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TURN OFF BASEBALL CARDS OOTP

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While baseball cards provide a fun informational element to the Out of the Game (OOTP) baseball simulation experience, some players may want to turn them off to simplify the interface or focus solely on the gameplay. The baseball card system in OOTP gives detailed scouting and statistical breakdowns of every player in the game, but can clutter up the screen real estate if you’re not interested in regularly checking cards. Simply disabling them from the options menu doesn’t remove them entirely from OOTP. In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at how to fully turn off baseball cards in OOTP across all screens and modes.

In the main preferences menu under ‘Interface Options,’ you’ll find the option to simply ‘Hide Baseball Cards.’ Selecting this will remove the cards pane from the right side of most screens. This does not get rid of cards entirely – they’ll still appear in places like the player profile and roster screens. To fully disable cards:

Open the main preferences menu
Select ‘Interface Options’
Under the ‘Gameplay Styles’ section, choose ‘Simple’ instead of ‘Advanced’
This will completely remove cards from scouting breakdowns and turn the game interface into a basic stats-only view.

Choosing ‘Simple’ game style disables many advanced scouting and analytics features beyond just cards. If you only want to remove cards while keeping the rich stats, adjust a couple settings:

Under ‘Interface Options,’ select ‘Hide Baseball Cards’ as noted above
Also select ‘Hide Portrait Art’ – this removes the player face images used on cards
Close preferences and open the ‘Scouting Preferences’ menu
Uncheck every option EXCEPT for basic stats like Batting/Pitching ratings

Now cards are gone but you retain rich scouting breakdowns on things like Pitch Repertoire, Fielding Ratings, etc. without the card GUI. This streamlines the interface while keeping key scouting intelligence.

There is one more place where cards can still appear – the Free Agent and Minor League player screens. To remove them here:

Open the ‘Settings’ menu
Select ‘Rosters’
Under ‘Player Card Displays,’ choose the ‘Basic Stats Only’ option

This finally bans cards from showing up anywhere in OOTP. You now have the simplest, leanest interface focused entirely on the stats and simulations.

For some, the cards provide a fun nostalgia factor and easy reference for scouting breakdowns. But for simulation purests, removing them declutters the UI. Going the extra steps outlined here fully disables cards across every mode and view. You can freely peruse rosters, scan leagues, and dive into sims without the baseball card GUI ever popping up.

Some techniques to know if you ever want to bring cards back:

To partially restore cards, change preferences back to ‘Advanced’ game style

Or under Scouting Preferences, check boxes like Standard Card or Portrait to selectively add certain card views back

To fully restore cards across the game, reopen all the preference menus and revert the ‘Simple Interface’ and card hiding options

With a bit of tweaking in the settings screen, OOTP gives you full control over visually representing players as baseball cards or simple stats. Taking the time to disable cards as shown provides a slimmed down, sleek simulation experience for those who want the most focus on the virtual gameplay. Hopefully this breakdown has shown you how to completely turn them off while keeping the robust statistical backbone of OOTP fully intact.

OOTP ENABLE BASEBALL CARDS

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As any baseball fan knows, collecting baseball cards is a time-honored tradition. Creating authentic-looking baseball cards can be time-consuming if done manually. Thankfully, Out of the Park Developments’ incredibly detailed baseball simulation game Out of the Park Baseball allows users to generate virtual baseball cards using the players, stats and images from their simulated baseball universes. Here is an in-depth look at how to enable and customize baseball card creation within OOTP.

Upon launching OOTP, users are first prompted to either start a new game or load a previous saved one. For baseball card purposes, it’s best to either start a new game and simulate several seasons to accrue player stats, or load a saved game far into the future with decades’ worth of historical stats. Once in a sufficiently simulated universe, click ‘File’ then ‘Game Options.’ Scroll down to the ‘Misc.’ section and check the box next to ‘Enable baseball card generator.’

Next, click the small wrench icon beside the option to open the baseball card customization menu. Here, users can tweak numerous visual and informational settings for their baseball cards. The front and back card templates can each be customized with backgrounds, fonts, colors and more to achieve the exact retro or modern style desired. Space and images for player photos, stats, names and other details can all be drug and dropped as preferred. Getting the card layout and design just right requires trial and error, but yields uniquely customized virtual collectibles.

