HBL Dynasty Team

It's that time of year again. My hopes and dreams are alive and well. All the various hamstrings, rotator cuffs and elbows are secure and in place.

The Hampshire Baseball League is a dynasty version of fantasy baseball. I created the league back in 2000, where it was still run with spreadsheets and email/phone call transactions. It wasn't until 2001 that we took our show online to CBS.

I'll be honest, I have no idea how I put the concept for this league together, but somehow we ended up with a fantasy game that mimics the MLB pretty well.

For starters, our twelve team league rolls with a 25 man roster. We start nine hitters, one from each position plus a DH, and seven pitchers. We're required by commissioner decree to play at least three starting pitchers and two relief pitchers. The other two pitchers are dealers choice.

Our rosters round out with a 9 man bench. In addition to this, we conduct a yearly Minor League Player draft during the All-Star break. This is to fill our 10 minor league spots. You can draft whomever you'd like in this draft so long as they've not exhausted rookie eligibility requirement as established by MLB.

As I said in the beginning, this is a dynasty league. A keeper league but with no real limit on the number of players you can keep. It breaks down like this.

We use a salary cap of $54.25. That's real money (we've since added a buy-in fee of $50 to spice things up as we've gotten older and more established financially).

You may use that $54.25 as you wish across your 25 players. After the season, each player you decided to keep will cost you an additional $0.50. A $1.00 player will become $1.50 in Year 2. Every three years, a player's salary will double instead of moving up $0.50. Here's an example, the best from our league, Albert Pujols.

2001: 0.25
2002: 0.75
2003: 1.25
2004: 2.50
2005: 3.00
2006: 3.50
2007: 7.00
2008: 7.50
2009: 8.00
2010: 16.00

We actually thought no one would ever survive 10 years on the same contract, but after owning AP for 9 years, the original owner who plucked him off the waiver pile in 2001 for a quarter just traded him to a team that found a home for his $16.00. Incredible.

As you can see, keeping even 10 players will increase your overall salary a minimum of $5, and if any of those players is doubling you may find yourself strapped for cash in a heartbeat. Especially when doling out $16.00 to AP.

This is why the Minor League Draft is critical. Much like MLB, growing your own talent is crucial to building a competitive team in this league. Each year, the auction we have in March is filled with players who were dumped because their salaries became unmanagable for one reason or another. As you can imagine in this dynasty league, the pickings are slim in the March auction and this leads to over-inflated prices. Sure you can find some deals, but someone like CC Sabathia is now available every March because someone will inevitably overpay for pitching.

This is why I say our league mirrors the MLB setup quite a bit. Players drafted in the Minor League Draft are given a salary (once promoted) based on the round they were selected. $1.00 for first rounders, $0.75 for second, $0.50 for third, and $0.25 for fourth. With this structure in place, the contract increase and doubling system basically works as our arbitration process. If a player is good enough to keep, in his first 7 years in the league he may make: $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, $4.00, 4.50, $5.00, $10 before finally becoming a Free Agent.

I wanted to share this unique setup because I feel like there are a lot of 32 man roster, $260, cookie cutter leagues out there now and I'm proud of the very unique league my friends have helped me build over the years. As a kicker, I'm proud to say I've won three titles in this league, although my last came in 2005 and I've since taken over the former last place team in the league while allowing another set of friends to take over my old team. Without further ado, I present to you my roster for the upcoming season.




C: AJ Pierzynski
1B: Lance Berkman
2B: Dan Uggla
SS: Troy Tulowitzki
3B: Evan Longoria
OF: Jay Bruce
OF: Carl Crawford
OF: Raul Ibanez
DH: Derek Jeter



SP: Jake Peavy
SP: Justin Verlander
SP: Mark Buehrle
SP: Jon O. Sanchez
SP: Ian Kennedy
RP: Carlos Marmol
RP: Heath Bell

2B: Rickie Weeks
OF: Lastings Milledge
SP: Wade LeBlanc
SP: Pedro Martinez
SP: Billy Buckner
SP: Dave Bush
SP: James McDonald
RP: Scott Downs
RP: Jason Frasor

Our in-season Free Agency opens up on March 29th, a week before the season kicks off and some of these guys will already be dead weight. Normally we wouldn't have auctioned so early, but with the due date of the new baby scheduled for March 26th, we didn't have much choice other than to tuck it into the last week of February. I look forward to regaling you with tales of our championship season, and displaying some cards of my players from week to week.

