The Cards

krivda.gif (3053 bytes)
The Official 5YLeague Rick
Krivda card.
***********************
Download the excel card-
making files here:
Pitchers (120k)
Batters (512k)

The 5YLeague used Statis-Pro^tm Baseball during the first season, and
is using them in the fourth season. Though many versions have
appeared over the years, I use the game I got in 1983. I am aware of
other folks out there who make their own SP cards, and I do not claim
that mine are any better or any more accurate. I will say that using the
excel spreadsheets that you can download here will not be a
breeze. I wish I were better at excel; I don't do macros. I can't make
excel do the math from base 10 to base 8. But if you are willing to roll
up your sleeves and do a lot of preparation, then you will be able to
make a decent set for yourself. I have two excel files here- one for batters,
and one for pitchers. The one for batters has the 1998 NL data included.
All you have to do is print out your set. The glitch here is that you can
only rate 96 players at a time. What I did actually was load 96 players
into the top left of the spreadsheet, and after previewing the cards for
extra-long names, etc., I printed one sheet at a time (16 players). I believe
when all was said anddone, I ended up with 43 sheets. I took these to a
local print shop,and for nine cents a pop, put them on cardstock and
spent a few hours cutting them myself.

There is no charge for these files. I make no claims for their accuracy.
They will not figure out arm ratings, stolen base ratings, and such. I will
include some quickly written instructions below. I hope you can use
this and improve on it. And if you are going to rate a full league, good
luck!!

(NOTE: I am assuming the user has a basic understanding of excel)
Pre-work: Pitching
Sort all pitchers to be rated by ERA, best to worst. Use the guidelines in the Statis-Pro game instructions to determine
PB rating. Locate fielding percentages, Wild Pitch numbers, and Passed Ball stats. Fill out a spreadsheet with this data. Print it out and use this as a work sheet to start entering data as you find it. Open the excel file for rating the pitchers. Note the fields necessary to rate the players. Once these fields are filled in, then scroll down to cell Y73. This cell marks the beginning of the card sheets. Note how the data looks on the card sheets, and go back to the start of the spreadsheet to make any modifications. Finally, and this is the gruesome part, make a cheat sheet of each cell location that contains the pitcher's hit numbers. You will need to enter a formula for each pitcher's hit numbers, K, numbers, etc. every time you do a new sheet of 16 pitchers. I am working on a version similar to the batter's cards, which does this part a little easier. Once the hit numbers show up on the card sheets, you will need to overwrite the formula with text which describes the base 8 rating. Here is an example of what I am blabbering about: You have done all the pre-work, and are ready to rate your first pitcher. The spreadsheet shows that his hitting numbers are found in, say, cell H1. You scroll over to a little past cell Y73, and in the cell to the right of the designation "1Bf, you put the formula "= H1". This will put the total hit numbers this pitcher has on his card. Let's say he gives up 14 hit numbers. You now need to break it down into numbers for 1Bf, 1B7, 1B8, and 1B9. In Statis-Pro's base 8 system, 14 hit numbers translates to 11-26. You could type the following text to the right of each designation: 1Bf: 11, 1B7: 12-15, 1B8: 16-22, 1B9: 23-26. You would then do the same for the pitcher's other numbers, including his out numbers, which always end in 88. I realize this is a pain, but there you go.

Pre-work: Batting
For some reason, maybe 'cause I did this one after the pitching, the batting was a little easier. Download the file, and open it up. Take note of what stats you will need and enter them in the white and blue fields. Do not enter anything in the yellow or red fields. You will need to fill in the data regarding injury ratings, throwing arm, position, BD, SAC, etc. A note on the name and position. Sometimes, a player's name is just too long and won't fit on a card. Simply type in the player's first name in the card sheet section (on sheet 2 of the spreadsheet) in the cell above his name. Then go back to sheet 1, find the player, and delete his first name only. His name will now fit on the card. As far as positions, use your judgement on how many positions you want to print out per player. Look at how it is already done for you in the file. When the cards on sheet 2 look good to you, print them out. I recommend one page at a time, but do it the way you want. Since the spreadsheet will only do 96 players at a time, simply cut and paste the first 96 players into the area below the rest of the players, and copy and paste the next 96 guys- remember to copy and paste ALL the data in a player's row.

I'm usually in a bad mood only most of the time. If you have any questions about the spreadsheets, just drop me a line, and I'll be more than happy to help you out. Just remember- this stuff is very time consuming. You will not get it done in one sitting- it may take a few weeks. But if you work hard at it, it will happen.