Oakland #24 et al

[emoryeagles]

I'm sure the answer is buried here somewhere, but any clue as to why a number of players aren't named in BTT80s, though they appear in the boxscores? I assume it's a licensing thing, with Rickey and others opting out?

It all reminds me of those old video games where you could tell who George Bell was from his monster '87 season even though he was named something else.

[voovits]

When this game was released, the unnamed players were still active in baseball. There is some sort of stupid licensing issue that comes up when active and retired players are playing together. I don't understand.
As far as I know there is no reason why the players names could not be updated now that everyone is retired.

[canauscot]

Clemens isn't retired, just quiet.

That has been the accepted wisdom. Although Julio Franco was probably still playing at the time (or maybe he was temporarily out of the bigs), so I'm not sure that is the whole reason.

[voovits]

I don't know when BTT80s was released, but according to baseball-reference.com, Julio Franco did not have any major league ABs in 1995, 1998, and 2000. He also only got 1 AB in 1999.
I think the 80s game came out much later than 2000, so that is an oddity that shoots holes into the accepted theory behind the unnamed players.

[chess2899]

The cut-off for real names was in 2002. Players who retired in 2001 or before have their names. Players who retired 2003 or later have their numbers.

Therefore:

1. The year 2002 is key
2. There could have been a licensing agreement during that year and/or the year Stratomatic went online in the 80s.
3. The 2002 Steroid Factor- are the no-name players on the list? :D