DMB-Blog

1951 Deluxe Past Season with transaction and lineups available now!

1951:  The Bums and the Jints Collide, but the Bombers Rule

by Steve Ehresman

Baseball in the 1950s is celebrated as The ERA:  a time when three major league teams took the field in New York; when Willie, Mickey, and Duke were just embarking on their journeys to Cooperstown; when a western road trip meant games in Chicago and St. Louis; and when radio announcers brought baseball to life in America’s living rooms.  Broadcasters like Vin Scully, Ernie Harwell, Mel Allen, Red Barber, Jack Buck, Harry Cary, Bob Prince, Jack Quinlan, and Russ Hodges, thanks to their distinctive voices and styles, created a generation of fans who cherished the time they spent listening to the play-by-play incantations of their favorite radio uncles during those long-ago summers.

Never was this magic more evident than on October 3, 1951, when Russ Hodges was at the mike to make the most famous home run call of them all:  There’s a long drive . . . it’s gonna be .  . . I believe.   The Giants win the pennant!  The Giants win the pennant!  The Giants win the pennant!   The Giants win the pennant!

Hodges’ home run call summarized a season, galvanized a rivalry, and defined a decade. 

Not bad for an autumn afternoon.   

The Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff is a well-known baseball drama--part fact and part legend--replete with triumph, tragedy, and even a hint of scandal.  Did the Giants steal signs?  Did a stolen sign alert Bobby Thomson that Ralph Branca was about to deliver a second straight fast ball, this one high and inside? 

Did it matter?

 As both of the principal actors are deceased, we are left with a fact (The Giants won the 1951 pennant.) and a legend (The Shot Heard ‘Round the World).  As a character in the western The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance advises, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Bobby Thomson (27 2B, 32 HR, 101 RBI, .293) was not the only legend playing for the New York Giants in 1951.  Five-time Negro League All-Star Monte Irvin was the big bat in New York’s line-up, as he scored 94 runs, collected 174 hits, swatted 24 home runs, drove in a league-leading 121 runs, swiped 12 bases, and led the Giants with a .312 batting average.  Twenty-year-old Willie Mays, a star for the Birmingham Black Barons and the Minneapolis Millers, established himself as a major league regular, compiling 22 doubles, 20 home runs, and 68 RBI in 464 ABs, while playing a stellar centerfield.  On the mound, the Giants relied, not on stolen signs, but on a trio of superb pitchers.  Sal Maglie “The Barber” Maglie (42 G, 37 GS, 22 CG, 298 IP, 23-6, 2.93), Larry Jansen (39 G, 34 GS, 18 CG, 279 IP, 23-11, 3.03), and Jim Hearn (34 G, 34 GS, 11 CG, 211 IP, 17-9, 3.63) provided stability throughout the season, allowing the Giants to overcome a horrendous 1-11 start and to overtake the Dodgers, despite their trailing Brooklyn by 13 ½ games on August 12. 

The star-crossed Dodgers led the National League in runs (855), hits (1511), doubles 249, home runs (184), runs batted in (794), batting average (.275), slugging average (.434), and even stolen bases (89).  Their play-off loss is the stuff of Greek tragedy:  larger-than-life heroes struggling against inexorable Fate (or Leo Durocher’s elaborate system for stealing signs).  In any case, Dem Bums crashed and burned again, one year after they lost the pennant to Philadelphia’s Whiz Kids in the tenth inning on the final day of the season. 

Nevertheless, the team identified as The Boys of Summer, thanks to Roger Kahn’s co-opting a line from Dylan Thomas (“I see the boys of summer in their ruin”), was largely intact in 1951.  Young stars Duke Snider (29 HR, 101 RBI) and Gil Hodges (40 HR, 103 RBI) led the high -powered Dodger offense, as they would for most of the coming decade.  Veterans Pee Wee Reese (94 R, 20 SB) and Jackie Robinson (106 R, 33 2B, 19 HR, 25 SB, .338) anchored the keystone with aplomb.  Most of all, National League Most Valuable Player Roy Campanella (99 R, 33 2B, 33 HR, 108 RBI, .325) enjoyed one of the greatest seasons a backstop has ever put in the books.  Led by two twenty-game winners, Preacher Roe (34 G, 33 GS, 19 CG, 258 IP, 22-3, 3.03) and Don Newcombe (40 G, 36 GS, 18 CG, 272 IP, a league-leading 164 K, 20-9, 3.28), the Dodgers looked like a team destined for greatness.  Unfortunately, the Borough of Brooklyn would have to wait a few more seasons for that greatness to be realized.   