Populating the cards with player stats and faces is perhaps the most exciting part. OOTP stores player photos, names, vital stats, career milestones and more within its unified game database. Simply click the small camera icon beside any enabled card section to auto-populate it with that player’s actual in-game portrait, ensuring maximum realism. Similarly, clicking the stats button fills in the section with the selected rate stats from that player’s career within the simulated universe. Minor manual adjustments may still be needed, but OOTP does most of the heavy lifting.

With customization complete, it’s time to start generating virtual Baseball card sets. Users can either create full binder pages with multiple cards at once, or single standalone cards. Simply right click a player on any roster or stats page and select ‘Create baseball card.’ For binders, set the number of cards per page and hit OK. Now the fun begins – start acquiring cards of franchise cornerstones, personal favorites, legends and more. Like physical cards, these can later be organized in binders, traded online with other OOTP GMs or collected indefinitely as prized digital memorabilia.

Finally, OOTP also enables sharing and exporting created baseball cards beyond just the in-game collection. Individual cards or full binder pages can be saved as high resolution image files, perfect for printing physical copies, sharing online or adding to personal webpages and blogs dedicated to virtual card collections. The full card generator settings and templates can be exported for easy sharing with other OOTP players seeking the same style of cards. Even cool extras like holographic card effects or team-colored parallels are possible with some graphical savvy.

In summary, Out of the Park Baseball’s deep stat tracking and customization options elevate virtual baseball card collecting and designing to a whole new experience. Users are empowered to authentically simulate the entire baseball card hobby within the game through decades of league history. While physical cards remain the most authentic sentimental collectibles for many fans, OOTP’s approach offers a fun new way to relive personal save games, stats and more through virtual cards that can even be printed. With so much flexibility and control over every aspect of the card creation, OOTP is simply the best medium available for designing and curating immaculately customized digital baseball card collections.

OOTP BASEBALL CARDS

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Out of the Park Baseball, often abbreviated as OOTP, is a popular baseball simulation and management video game franchise where users take on the role of a general manager (GM) of a Major League Baseball franchise. Since its original release in 2001, OOTP has grown a loyal fanbase among hardcore baseball fans looking for an ultra-realistic simulation of the sport.

While the gameplay focuses on managing everything from rosters and finances to trades and player development from the front office perspective, one unique aspect of OOTP is the depth of stats and histories it simulates for each player. Every player in the game, both real and randomly generated, has a complete statistical profile tracking every single from their career. This includes traditional stats like batting average, home runs, ERA as well as more advanced metrics.

To bring these player profiles to life beyond just data on a spreadsheet, the OOTP development team at Out of the Park Developments came up with the idea of creating virtual baseball cards to represent each player. Just like real life baseball cards, OOTP cards feature an image of the player, their vital stats, career highlights and achievements.

The first OOTP cards were introduced in OOTP 6 which was released in 2006. The initial cards were basic digital recreations with the main focus being accurately displaying each player’s stats. Over the years, the quality and features of the cards have greatly improved as the developers sought to make them as close to real life collectible cards as possible within the restraints of running within a video game application.

Some of the key developments with OOTP cards over the different game versions include:

OOTP 11 (2011) – Cards received a visual overhaul with a cleaner design. Career stats were condensed into informative graphics. Additional career stats were included on the back of cards.

OOTP 13 (2013) – Cards transitioned to use actual headshots of players rather than generated faces. This helped make cards of real MLB players even more realistic.

OOTP 16 (2016) – Cards received a richer visual style inspired by Topps baseball cards. Details like foilstamp logos were added. Card backs featured awards, accomplishments in more depth.

OOTP 21 (2021) – The latest iteration brings OOTP cards closer than ever to real cards thanks to full color photography, horizontal card size and polished card stock textures. Over 250 stats are tracked on each card.

Collecting and organizing players into customized sets is a fun hobby aspect within OOTP that runs parallel to the management simulation. Users can sort their collections by team, position or any stats category. Rarer special edition cards for franchise legends or award winners can also be earned.

While purely digital, OOTP baseball cards offer many of the same collecting enjoyment as real cards. Amassing complete rookie card sets, chasing after elusive rare “pulls” and trading with other users to fill out want lists are all part of the card collecting experience within the game. Since each card is linked to an underlying player profile full of hidden career details, OOTP cards are also more statistically rich than typical real life equivalents.

For authenticity, OOTP cards are also constantly evolving just like their real world counterparts released by companies like Topps, Upper Deck and Panini. New annual card designs are released in each new game version along with special promo sets throughout the year. Retired players may be included in anniversary or throwback sets long after their actual playing days ended.

