FIVE YEAR CONTRACT LEAGUE (5yC) 1946-

Progressive league that begins tour of baseball starting in 1946. This is the start of a beloved theme that runs through the Golden Age of baseball.


Five-year tenures for your drafted players.

EACH DRAFT is helpful – There won’t be the usual top heavy shallow player pools associated with most leagues dependent on rookie classes to generate help in the off season.

REBUILDS won’t be the typical 6 to 8 seasons associated with many progressives.
Five-year contracts help teams avoid long build times associated with traditional progressive leagues and will help to create a dynamic atmosphere where teams can rise and fall quickly.

RANDOM draft order kills dreaded TANKING maneuvers that usually afflict a quarter of most leagues.

EACH SEASON: Franchises will Lose FIVE players, and DRAFT FIVE players.

INITIAL DRAFT to begin the league will be 25 rounds – and will set up the salary structure for each player. INITIAL DRAFT will set up tenures – This INITIAL DRAFT will stager salaries – 1st round you have players for five season, 2nd round players begin theme with 4 season tenures, 3rd round players for 3 seasons, 4th round players for 2 seasons, 5th round players for 1 season, 6th round players for revert back to five season tenures. SUBSEQUINT DRAFTS wont need to stagger the tenures – and will be five rounds of players with five season tenures.

FRANCHISES - have NO player affiliations - example: Mickey Mantle will not be a New York Yankee unless the owner in charge of the Yankees eventually drafts him. FRANHCISE must maintain official city and nickname and maintain exact home ball park. They also move and changes nicknames accoring to real clubs.

Our first season (1946) includes Hall of Famers: Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Hank Greenberg, Ralph Kiner, Enos Slaughter, Johnny Mize, George Kell, Pee Wee Reese, Phil Rizzuto, Joe Gordon, Arky Vaughn, Lou Boudreau, and Bobby Doer. Hall of Fame Pitchers: Bob Feller, Hal Newhouser, Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon.


I am going to eventually create a THREAD for the league –
and there I will post full set of encompassing RULES and examples
I have operated a very similar theme in basketball now for going on 24 seasons....


PLEASE ASK QUESTIONS - and I can send detailed rules if needed

I – ROSTERS

• Rosters comprised of 25 players
• Rosters will be composed of:

FIVE Players with FIVE Seasons remaining with the team.
FIVE Players with FOUR Seasons remaining with the team
FIVE Players with THREE Seasons remaining with the team
FIVE Players with TWO Seasons remaining with the team
FIVE Players with ONE Seasons remaining with the team

• NO CUTTING of Players –

Teams are BOUND to honor their Five-year contracts

• ELIGIBILITY: FIRST SEASON REQUIRED - To be eligible, Players must have a season in that specific year the league is drafting. NO players can be drafted without that draft years WIS season.
• ELIGIBILITY: MISSSING SEASON: Players MAY be drafted and have missing seasons at some subsequent point during their FIVE-YEAR CONTRACT. (You can draft a player that’s missing any season except the initial year of being drafted)

II – DRAFT

• DRAFT POSITIONS: TOTALLY RANDOM each season
• SNAKE Draft: ABBA…
• TANKING and subsequent poor records will not impact draft position.

• INTITIAL DRAFT – In order to set up the system of FIVE groups of FIVE players (5 years with team, 4 years with team, 3 years with team, 2 years with team, and one year with team) – the INITIAL draft will have each round dictate the number of years each player will have with their drafting club. The staggering of the length of contracts in this initial draft is necessary to separate players into contract cycles.
Example: In INITIAL DRAFT – Players tenure with club: (1st rnd.: FIVE year contract) (2nd rnd.: FOUR year contract) (3rd rnd.: THREE year contract) (4th rnd.: TWO year contract) (5th rnd. : ONE year contract) (6th rnd. : FIVE contract) (7th rnd. : FOUR year contract) (8th rnd. : THREE year contract) (9th rnd. : TWO year contract) (10th rnd. : one year contract) ……….. (21st rnd. : FIVE year contract) (22rd rnd. : FOUR year contract) (23th rnd. : THREE year contract) (24th rnd. : TWO year contract) (25th rnd. : ONE year contract)

• SUBSEQUENT DRAFTS: Each draft (beginning 1947) will be FIVE Rounds – And, All players will have Five-year contracts with their team.

