source range (or source day) is erased. Essentially, the information is moved instead of copied.

Setting Options

To set options, highlight the range the options will affect. Press <O>. The date calendar will display an options field. Enter the options in the field. Press <F10> to continue. The program will copy the options to the range you highlighted. It will display the dates as it makes the copies.

Possible options

The options are the same as the options for an external schedule.

Editing a single date

To edit a single date, highlight the date you wish to edit and press <Enter>. You can then change the teams that are playing or the options for any game that appears on the date calendar. There will be blank calendar lines if there are teams not playing on that date. You can schedule games between them at this time, if you so choose, by positioning the cursor to a blank game line.

To enter a team, type the abbreviation of the team from the selected league. Alternatively, you can press <F9>, highlight the abbreviation of the team and press <Enter> to select it. Use the <Tab> or <Enter> key to move to the next field.

When the Options field is highlighted, enter the options for the game, such as ‘C’ for computer-only, and ‘2’ for a double header. These options are listed in the preceding section on setting options for a range of dates. After filling in the item for the last field, press <F10> to return to the month calendar.

Exiting

As you exit the program, you will be asked if you want to save the schedule. If you have done editing, or played only part of the schedule, you will want to save the schedule. If you played the entire schedule, or wish to start over from the beginning, do not save the schedule. If you know what day to resume an interrupted replay, you may not want to save the schedule.

To save the schedule, either choose the <S> Save the Schedule option from the Main Menu, or enter a ‘Y’ when the program asks you when you exit. If you do not want to save the schedule, answer the question with an ‘N’ for NO.

Manager's Stat Pack

The Manager’s Stat pack consists of two functions: producing reports and saving statistics.

Producing Reports (The Reporter)

You can reach the Reporter from the Replay menu (to view statistics from any source, not just replays).

The Global Limits

The first thing you will see is the Global Limits screen. When the Major Leagues publishes statistics, it displays leaders with certain minimum qualifying statistics. For example, by the end of the year, the leader in batting average must appear at the plate 502 times, and the leader in ERA must pitch 162 innings. These limiting statistics are used to list leaders in Batting Average, Slugging, ERA and the like. The level at which the limit is set will change during the year (your leader list would be rather short after 16 games if you required 502 plate appearances). Consequently, the Reporter has moved the limits outside the reports so you can vary them for each run of the reports.

Limiting Statistics

The following statistics can be set as global limits:

Batting:

At Bats, Plate Appearances, Pinch hit At Bats, Stolen Base Attempts

Pitching:

Innings Pitched, Decisions

Defense:

Defensive Innings

Global limits are either on or off. If you enter any positive value for the limiting statistic, it will be used to sift out qualifying players. If you leave the value set to zero, the limit is ignored. Use the arrow keys, the Enter key, or the Tab Keys to highlight the number for the statistic you wish to use during this run of the report as a limiting statistic. Enter the new number. Then, when all the numbers have been entered, use the F10 key to exit the Global Limit form and continue.

Why Up Front

The Global Limits form is the first form presented because it is very easy to forget to set the limits. By forcing you to go through this screen to start the action in the program, we have increased the probability that you will remember to set the limits, at least a little. There is a main menu item that will allow you to return to set the global limits, or change them after running a few reports.

The Main Menu

The main menu allows you run a statistical report, run the Standings report, reset the Global Limits, or exit:

<r>: Run a Stat Report

Use this option to select, edit and run a stat report.

<s>: Standings Report

Use this option to run the Standings report. This report list for each team wins, losses, winning percentage, games behind, record home and road, record in 1-run games and extra innings, and record vs. LHP and RHP.

<t>: Team by Team breakdown.

<g>: Set Global Limits

Use this option to return to the Global Limits form to view and change the global limits.

<l>: View Low Hit Game Line scores (LOWHIT.DOC)

This option only appears after you run a report. It will display the Line scores from you data files for games where one team collected one or fewer hits.

<q>: Quit

Use this option to return to the menu you came from. <F10> also works.

Running a Stat Report

If you select Run a Stat Report from the main menu, the program will prompt you to select the report you wish to run. Use the arrow keys to highlight the report name and press Enter to select it.

You can also type the first letter of the report name to jump to that part of the list.

The Report Options Menu

Once you select a report, you are presented with the Report Options menu. From here, you can run the report one of two ways, edit the report form, save the form, or return to the main menu.

Menu choices:

<o>: Run this Report for One Team

Use this option to display statistics for only one team (your own perhaps). You will be given an opportunity to display the report for other teams once the first team is complete.

<l>: Run a league report

Use this option to run the report once, mixing together all the players of the league into one report. This style report run is usually used for leaders or statistics accumulated by team.

<t>: Run a Team By Team Report

Use this option to run this report once for each team. This style is used for cumulative team reports (by player for each team).

<p>: Print the report

This option only appears after a run report has been run. Select it to send the report to the printer. Be sure to set up your printer correctly before printing the report (for example, condensed)

<v>: View the Report

This option brings an existing report up on the screen for viewing.

<x>: Return to main menu

Use this option to return to the main menu. You may wish to return to change the global limits, select a different report, or exit the program.

Which style report should I run?

<l>: League Reports

Select this option to combine all the players in the league for a single set of reports. This option is used to produce batting and pitching leaders, for example. If you choose League Reports, you will get a single copy of the report. It may not be obvious, but a report which totals the batting statistics by team and displays one line per team, is a league report (because you get a single copy of the report), and not a team by team report (which in this case would put the team total on a separate page for each team).

<t>: Team by Team Reports or <o> One team only

Select this option to produce the same report for every team in the league or just one team. A separate copy of each report will be produced for each team, including only players for that team. One unusual aspect of this feature is the ability to run the report you normally run for league leaders team by team, thereby producing batting, pitching and fielding leaders by team.

Running a Report

Regardless of the style you choose, you must select a league for which to run the report. You can only select one league per program run, so you will only be prompted to select the league the first time you run a report. To run a report for another league, you must restart the program. Highlight the league for which you want to run the report, and press Enter to select.

Choosing Statistical Breakdown

You may run report by listing left/right statistics. Regardless of your choice, you will also be given combined statistics. Global limits are pro-rated in varying ways depending which breakdown you choose. If you choose left/right, the limits are scaled to reflect reasonable expectations of home many batters or pitchers of each type a player would face.

When you select a left/right report, the program will ask you is you want the data to be printed on the same page. You will likely want to answer YES if the report is a team composite style report, where several players are listed with 20 or more statistics for each. You will likely want to answer NO if the report is a league style report, where several blocks are displayed on the same page.

Running Reports

After choosing a breakdown, the reporter will load the data (this may take several minutes for a large league at the end of a year) and then collect and sort the data and send the report to the screen.

It takes a while to read in all the data. That is because Diamond Dreams allows you to extract data again, so each game is stored separately. We trade off the ability to exclude certain series from reports for rapid input. As an aid to help you know how long the input of the data will take, the program counts down the number of records it needs to read.

