Modifying a Player

To modify a player, first click on File at the top of the Diamond Mind screen and then select Organizer. Click on the Players tab at the bottom of the window and a list of all players in your database appears. Now you can either:

• left-click on a player and then click on the Modify button, or

• right-click on a player and select Modify player from the popup menu

Either way, DMB presents a popup menu with categories of player information that you can modify:

The first seven of these commands display forms that are described in the following topics:

Players: General Information

Players: Player UID

Players: Real-life Statistics

Players: DMB Statistics

Players: Ratings Overview

Players: Pitcher Profile

Players: Injuries and Usage

NOTE: Changing a player's real-life statistics DOES NOT affect his performance in your DMB games. These statistics are used only for display and reporting purposes. To change a player's performance, you must modify his event table and/or his ratings.

Modifying Event Tables

The last two commands on this menu allow you to change his event table. What is an event table? It's a hidden set of batting and pitching ratings that determines how often each of the major types of events (singles, doubles, triples, homers, hit batsmen, walks, strikeouts, fly outs, ground outs, and ground ball double plays) occur when this player is involved in the batter-pitcher confrontation.

Why do we use event tables to govern the batting and pitching performance of DMB players? Two reasons. First, it allows us to make appropriate adjustments for changes in playing conditions over time and for home parks. Second, it's useful to have something other than the player's actual statistics to use as the basis for generating play results.

On the first point, the Creating a New Player topic describes how DMB rates players on an era- and park-neutral basis so players can be moved into new eras and parks and automatically have their performance adjust to their new surroundings. These era- and park-neutral ratings are stored in event tables.

On the second point, there are times when we want to rate players based on numbers other than their actual statistics. To take an extreme example, suppose a player batted .450 in 30 plate appearances, and you want to use this player as an everyday player for an entire season. You think that he'd really bat about .280 if he was used that much. But you want to keep his real-life stats as they are for display and reporting purposes.

The solution is to create (or modify) this player using a set of statistics that represent the level of performance you think he would really achieve over a full season, then use the ability to modify his real-life statistics to enter his actual real-life numbers. The first step creates an event table that makes him a .280 hitter and the second step restores his real-life stats without affecting his performance in your DMB games.

When you choose to modify a player's batting or pitching event table, DMB displays the player creation options form so you can choose the Era, Park, and creation method. After you have made these selections and clicked on OK, DMB displays a form for entering the statistics needed for recomputing his event table using those options. The event table is not changed until you click on OK, so you can Cancel out of this operation if you change your mind.

IMPORTANT! When the player creation options form appears, it will not necessarily display the same era and park that was last used to create or modify this player's event table. Be sure to choose the correct era and park before modifying an event table.