For the record, my off-season moves entailed moving a bunch of guys (Zobrist, Cueto, Chris Davis, De La Rosa, Ryan Howard) for Evan Longoria and Carlos Marmol. My big free agent signings were Jeter and Peavy for $8 each, and I traded Colby Rasmus who will eventually be up for $0.25 - I'll probably regret that, but I needed help now - for Carl Crawford who is $7.50 and has two years left before he doubles again (making him a FA). I'm currently sitting on Brett Anderson, Carlos Santana, and Jeff Niemann in my minors. I'm hoping all three will contribute this year, thus all the fliers at the back-end of my rotation and at catcher with AJ.

The Man, The Myth, The Master Photo

If there was a trophy to commemorate the craziness that went on this winter, I'd hope that this photo would be etched into the trophy.

It appears as if Bip is Superman, flying into home plate, bringing you a sack full of crappy cards you've got no use for.

That concludes my most excellent estate sale find. I was happy to be able to get a string of posts in again.

With funds being held in check, I'm laying low until the A&G release and taking a stab at the Ginter Code again this year.

George Brett 1993 Stadium Club Master Photo

Quick post to try and make good on my promise to show all 6 quickly. Didn't see as much free time over the weekend as I would have liked.

I like this one quite a bit!

Only 1 remains!

1993 Topps Stadium Club Master Photo #4

Another Oaktown masher. Mr. Ruben Sierra to you. I had the utmost respect for Ruben as a player. I felt like he was a solid athlete with good to great power. Injuries started to derail him right as he hit his prime and he also was plagued with a normal person's player arc. Oh what roids could have done for Ruben.

He was 2nd in the MVP balloting in 1989 and was only 23 years old. This kid had a bright future. He still managed to play for 20 years and smacked over 300 HRs. He played with a ton of teams, but I'll probably most remember him as a Ranger or Yankee.

1993 Topps Stadium Club Master Photo #3

Since Blogger decided to not let me post with pictures last night, I'm going to make up for lost time and post the 3rd of 6 cards I came across this weekend.

None other than the embattled Bash Brother himself, Mark McGwire. I won't say I feel bad for Mark, because I don't. And I won't say he belongs in the Hall of Fame, because he doesn't. Did you know that BJ Surhoff has more hits than Mark McGwire? Other than the lofty HR numbers, he wasn't anything special. Although I do believe he knew/knows how to hit. I see a lot of current players crediting him with helping them.

Most recently it's been Bobby Crosby. Another guy that broke my fantasy baseball heart.

1993 Topps Stadium Club Master Photo #2

Blogger decided to be a pain in my butt last night and not let me upload photos. As promised, number two in my series of six 1993 Stadium Club Master Photos that I purchased from an estate sale this weekend.

I've actually got quite the soft spot for Delino DeShields. He was a staple of my early 90s fantasy teams. I loved his speed and bat at second base. Paired up with Marquis Grissom in Montreal it was fun to watch that team run.

Delino went on to have a nice little 13 year career with his best season coming in 1997 with the Cardinals.

And since a couple of you emailed asking me . . . yes I'll consider trading these if you come across something you like. Of the six, there's probably going to be one that I'm going to have to keep.

Estate Sale Treasure Hunting

One lousy post per month since the new year? Terrible.

But wait, I've got plenty of excuses. However, they entirely revolve around waiting for a baby to show up. Just a momentary shift in priorities, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

So anyway, back to the story. I was out this weekend with my wife, running some errands and she saw a sign for an estate sale. She loves going to these things, looking around for random things.

I took a quick tour of the house. The sale had been going on for at least a day and things were picked over pretty well. I ended up in a room with a ton of 1987 and 1991 Twins gear. Sweatshirts, Wheaties boxes - all the standard stuff you'd expect to find just outside of Minneapolis.

I almost didn't notice a small cardboard mailer with what I thought at first were just baseball photos. Turns out they were Master Photos from the 1993 Topps Stadium Club set. I don't want to ruin the surprise, because honestly, this is going to get much cooler than former Yankee Sam Militello.

As a second side note, the scanner didn't do these cards justice. My goal is to rattle off the 6 "cards" I found over the next 6 days.

In the meantime, has anyone else every seen these? From what I can tell, it looks like they were mailed from Topps to the previous owner sometime back in 1993. I'm very curious to hear if anyone else has some of these photos and the story behind them.

Trade Completed with Nachos Grande

Golden Valley, Minn - Trade rumors have swirled around these two storied franchises for weeks and today we're getting our first look at how this deal shook out.