Keyboard Macros

Keyboard macros are useful when you have to repeat the same keystrokes over and over. If you run the same reports every so often, you can use keyboard macros to simplify the procedure greatly. To save keystrokes, start from the Main Menu. You cannot save keystrokes before you set the Global Limits. However, you will usually want to change the limits anyway, and if the limits were stored in the macro file, it would make the keystroke file useless. From the Main Menu, select <k> Keystroke Recorder.

The program will indicate that it is now recording a keyboard macro.

Now, type commands to the program the way you would normally. Select the report you want to run, run it with your usual options and so on. When you return to the Main Menu for the last time, select <k> Keyboard Recorder again. The program will now indicate that you have finished recording the macro.

Then it will give you an opportunity to save the macro by displaying a list of your current keyboard files.

You can select one of the files or save it as a new file by pressing the <INSERT> key and typing in the new name.

To replay your macro, select <d> Do Keystroke Replay. The program will display a list of keystroke files. Select the file you want to replay and press Return. The program now takes over, getting key presses from the file as you pushed them before, rather than waiting for you to press them. You will note the program runs faster, and you have nothing to do until it announces it has used up all your keystrokes.

Cautions

- If you selected a league as part of your keystroke recording, you must exit the program and reenter before replaying your recording. The program does not ask for a league the second time you run a report, and the strokes you used to select a league will confuse the program, leading to strange (and seldom wonderful) results.
- If you change the number of reports, the names of reports, or the number of leagues, you will have to record your macro again. It depends on precise keystrokes, including arrow keys, and if the number of arrow keys you need to press to select a team, for example, changes, the macro will not work as expected.
- You need a separate recording for each league and report suite you want to run.

Setting the Printer Type

Before you print reports, you need to tell the program what kind of printer you have. From the Reporter Main Menu, select <o> set printer and screen options. Press <p> to set your printer type. Enter the number next to the printer that closely matches the printer attached to your system. We have most of the popular brands listed. Your printer manual will probably suggest a printer type if your exact printer is not listed. Press <F10> to exit the screen and confirm to save your printer selection.

Note: You will only need to do this once.

Viewing the Report

When the program has put the report together, it will display the report on the screen. Most of the Diamond Dreams reports are designed for 132 characters, so you can’t view the whole report at once. However, it is easy to move around on the screen to view the entire report. Use these keys to move around:

Up arrow and Down Arrow: one line at a time.

Left arrow and Right Arrow: one column at a time.

Tab: Move the view right 20 columns.

Shift-Tab: move the view left 20 columns.

Page Up and Page Down: move the view 20 columns up or down.

You can send the report directly to the printer from the screen. Press ‘P’ to send the report to your printer.

Note: You will need to turn your printer on first. And you should tell the Diamond Dreams program what kind of printer you have.

Report Disposition

When you exit from the Report Menu, you will be asked what you want to do with the program. Choose the option which best fits your needs. If the file does not exist, the options are:

<s>: Save this report

Write out the file to the name listed on the screen.

<n>: Save this report under a different name

Specify a new name for the file

<d>: Discard this report

Throw the report away if you don’t want to save it.

Most times, the file already exists, because you ran the report at an earlier time. If there is already a file with that name on your disk, the options are a little different:

<r>: Replace the old report

This option overwrites an existing file with the same name.

<s>: Save this report under a new name

This option lets you enter a new name for the report.

<d>: Discard the new report

If you don’t want the report saved on screen, choose this option.

Report Types

We’ve packaged a number of pre-generated reports with the Manager’s Stat Package. They were created using the League Stat Package. Their names and what they produce are noted below:

Guides

: BATGUIDE, PITGUIDE, and FLDGUIDE, are all alphabetized lists of Batters, Pitchers and fielders as they would appear in, say, the Sporting News Guides. A-Z, with all their major stats and with fielders broken down by position and then listed A-Z. There are as many pages as it will take to list all the players in your league. Should be run as a league report. Output as Batguide.doc, Pitguide.doc, and Fldguide.doc

Leaders

: BATLDR1, BATLDR2, BATLDR3, PITLDR1, PITLDR2, and FLDLDR, are all league-leaders type reports, with one set for the Batters, one for the Pitchers, and one for the fielders. With each stat category listed and the top five players in each category denoted, these reports are numbered. Each is one page in length and the first report in each series is the major stat categories, with each ascending numbered report listing a less mainstream set of leaders. These should be run as League reports. Output as BatldrX.doc, PitldrX.doc, and FldldrX.doc.

BATPHGS

: A report listing in two columns the leagues best pinch hitters (PH) and the entire list of players whom hit grand slams (GS). One page long and should be run as a league report. Output as Batphgs.doc.

BATMISC

: A report listing all the BATters in the league A-Z, with their miscellaneous batting stats (H&R average, bunting breakdowns, etc.) As many pages as are needed and should be run as a league report. Output as Batmisc.doc.

PLYRCOMP

: A team-by-team listing of all their PLaYers and their batting and pitching stats. Looks a lot like the weekly reports in USA Today. One page for each team in the league. Should be run as a team-by-team report, for the entire league or as one team at a time. If run and then <v> viewed, can give a quick on-screen report of a team’s stats. Output as Plyrcomp.doc.

PLBKCOMP

: Same in layout as PLYRCOMP, but listing a players’ PLatoon BreaKdowns in pitching and batting. Run as a team report, and definitely do choose to see platoon breakdowns on the same page. Great for analyzing why a player might be over or under achieving. One page per team. Output as Plbkcomp.doc.

FLDCOMP

: A team-by-team report, one team to a page, of all the players’ fielding stats. Great for seeing range effects and catcher’s ERA. Output as Fldcomp.doc.

TMBPCOMP

: TeaM Batting and Pitching stats for every team in the league, sorted by runs scored/allowed. One page long, and should be run by league. Output as Tmbpcomp.doc.

TMFDCOMP

: TeaM FieLDing stats for every team in the league, sorted by Range Check percentage. Output as Tmfdcomp.doc.

TMBTMISC

: TeaM BaTting Miscellaneous stats, H & R average, bunting, etc. One page long, and should be run as a league report. Output as Tmbtmisc.doc.

TMSBRPT

: TeaM Stolen Base RePorT. Listing for each team their stolen base attempts and success by base. One page long, and should be run as a league report. Output as Tmsbrpt.doc.

Stat Management

We have several utilities available from the Main Menu to help you manage statistics. Choose <m> Stat Management and Posting to reach them.

After you choose the league whose statistics you wish to manage, you will be presented with a menu:

<p>: Post Stat File

Add statistics from STS files, games played on other computers or your own, to the league statistics files. Enter the pathname where you can find the STS files. Then select the file you wish to post by highlighting its name and pressing <Enter>. The program will show you the home and road team to help you verify this is the file you wish to post. Press <F10>, the answer ‘Y’ for YES when asked if you want the file posted.

