First Time I Rated a Team

Two weeks ago, I finished rating all the teams from 2023 using my "serious" EI rating spreadsheet which you can
download for free here at the website. The ratings themselves were a snap. What took me a long time was formatting
the ratings to somewhat resemble the text files created by Harrison Newhouse, and which can still be found at Ron
Bernier's Baseball Sims site. A total of two weeks were needed to complete the task. During all this work, I began to
think back to the first time I ever rated a team for Extra Innings. In 1972, I was given an issue of Baseball Digest and
Street and Smith's Baseball as a gift. Man, I devoured those magazines. I still have that Baseball Digest (see below),
and though I am a Dodger fan, I was intrigued by the White Sox  of Dick Allen and WilburWood. In Street and Smith's
was the ad for Extra Innings that caught my eye. I liked that it was advertised as a serious game that came in a binder,
and more than that, the game included the formula to rate any team. Coming from a family that wasn't exactly
swimming in disposable income, the rate 'em yourself feature was very attractive indeed. Years later, when I finally
was able to afford the ten bucks that EI cost, I dove right in. One of my early projects was something I called the
Historical Rosters Tournament. EI came with a ton of teams, along with the just completed '77 season, so I selected
eight of the old NL teams and seven of the old AL teams. I then elected to rate the '72 White Sox as the eighth AL
team. This was done in the summer of 1978, and all I had was a pencil, some looseleaf paper, and a cheap calculator
from Radio Shack. I had bought the '73 edition of Street and Smith's and got the stats I needed from there. It took me
about an hour or so, but then I had my team; and here it is!

I like looking at how I organized things back then. Starting pitchers were given a dot to the left of their name. Bob Oliver
is the only player who has his first name written out. Their position is listed on the far right, which is almost completely
opposite to how the game company presented them. Apparently I didn't consider at-bats, games started, or innings pitched
as data important enough to list in the ratings. How did they do in the tournament? I'm glad you asked! They beat the 1911
A's three games to one in their opening round series, but were bounced out of the tourney by the '71 A's in a three game
sweep. Wood started three games, had two no-decisions, and wound up 0-1, 1.34. Allen went 11 for 26 (.423!) with 4 HR
and 7 RBI. 1935 Detroit knocked off the 1929 Cubs four games to three.

                               February 9, 2024