DESCRIPTION & HISTORY of Rabbit Schindel (Version 1.05) Rabbit Schindel has been developed for general use with seasons from 1908 through 1919. In most areas, he performs exactly the same as Larry Bubb's MicroManager Jake Conley. Rabbit differs significantly from Jake in those situations which consider base stealing and sacrifice bunting. Rabbit is not quite so smart as Jake, his cousin. Rabbit doesn't understand mathematics, strikeout ratios, etc., so he relies on observation and precedent to make his decisions. Jake, if used in a full season replay, will play to win, and take maximum advantage of his best stealers and bunters. What results is the proper number of attempts in these areas, but overusage of the good performers and no usage at all of some players. Additionally, almost all the bunts will be by pitchers, who will average about twice as many as they did in real life - while the position players will get about 14% of actual. Rabbit uses the guys the real-life managers used to bunt, and thinks it's all right to steal in most normal steal situations if the runner has "haffachance". Rabbit, of course, never heard of the designated hitter or the double switch. Steve Galbraith stripped these strategies from Rabbit in version 1.03. The lack of statistics (CS, batter SO's) for many seasons of this era which significantly effect the steal and bunt attempts of other micromanagers don't effect Rabbit, since he was a keen observer of "what the other guys did". He uses his intuition and "gut feel" to determine how often the players were asked to bunt or steal. Used for a full season replay you can expect Rabbit to attempt the steal anywhere from 75-80% as much as the actual stats, as he doesn't give the "green light" unless there's about a 50% chance of success. He doesn't make up for the lack of total attempts by overusing those who always have a 50% chance. So ... you'll see the right guys at the top of the leader boards with a number of attempts which correlates very closely with their actual rate of attempts ... He also curbs the overuse of good basestealers as pinch runners ... but doesn't completely ignore them. For those seasons where actual CS stats are not available, Rabbit will come close to the actual number of attempts estimated, which might slightly inflate individual stolen base totals. This is because Draft/Wizard assumes a success rate of 70% when creating players ... a number which I feel is 10%-15% high, based on analysis of other stats of the period in question. (catcher assists, similar seasons, etc.) Bunts will come out just about 67-75% of the total sacrifices (SH+SF) in the actual stats, and the better bunters will be the same players as in real life. It is important to note here that sacrifice bunts and sacrifice flies were reported as "Sacrifice Hits" during this era. So, if you look up an individual's sacrifices, remember the 75-25 ratio of bunts to flies. The intent in producing Rabbit was to have a competitive manager for the era who played the running game in the early style, but who was still competitive to play against. Obviously, Rabbit could be adjusted so his stolen base attempts would be exact ... but he'd look dumber and dumber. Rabbit, unlike his cousin Jake who enjoyed a managerial career that lasted well into the forties, couldn't adjust to the lively ball and the modern game, and retired after 1919. When last seen, he was still active, trying to learn the modern (after 1919) game and pass on his expertise while working for some software firm in Connecticut. Reviews indicate he still manages like an old codger... but has shown a great willingness to help others to learn and enjoy this great game. If I can help you with the thought processes behind Rabbit's creation, feel free to Email. Remember, MicroManagers are created to cover a number of seasons, and their performance will fluctuate somewhat based on any particular season's variance from the "norms" of the period. An example might be that if you use Rabbit in a season where the stolen base success percentage was higher, he'll steal more, if it's lower, he'll steal less. Again, Rabbit will perform better with an APBA/Miller season disk then he will for a Draft/Wizard created disk because of the way Draft assigns steal success numbers ... UPDATE INFORMATION Version 1.01 (2-22-97) Curbed ability to steal home when behind by more more than one run. Version 1.02 (2-24-97) Eliminatd the late-inning, fatigue generated-removal of starting pitcher who is pitching no-hitter or shutout. Version 1.03 (3-6-97) Incorporated several known MicroManager "fixes", eliminated all DH & DS strategies, increased ability of individuals with extremely high steal attempts to "times on first" ratios to steal in replays. (This is minor change, but with some impact, though only one known player will be effected, Ty Cobb, and then only in one or two seasons. Version 1.04 (3-7-97) Slightly revised steal definitions so that high percentage (very high) stealers who bat in middle of lineup can steal more than previously. Version 1.05 (3-9-97) Again, slightly revised high percentage stealer definitions. Opened up steal potential for more individuals who were hampered by batting in middle of order ... roughly, those individual with a SALF of "B" or higher. Bill Staffa skeeter6@erols.com 10 March 1997