I suppose that “bums” isn’t much of a welcome introduction, but for the Brooklyn Dodgers and their fans in the 1930s, to be a “bum”–or, at least, root for “dem bums”–was to be and to do what we are and we do in rooting for the “offspring” franchises of the team that once called Ebbets Field home: the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers.  And, let’s face it, between the Madoff fallout and the McCourt divorce, ‘Dem Bums might just be an apropos title–not just for our possible prevailing feelings as fans of the Mets and Dodgers through the 2012 MLB season–but for the fantasy baseball experience exclusively designed for the rest of us who can’t clock a lineup every weekday.  So let me introduce you and cordially invite you to ‘Dem Bums – the fantasy baseball game for New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers baseball fans.  Let me explain.

‘DEM BUMS

The team that eventually became the Brooklyn Dodgers grew from a baseball franchise called the Brooklyn Grays founded in 1883–six years before Brooklyn officially became a borough–that ventured through multiple names such as the Brooklyn Superbas and the Brooklyn Bridegrooms until the nickname of Brooklynites as “trolley dodgers”–due to the labyrinth-like street train tracks that ran through the borough–stuck.  During this time, in 1931, the noted sports cartoonist Willard Mullin was taking a cab ride from a game when the cabbie asked him “how did those bums do today?” Newly inspired, Mullin sketched a spin characterization of the then-famous circus clown Emmet Kelley that became an iconic image in the New York World-Telegram. From then on, “‘Dem Bums” became a household nickname and many a Brooklyn Dodger yearbook cover of the mid-twentieth century featured Mullin’s bum tramping in bliss.

For our purposes, ‘Dem Bums is a fantasy baseball experience that is geared to the speed to the most of us that don’t have the time to check a lineup daily and those of us who are interested in keeping tabs on the teams we care about most.  So, let’s detail it out.

DRAFT, CASH & PRIZES

For each month of the MLB season, each of our respective franchises will draft a total of three players (2 batters and 1 pitcher) from the players that make up the rosters of the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers in a chase to possibly win two prizes: the monthly batting title and the monthly pitching title.  The batting title will be awarded to the hitter who has the highest batting average for that month and the pitching title to the pitcher with the lowest ERA. Each title will consist of a payout of $30 that will be funded by a buy in of $10 for every month by each participating franchise.  At the end of the regular season, the remaining $60 (based upon 7 franchises participating) will be awarded to the team with the most combined titles earned over the course of the season (if there is a tie the money will be split accordingly). The drafting order for each month will be a “winner’s outs” where the teams winning the pitching and batting titles will pick first in those respective categories.  All drafts will be conducted through an email chain managed by me prior to each month of play.

ELIGIBILITY, STATS & INJURIES

Based upon the learning experience of our first season fantasy experiment, in order for a player on any franchise to be eligible to win either the batting or pitching title in any month, they have to have a minimum of 60 at bats (ABs) or 5 starts (GS) respectively for that month.  These minimums will prevent any disproportionate stat performances due to limited action.  In terms of injuries, it’s simple: your guy goes down then you’re out of the running — tough luck.  The tiebreaker for the batting title is RBIs and the tiebreaker for the pitching title is strikeouts.

SITE & SUBSCRIBE

Take a look around. While the bells and whistles of the ‘Dem Bums site will continue to develop and grow, in the top menu we already have a “Rosters” page where you can view the projected starting rotations and lineups for the 2012 Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, as well as a “Leaderboard” with links to stats pages for both the hitting and pitching leaders of both teams. In the sidebar to the right we have “Scoreboard” and “Headline” feeds for both the Dodgers and the Mets, and below that the “Franchise Gallery.” While I’ll try to keep you updated via email notices, please feel free to subscribe to the site to get automatic updates with each post by clicking on the “Entries RSS” link at the bottom right of the page or the “RSS” link at the top.  Glad you’re here and I look forward to the debauchery.