Various subsets also mirror the types of inserts and parallels collectors seek in the industry. These can feature prospects to watch, postseason standouts, award winners, franchise legends and more. Serialized short prints and autographs mimic the rarer chase cards. While virtual, the collectible aspect of OOTP cards manage to capture the look, feel and excitement of the trading card hobby exceptionally well.

As OOTP baseball simulations have grown deeper and more stat-driven over the past 20 years, the marriage of baseball cards and stats within the game has strengthened the card collecting meta-activity immensely. Cards have evolved into robust scouting reports and shrines to player careers that also double as fun virtual collectibles. For fans of both baseball and the collectibles industry, OOTP baseball cards provide the perfect intersection of those interests within one of the premier sports franchise simulation series.

BASEBALL CARDS OOTP

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Baseball cards have long been a part of the real-world sport, allowing fans to collect players and learn more about them. As baseball simulation and management games grew more sophisticated, it only made sense for virtual baseball cards to become a feature as well. Out of the Park Developments’ popular Out of the Park Baseball franchise was among the early adopters to include digital baseball cards as a way for players to engage with the rich rosters and histories generated in each new edition.

Some of the earliest OOTP games in the 2000s had rudimentary baseball card screens where you could view basic stats and photos of players. But as the games advanced to include deeper historical play-by-play data and minor league systems, the potential for information housed in each card grew exponentially. OOTP 21 has taken card collecting and perusing to new heights. With over 150,000 virtual baseball cards spanning over 100 years of pro baseball simulated in the game, there is a treasure trove of stats and narratives waiting to be discovered.

In OOTP, you can view cards for any player that has ever been generated in the game’s universe, from franchise legends to obscure minor leaguers that never panned out. Each card shows a photo, vital stats, career highlights, award history, full statlines by year, fielding metrics, minor league stats, birthplace and other useful details. Managing and coaching in OOTP allows you to get to know your players on a very intimate level, but flipping through their cards provides valuable added context of their progression and place in history.

For hardcore fans and analysts, OOTP cards serve as a one-stop shop for player research and comparison. You can pull up similar players through statistical comparisons or read a full career retrospective that maps accomplishments year-by-year. Minor details like handedness, original team and draft round make it easy to trace a player’s path. Multi-season card sets are also fun to browse, watching how photos and stats change from prospect to prime to retirement.

Part of the fun of baseball cards is the thrill of the chase for rare and valuable specimens. In OOTP, vintage cards from the game’s early eras and legends of the past are especially prized among digital collectors. Finding a freshly created rookie card that could foretell a Hall of Fame future provides its own excitement. Similarly, unearthed cards from the distant past can uncover forgotten all-time greats and interesting footnotes in baseball history.

For budding GMs and scouts, the card browser acts as a powerful scouting and comparison tool. You can evaluate your entire minor league system at once, compare international amateurs on your short list, or get a quick refresher on your roster and opponents. Sorting and filtering thousands of cards by key stats, positions and other criteria helps make informed decisions. Over time, you can also chart the progress and pitfalls of your player development strategies by revisiting older card classes.

The social features in OOTP take baseball card fandom to another level. Users can trade, gift and sell cards with other players just like in the real world. Entire card databases can be put together through active collecting and trading. Online leagues take this even further, with full fledged card games and unique league-exclusive insert sets adding to the fun. Through community marketplaces, rare vintage cards can even gain substantial trade and monetary value.

For budding historians and stats nerds, the OOTP card browser is an endless source of fascination. Diving into the minutiae of player profiles across baseball history satisfies any stathead urge. Over the decades of simulated play, the cards have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about the game that can keep any fan engaged for hours. As OOTP continues advancing to new heights of simulation depth and historical accuracy, the baseball cards housed within will remain a cornerstone way to stay connected to the rich virtual world it has created.

Baseball cards have always been an integral part of baseball fandom and collecting. As digital baseball games grew in scope and complexity, it was natural for virtual baseball cards to take on a life of their own. Out of the Park Baseball has truly elevated this aspect of the experience to new heights. With over a century of baseball history represented, the cards serve many purposes from player evaluation to social functions and fueling the imaginations of managers, scouts and historians alike. They provide an intimate look at the careers and stories of tens of thousands of players, connecting fans to the simulation in a visual and engaging way.