The American League, almost eclipsed by the post-season play-off drama taking place in Ebbets Field and the Polo Grounds, had much to offer baseball fans in 1951.  As usual, the New York Yankees, defending World Series Champions, put a great team on the field.  Anchored by The Big Three of Ed Lopat (31 G, 31 GS, 20 CG, 235 IP, 21-9, 2.91), Vic Raschi (35 G, 34 GS, 15 CG, 258 IP, a league-leading 164 K, 21-10, 3.28), and Allie Reynolds (40 G, 26 GS, 16 CG, 221 IP, 17-8, 2 no-hitters, 3.05), The Bronx Bombers withstood a stiff challenge from the Cleveland Indians to capture their fourth pennant in five years.  Standing tall at 5’ 7”, Yogi Berra, in his third season as a regular behind the plate, captured the American League Most Valuable Player (92 R, 27 HR, 88 RBI, .294), while handling the Yankees’ veteran pitchers.  Breaking into the Yankee line-up was nineteen-year-old Mickey Mantle (11 2B, 5 3B, 13 HR, 65 RBI in 341 AB), heir-apparent to Joe DiMaggio (22 2B, 12 HR, 71 RBI).  With Mays, Mantle, and Snider finally ensconced as regulars in 1954, The ERA had its signature trio of Hall of Fame centerfielders: “Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.”

If New York was the epicenter of baseball in 1951, it did not have a monopoly on excellence.  From New England to the Midwest, major league stars put up numbers that deserve recognition in any era.   

In baseball’s outpost on the Mississippi River, Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals won the batting title, while tearing up the National League (a league-leading 124 R, 205 H, 30 2B, 12 3B, 32 HR, 108 RBI, .355).  In Beantown, Warren Spahn (39 G, 36 GS, a league-leading 26 CG, 311 IP, a league-leading 164 K, 22-14, 2.98), Chet Nichols (33 G, 19 GS, 12 CG, a league-leading 2.88), and former Cleveland Buckeye Sam Jethro (29 2B, 10 3B, 18 HR, 35 SB) starred for the Boston Braves.  Robin Roberts (44 G, 39 GS, 22 CG, 315 IP, 21-15, 3.03) and Richie Ashburn (a league-leading 221 H, 29 SB, .344) set the pace in Philadelphia, The City of Brotherly Love.  Where the Ohio, the Monongahela, and the Allegheny rivers meet, Ralph Kiner crushed a major league-leading 42 home runs, while scoring 124 runs, swatting 31 doubles, driving in 109 runs, drawing a league-leading 137 walks, and batting .309.                    

On the shores of Lake Erie, where the Cuyahoga River flows, the Cleveland Indians pursued the New York Yankees (98-56) all summer, falling short of the American League pennant by 5 games (93-61).  Featuring one of the best starting staffs in the 1950s, The Tribe put a star on the hill almost every night:  Bob Feller (33 C, 32 GS, 16 CG, 250 IP, 22-8, 3.49), Mike Garcia (47 G, 30 GS, 15 CG, 254 IP, 20-13, 3.15), Early Wynn (37 G, 34 GS, 21 CG, 274 IP, 20-13, 3.02), and Bob Lemon (42 G, 34 GS, 17 CG, 263 IP, 17-14, 3.52).  In addition to Cleveland’s tough pitchers, former Homestead Gray Luke Easter (27 HR, 103 RBI), former Newark Eagle and American League trailblazer Larry Doby (27 2B, 20 HR, .295), and slugging third baseman Al Rosen (30 2B, 24 HR, 102 RBI) provided sock for the Indians in their heavy-weight fight with the Yankees.  In Boston, World War II veteran and soon-to-be Korean War fighter pilot, Ted Williams (109 R, 28 2B, 30 HR, 126 RBI, a league-leading 144 BB, .318) continued to make his case as “the greatest hitter who ever lived.”  On Chicago’s South Side, former New York Cuban Minnie Minoso electrified the Windy City with 32 doubles, 14 triples, 31 stolen bases, and a .326 batting average.  Sharing Shibe Park with the National League Phillies, the Athletics featured slugger Gus Zernial, who blasted 33 home runs to lead the American League and drove in 129 runs to lead all of baseball.  The Athletics also celebrated batting champion Ferris Fain (.344), although he was limited to 425 Abs because of a broken bone in his foot.  Pitching in obscurity, Ned Garver put together a fine year on the mound (33 G, 30 GS, a league-leading 24 complete games, 20-12, 3.73) for the St. Louis Browns, a team that finished with the worst record in baseball (52-102, 46 games behind the Yankees). 

