Help - House Rules

[DougWyatt]

OK. I started a historical league in 1960. After a couple years (1963), I have amassed a team that won 109 reg. season games, a WS, and should dominate for - well forever.

The Team :

1B - Carl Yastrzemski
2B - Joe Morgan
SS - Maury Wills
3B - Ron Santo
C - Jim Campbell
LF - Pete Rose
CF - Lou Brock
RF - Roberto Clemente
DH - Dick Allen

SP - Bob Gibson
SP - Sandy Koufax
SP - Steve Carlton
SP - Tommy John
Rel - Tug McGraw
Along with some sic kids in the minors (Rod Carew, Bobby Bonds, Jim Palmer, Reggie Smith, Luis Tiant)

Anyway - my team ranked #1 in just about every pitching and hitting category - and is young and will just get sicker.

So, I'm thinking - while the AI is offering and taking trades; OBVIOUSLY me knowing how these kids are gonna turn out is a HUGE advantage. Now, I know, I could say "Don't trade" ... but I don't wanna do that. I love playing GM, and trying my hardest to field the best team I can. Soo, how do I make this fairer for the AI ? Any good house rules ?

[bababui]

1)Turn off recalc
2)Make a salary cap
3)Make your team a small market team
4)Those great rookies will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft soon, no?
5)Change to a team in the other league that sucks and build them up.

[swampdragon]

Two easy house rules would be to not initiate any trades and place trade difficulty on hard. I think you'll still dominate, because omniscience is a pretty big advantage. It will take longer, though.

[DougWyatt]

Thanks fellas, I started over & for the time being it's pretty fair. I'm not sure what house rules I'll apply later on, but for now I'm OK with none. Why ? I started in 1901, and don't really know many players. So, if I want to "cheat" and make my team better by going after the good players - it'll require some baseball history research on my part. And I'd be OK with that.

[Overkill]

I initially tried the thing with not initiating trades but that just seemed stupid to me as it would not really give me much to work with. SO I modified that rule to only trading for players who played for the franchise in real life. I'll use the Jays as an example.

With the Gambo database, I was able to trade for players such as Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Dave Stewart prior to the 77 season. I also allow myself to trade for players who did not play for the real-life Jays if I include them in trades for these other guys. ie. I obtained Ozzie Smith with Dave Winfield and Bob Welch with Dave Stewart.

As far as free agents go, I never really seem to have enough money to sign any but I say go for whoever I can get. It's how I picked up George Brett as he never seems to stay in KC.

[Hazza]

Originally Posted by swampdragon

Two easy house rules would be to not initiate any trades and place trade difficulty on hard. I think you'll still dominate, because omniscience is a pretty big advantage. It will take longer, though.

You saying that Wiki'ing players before the first year draft is cheating???



...

[DougWyatt]

Originally Posted by Overkill

I initially tried the thing with not initiating trades but that just seemed stupid to me as it would not really give me much to work with. SO I modified that rule to only trading for players who played for the franchise in real life. I'll use the Jays as an example.

With the Gambo database, I was able to trade for players such as Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, Jack Morris and Dave Stewart prior to the 77 season. I also allow myself to trade for players who did not play for the real-life Jays if I include them in trades for these other guys. ie. I obtained Ozzie Smith with Dave Winfield and Bob Welch with Dave Stewart.

I'd run all over that rule. For instance, in 80ish I'd nab up Rickey Henderson from the A's (along with Micky Klutts - who did play a season in TOR). I'd imagine you could find a player on almost every team that at some point played for the Jays.

That said - I think you should change your rule & have a minimum Blue Jay tenure. Cuz after I read your post, I thought - c'mon, you can't call Winfield a Blue Jay, heck I had to look it up to remember that he did play for 'em !

** I'm just givin' ya a hard time ... " It's your game, play (enjoy) it your way !! "

[Overkill]

Originally Posted by DougWyatt

** I'm just givin' ya a hard time ... " It's your game, play (enjoy) it your way !! "

This is key because...well...I definitely favour the guys who played for the 92 and 93 Jays in real life. Yes I could narrow it down a little more but I'm quite happy with the current rules I have for myself. Currently in 1985 I am making it my DUTY to acquire Roberto Alomar from the Padres. He has got to be one of my favourite players of all time and there is no way I would pass up trading for him.

