Making up ratings or going without

Probably the most vexing issue in setting up the 40-Years Tourney is what to do about the ratings and rules installed by Strat-O-Matic after 1987.

Those are, specifically, the closer ratings and the passed ball-wild-pitch-balk ratings.

I know they are part of the 2009 cards, and I expect they will be in the as-yet unreleased 1969 set as well. But they aren't in the 1987.

Fortunately, the 1987 teams comprise one 16-team bracket. I can play the Ringo bracket out without using those rules.

But then what will I do when the Ringo winner has to play a 1969 or 2009 team?

I am confident that I can assign individually accurate closer ratings to the relief pitchers of 1987. Anybody with 25 saves or more gets a 6; anybody with no saves gets a N; anybody with one save gets a 0, anybody with two to five gets a 1; six to 10 gets a 3, 11 to 20 gets a 4, 20 to 24 gets a 5. That may not be precisely how Strat would arrange it, but it's close enough.

I am equally confident that I have no chance of cracking the codes for passed balls, wild pitches and balks.

My inclination is to simply assign the same numbers to each pitcher and catcher on the Ringo winner: PB 2, Balk 2, WP 7. There is not the slightest chance that those assignments will be right for individuals, but they'll be closer to right collectively than doing nothing.