The 1951 Fall Classic proved to be somewhat anti-climactic, as the Yankees captured their third consecutive championship, even though the scrappy Giants extended the Series to six games.  For the Yanks, Phil Rizzuto (.320) and Gil McDougald (7 RBI) stood out at the plate, and Ed Lopat was stellar on the mound (18 IP, 10 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 2-0, 0.50).  For the Giants, Monte Irvin (.458) and Al Dark (.417) starred in a losing cause.  Shut out of the World Series again, the residents of Brooklyn consoled themselves with a familiar refrain:  Wait till next year.           

In 1951, a new home cost $9,000.  A new car was priced at $1,500.  Gas was 19 cents a gallon.  The average household made $3,700 a year.  Unemployment dropped to 3.3%.   In theaters, The Day the Earth Stood Still, directed by Robert Wise, debuted in September.  I Love Lucy premiered on America’s fastest growing home entertainment medium, television. 

In 1951, war loomed on the Korean peninsula.  The United States began testing nuclear bombs in Nevada.  The first commercial computer, UNIVAC, was dedicated for use at the United States Census Bureau.  The American experiment moved forward:  a half-step into the glow of Tomorrowland and a half-step into the chill of The Cold War.   

Baseball was entering one of its most celebrated decades.  New stars gathered backstage, awaiting their turn in the spot light.  Old stars took their bows, savoring their final moments on stage.   The 1951 season confirmed that baseball is a uniquely American drama that can change lives with one swing of the bat.   Just as it did for two proud men on an October afternoon long ago in the Polo Grounds.

In “The Echoing Green” of our collective memory, we can still hear Russ Hodges, struck with incredulity by the probable impossibilities inherent in Our National Pastime:

“I don’t believe it.  I don’t believe it.  I DO NOT believe it.” 

The next time a play on the diamond makes your jaw drop, the next time a play on the diamond takes your breath away, the next time a play on the diamond leaves you shaking your head, remember October 3, 1951, and BELIEVE IT.    

The 1951 Deluxe Past Season database contains everything you need to play games using teams and players from the 1951 season -- a full set of ratings and statistics for every player who appeared in the big leagues that year, plus team rosters, manager profiles, ballpark ratings and league schedules. Statistics include official batting, pitching and fielding totals with left/right splits for all batters and pitchers.

Also included is a complete set of real-life player transactions -- trades, disabled list moves, promotions, demotions, suspensions, and more -- plus the actual starting lineups for every regular season game played.

If you are a registered owner of the 1951 Classic Past Season, you are eligible for upgrade pricing for this item. Send an email to dmb_info@imaginesports.com to request your discount promotion code.

Note: This season database is a companion product for the Diamond Mind Baseball version 11 game. To use this database, you must also have Diamond Mind Baseball version 11. The game software provides you with all of the tools you need to play simulated games, make roster moves, produce dozens of statistical reports, generate league schedules, and more.

2018 Postseason Teams database is now available!

The 2018 Postseason Teams database includes all of the rosters, stats, ratings, manager profiles, park factors and other details that you need to play along with the 2017 MLB Playoffs. This release completes the trio of 2018 ZiPS Projection Database editions.

For this release, all players have been updated with their actual regular season stats (as of the end of play on Friday, September 28, 2018) and the player ratings have been carried over from the mid-season update of the projection database. In most cases, the 25-man rosters are our best guess since most teams had not announced their playoff rosters at the time of release.

Teams included in this database are the 2018 editions of the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Colorado Rockies, Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers. Here's your chance to manage all these teams in postseason play to determine the 2018 World Series Champion!


If you have already purchased the 2018 ZiPS Projection Season, you should be receiving an email notifying you that an update is available that includes the link to download the postseason teams file. Remember to check your spam/junk folder, but if you do not receive the update email, contact us at dmb_info@imaginesports.com to request your copy.

The 2018 Postseason Teams set can also be purchased separately for $9.95.

Note: This season database is a companion product for the Diamond Mind Baseball version 11 game. To use this database, you must also have Diamond Mind Baseball version 11. The game software provides you with all of the tools you need to play simulated games, make roster moves, produce dozens of statistical reports, generate league schedules, and more.