<c>: Compress Stat Files

Stat files can get large. You can make them smaller by choosing this option.

<x>: Clear Data Files

You can get rid of all the data in your league files with this option.

<q>: QUIT

Use this option to return to the Main Baseball Menu.

The Simulation

How the Players for a year are chosen

Each player who made a significant contribution during the season is represented by a single set of ratings and matrix results. While we reserve the right to alter them in the future, the current thresholds for getting rated are: 25 at bats for batters, 15 innings for relievers and 1 start for starting pitchers. These may and will change at our discretion.

Random Numbers

The game is activated by two sets of random numbers generated by the computer: a set from 1-to-20 and a set from 1-to-10.

The batters and pitchers’ rating matrices use the 1-to-20 set while many of the result tables in the game use the 1-to-10 set.

Action Symbols Definitions

This list of definitions, located at the back of this book, lists all the Action Symbols found on the batter’s and pitcher’s matrices. These symbols are abbreviations of the baseball play that has occurred, followed by an explanation in detail. These symbols are in a kind of shorthand, describing what happened during that play. You can read the player’s matrices by looking at the player on the screen and then comparing his symbols with the Action Symbols Definitions.

We use traditional baseball scoring notation to indicate fielding positions:

1 = Pitcher

2 = Catcher

3 = First baseman

4 = Second baseman

5 = Third baseman

6 = Shortstop

7 = Left fielder

8 = Center fielder

9 = Right fielder

So, an Action Symbol which uses the number 6 in it indicates the ball is hit to the shortstop; a symbol with a 7 is hit to the left fielder, and so forth. The Action Symbols are mainly found on the hitter’s matrix, but some also occur on the pitcher’s matrix.

Player Information

All the players have various following information and ratings:

The player’s name, team, age during that year, and which way he bats and throws. Also included are his final statistics. For hitters we show: Batting Average, Slugging Percentage, On Base Percentage, At Bats, Runs, Hits, Runs Batted In, Home Runs and Stolen Bases. For Pitchers we show: Wins, Losses, Saves, Earned Run Average, Innings Pitched, Hits, Home Runs Allowed, Total Walks Allowed, and Strikeouts.

For some players whose statistics are not accurate (our Negro League set as well as the projected stats for the 1994 call ups) we do NOT show the players’ stats on the screen. In those cases the stats are only projections, and your mileage may vary.

Fielding Ratings

All players who played in the field are rated at the positions they played. The game highlights the players’ main position in yellow. For realistic statistical results, we encourage all players spend most of their time in the field at their primary position. Any player rated "2-2-0" at a position played that position only sparingly (a few defensive innings at most). It is impossible with that small a sample to accurately rate his performance there, so we give him a rating out of courtesy. We only rate players at those positions they actually played during that season.

POS, R, A, DP, E: These ratings simulate the player's fielding abilities.

POS: indicates the position(s) played.

R: the player’s Range rating at the position. For all fielders except the Catcher, this rates the player’s range in the field; for Catchers, it rates their pitch-calling ability. A fielder’s "R" ranges from 1 to 12, with 5 being average, and 11 or 12 historical greats. The distribution of ratings tends to mimic a bell curve. It is rare for any player to exceed 8 at a position or to be a regular and receive a rating below 3.

DP: an infielder’s ability to turn the double play. This rating ranges from 1 to 12 with 5 being average for shortstops and third basemen and 7 being average for second basemen, because a second baseman’s DP ability matters more than the others.

A: is an outfielder’s or catcher’s throwing arm. This ranges from 1 to 12 for outfielders with 5 being average, and from +5 to -5 for catchers with 0 being average.

E: stands for the players’ error frequency at the position. This rating ranges from 0 to 20 with 10 being average. The error frequency in any particular year is determined by the number of E? results on the batter’s matrix. Thus, in 1941 a shortstop with an error rating of 15 might be expected to commit 22 errors, while the same shortstop in 1994 might be expected to commit 10.

Pitchers' Ratings

Hold: This measures the Pitcher’s ability to hold runners close and prevent them from stealing. Range is from -10 to +10, with 0 being average.

Rest & Dist: These ratings are given to pitchers who can start a game, with Rest indicating how many games the must rest between starts and Dist indicating how many innings they tend to last when the do start. Diamond Dreams™ Baseball will not allow you to start a pitcher who doesn’t have enough rest. If you wish to ignore this rule or you are not following a standard schedule, you can give the team extra days of rest through the Commissioner’s Office program or you can turn the pitcher’s rest rules Off. When pitchers Tire during the game you will be informed he has tired and you may then decide to take him out of the game. Pitchers who cannot pitch complete games have a ‘B’ appended to their Dist rating. The Rest rating is mainly determined by what kind of rotation they normally pitched in 4-or 5-man rotation.

Relief: This rating is given to pitchers who can relieve indicating when during a game they tended to be used and how long they lasted when they did.

Batting Ratings

Goes: Ability to get a lead and attempt to steal a base. This rating extends normally between 1 and 20; however, a Goes rating may occasionally be above 20.

Steals: Ability, once going, to steal the base; this rating ranges between 14 and 19.

Sac: Ability to lay down a good bunt, with the rating extending between 1 and 10.

Speed: Ability as a base runner. This is not only a measure of raw running ability but also base running "smarts"; a very fast and smart runner is a 10 and a slow runner is a 1.

Inj: Injury ratings. These are letters between A and G, determining the duration of injuries. An ‘A’ type player being injured for only 1 or 2 games at a time, while a ‘G’ injury may miss more than half a season when struck down. Diamond Dreams™ Baseball informs you an injury has occurred, gives you a report on the duration of the injury, and may, at your option, enforce the injury.

H & R: This is player’s Hit & Run ability. The ratings are EX (Excellent), and GD (Good). Any player without one of these two ratings is assumed to be Normal. Any player may attempt a Hit and Run, but the chances of success are poor unless the player is EX or GD.

DPs = G?’s: A hitter may have this notation. This means that if a pitcher generates a DP Action Symbol while he is batting the symbol changes to a G? hit to the same fielder. This is only used with batters who have over 200 at bats and did not hit into a ground ball DP all year.

Hitters and Pitchers may have a Walk rating. See the explanation for this rule below the sample at bat. It will make more sense to you when you read it there.

Pitchers' Matrices

Look at Dizzy Dean’s matrix on the next page. The first six columns represent their hitting information. The lines in the columns (20 in all) correspond to the 1-to-20 random number.

On the right hand side of Dizzy’s matrix you’ll see the P column. This column is used when he pitches. The X column next to it is used only when the P column roll results in an ‘X’. With an ‘X’ the computer then generates another 1-to-20 random number and read the new result from the X column.

