The theme for this league is to start with a losing team (Won /Loss percentage less than .500) from 1901-2016 and over the course of 5 seasons build a winning team by the judicious use of “twists”. A list of qualifying teams is posted in the next post.


Some teams may not have 25 players on their roster. Check first for additional players by setting minimum games to zero for position players and check also pitchers by searching on the team name and season to see if additional players show up not listed on the team download. If still short, fill the roster with players from the same season as your selected team with salaries less than $500,000.

We will have 12 AL teams and 12 NL teams.

Where teams moved cities, each city will be considered a separate franchise:

Boston, Milwaukee, Atlanta. Note the Milwaukee Braves never had a losing season, however. But a city whose teams had more than one name (Boston Braves, Doves, Rustlers and Bees) may only be chosen once.

St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles.

Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers

Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics. Note the Kansas City Athletics never had a winning season.

Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals

Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins

Washington Senators/ Texas Rangers

All of the teams above may be chosen once except:

1. The Milwaukee Braves had no losing seasons

2. Only one Washington Senators team may be chosen.

Also note that both the Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros have had losing teams in both the AL and NL, so can be chosen for either league.

This will be a 24 team multi-season (but not progressive league) lasting exactly 5 seasons.

Each owner will start with the original WIS qualified roster of his selected team for Season 1. Each season (including season 1) the owner may “twist” 2 of the players on his team to any season In their career (which may be with a different team). More than one season of a player may be used by different teams. However, the same season may NOT be used twice, so for example if Rogers Hornsby was on the roster of both losing Cardinals and Braves teams and the first one to draft in season 2 “twisted” him to 1924, the 2^nd team will find that season unavailable (but may “twist” him to 1922). Each season an owner may “twist” 1 pitcher and one position player, 2 position players or 2 pitchers at his discretion. So by the end of season 5 each team may have as many as 10 “twisted” players on their roster.

No DH

No WW

No clones on the same team.

No same season clones in the league (but the same player may be on different teams for different seasons).
After 24 teams have joined, there will be a random one round random draft (using random.org) for team selection. I will enlist the help of a non-league HOFer to do the random draft.

After all 24 owners have selected teams for season 1, we will draft players using the live draft feature, but we will draft ignoring the time limits. I will set the time limits for the draft so that the entire draft has passed the time limit before we actually start the draft and we will draft one team at a time over a 6 day period. Further instructions will be given as we get close to draft time. Teams will draft their entire team at one time, Including the “twisted” players. Remember that if you try to draft a “twisted” season for a player and you find he is unavailable, that means that season was drafted by an owner ahead of you and you must try a different season.


There will be a thread for “twisted” players. Each owner, as soon as possible after he has selected his team, must post his selection of 2 players to “twist” for season 1.


While I realize that circumstances change and may require an owner to leave the league, I do request that due to the limited life of the league that you do not join unless you currently intend to participate in all 5 seasons.


Please sign up below. Feel free to site mail me with any questions (or ask your question below).

