Baseball season is here, and so’s Baseball Mogul 2003

Last Updated on April 15, 2017 by Dave Farquhar

The Kansas City Royals wised up on Friday and gave Mike Sweeney what he wanted. Well, at least enough of what he wanted that he signed. So Mike Sweeney is now $55 million richer, and the Royals have him locked in for five years, as long as they manage to reach .500 in either 2003 or 2004.
Personally, I wish they’d signed him to a longer deal, but it could be that the second-greatest Kansas City Royal of all time didn’t want more than five years.

To celebrate, I headed over to Sports Mogul to see if there was a new patch to fix some bugs in Baseball Mogul 2002. And I found that Baseball Mogul 2003 is out. I downloaded the demo and played around with it. The free-agency model seems to be more realistic now, and the players aren’t as rigid in their contract negotiations, which may or may not be realistic. The computer GMs offered trades, some stupid, others inspired.

The game crashed as the July 31 trading deadline approached. My Royals were in second place, thanks to a couple of shrewd acquisitions. Predictably, with one more really big stick in the lineup, Mike Sweeney and Mark Quinn hit a whole lot better. It crashed as I was wheeling and dealing, looking for a catcher with a little bit of pop in his bat and maybe a veteran starting pitcher. I’d signed Bret Saberhagen and David Cone as free agents for old times’ sake, but they had nothing left.

At any rate, for 20 bucks, why not get the full version, I figued, especially since I could plunk down the credit card, they’d ship me the retail box in mid-April, and in the meantime I could download and install a 75-meg package?

I like the new version better than the old one. And of course the old one was good enough that I once deemed it a necessity of life. The new one adds a few features, like letting you set prices for concessions (so I guess I can do a 10-cent beer night like Bill Veeck did one year in Chicago), and it adds play-by-play, which is tedious during the regular season, but great for watching games like the All-Star Game and the World Series.

What can I say? For a baseball strategy nut like me, Baseball Mogul is really hard to beat. It would be nice if it would do some more statistics, so you could do lefty/righty platoons. These days, there are managers who decide who’s playing based on whether there’s a right- or left-handed pitcher on the mound, whether it’s a day or night game, home or road game, and whether the game’s being played on turf or grass. You think I’m kidding.

The other feature I wish it had was hirable managers. The only game I’ve ever seen that had that feature was Earl Weaver Baseball, which was popular more than 10 years ago.

But even with those shortcomings, it’s still an incredibly addictive game. I haven’t found a better baseball sim yet. And despite its bad first impression, it’s less buggy than its predecessor.

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6 thoughts on “Baseball season is here, and so’s Baseball Mogul 2003

  • April 2, 2002 at 1:43 pm
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    While my sport of choice is, of course, fox hunting, I do follow American cricket on occasion. R. Collins prefers horseshoes, since perfection is not required.

    In any case, I was wondering when the Montreal Expos farm team was moved to Kansas City. Apparently, this was before 1985, when they brought up their umpire – Don Denkinger was his name, I believe. Quite a year for the club. The team won the championship, and Denkinger was even allowed to referee in the series.

    I hear the Royals pay him a nice pension, and covered his Lasik surgery a few years ago.

  • April 2, 2002 at 5:33 pm
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    I prefer caber tossing, since that’s a true man’s sport, unlike fox hunting, which is for wimps.

    Or there’s golf, another fine Scottish invention, which requires finesse and a brain, again, unlike fox hunting.

    Fox hunting is for aristocrats who have money and no brains to match.

  • April 2, 2002 at 7:24 pm
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    If tossing a stick while wearing a skirt is a real man’s sport, I’ll stick with hunting foxes. They tend to be a bit smarter than sticks, you know. I suppose next you’ll say that high intelligence is required to bale hay.

    Golf is a simple game for those with mental discipline. Which is why the Scottish (and Greg Norman) are still trying to figure it out. I set aside golf out of boredom before I started shaving.

    Don’t tell your brother, but George Brett is an avid fox hunter. Though he does use an excess of pine tar…

  • April 3, 2002 at 1:46 am
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    I’ll speak in english here, as none of you can probably speak the fine language of Deutscher.

    I think that de la Stenche has trampled on sacred turf here by saying that this George Brett fox hunts. I know that my good friend R. Collins Farquhar IV will not stand for such insults!

  • April 3, 2002 at 2:18 am
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    Au contraire, Knöchelkopf. Du hast einen toten Vogel in der Tasche. Ihr Kolben stinkt. Ihr aufgeblähter Kopf entschädigt Ihr kleiner Pimmel nicht.

    When one is berated by barbarians… Now excuse me while I wash that vulgar language from my palate.

    You must admit, David is loyal. Rooting for the Royals is like cheering for the cars at a monster truck rally.

  • April 5, 2002 at 1:04 am
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    A dead bird in the bag? A piston that sticks? What foolishness is this coming from the mouth of a "stenche" Frecnman?

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