The P and X columns contains both Action Symbols and batter’s hitting column numbers. Any Action Symbol occurring off the pitcher’s matrix is an automatic result. The automatic Action Symbols on the pitcher’s matrices include (but may not be limited to) "K," "W," "HB," "DP," "PO," "F," "S", "*," "b," "k," and "p." These symbols are all explained for you on the Action Symbols Chart.

The hitter’s column results (1 through 6) correspond to the columns on the hitters’ matrices, telling you in which column to look when reading the hitter’s matrix.

Dizzy Dean

1936 Saint Louis NL

BATS:Right POS R DP E GOES:-

THROWS:Right P 3 5 18 STEALS:-

AGE:25 SAC:8

HOLDS: -1 SPEED:5

REST:2 DIST: 9 INJ:-

RELIEF:4/3

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 P X #

1 F8? G5a G4a G5? PO4 PO6 1 2 1

2 F8a G1a F9? G6a PO4 PO3 X 4 2

3 F9+ F7? F9a F8t PO1 LD6 2 6 3

4 DP6 F7a F9a F9a LD5 G3? 1 K 4

5 DP3 DP1 DP6 DP1 G5? G5a 4 3 5

6 DP6 DP5 DP5 DP5 G5? F8t K 3 6

7 K DP6 DP6 DP3 G6a F9? 5 6 7

8 K K K K F7t F8a 4/2 W 8

9 K K K K F9a DP4 1 3 9

10 K K K K DP3 DP4 5 3 10

11 E? K K K DP5 K 5 2 11

12 E? E? E? E? K K 5 3 12

13 SS 3B E? 1b? K K 5L1 2 13

14 2B CF P SS K K 3 1 14

15 S7 S8 1B 2B UP UP X 1 15

16 S8? S7 C 3B E? E? 2 K 16

17 S8? S7? LF CF C 2B 5 2 17

18 S7? S9t SvL SvL SS C 1 5* 18

19 D8? D7? S7? S9? LF RF K 2 19

20 T8 D7? S8? D9? SvL SvL 5 1 20

W L S ERA G GS IP H HR W K

24 13 11 3.17 51 34 315 310 21 53 195

Clutch Pitching

Pitchers will often have two Pitching column results separated by a slash (/); see Dizzy Dean #8, (4/2). In this case, the Pitching column result to the left of the slash is used only when pitching with the bases empty. The Pitching column result to the right is used only when pitching with a man or men on base.

Ken Griffey Jr.

1994 Seattle

BATS:Left POS R A E GOES:3

THROWS:Left CF 4 9 12 STEALS:16

AGE:25 RF 2 2 0 SAC:1

. SPEED:6

. INJ:A

.

.

# 1 2 3 4 5 6 X Y #

1 X Y X Y X Y K F7? 1

2 DP3 F8 LD6 F7? PO3 PO3 HB F7? 2

3 DP6 F8t LD5 F8a PO5 PO6 W F7a 3

4 DP6 DP4 F9 DP5 LD4 PO3 E? F8a 4

5 DP4 DP5 F7 DP1 LD6 PO4 IH F7a 5

6 K DP4 F8a DP4 F9 PO4 IH F9a 6

7 K K DP4 DP1 F7 DP3 IH F9a 7

8 W W DP4 K F8? DP1 S7 F7a 8

9 E? UP DP4 K F7a DP4 S7 F8+ 9

10 C 1b? DP3 W DP4 DP5 S9? F9+ 10

11 SS SS K E? DP4 K S7? F9+ 11

12 RF LF W 1b? DP4 K S8t Ki 12

13 S8? IH E? 2B DP4 UP S9t Wi 13

14 S9? S9? C P K E? S9t W 14

15 Dcl S9? CF 1B K SS S8t E? 15

16 HR7 S8t SvR RF E? C D9? S7 16

17 HR8 D8? HR9 S7? 1b? 2B T9 S8 17

18 HR9 D8? HR8 S8t 3B P HR8 S7 18

19 HR7 D9? HR9 D8? HR9 SS HR7 S8 19

20 HR9 T9 HR9 D8? HR9 D8? HR9 S8 20

BAVG SLUG OBP G AB R H RBI HR SB

.323 .674 .401 111 433 94 140 90 40 11

Example: Dean and Griffey are facing each other. If Dizzy rolled a 8 and Ken rolled a 16, you would need to know the base situation before resolving the play, because Dizzy’s matrix has a result of 4/2 there. With no one on base, you would read Ken’s result in column 4 (RF: a range check); with runners on, you would read in column 2 (S8t).

Platoon Pitching

Pitchers will often have two Pitching column results separated by a letter, either an R or an L (see Dean #13). The Pitching column result to the left of the ‘L’ or ‘R’ is used only when pitching to batters who hit from the same side the pitcher throws. The Pitching column result to the right of the letter is used only when pitching to batters who hit from the opposite side from the way the pitcher throws. The ‘R’ or ‘L’ is there to remind you which type of batters hit the pitcher better. So, a result that reads 3R1 means against lefty hitters the Pitching column result is a 3 but against right handed hitters it is a 1.

Example: Dean’s matrix, #13. It reads 5L1. When right handed batters are hitting it is a 5 and when left handed batters hit it is a 1. So in this case, if Dean was facing Griffey, the result would be a 1.

Hitters’ Matrices

Hitters’ matrices contain six numbered columns (1 through 6) and the two other columns (the X and Y columns). At each intersection of each column and a numbered line is an Action Symbol. Each Action Symbol on a hitter’s matrix is an abbreviation of a hit, out, or various other special plays.

The Pitcher’s column result tells the hitter which column to look in when he is batting. The X and Y columns on the hitter’s matrices are only referred to when a batter’s Action Symbol result is an X or Y.

Examples: if Dean rolled a 14, which results in a column 3 and Griffey rolled a 19, the Action Symbol would be a HR9, which is a homer to right. If Dean rolled a 7 (a column 5 result) and Griffey rolled a 4 the Action Symbol is a LD4, a line out to second base. If Dean rolled a 19 (automatic K) Griffey would strike out automatically without rolling. If Dean rolled a 15 (X) and then rolled an 8 (checking in the X column: W), Griffey would automatically walk. If Dean rolled a 15 (X) and then rolled an 18 (checking in the X column: 5*), and Griffey rolled a 20 (D8?) Ken would hit a double. With the 5*, however, if there were any runners on base, the * suf?x would indicate a Wild Pitch, runners moving up one base, with both the batter and pitcher re-rolling, ignoring the 5 column result. See the Action Symbols Chart for details and explanations.

A sample At-Bat

This is a typical at-bat.

Step 1.: The defense sets the fielders’ positions. The offensive manager chooses to hit away normally, hit & run, bunt, or steal. If he chooses to hit away go to step #2. If he chooses to hit & run, bunt or steal, he declares that option now, and special rules detailed below cover those options. If he chose to hit & run, go to step #2; if he chose to bunt, roll for the pitcher (step #2) and then roll for the hitter; if he chose to steal resolve the steal before going to step #2.

