This is a league I ran a couple of times many years ago. It is not a progressive league. It's just a one time shot. It can of course be repeated. It's pretty complicated so it's probably not the right league for someone with a passing interest in WIS. It's better for the hard core owner. Here are the rules.
Standard 24 team league -- six divisions, four teams per division. $ 80 million budget No DH
Your roster will be constructed from four real teams from a universe of teams (all MLB teams from the seasons 1922, 32, 42, 52 ,62, 72, 82) which will be posted below. For instance you could construct your roster from the 1922 Cards, 1922 Yanks, 1962 Cards and 1972 Mets). The rostering is pretty restrictive. Once the season starts you can start a player at any position where he has a rating. However on your final roster you must have exactly 2 players who have a primary position at catchers, 2 1B, 2 2B, 2 3B, 2 SS, 5 outfielders and 10 pitchers. You can tell what position the guy counts as because when you roster in a team, say the 82 Red Sox you will see Wade Boggs is listed as a 1B. If you use him on your final roster, he will be one of your two 1B. However he is also rated at 3B and in the OF so once the season starts he can play any of those three positions.
Very important. When you roster a team it will show you the players. That's who you get. If you look on baseball-reference.com you may see the team actually had more players (especially the 72 and 82 seasons). That's too bad. You only get the ones that are listed when you put in the 82 Red Sox. How do you roster in a team? Look at a blank draft center page. See where it says 2015 Anaheim Angels? You can switch that to any year of any team. That's the official league approved way of finding out who goes with each team..
On your final roster you must have seven players from one of your four teams and six from each of the other three. You can't have two seasons of the same player on your final 25 man roster, for instance 1922 Babe Ruth and 1932 Babe Ruth assuming you are using the 1922 and 1932 Yankees.
As soon as 24 owners are signed up, you will be randomly assigned to a division. That assignment is important as will be seen. A draft order will be randomly assigned for the four round draft. The draft order will go 1-24, 1-24, 24-1, 24-1.
Round One - When your draft pick comes up you pick any team from the available list of teams. Once you pick that team no one else can pick it. For instance you pick the 1972 Reds.
Round Two - One of your three division mates will be assigned the task of gifting you a second team. He should look at your first pick and find another team that matches horribly with it. For instance if your first team was the 1962 Dodgers which has great pitching but just okay hitting, maybe matching them with another team with great pitching and no hitting would be a good match - maybe the 1972 Mets. After all, you can't really roster Seaver, Koosman, Matlack, Koufax and Drysdale on an $ 80 million team - or can you? Or you might give him the 1962 Mets and say good luck finding six usable players from that roster. There are lots of ways to screw your neighbor. Let's say your first team is the 1932 Yankees complete with a $ 8 million Lou Gehrig. They don't have a backup 1B though. Maybe giving them another team with an $8 million 1B with no backup. Wouldn't it be fun if he had to roster an $ 8 million and $ 8 million 1 B on his final roster, neither of which can play any other position. Anyway, this is where we need experienced owners to be proper bad neighbors.
Round Three - A second owner in your division will gift you another team. He needs to look at your first two teams and find which remaining team will cause you the most grief.
Round Four - You get to pick the fourth team to complete this mess of a roster as best as you can, well aware that the dagger round is coming next.
Dagger Round - The third owner of your division gets to throw two daggers before you make your final roster. He will look at your universe of possible players from your four teams and he can dagger one player, removing him from consideration from your final roster. Who to dagger? Your only home run hitter? Your only cheap backup 1B? The fourth starter who's a bargain at 2 Million? Your only shortstop with over 300 at bats? The only decent utility infielder? The possibilities are a puzzle. If the person has 1922 and 1932 Babe Ruth, the dagger kills both of them. The second dagger will be to dagger one of your four stadiums.
I know this is complicated, but it's for the owner looking for complicated. It works smoothly as we've run it a few times already Please sign up or ask questions.