by ADRIANGABRIEL » Thu Aug 26, 2010 6:48 am
I'm thinking the issue with ATG and small ball is that there are not enough top tier small ball hitters. I'd say the difference is about 3 or 4 to 1.
You can look at the top-tier hitters used in Polo '41 and Forbes '57, for example. Based on actuals data in 'Dope at this moment, the parks have been used about the same in ATG 5. In Forbes, only 5 players have been used more than 13 times (combining the usage for Speaker, Cobb, Wagner, etc.) In Polo, 19 players have been used more than 13 times (again, combining the totals for Mays, Ruth, Mantle, etc.)
Now, more than ever, ATG really is about the "Greats." I do not think there are enough of them to make small ball rewarding if you miss out on a couple of key guys. Then you have to turn to the inflated middle and bottom tier hitters where value is tougher to come by.
So, yeah, a pricing adjustment for middle and bottom tier hitters that skews higher for park effects would be helpful. Or we could try to inject better top tier hitter cards, even if those guys are not necessarily "Greats."