FLOG Needs One

[Akrobat]

For Love of the Game, a unique league based on the Negro Baseball Leagues needs one owner to take over the reigns of the Chicago American Giants. The owner felt he did not have enough time to manage the team.

In FLOG each team has an 18 year old superstar who once played in the Negro Leagues, and is now in the MLB Hall of Fame. Players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson are part of the league.

As mentioned, the Chicago American Giants are the team available, and their all-star Hilton Smith has led his team to a 14-11 record in our first month of action. We sim twice a week (Wed/Sun), and finish one month every week. Tonight we have a 16 game sim. We have increased the sim pace so we can get more players in the minor leagues so more trading/activity can get done.

The player base is 90% fictional, with the 16 real hall of famers. Each year however, we will bring in 10 real Negro era players who made a difference in the game, including one new MLB Hall of Famer each year. Ernie Banks is slated to make his Negro League debut next year, as he is currently putting on a show in High School.

If interested in the team please shoot me an email at akrobat@negro-baseball.com

[LivnLegend]

It's worth joining just to get a front row seat for reading the excellent pieces written by Louie, Chico, Dougaiton, Ripper, Eric, and others!

[Rockpile]

This is a great league and anyone who likes OOTP dynasty reports or history will LOVE this well-run league with the unique twist that combines historical and fictional leagues for the best of both worlds.

[kq76]

I checked this league out for the first time about a week ago and I'm telling you, it looks fantastic! Don't miss this chance. If I wasn't so busy atm, I'd grab it myself.

[wireman]

I don't think this league needs a lot of selling.

This team is a great chance for somebody to get into an elite league in the making.

[Akrobat]

Thanks for all the nice comments fellows.

The great thing about the league is that right now it's sort of an "adjusting" year for everyone. Every player over the age of 32 will hit the free agent market after the season (32 and over rule), and once players get settled in with long term deals, and we get our rookies in, this league will take off. There isn't much trading at all for that reason, as no one knows what their team will look like next year.

[Akrobat]

Still looking.

[EagleEye_0]

This league looks like a winner. I'd join if I wasnt already in my max number of leagues.

[Ben Music]

Yes, I've followed this league since it's start and it looks great. Unfortuntely, I also don't have enough time to commit to another league. However if you do have the time and inclination to join a great league, look no further than this one.

[Akrobat]

135 views and no applications.. do I scare people away?

[EagleEye_0]

No, its just not a good time of the year for people signing up for leagues.

[dougaiton]

I'll take over the American Giants as well! Maybe if I strip-mined their assets I wouldn't have lost the last 13 straight.

Come on guys, take pity on me...

[Akrobat]

*Sigh* Birmingham GM realized he does not have enough time so now we have two open slots. Email me if interested, akrobat@negro-baseball.com

ADDED IN: I might want to add that Birmingham has Satchel Paige, arguably the best Negro Player to ever play the game, and will likely have a top 3 pick (maybe even #1) and could pick up legend Ernie Banks.

[wireman]

BIRMINGHAM -- Even Satchel Paige’s patience could be tried by the Birmingham Black Barons’ wanderings in the baseball wilderness.

How good is Paige? Just 18 years of age, the Barons’ flamethrowing righthander is already very hard to hit and nearly impossible to wangle for a walk. As for extra-base hits, he’s given up just 12 in 100 innings. And he’s fanned 126 batters. In sum, when Paige is on, the lights are out.

How bad is Birmingham? So far, cosmically bad. The Barons are ranked 14th, 15th or 16th in just about every statistical category imaginable in the 16-team FLOG‘s inaugural season. They are already 20 games under .500.

The Barons have done Paige a disservice just to let him lose three games: In those games, Paige’s ERA is just 2.07, but the team behind him has scored only one run in the three contests combined. And that lone run was the result of a homer by Paige himself.

Paige, mature beyond his years, remains bright in spirit and philosophical in outlook. “You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them,” he says.

If anybody can right the sinking ship that is the Birmingham Barons, it is Paige.

The team has other tangible assets that could play a role in a Barons resurgence or, well, more properly, surgence:

-- Closer Carlos Azevedo appears to have world-class ability. He’s given up just 9 hits and 1 earned run in 17.2 innings. Unfortunately, the Barons haven’t left him with much to close so far. If he gets a chance, though, the fireballing 26-year-old is going to save like a boatload of IRAs.

