Enhancements in Version 7
                        




Pitch-by-Pitch Simulation
-------------------------

Version 7 brings the game to a whole new level by simulating every 
pitch.  Previous versions focused on simulating one batter at a time 
(with exceptions for bunts, hit and run plays, steal attempts, and a few 
other types of events).  Here's why this is, by far, the most important 
innovation in the new release:

- you can still choose to interact with the game on a batter-by-batter 
basis, just as in version 6, making it possible to play games just as 
quickly as you always have.  

- you can now defend more successfully against steal attempts by 
choosing to have your pitcher make pickoff throws to any base  

- you can now defend more successfully against steal attempts and
suicide squeeze bunts by calling for a pitchout at any time

- the game screen doesn't display the tactics chosen by the defensive
manager, so your opponent (human or computer) won't know what's coming
when choosing offensive tactics

- you can instruct your batter to take a pitch on a three-ball no-strike
count (or any other count, for that matter)

- you get an opportunity to change your tactics as the pitcher-batter 
confrontation moves through the count

- the pitcher fatigue system, which is now based on pitch counts, 
reflects the pitcher's true workload much more effectively than by 
counting innings or batters faced

In designing this pitch-by-pitch simulation, Diamond Mind has taken 
great care to maintain the highest levels of realism and statistical 
accuracy.  You can count on the following elements of real baseball 
being faithfully reproduced in this game:

- the game generates realistic patterns of balls, called strikes, 
swinging strikes, foul balls and balls put in play, and produces the 
same highly-accurate walk and strikeout rates as before (maybe 
even a little better)

- pitchers throw more strikes when behind in the count, especially 
with three balls, and expand the strike zone when ahead

- batters swing at strikes more often when behind in the count, 
especially with two strikes, and are more selective when ahead

- batters hit for a higher average and more power when they are 
ahead in the count, and swing more defensively when behind

- when pitchers tire, they have more trouble finding the strike zone, 
more of their strikes are put into play, and more of the batted balls 
they allow are hit for power

- for those of you who like to play with past seasons, the game 
accurately reproduces the lower rates of walks and strikeouts that 
occurred earlier in the century.  Just as in earlier versions, you can 
play realistic games among teams from very different eras, because 
Diamond Mind Baseball makes the necessary adjustments for changing
conditions over time.

- the game correctly charges walks and strikeouts when substitutions 
are made in mid-count, as is required by rules 10.17(b) and 
10.18(h)(3) in the official baseball rule book

- when you convert season disks from earlier versions, the required 
pitch-by-pitch ratings are automatically computed.

- when you create or modify the event tables for a player, the
required pitch-by-pitch ratings are automatically computed

The computer manager has also been updated in many important ways.  
We've done detailed studies of manager tendencies using play-by-play
and pitch-by-pitch data from recent seasons.  We've learned how the
count affects decisions made by real-life managers -- which types of
hitters are allowed to swing on 3-0 counts;  favorite counts on which to 
steal, hit and run, make pickoff throws, or pitch out; and a lot more.


Strategy and Realism
--------------------

- version 7 splits the bunt rating into two separate ratings, one for 
bunt-for-a-hit situations and the other for sacrifice and squeeze 
situations.  This enables the game to accurately handle the many 
players who excel at sacrificing but are no threat whatsoever to bunt 
for a hit.

- version 7 also gives you two options when bunting with a runner on
third.  The safety squeeze bunt reduces the risk of having the runner
caught off base by a pickoff throw or pitchout, but forces the batter
to make a better quality bunt to score the runner.  The suicide squeeze
bunt, which was the only option in prior versions, leaves the runner
vulnerable to pitchouts and pickoff throws, but has the advantage of 
allowing the runner to score almost anytime the batter gets the ball
in play.

- you can now instruct your catcher not to make a throw to second 
when the offense tries a delayed double steal with runners on first 
and third.  This eliminates the risk that the runner on third might 
score on a successful steal or throwing error.

- weather reports are now shown before you enter the pregame lineup 
selection process, making it possible for you to take the weather into 
account when selecting your lineups

- for those of you who like to play with older seasons, version 7 
enables you to select one of the four scoring rules that have been 
used for sacrifice flies.  Prior to 1954, there were years in which (a) 
no sacrifice flies were awarded, (b) they were given on scoring fly 
balls but grouped with sacrifice bunts, and (c) they were awarded 
when any runner advanced on a fly ball.  

- we've added new plays on ground balls to third, including the 543
ground ball triple play, double plays where the 3b steps on third 
and throws to second or first, and force plays at third


Play-by-play Commentary
-----------------------

- the play-by-play library has been dramatically expanded to give you 
much more variety in the description of common plays, a better feel 
for the action on the field, and commentary that is more like real-life
radio broadcasts

- if you choose to play in pitch-by-pitch mode, the game also describes
the results of pitches that are not put in play


Inter-League Play
-----------------

This feature enables you to generate and play schedules with teams from 
two leagues.  The schedules may involve inter-league games or simply be
a combination of two league schedules so that you can autoplay two 
leagues in parallel.


Automatic Transactions and Game-By-Game Lineups
-----------------------------------------------

- the game now has the ability to apply real-life transactions (trades,
disabled list moves, moving players between the active and reserve 
rosters) automatically as you proceed through a season replay

- the game also has the ability to save the real-life starting lineups for 
every game, and automatically use these lineups in a season replay

- each player can now be assigned values representing the percentage 
of the season they appeared on the active roster and the percentage 
they were disabled.  These values help the computer manager match 
real-life playing time when you are using the transaction log in 
autoplay mode.