Step 2.: The Enter key is struck. The computer calculates the following: if the pitcher’s matrix symbol is a number (ranging from 1-6), the computer generates a random number for the hitter, looking in the corresponding column on the batter’s matrix (see step #3). If the Pitcher’s matrix result was an Action Symbol (see above), the play is finished and that Action Symbol is used.

Step 3.: The computer ?nds the Action Symbol on the hitter’s matrix and reads the description on the Action Symbols List and applies the results.

Walk Ratings

Hitters and Pitchers may have a Walk rating on the matrix. It is found on the bottom of the matrix.

For Hitters:: Their Walk rating ranges from 1-20. If a hitter who has a Walk rating is hitting against a pitcher whose result is a W Action Symbol in either his P or X columns and the actual random number falls within the hitter’s Walk range, the W on the pitcher’s matrix is ignored and the batter and pitcher start over.

For Pitchers:: Their Walk rating ranges from 1-6, and may be shown as a discontinuous range, such as 1:3:6. If a batter is hitting against a pitcher who has a Walk rating and the batter generates a W action symbol located in the column(s) whose number(s) are within the pitcher’s Walk range or match any of the columns in a discontinuous selection, the W is ignored and the batter and pitcher start over.

Base Running

Before an at-bat, but after the defensive manager sets his fielders, the offensive manager must state how his runners are Coached. You may coach them Aggressive, Normal, or Conservative. Diamond Dreams™ allows you to set thresholds for runners such as "faster than 7, run Aggressive." It is assumed the runners are using these thresholds unless you manually override them.

Runners may be Coached individually. For instance if runners are on 1st and 2nd the runner on 2nd may be Aggressive while the runner on 1st may be Aggressive, Normal or Conservative. Note that if a forced lead runner is Conservative it matters little what the runners behind him are coached; his slowness will limit the advance of all the runners behind him.

There are modifiers to a runner’s Speed due to such items as whether he is being held on, whether there are two outs, etc. The Game Screen will tell you what the runner’s coaching is currently. If, due to modifiers, a runners’ Speed has crossed a coaching threshold, that runner will change his coaching based on his modified Speed.

Note: Please take note of runner’s Speeds and the game situation and be prepared to manually adjust them from time to time. For instance, an unforced runner on 3rd will normally hold on many grounders and fly balls if coached Conservative or Normal. You may wish to coach these runners Aggressive if you wish them to try and score on outs.

Stealing Bases

Stealing bases is totally voluntary on your part. The game will not have runners attempt to steal bases automatically. However, those runners with horrendous stealing percentages (for example, going 2-for-8), will try and steal and be thrown out once in a while to insure their seasonal percentage comes out realistically (you may mentally assume they missed a sign). Especially for these runners, if you do not attempt to steal with them when the time is right, by the end of the year their percentage will be worse than in real life.

Getting a Good Lead

If a runner on base wishes to steal, first see if he can get a good lead. The pitcher’s Holds rating is matrixed with the runner’s Goes rating when trying to steal, regardless of which base the runner is stealing.

The Game Screen notes what a runner’s Goes and Steals ratings are, as well as the catcher’s throwing arm rating and the pitcher’s Holds rating. The <BS> option lets you see the chance to get a good lead or steal; the <BG> option has the runners off regardless of their chances.

A random number from 1 to 100 is generated; if the number is equal to or less than the runner’s modi?ed Goes percentage he is off and stealing; if it is greater than the number, he cannot get a lead against that pitcher at this time.

During his tenure on a particular base, a runner may attempt to get a good lead only once while on that base. He may make this attempt at any time after reaching the base. It may be more advantageous to attempt the steal with the second batter up afterwards rather than the first, for example. If the runner advances to a new base (by any means), he may once again try to get a good lead regardless of whether he tried previously or not.

If the defense changes pitchers while a runner is on a base from which he failed to get a good lead, this pitching change clears his old attempt and he may once again try to get a lead.

If the offense pinch runs for a runner that has failed his Goes attempt, that runner will never be able to succeed at his Goes attempt until he moves up a base. We frown on that tactic, obviously.

These limitations are enforced in order to limit the number of times a player will be able to check for a lead. The Goes rating represents the sum total of all a runner’s chances while on base that time.

Example: a runner reaches 1st and fails his Goes roll. He then advances to 2nd via a fielder’s choice; he may then try to get a good lead and steal 3rd. If he hadn’t advanced to 2nd he wouldn’t have been able to try for 2nd again unless the defense changed pitchers.

Stealing the Base

Once the runner has succeeded at his Goes attempt, he’ll try to steal the base. To resolve the actual steal attempt, the catcher’s Arm rating is compared with the runner’s Steals rating. There are modifiers to the Steals rating based on the handedness of the batter, with left-handed batters giving the runner an advantage while right handed batters are a slight detriment. Playing on Grass has a slight negative effect while playing on Turf is positive. These are automatically factored in to the Steals rating by the computer. The random number is compared to the total modified Steals rating. If the number is less than or equal to the modi?ed Steals rating, the runner is safe; greater than, and the runner is out.

Note: the catcher’s Arm rating is not factored in if the runner is stealing home.

Throwing Errors on Steal Attempts

If the 1-to-100 random number on the steal attempt is a 1 through 10, the runner is automatically safe and the throw may have gone beyond the base into the outfield. If there is no error, the runner is safe; if there is an error, the runner is safe and all runners advance one additional base. The catcher may concede a stolen base attempt of 2nd without making a throw if there is a runner on 3rd at the time.

Holding a Runner Close

It is always assumed that the runner on 1st is being held close when 2nd is unoccupied. This is indicated on the game screen by a highlighted "h" appearing next to the first baseman’s name. The only time a manager may choose to not hold a runner on 1st is when:

- The runner’s natural Goes rating is "-"
- The runner’s natural Goes rating is 1 and his natural steals rating is 14 or less
- For any runner when the game is + or - 5 runs in the eight inning or later
- For any runner when the game is + or – 3 runs in the ninth inning or later
- When the first baseman is playing IN. If he is playing IN, the runner cannot be held on (for an exception, see below).
- If a runner is not held on, +4 is added to both his Goes and Steals ratings. This modi?cation is applied after the pitcher’s Holds modifier is applied.
- If the first baseman is holding the runner close his Range rating is halved when trying to field a 1B Action Symbol. It is treated normally for all other plays.

A first baseman may only hold a runner close and play IN if his Range rating is 8 or greater. The game keeps track of this automatically for you when you bring that first baseman IN. Please note the concept of playing IN here is simply a measure of the first baseman’s ability to come in quickly to field the bunt not necessarily his actual position on the field. Game protocol establishes that the defense declares the position of the first baseman before the offense calls for the steal, bunt, or whatever. Once the first baseman’s positioning is established it cannot be changed until a new batter comes to the plate.

