HBD's tribute to the Negro Leagues continues for its 28th season.  Founded by schedule1, this world continues to be one of the best you'll find in all of HBD.  We've got a great group of owners, and are looking for more quality owners to add to the fold.  

We have one main rule (besides the obvious "no tanking"), and that is that each team must be in a city and have a nickname used by an actual Negro League team.  That's not as limiting as you might think, as here are a couple of good resources to find Negro League teams:

http://www.nlbpa.com/the_teams.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Negro_league_baseball_teams

Now, for our open franchises:

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/FranchiseProfile.aspx?fid=2964  Our first franchise hails from the NL North, and is the defending WS Champ!  This 112-win team boasts pitching (team ERA of 3.06 in Wrigley) and hitting (230 HR's as a team).  This one should go fast! TAKEN

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/FranchiseProfile.aspx?fid=2970  Next is this squad from the NL East.  Just two seasons removed from a 93-win season, there are some good pieces here, but more hitting will be needed to get back into playoff contention. TAKEN

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/FranchiseProfile.aspx?fid=2969  This NL South squad's $20 million pitcher earned his money last season, but needs some help to get this squad back into contention.  They had three winning seasons out of four before falling to 68 wins under new ownership last season. TAKEN

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/FranchiseProfile.aspx?fid=2954  Our first AL team hails from the East, and has speed in bunches.  They stole 285 bases last season, with a success rate of nearly 80%.  They could use a bit more pop and another arm or two to climb from the 76 wins they posted last season. TAKEN

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/FranchiseProfile.aspx?fid=2953  On to the AL South, where this squad is looking for a bit of consistency after going through three owners in three seasons.  Again, there are some good pieces to work with, whether you want to try and build in free agency, or if you'd rather rebuild from the bottom up.

http://whatifsports.com/HBD/Pages/Popups/FranchiseProfile.aspx?fid=2958  Last, but not least, we head to the AL West.  Despite a +40 run differential, this team couldn't quite put things together last season.  There are some very good bats and some quality arms to work with here.  The biggest challenge is an Iowa City juggernaut that has won 100+ games each of the last six seasons, including three WS titles. TAKEN

Please sitemail me if you have any questions about these teams or the league in general.  We look forward to having you join us!

If you look at our world on the "Join a World" page, it looks like we have 12 openings.  There are a few owners planning to return who are a bit tardy in renewing.  We only know of six openings at the moment.

If you're part of another world that needs to fill, we may be interested in a swap.  Sitemail me if you're interested.

BUMP.

Two teams gone, four to go!

Great league with different champs the last several years.

If you were looking on the world page and saw us with more openings than we had listed here, all of our returning owners have now renewed.  So, we do have just the four openings.  We'd love to roll soon, so come join us!

We've already added two great, experienced owners to the fold for next season.  Come join the party!

Down to three openings.  Hop on board!

Just TWO teams left!

Just two more owners needed and we can roll into next season!

Join this long-running, fun look at the history of the Negro Leagues!

bump

Just need two more owners to join us, and we can roll for another great season.

Pre-Easter bump.