	TEAMS FROM 1901-2016 WITH W/L PCT. UNDER .500
		Total No.		No. of Losing
	Franchise	of Teams	Seasons	Seasons	Losing Seasons
1	Arizona Diamondbacks (NL)	19	1998-2016	9	1998, 2004-2006, 2009-2010, 2014-2016
2	Atlanta Braves (NL)	51	1966-2016	22	1967, 1970, 1972-1973, 1975-1979, 1981, 1984-1990,2006, 2008, 2014-2016
3	Baltimore Orioles (AL)			27	1954-56, 1958-59, 1962, 1967, 1986-1988, 1990-1991, 1995, 1998-2011
4	Boston (NL)	52	1901-1952	37
	Boston Beaneaters	6	1901-1906	4	1903-1906
	Boston Doves	4	1907-1910	4	1907-1910
	Boston Rustlers	1	1911	1	1911
	Boston Braves	24	1912-1935	17	1912-1913, 1917-1920, 1922-1931, 1935
	Boston Bees	5	1936-1940	3	1936, 1939-1940
	Boston Braves	12	1941-1952	8	1941-1945, 1949, 1951-1952
5	Boston Red Sox (AL)	116	1901-2016	40
	Boston Americans	7	1901-1907	2	1906, 1907
	Boston Red Sox	109	1908-2016	38	1908, 1919-1933, 1936, 1943, 1945,1952, 1954, 1959-1966, 1983, 1987, 1992-1994, 1997, 2012, 2014-2015
6	Brooklyn (NL)	57	1901-1957
	Brooklyn Superbas	11	1901-1913	8	1904-1910, 1913
	Brooklyn Robins	18	1914-1931	10	1914, 1917-1919, 1922-1923, 1925-1927, 1929
	Brooklyn Dodgers	28	1932-1957	9	1911-1912, 1933-1938, 1944
7	Chicago (NL)	116	1901-2016	61
	Chicago Orphans	2	1901-1902	2	1901-1902
	Chicago Cubs	114	1903-2016	59	1915-1917, 1920-1921, 1925, 1940-1944, 1947-1951, 1953-1962, 1964-1966, 1973-1976, 1978-1983, 1985-1988, 1990-1992, 1994, 1996-1997, 1999-2000, 2002, 2005-2006, 2010-2014
8	Chicago White Sox (AL)	116	1901-2016	51	1903, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1927-1935, 1938, 1942, 1944-1950, 1968-1971, 1973, 1975-1976, 1978-1980, 1984, 1986-1989, 1995, 1997-1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013-2016
9	Cincinnati Reds (NL)	116	1901-2016	58
	Cincinnati Reds	53	1901-1953	31	1901, 1906-1908, 1910-1916, 1921, 1927, 1929-1937, 1945-1953
	Cincinnati Redlegs	5	1954-1958	3	1954-1955, 1958
	Cincinnati Reds	58	1959-2016	24	1959-1960, 1971, 1982-1984, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997-1998, 2001-2009, 2011, 2014-2016
10	Cleveland (AL)	116	1901-2016	52
	Cleveland Blues	1	1901	1	1901
	Cleveland Bronchos	1	1902	0
	Cleveland Naps	13	1903-1915	5	1905, 1909-1910, 1912, 1914
	Cleveland Indians	101	1916-2016	46	1915, 1924-1925, 1927-1928, 1933, 1941-1942, 1944, 1946, 1957, 1960-1964, 1967, 1969-1975, 1977-1978, 1980, 1982-1985, 1987-1993, 2002-2004, 2006, 2009-2012
11	Colorado Rockies (NL)	24	1993-2016	17	1993-1994, 1998-1999, 2001-2006, 2008, 2011-2016
12	Detroit Tigers (AL)	116	1901-2016	46	1902-1904, 1906, 1912-1913, 1918, 1920-1921, 1928-1931, 1933, 1941-1942, 1951-1954, 1959-1960, 1963, 1970, 1974-1977, 1989-1990, 1992, 1994-2005, 2008-2009, 2015
13A	Houston Astros (NL)	51	1962-2012	25
	Houston Colt '45s	3	1962-1964	3	1962-1964
	Houston Astros	48	1965-2012	20	1965-1968, 1970-1971, 1975-1976, 1978, 1982, 1984, 1987, 1990-1991, 2000, 2007, 2009-2012
13B	Houston Astros (AL)	4	2013-2016	2	2013-2014
14	Kansas City Athletics (AL)	13	1955-1967	13	1955-1967
15	Kansas City Royals (AL)	47	1969-2016	26	1969-1970, 1972, 1974, 1981, 1983, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1995-2002, 2004-2012
16	Los Angeles Angels (AL)	56	1961-2016	29
	Los Angeles Angels	4	1961-1964	2	1961, 1963