I do realize that I can build an all-star team out of this, but I still think that I would go for the 92/93 Blue Jays anyways no matter what rules I had in place. I still remember where I was and what I was doing when the Jays won the 92 and 93 World Series titles despite being only 7 and 8 years old, which is why I'd like to recreate the success the team had in those years plus add a few more championships if possible.

As for remedying this rule to make sure a person had a certain tenure with the team, I may do that in another historical replay. What would people suggest would be a good tenure? 2 years? 3 years? 4 years? 2 years may be alright, 3 years would definitely be okay. I'd still be leaning towards 2 years though (no Winfield or Henderson but Molitor and Morris could DEFINITELY be had at younger ages). NOTE: this rule is not simply to help me, but potentially help others (including DougWyatt who began this thread) in possible "house rules".

[DougWyatt]

Originally Posted by Overkill

This is key because...well...I definitely favour the guys who played for the 92 and 93 Jays in real life. Yes I could narrow it down a little more but I'm quite happy with the current rules I have for myself. Currently in 1985 I am making it my DUTY to acquire Roberto Alomar from the Padres. He has got to be one of my favourite players of all time and there is no way I would pass up trading for him.

I do realize that I can build an all-star team out of this, but I still think that I would go for the 92/93 Blue Jays anyways no matter what rules I had in place. I still remember where I was and what I was doing when the Jays won the 92 and 93 World Series titles despite being only 7 and 8 years old, which is why I'd like to recreate the success the team had in those years plus add a few more championships if possible.

As for remedying this rule to make sure a person had a certain tenure with the team, I may do that in another historical replay. What would people suggest would be a good tenure? 2 years? 3 years? 4 years? 2 years may be alright, 3 years would definitely be okay. I'd still be leaning towards 2 years though (no Winfield or Henderson but Molitor and Morris could DEFINITELY be had at younger ages). NOTE: this rule is not simply to help me, but potentially help others (including DougWyatt who began this thread) in possible "house rules".

Wow, that's friggin' hilarious. I had no idea Henderson was a Jay ! What I said in my post was that you could package him with Klutts (thinking you'd have to use him to fill your house rule to get the all-time thief).

In my defense .... I was in the USMC & stationed in Hawaii during the early 90s .... so, my passion for baseball wasn't as there as usual.


Now, to respond to myself.... Doug - listen dude, just go ahead and do it. It's fun, just totally dominate the AI and be champion over and over ! lol. I thought my lack of early ball knowledge would curb me a little, but after some hard work - I have a double play combination of Hans & Nap. Don't get much better than that !

The rest of the team are stars too. And well, it may get stale after a while, before it does - I'm gonna enjoy watching Christy Mathewson, Sam Crawford, Elmer Flick, Jack Chesbro, Eddie Plank, Honus Wagner, and Nap Lajoie (as well as every other upcoming star I can nab). They will let me follow them to the Hall of Fame where I will go down as the GREATEST GM TO EVER LIVE !!! They'll probably put on my plaque something about how "I seemed to be able to see into the future" !! muhahahahahahaha.

[Comedian2004]

While I am a big Tiger fan, I never build my team that way. I lose all Tiger royalty when I play the game. I want the best team from all the players that are available.

I have trade set on HARD and during the season, the only way I was able to make a decent trade was when I traded away a good player that I could spare. Actually, it was Osteen and ended up getting a Larry Biitner. Also, at the same time, I took over the team on opening day.

My team, while being great, is not in the class of the 27 Yankees. What I did was sim from 1901 to 1975, I then released all players and had a draft. My 1st 5 picks were my starting pitchers, then I built up my starting offense and then went back to picking the bullpen. I ended up with an awesome staff, but my offense was not that good. In fact, I was a lousy team when I resigned 20 games into the season. The AI then made some trades (Cya Seaver) and turned the team into a .500 team. They stayed that way until 78 and then I took over the team again. Most of the original staff was still there, but there were some changes on offense.