Holding a runner close does not apply to runners on 2nd or 3rd.

Double or Triple Steals

Any time there are runners on 1st and 2nd, 1st and 3rd, 2nd and 3rd, or bases loaded the manager may attempt to execute a Double (or Triple) Steal. To try, the lead runner must succeed on his Goes attempt. If he does, both runners take off for the next base. The defense may attempt to throw out any single runner.

Hit & Run

The Hit & Run play may only be called at any time there are runners on 1st, 1st and 3rd, or 1st and 2nd. It is called by the offensive manager after the defensive manager has set his fielders.

All runners (except the runner on 3rd, who remains as he was) become Aggressive when the Hit & Run is called. For the Hit & Run, the basic batter/pitcher interaction remains the same. Some Action Symbols change their results due to this offensive play. In this manner the pitcher still has a great influence over the success of a Hit & Run attempt. Pitchers who strike out a great many batters or who are wild are tougher to successfully Hit & Run against.

Bunting

To bunt, either in a Sacrifice situation or to bunt for a base hit, the offensive manager announces the intention after the defense has set itself. If any pitcher’s matrix symbol except a K, a Wild Pitch (*), or a Balk (b) is generated, the computer then generates a 1-to-20 number and adds the result to the batter’s SAC rating. A higher total is better.

Fielders playing Back are easier to bunt on then fielders playing In (by roughly 30%). It is also easier to bunt on Grass then it is on turf (by roughly 10%).

- If a K is rolled on the pitcher’s matrix, the batter has struck out.
- If a * or b is rolled, a Wild Pitch or Balk, respectively, occurs.

Squeeze Play

On any K, W, F, PO or DP result on the pitcher’s matrix, the batter misses the bunt and the runner out at home (1-2). Otherwise the play is resolved as above.

Bunting for a Base Hit

With no one on base the hitter may try to bunt for a base hit. A base hit may be attempted with any base combination, but there is no prohibition against bunting with no one on. The defense may elect to play the corners IN to discourage this. Thus, the AutoManager may play the third baseman IN with no one on and a good bunter at the plate.

Defensive Play

The design of the game embraces the philosophy that baseball is 50% offense and 50% defense. Of the 50% that is defense, 70% is the pitcher and 30% is the play of the defense. Thus, while it may not matter as much who is playing SS when Nolan Ryan is pitching, it most certainly matters when Tommy John is on the mound. You will find that Diamond Dreams™ is the first (and still the only) baseball simulation where it might be better to play Wes Westrum at C than Mackey Sasser to take advantage of Wes’ pitch calling ability. Defense matters. You won’t win the pennant without it.

Range Checks

On the Action Symbols P, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF and C the defensive player performs a Range Check. This is done by generating a 1-to-10 result and comparing it to the Range of the fielder involved. If the result is less than or equal to the rating the player reached the batted ball and the base runners advance as described by the Action Symbols Chart. If the roll was greater than the rating the batter got a hit. This hit is normally either a single or double (the Action Symbols Chart describes the type of hit) but if the Artificial Turf rules are used, it may be a triple (see below).

Note: Batters may have a lower case "s" after some or all of their outfield Range numbers. On these hits a double (or triple) is always changed into a single.

Range Checks also occur as the result of some E? plays and some Unusual Plays.

Note: the Range rating for Catchers simulates their pitch-calling ability, not their Range afield. In this way, their defensive contribution is simulated accurately.

Defensive Positioning

There are three fielding modes for the infield: Back, Double Play Depth and Infield In. There are two fielding modes for the outfield: Normal and Outfield In. With one exception, any player may be placed at Back, DP depth, or In independently of other fielders as the defensive manager sees ?t. The exception is that if the second baseman is at DP depth then the shortstop must be also, and vice-versa.

Only the second baseman and the shortstop can play Double Play Depth. The first baseman and third baseman would, in a DP situation, be playing Back (or, for the first baseman, possibly holding the runner close).

Example: The third baseman can be In while the first baseman holds a runner close and the second baseman and shortstop are at DP depth

Infield Back

All Ranges are normal, DPs are resolved normally.

Infield Double Play Depth

Two (-2) is subtracted from the Ranges of each of the second baseman and the shortstop for resolution of the Range Checks only. One (+1) is added to the combined DP rating for all GIDPs. The second baseman and shortstop must always play in double play depth whenever there are less than two outs and a runner on 1st unless:

- there is a runner on 3rd
- the score is greater than + or – 5 runs

Infield IN

There are two reasons to play the Infield In: to cut the runner off at the plate on a ground ball, or to defend against the bunt. You may position each infielder independently of the others.

If the ball is hit to an infielder playing IN, the following changes occur:

- "DP" Action Symbol ground balls result in the non-forced Normal runner on 3rd being out at the plate. Aggressive runners may try to score on this play. Conservative runners hold, and the play goes to 1st. There is no chance of turning a DP through second base if the player to whom the ball is hit is playing IN, or if the second baseman is IN and the ball is hit to 3rd, 1st, the pitcher, or short. If in this situation the runner on 3rd holds, the forced runner on 1st is out at 2nd on a force play.
- If on a "DP" grounder, the runner on 3rd is forced, he is out at home and there may be a DP at 1st.
- "Ga" ground balls become G? grounders, with a possible play at the plate.
- "G?" grounders stay the same.
- +3 is added to an IN fielder’s Range when trying for a play at the plate.
- all infield Range checks (1B, 2B, 3B, and SS) become automatic hits through the infield.

Defense Against a Bunt

The defense may play IN to discourage the bunt. If a player fielding the bunt is playing Back, it is easier to successfully bunt. Please note the Range of the fielders matters greatly when the game resolves a bunt attempt. Thus, if you have Keith Hernandez playing first base, you may be able to get away with playing him Back more often than if your first baseman is Dave Kingman.

Pitchers and Catchers IN

The effects of Pitchers and Catchers are different from the other four infielders when playing IN. They are always IN for the resolution of bunt plays, and always Back for Range or Rating checks. This does not have to be stated by the defensive manager it is assumed.

When a forced runner is on 3rd and a DP or G? grounder is hit to the pitcher, he may either go to 2nd for possible 1-4-3 GIDP or come home for a possible 1-2-3 GIDP as he wishes.

With a non-forced runner on third coming home on a DP grounder, the tag play the catcher must make on the runner prevents any possible DP.

Outfield IN

When playing the outfield IN, all outfielders have their range become zero and some one-base Singles become ?y ball outs with the runner possibly trying for home.

Using Pitchers

Diamond Dreams™ prides itself on encouraging pitchers to be used realistically without tying a manager’s hands. Starting pitchers must rest the proper realistic amount between starts but yet may be used as relievers in between starts (if they were historically). Relief pitchers should be used in their correct role and for distances and frequencies determined by their historical use.

