If you want to play in a tried-and-true format and create your team right now, standard leagues (Classic and SSG) are open to the public 24/7.  But if you want to try something different, Custom leagues – created by customers – are there in abundance.

There are franchise leagues, progression leagues, captains leagues, high and low salary cap leagues, “rags to riches” leagues, alphabet leagues, place of birth leagues … the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

Diamond Mind Online would not be the same if the Community did not include some of the most clever and prolific creators of Custom Leagues.  We’ll be featuring one of these in this space each month. 

This month we’re visiting (again) with Jim (jbaird) Baird.  (Jim tells me he’s done this before … I must be losing my grip!)

Tell us something about yourself: age, occupation, marital status, where you live, and interests (apart from DMO, of course).

I’m now retired, was a newspaper photographer, which for baseball purposes put me at a number of Cardinals games in the mid to late 1970s and Padres games from 1980 until 2017. Now they make me buy a ticket if I want to go to a game.

San Diego also plays into two major pastimes: horse racing centered on Del Mar racetrack and golf centered on Torrey Pines, but also something that triggers road trips.

When did you start playing DMO and how did it first come to your attention?

Baseball sim play began with the Sports Illustrated game that was built on the 1971 season, then some play on APBA, Strat-o-Matic, and another game called World’s Greatest Baseball, if I remember correctly.  After that, there was Bill James Classic Baseball, with the weekly mailed results, and I’m guessing I ran into this game after BJCB ended. My earliest loyalties as a fan, based on where my family was living, was first the Brooklyn Dodgers and then the Milwaukee Braves. After both of those teams deserted me, I wasn’t following baseball until the Sports Illustrated game brought me back in.

You’ve created many custom leagues and played in many more.  Tell us about what you find appealing in a custom league.

On the custom league front, I stick with the three games per day format, and generally I’m trying to think of something that has at least a foot in reality.  Like the league that’s about to start [Seven Years Bad Luck], where each owner has the first season of a franchise on a seven-year losing streak and we’ll add players from the following year’s team every week until we all finally get to tap into a winning roster.

I’ll tend to alternate between classic and single season, and for that matter alternate between leagues I start and other custom leagues that show up on the custom leagues board.  Whether a league idea fills depends on finding enough potential owners who like the idea and also happen to be looking to add a team.  I consider it a victory when a league fills, which is good since I’m fairly sure I have not won any league I got started.  With the classic league, I attempted statistical analysis to find values, but the single season pools kind of overwhelmed that approach.

And besides playing the games and assembling the rosters, there’s always the challenge of coming up with a team name.  I think that stems from the earliest Rotisserie league, where, say, Dan Okrent would have the Okrent Fenokees.  I go heavy on puns, but I salute the best names, which combine a location with a nickname.  The best I’ve seen here are the Helena Handbaskets and the Taipei Personalities.  I assemble rosters trying to win, but mainly I want a collection of players that I think are worth checking out three times a day for nine weeks.  Plus playoffs, if I’m lucky.

Is there any advice you would give to people who haven’t created a Custom League before, but would like to give it a try?

Come up with conditions that fit the search functions here. This league we’re just starting [Seven Years Bad Luck] fits that well, being able to see the potential player pool and when you can upgrade to your best options.