Earl Weaver Baseball - Innovations

Innovations

EWB included many features that subsequently became part of most or all computer baseball sims through the present day:

• EWB was the first commercial computer sports game to not just play a single game, but to allow players to simulate an entire season of games without actually showing each game play-by-play on the screen. In 1971 Daglow had written the first-ever computer baseball game, Baseball, and included this feature. The game ran only on a room-sized mainframe computer, however, and was never offered for sale.
• The first time players were offered the option of either playing in arcade mode (using eye–hand coordination as well as managerial strategy) or manager mode (where users managed their teams but did not physically control the players).
• Offered single pitch mode, which allowed games where players dueled as managers to be completed more quickly by not calling every pitch and displaying only the outcome of each at-bat. MicroLeague Baseball (1984) also had single pitch at bats however it was unable to switch to a single pitch mode.
• The Amiga version featured voice synthesis, a first in a sports computer game. Players were announced at each plate appearance or substitution.
  • This announcer was even editable; there was pronunciation guide at the bottom of each players' page, a feature that has never been duplicated. The Amiga version wasn't the very first use of an announcer in a home video game, though; that honor went to the aforementioned Intellivision World Series Baseball.
• The first time different stadiums were shown graphically on the screen, with game play adjusted for their actual dimensions. Defunct or demolished stadiums were included, such as the Polo Grounds (New York), Griffith Stadium (Washington, D.C.), Ebbets Field (Brooklyn, New York), and Sportsmans Park (St. Louis). This also marked the debut of the Green Monster of Fenway Park in any computer game.
• Depicted a manager arguing with an umpire. On a close play, the manager would rush out to the umpire, and they would argue "Out! Safe! Out! Safe! Out! Safe!", while the manager kicked dirt a la Billy Martin on the umpire's shoes. (not the first time as MicroLeague Baseball also had this feature.)
• The first time a baseball manager had worked with game designers to provide the managerial strategy and artificial intelligence for a computer game. After leaving EA, Daglow would later lead the design of the Tony La Russa Baseball series, working with Tony La Russa.
• The publisher issued annual baseball statistics disks to update the rosters and stats of the major league players.
• The first time third party publishers issued baseball statistics disks, such as the All-Time Great Teams and 1987 Major League disks from Patrick Mondout in late 1987.
• Featured the MLBPA license and feature actual major league players. This option had been pulled from Daglow and Dombrower's 1983 Intellivision World Series Baseball at the last minute by Mattel in order to save money.
• Players featured what Dombrower called "artificial ego". Players would realistically occasionally make errors in judgment, such as trying to take an extra base or attempt to catch an uncatchable ball.