	California Angels	32	1965-1996	21	1965-1966, 1968-1969, 1971-1977, 1980-1981, 1983, 1987-1988, 1990, 1992-1994, 1996
	Anaheim Angels	8	1997-2004	3	1999, 2002, 2003
	Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim	12	2005-2016	3	2010, 2013, 2016
17	Los Angeles Dodgers (NL)	59	1958-2016	13	1958, 1964, 1967-1968, 1979, 1984, 1986-1987, 1989, 1992, 1999, 2005, 2010
18	Miami Marlins	24	1993-2016	18
	Florida Marlins	19	1883-2011	13	1993-1996, 1998-2002, 2006-2007, 2010-2011
	Miami Marlins	5	2012-2016	5	2012-2016
19	Milwaukee Braves	13	1953-1965	0	No losing teams in Milwaukee !!
20A	Milwaukee Brewers (AL)	30		18
	Seattle Pilots	1	1969	1	1969
	Milwaukee Brewers	29	1970-1997	17	1970-1977, 1984-1986, 1990, 1993-1997
20B	Milwaukee Brewers (NL)	19	1998-2016	13	1998-2004, 2006, 2009-2010, 2013, 2015-2016
21	Minnesota Twins (AL)	56	1961-2016	28	1961, 1964, 1968, 1971, 1975, 1978, 1980-1983, 1985-1986, 1989-1990, 1993-2000, 2007, 2011-2014, 2016
22	Montreal Expos (NL)	37	1969-2004	20	1969-1978, 1985-1986, 1991, 1995, 1997-2001, 2004
23	New York Giants (NL)	57	1901-1957	14	1901-1902, 1915, 1926, 1932, 1940-1941, 1943, 1944, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1956-1957
24	New York Mets (NL)	55	1962-2016	30	1962-1968, 1974, 1977-1983, 1991-1996, 2002-2004, 2009-2014
25	New York Yankees (AL)	116		19
	Baltimore Orioles	2	1901-1902	1	1902
	New York Highlanders	10	1903-1912	5	1905, 1907-1909, 1912
	New York Yankees	104	1913-2016	16	1913-1915, 1917-1918, 1925,1965-1967, 1969, 1973, 1982, 1989-1992
26	Oakland Athletics (AL)	49	1968-2016	20	1977-1979, 1982-1986, 1993-1998, 2007-2009, 2011, 2015-2016
27	Philadelphia Athletics (AL)	54	1901-1954	28	1908, 1915-1924, 1934-1946, 1950-1951, 1953-1954
28	Philadelphia Phillies (NL)	116	1901-2016	70	1902-1904, 1906, 1909, 1912, 1914, 1918-1931, 1933-1948, 1951, 1954, 1956, 1958-1961, 1968-1974, 1985, 1987-1992, 1994-2000, 2002, 2013-2016
29	Pittsburgh Pirates (NL	116	1901-2016	51	1914-1917, 1931, 1934, 1939, 1942, 1946-1947, 1949-1957, 1961, 1963-1964, 1967, 1981, 1984-1987, 1989, 1993-2012, 2016
30	San Diego Padres (NL)	48	1969-2016	32	1969-1977, 1979-1981, 1986-1987, 1990, 1993-1995, 1997, 1999-2003, 2008-2009, 2011-2016
31	San Francisco Giants (NL)	59	1958-2016	20	1972, 1974-1977, 1979-1980, 1983-1985, 1991-1992, 1994-1996, 2005-2008, 2013
32	Seattle Mariners (AL)	40	1977-2016	27	1977-1990, 1992, 1994, 1998-1999, 2004-2006,2008, 2010-2013, 2015
33	St. Louis Cardinals (NL)	116	1901-2016	39	1902-1910, 1912-1913, 1915-1916, 1918-1920, 1924, 1932, 1938, 1954-1956, 1958-1959, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994-1995, 1997, 1999, 2007
34	Tampa Bay Rays (NL)	19	1998-2016	13
	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	10	1998-2007	10	1998-2007
	Tampa Bay Rays	9	2008-2016	3	2014-2016
35	Texas Rangers	45	1972-2016	23	1972-1973, 1975-1976,1980, 1982-1985, 1987-1988, 1992, 1994, 1997, 2000-2003, 2005-2008, 2014
36	Toronto Blue Jays	40	1977-2016	17	1977-1982, 1994-1997, 2001-2002, 2004-2005, 2009, 2012-2013
37	Washington Nationals	12	2005-2016	6	2006-2011
38A	Washington Senators	60	1901-1960	41	1901-1911, 1916-1917, 1919-1920, 1922-1923, 1928-1929, 1934-1935, 1937-1942, 1944, 1946-1951, 1954-1960
	(Predecessor to Minnesota Twins)
38A	Washington Senators	11	1961-1971	10	1961-1968, 1970-1971

