I know we don't have a ton of live leagues to choose from so I thought I would throw an idea out there and see if there is enough interest to get it going. Here is the concept:

Everyone picks a Catcher to start their team train. That catcher becomes exclusive to you. You build the rest of your team with that catchers teammates going up or down season by season. I would ideally like to have 12 "Locomotive" (catcher starts and you go backwards in time) & 12 "Caboose" (catcher ends and you build forwards) then have each form a league. Divisions would be divided by start year of your catcher chronologically, starting with the oldest in the East. The beta team started with 1997 Mike Piazza, who played in 97 with Chad Fonville. Fonville played in 95 with Nomo, and on it goes until your team is complete.

With these rules in mind, 1989 is the cutoff for Caboose teams & 1909 for Locomotives.

*Rookie/Retiring Rule*

Each team is allowed ONE rookie/final season in their train. (Rookie for Locomotive, Old Dudes for Caboose) No restrictions on rookies for Caboose teams or Old Dudes for Locomotive because it doesn't create a hole in train building) When this happens (and it isn't the last pick) the next season in the train must feature a player from the rookie/retiring players Rival/Expansion team list opposite. (In the beta team, Hideo Nomo is the rookie, therefore the 1994 player must be a SF Giant). The Teams are paired as follows:

LAD/SF     SD/MTL-WAS     COL/FLA     ARZ/TB     STL/CHC     CIN/PIT     PHI/NYM     MIL/ATL     NYY/BOS     TOR/SEA

BAL/MIN     CHW/CLE     DET/OAK     KC/LAA     HOU/TEX


*Traded Players Rule*

If you use a player traded during his season in your train (or the one prior/next) any of those teammates are eligible for the next spot on the train & you can use any version (just that season that he was traded to fit the train, not any year of his career) of the traded player for your team.

*Missed Seasons Rule*
If a player missed a season of major league service, this means you can NOT use this season and skip to the season prior in building the train. Should be easy enough to avoid this.

OTHER DETAILS

CAP: 100M (Came pretty close to this building the beta team so this seems like a good place to start)
WW: NO
Trades: NO
AAA: NO
40 Live required for playoffs
Playoffs must be live
Must play in the ballpark your catcher did in the season you chose
Have your catcher's last name included in team name

I will pick my Catcher 10th if enough of you guys are interested in this.

BETA TEAM

1997 Mike Piazza
1996 Chad Fonville
1995 Hideo Nomo **Rookie**
1994 Mike Jackson (SF Giants)
1993 Barry Bonds
1992 Doug Drabek
1991 Bobby Bonilla
1990 Zane Smith
1989 John Smoltz
1988 Jim Morrison
1987 Alan Trammell
1986 Johnny Grubb
1985 Marty Castillo
1984 Chet Lemon
1983 Lou Whitaker
1982 Dave Rozema
1981 Jack Morris
1980 Duffy Dyer
1979 Dave Cash
1978 Ross Grimsley
1977 Ken Singleton
1976 Mike Flanagan
1975 Tony Muser
1974 Buddy Bradford

Sitemail: chris_son; ConansDad; bublooo; dlrawson; arvidjosef; Yaz_Benders


Interested Owners:

Locomotive:

1. ConansDad:  1930 Gabby Hartnett
2. bublooo: 1993 Chris Hoiles
3. dlrawson: 2013 Yan Gomes
4. arvidjosef: TBD
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Caboose:

1. chris_son: 1953 Roy Campanella
2. arvidjosef: TBD
3. Yaz_Benders: 1954 Smoky Burgess
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

I will take LOCOMOTIVE...1930 Gabby Hartnett.

Thanks for joining fellas. Chris, your next player does not necessarily have to be a Dodger in 1954- he just needs to be a teammate of Campy in 1953. His 1954 season could be played anywhere in MLB.

**The above is incorrect, scroll for clarification. Left post up because I reference it in explanation**

I will try with 1993 Chris Hoiles LOCO.

Glad to have ya bub. 4 in!!

RULE CLARIFICATION: bublooo brought this to my attention in a sitemail & I noticed an error in my explanation to him and chris after looking at the beta team so I will clarify here:

You use a teammate of the previous season (or upcoming for Caboose teams) to connect the train. So on the beta team, to connect 1993 Bonds to 1992, you need a 1992 teammate of Bonds. This means that player MUST have made an appearance for the 1992 Pirates since Bonds only played there that season...Doug Drabek was not a member of the 1993 Giants, but he is eligible for the train because he played with Bonds in Pittsburgh in 1992. Using Chris's Caboose team as an example, since Campanella only played for Brooklyn in 1954 someone who appeared for the Dodgers in 1954 is required in that spot. I apologize for the confusion but realized my mistake after looking at the beta team.

Also the rookie rule has been expanded to include a players final season, because the same concept applies for Caboose-built teams so I amended that rule to cover for it.

Really like this theme.

Yan Gomes, caboose.

thanks for joining David, let me know when you figure out which season you want to start with...but I think you would have to be a Locomotive if you use Gomes since he debuted in 2012....1989 is the latest season you can start with if you go Caboose.

Posted by teddywienah on 8/5/2014 4:46:00 PM (view original):
thanks for joining David, let me know when you figure out which season you want to start with...but I think you would have to be a Locomotive if you use Gomes since he debuted in 2012....1989 is the latest season you can start with if you go Caboose.

Yan Gomes, 2013, Locomotive.

Hit me twice...  randomize me

typing "random" into the search bar at baseballreference.com until you got two catchers is how I did it & you ended up with Dick Dietz & Bill Lewis. Lewis only has one usable whatif season (1936) let me know which one you want for Locomotive/Caboose & thanks for joining.

Let me try Smoky Burgess 1954 as a caboose, thanks