Bill James gives us advice for a theme league !! Topic

So, I went on billjamesonline.com to ask him about Tom Prince (see the Tom Prince thread here in the Forum), and while doing so I read his discussion about how interesting it would be to put together a team and have all the players on the roster be from their best ever season. So I wrote that we often play that way here in theme leagues. His answer is below my question, and he suggests an alternative idea for a league which I suspect is already in existence here as well in some version:

This mental game of thinking of teams that if you could have that roster's players' best ever seasons what kind of super-team would you have is actually something that a lot of people play out on the online baseball website WhatIfSports.com, where among the many "theme leagues" that one can join and participate in is one where you can "twist" players on the roster you select (either an actual historical team or one that you put together from individual players who fit the particular theme of the league you join) to the season you want.

It is not my preferred way to play the game, as a league of super-teams doesn't appeal to me as much as, say, one based on platooning historical bench and utility players or constructing a new team from the actual seasons of a selected grab-bag of specific teams, but that way of playing is very popular on the site.


Asked by: MidnighttheCat
Answered: 4/11/2020
Thanks. A sort of related thing. . . .Moe Drabowski. Another way to pick super-teams is to say that you can use any player who was a teammate of this player in the same season. I think Moe Drabowsky was a teammate of five players who won MVP Awards, maybe only four--Ernie Banks in 1958 and 1959, Frank Robinson in 1966, Joe Torre in 1971; I think there was a fifth, can't remember who it was. Anyway, on the Moe Drabowski team then, you can use any of those players, plus anyone else who was a teammate of Drabowski's.
4/11/2020 1:49 PM
That sounds vaguely familiar. Can't say for sure but I think I've played in a theme like that before...
4/11/2020 3:05 PM
So, is it Drabowski or Drabowsky?
4/11/2020 3:25 PM
I'm pretty sure that was the idea behind ssupfoo's long-running "It's All About Who You Know" theme
4/11/2020 3:35 PM
hockeyhead runs an ongoing series like that too...he goes position by position around the diamond.

So for the catcher season, each owner picks an exclusive catcher and then builds the team around players who were teammates of that catcher
4/11/2020 3:36 PM
Here's a link to his most recent iteration (which was, in fact, the catcher version):
https://beta.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=519050
4/11/2020 3:37 PM
Posted by crazystengel on 4/11/2020 3:05:00 PM (view original):
That sounds vaguely familiar. Can't say for sure but I think I've played in a theme like that before...
You're funny!
4/11/2020 6:47 PM
Coincidentally, I scouted Drawbowsky for this very season of Random Captain. We're using captains with exactly 17 MLB years. But Moe didn't make the cut. Here's the complete list of 17 season guys who fell short:

Juan Beniquez
Tom Burgmeier
Moe Drabowsky
Damion Easley
Hank Gowdy
Steve Gromek
Granny Hamner
Mike Jackson
Billy Jurges
Chuck Klein
Mark Kotsay
Ernie Lombardi
Bill Mazeroski
Hal Newhouser
Manny Trillo
Virgil Trucks
Charlie Root

By the way, Bill James wrote: "I think Moe Drabowsky was a teammate of five players who won MVP Awards, maybe only four--Ernie Banks in 1958 and 1959, Frank Robinson in 1966, Joe Torre in 1971; I think there was a fifth, can't remember who it was." He's right, and the fifth player he couldn't remember was Dick Allen in 1972. I can't recall exactly why I passed on Drabowsky as a potential captain, but I suppose it wasn't because he lacked good hitting teammates.

EDIT: There's actually a 6th MVP teammate of Drabowsky's -- 1970 Boog Powell.
4/12/2020 3:58 PM (edited)
Posted by contrarian23 on 4/11/2020 3:35:00 PM (view original):
I'm pretty sure that was the idea behind ssupfoo's long-running "It's All About Who You Know" theme
Ding ding ding
4/12/2020 2:40 PM
Bill James gives us advice for a theme league !! Topic

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