Issue #3, April, 2013


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** Commissioner's Corner - Part III - Notes
     from the Commish  **

     (by Marc Wasserman, Commissioner of the Cyber Baseball Association {CBA} )

(Note from the Wolfman: - Here is part three of this new column by Marc Wasserman, discussing his experiences and insights about being a commissioner of a Strat-o-matic baseball league. Each month as we continue this column, Marc will share with us different aspects of the job of being a commissioner and what is necessary to run a successful league.  We hope this column is helpful to enhance your own leagues or what you should be prepared to do if you decide to form a new league and act as its commissioner.)
 




Setting up a successful Strat League.

Designing Your Constitution
(Part I) 

Last month we discussed some of the techniques used for maintaining good league wide communication.  This month, as the new baseball season opens in MLB, so have many Strat baseball leagues as well.  General Managers (GMs) have already spent a great deal of time pre-planning their seasons as well as designing and sculpting their franchise into what they feel will lead them into a league championship.  The incentive to win is hopefully within the GM as they strive for this "Holy Grail". 
 


What is that players in our community want from their league?  What is the driving force and the motivation that compels so many of us to put our heart and soul into our leagues?  To receive a simple league trophy for the championship must have meaning.  There must be more than just an e mail entitled 'Congratulations dude' appearing upon your league mailing list.  Is it just satisfaction that they want?  These are simply minor components of the larger picture for your league which comes from the "Satisfaction" of the organization of your league.  The routine and guidelines which are firmly established that give direction and focus to their gaming experience.  I think playing the game isn't enough for the community. 

As we delve in the type of league setup you will find that different themed leagues will necessitate different frameworks.  All the rules within your league have tremendous impact on so many aspects of league play and this is what I hope to address in this column today.  If you have a core group of managers, then a consensus opinion for a league theme should be decided initially.  League theme is the first step and the premise that your league will be based upon.  The framework that sets the pacing, routines, the rules, and expectations that brings the playing of Strat-o-matic Baseball beyond a mere game.  The structure of leagues creates the all around fantasy experience that gamers immerse themselves in.  The league 'Constitution' (capitalized for importance) is the foundation of all, let's discuss this now.

It's quite apparent why the Constitution is so important especially if the league members agree that they want a solid framework for the league to operate upon.   Keeping in mind about our responsibility to our friends (our fellow GMs) we must therefore take a good deal of time to develop a strong and air tight constitutional document which does take some homework.  Established leagues that are already running should take time periodically to review their own document and look at it carefully for clarity and concise terminology.  As leagues get more competitive, the living breathing Constitutional document evolves and should become increasing clear about its wording to describe league rulings and how to interpret these rules. I'll hopefully get back to altering the Constitution and consequences of such, at a later time.

I'd like to focus briefly upon league start-up situations.  I would recommend to any of my readers who are looking to establish a league that they should first gather up the league ideas for a theme which refers to the style of play and purpose of your league.  For example, will you be what is called a "retro league" that begins in a year of a past season?  Or perhaps, you wish to start with the latest Strat-o-matic old timer season that was just released and continue year by year like the All American Baseball Retro League does?  Do you wish to run your league in the spring from year to year using the lastest issue of the MLB cards like the Left Coast Strat-o-matic Baseball League?  Are you a winter based 24 team league like GMBL is?  Is your league "Face to Face" with 10 teams like the USBL in Toronto Canada, or perhaps an 8 team Negro league in the making? 

The commissioner should first decide how many GM's the league's council can handle efficiently.  It takes more man hours to guide 24-30 teams than it does a smaller number.  There are "League Economics"  to consider when making this determination.  I will use that term regularly in my columns from now on.  The "League Economics" represents the delicate and interdependent balance, cause and effects of membership, Teams, Roster sizes, League Usage, Draft structure, Cuts and Free agent availability, Transaction types and the Rate of Transactions; what effect all of these activities will have upon an established league.

Therefore, the New Constitution will need to be based upon the league theme.  The "League Economics" which are desired will shape the outline and body of this vital league document.   Of course, the amount of teams will determine the dilution of talent throughout the league.  Stating the obvious, fewer teams mean more super stars per team within the league.  Do you want to increase the role of the non iron man superstar types?  Increasing their value may mean more teams in the league are needed.  You can further fine tune the trade market value of the role players and superstars with a balance of usage, roster sizes, protections, and so on.  We'll cover that too later. 

