My Superstar Baseball League Stats

This page is based on a league I ran using the Superstar Baseball Game by Avalon Hill that lasted over 2 years or so and three subsequent seasons of leagues using the same game. While I love the game and find it fairly accurate, many of the stats are unrealistic in this game - very low walks, low offense overall,etc. Many other results are unrealistic due to strategies -- Ty Cobb attempted to steal over 260 bases, Honus Wagner 200 in the first season. Steal %s and attempts were too high, as SSB never explained what the I catcher rating stood for - it in fact would have totally negated steal attempts by the likes of Mays, Speaker and Shoeless Joe, while reducing percentages of success for Aparicio, Wagner, Collins and other "faster" guys. Relievers were used often as well that first year, meaning few starters reached 200 innings. So take all of this with a few grains of salt.(or ketchup) The second time I ran the league, there was no trading and teams were selected randomly(catchers divided more or less equally, then 1st basemen,etc). The third season was done by historical periods..the first team (Babe Ruth's) are earlier players, mostly dead-ball era greats, the 2nd team (Walter Johnson's) is mostly 20s and 30s stars, the 3rd team (Ted Williams') 40s and 50s and the 4th team (Hank Aaron's)the more modern players in the game. The 4th season consists of the divisions I grew up with (NLE, NLW, ALE, ALW) - the league should be finished and stats posted by the end of winter break hopefully. Two other seasons are already underway - a mix-and-match league using four sets of cards and a season between the 1890s, 1930s, 1950s and 1970s teams devised by Randy Cox. For info on his cards, go to his page.

The cards for the players I wrote up are available here for those of you who own the game and are interested in viewing or using them. Some changes are advised for most, based on my experience.

Changes in rules, strategies and record keeping took place over the years. Those changes are noted here

Teams were named after first player drafted for year one. 2nd and 3rd yr-teams named after best player on roster, in my opinion.

(Note:The stats were done in simpletext using the courier font so as to get them to line up properly. Viewing them with a web browser probably will cause the column setup to be a bit off)

Team Stats

Walter Johnson's Team, the league champions

Hank Aaron's Team, which made a surprising run in the second half after a pathetic start

Ted Williams' Team, probably the most consistent team, being around .500 save a short run after the break

Babe Ruth's Team, which started 9-0 and led at the break before a 2nd half collapse

League Leaders

Here is the all-league team, all-worst team and the head-to-head season ender between the two

Here is a short glance comparing the 4 teams in every category I kept track of almost

League Leaders

Team Stats

-Year2

Babe Ruth's Team, which trailed by one at the half before cruising to the title in the 2nd half

Walter Johnson's Team , a .500 team for most of the year.

Ted Williams' Team was in last from about game 45 till game 160, but a late run gained them third.

Cy Young's Team, which was in first at 43-35 nearing the break but lost the last three of the half and then collapsed in the second as Clemente, their top hitter, slumped, as well as some pitchers.

League Leaders

-Year 2

Team total stats for Year Two

The year two all-league and all-worst teams and the corresponding matchup between them

Team Stats

-Year 3

Babe Ruth's Team, the league's champions and the most productive offense despite a nearly total lack of power

Walter Johnson's Team, which had the best pitching in the league and won 90 games, finishing 5 off the lead.

Hank Aaron's Team, which maybe had the best blend of speed, power and pitching but finished far back in third due to a lack on on-base ability, perhaps.

Ted Williams' Team, which combined poor offense and poor pitching to become the league's worst team ever.

League Leaders

-Year 3

Team total stats for year 3

All-league and All-worst rosters for year three and the ensuing matchup between the teams.

Team Stats

-Year 4

Honus Wagner's Team, the National League East, pulled off an improbable comeback that ended with the clincher being settled on the last day of the year in the bottom of the 9th, in large part to a due throwing error by Roy Campanella forced by a Wagner steal attempt. They won behind the star trio of Wagner, Hornsby and Musial and a high-octane offense which compensated for the league's worst pitching.

Babe Ruth's Team, the American League East, absolutely vanished over the last tenth of the year, allowing Wagner to catch up and finally overtake them.

Hank Aaron's Team, the National League West, got plenty of pitching and defense, but the lack of offense resulted in a sub-.500 record.

Walter Johnson's Team, the American League West, had the worst power-hitting in league history, dooming an otherwise mediocre bunch - Earl Averill's 8 homers were second on the squad.