Posted by Jtpsops on 8/13/2019 9:48:00 AM (view original):
Garmansouth's team has a high of 49. I'm rooting for him to make Round 2 because of it.

No players rated at catcher or second base have ever hit 50 HRs in a season. The two cheapest 50 HR players (coincidentally, Cecil and Prince Fielder) cost a combined $11.5M. So either he'd have to waste $11.5M, or he'd have to waste $5.75M and play someone out of position at C or 2B. And there isn't really a good candidate to slide over to 2B. A-Rod has to play short because there's no one else. I guess the question is, when someone plays out of position, is the penalty calculated off of the player's primary position or their best position? If it's the latter I suppose he could play the $16.66M Foxx at 3B and the 2010 Bautista (A/B- @ 3rd) at 2B. But, without looking it up, my gut feeling tells me it's the former.

But yeah, either way he'd be kind of screwed.

[EDIT]

Just out of curiosity, I wondered what the highest HR floor would be to get a non D-/D- rated player at every position. It's 43, with the '73 Davey Johnson clocking it at 43 HRs and D+/A- at second base.

I think you can make a perfectly adequate team with a floor of 41. But 50 is too beaucoup.

Yup. But I guess he figures going all out to make Round 2 is worth it. And for some owners, it is.

OK, this is my 10^th time in this stupid money pit of a tournament, and I’ve yet to make Round Two. I’ve been in the top half 4 times, and the bottom half 5 times. I’ve written a few of these recaps, but the interesting thing is that I don’t seem to have learned a goddamned thing over the years.

$70M – First of their name – I can never get the sweet spot of “shorting” innings for lower caps, so I typically pay for a full 1400 innings. I (slowly) realizing that I seem to have several starters in common with some of the bigwigs around here, and I’m probably losing ground with the pitchers around the margins… those LongB, SetupB, and (god forbid) Mop-ups. Oh well, seeing Tommy DelaCruz and Al Demaree on the staffs of some top-ten owners made me feel a little better; as did Bob Johnson, Gene Green, and Tim Jordan.

Hitters: .280/.360/.440 with multiple platoons
Pitchers: .240 OAV/1.14 whip

$90M – Tud or Ted for Todd – One of my biggest problems is that I don’t have a cohesive or consistent strategy for BUILDING a team. This league highlights that shortcoming. I settled on John Tudor almost immediately… He met the criteria… he came up in my initial search. The hitter was more problematic. With 20% of my offensive payroll tied up, I wanted a decent fielder that would stay in for the whole game. No sense spending that money for someone who platooned or required a defensive replacement. While I tried to keep the $/PA close to $13K ($9M divided by 700 PA) , I found ’47 Teddy Ballgame’s 150 OBP+ and reasonable fielding too hard to ignore. And by going to $10.3M, it was only stealing around $200K/player from every other slot.

Hitters: .287/.387/.454
Pitchers: .220 OAV/1.02 whip

$110M – Triple McDonald McMahon – When I was a kid, Don McMahon was a reliever for the Giants (yes, I’m old), and was remarkably effective for what was then considered “an old man”. I looked at his career numbers and noticed that he pitched for a lot of teams with several good years. When I saw this theme, I thought a relief pitcher would be the ideal player to build around, since they typically bounce around even when they’re pretty good. Mr. McMahon brought the Tigers, ChiSox, and Giants to the table (three of the oldest teams), so the staff build was pretty straightforward with Cicotte/Mathewson taking the top two slots with Schmidt/Scherzer falling into the 3A/3B along with a bunch of Dons.

Hitters: .312/.409/.524
Pitchers: .202 OAV/0.94 whip

$120M – 2 pitchers to 8 hitters – I didn’t immediately fall to the default ’08 pitcher slot, so I’ll probably get slaughtered here. To be honest, I don’t remember why I went with the configuration I did, aside from the fact that 05-08 numbers had one more decade to choose from, so I knew my offense had to come from those digits. Oh, and I had to fix my team since I realized late that I needed a DH. That can’t be good…

Hitters: .301/.393/.518 – LOL, I just realized my $120M offense is worse (even with the DH) than my $110M offense. Oh well.
Pitchers: .208 OAV/0.99 whip – Same note. Sonofabitch. This team is a train wreck.

