BM 2018: 1976 St. Louis Cardinals

[MizzouRah]

I was 5 years old in 1976 and although I really don't have a ton of baseball memories at that age, I do know my dad would always have the game on the radio, listening to Jack Buck and Mike Shannon.

1982 was my first real vivid memory of Cardinals baseball, my mom letting me stay up late to watch them beat the Brewers in Game 7.

A player by the name of Willie McGee, a rookie in that series, was one of the first Cardinal players I grew an attachment to. He hit two home runs in Game 3, tying a World Series record for rookies. He just played the game it seemed, with ease and never wanted any spotlight.

He was drafted in the seventh round in 1976 by the Chicago White Sox, but never signed. The Yankees would draft him in the first round (15th overall) in the secondary phase in 1977.

On October 21st in 1981, he was traded to the Cardinals for Bob Sykes. He would make his debut in 1982, hitting 0.286 with 4 HR, 56 RBI and steal 24 bases.

The Cardinals would trade him in 1990 to Oakland after roughly 9 seasons. His best season was in 1985 when he had a league best 0.353 average, hit 10 HR, 82 RBI and 54 stolen bases.

**1976**

I will assume the GM role of the Cardinals in 1976, with only one mission, to draft Willie McGee and keep him until he retires. Considering he's the 35th best peak rated player in the upcoming draft, I think I'm safe.

*Settings*

Baseball Mogul 2018
Mogul Difficulty
Stat Based Scouting

I'm going to leave the "follow historical path" setting off as I want randomness.

I have NEVER done a historical simulation in any text sim, well I did dabble a bit with FOF, but never with a baseball sim. When I play OOTP, I always start in the current season. I want to go quick, without having all the extra stuff OOTP has, so Baseball Mogul was a better choice to me. Only 1976 will start with the accurate rosters, once I start simming, players will be traded, careers will follow different paths, etc. I am not looking for historical accuracy besides real players, correct MLB expansion, etc.. where they are drafted will not reflect real life draft teams.

GO CARDS!!!

[MizzouRah]

**1975**

St. Louis went 82-80 (4th in the NL East)

Cincinnati Reds beat Boston Red Sox (Reds were 108-54 that season)

Our last World Series Championship was in 1967, beating the Boston Red Sox

1976 Prediction: (76-86) tied for 4th place with Montreal

Best Players
Reggie Smith (RF, Age 30)
Bob Forsch (P, Age 26)
Ted Simmons (C, Age 26)

Best Prospects
John Fulgham (P, Age 19)
John Martin (P, Age 19)

* I will probably sim a month at a time and post an update for each month to keep it rolling.

[MizzouRah]

**1976 Roster/Lineup**

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**1976 Roster/Pitching**

[MizzouRah]

**April 1976** (11-15, 6th place, 4 GB - 0.254/7 HR/4.03 ERA)

Yankees offer me Marshall Brant (1B, Age 20 - 61/83) for Ron Fairly (1B, Age 37 - 81/81)

Fairly - 0.267/183 HR/909 RBI ($2.1M until 1977) we gladly accept to trim the payroll

[MizzouRah]

**May 1976** (23-32, 6th place, 10.5 GB - (Pittsburgh) - 0.256/19 HR/3.60 ERA)

DL - P John Denny (3)
DL - P Pete Falcone (14)

[MizzouRah]

**1976 Amateur Draft**



We are very excited to draft Willie McGee at #15.

Top 10
1 - DET - SS Alan Trammell (70/90)
2 - HOU - 2B Bill Doran (68/88)
3 - ATL - SS Rafael Ramirez (66/88)
4 - MIL - SS Julio Franco (68/90)
5 - SDP - CF Rickey Henderson (70/91)
6 - CAL - C Darrell Miller (66/88)
7 - CHC - SS Dickie Thon (66/90)
8 - CHW - 3B Wade Boggs (70-91)
9 - MON - P Bob James (66/90)
10 - MIN - 3B Gary Gaetti (66/89)

St. Louis Picks

CF Willie McGee (66/90)
P Phil Huffman (64/89)
P Matt Young (66/91)
P Dave Righetti (67/90)
P Lee Guetterman (65/89)

[MizzouRah]