Skipper Chris over at Nachos Grande agreed to send a pile (READ: 50) of my 2009 Topps Series 2 needs and some Goudey 4-in-1s in exchange for a pile of A&G Minis, some 2009 Heritage High Number SPs, and whatever else I can find.

Nachos Grande was reached for comment on this stunning trade:

"Well, I had these Series 2 Topps laying around, and I'll be damned if Sharpe didn't have a need for them. The next thing you know I'm pocketing some precious high number SPs and a sack full of minis. I couldn't be happier. Sure beats using the 'bay. I can only hope these cards actually arrive. This Sharpe character is a bit of an enigma, plus I think he's shorting me a card, we'll see if this bounty ever shows up."

In lieu of having those cards to look at, I present to this beautiful booty of sock-jackers, gold-cuppers, new Brewers, and sweet sweet scoreboard action:



I threw in Nelson Cruz because I think that might be my new favorite card, which would surpass the crazy Nick Swisher card from earlier in Series 2 Topps. And Brett Anderson, well I'm just going for karma posting him. He's supposed to carry the back end of my fantasy baseball rotation this year. Behind the likes of Jake Peavy, Justin Verlander, Mark Buehrle, and Jon Sanchez. Please Brett, don't endure the classic sophomore slump. I implore you! IMPLORE YOU!

Deal Finalized With The Troll

Let me start with some words of wisdom: Never try to finalize trades when you're over tired after being on the road for a week.

I say this because right now I'm praying to baby Jesus that the Troll gets the cards I told him I was sending.

Speaking of Baby Jesus, Troll sent me one of his cards for my collection.



Which is good, because I jettisoned most (all?) of my A&G cards this year. Speaking of, anyone who speaks up can get a pile of about 100 minis. I need to move them out, all in one fell swoop. No time to work out individual trades. So if someone out there wants a nice stack, just say the word, shoot me an email, leave me a comment, and send me your address. They're yours.

Wow, that sure was a digression if I ever saw one. How about that first card, you know the one that you saw when you first landed here. That's some sort of 1970s (1972?) 3D card of Jim Palmer. This predates my original SportFlix cards from the 80s or 90s or something like that. Anyhow, what I love about this Palmer card is that I'd never known it existed if not for the fact that it arrived in my mailbox. To the Troll I offer my sincere thanks.

Both of the cards shown above were some nice throw-in to our original deal. Originally I was asking about the Topps Legends of the Game inserts, and he came through with some of these for me as well.



I just realized this week that I have no idea how many of these cards exist, why the numbering is different on some (LLG vs. LG-something), or why some are different colors. As always, please feel free to enlighten me. But first, to close, 2 more of these wonderful cards.




PS - Thanks for also knocking off a nice chunk of my 2009 Topps U&H and Series 2 needs which can be found over in the sidebar.

Back In The Fold

Ryan Braun comes across as cocky, but since he's on my team I don't care.

I just love Brauny, I really do. I hope he and Prince settle down in Milwaukee for a Yount and Molitor-esque stretch. That would make my decade.

I picked up Braun's Goudey Heads Up card off eBay along with ManRam. The lot cost me $0.99 total. I dig these cards. I think it's the sketches and the random information on the front of the card like I like so much. On some of the older cards you get these cartoons and such on the back of the card, but never really on the front. This gives each card a nice whimsical feel that I can really get behind.

Little dude swinging a hammer on Braun's card? Sweet. Love it.

A side note on the "Drafted 5th overall" note. At the time I remember being upset that we didn't take Troy Tulowitzki. I think I'm over it now. All I can say is that I'm glad we steered clear of the pitching in that first round. Wade Townsend, Mike Pelfrey, Lance Broadway. Eek. Garza and Volstad may be the only decent arms out of that first round. There is however still a bit of unfulfilled talent from the top of that draft class. Justin Upton, Ryan Zimmerman, and Troy Tulowitzki have all emerged but Alex Gordon hasn't gotten on track yet (I'm betting on him this year), and Jeff Clement hasn't done what he was supposed to do yet. Maybin, McCutchen, and Jay Bruce were high schoolers at the time and are still making their way toward being solid MLB players.

For the record, Manny's card is cool just because it features all that pine tar.

I'm glad to add these to the collection and I'm still looking for about half the cards from the 2009 Goudey SP set. If you've got any Heads Up or Sports Royalty for trade, just let me know - my goal is to get a trade bait post up this week.

Stay tuned, I've also got some trade packages to post.