Turn of the century players + the biggest rookies from the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, & 90s + contemporary ballparks = one helluva great new progressive...

Fernandomania in 1901? Pete Rose making his debut for the 1903 Reds at the Great American Ballpark? Ty Cobb making his debut at Comerica Park two years later? The Big Train at Target Field starting in 1907? - All of this and more will be possible in a brand new, unique progressive league that gives a special historical perspective to the original 16 major league franchises.

In addition, this league will be a relatively fast start - only a ten round draft will be needed to fill out our 16 rosters for our first season.



I spent about a month and a half trying to get my idea for the Time Traveling Rookies progressive off the ground, but sadly, there just didn't seem to be enough interest. Undaunted, I've come up with a different idea that I hope will appeal to a broader group of owners.

This is, as far as I know, a unique idea and a new twist to the progressive league concept. It requires only a short ten-round draft before our first season, so the amount of time between the league filling up and opening day would be relatively short.

Here's how it will work:

We start with the "original 16" franchises in 1901.

Once we have 16 owners signed up, we hold a one round franchise draft for everyone to pick their teams.

Once that is done, owners post a keeper list made up of 15 players - using anyone on their team from 1901, as well as up to four rookies from your franchise's history. For the 1901 draft, we will be including rookies from 1941, 1961, and 1981. I've put together the lists for this first draft and will be posting them here in the sign up thread so everyone can see what they would have to choose from.

After that, we have a 10 round draft from a pool of players that would include all "cut" 1901 players, as well as all unselected players from those 1941/61/81 rookie pools. In addition, players who were rookies with expansion era clubs in 1961 and 1981 will also be added to the draft pool.

The result should be teams that have a mix of players who actually played for your franchises at different points in history.

Some additional details:

In the 1902 draft, we would do the same thing, 15 player keeper list (based on your 1901 roster, not your franchise's real-life 1902 roster), which can include up to four franchise rookies from 1952, 1972, and 1992. In '03, we use 1943, 1963, 1983, and so on through the seasons.

No salary cap, no WW

Just two below average AAA per team (primarily to give teams flexibility when trading)

DH in AL only.

Teams will play in their modern day (2011) ballparks and go by their modern names - so if you take, for example, the 1901 Brooklyn Superbas, who became the Brooklyn Dodgers, they would play in Dodger Stadium and be known as the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Alignment will be traditional AL/NL with four divisions. There will not be inter-league play.

Future draft order can be based on w-l record at the 120 game mark with a 30-win minimum, but I am open to suggestion for a draft formula if there's a consensus among owners to go in that direction.

If there's anything else you have a question about that isn't addressed here, go ahead and post it here in the sign-up thread or send me a sitemail.


Alignment/franchise affiliations

AL EAST

Baltimore Orioles (1901 Milwaukee Brewers - future St. Louis Browns)  - Camden Yards
Boston Red Sox (1901 Boston Americans) - Fenway Park
Cleveland Indians (1901 Cleveland Blues) - Jacobs Field
New York Yankees (1901 Baltimore Orioles) - Yankee Stadium III

AL WEST

Chicago White Sox (1901 Chicago White Sox) - U.S. Cellular Field
Detroit Tigers (1901 Detroit Tigers) - Comerica Park
Minnesota Twins (1901 Washington Senators) - Target Field
Oakland Athletics (1901 Philadelphia A's) - Oakland Coliseum

NL EAST

Atlanta Braves (1901 Boston Beaneaters) - Turner Field
Cincinnati Reds (1901 Cincinnati Reds) - The Great American Ballpark
Philadelphia Phillies (1901 Philadelphia Phillies) - Citizens Bank Park
Pittsburgh Pirates (1901 Pittsburgh Pirates) - PNC Park

NL WEST

Chicago Cubs (1901 Chicago Orphans) - Wrigley Field
Los Angeles Dodgers (1901 Brooklyn Superbas) - Dodger Stadium
San Francisco Giants (1901 New York Giants) - AT&T Park
St. Louis Cardinals (1901 St. Louis Cardinals) - Busch Stadium III

1901 rookie crops (from 1941, 1961, and 1981) - Each franchise can include up to four of their rookies on their 1901 keeper list, the remaining players will be included in the ten round draft.


