Keeper vintage fantasy league

I just want to see what sort of interest there is in a vintage fantasy baseball keeper league. I have access to almost every season from 1871-present.

To start, we will need 6 people since there are generally no more than 8 teams in play prior to 1901. Once we get to 1901, we can expand to 12 teams if there is enough interest.

I will also have a disk with all ballparks from 1901-present. This means that those of you that were in the previous all-time greats leagues and didn't get the park you want, you will now be able to get the park you want. I am still waiting for the disk to arrive but I think the Federal League parks are included too.

Right now, this is just a feeler to see how much interest there is. Once there is enough people to get started we will hash out the details before we get started. Even those of you that don't want to play will be welcome to make input into what rules we should have. I figure that if you care enough to get involved, you may eventually want a team

Basic rules would be that we start with 1871 season. Only players that played that season would be available. With each season, real life retirement and rookie seasons would be used. i.e. Cy Young would be available in 1890 and would not be available after the 1911 season.

We would have to iron out minimum game requirements rookies as a player with only a few games would have very skewed stats. Or we could limit rookies with minimal games to a bench role the first season.

Jay

Count me in.

Count me in, Lee

here is a link to all the seasons that area available from 1871-1926

vintage seasons

Jay

1871 Philadelphia Athletics

They were the first MLB Pennant Winners yet they have been forgotten. None of them are enshrined in Cooperstown that I know of and their accomplishments during their best years are ignored. So who were these guys?

Six of the thirteen Athletics were born in Philadelphia. Another was born across the river in Camden, NJ. Two more were native Pennsylvanians. Three were born in Europe. One player was born in MA. So this team was made up primarily of Philadelphia-area local players. It shows what brand of ball was played in Philly back then. If you look at their team photo you notice that nearly all of them had trimmed mustaches.

Nate Berkenstock, age 40, filling in due to an injury, struck out three times in his only game. Tom Pratt and Tom Berry each played in only one game. Count Sensendorfer, an OFer, hit .323. George Heuble, another OFer, stood 5' 11" and hit .307. Ned Cuthbert, the third OFer, hit only .247.

Wes Fisler was ranked the best fielding 1B in the NA in 1871. He was 5' 6" and hit .279, and preferred to wear a necktie when playing. Al Reach was 31, 5' 6" and played 2B. He hit .353. An above-average fielder, he threw left-handed. He was the first paid professional player in 1865 when he earned a salary of $25 per week. Founder of Reach Sporting Goods and the Reach Guides, Al became a millionaire thanks to the sport he loved.

Shortstop John Radcliffe was also 5' 6" and hit .303. Levi Meyerle, 3B, stood 6' 1" and must have looked like a giant compared to his shorter infield teammates. He was a tremendous hitter who batted .492 and nearly won the first Triple Crown. Despite a career .356 average, he is not in the Hall of Fame, and was considered a mediocre fielder.

The catcher was Fergy Malone who had a .343 average. He was an above-average fielder and also threw left-handed. The team's main pitcher was Dick McBride who had an 18-5 won-loss record. McBride managed the Athletics and was also a fine cricket player. His career record was 149-78. George Bechtel was the change pitcher and had a 1-2 record.

Regarding the 1871 Athletics, and in the interest of accuracy, and with the help of SABR Steve:

The pennant that Philadelphia won is historical but is also dubious at best.
The actual method for determining the champ was by series wins. Both Boston and Philadelphia were 7-1 in series records. To break the tie, it went to game victories, but since both teams were credited with 22, it went to fewest losses.
Philadelphia had 7 compared to 10 for Boston.

Now here it gets interesting. Philadelphia picked up one forfeiture (a game not played) from Kekionga, and picked up two more forfeitures from Rockford even though they lost because Rockford used an ineligible player. Philly, in fact, won just 19 games on the field. Boston was denied a forfeiture victory on the same grounds as the Rockford mess.

Boston received one forfeiture from Kekionga and one forfeiture from Mutual, games that were not played.
Boston won the most games that were actually played with 20 followed by Chicago and Philadelphia with 19 each.

One can't change history, but some curious decisions were made that benefited Hicks Hayhurst who hanged his Pennant in a saloon.

If you are still reading - sign up to participate in Jay's 19th Century game (well, even if you are not still reading).

we are still looking for 2 more players

Jay

We finally got our 6 players. We will be looking for 6 more once we reach 1901, so if you are interested, please let me know

Jay

How about a review identifying where we are on each (are there more than one?) simulation? And what we are planning to achieve.

We have our initial 6 players for the seasonal keeper league. This league will start with the year 1871 using only players that played that year. Each year, there will be a draft of players and the number of players that you can keep for next year will depend on your final position in the standings. We will advance to 1872 after the sim plays out the 1871 season. This will be repeated for each season using only players that played for that given year.

When we reach 1901, it would be great if we could 6 more players so that we could run an AL/NL set up and World Series.

A special forum icon will be awarded to the person that does the best overall.

The ATG league will have its next draft when Mark and few others get back from vacation etc. This most likely happen around the end of July/early August. We will also be awarding a special forum icon for winning of that league as well.

Jay

kib·itz (kbts)
intr.v. kib·itzed, kib·itz·ing, kib·itz·es Informal
1. To look on and offer unwanted, usually meddlesome advice to others.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nobody could handle the hot corner gloveless in 1871.
Third basemen booted it more than 20% of the time, without fail.
Every third baseman had a fielding average below .800
One of these fumblers hit #1 in the league. No others made the top 10.
Levi Meyerle got almost one hit out of two attempts (BA = .492)
How bad a fielder could he be for a guy who got a hit half of the time?
He was terrible.
He was a big man who typically tried to get in the way of the ball, then pick it up and try to throw out the runner.
And almost two out of three times that approach worked !
But (almost) two of three is a fielding average below .667
But nobody got four of five; and many did not get three of four.
So - do you have room on your roster for a guy who gets a hit half of the time (and sluggs at a .700 pace)?
No DH in 1871.

the first season of the vintage keeper is in the books. Click here to see the results. You can also see the draft other fun stuff in the Fantasy League section of this board. When we reach 1901 we will be looking for a few more to join us since the AL will come into existence.

Jay

As per our discussion yesterday, the historical keeper league section of the forum has been made private. All 6 current members of the league have been granted access, but must be logged in to Full Count to view the section. Anyone else who would like access to the section can PM myself or Jay, and we'll make it happen.

I'm sure Jay will keep us updated intermittently with results after their drafts/seasons are complete, which is great.

Have fun guys

Exactly how many other than the six participants have requested access thus far?