Season 22 Hall of Fame Voting Results

Here are the complete results for Hall of Fame voting for season 22:

1. Felix Ellis - 20 (Elected)
2. Julio Lee - 14
3. Sherm Roberts - 12
4. Bart Kirby - 11
5. Erick Hatcher - 10
6. Lawrence Brown - 9
7. Domingo Pizzaro - 7
8. Russ Feller - 6
9. Bey Meacham - 5
10. Sal Stark - 3
11. Stew Frazier - 2
12. David Santayana - 2
13. Albert Lecuona - 2
14. Jay Carmona - 2
15. Derek Taylor - 2
16. Cookie Holt - 1
17. Matt Flair - 1
18. Steve Burks - 1
19. Philip Ray - 1
20. Marc Hodges - 1
21. Jim Tatum - 1
22. Raul Santos - 1
23. Cam Lincoln - 1
24. Odalis Lopez - 1
25. Miguel Vazquez - 1
26. Fausto Sanchez - 1

Updated Win Minimum Rules Adopted

After a fair amount of discussion in the World Chat that the original Win Minimum rules were too weak, and therefore ineffective, it was proposed that the rule be changed from 110 wins over two consecutive seasons to a four season rule of 55/120/185/260. What this means is that there would be a minimum of 55 wins required each season. A minimum of 120 wins over any two consecutive seasons. A minimum of 185 wins over any three consecutive seasons. And finally, a minimum of 260 wins over any four consecutive seasons. Failure to meet these minimums would result in forfeiture of a franchise for an owner.

Yes - 21 votes (77.8%)
No - 6 votes (22.2%)
No preference - 5 votes (not included)

Results: PASSED - rule to be adopted starting in season 22, with season 22 as the first of the four seasons

Commissioner's Challenge Award (S21)

The "Commissioner's Challenge Award" is given to the team that had the most wins during the season without making the playoffs.

I'm happy to announce the season 21 winner of a $5 WIS Gift Certificate is tomq of the Chicago Black Sox, whose 89 wins was a mere two games short of earning a post-season appearance.

1) 89 wins - Chicago Black Sox (tomq)
2) 87 wins - Rochester Rochy Road Rochstars (indiansrck27)
3) 86 wins - Minnesota Mighty Men (raidersfan)
4) 82 wins - Milwaukee Suds (battmann)
5) 81 wins - Washington D.C. Metros (jmaese)
6) 80 wins - Little Rock Cigars (shanklsa)
7t) 78 wins - Jacksonville Seminoles (mbooker)
7t) 78 wins - Scranton Apollos (tecwrg)
9) 76 wins - Charlotte Moose Hunters (jmil397)
10) 75 wins - San Diego Seagulls (ericsomsel)
11) 74 wins - Sacramento Sunshine (hbdgirl)
12t) 73 wins - Colorado Springs Mile High Marines (brendanjod)
12t) 73 wins - Vancouver Fighting Skeletons (diryn)
14) 72 wins - Scottsdale Fighting Artichokes (MikeT23)
15) 71 wins - Albuquerque Isotopes (sculley)
16) 69 wins - Jackson Bootleggers (rugrat)
17) 67 wins - Buffalo Blizzard (sir_slamalot)
18) 66 wins - Oklahoma City Power Failure (coneheads)
19t) 60 wins - Monterrey Sugar Kings (drichter)
19t) 60 wins - Pittsburgh Pandas (silentpadna)

Season 21 Hall of Fame Voting Results

Following up on what I did last season, I sent a ticket to WIS to get the vote totals of the Hall of Fame voting for this season. Here are the results:

1. Kevin Mullins - 21 (Elected)
2. Julio Valenzuela - 21 (Elected)
3. Brent Meche - 17 (Elected)
4. Julio Lee - 14
5. Bart Kirby - 12
6. Domingo Pizzaro - 11
7. J.D. Acosta - 9
8. Andy Scott - 4
9. David Santayana - 3
10. Bey Meacham - 3
11. Cam Lincoln - 2
12. Miguel Vazquez - 2
13. Bob Mays - 2
14. Albert Lecuona - 1
15. Marc Holmes - 1
16. Fausto Sanchez - 1
17. Stephen Ball - 1

Season 21 - Minimum Win Requirements

In season 19, we adopted a win minimum rule of 110 wins over a rolling two-season period. Season 20 was the first season that this took effect, so season 21 is where the rubber starts to meet the road. Nobody is in any grave danger of falling short, but the purpose of this post is to document the targets for each franchise for the upcoming season.