A 10 team league will generally mean each team will have the top players at each position in active use.  The trade market values of the players will be very weighted towards the very best at each position.  Be prepared for good talent to have lesser value.  More teams equals more players needed at each position.  Unless the Constitution denotes specific measures that can be taken what's to stop a trade market from running wild with over payment for superstars at the various positions.  The solution is the creation of this demand by tweaking the League Economics balance.  If it's the realism you crave at the start of your league, this may come from establishing a 24 team league.  However I share a warning, if you go with the larger sized league, you will need stronger leadership, more defined usage rules, roster max sizes, and the Economic management needs to be more pronounced.  This will provide more realistic player usage and a wider trade market with more functionality for mid level and role players.  I recommend this structure for more advanced Commissioners with experience handling the nuances of running an effective league.  They may have a wider grasp on the delicacies of the League Economics and thus it would be easier for them to maintain control. 

Therefore, I recommend a twenty team league for most start up situations in a Spring draft league.  The reason being is that you may not want to administer as much in such a league where you can expand once you have reliability with your GM base and the league routine is consistent.  Smaller specialty leagues will have a greater amount of reserve talent available to maintain usage and facilitate trades and they are easier to maintain.  Perhaps whimsical leagues  that feature only select type of players like the All East Coast League should start with a smaller base of GMs as teams will have ample reserve to consider for player's usage.  This type of league's focus would shift upward toward higher levels of talent with less emphasis on reserve role players. This is more of a superstar league but not really too much. 

The draft is the primary highlight of most leagues.  GMs love to prepare for the draft and create a plan of which players they hope to acquire. There are several great leagues I am familiar with who use live drafts whereas other leagues use Email drafts or chat room drafts.  Some leagues use automated draft websites.  The draft preparation is a business in itself of course.  With so many great books or guides published discussing qualities about the players available for the draft and the on-line information sources the GMs benefit greatly if the GM will consult these sources.  A great league must have a great draft.  Decide what type of draft you want and ensure that your draft will meet those expectations by providing great players to stock your draft.  Your Constitutions rules will dictate how which players are eligible for the draft and the level of apathy and interest your GMs will have not only in your draft, but in the league itself.  The draft is "THAT" important.  Players will base their entire season around the draft and how their team is reconstructed.  Another part of the draft and the strategies used by your GMs will be if you allow draft picks to be traded, this can change the complexion of your league if you do. 

The inter dependency of the quality and depth of the draft and amount of players protected at the time when your teams must cut down and release players into the draft will determine the interest of this league activity and most importantly the value of each draft pick.  The more cuts you allow, the more available talent there will be.  In a 20 team league for example if you cut down to 25 players, this will allow some prospect collection "farming" of young developmental talent.  If you allow further cuts (players released) this will be directly in proportion with the quality and value of the available Free agents the most cuts allowed, it's a direct relationship.  Naturally, with only 20 teams, 20 players are selected in each round.  Your top 40 will go within two rounds.  Really the question here is how much do you want to let teams stockpile young talent?  The more players that are stockpiled, the less quality players will be available.  I recommend keeping 34 or 35 players after the draft with your team cuts down to 24 or 25 players. 

How do you decide which player limits to go with per team (players before cuts/maximum players on your team: 20/33, 20/34, 20/35)?  These numbers will depend upon what your player usage is set to.  Your usage will determine how you want your statistical database will look.  If you want realistic performance stats from the players then use 100% as the maximum for a player appearance (plate appearances or innings pitched).  If you do this then you will not see those inflated numbers like a "Barry Bonds" hitting 85 Homers.  The numbers will come more in line with the actual MLB performance.  Many leagues allow a contingency of up to 110% of player usage or more.  I personally dislike that, since I'm a numbers guy who wants to see more creditable and realistic totals.  The 100% usage rule means GMs will need to make use of their role players more often thus creating more value for them and a greater draft depth.  If you have 35 men on roster at 100% usage as a beginner you will find most GMs will not need to pay attention to player's usage as closely making your life as Commish far easier. 