The Pitcher’s Endurance

The Dist rating indicates a starting pitcher’s endurance, while the Relief rating indicates a reliever’s endurance. A pitcher may start to tire beginning an inning or two prior to his "rated" inning. This "tiring" is measured in points given up during the current inning. The number of points in an inning needed to Tire a pitcher is determined at the beginning of an inning based on the pitcher’s rating. The rating used is Dist for starters and Relief for relievers.

For the purposes of counting innings pitched in relief, pitching to a single batter does not count as 1 inning unless the pitcher has a "B" appended to his rating; any extra batters do count as a full inning.

A point is:

1 Total Base

1 Error

1 Wild Pitch

1 Hit Batsman

1 Run Scored

1 Walk

1 Balk

1 Passed Ball

Points left before tiring are noted on the game screen in the box which contains the pitcher’s current game stats.

How a Pitcher Fades then Tires

A point measures not only physical fatigue but mental exhaustion and frustration. A pitcher Fades when the number of points allowed in the inning he is currently pitching exceeds (at the end of any single play) the number of points as listed for that inning for a pitcher with his rating. In the box on the game screen which contains his game-to-the-minute stats, his current allowable points will be listed.

Effects of being Faded

If faded, the pitcher has all the automatic outs (K, PO, FO, DP) on his matrix turned into column 4 results.

Either after two further batters or at the end of the current inning, whichever comes first, the pitcher then Tires.

A starting pitcher pitching a shutout adds two points (+2) to the number of points needed to tire.

Effects of Being Tired

Once tired, all column results on the pitcher’s matrix have 2 subtracted from them (with a 3 or 1 becoming a 1; 2s stay 2s) in addition to the effects of being Faded.

Starting pitchers have no carry-over effects in their next game from having been Tired or Faded in their previous game; relievers, however, may. A reliever who has a zero (0) Relief rating in Critical situations who becomes tired in a game cannot pitch again that game or the following day.

Starting Pitchers Rest

The starter’s Rest rating indicates the number of days the pitcher must rest between starts. A "2" indicates 2 days of rest between starts, a "3" indicates 3 days of rest between starts and a "4" indicates 4 days of rest between starts.

Starters who start 1 day early start that game ‘Shaky’. These effects are identical to Faded, explained above.

Starters may relieve between starts if they have a Relief rating. This may be done on the 2nd day of rest for 2 or 3-day starters and the 3rd day of rest for 4-day starters.

If a starter must be removed from a game prior to pitching 2 full innings, he reduces his rest by 1 day. If he is removed prior to pitching 1 full inning, his rest rating is reduced by 3 days.

Bombing a Pitcher

A starter or reliever who becomes bombed has shown absolutely no effectiveness.

A pitcher becomes "bombed" when he either:

- gives up a total of 8 runs (earned or unearned) at any time during the game (when the 8th run scores, he must be removed from the game). This number will change in certain historical sets. In 1994, for example, it is 10 runs.
- allows 8 consecutive batters to reach base (via either hit, walk or error) any time during the game. When the 8th batter reaches base, he must be removed from the game.

Relief Pitchers Use

Relief pitchers have a Relief rating indicating how and when during a game they were normally used. The rating is measured in innings. The rating is split into two numbers separated by a slash ("/"). The number on the left-hand side is his rating when used in a non-critical situation. The number on the right is his rating when used in a Critical situation. The Relief rating determines when a reliever may Tire.

If a pitcher relieves a starter in the 1st or 2nd inning, his Dist rating is used (if he has one) instead of his Relief rating.

Critical Situations

A Critical Situation as defined for the game is when the pitcher:

1. Enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs in the 8th or 9th inning; or
2. Enters the game in the lead with the potential tying or go-ahead run either on base or at bat or on deck in the 8th or 9th inning.

All other situations are defined as non-critical, including all situations in extra innings. In extra innings, a pitcher’s Relief Rating is either 3 or his own non-critical rating, whichever is greater. If a pitcher enters the game prior to extra innings and the game continues into extra innings the rating used after the 9th inning is as if he entered in a non-critical situation. There are no Critical Situations in extra innings or in tie games.

Beginning in 1994, Critical Situations are limited to the 9th inning.

Example: Roger McDowell (relief rating: 3/2) enters the game in the 9th inning in a Critical Situation. The opposing team ties the game and he continues to pitch into the tenth. He has already pitched one full inning. The rating used at the beginning of the tenth to see how many points are needed to tire him is his non-critical rating of 3 as opposed to his critical rating of 2.

Relief Ratings of ‘0’

If a pitcher is brought into a game when his Relief Rating is ‘0’, he may pitch to a number of batters equal to his other (non-critical) Relief Rating before becoming eligible to be tired. If he gives up a single point after those eligible batters, he becomes Tired immediately.

If he does not become tired in the game he need not rest. Under no circumstances can a pitcher become tired until he has at least faced a number of batters equal to his Non-Critical rating or Critical rating, whichever is greater.

If a relief pitcher with a Critical rating of ‘0’ becomes Tired during a game, he may not pitch the next day.

Cumulative Innings of Relief

When changing pitchers, the bullpen screen lists IP and Games for each reliever along the right hand side of the screen. This is the number of innings or games that pitcher has pitched in the last few consecutive days.

Based on these totals, pitchers may be ineligible to pitch today. The following totals apply:

For all pitchers | Pitching: | Must rest:
In 1 single game | 2.1 innings or less | no rest needed
In 1 single game | Over 2.1 inn | Rest 1 day
For pitchers appearing in 70 or fewer games |  |
| 4.1 or less cumulative innings | no rest needed
| 4.2 or more cumulative innings | Rest 1 day
For pitchers appearing in more than 70 games |  |
| 6.1 or less cumulative innings | no rest needed
| 6.2 or more cumulative innings | Rest 1 day

These totals are for innings pitched in consecutive games.

Numerous consecutive game appearances, regardless of total innings also will cause a pitcher to rest a day.

Relief Ratings with a ‘B’.

A relief pitcher may have a ‘B’ rating appended to either his Critical or Non-criitcal relief rating.

If the rating is appended to his Non-Critical rating, (example: 1B/0), then when brought into the game, that pitcher will Tire after pitching only that one inning, and the ‘last batter in the inning doesn’t count as an inning’ rule does not apply to these pitchers.

If the ‘B’ is appended to the Critical rating (example: 1/1B), then when that pitcher is used in a Critical situation, he is ineligible to pitch for two days.

Action Symbols definitions

The following list of definitions are those symbols which Diamond Dreams™ Baseball uses to execute the plays in the game. To see how good or bad your players are, look at their matrix and compare the Action Symbols they have and ?nd the symbols de?nitions on this list.

W: Batter Walks, all forced runners advance one base. If there are Bases Loaded, this symbol may be treated as two balls depending on the catcher’s Range rating; however, two consecutive Ws with the bases loaded force a Walk.