2018 ZiPS Projection Database Mid-season Update Now Available!

The 2018 ZiPS Projection Database mid-season update is now available. All customers who have purchased the 2018 ZiPS Projection Database so far have been sent a notification email that includes information about the update and a new link to allow you to download a copy of the updated database. If you have not received the update notification please contact us at dmb_info@imaginesports.com to request the new database file.

The mid-season update is a completely new database that contains updated projections, player ratings and team rosters and can be installed like any other DMB database file from within the game by using the File -> Install season disk command. If you need help with installation, you can find step-by-step instructions in the "Managing DMB Databases" section of the game's extensive built-in help system. Or you can view the installation instructions page on the Diamond Mind website here.

Update:  On August 21, 2018, we updated our master copy of the Mid-season update to the 2018 Projection Season database to correct a couple of errors discovered since the initial release of the mid-season update.

To check if your copy of the mid-season update to the 2018 Projections Season database includes these corrections, have a look in the Notes tab of the game's Organizer window with your installed copy of the 2018 mid-season update database set as the active database. If the date of the "2018 Updates" note is 8/21/2018 or later then you have the most up to date version.

This release includes the following corrections:

• Added GB% for pitchers
• Recalculated event tables of some players to correct for errors in the source data.

In addition, we have released an update tool that will allow you to update your already installed copy of the 2018 ZiPS Projection database. Instructions on using the projections update tool and the link to download it can be found here.

Team rosters are up to date as of the beginning of play on Wednesday, August 15, 2018.

2018 ZiPS Projection Database Update Tool

When you download the projections update tool, it is saved to the Downloads folder or to the folder that you specify. Before you run the update tool, you'll need to make sure it is saved in the folder into which you installed Diamond Mind Baseball -- that's C:\dmb11 if you accepted the default location, something else if you chose to install the game elsewhere. It doesn't matter whether you download the file directly into the dmb11 folder or download it somewhere else first and then move or copy it to the dmb11 folder.

Make sure that Diamond Mind Baseball is shut down before using the update tool!

To use the update tool properly, in step two (shown in the image below) you need to select the season database folder for your league that you've been playing using the first release of the ZiPS Projections database (for example proj2018_v11).

Next, at step three (shown in the image below), select the season database folder where you installed the new, mid-season update database (for example proj2018mid_v11). (The updated projections database must be installed in DMB for the update tool to find it.)

After you have selected the two projection database folders, click on the 'Copy new player ratings' button. The update tool will then copy all new ratings, projections, and event tables from the new player projections season folder to the players in the first release of the player projections. In addition, all new players in the mid-season release will get added to the initial release of the player projections as free agents. No statistics or game results will be lost. You will then be able to continue your league exactly where it was left off.



After the update tool reports that the operation was successful, you can continue to update another first release, ZiPS Projections database by selecting a different folder or if you're done, click on the 'Finished' button.

Download link

UpdateProjections.exe (posted 8/17/2018)

1966 Deluxe Past Season with transaction and lineups available now!

The 1966 Major League Baseball Season:

The Baby Birds Soar Eight Miles High

by Steve Ehresman

When The Byrds debuted their smash single “Eight Miles High” in March 1966, the Baltimore Orioles, aka The Baby Birds, were a young, aspiring pennant contender, who had finished third in the American League the previous season, behind the champion Minnesota Twins and the runner-up Chicago White Sox. By the end of the World Series in October, the Orioles reigned supreme, sweeping the Los Angles Dodgers in a four-game upset and setting the stage for the greatest era in Baltimore baseball.

Needing a power bat to bolster their line-up, the Orioles traded the star of their starting rotation, Milt Pappas, to the Cincinnati Red for a thirty-year-old outfielder supposedly in decline, Frank Robinson. This trade turned out to be one of the most lopsided in Major League history, as erstwhile ace Milt Pappas struggled (12-11 4. 29 ERA) and American League MVP Frank Robson sizzled (.316, 49 HR, 122 RB), becoming the first player to win an MVP award in both leagues.
Frank Robinson was not a one-man wrecking crew for the Orioles, as first sacker Boog Powell (34 HR, 109 RBI), slick-fielding hot corner man Brooks Robinson (23 HR, 100 RBI), and sophomore slugger Curt Blefary (23 HR, 64 RBI) combined to give Baltimore a formidable offense.

On the mound, The Baby Birds were led by Jim Palmer (15-10, 3.46) and Dave McNally (13-6, 3.17), but both Steve Barber and Wally Bunker missed parts of the season with bad arms. To compensate, the Orioles relied on a lockdown relief corps, led by Stu Miller, who appeared in 51 games, recording 18 saves, and Eddie Fisher, who appeared in 44 games, recording 13 saves, after he was acquired from the Chicago White Sox.