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WIS will give gift certificates in the amount of $50 to a 24 team league if at least half of the original members are in the league all 5 seasons.

I will instruct those gift certificates (if we qualify) to be distributed as follows;
$30.00 to the owner with the best W/L percentage for the 5 season period.
$20.00 to the owner with the 2nd best W/L percentage for the 5 season period.

As Commissioner I am not eligible for these prizes so if I should happen to qualify, the next 1 or 2 people will move up.

If we select a team (example 1969 Padres) we get the WIS players on the 1969 Padres, and then twist 2 players.

I don't understand the part about drafting players. What am I missing? Sorry if I'm too dumb to follow it.

I will be in with at least one team. This is similar to the Elimination and Best Damn Leagues I've been in, except your not using any drafts for years 2-5 so no help other than the 25 picked the first year.

If I may answer the question above - Yes to your first question and #2 just means you will draft your 25 players in the Live Draft Tool, but you will change the year of your 2 twist and if someone already took that player and year before you then you must take a 2nd choice year.

Posted by danidon on 9/5/2017 5:06:00 PM (view original):
I will be in with at least one team. This is similar to the Elimination and Best Damn Leagues I've been in, except your not using any drafts for years 2-5 so no help other than the 25 picked the first year.

If I may answer the question above - Yes to your first question and #2 just means you will draft your 25 players in the Live Draft Tool, but you will change the year of your 2 twist and if someone already took that player and year before you then you must take a 2nd choice year.

Thanks for answering that danidon and you are totally correct.

Ahhhh. Thank you. I've never used the live draft feature.

The following paragraph was recently added above:

Some teams may not have 25 players on their roster. Check first for additional players by setting minimum games to zero for position players and check also pitchers by searching on the team name and season to see if additional players show up not listed on the team download. If still short, fill the roster with players from the same season as your selected team with salaries less than $500,000.

If we are picking a team (i.e. 1902 Cardinals) that comes with a roster of players and that we will use for five seasons, why do we also need to draft our players using the draft tool?

Interesting concept. I've got to try this.

So if we start with the 1969 Padres for season 1, we stick the 1969 Padres in season 2, rather than moving to the 1970 Padres? The only exception is we twist 2 additional players for season 2 & so on?

Posted by ozomatli on 9/5/2017 6:31:00 PM (view original):
If we are picking a team (i.e. 1902 Cardinals) that comes with a roster of players and that we will use for five seasons, why do we also need to draft our players using the draft tool?

Because of the twist players. If someone else ahead of you drafts a twist player season you want, the system will tell you that that player season is not available. That was used in the Elimination League that retiredfart recently filled (which I joined).

Posted by splat58 on 9/5/2017 7:14:00 PM (view original):
So if we start with the 1969 Padres for season 1, we stick the 1969 Padres in season 2, rather than moving to the 1970 Padres? The only exception is we twist 2 additional players for season 2 & so on?

Yes-the point is to improve the original team

OKAY I'm in.