I received an email from Peter D asking about translating speed ratings for the Master Game:
“Help!!!
How can I determine and compute speed numbers for older cards not having any speed numbers? I want to convert "Fast" and "Slow" to the master game!!!”
This was my answer for Peter:
“All I can say is that Slow runners are in the 1-6 range and Fast runners are in the 15-20 range. The Medium are the rest (7-14).
You could start by assigning Fast runners an 18, Medium runners a 10 and Slow runners a 3 and maybe adjusting for those players whose actual speed you are familiar with. :) “
If anyone else has other/better solutions, feel free to share them.
Very close to the official word, Tom.
APBA’s rules for speed rating interpretation on old cards:
“When playing with old card sets, for which speed ratings have not been published, give F runners a rating on 18. The S runner is rated 3. All other runners are rated 11. (NOTE: If you wish to pinpoint speed ratings on old cards a bit more precisely through personal knowledge of the players, you are free to do so.)”
I would add – speed ratings in APBA are not given for “speed”, per se. They represent the SCORING ability of the player. Players who score more often than expected should get higher speed ratings. (Computing “more often than expected” is tough, though.)
Perhaps a player with a better ratio of runs scored per game than his teammates gets a bump.
Of course, I hate all that math so that’s why I play the basic game with electronic scoring aids :)
Wow, i didn’t realize I was so close to actual rules. :)
And Steve is correct. I’ve always seen the F and S ratings as an indicator of how good of baserunner a player is. Not so much speed but how smart they are.
And as Jeff says, runs scored is probably a better indicator than anything if you’re looking for a hard and fast stat.
Thanks for the speed older card set rating help! Great information. Great game!
Peter