$130M – Planning is for Suckers – First things first. I immediately decided on platoons across the board to maximize my power. Even with a peak of 17 HRs, I’ve got 30 HRs at several positions due to the platoons. Second, since I couldn’t be the only person thinking about platooning, I went RH-heavy with the pitchers, while targeting 0.2 HR/9 as my cutoff.

Hitters: .341/.441/.546 – Now, that’s more like it!
Pitchers: .211 OAV/0.99 whip – Not as bad as it sounds because there are some mop-ups

$VARIABLE – I can name that tune in $165M – The funnest team to build. Full of experiments and trials and scribbled notes on post-its. I hit two years right away: 1894 and 1908. The 1894 Phillies had an embarrassment of multi-positional hitters (and not very much more). I hadn’t heard about the ’08 Walsh as the cookie du jour (well, now I know), but given the cap, I knew I wanted Joss and Mathewson for 1908, so I was already up to three teams and two years. Building from there, I knew I needed more pitching and 1995 jumped out for Maddux and the Mariners (bullpen, Edgar, and the Unit). Figuring that that sweet spot would be either 4x4 or 5x3, I settled on the three years and five teams. I built several other teams, but I really liked where this one fell. I predict 95 losses.

Hitters: .349/.432/.532 – Hmmm, worse than my $130M team. I have a growing sense of doom.
Pitchers: .201 OAV/0.91 whip

Sigh. Looks like another bottom half finish. Screw it. Where's the beer?

Posted by Jtpsops on 8/13/2019 11:31:00 AM (view original):
Yup. But I guess he figures going all out to make Round 2 is worth it. And for some owners, it is.

With all due respect to garmansouth, he is seeded 89th, so I'm guessing, he is not really worried about round 2.

First timer in the WISC. After reading all this and reviewing what I cobbled together I'm not feeling unicorns and rainbows. Should be an interesting ride. Here goes:

70 Million
Run to Win
Arlington Stadium

Wanted a fast team, a number of decent base stealers couple guys with some pop to drive some runs in. Almost everyone in the 70s and 80s for speed, decent arms behind the plate. Couple platoons to utilize all roster spots. 5 with double figure homers

C Stearns / Brucker
1B Hosmer
2B Knoblauch (before the throwing problems)
3B Minoso
SS Reyes/Ozzie
OF Richards, Page & Lind/Cravath


4,842 PA, 99 HR, 214/279 SB, 300 BA, 372 OBP, 451 SLG

Full load of 13 pitchers across a mix of eras, emphasis on the bullpen. 5 man starting pitching staff – Romanick (big stud in HS where I grew up), Bush, Ryu, Niemann, Zachary. MadBum, Parker, Hendricks, Mendoza, Boom Boom Beck, Patton and the Sheriff round out the pen.

1419 IP, 1.20 WHIP, 3.41 ERA, 260 OAV .69 HR/9

Pitching feels light, offense should do all right.

90 Million
deGrom goes Trout Fishing
Angel Stadium

Balanced O, all but 1 hit >300, pop in the middle with speed top and bottom. Went with deGrom as the $9M 40K/IP pitcher, built the rest out keeping min 9M for an OF and that turned into Mike Trout.

C Hanigan/Redmond/Pratt
1B Klesko
2B Young
3B Naehring
SS Eckstein
Utility Ledesma
OF Trout, Upton & Fisher/Turner


4,943 PA, 118 HR, 157 SB, 317 BA, 397 OBP, 480 SLG

Once again full compliment of 13 pitchers, Pair of Aces approach. Starters Scherzer & deGrom, backed by Randy Johnson and Jimmy Key. 9 arms in the pen – trying something different - pushing K/9.

1493 IP, 1.07 WHIP, 2.47 ERA, 222 OAV .74 HR/9, 8.96 K/9 as a staff


110 Million
Randy Johnson, Mr Snappy AZ NY SEA
Yankee Stadium (I)

Considered various players as my triple. Jimmie Foxx 1B 3B C, Nap, Rajah, variety of OF. Thought about relievers, settled in on SP – Greinke, Clemens, Big Unit and ultimately chose Johnson. RJ has some strong SP season and opened the NYY door. Team is predominantly yanks plus Edgar and some Mariner relievers.

