User:The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League

About Us
The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League (2004-) This is a group account. We are on Wikibooks to make the site a better place. Take the chance to learn a little more about our lives by reading on.

The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League is an ongoing competition between ten baseball fans in the greater Boston Massachusetts area. There have been many controversies in the league since its creation six years ago, yet it still survives due to the strong dedication of its members.

League Overview
Current Season: 6

Current Commissioner: Josh

Current Assistant Commissioner: Dan

Current # of Factions: None.

Current Style of Government: Dictatorial Regime

Defunct Factions: Mafia Coalition, The Northern Alliance of Renegade Commonwealths (NARCs)

Faction Rosters
Loyalists - Josh, Mike, Bill, Henry

Neutralists -Tim

NARCs - Andrew, Tom, Joe, Dan, Greg

League Rules
Current league rules include, but are not limited to:

League format: Yahoo! Free Fantasy Baseball

Max Teams: 10

Scoring Type: Head-to-Head

Player Universe: All baseball

Max Moves: No maximum

Max Trades: No maximum

Trade Reject Time: 0

Trade End Date: No trade deadline

Waiver Time: 2 days

Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports

Trade Review: League Vote Post

Draft Players: Follow Waiver Rules

Min Innings Pitched: 18

Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow

Start Scoring on: Week 1

Roster Positions:

C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF, OF, OF, Util, Util, SP, SP, SP, RP, RP, RP, P, P, P, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, BN, DL

Stat Categories: R, HR, RBI, SB, TB, AVG, OPS, W, L, SV, K, HLD, ERA, WHIP

Rule Changes
Currently, there has been only one major rule change in the league. This includes the abolishment of the ability for GM's in the league to veto trades. This means that if a trade is agreed upon by two members of the league, it will go through no matter what. Because of controversy, after year one, there are no reviews of trades.

Current Teams
Currently, there are ten teams in the league. These teams include:

1. Dan

2. Josh** - CURRENT COMMISIONER

3. Andrew

4. Joe

5. Hamish

6. Bill

7. Mike

8. Jarryd

9. Greg

10. Tom

Start of the League
The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League started during the year of 2004, during which several baseball fans and fantasy baseball addicts gathered around a lunch table to discuss creating a fantasy baseball league. The fanatics agreed on a 10 team, mixed league, with an annual league entry fee of five dollars (which has recently been raised to seven). Draft order was decided using slips of paper randomly selected from an unmarked lunch bag.

First Round Draft Selections through the years:

2004: 1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

2005: RP Joe Nathan', Minnesota Twins

2006: OF Hideki Matsui, New York Yankees

2007: SP Daisuke Matsuzaka, Boston Red Sox

2008: OF Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles

2009: 1B Chris Davis, Texas Rangers

2010: RP Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins (note he went down with season-ending surgery before the season even started

The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League is a keeper league, meaning that each team gets to choose eight of its players to keep from year to year. The annual Selection of the Keepers is essentially a draft party, held each February, roughly three weeks from Major League Baseball's opening day.

Social Bedlam of the Boston Boys League
Throughout the lifespan of the League, several disputes between managers have lead to a number of prominent changes. Most notably was the elimination of a League member, Joe B. Reasons include, but are not limited to: No interest in team or the league in general, "dumping" players off to other teams, and also becoming angry when approached about the subject of Fantasy Baseball. Bill's life was in shambles when he was invited to join the League during the second season, and eventually wound up the replacement for Joe B. He is now a mainstay in the Boston Boys Fantasy League, and society in general. after a highly heated dispute regarding who the rightful replacement should be. Let it be noted that Henry was originally slated to leave the league instead of Joe B, and did, but after a short time was allowed to rejoin after the elimination of the hated Joe B.

The Lockdown and the Yarmouth Sprint
Each summer in The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball league, the league commissioner packs up and travels to Cape Cod with his family for the summer. Being without a computer, he was forced to turn the league over to Assistant Commissioner, Dan. During the summer of 2004, the first year of the Boston Boys League, Dan was acting commissioner when catastrophe broke out. Chaos and cries of revolution could be heard throughout the league in the form of dozens of arguments and shouts of mutiny. Overwhelmed with a mixture of power and chaos, Dan could do nothing to stop it. League members were going mad, adding and dropping players like there was no tomorrow and causing more trouble than was wanted by anyone. One member went so far as to say they had given up and that he would accept any trade offered to him during a certain time frame. The replacement commissioner, Dan, had to act fast and decided to shut down the member’s ability to trade. Joe felt it was necessary that Josh be notified of the chaos in the league. He called him, and left a Princess Laea-esque message on his machine. Joe actually recorded himself and sent a hologram message to Yarmouth, using his trusty robot R2D2. The message is thought to have read something like this:

