MacPro Baseball is shareware created for those that enjoy simulating real Major League Baseball action. It is not intended to be an arcade-style game, but rather one in which the player gets to make strategic decisions about players in real game situations, such as setting the lineup, choosing pitchers, pinch hitting, calling on the bullpen, bunting, stealing, and giving intentional walks. Registered owners can make these decisions in the context of a real pennant race, by using Season Play. More on Season Play in a bit--for registration info, see the button in the bottom of the "About" screen.
Exhibition Play
The most basic kind of play is Exhibition Play, in which you can choose any two teams to play against each other, regardless of league. Simply choose Exhibition from the Game menu. If both teams are National League teams, pitchers are required to bat. If at least one team is from the American League, the Designated Hitter rule is in effect.
This unregistered version comes with five teams: Toronto and Chicago of the AL, and Philadelphia, Atlanta, and San Francisco of the NL. After choosing the teams, you will be required to set their starting lineups. In the Set Up Lineup window, you will be presented with a list of players with suggested positions in the batting order, 1-9. Five players are given the number 0, indicating that they are suggested as substitutes. You may change these numbers as you see fit, so long as you finish with one person in each of the lineup positions 1-9. Also in National League play, one position in the order must be the starting pitcher. (If you don't include a pitcher somewhere in the batting order in a NL game, the computer will do it for you!)
You must also select a starting pitcher from the set of five starters provided. At any point, you may return to the computer's original lineup by pressing the Reset button.
During game play, most of the time you only need to click the Next Play button. However, the offensive team has buttons for key decisions at some point in the game:
Pinch Hit--allows the offense to substitute
a hitter during the game;
Steal--when there are men on base, allows the
offense to attempt a steal of a base--
trailing runners automatically steal
behind a lead stealer;
Bunt--allows the offense to attempt a sacrifice
or squeeze play, or try for a bunt single.
Also, the defensive team has the following buttons from which to choose:
Bullpen--allows the defense to substitute a
relief pitcher;
Int'l BB--allows the defense to intentionally
walk the current batter.
Two other buttons are used in the absence of any special plays required:
Next Play--continue the game with the next
play, no special plays used;
Pause--stop playing the current game, enabling
you to choose menu options, such as Quit
(the menu option, Resume Game, found in
the File menu, allows you to return to the
game in progress).
Some display codes that you might find informative:
Groundball A--a groundout that results in a double
play under the right conditions;
Groundball B--a groundout that results in a force
play with the batter reaching on a
fielder's choice, under the right
conditions;
Groundball C--a groundout that allows all base
runners to advance;
Flyball A--not very common, but a flyball that
allows all runners to tag up and
advance;
Flyball B--a runner on third can tag up and score;
Flyball C--runners must hold on this short flyout.
Everything else should be self-explanatory.
Season Play
The other available kind of play is Season Play. To invoke Season Play, you need the following files placed in the same folder as the application:
#1, a team file with all 28 teams, and,
#2, a schedule file for some season.
(These files will be sent to you with your registered copy if you register.)
Actually there is a third file you need, but it can be created by MacPro Baseball simply by choosing New Season in the File menu. Just choose New Season, and the computer will ask you to choose a team file and a schedule file (it will also ask you to set the Team Control settings). Again, keep these files in the same folder. This will cause the computer to create a third data file which you can name "My Season", or whatever you please.
Once this file is created, you only need to choose Open Season in the File menu to play your season's games. You only play the games involving the teams you choose in Team Control--this allows you to only play the games for the team(s) you want--the computer will play the rest lightning fast (a game takes under a second on my 16MHz 68030 LCII). All statistics are automatically updated at the completion of each game, and the scores of all games can be viewed at the end of a day by choosing Today's Scoreboard in the View menu. You can continue with the next day's games by choosing Season from the Game menu and clicking Play Ball!
At any point in the season, you may edit the Team Control settings to be more or less involved with the various teams--you can manage just your favorite team, or a real baseball nut can manage all the teams. Please note that in Season Play, the computer picks the starting pitcher for you--this is necessary in order to maintain a five-man rotation.
Once a season file is opened, you may also view the league standings, or the league leaders in all major statistical categories. You may also view the stats of the players on a given team by choosing Team Stats.
Possible Future for MacPro Baseball
Depending on the interest, there will be new versions of team and schedule files offered for a small fee to registered owners. Please indicate your interest (or lack of) when you register, so I know whether it's worth the time to create these files. These would become available once I get the new rosters, stats, and schedules. I am also considering working on simulations of Pro Football and Hockey.