C Dickey/Sanchez/Bengough
1B Gehrig
2B Lopez
3B Edgar
SS McDougald
OF Combs, Selkirk & DiMaggio/Gamble


5,261 PA, 166 HR, 70 SB, 329 BA, 424 OBP, 521 SLG

3 Johnsons joined by Ray Caldwell as starters, Rivera, Charlton, Chapman, Howe, Lloyd & Rhodes highlight the pen. 9 lefties on the staff.

1507 IP, 1.00 WHIP, 2.36 ERA, 213 OAV .59 HR/9


120 Million
5 sticks 8 chuckers
Jacobs Field

Spent a fair amount of time building out various teams, trying to find that sweet spot. Landed on 8 for pitchers, as many did. Selected 5 for the offense. In the end there were any number of decent options/combos.

C Posey/Ewing
1B Cavaretta
2B Collins
3B Muggsy McGraw
SS Wagner
Utility Palanco
OF Raines, Lynn & Valo/Sheffield


6,245 PA, 104 HR, 331 SB, 334 BA, 413 OBP, 477 SLG

Starters – El Senor Luis Tiant, Braxton, Wells & Ojeda. Ol Diz, Potter, Tuero Henry, Garber, Jack Ryan (pitcher not the president) Leever, Doolittle and Papelbon make up the pen.

1507 IP, .95 WHIP, 2.20 ERA, 213 OAV .56 HR/9


130 Million
Purse Swingers
Cinergy Field

Kept HR hit low (max 10) to maximize flex next round and capped HR/9 at 0.25. Excellent overall team speed, couple base stealers, lot of 2b/3b and strong arms behind the dish. Optimized BA and OBP on this squad.

C Kendall/Hargrave/Hernandez
1B Fonseca
2B Biggio
3B Minoso
SS Cronin
Utility Palanco
OF Cobb, Waner & Fisher/Bradley


5,866 PA, 80 HR, 175 SB, 348 BA, 421 OBP, 516 SLG

Starters – Hubbell, Maddux, Chandler. Long / Spot Starters – Pollet, Rowe. Relievers – Orosco, Blue, Henry, Giles, Manship, Chapman, Rasmussen form the pen.

1506 IP, .97 WHIP, 1.79 ERA, 210 OAV .17 HR/9


163 Million
Gigantes 163
Polo Grounds (IV)

Excellent theme, enjoyed trying out various combinations, of teams and years. Wanted to get into the 160 – 165 M salary space. Finally settled on the Giants, with 17 different seasons.

C Ewing/McCarty/Cummings
1B Terry
2B Hornsby
3B Lindstrom
SS Aurillia
Utility Scutaro
OF Bonds, Mays & Ott w Dusty Rhodes


6,958 PA, 257 HR, 108 SB, 359 BA, 439 OBP, 605 SLG

Starters – Matty, Marichal & Schmidt. Long/Spot Starters – Schupp, Nehf, Sallee, the pen Rodriguez, Nen, Toney, Jackson, Romo & Beck.

1658 IP, .88 WHIP, 1.74 ERA, 197 OAV .45 HR/9

now I'm not smart enough to use spreadsheets (or get my teams in on time), so take my strategies with a heaping serving of salt...

$70M: First & Last
on offense, Vince Coleman made a speed team seem like a natural fit, but I felt the team skewed too low on OBP and inefficient beyond Vince. Bob Johnson seemed like a good fit at this cap, and when I came across Billy O'Brien, I got fixated on seeing how a 19th-century power hitter would perform here, so the offense skews OBP and HR. pitchers are primarily deadball guys who I've had success with at this cap before. I'm in ozomatli's division, so the play here is shoot for the wild card.
5,038 PA - .277/.369/.406 - 190 2B/56 3B/89 HR - 37 (usable) SB
1,349 IP - 1.09 WHIP - .241 OAV - 3.26 K/9 - 1.92 BB/9 - 0.11 HR/9

$90M: Double Eagle
coincidentally I landed on the same Eagles as schwarze but different seasons on both counts, although I did look very closely at '19 Johnson. I like to get the best albatross possible in these leagues even if it means spending a bit more - I tried a few different salary points at pitcher and despite Johnson coming out at nearly $16M I liked what he gave me in terms of albatross quality and IP versus salary for remaining innings. (obviously reading other strategies is making me second guess my strategy!) there's two pitchers I use often at just under $9M in '04 Altrock and '09 Morgan for the rotation. on offense, in retrospect another million for the rest of the lineup probably would have been useful but I liked the '29 Hornsby's bat. tried to fill around him with a mix of OBP/SLG/SB.
5,193 PA - .305/.393/.477 - 231 2B/64 3B/136 HR - 95 (usable) SB
1,369 IP - 1.00 WHIP - .216 OAV - 4.35 K/9 - 2.09 BB/9 - 0.05 HR/9

