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 with Joey (jopabe) Beretta, creator of (amongst others) the Big Fish(es), Small Pond leagues.

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

I’m 63, married, and I’m a Library Technical Assistant with the King County Library System, living in Enumclaw, Washington, which I describe as halfway between Tacoma and Mount Rainier. I’m into baseball history, collecting stuff (books, comic books, records/CDs), pop culture nostalgia in general, and hiking.

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

I first played this at the ESPN site, but I have no memory of how I found out about it. I’ve been an Imagine Sports customer since beta testing. Previously I played a lot of APBA from 1970 into the 90s, and then a little fantasy baseball, including Bill James FB.

You’ve created numerous Custom Leagues, in particular, the Big Fish(es), Small Pond leagues. Tell us something about the format, and what it is about the format that you find appealing?

While I now play almost exclusively the Single Season Game, I created Big Fish Small Pond as a Classic league–the idea was that you had a $50M payroll, the lowest possible, yet had to spend at least $20M of it on one player. I later revived the idea for SSG, adding the rule that all your other players had to come from the same season as your Big Fish. I ran several leagues with that format, then moved on to Big Fishes Small Pond, where you choose two players from the same season who totalled at least $40M, with a total payroll of $70M; after a couple adjustments to keep things fresh we’re currently on Big Fishes League 10, with $33M and $63M.

My goals for the format are to see the Big Fish fatten up on the cheap competition, and to have the challenge of putting together a team with very little spending money. I prefer low cap to high cap in general; I like to say that I prefer a league in which Jimmie Hall or Lee Maye can be a star to one in which Goose Goslin and Ducky Medwick are likely to be mediocre.

Can you offer a few tips for success for those inexperienced with this format?

I’ve gotten into the habit of always taking two position players as my Big Fishes; I figure one can drive the other in. It seems more efficient than having one hitter and one pitcher. Two pitchers doesn’t get tried very often. I try not to take any loans, because I feel like I need every dollar I can get and don’t want to spend any on interest. Also I like to have my two hitters bat from the same side of the plate, pick a park that favors that side, and pick mostly pitchers who pitch from that side. I have a tendency to start the season with a very cheap pitching staff and then spend most of my upgrade money on improving it, though I don’t know whether that’s very smart.

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?

I’d say keep it simple, especially at first. Think about what kind of a league you would like to play in but don’t see anyone else offering. If you want feedback on your idea before you create the league, bring it up on the Custom League Board and you’ll probably get lots of suggestions.