Joe: Josh...We need your h;elp...Dan is d;estroying the league...he is overwhelmed by his new pow;ers...you are our last hope...you need to save the league now. According to my radar, the nearest computer that has internet capabilities is located at the Yarmouth Library. *end transmission*

Once the real commissioner heard the news, he immediately sprinted to his bike, and got to the Yarmouth library as fast as possible in order to restore order to the league. It has been rumored that he actually reached terminal velocity on his bike, but it was never proven by scientific means. It is only a legend. The league was in total shock when they heard that nobody was allowed to add, drop, trade, or post messages on the message board. This lockdown went on for over two weeks. Once order was restored, the league returned to what was important. However, many members of the league still have sour tastes in their mouths from this event, over 3 years later.

The Jorge Sosa Incident
It was during the dog days of August, year 2, that the Jorge Sosa Incident occured. With competition still raging throughout the league, and the playoff race well underway, something smelled awry. Bill left for a 10 day vacation, leaving the commissioner in charge of his roster for the trip. Bill left instructions as to adding and dropping players, with one main requirement: DO NOT DROP JORGE SOSA. Two days into the vacation, Jorge Sosa was dropped, due to a loss in playing time, according to the league office. This caused much outrage throughout the league, because an executive order of a fellow owner was violated. In the end, nobody picked up Jorge Sosa, and no actions of retaliation were taken by Bill. Though no big short term damage occurred, the incident left members with bad feelings toward the commisioner. It would build into controversy, and help lead to the Near Complete Coup d'Etat.

Rookies
A problem throughout the years has been about minor league prospects. This became an issue when Greg had drafted prospect Delmon Young. Because he was not in the Yahoo database, Greg was forced to have an open roster spot until that player was available. Without any warning, Josh picked up said player. He was then dropped, but claimed off of waivers by Henry. Once Greg realized it was very unlikely that Young would be starting at any time this year for Tampa Bay, he decided to drop all charges.

However, the first incident of drafting minor league players occurred during the draft of year two. Josh decided to draft Huston Street, prospect for the Oakland Athletics. Nobody in the league was aware of said player. Many members in the league were angered by the pick. Also, Josh had an imaginary spot on his roster until Street was called up. This also angered other members. Huston Street went on to win Rookie of the Year.

Several teams in the league are now scouting players in the Little League World Series, in hopes of creating a good crop of ultimate-minor league players. Tom was the first manager to recruit a LLWS star, claiming Dante Bichette Jr. in the 18th round of this year’s draft. History Buffs from the Catchphrase institute (a center for the study of Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball) speculate this could lead into the Dante Bichette Jr. Debacle, later down the road.

The Jonny Gomes Fiasco
The Jonny Gomes Fiasco is one of the more recent controversies in the Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League. It was year 3 of the Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League. Before the draft started, Jonny Gomes was sure to be a major sleeper for many teams. However, when one team tried to draft him (Joe) the League Commissioner told Joe that Jonny Gomes would not be playing at all this year, and that he would be warming the bench for the Devil Rays. Joe then drafted someone else. Next up, the Andrew took a risk on him anyways, since it was late in the draft. It turned out that there was no risk. Jonny Gomes was up on the Devil Rays' depth chart the whole time! The "risk" paid off for the Andrew. Jonny Gomes had 11 HR in the first month of the season. Who should actually own Jonny Gomes is still disputed today. Why the Commish relayed false information, nobody knows. This would set the stage for many things to come in the league.

Illegal Projectiles and Member Property
After the completion of the draft of Year 2, the members of the league decided to play a good game of taps on Greg's ultra-expensive basketball hoop. His hoop sounded great the whole game, until the incident occurred. Joe was playing very intensely throughout the whole game. Finally, it was Joe's turn at the foul line. The game was getting close, and Joe was ready to do anything to win. When the other members would take their turn at the foul line, they would softly toss the ball against the backboard. However, Joe actually took a crow hop and threw the basketball as hard as humanly possible. It is rumored that the ball actually traveled faster than the speed of sound. This is noted because some members of the league report seeing the ball hit the backboard before they heard it. However, this was never proven by scientific means. After that, the backboard began to make weird noises. Joe denied any foul play in throwing the ball, but the members of the league continued to tease him about it. Finally, Joe got so steamed that he snapped. At first, Joe walked away and was about to go home. However, he turned around mysteriously. The members said, "what are you doing?" Joe singled out Tim, saying "I'm gonna kill Tim!!!!" However, he never fought Tim, because the other members broke up the conflict. Joe and Tim had heated arguments soon after the conflict, but they now are back to having a good friendship.