$110M: 3x Franchise
I looked at a few options here but Maddux was honestly the only guy I seriously considered. the ATL and CHC seasons are obvious (I did use the more affordable '97 Maddux rather than his pricier ones) and I think strong at this cap, and I like his '06 LAD season as affordable long relief/mopup. I didn't want to "waste" a season of one of the clones, and conveniently Maddux's three franchises have abundant options for the rest of the team. the big pieces on offense are 1896 Dahlen (a favorite of mine at higher caps) and 1886 Anson for AVG/doubles, then '66 Aaron/'85 Guerrero for HR power. '06 Pfiester and '04 Brown are in the rotation; the bullpen is pretty strong I think although a little light on innings. I took Wrigley for the power hitters but am now pretty sure I should have either drafted more innings or picked a more pitcher friendly park.
5,277 PA - .331/.404/.545 - 240 2B/74 3B/195 HR - 56 (usable) SB
1,378 IP - 0.97 WHIP - .210 OAV - 6.63 K/9 - 1.89 BB/9 - 0.25 HR/9

$120M: Lucky Numbers
I somehow missed the no-duplicate-seasons aspect of this the first time, so the first draft of this team was mostly unusable. on offense I had looked for bargains at DH, thinking I could save some money on an underpriced poor fielder. one of the options I liked best was 1896 Tom McCreery - switch hitter, high BA, lots of XBH. the 'x6s also let me use 1886 Brouthers, a favorite of mine, plus solid seasons of Al Simmons, Medwick, Collins, and Wagner. after I realized my error on duplicate seasons I had to quickly redraft a few positions, so I'm not crazy about the bottom of the lineup (mostly Ashburn & Ivan Rodriguez). at least I was able to use most of the offense - my pitching research was all pretty much a waste. I liked '08 Walsh and '18 Johnson as a pairing though, and I thought I could pair them with '88 Chamberlain and modern day relievers/filler. due to my own misreading of the rules, I'm not at all confident in this hastily constructed team but fingers crossed!
6,282 PA - .330/.397/.489 - 376 2B/116 3B/97 HR - 28 (usable) SB
1,440 IP - 0.93 WHIP - .200 OAV - 5.33 K/9 - 1.78 BB/9 - 0.07 HR/9

$130M: Calm Before the Storm
I often draft double-heavy teams so keeping HR low was no problem. '86 Raines and '44 Stirnweiss are speed at the top of the lineup, and '22 Cobb and '70 Parker (the "big" bat with 10 HR) will be driving them in if all goes according to plan. I drafted more for defense and range ('27 Traynor, '55 Ashburn, and '70 Munson's 50% CS) than I would otherwise, thinking there would be a lot of high-BA teams here and even at a higher cap the benefit might be more noticeable. the team is more pitching-overbalanced. I splurged on '94 Maddux, with '33 Hubbell, '43 Chandler, and '35 Blanton as the rest of the rotation and some quality relievers. Maddux and Chandler are the high HR/9 at 0.18.
5,596 PA - .332/.404/.462 - 292 2B/86 3B/55 HR - 136 (usable) SB
1,443 IP - 0.96 WHIP - .207 OAV - 6.07 K/9 - 1.94 BB/9 - 0.13 HR/9

Variable Cap: Minus XY
obviously a very tricky and interesting draft for this one. I started with two same season/franchise pitchers I liked in 1906 CHC Brown and Pfiester, and added a second season for 1886 Kelly (taking care of that pesky catcher position) and Anson. I was targeting around $160M as the result, trying to balance adding more seasons versus more franchises. the 1930 CHC outfield with Wilson and Cuyler looked like a good addition, but I felt like I needed another franchise. LAD made a lot of sense, as I could add both Greinke and Arietta's big seasons as well as 1930 Babe Herman to the outfield. from there it was a bit of trial and error in seeing where I could add another good player versus how much it cut the cap down by. ultimately I added 2016 for Kershaw, Jansen, Chapman, and Hill (plus several bench players); 1896 for personal favorite Bill Dahlen; 1929 for Hornsby; and 1912 for Zimmerman. still having space under the cap, I kept going with CHW as a franchise to get 1906 Doc White in the rotation, and 1977 as the final season for Bruce Sutter. my cap ended up lower than I planned at $153M, which seems quite a bit lower than most other people. I do feel like there's not a lot of wasted money on this team at least; hopefully that translates into...something.
5,845 PA - .371/.444.608 - 360 2B/112 3B/196 HR - 0 (usable) SB
1.555 IP - 0.86 WHIP - .193 OAV - 7.49 K/9 - 1.62 BB/9 - 0.29 HR/9

