BY THE WAY:
Private World Rules - 11/23/2011 Commissioner: mr_stickball
GUIDELINES – STICKBALL LEAGUE
1. MAJORS - NO TANKING - Re-building is fine; however, owner's need to field the most competitive ML team possible given their roster. Owners believed to be tanking will receive a trade chat and/or sitemail from the commissioner and steps will need to be taken to improve the owner's ML team or said owner will be removed from the world.
a. EVERY new owner is asked to make a 3 year commitment;
b. Competent major leaguers at the ML level;
c. No unwarranted fatigue issues in the majors;
d. 5 Season Minimum Wins: 54/114/180/245/308 (which is very reasonable – if you keep your wins North of 60, you'll have no troubles with this); and,
e. An owner may be given a 1 year "grace period" by the commish OR the vote of 10 owners (any owner can initiate the vote, but a brief check-in with the commish is appreciated).
There is no salary cap in Stickball League; however new owners should stick to a budget somewhere between approx. $40M and $100M -- rule of thumb only, no strict enforcement. Also, there is a "Guide for HBD Newbies" on our official blog that may be of assistance.
2. MINORS – Owners should pay at least some attention to the minors. Having them automanaged is okay, but there must be enough pitchers on the roster to not run into extreme fatigue issues. While no exact number of players is a requirement, a good rule of thumb is to start the season with 29 players and 15 pitchers/level will automatically meet this guideline.
3. CASH IN TRADES - The amount of cash in a trade CAN exceed the players' remaining salary plus up to the HBD maximum allowable $5M. This is to be voted on using HBD's existing VETO TRADE system. Cash for players is allowed in Major League Baseball.
4. BALLPARKS - City changes for a returning owner are permitted, but discouraged, for consistency's sake. City changes HAVE been approved, so this is not a sticking point in Stickball League. If a new owner takes over a franchise, then they can choose any city they'd like – all parks are up for grabs, no ballpark restrictions in Stickball League.
5. REMOVALS - The commissioner has final say on removals. If something is not covered here, but warrants removal, the final say is up to the commissioner. No owner will be removed without being warned unless the owner blatantly goes about trashing his team in violation of fair play. In these cases, the fair play guidelines serve as the unwanted owner's warning.