Minihouston - Editor-in-Chief
Thank you to Bob and the rest of WIS for allowing us to create this new world, and thank you all for trusting me with taking on the commissioner job. I look forward that we can make this not only one of the more competitive worlds in HBD but also the most interesting and interactive with the use of the HBD discord and our blog. Looking forward to Season 1 starting in the new year. Let's get it!
Jack Torrance - contributing reporter
Jack Torrance - contributing reporter
Before we even kick off with our inaugural season, let's take a look at some of the rivalries that are already forming by the fanbases; but we are excited to see what rivalries end up forming on the field as well.
If we had it our way, we'd ask the commissioner's office to schedule in a rivalry week just after the All-Star break where we saw bitter rivals going head to head for bragging rights.
Jack Torrance - contributing reporter
Jack Torrance - contributing reporter
Jack Torrance - contributing reporter
Alright Stitches fans, franchises are being bought out, with only a handful remaining. According to the Commissioner's office in Scottsdale, there are only 4 remaining teams for purchase. Two of those not listed above have been agreed upon; but are up in the air if they will claim a National or American League team. If you're a reach billionaire with money and time to spare, or know of one feel free to forward this over to them and gauge their interested in this new league. Fans are enamored with a potential Buffalo v Syracuse or Scottsdale v Arizona World Series, and even down to the Divisional level with Mexico City and San Antonio in the NL South. As soon as all the teams are claimed we'll take a deeper dive into the fan bases of each team and who in America is supporting who. Stay tuned.
Minihouston - Editor-in-Chief
Minihouston - Editor-in-Chief
Welcome to the Hardball Stitches Reporter; the blog for a new world in WhatIf Sports' Hardball Dynasty Baseball, and first created under the new regime of WIS. Or rather will be, as we are still working on the timing of when to start. That said, we have approval from WISBob and his dev team to start the league; so the league is a go. Many of you who are receiving a link to this post are on the early recruiting list, but first let me tell you about the two guys working on putting the world together - it's highly likely you've played in a world with one of them. But we are also trying to put a focus on the HBD discord to help build the community but also to see how it can help improve (if any) the game itself. But let's take a deeper look at the two leading the charge.
The world's commissioner will be Minihouston; who is relatively new to HBD but dove deep into the game as quick as he could and found some success in Cobbfather where he eventually revived their blog to what it is today. Blog site if you want to check it out. He wrote an article about his first eight seasons in HBD - article, what a learning curve it was...is. Not only the commissioner but he'll be the editor-in-chief as well. He has a few routine articles such as quarterly power rankings, draft recaps for both the Rule 4 and Rule 5 drafts, and end of season record book recaps. But has also included articles about up coming free agents, fantasy point rank of players per season, trade reviews, fat cats - which is an article about overpaid players that are no longer contributing much, and salary reviews. After winning the Cobbfather S54 World Series, he retired from ownership but continued writing their blog for fun. He couldn't pass up the temptation from a few owners and made his way back to the league in S60. He always takes the approach that the articles are written by a fictional writer of the world, varying from serious news reporters to a more comedic approach - though I can't say everyone shares the same sense of humor. In Cobbfather he often ribbed on the commissioner for being anti-American since he had a team located in Vancouver but he'll pick on owners from time to team. That said, if you are offended, just send a quick TC and he'll back off a bit. The articles are just meant for a laugh and to add an extra layer of depth/fun to the world.
I want to introduce you to some of the "writers" for the blog. Some might feel familiar but if you can't quite pin point it, they are all characters from TV/Movies.
Bruinsfan911 will be his partner in crime for the blog and helping fill the world with owners. He's ran or helped run blogs for numerous worlds- Stickball, Plumpy, & FYC with more of a focus on WAR, Hall of Fame voting, etc. They'll work together on collecting data from the league to help improve each others blog posts.
Both men have been in touch with WISBob and working to get him included as well. So even if you don't like their blog work, here's your chance to beat Bob at his own game.
Back on the discord, we'll have our own channels and a custom tag for the league on the HBD discord; including team emojis for each city. We've started recruitment so cities are filling fast as we work on getting the blog a little better organized and our googlesheet documents set up. What we are looking for are owners who will hopefully commit long term to the success of the league and be around for multiple builds of their franchise. As a private world, we'll have a few rules in place but I'd rather not get into that just yet as they are still being developed. Nothing too restricting but we want some limitations to prevent someone from having an AA/AAA team as they tank their way through the regular season. If you have questions, feel free to DM Minihouston on discord.
As we work through recruitment and the start date for the world, we'll get some posts up introducing each of the owners and define who will be in what division; along with what city that owner is committed to. We have no big rush to get started, so stay tuned for more!