HBD PRIVATE LEAGUE GUIDELINES – HORNSBY.
SEASON 30 ONWARD (SEASONS 1-29 WERE PUBLIC).
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.
- EVERY new owner is asked to make a 3 year commitment;
- 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,
- 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 Hornsby; 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" you can Google search for 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 the League's existing VETO TRADE system. Cash for players is allowed in Major League Baseball; however, don't be surprised if such a trade is vetoed in Hornsby as opinions among existing owners vary wildly on this subject.
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 Hornsby. 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 this world.
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.
