There are as many different ways to play Strat as there are Strat players. Because of this, there are almost as many leagues that people play in. Some use current seasons, and others play past seasons. Some draft from scratch, and others use stock teams. And so on. If you want to join a league, you just need to find one that plays the way you like to play.
Unfortunately it's not so simple. Maybe you can't find a league that's to your liking, or you found it but it has a long waiting list to get in. You can either wait (maybe years) to get into the league of your choice, or you can take a chance and try to start your own. This is what I did when I found myself in this situation. I'm going to share some of the things I've learned about starting and running leagues.
First, you need to decide what you want the league to be. This is basically the answer to "How do I like to play Strat?" I decided to start the GREED league (www.gabl.org/greed) because I wanted to play with the players from my youth, which was the 80s. I started to really get into baseball in the early 80s, when I was in junior high and then into high school in the mid-to-late 80s. This was also when I really go into Strat as well, and I wanted to play with these players again.
I had been thinking about starting up an 80s league for a while, but I didn't have the time. In January things settled down and I decided now was the time or I'd never do it. The first thing I needed to do was write the league by-laws, that would define how the league would work. I used the by-laws from another league I'm in as a starting point, and then I reworked them to the way I wanted the league to be.
There were two main points to consider, and I needed to decide those before I could do anything else:
The Size of the League I wanted to keep the league small, because I've found that it's easier to develop friendships that way. It's also more manageable and there's less chance of losing managers or having people fall behind. I also didn't want it to be an all-star league. The fun for me in running a team is having to manage players to maximize their abilities and not just being able to start the same players every game.
So in order to meet these goals, I decided to use just NL players. I'm a Mets fan and I don't like the DH, so it made more sense to me to use the NL instead of the AL. So I looked at the stats for the 1982 NL to see how many players were available. I really wanted to have 10 teams to keep it an even number, and it would have been workable, but I felt it would put too much of a premium on usage. So I decided to have nine teams so there would be a little breathing room.
Player Retention and Movement: The next issue I faced was how player movement would work. Would you keep players forever? Would there be salaries? Those are the questions to answer under this topic.
I knew I didn't want to do a salary system. That has always just seemed like too much work to me. So I decided on a straight draft, but I needed to decide how to handle players leaving for the AL or coming back. Since there is no prospecting involved in a retro league, I wanted to increase player movement a bit over just keeping players forever. I set it so that teams would lose players when they went to the AL, and players coming in from the AL would be included in the rookie draft. This will add depth to the draft each year, and will make it harder to build a dynasty.
Once you get these points settled, then you need to fill in the details. It's important to make the league by-laws specific so that there aren't arguments about rules later on. Among the things that need to be covered are: the playoff format, the draft format, usage rules, game rules and setting, how instructions need to be exchanged and how games are to be played, penalties for violating the rules, and how to change the rules. This way managers will know exactly what they are getting into when they join.
From my experience in other leagues over the years, I've learned a few key "don'ts" that you should avoid when starting a league:
Don't have too many teams Whenever a league is starting up, there is probably going to be some turnover. By the laws of probability, the more managers you have, the greater the chance of losing some or having other problems. Then the turnover frustrates the managers who stay, because they have to deal with it, which makes them less satisfied with the league and more likely to leave.
Starting a 20-team league sounds like a great idea until you realize you need to find and keep 19 other managers. Look at other options that involve fewer managers - don't draft from all the teams, have people run two teams, draft some computer manager teams, etc. Once you get the league going and get a season or two under your belt, then expand if you still want to.
Don't have incomplete or loose rules Even though you know how you want the league to work, you need to put it in writing so the other managers know as well. If you don't have tight by-laws, inevitably some managers will do things that are within the letter of the rules but violate the intent. You will also have endless arguments about the rules, which won't make anyone happy.
Don't make numerous exceptions to the rules Sometimes it's necessary to make exceptions to the rules, especially when you are starting up and you realize some things aren't working the way you thought they would. But if you make too many, then what's the point of having rules in the first place? If you have a penalty for not playing games on time, then you have to enforce the penalty when it is needed.
In summary, starting a league is a lot of work, but it is also a lot of fun. The key thing is to make sure you have a solid vision of what you want the league to be, and then write tight rules that meet that vision.