AL North

Detroit (repsher) - 16
Chicago (tomq) - 18
Scranton (tecwrg) - 23
Kansas City (rbedwell) - 32

AL East

Baltimore (reps) - 8
Durham (bertrand93) - 24
Pittsburgh (silentpadna) - 32
Buffalo (sir_slamalot) - 50

AL South

Richmond (dgtrache) - 9
Jacksonville (mbooker) - 30
Jackson (rwright) - 45
Charlotte (jmil397) - 48

AL West

Colorado Springs (brendanjod) - 26
San Francisco (evegoe) - 26
San Diego (ericsomsel) - 39
Scottsdale (MikeT23) - n/a *

NL North

New York (jonas1102) - 11
Minnesota (raidersfan) - 19
Milwaukee (battmann) - 39
Trenton (KGS77) - 40

NL East

Boston (neilg) - 9
Rochester (indiansrck27) - 20
New Britain (malewell) - 21
Washington (jmaese) - 30

NL South

Florida (welsh5) - 25
Little Rock (shanklsa) - 28
Oklahoma City (coneheads) - 40
Monterrey (drichter) - 48

NL West

Albuquerque (sculley) - 23
Oakland (goodtymes31) - 40
Vancouver (diryn) - 43
Sacramento (hbdgirl) - n/a *

* Please note that as first season owners, both Scottsdale (MikeT23) and Sacramento (hbdgirl) are not at risk from the MWR this season, but S21 is the first of their two rolling seasons.

Commissioner's Challenge Award (S20)

The "Commissioner's Challenge Award" is given to the team that had the most wins during the season without making the playoffs.

I'm happy to announce the season 20 winner of a $5 WIS Gift Certificate is malewell of the New Britain Blood Brothers, whose 89 wins was a mere one game short of earning a post-season appearance.

1) 89 wins - New Britain Blood Brothers (malewell)
2) 86 wins - Durham Bulls (bertrand93)
3) 84 wins - San Francisco Oles (evegoe)
4) 82 wins - Little Rock Cigars (shanklsa)
5t) 80 wins - Jacksonville Seminoles (mbooker)
5t) 80 wins - Washington D.C. Metros (jmaese)
7) 79 wins - Sacramento Boo A's (lightmn13)
8t) 78 wins - Kansas City Blues (rbedwell)
8t) 78 wins - Pittsburgh Pandas (silentpadna)
10) 75 wins - Portland Poltergeists (selmer)
11t) 71 wins - San Diego Seagulls (ericsomsel)
11t) 71 wins - Milwaukee Suds (battmann)
13t) 70 wins - Oakland Polish Hammers (goodtymes31)
13t) 70 wins - Oklahoma City Power Failure (coneheads)
13t) 70 wins - Trenton Titans (KGS77)
16) 67 wins - Vancouver Fighting Skeletons (diryn)
17) 65 wins - Jackson Bootleggers (rwright)
18t) 62 wins - Charlotte Moose Hunters (jmil397)
18t) 62 wins - Monterrey Sugar Kings (drichter)
20) 60 wins - Buffalo Blizzard (sir_slamalot)

Waiver Wire and Minor League Pitching Staff Rules Adopted

Two additional rules for Mantle World were proposed, voted upon, and adopted for implementation starting in season 21.  The two rules are described below:

1)  "Waiver Wire Rule" - After the trade deadline has passed, teams may have no more than 7 players on the waiver wire at any one time. This does not include players who have been released (who automatically show up on the waiver wire). This is for true waivers only. First violation will result in a warning. Second violation will result in being removed from the world.

2)  "Minor League Pitching Staff Rule" - Each franchise is expected to keep healthy pitching staffs at all minor league levels. If a violation is noticed, the owner will be given four days from notification to get their minor league staffs in order. If still not addressed, the owner will be on probation and if the problems are still not corrected after seven days, the owner will be removed from the world unless he can show that meaningful steps were taken to attempt to address the situation.

Both rules passed by receiving over 60% of the votes cast (excluding any votes of "no preference").  They will start to be enforced during season 21.  Full voting results can be found at:

http://mantleworldhbd.blogspot.com/2010/07/proposed-rules-and-voting-results.html

As commissioner, I do not intend to actively police all 32 teams to ensure that these rules are constantly being enforced.  I am looking for other owners in the world to bring any perceived violations to my attention if and/or when they see violations occurring.  At that time, I will take over responsibility for addressing enforcement with the violating owner.

I will remind all owners of these rules at the beginning of each season.  I intend to also document these rules with the purpose of informing all potential incoming new owners of these rules in our recruitment thread in the "HBD Classifieds" forum.  Should we ever have the need to bring in a mid-season replacement, those owners will also be informed directly by me of these rules to make sure they understand the expectations.

Finally, concerning the "Minor League Pitching Staff Rule", I will consider extenuating circumstances because I know that sometimes "real life" gets in the way and we cannot be as attentive to our teams as we want.    As long as the explanation for violation seems reasonable, I will take that into consideration as part of the process.  However, blatant violation of the rule without a reasonable explanation will be subject to full enforcement of the rule as described above.