In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending World Series champions, road to the pennant, thanks to Sandy Koufax’s Cy Young Award season. Whereas the Orioles crushed their competition in the American League, coasting to victory by 9 games over the runner-up Minnesota Twins, the Dodgers did not win the pennant until the final day, slipping past the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates by razor-thin margins of 1.5 and 3 games, respectively.

Although Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale staged a joint holdout during spring training, when the season began, Koufax was superlative (27-9, 41 GS, 27 CG, 323 IP, 317 K, 1.73). Koufax chalked up these staggering numbers with an arthritic pitching arm. At only 30 years old, he retired after the season. Drysdale, on the other hand, was mediocre by his standards (13-16, 3.42). Taking up the slack on the mound were Claude Osteen (17-14, 2.85), youngster Don Sutton (12-12, 2.99), and relief ace Phil “The Vulture” Regan (65 games, 21 SV, 14-1, 1.62).

Beyond these noteworthy performances, the 1966 National League featured MVP Roberto Clemente (.317, 29 HR, 119 RBI); his Pittsburgh teammate, batting champ Matty Alou (.342); home run and RBI leader Hank Aaron (44 HR, 127 RBI); his Atlanta teammate, Joe Torre (36 HR, 101 RB); stolen base whiz Lou Brock (74 SB); and an impressive array of offensive threats: Willie Mays (37 HR, 103 RB), Willie McCovey (36 HR, 96 RBI), Jim Ray Hart (33 HR, 93 RBI), Willie Stargell (33 HR, 102 RBI), Dick Allen (40 HR, 110 RBI), and Ron Santo (30 HR, 94 RBI).

In addition to the unrivaled excellence of Sandy Koufax, the Senior Circuit boasted four 20-game winners: Juan Marichal (25-6, 2.23); his Giant teammate, Gaylord Perry (2-18, 2.99); Chris Short (20-10, 3.54); and Bob Gibson (21-12, 2.44). Although they did not win 20 games, Jim Bunning (19-14, 2.41) and Jim Maloney (16-8, 216 K, 2.80) enjoyed fine seasons.

Over in the American League, Harmon Killebrew (39 HR, 110 RBI, .281); his Minnesota teammate Tony Oliva (25 HR, 87 RBI); Norm Cash (32 HR, 93 RBI); his Detroit teammates Al Kaline (29 HR, 88 RBI) and Willie Horton (27 HR, 100 RBI); Rookie of the Year Tommie Agee (22 HR, 86 RBI, 44 SB), Rocky Colavito (30 HR, 72 RBI), Tony Conigliaro (28 HR, 93 RBI), and stolen base leader Bert Campaneris (52 SB) all put impressive offensive numbers on the board.

On the mound, the American League featured two 20-game winners: Jim Kaat (25-13, 41 GS, 19 CG, 305 IP, 2.74) and Denny McLain (20-14). Two other Junior Circuit hurlers contributed greatly in 1966: Gary Peters (1.98) and Sam McDowell (225 K), despite McDowell’s missing some starts with a sore arm.

In the year when The Beatles released “Revolver,” Julie Andrews celebrated “the sound of music,” “Batman” featured 85 different bat-fight words, “Star Trek” vowed “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” and the Grinch “stole Christmas,” Major League Baseball was experiencing the ebb and flow of history. In 1966, as baseball neared its Centennial season, as iconic stars aged and perennial dynasties passed into history, our National Pastime would face the uncertain years that lay ahead and pass its legacy to a new decade and, ultimately, to a new generation of fans.

The 1966 Deluxe Past Season database contains everything you need to play games using teams and players from the 1966 season -- a full set of ratings and statistics for every player who appeared in the big leagues that year, plus team rosters, manager profiles, ballpark ratings and league schedules. Statistics include official batting, pitching and fielding totals with left/right splits for all batters and pitchers.

Also included is a complete set of real-life player transactions -- trades, disabled list moves, promotions, demotions, suspensions, and more -- plus the actual starting lineups for every regular season game played.

If you are a registered owner of the 1966 Classic Past Season, you are eligible for upgrade pricing for this item. Send an email to dmb_info@imaginesports.com to request your discount promotion code.

Note: This season database is a companion product for the Diamond Mind Baseball version 11 game. To use this database, you must also have Diamond Mind Baseball version 11. The game software provides you with all of the tools you need to play simulated games, make roster moves, produce dozens of statistical reports, generate league schedules, and more.