With 60 games left, I am battling for the division (currently lead by 1 game), but injuries have played a major role in limiting my team from dominating.

---------

So what I did was to have the computer take over my team and make it a better team. You can do the reverse. You could resign and let the AI take over and watch how your team will go downhill. It may take a year or two, but it will happen. So, you sim until your team has dropped from it's super status to a regular team again and then take over the team again.

[eriqjaffe]

I am actually finding it harder to keep a juggernaut together in 2007 than it used to be in 5/6. Player salary demands are much more realistic - in my (converted) fictional league, my star third baseman wouldn't take anything less than a 3-year, $60 million deal, when I probably could have gotten him for $8 or $9 million a year in 6.5. I thought a long time about it and went ahead and met his demand - but now I will not be able to re-sign my catcher, my #2 starting pitcher, my closer and one of the top MRs in the league. Ought to be interesting next season, for sure.

Then again, historical sims are different because you have a better idea what to expect from the players and you may have finances limited or off...

[84Hammy]

Originally Posted by bababui

1)Turn off recalc

I am actually just about to do this in my current historical league which started in 1977. It pretty much feels like cheating when I can draft guys in the 4th or 5th round who appear to have limited potential, but because of good years later on, I can hang on to them until their ratings change (Larry Herndon comes to mind).

[DougWyatt]

Originally Posted by bababui

3)Make your team a small market team

This was huge. Thanks bababui !

I've found a way for it to be VERY challenging (I'm having trouble playing .500), but fun. Here are my new house rules.

1. Team - See above !
2. Only 1 minor league team.
__________________________________________________ __



Player Viewing ...

- Cannot view Real Life Stats (neither in game, or internet researched) of any player.
This makes it harder for me to keep/obtain people for peak seasons. While I remember some; it makes it a little more fair.

Trading ...

- Trading difficulty set to VERY HARD/Favor Prospects.
- Can accept AI initiated trades.
- Can initiate a draft pick trade in years ending in 0 & 5. (Can only offer "1 player" & pick(s) in return for 1 pick).
- Cannot initiate a trade which receives any player.
Trading is where I can get over on the AI real bad in a historical sim. With the minimum age or ML experience - this gives the AI a good look at the player, so it knows what it's giving up. The no stacking up on draft picks is big too.

Free Agency ...

- Compensation off (it's broken anyway).


Finances ...

- Must stay UNDER Proj. Budget Room
- Can make cap trades to get under. {Trade top paid player(s) for 3rd round pick to the team with most available money.}


Team Switching ...

- Every 15 years or 2 World Series appearances (whichever comes LAST), I must take control of worst team. (going by record that season)

[plannine]

I try to use a few simple rules (most have been already mentioned)

Initiate 1 (successful) trade a year.
Accept AI trades as is.
No Draft Pick Trading (Never)
No Cash Trading (before 1970's)
Draft set at 5 rounds (with a 7 day ban on free agent pickups after the draft)
7 day waiting period before offering free agents contracts after eligible players file.

No Minor league FA
Single Minor League (till 1973 or so) with 25/30 roster spots
Min Service Years til FA (till 1973 or so): 12
Service Years til Arbitration (till 1973 or so) 10
(While the above keeps some of the pre-FA player lifetime ownership, it lets a player 'get out' if you dont use him.[if he's good enough for MLB , hes good enough for 1930's PCL and might get paid more - but i dont want to have multiple leagues to worry about])

FA Compensation off
Commissioner mode off

ML Roster Size
1901-1909:16 (20 expansion)
1910-1915:18 (22)
1916-1920:20 (24)
1921-1925:22 (28)
1926-1930:24 (30)
1931-1950:25 (35)
1951-1970:25 (40)



Then get ready to be fired.......a few times!!!

[Scoman]

No need for house rules,just play with a 80 mill salary cap.and let rookies be elgible for FA after 1 year,works great and it makes it harder. This is useing modern day financials also.