-- Daniel Marcotte is one of the top middle relievers in FLOG. A finesse pitcher with pinpoint control, he looks better than his 3.49 ERA. He’s just 28.

-- Outfielder Diego Balbas, 26, is a young potential star with a good stroke, who knows how to get on base.

-- Thirty-year-old centerfielder Kirby Stewart can hit for average, has great speed and hits with tremendous power. His 8-homer, .305-BA month of May seems to point the direction he’s headed in, and that would be up.

-- Jason McIntosh, 28, rounds out an a corps of flychasers that could rival FLOG’s best. Like Stewart, he can hit with enormous power. The McIntosh Express had a little trouble gathering steam, but seems to be untracked now. His 11 homers in 54 games this year amount to a down payment on a bright future.

The Barons are a project team looking for an expert hand at the helm, but it is not a team without prospects. And FLOG’s unique free agency system could reshuffle the deck enough between seasons to make the Barons a real contender.

And who wouldn’t want a chance to be the sole employer of Satchel Paige, Esq., for his entire career?

He’s a man who lives up to his own celebrated advice: “Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.”

And have some fun along the way.

[dougaiton]

^^^^^^^ This is why you want to be in FLOG - so you can read Louie and the guys all day long.

[dougaiton]

CHICAGO - Terry Zimmerman, a native of Illinois, is 33 years old, and this season will be the first in which he has had a home ground (in his home state no less), and had a contract of which to speak. It is also the first time he has been described as a potential player of the year. In just a month and a half, Zimm has hit 13 homers, has 80 hits and hitting .357, with an OPS of .975. With runners in scoring position, he's hitting .565 with an OPS of 1.370! All this while handling the defensive duties expected of an everyday shortstop. For his efforts, Zimmerman was player of the month for April.

Zimm hasn't done things the easy way - his first hit didn't come off some scrub, but instead Bullet Rogan. 'It's just great to be playing full-time, you know. I'm getting on a bit, so its nice to help these good young kids out', Terence offers, with a smile. 'It's just nice to get settled, you know - making a new home every night across the Midwest ain't my idea of fun' Settlement isn't something he should get used to: Zimm will become a free agent next year (as will all players over 32), and he could be on the move again.

But of course, Zimm may not even be the American Giants MVP. That honour goes to the incomparable Hilton Smith. Hilton is 10-2 this year, with a stunning 1.44 ERA in almost 120 innings so far. But most amazingly of all, in 14 starts, Smith has struck out 125, walking only 9. 'You just go out and make your pitches - ain't no difference to what you do back home. Ya just play ball.' Smith has won his last seven games, including a 14 K gem and 3 back to back 3-hit shutouts: 'you just go out and throw - ain't nothing different when I get hit or when I don't'. Modesty aside, Smith is on his way to a truly legendary season, and with Zimm to back him up, the Windy City hopes that a championship may just blow their way come August.

[chicoruiz]

...hungry for a win, that is. You see, poor Willis is a member of the Birmingham Barons, one of the two poor ownerless teams in the FLOG. Little Willis and 24 other players like him desperately need a kind-hearted foster owner to relieve their misery.

If you decide to become a foster owner, you'll recieve bi-weekly reports on Willis's progress, perhaps signed by Willis himself. You'll hear first hand how your gift of GM knowledge is making a difference in the tiny, isolated farming village of Birmingham, Alabama.

Look at those sad, soulful eyes; the eyes of a pitcher who could be doing so much better than 0-8 with a little encouragement. Couldn't you open your heart this Christmas and adopt a needy FLOG team?

Seriously, folks, the FLOG is a blast, and now would be a great time to get into it. Your team will be pretty low-maintenance through the holidays; then right about the time the midwinter blahs set in, the regular season will end and massive free agency will make it posiible for a savvy owner to build a team in a hurry. Join now, or limp forever from kicking yourself...

[Akrobat]

Great job guys! We just filled the Birmingham franchise, as we are proud to have Paul Woodworth GMing the team. The Chicago American Giants are the last to be filled. Send an application to akrobat@negro-baseball.com You won't regret it!

[LivnLegend]

Welcome aboard, Paul!

[woody5254]

Thanks, Scott. I am excited to be a part of this league.