But if you want competition in your league and you want your GMs to make more trades and facilitate more roster movement, keep the roster maximum size lower and your members will need to make deals to keep usage restrictions and stay more active and participant.  I like to keep my league the CBA at 24/100%/34/24 meaning - 24 teams, 100% usage, 34 max roster size, 24 protections before our draft.  We also keep player appearance minimums restricted to 35 AB's, 30 IP using the printed cards, but also we allow players with computer cards to be available for the draft as well. 

To further spice up the CBA, we allow the drafting of one minor leaguer or non-US player who have never receive a strat-o-matic baseball card to be able to fill a roster spot.  The CBA is an advanced well established veteran league which has a consistent routine, thus we use a more complex structure for our 24 teams.  The cut to 24 players and the extra minor league pick combined with the limit of 34 players and an active roster of 25 players mean that hoarding is much more difficult in our league especially with our strict usage rules and penalties. Our GMs just can't afford to hoard youngins' and the draft stays stronger.  We typically get greater strength in the late rounds under this league theme.

Next month, in Part II, I will look further into the building of you league Constitution and League Economics.  I will discuss what are the elements you need to incorporate into this structure?  Once you've decided what your league theme is, will your managers subscribe to the same ideals?  Will the league economics that are designed sustain a league well into future years with ease?  Our CBA is now entering its 17th season. A league like ours can be well organized if you heed the basic elements and understandings of league communication, economics, facilitation, and routine. We will explore these issues further next month.

Marc Wass

Websites: www.ultimatestratbaseball.com
              www.cba-bb.net

( contact me at ultimatestratbaseball.com )

(Note from the Wolfman: If you have a particular aspect about being a League Commissioner or some questions you would like Marc to cover in the future, feel free to contact him via his email at: gr8wass@yahoo.com )
 



Contained inside this exciting issue of Ultimate Strat Baseball Newsletter:
(to view the various interviews, articles, columns and special sections click on the links {underlined} and this will take you to the appropriate webpage)

  RETURN TO NEWSLETTER MAIN PAGE

  INTERVIEW with JEFF POLMAN, Writer, SOM Website Columnist, Replay Expert.

  INTERVIEW with JIM CALLIS and KEN DAVIDOFF, Jim is Executive Editor of
Baseball America and Ken is a baseball columnist for the NY Post

  EARLY SOM CONVENTIONS COLUMN with WOLFMAN SHAPIRO -- editor of
"The Ultimate Strat Newsletter" and 2012 CBA Champion. Wolfman takes us back in this article to the third national Strat-o-matic Convention in 1974 held in Champaign-Urbana, IL, at the University of Illinois as the Wolfman and his buddies organize their first convention. Wolfman will be our guide through the first nine conventions going through 1980 of which he was present at each one. We now begin the era from 1974-1980 when the conventions moved to Illinois. We will continue to share one new convention in each future issue till all of these early ones are published.

  INTERVIEW with PETE NELSON, (STAR), Board Member of the Star Tournaments Association, discusses what the Star Tournaments are all about.

  INTERVIEW with WILLY DOMINQUEZ, January 2013 STAR Worlds Champion

  INTERVIEW with TERRY BARTELME, SOM Gamer, Discusses his experiences with
the Negro and Japanese Players working with private developers.

  INTERVIEW with BILLY SAMPLE, Ex-MLB Player (TEX,NYY,ATL), Sportscaster

  SOM BASEBALL CARDS QUIZ - our test of your knowledge of the SOM Baseball Cards, questions and answers provided by Marc Wasserman. In this issue we give the answers to Quiz #2, explain our new format for this column, introduce some early SOM Baseball cards from the 1960 and 1961 seasons thanks to Tom Nahigian who is also interviewed in this issue in his own section.

  INTERVIEW with TOM NAHIGIAN -- SOM Gamer, Baseball Card Collector

  RECOMMEND ON-LINE SOM RESOURCES -- On-line Strat-o-matic and Baseball related websites that offer amazing information, special tools and products to improve your game play that we strongly recommend. In most cases, we have had personal contact with these sources who agree with the principle to work together and help promote each other.

  BOOKS TO DIE FOR and Become a BASEBALL GURU -- This page is a new page we are adding for the newsletter that is specifically about special books we are finding that either will expand your insights about the game of Baseball, help you in the creation of your current league teams or with your replays and learn more about the Strat-o-matic Base Game and Game Company's history.  At the time of the release of this newsletter we have a special arrangement with Acta Sports to offer our members a 10% discount. We hope to add more books in the future.



 


 


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