We are finishing up season 18 of an ongoing theme league built around the MLB players who hit 500 HR. We need at least 3 new owners to join us for season 19.
The basic premise is this: we are replaying the careers of each of the 28 members of the
500 HR club. To make the math work out and allow us to play 24 full seasons of this theme, we added Fred McGriff to the pool.
We progress our 500-HR hitters one season at a time. In each season we will use 24 of the 29 players, so not every player is used in every season of this league, but we will ultimately play every season of these player's career.
Each season we do a random draw to assign each hitter to each owner. You might get 73 Schmidt in season 1, 87 Palmeiro in season 2, 28 Ott in season 3, etc. You must use that exact season of your HR hitter’s career, but you may TWIST any of his actual teammates from that season. If your HR hitter played for multiple teams in that season, you may choose which team you want to twist, but you MUST use the combined version of your HR hitter who is allocated to the team you choose. For example, if in season 23 you draw 1972 Willie Mays, you may choose to twist either his 72 Giants teammates
or his 72 Mets teammates, not both. And whichever you choose, you must use the combined 1972 Mays version from that team.
No $200K exceptions. All players on your roster must have appeared on your team as verified by baseball-reference.com. The only exception to this rule will be if a team has fewer than 25 players who have any WIS-eligible seasons.
The cap is 100M, with no AAA, and we do use the DH. The DH is essential for this league, especially for the modern players who often had seasons in which they played mostly or entirely DH.
To avoid fatigue death spirals, which massively distort both stats and pennant races, you must roster AT LEAST 1300 IP for your pitching staff.
PLEASE NOTE: We have a few days left in season 18, so there will not be a league number until our current regular season is complete. However, once we have a league number, as with all of my leagues, there are strict deadlines for getting rosters entered. I have no patience with needing to chase people down to get their teams in, and it's not fair to other owners if 1 or 2 stragglers are holding us up. Please only join this league if you are comfortable with your ability to build and enter a team quickly once a league number has been generated.
Owners are not obligated to play all 24 seasons. Come and go as you wish.
All teams will use WIS Park each season. My goal for this league is to see how each player does without WIS’s sometimes extreme park effects impacting the results.
FATGUYRD BONUS PRIZE EACH SEASON: each season, before we do the random draw to assign players, I will announce a challenge for that season. This could be something like "most doubles hit by a team" or "most strikeouts by your pitching staff" or "fewest errors by a team," etc.
Each season, I will donate the commissioner's WIS reward money to the owner who wins the challenge. This gives everyone something else to play for, which might be a lot of fun in those seasons when you know your team is just not gonna be good enough to win the championship. We named this award in honor our late friend Fatguyrd who was a mainstay of WIS, and this league, for many years. For this upcoming season, the bonus prize will go to the team with the player with the longest hitting streak. If 2 or more players tie for the longest streak, the winner will be whichever one of them has the highest batting average for the season.
A very important note:
The primary purpose of this league is to replay the careers of these 29 great players; winning any individual league is a secondary consideration. Each season, each owner is expected to accept his random player allocation without whining, and to use his 500 HR player realistically. You are required to get your 500HR player at least 95% of his actual PA/162. Failure to do this will incur a 10-win penalty in the standings.