Bill O'Neill - 1940's replay Manager

OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIES/STYLE

Bill O'Neill is designed specifically for the 1940's seasons with AIM.

O'Neill is programmed like his 40's counterpart Cookie Lopez/Cookie Lopez II to recognize many of the "odd" aspects of baseball during the war years in particular. This included heavy emphasis of the dual use of pitchers as both starters and relievers, the use of relief "aces" who would pitch in multiple roles and the heavier emphasis on small ball tactics and one-run innings during the "dead baseball" period of the war years. He is also better attuned to managing the early part of the decade where small ball tactics, especially bunting, were more prevalent.

Summarizing O'NeilI, you will see that he will:

1) Use star starting pitchers in relief, especially in critical situations late. As such, however,
O'Neill will "save" at least one potential starting pitcher (1 or more actual games started) from
being used in relief. Therefore, you won't have to bench starting pitchers (O'Neill does NOT set
aside a rotation). In fact, it's strongly suggested that you do NOT bench a rotation.

2) Relievers, especially quality ones, will be used in almost any role. This includes (if ratings
permit it) using a pitcher in long and short relief, and as closers - either early or late. "Stud"
relievers, then, will sometimes be brought into games as early as the 6th inning onward, perhaps a
little earlier in very close or tied games.

3) Pitching changes are based, in part, on the total relief appearances (TRA) of the bullpen. Thus,
teams with high bullpen usage will obviously result in a quicker hook than teams with lower TRA
(note: micromanagers cannot "read" a pitchers complete games totals).

4) Blowout or rout substitution patterns are conservative. Usually, only "superstar" type players
are removed; however, if an "itchy" bench player is available, O'NeilI will likely put him into
the lopsided game. Superstar players will be: PH, PR or subbed defensively for.

5) Small ball tactics are more emphasized for early decade replays. However, O'Neill will resort
to these "guerilla-type" tactics against quality or high grade pitchers or late with a critical
run on. The use of these tactics will decline as you approach the 2/3 years of the decade (i.e.,
1948-49) as offenses, particularly home runs, picked up.

*An excellent idea for greater variety in a replay is to use - if possible - a mix of micromanagers
assigned O'Neill, Lopez and Lopez II to a variety of rosters. For the 1940's you can use Lopez I
(post-1945) for clubs that had higher CG totals and lower bullpen usage than the average for the
league/season. Additionally, Lopez I is better suited to handle very poor teams with high team ERA
and a more plodding base running style (e.g, station-to-station advancement and low SBs). Teams,
meanwhile, that had either aggressive base stealing and more liberal use of the H&R would be better handled with Lopez II. Staffs (pre-1945) meanwhile that had higher than average CGS/relief appearances would also be better managed with Lopez II. War year clubs can be handled by a combination of O'Neill and Lopez. A mix of the three should give you both accurate results and more interesting games.