Improved League Play
--------------------

- version 7 adds disabled list moves to the types of player transactions 
that can be carried out.  If a league member elects to disable a 
player, that player must spend at least 15 days on the disabled list.  
As in real life, disabled list moves can be made retroactive if the 
player has been sitting out due to the injury.  This enables teams to 
clear roster spots without having to send a player to the farm team.

- in a draft league, it's often difficult to remember which roster a
player inhabits, so we've added a Find command.  You can now enter
a last name (in full or in part) and get an instant report on the
players (and their teams) whose name matches the string you 
entered.

- in the autoplay area, a new command enables you to have the 
computer play out all of the games in a single series, even if that 
series is preceded in the schedule by some unplayed games.  This 
makes it easier to play out one or more series that league members 
have failed to submit (or submit on time).

- in December, 1996, Diamond Mind introduced a free utility 
program that transfer team rosters from one draft-league season to 
the next.  This capability is now built into the Setup portion of the 
game.

- in version 6.5, we added a few pages of notes that you could display
or print.  Version 7 expands this concept in two important ways.  
First, we have provided many additional notes that convey useful 
information not found in the user guide.  Second, we have given you 
the ability to write your own notes and distribute them with league 
disks.  You can, for example, add your league's bylaws, newsletters, 
or other information to the notes database in your league's player 
directory, so that league information is readily available to league 
members through the game's user interface.

- we've added fields for salary and contract expiration year to each
player's record.  These fields now appear on the team status report, 
with the salary field totalled for the team.  The game does not 
impose any economic system;  you can use whatever system you 
want.  If your league uses a salary system, the game can now track 
that information for you, and the migration utility will carry it 
forward from year to year.

- when real-life players appeared on more than one team, Diamond 
Mind has always rated those players on each team and on a 
combined basis.  The team-specific ratings are intended for use by 
people conducting detailed season replays.  The combined records 
are designed for draft leagues.  To make it easier for you to set up 
for a draft-league season, we have added a command that deletes all 
team-specific records in the free agent lists.


Post Season Play
----------------

- the version 7 Setup utility now includes a command that automates 
the steps involved in preparing for post-season play.  You select the 
teams that qualified for the playoffs, and this feature creates a set of 
playoff-ready player files in another directory.  This enables you to 
keep your regular season results intact while you conduct your post-
season series.  And it works equally well for playoff rounds within 
each league and for the final series involving the champions of each 
league.


New and Improved Reports
------------------------

- a new report displays the games started versus left- and right-
handed pitchers at each defensive position, for both real-life and 
computer league games

- combined report of game scores and remaining schedule

- report of currently injured players

- expanded team roster report that shows all ratings, plus age, and 
contract status

- runs for and against added to expanded team standings

- transaction reports (real-life and computer league)


User Interface
--------------

- the game screen now displays an error rating for every defensive 
player, along with the range and throwing ratings that have been 
there all along

- many more game screen menu commands can now be activated with a
single keystroke.  In previous versions, you needed to access
lower-level menus to request instant replays, batter recaps, 
boxscores, scoresheets, or to enter quick play mode.  Now you can 
use a single intuitive keystroke to access each of these items from 
the main game screen menus.

- you can now request a replay of the last play of the game

- the setup utility gives you control over the colors (foreground, 
background, highlight) used for each of the five regions on the 
game screen (lineup, current batter, menu/play-by-play, playing 
field, and scoreboard), making it possible to develop a much more 
colorful game screen if you like.  We have also added an easy way 
to switch back to a single set of colors for the entire screen, making 
it easy to set things up for monochrome screens.

- manager profiles are now accessed through the team roster screen,
bringing two related activities (roster moves and profile changes) much
closer together in the menu structure 

- when editing manager profiles, you can choose whether to have 
players on the reserve roster displayed or hidden in the lists of 
batters and pitcher available for insertion into the profile

- on the team roster screen, you can now choose to sort your players 
by their primary position (in addition to the current options to sort 
alphabetically and by role)

- the team roster screen now indicates injured or disabled players

- popup lists now show all of the report types that are available in the 
product, making it easier to choose the reports you want.  You will 
have fewer menus to navigate and fewer keystrokes to enter.

- popup lists of teams now show the team's city and nickname 
(assuming you have entered a nickname for the team), making it 
easier to find and select the team you are looking for

- in any popup form or other location where you can type player 
names or other text, you can now use the Insert key to switch back 
and forth between two modes.  In insert mode, typing a character 
causes subsequent characters in the string to shift right to make 
room.  In overwrite mode, typing a character replaces the character 
at the cursor position.

- you can now view and edit the values for the Neutral Park and 
Neutral Era.  We do not recommend that you change these values, 
since they were carefully chosen, but we figure you might like to 
know what they are.

- you can now arrange teams into divisions in Exhibition League


Schedule Generator
------------------

- the schedule generator now gives you the option of generating off-
days for the teams in your league


Improved Drafting and Player Information
----------------------------------------

- we've added a place to enter the birth date of every player, and we'll 
be filling this information in on all season disks sold by Diamond 
Mind from now on.  This means you now have quick access to a 
player's age when you make decisions about possible player moves.

- you can now choose to suppress the display of free agents with 
limited playing time by choosing minimum numbers of atbats and 
innings pitched.  To give just one example, you can display a list of 
all left-handed pitchers with a minimum of 100 innings pitched.  
When you sort this list on earned run average, you can now be sure 
the top of the list won't be cluttered up with guys who pitched well 
in a handful of innings.

- each Diamond Mind player now has a primary position.  If you're 
looking for a 3B, you now have the option to list all players who 
are rated at 3B or only those players whose primary position is 3B.  
This makes it easier to find the player you are looking for in some 
situations.