Need Help with Batting Order in HOF Strat-O-Matic

[3and2Fastball]

Hi --- I'm hoping a few of you might make some suggestions on how you would do a batting order with this lineup....this is for a league utilizing Strat-O-Matic's Hall of Fame Cards:

C - Josh Gibson
1B - Jackie Robinson
2B - Joe Morgan
SS - Pop Lloyd
3B - Ray Dandridge
RF - Ty Cobb
CF - Willie Mays
Lf - Ted Williams

[chicagowhitesox1173]

I've never played strat o matic but i'll throw a lineup out for the fun of it.

1. Ty Cobb
2. Pops Lloyd
3. Willie Mays
4. Ted Williams
5. Josh Gibson
6. Jackie Robinson
7. Joe Morgan
8. Ray Dandridge

[3and2Fastball]

I've never played strat o matic but i'll throw a lineup out for the fun of it.

1. Ty Cobb
2. Pops Lloyd
3. Willie Mays
4. Ted Williams
5. Josh Gibson
6. Jackie Robinson
7. Joe Morgan
8. Ray Dandridge

Thanks! Lloyd is a LHB, so I'm a little concerned with having 2 LHB's at the top of the lineup and having lefty specialists come out of the bullpen to face them back to back late in games. Both Cobb & Lloyd are pretty strong against LHP in this game so it isn't as much of an issue I suppose, but the nature of this game is it would be a few of the best LHP's of all-time facing them (we've added some modern stars like Randy Johnson and then there is of course Lefty Gomez and others... I do have Lefty Grove and Warren Spahn on my pitching staff)....

I also was thinking about wanting Williams, with his near .500 OBP, batting ahead of Gibson & Mays..... here's what I've come up with so far:

Cobb
J Robinson
Williams
Gibson
Mays
Lloyd
Dandridge
Morgan
P

[3and2Fastball]

Here's another lineup possibility I was thinking of:

Cobb
Williams
Gibson
J Robinson
Mays
Lloyd
Dandridge
Morgan

I've only played 10 games with this team so far, but it looks like Jackie Robinson is an absolute beast in this version of Strat-O-Matic (they base it off of the player's best 7 seasons and factor in league quality)...so far he's a lot better than Mays....

[chicagowhitesox1173]

Thats a really deep lineup although i'm curious how they determine the stats of Lloyd, Gibson and Dandridge. I don't see how a team like that could lose though.

[3and2Fastball]

Thats a really deep lineup although i'm curious how they determine the stats of Lloyd, Gibson and Dandridge. I don't see how a team like that could lose though.

It is just a 4 team league so every team is deep. I'm only 7-5 at present. The 1st place team has a murderers row of Charleston, Mantle, Ruth, Foxx & DiMaggio!

Looks like I might be able to trade Mays for Mantle. Strat-O-Matic seems to really underrate Mays, in my opinion. Maybe its just bad luck but he's batting just .156 so far (granted a small sample of 12 games).... Josh Gibson seems to be the 2nd best hitter in the league after Ruth....

With this much hitting, it comes down to pitching, and my pitching staff of Grove-Maddux-Paige-Dean seems to be just slightly above "league average".... I do have Mariano Rivera as a closer but the rest of my bullpen is just OK...I have Warren Spahn but he's practically useless in this league except as a mop-up guy, he's another guy Strat-O-Matic really underrates in my opinion. He currently has an ERA over 6

The best pitchers in the league so far are Walter Johnson followed by Cy Young/Matthewson followed by Seaver/Maddux/Clemens

Lloyd is great, just a hair worse than Honus Wagner in this league. Dandridge is very solid as a .340 hitter but almost never walks... I might replace Morgan in my lineup with Rod Carew as from what I can tell Strat-O-Matic has Carew as a better overall hitter than Morgan (!) and I can stash him at 1B

[3and2Fastball]

Managed to pull off the trade aquiring Mantle for Mays. Mantle solidifies my lineup and went 2 for 4 with a HR and a walk in his first game for my team....also managed to trade for Rickey Henderson although he is on the DL for 2 games... lineup looks like this now:

Cobb
Williams
Gibson
Mantle
J Robinson
Lloyd
Henderson (or Dandridge)
Morgan

sticking with Joe Morgan as a starter, I'm seeing the value of his OBP + defense + speed + power

[TerryB]

That sure looks close to being an All-time All-Stars squad. I would lead off with Henderson, Cobb second, Mantle third, Williams fourth, Gibson fifth, Lloyd sixth, Morgan seventh and Robinson eighth. You really have four leadoof hitters with Henderson, Cobb, Morgan amd Robinson. Lloyd could lead off as well, but I would use him second or third on most teams.

[toomanyhatz]

I was thinking too that Henderson is probably the leadoff man in that lineup, though obviously there are several with that potential. I'd do this:

Henderson
Lloyd
Cobb
Williams
Gibson
Mantle
Morgan
Robinson

Then if you're playing Dandridge instead of Henderson, move Cobb to leadoff, keep Lloyd second, drop Dandridge to 8th and move the rest of the lineup up.

[3and2Fastball]

thanks much for your replies and food for thought....

Cobb's OBP is better than Henderson's and his base-stealing ability (at least in this game) is just as good so I see him as the lead-off hitter moreso than anyone else. Gibson is the best overall hitter on the team.... I think Henderson will get more starts based on OBP and basestealing over Dandridge, who is a world class fielder but never walks and apparently wasn't much of a baserunner....

I also have Tony Gwynn, Rod Carew, Willie Stargell, and Ernie Banks on my bench.

[3and2Fastball]

Traded away Mickey Mantle for Jimmie Foxx, which may sound like a downgrade but in this game is an upgrade in my opinion.... anyways new lineup looks like this:

Henderson
Williams
J Gibson
Foxx
Cobb
J Robinson
Lloyd
Dandridge
P

Upgraded my bullpen by trading for Catfish Hunter & Hoyt Wilhelm. No longer have Morgan or Gwynn

Bench players are now Carew, Ernie Banks, Ashburn, Stargell, Ryan Braun, Carlton Fisk, Paul Molitor

Have gone on a pretty significant winning streak since making those moves