We did have one owner take 2003 Eric Gagne in the 90M league. That is something I did not expect to see.

(FWIW, Gagne ranks pretty low on Value Index)

newarkwilder is the first person who posted here who has fewer HR/9 allowed than I do in the 130M theme. I'm at 0.19. He's at 0.18. Looking forward to seeing all the theme summaries.

My overall strategy for the 2019 WISC is based on one simple concept: Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the ridiculously eventful year 1969.


70mm - *Building the Steel Curtain

On 1/28/1969, as a 16 year old lifelong Steeler fan I was excited when they had the number 4 overall pick in the NFL draft that day. Expecting a brand name skill position player I remember almost crying when I read in the afternoon paper that they had squandered that pick on a DL. We all know that pick turned out well for Pittsburgh and they did manage to land the first string consensus All-American QB in the second round.

As far as low-cap leagues go, I really do not have any go-to players so, if allowed, I try to look for: 1) low HR dead ball pitchers who give up few walks (minimizing pitch count and therefore innings needed), 2) On offense, I look for as many switch-hitters as I can manage. On base % is a plus, but otherwise, they don't have to be especially good at fielding or any other fine details. 3) A pitchers ballpark to minimize necessary PA and IP.

The dominating criteria for this team was to match player names with Steeler DL of the day. Willie (Ben) McGee, Tyler (Joe) Greene, Bill (Lloyd) Voss, Bill (LC) Greenwood and Chuck Hinton represent the 5 DL from 1969. Tommy (Ernie) Holmes and Jerry (Dwight) White came along later to join Greene and Greenwood and become known as the Steel Curtain Another must for this team was to play where the Steel Curtain flourished - Three Rivers Stadium which was under construction during the entire calendar year 1969 and appropriately built (for my overall theme) on the site known as the Golden Triangle. Bottom line is that even though this was the beginning of a great period of Steeler history, the 1969 squad finished with a 1-13 record, a winning percentage of .071. Could very much be an omen as this team has all of the potential to finish with similar "success"

5182 PA - .263/.343/.357 including pitchers
1461 IP - 1.08 WHIP


*90 million - *Eagle has Landed - Hendrix plays Wagner

When Neil Armstrong arrived on the moon on 7/20/1969 he announced "the Eagle has Landed". Once I saw the theme titles it was automatic that my 90 million team would pay tribute to this historic event. Finding albatross players that I liked and had some connection to the theme required some reaching. 1914 Claude Hendrix seemed to be a good choice at right over $40,000/IP. (Musical namesake, Jimi, got some of his earliest recognition in 1964 - 50 years later, keeping it Golden - when he won amateur night at the Apollo Theatre). In an interview, Hendrix also was quoted as "digging composer Richard Wagner". 1901 Honus Wagner (nicknamed the Flying Dutchman after a Wagner opera of the same name) was selected mostly because he was just over $9mm. Had to squeeze in the mission crew as best as I could with reliever Mike (Neil) Armstrong, Buzz (there are no Aldrins) Boyle and 1b Ripper (Michael) Collins. Just for fun also making the roster are Wally Moon and Spaceman Bill Lee. Even managed a 2-fer reference with Otis Nixon. (the company that built the elevator that provided the astronauts their lift before their liftoff as well as the sitting President). Had to use Wagner's ballpark - Exposition Park III which I like for this team but the Astrodome would have been more appropriate however it didn't qualify.

5108 PA - .307/.396/.424 including pitchers
1432 IP - 1.03 WHIP

110 million - *Give Peace a Shantz

On 6/1/1969, John and Yoko and many others recorded the song "Give Peace a Chance" in their Montreal hotel room. Not the song I play most frequently by either of them. I still love a lot of the Beatles recordings and I have found Yoko's solo work to be very useful to play into the phone for telemarketers and bill collectors when they call.