However, this infamous event would start an on going conflict between Joe and Greg throughout all of year 2. Greg says that the board is broken, but Joe disagrees. The current state of the backboard is still disputed today.

The Open Mic Night Catastrophe
On a Friday night in the winter before the 3rd season, many members of the League were spending some time at the open mic night that their school was putting on. Most of the problems were put behind members this night. In the middle of the show, Joe had received a text message from the commissioner saying that he had to create a new league because of a rule about a trade deadline. Joe decided not to come to the Open Mic Night. Instead, he felt a duty to keep watch over the State of the League. When he realized that Josh was about to kill their original League, he immediatley called for back up. He called the first person he could think of- Andrew. Andrew was enjoying the Open Mic Night when all of a sudden...


 * Ring, Ring*

Andrew: Hello?

Joe: Its JOE!

Andrew: Ya, Whats up?

Joe: You need to get back to your house now! Josh is going crazy! He is trying to start a new league or something, I;m tr;ying to fight it but no one will listen to me. So far Mike is the only one to join! Get back here, now!! I need backup!

Andrew: I'm on it!

Andrew felt it was pivotal that he go home to try and see what was happening. He left the school and returned home in a record setting 1 minute and 32 seconds. He signed on to the League immediately and gave Joe the backup he needed. Unfortunately, he was too late. The old league was destroyed in favor of a new league. The reason for this decision is still disclosed to this date. However, there is one clue. When one member asked Josh why he destroyed the old league, he said: "If I ever see that old message board again, I will throw up. We need to start anew." Although there was much controversy on the Message Board, it was probably not enough of a reason to start a new league.

Many people speculate that this was the "straw the broke the camels back", in that the revolution tension was at its peak during this point. There was much tension during this time, and the coup d'etat was incredibly close to happening. The NARCs and the Loyalists went on to sign the Wildwood Accords (For more information, see The Wildwood Accords.)

The decision to destroy the old league page upset many members of the league because they had signed up early enough to get a very nice and low league number. However, many members felt that this was not crucial for the league. Unfortunately, nothing could be done to save the old yahoo league.

The Most Controversial Kid in the League
Since day one, over 3 years ago, Joe has been the most controversial kid in the league. Because of him, many long and stressful arguments occurred. He in many ways was the real reason why the league was locked down for those two long and frustrating weeks. He believed that Dan (acting commissioner while The Josh was on vacation) was acting like a dictator, and was using his “powers” way over the limit. Joe believed that the only way to stop this madness was to call the real Commissioner. The Commissioner then locked down the whole league because of how poorly Dan ran the league.

The whole league believes he will never shut up. He always has to have his way. In year two, Greg and Joe were always at each other’s necks. Every time Greg posted something, Joe would always fight back. These fights would last for days on end. However these two teams have fixed things up, yet small disagreements occur every once in a while.

Probably the biggest reason why he is very controversial is because he always vetoed trades that he accepted already. During year one, he always accepted trades, and then realized he made a mistake. He always got help from his cousin that guided him on every decision. He also got a lot of help from an outside source. Since year one, vetoing trades have not been allowed because of this kid. He not only vetoed his own trades, he vetoed other kid’s trades. If the person he wanted very badly was traded to someone else’s team, he would veto the trade because he was upset that he could get the player(s) he wanted. Many People also do not like how he won’t trade Manny Ramirez and Vladimir Guerrero**. He has had both of them since year two, and will not trade them. People have offered a lot, but he feels that they are his “Franchise Players”. Will he ever trade any of them? Only time will tell. However there have been reports that he was thinking of trading Vlad earlier this year, but has yet to trade him.

(**) It should be noted that Joe recently traded Vladimir Guerrero and CC Sabathia to Henry. Joe received...Mark Buehrle, Carlos Beltran, and Ryan Zimmerman.

The Politics of the League
Mike: Why do we need the politics of the league, anyways?

