The "Mudville Baseball Township" APBA league had its start in 1982, using the infamous 1981 strike-season card set. Twelve managers started the season… fewer finished. The original Commissioner absconded with the league funds part way through the season. Don Carbone took over and guided the league to a finish, though not all teams played all games. The next year, Don led Mudville to a full and complete season and in 1984 oversaw expansion to sixteen teams. The "Official Mudville Record Book" starts at that point.
From 1984 through 1987, hitters were restricted according to their "J-ratings". J-0 and J-1 hitters had no restrictions on at-bats or games played. Others were restricted to games played but not at-bats. Starting pitchers had no limits on innings… only on games started. Relievers were restricted to innings pitched.
You'll find a few unexpected names in the Mudville Record Book from those years… the loose restrictions led to surprising stats by some part-time players. A good deal of grumbling over unrealistic stats led to major changes in Mudville rules for 1988.
In 1988, Mudville adopted the CMBA pitching grade system on a one-year trial basis. Also voted in that year were tighter restrictions on player usage. The tighter restrictions remain, but CMBA is long gone. CMBA worked well but 1988 was based on the "rabbit-ball" year of '87. Many managers were upset at the reduced offense brought about by CMBA, a few resigned, recruitment was difficult, and finally the CMBA was repealed… which brought another round of resignations from its supporters.
Computer play was introduced on a trial basis in 1991. Five managers used the electronic version. Unlike CMBA, this trial passed muster and, in 1992, seven managers were on the keyboard. In 1993, the number jumped to twelve managers playing the DOS computer game. By 1994, all but one of the twenty managers was using the computer version.
In 1994, another round of expansion brought Mudville to its current twenty teams. Another round of controversy (variously described as "Our Troubles", "The Mudville War of Independence", and "What the Hell is Going On Here?") struck mid-season of 1994 in a dispute over league leadership. Mudville split into two camps. This one, the "Mudville Confederacy", formed with thirteen of the original colonies while five others carried on as the "Mudville Baseball Township". Truly the biggest crisis to hit the league, our hope was that two strong leagues would rise.
(The above was written by Paul McEvoy at the start of the 1995 season, for the Mudville Record Book. From this point forward, Mudville's history is documented by Bill Wagoner.)
The Mudville Confederacy has flourished since "The Great Disruption" of the 1994 season, but not without challenge. Seven new managers were promptly recruited to fill out the league and schedules were pushed back to accommodate the changes… the post-season of 1994 (the first Mudville games to be played live via modem!) was finally wrapped up in late November.
The "Mudville Baseball Township", however, did not fare so well… unable to recruit back to a full complement of managers, the league folded soon after.
For the 1995 season, one of the departed managers (an original charter member from 1982) returned and the Mudville Confederacy continued to "chase the electronic age", with new on-line bulletin boards, a venture into more on-line games, and a proliferation of email usage. The 1996 season was clear-sailing, by comparison with most, under the final year of three separate terms of our beloved "Czar", Paul McEvoy.
In the 1997 season, Mudville completed its migration to the computer game as our final board-gamer became a convert. Mudville Confederacy was now a 100% computer league! 1997 was not a year without challenge either, as we had a mid-stream commissioner change and seven managers departed over the course of the season for a variety of reasons… their voids having been quickly filled with new blood.
The fall '97 charter amendment period voted in the Baseball for Windows (BBWin) game as our new platform and expansion to 24 teams for the 1999 season. Player usage, and the corresponding penalties for exceeding limits, was once again an emotional issue as the year wound down.
The 1998 campaign marked the debut of BBWin in Mudville, our "transition season" from DOS to Windows. StatMaster for DOS continued to be the Mudville Confederacy statistical platform, although nearly all managers opted to play BBWin and convert (using the "makpfile" utility) the boxscores into pfiles. Charter amendment now required regular email access, providing for more efficient league communication and, with it, some flare-ups that tested Mudville once again. Another mid-season commissioner change and seven managerial transitions (four being of the post-season variety) later, the season wrapped up in style and once again displayed why Mudville is one of the premier baseball leagues in the world. It was agreed that expansion, previously voted in during the 1997 postseason, would be put on hold for an indefinite period.
1999 saw a smooth transition to 100% Baseball for Windows and all of the advantages of migrating to the new platform... League Manager, vastly improved statistics, and endless utilities. Another, this time calm and calculated, commissioner change came during the early months of the '99 season and, in October, the regular season and playoffs wrapped up as efficiently as any time in the league's history.
The new century brought an exciting M2K season, running smoothly from start to finish under the same leadership team as the previous campaign. 2000 brought the introduction of mandatory micromanagers on the road, which created little more than a hiccup for this seasoned group of team owners. Tragically, however, the season opening was marred by the numbing news of Kern River Rats manager Bill Brenn's death on March 21st at the age of 43.
Heading into our 20TH SEASON in 2001, Mudville is stronger than ever, with outstanding leadership, manager participation, and web presence.
Mudville Confederacy. The world's greatest baseball simulation league!