Atlanta Braves

1941 Al Montgomery C
1941 Buddy Gremp 1B
1941 Skippy Roberge 2B
1941 Art Johnson P
1941 Frank Lamanna P
1961 Tony Cloninger P
1961 Bob Hendley P
1961 Don Nottebart P
1981 Brett Butler OF
1981 Rufino Linares OF
1981 Rick Mahler P

Baltimore Orioles

1941 Bob Muncrief P
1941 Maury Newlin P
1961 Jerry Adair 2B
1961 Earl Robinson OF
1981 Wayne Krenchicki SS

Boston Red Sox

1941 Tex Hughson P
1941 Dick Newsome P
1961 Chuck Schilling 2B
1961 Carl Yastrzemski OF
1981 Rich Gedman C
1961 Galen Cisco P
1961 Arnold Earley P
1961 Don Schwall P
1961 Tracy Stallard P

Chicago Cubs

1941 Clyde McCullough C
1941 Bob Scheffing C
1941 Lou Stringer 2B
1941 Bobby Sturgeon SS
1941 Lou Navikoff OF
1941 Barney Olson OF
1941 Valley Eaves P
1941 Paul Erickson P
1961 Dick Bartell C
1961 Billy Williams OF
1961 Jim Brewer P
1961 Jack Curtis P
1981 Jody Davis C
1981 Pat Tabler 2B
1981 Ty Waller 3B
1981 Lee Smith P

Chicago White Sox

1941 George Dickey C
1941 Don Kolloway 2B
1941 Jack Hallett P
1961 Cam Carreon C
1961 J.C. Martin 1B
1961 Mike Herschberger OF
1961 Floyd Robinson OF
1981 Kevin Hickey P

Cincinnati Reds

1941 Dick West C
1941 Chuck Aleno 3B
1941 Eddie Lukon OF
1961 Johnny Edwards C
1961 Jerry Zimmerman C
1961 Ken Hunt P
1961 Howie Nunn P
1981 Paul Householder OF
1981 Joe Edelen P

Cleveland Indians

1941 Hank Edwards OF
1961 Don Dillard OF
1961 Bob Allen P
1981 Von Hayes UTL
1981 Tom Brennan P

Detroit Tigers

1941 Boyd Perry SS
1941 Ned Harris OF
1941 Pat Mullin OF
1941 Floyd Giebell P
1961 Mike Roarke C
1961 Jake Wood 2B
1961 Steve Boros 3B
1961 Dick McAuliffe SS
1961 Bubba Morton OF
1961 Jim Donohue P
1961 Terry Fox P
1981 Rick Leach 1B
1981 Howard Bailey P
1981 George Cappuzzello P

Los Angeles Dodgers

1961 Carl Warwick OF
1961 Jim Golden P
1961 Ron Perranoski P
1981 Steve Sax 2B
1981 Tom Niedenfuer P
1981 Alejandro Pena P
1981 Dave Stewart P
1981 Fernando Valenzuala P

Minnesota Twins

1941 Al Evans C
1941 George Archie 3B
1941 Hills Layne 3B
1941 Roberto Ortiz OF
1941 Red Anderson P
1941 Early Wynn P
1961 Bill Pleis P
1961 Ted Sadowski P
1981 Kent Hrbek 1B
1981 Ron Washington SS
1981 Dave Engle OF
1981 Gary Ward OF
1981 Don Cooper P
1981 Brad Havens P
1981 Jack O’Connor P

New York Yankees

1941 Johnny Sturm 1B
1941 Jerry Priddy 2B
1941 Phil Rizzuto SS
1941 Norm Branch P
1941 Steve Peek P
1941 Charley Stanceu P
1961 Deron Johnson OF
1961 Hal Reniff P
1961 Rollie Sheldon P
1981 Gene Nelson P
1981 Dave Righetti P

