BIRTH OF THE BIG LEAGUES (BOBL) PROGRESSIVE
This league will use dual seasons, beginning with 1885 (the first season in the database) and 1915. It will progress from there to 1886/1916, then 1887/1917, and so on. We will use the 16 franchises from the 1915 season (posted below). You can come up with your own mascot/team name, but must use the true city name and stadium for your franchise, again using 1915 as the reference point. I will either use WIS league format B or E, so that we get 162 games and will have 4 playoff teams. League affiliation will reflect RL, divisions will be determined geographically. I’m open to either having interleague play or not. Feel free to chime in on that.
Here’s my spin: you do not pick a franchise when you sign up for the league. The first round of the draft will be determined by lottery (detailed in rules section below). In the first round you will select [1] your franchise (and therefore your city and stadium), and [2] your first player: your “franchise” player.
Your franchise player must be someone who actually spent a minimum of 3 seasons in real-life with your designated franchise, and has a season in the database for 1885 or 1915 (although not necessarily with your team in that specific year). For example, if you wanted Babe Ruth, then you could either choose the Boston (AL) or New York (AL) franchise because he played for 3 or more seasons with each team. You could not take Ruth with the Boston (NL) franchise because even though he did play there, it was only during one season. There will be no clones, so if someone takes Boston (AL) and Ruth, then NY will have to take someone else. Whether or not Boston decides later to sell him to the Yanks for a six-pack and a bag of chips will then be up to those two owners! After Round 1 there will be no restrictions on which players may be taken, as long as they are from either the 1885 or 1915 seasons. Because we are drafting from only 2 seasons initially (1885 and 1915) some franchises will be more limited than others in their choices for a franchise player in Round 1, while other franchises might get to choose between 2 or more strong options. That means round 2 will have quite a few excellent players left for those franchises who were at the bottom of Round 1, and may not have had a decent selection for franchise player. The initial draft will go 1-16, 16-1, 16-1 and then serpentine from there until everyone has a full roster.
Everyone will need to be somewhat familiar with baseball history, but even if not, www.baseball-reference.com can tell you most everything you’ll need to know. (There is also a thread in the SimLeague Baseball forum which covers the topic). For example, when searching for a franchise player, note that the Chicago White Stockings and the Chicago White Sox are not the same franchise. The Chicago (NL) Cubs were previously known as the White Stockings, then the Colts, and finally the Cubs. The Chicago (AL) White Sox have only ever been the White Sox. That means the Chicago (NL) franchise could select Cap Anson in Round 1, because he played for the White Stockings/Colts. Chicago (AL) could not select Anson in Round 1. This is just one example of the type of things you want to be aware of.