K: Batter Strikes Out, all runners hold

HB: Batter is Hit By Pitch, all forced runners advance one base

UP: an Unusual Play has occurred; the game looks up an unusual play from its table of unusual plays.

E?: An Error might occur

*: If an Action Symbol is followed by this and there are runners on base, it is a Wild Pitch and all runners advance one base. The Action Symbol is ignored and both the batter and pitcher start over.

b: If an Action Symbol is followed by this and there are runners on base, it is a Balk and all runners advance one base. The Action Symbol is ignored and both the batter and pitcher start over.

p: If an Action Symbol is followed by this and there are runners on base, it is a Passed Ball and all runners advance one base. The Action Symbol is ignored and both the batter and pitcher start over.

k: If an Action Symbol is followed by this and there is a runner on first base who is being held on, that runner is picked off. The Action Symbol is ignored and both the batter and pitcher start over.

i: If an Action Symbol is followed by this it is an Injury; complete the play and then remove the pitcher or player due to an injury. See the rules section on Injuries.

IH: infield single, runners advance one base unless unforced and Conservative

S7, S8, S9: singles to left, center or right, runners advance one base

S7?, S8?, S9?: singles to left, center or right; Normal runners may attempt to advance 2 bases. Conservative runners advance only 1 base. Aggressive runners must attempt to advance

S7t, S8t, S9t: singles to left, center, or right, runners advance one base and must try and take an extra base unless Conservative

SvL: single to left field verses a lefty pitcher only, runners advance 2 bases; Conservative runners advance only 1 base. (against right-handed pitcher play becomes PO6, see below)

SvR: single to right field verses a right-handed pitcher only, runners advance 2 bases; Conservative advance only 1 base. (against lefty pitcher play becomes PO4, see below)

Scs: single to center field, runners advance 2 bases unless Conservative then they advance only 1 base; if second base is open batter then attempts to steal 2nd on first pitch and is caught stealing (2-6); if after 6th inning or if hitting team is behind by more than 3 runs, no steal attempt, batter holds

1b?: single to right field only if runner on first is being Held Close or if first baseman is playing IN; if not, same as G3? (see below); if it becomes a safe hit treat the symbol as if it was a single with the runner(s) advancing two bases.

Sph: if batter is pinch hitting, treat as an S8t above, otherwise it is a G1? (see below)

D7?, D8?, D9?: doubles to left, center or right, runners advance 2 bases and may attempt to advance three bases

Dcl: a double scoring all runners only if there are any runners on 2nd or 3rd; if not, it is a F8 (see below)

T7, T8, T9: triples to left, center or right; all runners score

HR7, HR8, HR9: home runs to left, center, or right; all runners score

HvL: homer to left verses a lefty pitcher (against a right-handed pitcher play becomes F9+, see below)

HvR: homer to right verses a right-handed pitcher (against a lefty pitcher play becomes F7+, see below)

F7, F8, F9: Short Flies to left, center or right, all runners hold; Aggressive runners on 3rd may attempt to score

F7?, F8?, F9?:

Medium Flies to left, center, and right; with less than 2 out a Normal or Conservative runner on 3rd may attempt to score; an Aggressive runner must attempt to score; runners on 2nd and 1st hold

F7a, F8a, F9a: Long Flies to left, center or right; with less than two out an Aggressive or Normal runner on 3rd automatically scores (sac ?y); a Conservative runner on 3rd may attempt to score; a runner on 2nd may attempt to advance to 3rd if base is open or if runner on 3rd is also attempting to advance); runner on 1st holds

F7+, F8+, F9+: Long Flies to left, center or right, with less than 2 out runner on 3rd automatically scores (sac ?y); Aggressive or Normal runner on 2nd automatically advances to 3rd, Aggressive or Normal runner on 1st may attempt to advance to 2nd

F7t, F8t, F9t: Medium Flies to left center or right; runner on 3rd must try to score unless coached Conservative (who may attempt to score); others hold

G1a, G2a, G3a,

G4a, G5a, G6a: Slowly Hit ground ball to the indicated position, batter out at 1st; all forced runners advance one base; others advance or hold as indicated

Note: On the G? plays below, the play at 1st on the batter, if chosen, is an Automatic Out. You can never get more than one out on a G?

G1?, G2?, G3?, G4?, G5?, G6?: Average ground ball to the indicated position, the fielder can attempt to throw out runner of his choice

DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4, DP5, DP6: Hard Hit ground ball to the indicated position; with a runner on 1st and the infield not IN, force play at 2nd with the possibility of a Double Play if there are less than 2 out

LD1, LD3, LD4, LD5, LD6: Line Drive to the indicated position; the existing base runner of the fielder’s choice may be doubled off.

PO1, PO2, PO3,

PO4, PO5, PO6: pop out or soft line drive (fair or foul) to the indicated positions, runners hold

C: Critical Pitch: the Ball-strike count on the hitter has reached a critical point, and the Catcher’s pitch-calling ability is being tested; perform a Rating Check for him; if successful, the catcher called the right pitch and the batter is out on a foul pop to the catcher (PO-2; all runners hold). If the Check fails, the catcher called the wrong pitch and the batter gets a hit.

P: Comebacker: the batter hits a wicked one-hopper back at the pitcher: perform a Range Check for him; if it succeeds, he snares the ball, with the play then becoming a G1?; if the check fails and the batter gets a hit.

1B: In the Hole: the batter hits a smash in the hole between 1st and 2nd; perform a Range Check for the first baseman; if it succeeds, the ball is snagged with a diving stop and the play becomes a G3?; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

2B: Up the Middle: the batter hits a one-hop line drive up the middle; perform a Range Check for the second baseman; if it succeeds, the ball is caught in the webbing of his glove and the play becomes a G4?; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

3B: In the Hole: the batter hits a smash in the hole between 3rd and short; perform a Range Check for the third baseman; if it succeeds, the ball is snagged with a diving stop and the play becomes a G5?; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

SS: Up the Middle: the batter hits a one-hop line drive up the middle; perform a Range Check for the shortstop; if it succeeds, the ball is caught in his webbing and the play becomes a G6?; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

LF: Down the Line: the batter hits a line drive down the left field foul line; perform a Range Check for the leftfielder; if it succeeds he makes a diving catch; runner on 3rd tags up and scores (sac ?y), others hold; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

CF: In the Gap: line drive in the gap in left center; perform a Range Check for the centerfielder; if it succeeds he makes a diving catch; runners on 2nd and 3rd tag up and advance (sac ?y), others hold; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

RF: Down the Line: the batter hits a line drive down the right field foul line; perform a Range Check for the rightfielder; if it succeeds he makes a diving catch; runners on 2nd and 3rd tag up and advance, others hold; if the check fails the batter gets a hit.

Note: Some hitters have a lower case "s" after some or all of their range symbols (1Bs, 3Bs, LFs, CFs, RFs); this indicates these symbols can only result in singles if they are hits, with runners advancing two bases unless Coached Conservative.