Oakland Athletics

1941 Pete Suder 3B
1941 Eddie Collins OF
1941 Elmer Valo OF
1941 Fred Caligiuri P
1941 Tom Ferrick P
1941 Lum Harris P
1941 Phil Marchildon P
1961 Dick Howser SS
1961 Jay Hankins OF
1961 Deron Johnson OF
1961 Leo Posada OF
1961 Jim Archer P
1961 Norm Bass P
1961 Lew Krausse, Jr. P
1961 Bill Kunkel P
1961 Ed Rakow P
1981 Shooty Babitt 2B

Philadelphia Phillies

1941 Mickey Livingston C
1941 Hal Marnie 2B
1941 Danny Murtaugh 2B
1941 Lefty Hoerst P
1941 Tommy Hughes P
1941 Rube Melton P
1961 Bob Sadowski 3B
1961 Jack Baldschun P
1981 Luis Aguayo 2B
1981 Mark Davis P

Pittsburgh Pirates

1941 Alf Anderson SS
1941 Bud Stewart OF
1941 Dutch Dietz P
1941 Lefty Wilkie P
1961 Earl Francis P
1961 Al McBean P
1981 Tony Pena C
1981 Johnny Ray 2B
1981 Pascual Perez P

San Francisco Giants

1941 John Davis 3B
1941 Ace Adams P
1961 Tom Haller C
1961 John Orsino C
1961 Chuck Hiller 2B
1961 Jose Pegan SS
1961 Matty Alou OF
1961 Bobby Bolin P
1961 Jim Duffalo P
1961 Dick Lemay P
1981 Fred Briening P

St. Louis Cardinals

1941 Walker Cooper C
1941 Creepy Crespi 2B
1941 Steve Mesner 3B
1941 Coaker Triplett OF
1941 Sam Nahem P
1941 Howie Pollet P
1941 Ernie White P
1961 Tim McCarver C
1961 Jimmy Schaffer C
1961 Jerry Buchek SS
1961 Don Landrum OF
1961 Carl Warwick OF
1961 Craig Anderson P
1981 Gene Roof OF
1981 Joe Edelen P

Expansion Franchise Rookies (1961, 1981 - will also be included in the post-keeper list draft)

Pitchers

1961 Jim Donahue
1961 Ed Hobaugh
1961 Ken McBride
1961 Joe McClain
1961 Ron Moeller
1961 Jack Spring

1981 Larry Andersen
1981 Bob Babcock
1981 Danny Boone
1981 Bryan Clark
1981 Steve Fireovid
1981 Jerry Don Gleaton
1981 Atlee Hammaker
1981 Greg Harris
1981 Mike Jones
1981 Fred Kuhaulua
1981 Terry Leach
1981 Ed Lynch
1981 Angel Moreno
1981 Luis Sanchez
1981 Dave J. Schmidt
1981 Ray Searage
1981 Bobby Sprowl
1981 Bob Stoddard
1981 Chris Welsh
1981 Mike Witt
1981 Jim Wright

Catchers

1961 Ken Retzer
1961 Buck Rodgers

1981 Bud Bulling

First Basemen

1961 Bud Zipfel

1981 Randy Bass
1981 John Harris
1981 Daryl Sconiers
1981 Greg Wells

Second Basemen

1981 Juan Bonilla
1981 Jerry Manuel
1981 Joe Pittman

Third Basemen

1961 Harry Bright
1961 Gene Leek
1961 Tom Satriano

Shortstops

1961 Jim Mahoney

1981 Paul Serna

Outfielders

1961 Chuck Hinton
1961 Ken Hunt
1961 George Thomas

1981 Jesse Barfield
1981 George Bell
1981 Marshall Edwards
1981 Terry Francona
1981 Dave Henderson
1981 Darryl Motley
1981 Tim Raines
1981 Tim Wallach

Hope I laid out my idea clearly. Again, if there are any questions, go ahead and post them.

Sign up now to get a spot in what will be an exciting and unique progressive league.

And remember, you do not pick your franchise when you sign up, we will have a one-round franchise draft to pick teams once we have 16 interested owners.

I'm in.

Thanks MMTdad. just 14 more to go!

Dang, 90 views and just one taker? Just not a good time to start a new league, is it?

This can be a great league people, let's get some owners in here!