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 |      International Replay Baseball League - Founded October 30, 1973       |
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 |   *****************  IRBL NEWSLETTER  # 693  *****************   2-28-04   |
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 ......................................
 PLAYER TRANSACTIONS:

 The PIRATES traded JOSE VIZCAINO to 
   the DODGERS for TIM RAINES JR..
 The DODGERS traded TOM GOODWIN, BILL 
   HALL, GARY MATTHEWS JR. to the 
   ROYALS for DANNY KLASSEN, MARIANO 
   RIVERA.
 The EXPOS released MIKE HUBBARD, CHRIS 
   BROCK.
 The PIRATES traded AARON GUIEL, 
   ARMANDO BENITEZ to the DEVIL RAYS 
   for J.D. DREW, RYAN DEMPSTER.
 The INDIANS traded RAY DURHAM, JOEY 
   HAMILTON to the BREWERS for CASEY 
   FOSSUM, FELIX HEREDIA.
 The MARLINS traded TROT NIXON to the 
   DIAMONDBACKS for ICHIRO SUZUKI.
 The ANGELS released BRIAN JOHNSON, LEE 
   GARDNER.
 ......................................
 New manager:

 Mike Boling      
 606 NE 67th ST 
 Gladstone, MO 64118
 816-436-6191
 mboling@planetkc.com

 Mike was the former IRBL CUBS' manager 
 from 1998 until mid-2002.

 I have included an updated IRBL 
 Manager Address List.
 ......................................
 DMB version 9:

 As I indicated in a recent email, the 
 DMB company currently plans to begin 
 shipping DMB version 9 on March 18th 
 at an upgrade cost of $27.95. I have 
 decided that the IRBL will continue to 
 use DMB v8 for 2004 and will upgrade 
 to v9 in 2005 for these reasons:

 1) The release date is just two weeks 
    before the start of the IRBL season 
    and all IRBL managers would have to 
    upgrade at the same time since the 
    v9 databases do not work in v8

 2) Although v9 has been "Beta-tested" 
    by a number of people (including 
    me), until the final version is 
    released and used for a few months 
    by many DMB users, other bugs may 
    be detected and need to be fixed 
                                         IRBL # 693         2-28-04          2

    (with updates released that 
    everyone would need to install) 
    that could impact the IRBL if we 
    switched to v9 now

 3) Some managers are always short on 
    money and would prefer more advance 
    notice before spending $27.95

 4) The main changes to the game are 
    the reports options and the ability 
    to play games head-to-head over the 
    internet (playing the games is 
    basically the same except for a few 
    more manager profile options)

 15 IRBL managers indicated their 
 agreement with this decision (and the 
 rest had no comment) so I will 
 conclude that everyone agrees with the 
 above plan.
 ......................................
 DEADLINES:                            

 Mar.  7 - Trading deadline (6 pm, ET)
 Mar. 21 - Team instructions to be     
           received by League Office   
           and all managers within     
           your league                 
 Apr.  1 - First series of 2004 season 
 ......................................
 Files included on LRD # 693:
 ---------------------------
 IRBLROST.TXT --> IRBL Rosters
 MANAGERS.TXT --> Manager Address List
 NEWSL693.xxx --> Newsletter # 693
 PLAYERUF.Y04 --> Player Usage Forms 
                  for all teams

 File Extension Legend (xxx):
 ---------------------------
 T1C --> Viewable one column newsletter 
         text format
 TXT --> Viewable text format
 ......................................
                                     BK