Frequently Asked Questions

GAMEPLAY QUESTIONS

Q: For Team Card Player Finders, how do you read the dice?

A: Roll two dice. One die (typically the black die) will be read as the tens place, and the other die (typically the white die) will be read as the ones place. For example, if you roll a black 4 and a white 1, the result is 41.

Q: What should I do in a closer situation when a team has no closer?

A: You should continue to use the bullpen rating. It just means that baseball-reference.com didn't identify one of the bullpen players as the designated closer that season.

Q: What does it mean when the result of the HR finder is "Other"?

A: This means the HR was hit by someone other than one of the players listed on the card. The cards were created this way to ensure the proper distribution of home runs to the "Highlighted" players. 

Q: What does vP stand for on the pitcher stats on the scoresheet?

A: This is for you to note the pitchers "Versus Power" quality - Tough or Shaky.

ERA SPECIFIC GAMEDAY CHARTS

Q: Can you tell us what results we can expect from each of the different versions of the Era Specific Game Books?

A: Yes, each set of charts is designed to produce the following average number of Runs, HR, and Errors PER GAME PER TEAM. 

• 1900-1919: 4.0 R, 0.19 HR, 1.6 E

• 1920-1941: 4.8 R, 0.55 HR, 1.18 E

• 1942-1946: 3.96 R, 0.48 HR, 1.03 E

• 1947-1962: 4.55 R, 0.75 HR, 0.97 E

• 1963-1972: 3.89 R, 0.73 HR, 0.8 E

• 1973-1992: 4.31 R, 0.78 HR, 0.8 E (Also used for Cross Era Matchups)

• 1993-2009: 4.78 R, 1.12 HR, 0.7 E

• 2010-2015: 4.17 R, 0.96 HR, 0.57 E

• 2016-2019: 4.55 R, 1.2 HR, 0.57 E

• 2020-Today: 4.55 R, 1.2 HR, 0.57 E (new Extra Innings Chart)

DECIDER DIE

Q: Do I roll the Decider Die once for a half-inning, and use the result for all checks? 

A: No, the Semi-Quality system is designed so that each and every time a Decider Die "ruling" is required, the die must be re-rolled. The golden rule here is that once the Decider Die has been used to resolve a Semi-Quality, it is spent and cannot be used again; it must be re-rolled even if it's during the same half inning.

OTHER QUESTIONS

Q: How do I get the proper amount of "tie" results with playing with the 1985 NPB set?

A: From Brien Aronov: To get approximately the "right" number of ties do the following:

1) Any tie after 9 in first game of Double Header call it a tie
2) If any other game tied 5-5 or greater after 9 call it a tie
3) If game tied 4-4 or greater after 10 call it a tie
4) If game tied 3-3 or greater after 11 call it a tie
5) Any tie after 12 call it a tie

This is because the rules in 1985 were based not on number of innings but time elapsed.  If playing with the cross era teams, you can default to 12-inning max no matter the score for as the "generic" rule.

Q: Do you have an Instant Results chart for the game?

A: Yes, see the Commissioner Handbook for an Instant Results chart

Q: Can you recommend a deeper, more immersive tabletop baseball game? 

A: YES! I recommend both History Maker Baseball and History Maker Baseball Express from PLAAY Games. You can order their games at www.plaayclassic.com.