Current Style of Government: Totalitarian

Factions: Loyalists, The NARCs, Neutralists

(*)Note: During The Summer of Dan, the Government was of a Laissez Faire style.\

The Near Complete Coup d'Etat
During the winter after completion the second season, the members of The League felt that a change in commissioner was essential to keep order in the league. All but two members believed this. The members felt they were being suppressed by an unfair dictatorship, and wanted a fairer democratic league. Other complaints included the changing of stat categories to remove losses as a stat. However, this revolution was not completed because the current commissioner said "And I'm getting pretty sick of you guys complaining. If you all hate me and my rules and ideas so much, then I'll just quit." Nobody wanted him to quit, so the revolution never went through.

Cries for Democracy
Most of the members in the league were for a league where they got a say in every single decision that is made (for the people, by the people...), rather than an autocratic style of government. The league members made a compromise over what type of Political system they would follow. The Commish still has absolute power, but the members of the league can have a say in what goes on all the time. However, it was soon found out in the Winter heading into the 4th season that this "new government system" was actually based on a faulty foundation. To this date, the Commissioner still holds absolute power over every decision in the league. However, Peace Talks are slated to take place before the draft on March 10th. The hope is that a happy medium will be found between Dictatorship and Democratic Extremism. The NARCs have drafted an Entente that is waiting to be signed by every member of the league that will hopefully fix all Political problems.

The Wildwood Accords
The Wildwood Accords was thought to have been the most important document in League history up until the Winter heading into the 4th season. Following the league's outrage during the Impersonation Era, and events like the Jorge Sosa Incident, and the Dante Bichette Jr. Debacle, the league resorted to a rebellious and chaotic state in the off-season between the 2nd and 3rd seasons, AKA The Near Complete Coup d'Etat. People say that during this time, the League was incredibly close to dispersing. There were times that the league came horrifically close to war. Thanks to the Wildwood Accords, disaster was avoided for the time being. This single event divided the into three distinct factions and ideologies: The (then) Northern Alliance, led by Andrew, Joe, Tom, Dan, and Bill, held a meeting at a scenic, private, and undisclosed location on Wildwood Drive. The Northern Alliance was opposed by the Loyalists, consisting of Josh and Mike. Like Switzerland in World War II, Greg, Tim and Henry were all neutral during this time of heightened tension. The NARCs set up negotiating terms for the Loyalists about stat categories, and administrative powers. The two parties communicated and established the Wildwood Accords, which stated that the Commissioner not do anything stupid, and the NARCs would shut up. The style of government would forever change from an Oppressive Dictatorship to a Controlled Dictatorship, or so the NARCs thought. The Wildwood Accord proved to be similar to the Armistice that ended World War I, in that it proved to be only a stopgap between controversies. In reality, it solved nothing. Historians speculate that the Wildwood Accords will be the primary reason for an even worse war down the road. (See Cries for Democracy for more information on the faulty politcs the Wildwood Accords were based upon.)

The Mafia (Now Defunct) Coalition
After Illegal Projectiles, Joe and Greg were at each other’s necks for almost all of the second season. However, during the off-season leading up to season three, Joe and Greg came to an agreement. They agreed that they would ally themselves as the Mafia (Now Defunct) within the league and they would return to having a strong esprit de corps. Ever since the Alliance was signed by these members they have backed each other up throughout the third year. This created a new faction within the league. Although Joe will still always be apart of The NARCs, his true alliance now lies with The Mafia (Now Defunct).

The Impersonation Age
“When the Other GM's Were Left in the Dark” --Anonymous

The Near Complete Coup d'Etat was a result of the commissioner abusing his powers in a series of incidents including the Jorge Sosa Incident, during what is now called The Impersonation Era. The commissioner took over control of the team Henry, without the consent of the owner. This led to trading players in deals not ratified by the owner of Henry. This outraged the league, because the commissioner was abusing his powers. This madness was eventually stopped, due to pushing from the league, and the breaking of the communication barrier between Henry and the rest of the league. This subject of the commissioner’s powers and how they were to be used, and had been used was finally put to rest that winter following the Wildwood Accords.

I am the Lizard King! hahashfshduuhdfghsdghasjkkdfkldfddf

The Loyalists
Leader: Josh

Government Style: Dictatorial Regime

Current Members: Josh, Mike, Bill, Henry

Purpose of Faction: The purpose of the Loyalist Faction is to suppress any sort of Revolution, and stay Loyal to the government, always, no matter what.

