And He JUST Beats Out the Throw by a Step!

Our subject ... before he gave his life to Diamond Mind.

My name is Keith Sieman, and I am addicted to the Diamond Mind Baseball computer simulation game. I used to be a normal guy; I had a steady job and a girlfriend.

Now (the doctors tell me) I am an “obsessive compulsive autistic”. And they blame it on Diamond Mind. They say neurons in my brain that had previously stored my experiences and were in control of memory, language, and intelligence are rapidly being replaced with statistics of different players, from 1909-2001.

They claim that all of my social skills have already deteriorated, and that my normal drives of hunger, sex, and sleep have vanished.

I am here to set the record straight -- YES, I am addicted to Diamond Mind. YES, I value the companionship of the Schedule more than I value people. YES, I would rather play three games against the 1980 Phillies (I just intentionally walk Mike Schmidt now) than go to work. YES, I dream about Diamond Mind. YES, I only have one goal in life -- to win the World Series. YES, my eyes, wrist, back, and neck are in pain all the time. YES, I memorized all of the rosters from the All Time Greats Disk 1 and 2, and the 2001 American and National League. YES, I can tell you the skills and abilities of the above-mentioned players. Brent Butler-2b-Rockies-vg/ave-vg/vg-fr/pr. Russell Branyan batting .302 against lefties. Willie Wilson- ex/ex/.331-.432-.480.

The doctors say that all I do is talk about these players -- which they refer to as “bits of useless data”.

Well, tell Lefty Williams that he’s a “useless bit of data” after he throws ten shutout innings against Tom Seaver at Shea Stadium, only to lose the game 1-0.

Lemme tell you about my current league. I’m the 1919 BLACK Sox. I have two Hall of Famers (Eddie Collins -- best lead-off man in the league) and Eddie Schank, the catcher. For those who think Eddie is nothing but a line of data in a database, think again. Eddie revolutionized the game by backing up plays behind first base. His defense is Ex/Ex. His baserunning skills are Vg/Ex/Fr. His injury rating is IRON. Did you know he holds the record for most steals by a catcher (30)?

My organization consists of 16 teams divided into 2 leagues and two divisions. Because the teams are from different eras (69 Mets, 78 Yanks, 80 Phils, 65 LA, 2001 D’Backs, etc.) I set the era to be 2001N. That way, all of the stats from the old teams will be extrapolated to the modern day. For example, if Happy Fleisch (1919) played today (2001) he would have at least 15 homeruns instead of 1. It really depends on how that player faired in his own era, and combining that with their power, speed, and defense.