The new APBA Baseball Hall of Fame set is out! Mike Whiteman ordered a copy and was happy to see that Babe Ruth is still the same slugger he always has been. This is his card from the 345-card Hall of Fame set.
Ruth’s Hall of Fame card has power numbers 1-1-1-4-6 with six 14s (one with an asterisk).
A couple things about this Hall of Fame Baseball set that set it apart from other APBA sets:
“Normalized” stats
According to APBA, “The players are carded based on “Normalized” statistics. Each player season stats are based on multi years performance. These stats are then “normalized”. APBA is vague about exactly how many years are used for each card. Even when normalized, I don’t think Ruth would have three 1s on his card. Then again, this card is certainly not up to Ruth’s Monster standards, say 1921 Babe Ruth.
The key here is the use of the word “normalized” which can have many uses. The set could be normalized for the era or normalized for the talent within the set. There is a very good thread on APBA-Between the Lines discussing this topic.
Position-specific outfield ratings
You might notice that Ruth is rated as a RF-2 and a LF-2 as opposed simply an OF-2. All outfielders are rated for their specific position that they played. That’s a big change.
Rumor has it that this change is just for this set. That said, I’ll bet the APBA Company will be paying attention to the response this gets from APBA fans. If it gets positive feedback, my guess is that we may see it on all baseball sets soon.
You want my opinion? The more I think about it, I like it. It seems more accurate and realistic. The biggest issue I see is that some APBA leagues may have to adjust. But the beauty of APBA gaming is that it is very customizable. Even in times of transition, it is easy to modify the game so it works for your needs.
Hey wait, the 12!
I just noticed that the 12 is not at 23 but at 26. APBA had announced a couple years ago that the 23 would be the permanent home for the 12.
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Overall, the Hall of Fame set looks very interesting but until I get my hands on the full set of cards. I’m going to wait for a full review. If you are interested, here is the full roster of the cards you receive.
For now, that Ruth card looks pretty nice. Thanks, Mike!
Love the OF ratings. Love the 12. Love the B pitcher rating. The 8 on 55 must really frost the 55-7 fetishists, though. :-)
This looks like a fun set. As much as I like stats on cards, Not knowing stats and relying on card reading skills will be fun also!
Based on what I read on the Delphi forum, the pitching grades sound like they are a little screwy, e.g., Cy Young is a C, Christy Mathewson is a B, and Nolan Ryan is an A. Not sure why this would be, if it is true.
One strange thing I found… He has an F25 steal rating, but no speed numbers on his card. To have enough steals to get an F, he should have a 10.
I take it back. Didn’t notice the 14*.
The O.Z. League has been using the specific outfield positions for years. Has worked great for us…
DOM IN NY
Hey Dom!
We’ve broached the idea in the IAL. For simplicity’s sake, we decided to stick with the simple rules. :)
I don’t know who put this set together and devised the pitching grades,etc., but to rate Nolan Ryan an A and Christy Mathewson a B and, fot Christ’s sake, Cy Young a C , is ridiculous. Ryan, despite his 7 no-hitters, was , as one of his managers said, ” the most exciting mediocre pitcher of all time.” To rate Mathewson and Young below him is flat crazy!
My theory: the pitchers were normalized first, then ranked by normalized ERA and graded accordingly. Why would Cy Young be a C? Depends. If he was X amount over the league average in the seasons chosen, and then normalized to be X amount over, say, the 2016 American League average, he might merit that C. Dead ball era pitchers benefitted from the spitball and other trick pitches they would not be able to use in 2016.