History: The Loyalist Faction was formed naturally. As other members of the league began to create their own parties, the Loyalists were the only ones that stayed true to the government.

The NARCs
(The Northern Alliance of Renegade Commonwealths)

Leader: Andrew

Assistant to the Leader: Joe

Government Style: Democratic Extremism

Current Members: Andrew, Tom, Joe, Greg, Dan

Purpose of Faction: The purpose of this faction is and will always be to up hold and support a democratic style of government. The NARCs would do anything to protect democracy. They have been known to cause chaos in the league, because of their fight for justice, but they believe it is chaos for the right reasons.

History: When the Northern Alliance failed after the Near Complete Coup de’ Tat was toppled, its original members were devastated. Their leader, Andrew, proceeded to rally his troops to create a stronger, cohesive group that would become known as the Northern Alliance of Renegade Commonwealths.

Neutralists
Leader: None

Government Style: None

Current Members: Tim

Purpose of Faction: To not cause any controversy in the league, and not to step in the way of it as well.

How It Was Formed: Naturally. When everyone else was breaking up into different parties, these members decided to stay completely out of any controversy.

The Mafia Coalition (Now Defunct)
Leader: Joe

Government Style: Forget about it.

Past Members: Joe, Greg

Purpose of Faction: To do the league's dirty work. They ddod have some ties with The NARCs, but they mainly only rely on each other.

History: All past records of The Mafia Coalition have been shredded. The history of this faction will be forever shrouded in mystery. What is known, is that they merged with the NARCs after dispersing.

Faction Wars
So far, there has only been one war that was close to happening. It was between the NARCs and everybody else. The Mafia Coalition had merged with the NARCs by this time. This war was settled by The Wildwood Accords, or so the members thought. (See The Wildwood Accords for more information)

Coup de' Two
In the off-season between the 2006 and 2007 season, there were great discussions to overthrow the commissioner, led by the new NARCS. The current commissioner was off at school at was in very little contact with the rest of the league. These long and often heated lunch table discussions included who the new commissioner should be, how much power this person should have, and other topics about the league including possible stat changes. It was when the idea of overthrowing power was brought to the history buff Mr. Donnelly that the league realized revolution was not the answer. The league talked peacefully over the Internet to the commissioner and the league became much more democratic. The league was mutually able to agree on a change in statistics on the night of the draft and so far throughout the 2007 season, there have been no talks of revolution. However, the participation of a certain member is in debate, and will be until the start of the 2008 season.

Miscellaneous Information
Best / Worst Team Moves

2004: Josh takes Carl Crawford in the 13th round, Mike Young in the 16th, and Johan Santana in the 17th

2004: Josh trades Johan Santana for Randy Wolf

2005: Joe trades his entire pitching staff for Randy Johnson.

2005: Joe agrees to a trade with Andrew in which he receives Bobby Abreu, making him his new franchise player. The next day, Dan used his hypnotic powers to persuade Joe to trade Bobby Abreu for Wily Mo Pena and the injured Curt Schilling. After breaking out of the hypnotic spell and accepting the trade, Joe's first words were: Who is Wily Mo Pena? Joe proceeded to drop Wily.

2005: Bill trades Jake Peavy and Johnny Estrada for Jason Bay and Luis Ayala; He then proceeds to drop Bay.

2005: Bill drops Dontrelle Willis

2010: Tom drafts "Joe Nathan" first overall, later finding out he hurt his arm in Spring training and is out the entire year

Hall of Champions
2004:

1st Place: Tom

2nd Place: Greg

3rd Place: Josh

2005:

1st Place: Josh*

2nd Place: Mike*

3rd Place: Dan

(*) Josh and Mike tied in the league championship game. However, due to the Yahoo default tie-breaker, team ERA, Josh was awarded the victory. The true winner of 2005's league is still in debate today.

2006:

1st Place: Dan

2nd Place: Mike

3rd Place: Josh

2007:

1st Place: Josh

2nd Place: Bill

3rd Place: Greg

2008:

1st Place: Dan

2nd Place: Andrew

3rd Place: Joe

2009:

1st Place: Dan

2nd Place: Andrew

3rd Place: Joe

On-Going Jokes
Joe: Isn;t Cory patterson play sports?

Joe: Stop making fun of my stupided!

Joe: Now he is going on the because not!

Joe: I believe we should not start over from scrath

When Joe believed we should not start over from scrath, his "C" key was broken due to spillage of Coca-Cola.