I have been thinking about starting a progressive league of my own and after working through many different ideas in my head, I think I've hit on one that would be quite interesting and, I hope, unique, which I'll call the Time Travel Progressive (or TTL).

The league would start in 1901, and it would be a 16 team league. We would use the real, existing franchises of 1901, you pick your franchise when you sign up. Once you pick your team, you select 13 players from your real 1901 club as keepers. Everyone must keep 13 the first time out, no more, and no less.

KEEPER LIST THREAD

We then would have a 12-round draft, which would be in reverse order of the teams' real life 1901 winning pct., and in that draft, you can select, in addition to any non-protected 1901 players, any rookies from the 1951 and 1981 seasons (these players will be listed on an available player list).

Edit - added details on draft order for 1901: For the first draft we're going to use a modified straight format. Rounds 1-3 will be regular straight format (1-16). Rounds 4-6 will the reverse order. Then we'll keep alternating, going 1-16 in rounds 7-9, and 16-1 in rounds 10-12.

In each subsequent draft, we will include rookies from the next seasons in the 50s and 80s. So, in 1902, in addition to that year's new players, we'd also have rookies from '52 and '82; in 1903. Future draft orders will be in reverse order of winning pct (with a 30 win minimum by the 120 game mark) and will be straight format (1-16, 1-16, etc.).

Some other details:

No cap (set at the maximum)
DH in both  leagues
No WW
Trades: Yes
AAA: two below average
16 teams, 4 divisions
Alignment will match NL/AL and divisions will be split geographically.
Ballparks and team names must match real-life counterparts (certain exceptions on team names may exist at the behest of the commissioner)

If you're interested, sign up now and select your 1901 franchise, I will select my own 1901 franchise after we have seven other owners signed on.


Sitemail list: tedco; hacker7; coled; shawbigred; crustydoc; macattack87

1901 Draft Order:

Owners names will be added here as people sign up

1. Milwaukee Brewers .350 (Lloyd Street Grounds) - hacker7
2. Cincinnati Reds .374 (League Park II) - crustydoc
3. New York Giants .380 (Polo Grounds IV) - shawbigred
4. Chicago Orphans .381 (West Side Grounds)
5. Cleveland Blues .397 (League Park I)
6. Washington Senators .459 (American League Park I)
7. Boston Beaneaters .500 (South End Grounds III)
8. Baltimore Orioles .511 (Oriole Park)
9. St. Louis Cardinals .543 (Robison Field)
10. Philadelphia Athletics .544 (Columbia Park) - macattack87
11. Detroit Tigers .548 (Bennett Park)
12. Brooklyn Superbas .581 (Washington Park III) *
13. Boston Americans .581 (Huntington Avenue Grounds) *
14. Philadelphia Phillies .593 (Baker Bowl)
15. Chicago White Sox .610 (South Side Park III)
16. Pittsburgh Pirates .647 (Exposition Park)  - coled

* - Brooklyn and the Boston AL team had identical records in 1901, their draft positions were determined through a coin toss by the commissioner (ties in future drafts will be broken based on specific rules to be determined, most likely head to head w-l record).

1901 Draft Available Rookies (additional non-protected 1901 players will be added to the available player pool for the initial draft)

Catchers

1951:

Ray Noble
Bill Sarni
Bud Sheely
Ebba St. Clair

1981:

Bud Bulling
Jody Davis
Rich Gedman
Tony Pena

First Basemen

1951:

Steve Bilko
Chuck Connors
Dee Fondy
Lou Limmer
Dale Long
Ben Taylor

1981:

Randy Bass
John Harris
Kent Hrbek
Rick Leach
Darryl Sconiers
Greg Wells

Second Basemen

1951:

Dick Cole
Billy Martin
Jack Merson
Bobby Young
Dick Young

1981:

Luis Aguayo
Shooty Babbitt
Juan Bonilla
Jerry Manuel
Joe Pittman
Johnny Ray
Steve Sax
Pat Tabler

Third Basemen

1951:

Rocky Bridges
Fred Hatfield
Fred Marsh
Gil McDougald

1981:

Ty Waller

Shortstops

1951:

Johnny Bero
Jack Cusick
Joe Demaestri
Solly Hemus
Bill Jennings
Johnny Logan
Roy McMillan
Pete Runnels
George Strickland
Gene Verble

1981:

Wayne Krenchicki
Paul Serna
Ron Washington

Outfielders

1951:

Cal Abrams
Bob Addis
Jim Busby
Jack Maguire
Mickey Mantle
Luis Marquez
Willie Mays
Minnie Minoso
Harry Simpson
Frank Thomas
Don Thompson
Dick Williams

1981:

Jesse Barfield
George Bell
Brett Butler
Marshall Edwards
Dave Engle
Terry Francona
Von Hayes (DH)
Dave Henderson
Paul Householder
Rufino Linares
Darryl Motley
Tim Raines
Gene Roof
Tim Wallach
Gary Ward

Pitchers

1951:

Dick Bokelmann
Roger Bowman
Don Carlsen
Bob Checkales
Dave Cole
Al Corwin
George Estock
Bob Friend
Phil Haugstad
Nile Jordan
Bob Kelly
Leo Kely
Bill Koski
Clem Labine
Paul Lapalme
Turk Lown
Bob Mahoney
Jim McDonald
Julio Moreno
Tom Morgan
Chet Nichols Jr.
Phil Paine
Tom Poholsky
Joe Presko
Marv Rotblatt
Art Shallock
Bob Schultz
Lou Sleater
Jim Suchecki
George Zuverink

1981:

Larry Andersen
Bob Babcock
Howard Bailey
Danny Boone
Fred Breining
Tom Brennan
George Cappuzzello
Bryan Clark
Dan Cooper
Mark Davis
Joe Edelen
Steve Fireovid
Jerry Don Gleaton
Atlee Hammaker
Greg Harris
Brad Havens
Kevin Hickey
Mike Jones
Fred Kuhaulua
Terry Leach
Ed Lynch
Rick Mahler
Angel Moreno
Gene Nelson
Tom Niedenenfuer
Jack O'Connor
Alejandro Pena
Pascual Perez
Dave Righetti
Luis Sanchez
Dave J. Schmidt
Ray Searage
Lee Smith
Bobby Sprowl
Dave Stewart
Bob Stoddard
Fernando Valenzuala
Chris Welsh
Mike Witt
Jim Wright

A few points about the rules that there might be questions about:

AAA - The main reason I'm including two AAA players per team is that so everyone has the roster flexibility to make trades.  I am open to setting up more than two AAA players if there is a general consensus to do so.  I prefer below average because I'm not a fan of AAA having very much impact in progressive leagues, though I have no problem with them being limited, but useful backup players.

DH - I decided that we should use the DH because of the simple fact that among our 80's rookies, there will be some quality major league players coming into our league who at one time or another are not rated at any position. In real life, I am personally very anti-DH, but in WIS I'd rather just have the DH than have those good hitters go unused, underused, or misused.

1901 keeper lists - you keep 13 players from your franchise's real-life 1901 roster, you can only include players who show up in a WIS search for your team - if there are any multiple team players in 1901, the rights to those players are with the first team to have him. Any questions on that, I can verify who owns any specific players. 

Future drafts - there will be no restrictions on how many keepers you can claim - as many or as few as you want. Players who disappear from the sim for any future seasons may be kept as IR.

Team name exceptions: I want us to use the same team names as our real-life franchise counterparts, and you should change your team name when they did. I'll be using the information on baseball-reference.com regarding franchise name changes. There are a couple of practical exceptions to this rule - one is Cleveland, who in RL were the Cleveland Naps from 1903-1914 because of Nap Lajoie. Assuming our Cleveland team does not end up having Lajoie during those years (he's the property of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1901), they will be known as the Cleveland Indians from 1903 forward.  Another exception will be for Brooklyn. In RL they were known as the Brooklyn Robins from 1914-1931 because of manager Wilbert Robinson. They will be known as the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1914 forward. Not sure off of the top of my head if there are any other exceptions, but if there are, I'll bring them to the appropriate owner's attention as soon as I can.

Draft order for 1901: For the first draft we're going to use a modified straight format. Rounds 1-3 will be regular straight format (1-16). Rounds 4-6 will the reverse order. Then we'll keep alternating, going 1-16 in rounds 7-9, and 16-1 in rounds 10-12. I first considered a serpentine draft, then a straight one, but saw drawbacks in each. This will help even things out a bit. Future drafts will be simple straight formats, based on w-l record.

Divisional alignment: following will be our divisional alignment -

NL East - Boston, Brooklyn, New York, Philadelphia
NL West -Chicago, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St. Louis

AL East - Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington
AL West - Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee

The only two franchise shifts we need to concern ourselves with in the near future occur when Milwaukee moves to St. Louis to become the Browns in 1902 and Baltimore moves to New York to become the Highlanders (Yankees) in 1903. Neither of these will require any divisional realignment.

If anyone has any other rules questions, just post them here in the forum. Thanks!

Sign me up for the Brewers.

Not that I'm eager or anything, but I'll make my draft pick now:  Mickey Mantle.  :)

Good to have you hacker.

One thing I should point out about the Brewers (you may already know, but just for the record), you will become the St. Louis Browns beginning in 1902.

I've set up a keepers thread. Technically no draft picks are official yet, but if you know who you're gonna take, there's nothing wrong with that!

Great, coled, welcome aboard!  I've set up a keeper thread and you can post your 13 whenever you are ready.

First major multi-player question was Rube Waddell. He started 1901 with Pittsburgh, and then went to the Chicago Orphans.

In real life, Pittsburgh had him first, so they have his rights for 1901 forward.

I'll join with the New York Giants please

Thanks shaw - go ahead and post your keepers in the other thread whenever you are ready.

I'll take the Reds (and Mays!). 

Ok, crusty, you're in.

The keeper thread is ready when ever you pick your 13, and then we'll get to the business of the draft. You never know, you might change your mind by then....