(I accidentally simmed into July - so June is skipped)
**July 1976** (48-59, 5th place, 17 GB - (Philadelphia) - 0.252/36 HR/3.59 ERA)

DL P Danny Frisella (140 days)

[MizzouRah]

**1976 League Standings - July**

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**1976 League Leaders - July**

The game crashed and my save was a couple months back, so now I will save each month. Expect some different standings and player stats from previous posts. (sorry)

[MizzouRah]

**August 1976 (66-68, 4th place, 10.5 GB - (Philadelphia) - 0.251/53 HR/3.56 ERA)

DL - 1B Keith Hernandez (41)
DL - IF Don Kessinger (16)
DL - C Terry Kennedy (89)
DL - P Al Hrabosky (12)
DL - P Bob Forsch (182)
DL - P John Curtis (27)
DL - P Aurelio Lopez (8)

*Signings*
P Al Hrabosky $9.9M through 1980 (no trade clause) (87/87)
(3-2/3.05 ERA/14SV)

CF Bake McBride $2.9M through 1979 (89/89)
(0.275/7 HR/48 RBI/16 SB)

P Lynn McGlothen $9M through 1978 (85/85)
(15-8/2.98 ERA/237.2 IP/159 K/4 CG/4 SO)

[MizzouRah]

**September 1976** (80-82, 4th place, 15 GB - (Pittsburgh) - 0.253/65 HR/3.54 ERA)

We finished 4 games better than predicted.

**Final Stats**

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**Willie McGee Update**

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**1976 Final Standings**

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**1976 League Leaders (both leagues)**

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**1976 Playoffs**

Oakland vs Baltimore
Game 1 - Oakland 7, Baltimore 4
Game 2 - Baltimore 5, Oakland 0
Game 3 - Oakland 6, Baltimore 1
Game 4 - Baltimore 5, Oakland 2
Game 5 - Baltimore 8, Oakland 3
Game 6 - Oakland 5, Baltimore 1
Game 7 - Baltimore 2, Oakland 0

Houston vs Pittsburgh
Game 1 - Houston 10, Pittsburgh 1
Game 2 - Houston 6, Pittsburgh 3
Game 3 - Houston 6, Pittsburgh 1
Game 4 - Pittsburgh 7, Houston 3
Game 5 - Houston 4, Pittsburgh 1

**1976 World Series**

Baltimore vs Houston
Game 1 - Baltimore 2, Houston 1
Game 2 - Baltimore 3, Houston 2
Game 3 - Baltimore 9, Houston 1
Game 4 - Houston 4, Baltimore 2
Game 5 - Houston 5, Baltimore 4
Game 6 - Baltimore 6, Houston 5


Baltimore Orioles win the 1976 World Series!!!

[MizzouRah]

**1976 Off-season**


Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners enter into MLB
We lose 28 yr old RP Aurelio Lopez (84/84) to Toronto
We lose 22 yr old RF Tito Landrum (74/83) to Toronto
We lose 24 yr old RP John Sutton (76/80) to Seattle

We sign:

2B Luis Alvarado (65/65)
P Bill Bordley (67/89)
P Ricky Wright (65/86)
P Reggie Patterson (62/85)
P Steve Shields (62/84)
P Jeff Stember (65/87)
P Stefan Wever (63/86)

[MizzouRah]

Getting this error quite a bit, which I've posted over at the Mogul forums. I'm saving as much as possible, but it's getting harder to keep a dynasty going and posting stuff, then it changes due to these crashes depending on my last save.

[MizzouRah]

**1976 Milestones**



**1976 Retirements**



**1976 Awards**

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***1977 New Season***

*Top Prospects*
P John Martin (82/95)
CF Willie McGee (70/89)
P John Stuper (75/92)

*Projected Record*
(79-83) 4th place, 8 GB (Pittsburgh) (+3 from last season)

DL P Lee Guetterman (70/88) [362]


**1977 Roster**



**1977 Pitching Staff**

[MizzouRah]

Well.. it just dawned on me how messed up salaries are in historical play with BM 2018.

Paying Al Hrabosky $9.9M and others money like this is way off. I play two baseball games, this and OOTP so this issue never hit me until this morning. Since I play current MLB with OOTP, paying him that salary seemed normal.

Someone already posted this bug in the forums over there, so I'll have to wait on a fix and my guess is I'll have to start over.