Bobby Shantz was the first player I looked at since I have used his effective 1959 Yankees, 1963 Cardinals and 1964 Phillies partial seasons frequently and they all qualify for this theme. Not having to spend much over the minimum for the trio gave me more to use elsewhere and these three teams provide plenty of options.

Pretty satisfied with the high OBP oriented offense: (C Schang/Pratt, 1b Brouthers/Corcoran/Lindeman, 2b Frisch, 3b Boggs, SS 1917 Hornsby, OF Roy Thomas, Harry Walker and Babe. Plenty of strong pinch hitting and 1987 Jose Oquendo to fill in wherever necessary. The Lennon part

Don't know what I was thinking about with pitching, though. 2 man (kiss of death) rotation of 1888 Buffinton and 1904 Chesbro. Only 1943 Pollet and 1959 Shantz have even 100 IP. Classic high maintenance nightmare but enough IP to cover. The Yoko part.

5269 PA - .323/.417/.456
1505 IP - .094 WHIP

120 million - *If 6 Was 9 from Easy Rider

On 6/14/1969 the movie Easy Rider was released, just 2 days before the Apollo 11 launch. On their way to get spaced in another sense with Karen Black and Toni Basil, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were shown riding their choppers on the way to New Orleans to the tune of Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9". Once I got that image in my head, I had to twist my team to fit.

8s looked like the most popular pitchers choice for good reason and I looked at the 1888 Seward and 1908 Walsh 2 man rotation pretty seriously before getting sidetracked with my 1969 obsession. Also, this theme requires at least 11 pitchers to be chosen and that made that tandem difficult to use with 9 other pitchers yet to be chosen. I went with "6" pitchers and like the talent although my plan is another high maintenance potential disaster. I decided to experiment with 3 SP/LongA combo pairings - 1936 Hubbell/1946 Earl Caldwell (414 IP), 1906 Pelty/1916 Sallee (404 IP) and 1996 K Brown/2016 Kershaw (382 IP). Exactly 1200 RL IP with the 6 will hopefully get me to the 7th or 8th inning where 1986 Murphy, 1966 Jarvis, 1976 Holdsworth, 2006 Mariano and 1886 Phenominal can take over. 1926 Heimach is cheap but useable.

My "9" hitters fit together better ("Jinx"). C 1929 Cochrane, 1b 1889 Tommy Tucker (a personal favorite), 2b 1909 Collins, 3b 1989 Boggs, SS 1939 Appling (always sucks so consider this a reverse jinx attempt), OF and almost all of DH 1899 Roy Thomas, 1919 Cobb, 1959 Cunningham, 1949 short season Joe D, 2009 Nyjer, 1999 Dellucci, 1979 Rod Craig and 1969 Francona will all play.

Using the Astrodome mostly because it was the possibly the closest MLB stadium to where Fonda and Hopper were at the time of this part of the film when the song was playing.

5223 PA - .345/.435/.459 - no pitchers since this is a DH league
1499 IP - 0.95 WHIP

130 million - *Overtures (Tommy with a taste of 1812)

On 5/171969 The Who released the rock opera "Tommy". Truly a groundbreaking achievement in concept and packaging not to mention one filled with some pretty great music beginning with the Overture. Actually, this team does not have a lot to do with this recording (only bit players Tommy Pham and Tommy Thompson make the roster). More relevant is another overture, the 1812 Overture, maybe the most famous of all time, by Tchaikovsky. Trying to keep HR/9 at a minimum for pitchers I went with 0.18 as my upper boundary. As far as HRs hit for hitters, I wound up with 12 as my max.

My SPs are pretty common - 1994 Maddux, 1933 Hubbell, 1935 Blanton, 1943 Spud. Relievers are not as good as they should be - 1943 Pollett, 1927 Miljus, 1976 Holdsworth, 1981 Rincon, 1922 Cooney, 2012 Loup and 1940 Johnny Podgajny (who I am also using in the 70mm league - enough said)

My hitting should be pretty common as well - C 2006 Mauer, 1b converted OF Harry Walker (asking for trouble here), 2b 1993 Tony Phillips, 3b 1986 Boggs, SS 1987 Ozzie, OF 1921 Cobb, 1955 Ashburn and 1925 Speaker.

