Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:56 pm
I have been lobbying for some time for there to be two ATG sets.
ATG 8 will continue to add high-end cards.
ATG 9 will focus on franchise play. Six eras (1885-1900 - 19th century, 1901-1919 deadball era, 1920-1946 age of Swat, 1947-1972 - age of integration, 1973-1997 - age of the DH, 1998 onward - modern era). 19th century will represent the 12 major franchises of the last 16 seasons of the century - Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Baltimore, Louisville, Detroit and Indianapolis. All of the other eras will represent all active teams for the era.
For each team in each era, they will get the two "best" cards at each position (including DH), the 10 "best" starters, and the 10 "best" relievers. They will also get the two "best" entire teams for the era, in order to provide a useful selection of bench players. The 9th and db eras may have to have some pitcher endurance ratings adjusted to provide enough pure relievers.
This will be a massive card set; I estimate that it will be about 6500 cards. But the recommended card set format lends itself very well to being developed by polling - say one franchise every 2 weeks, with simultaneous polls for best teams and best players by position. That would roll out the 19th century in about 7 months, the next two eras in about 8 months, and so on.
Andy would love it. I would too.