What am I doing here?

Years ago — almost two decades, now that I think of it — I was part of a long-running Strat-O-Matic baseball league centered around The Free Press. Participants came and went, but there was a steady core of us — me, Jim Rueda, Kim Hendrickson, Chad Courrier.

Then the Freep switched from afternoons to mornings, and work shifts changed. Family needs grew. Real life took over. The league died a natural death.

But this month I got Strat's Negro League set — cards based on the players of the old segregated black leagues — and its 2000 Hall of Fame set. Having spent the money to get those cards, I'm going to do something with them.

Right now, I don't know exactly what that something will be. I have a couple of ideas. One is to talk the other three into reviving the league, with them drafting teams out of the Hall of Fame set and me making a roster out of the Negro leaguers. But that will require a commitment from each of us, and I'm not sure that's feasible.

The other — the more likely — is a solo league.

Whatever I do, I am going to use this space to chronicle it — not because I believe outsiders will be interested, but because it will make the league easier to manage.

If anybody else is looking at this, welcome. If you want to tell me to get a life, keep it to yourself. I have a life. This is just a small slice of it.