No restrictions on ballpark so I chose Shea Stadium to honor the very newsworthy achievements of both teams that called it home that year. 1969 WS champion Mets and 1969 Super Bowl champion Jets.

5388 PA - .331/.421/.455
1551 IP - .098 WHIP

Variable Cap - *Variable Volunteers

When I researched the year 1969 the music is what stands out the most. All of the wide-ranging artists that released their first record that year: Led Zeppelin, Jackson Five, Crosby Stills and Nash, Santana and Yes just to name a few. However, I was in the SF Bay Area that year and there was a lot of local talent playing and creating. Probably the most successful of the SF bands at the time (at least according to record sales) associated with the Summer of Love scene was Jefferson Airplane, who released one of their very finest efforts, Volunteers, on 6/12/1969. A couple of outdoor music festivals also captured the headlines in 1969 as well. Woodstock in August and Altamont on 12/6/1969 (which I attended the first half of. I had to get to work at a hamburger restaurant at 5:30 pm that day and I tried to squeeze in a rock festival before showing up. I was only one hour late which still ranks as one of my finest personal achievements). Anyway, the Airplane played at both festivals and Volunteers was featured each time.

This theme was my favorite. It was the first I tackled and I could not get it out of my head. It was also the first one I entered ahead of the first deadline because I knew I would just continue to let it twist my mind. As psychedelic team-building experience as I can remember. I thought about single franchise teams. Certain pairs (like Cardinals and Indians) seemed to fit well together. But what about the Yankees?! Have to have the Yankees. Maybe. I finally decide on 3 teams (Yankees, Indians and Pirates) and 6 seasons. (6 seasons and 6+3 seasons plus teams = 9 - 69! see how twisted my mind gets).

Anyway, this is what I wound up with using a $162mm salary cap, which I forgot to include in my team name - oops

1908 - Addie Joss and Honus Wagner
1910 - Russ Ford. Lajoie, Joe Jackson (small PA) and Deacon Phillippe
1919 - Babe Adams, Ray Caldwell, Joe Harris, Possum Whitted
1930 - Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Paul Waner, Pie Traynor, Bill Dickey, Jimmie Reese
1999 - Jason Kendall, Bernie Williams, Mariano
2017 - Corey Kluber, Felipe Rivero, Chad Green, Andrew Miller, Adam Warren, David Robertson

Playing at Forbes Field, where I saw my first ever live MLB game.

5433 PA - .350/.426/.543
1733 IP - 0.87 WHIP

Absolutely love this tournament. I have had a wide range of outcomes (7th place finish to 90th). Always hoping to sneak into Round 2 but you see my strategies here so good luck to me there.

I also was able to achieve one of my personal goals by getting the alphabetical order of the team names to go from lowest to highest salary cap which along with the asterisk in front will allow me to see the teams at the top of the team center in order.

Thank you, ozomatli, for the great themes and taking time to keep the tradition alive!

Thanks, as well, to all of you who have entered real strategies in this forum that will help me learn for the next time.

Have fun, everyone.

Impressive effort, cal. Should guarantee you a 69th place finish.

Excellent job, calhoop. I like how the Steelers 1969 winning percentage almost matches the salary cap of that league.

Posted by schwarze on 8/13/2019 1:54:00 PM (view original):
newarkwilder is the first person who posted here who has fewer HR/9 allowed than I do in the 130M theme. I'm at 0.19. He's at 0.18. Looking forward to seeing all the theme summaries.

You must have missed my writeup. I'm at 0.10 HR/9

Posted by schwarze on 8/13/2019 1:54:00 PM (view original):
newarkwilder is the first person who posted here who has fewer HR/9 allowed than I do in the 130M theme. I'm at 0.19. He's at 0.18. Looking forward to seeing all the theme summaries.

Actually, I'm at 0.18 also... Of course, for my level of understanding the strategy of team building, I'm closer to juggalosteve than to ozomatli.

Fabulous write-up! I am digging it!
Give Peace a Shantz has to be my favorite tam name so far.
I fear facing a team with an .094 WHIP in the 110M league.

Posted by BigScungil on 8/13/2019 2:45:00 PM (view original):
Fabulous write-up! I am digging it!
Give Peace a Shantz has to be my favorite tam name so far.
I fear facing a team with an .094 WHIP in the 110M league.

I'm in your division at $110M with a 0.91 WHIP

Be afraid. Be very afraid.