Ok I haven't checked out this thread of a while, imagine my surprise the conversation that developed. Interesting and I agree that there are many differences between the different eras and I admit that there is no way to make the game totally realistic, because there is no way to even define that, it is only the way each of us might imagine it. Instead, this thread is about fixing the most glaring weakness in the "realism" of whatifsports simleague baseball. That is the fact that deadball pitchers have an "unfair" advantage. Whether it can be fixed with my suggestion of using standard deviations or through some other method, it still needs to be fixed (in my not-so-humble opinion LOL).
As crimsonblue points out, despite this complaint I'm a pretty heavy WIS customer, so the deadball problem is not a fatal flaw (in my opinion). My preference is progressive leagues and I play various other themes and LIVE leagues as well, its all good. I'm a stats addict from my first copy of Sports Illustrated Baseball back in 1971.
Another topic that has come up here is the idea of cookies: Bip Roberts, etc. I could care less who folks put on their rosters, its their $12.95. Its really a tribute to wis players, that they are intelligent enough to find the weakness in the salary system to find the best players per PA. Its easy for someone to say, "I don't care for those players" or let's all agree not to take deadball pitchers, but that is unrealistic, as there as many different reasons to play as their are teams in a league, so I don't pretend to know what makes this game enjoyable to others. Again, I'm just looking for the most realism.