• DRAFT POSITION: Draft slots will be determined by using real life lottery to generate random numbers for each team, that will then determine draft order 1 to 12. USE: NY YORK Lottery (insert exact wording and description)

• WAIVERS (Round Six): When a player under contract does NOT have a WIS season, the team retains the players rights – and replaces the player for his missing season with a ONE SEASON replacement. Those ONE SEASON REPLACEMNTS will be drafted after the FIVE round draft has concluded.
• ‘BASEMENT / PENTHOUSE’ rule

III – TRADES

• TRADES are the lifeblood of baseballs ‘hot stove league.’ And in this theme they may be necessary to address teams struggling to meet minimum plate appearances and Innings pitched
• TRADES should attempt to be equitable and lopsided deals to help contending teams should be avoided.
• TRADES are restricted to the same season.
• COMMISIONER holds the right to veto and or discuss any and all trade.
• DISCUSSION FORUM concerning trades and adjustment to trade rules and regulations are encouraged.

IV – PLAYER ELIGIBILITY

• CONTRACT EXPIRES – When a player exhausts their 5 season CONTRACT, he is eligible to be drafted.
• STAGGERED REENTRY: To break the cycle of ‘boom or bust’ draft classes, a players eligibility to be redrafted is based on his draft order. Players drafted in odd numbered slots (1,3,5,17th…) can return in odd# years (ex: 1993, 1995, 1997…) after becoming a FREE AGENT. Players drafted in even numbered draft positions (#2, 4, 6…22nd…) can return in EVEN# years (1982, 2012, 2014, 2016…) after graduation.
  

EXAMPLE #1: John Doe is drafted in the SEASON TWO draft – Doe is picked with SIXTH pick of 2nd round. He plays season 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. He was selected with an EVEN numbered draft pick – he can return EVEN number season: ELIGIBLE season EIGHT. He would sit out season SEVEN.
EXAMPLE #2 Jimmy Smith is picked with 11th pick of round three in season SIX. He plays seasons 6,7,8,9, and 10. He is eligible to return season ELEVEN (because selected w/ ODD# pick).
(this can EASILY be determined and tracked in Player Selected List)

V – FRANCHISE

• Franchises will retain the EXACT City and Nickname of MLB baseball club and will refrain from altering City and/or mascot. Ex: Bronx Bombers; Brooklyn Bums; Philly Phillies; Bay City Giants; Cleveland Tribe, etc.
• Franchises will retain the associated ballpark of their MLB team for each specific season.
• Franchises will change names, cities and or ball parks when those changes occur each MLB season.
• 5 Year Contract League will begin with 12 franchises due to the capabilities of WIS. MLB has 16 teams in 1946.

National League
Boston Braves	-	Braves Field
Brooklyn Dodgers	-	Ebbets Field
Chicago Cubs	-	Wrigley Field
Cincinnati Reds	-	Crosley Field
New York Giants	-	Polo Grounds
Philadelphia Phillies	-	Shibe Park
Pittsburgh Pirates	-	Forbes Field
St. Louis Cardinals	-	Sportsman's Park
American League
Boston Red Sox	-	Fenway Park
Chicago White Sox	-	Comiskey Park
Cleveland Indians	-	Cleveland Stadium
Detroit Tigers	-	Briggs Stadium
New York Yankees	-	Yankee Stadium
Philadelphia Athletics	-	Shibe Park
St. Louis Browns	-	Sportsman's Park
Washington Senators	-	Griffith Stadium

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IN ---- this is a very similar concept to a wis basketball progressive I play in which is the best progressive basketball theme by far. A lot of fun.

In

Got your site mail and I'll be in with the Reds.

I repaired my examples on holding half of the players out a season before they return.

Sorry for my confusing explanation.

I stagger and hold out half of the players before enabling them to reenter drafts to break up huge draft classes and avoid boom or bust groupings.

Ill confer with the guys who are also in the basketball league that has the staggered reentry
to see if this is even a component we need here in baseball.