This is the story of the National Baseball League; the top three levels of professional baseball in the fictional Northern Atlantic nation of New Hibernia.
Origins of Baseball in the Kingdom of New Hibernia
National Flag of the Kingdom of New Hibernia. Designed in 1870 and adopted in 1873, it was designed to symbolically unite the nation's three main ethnicities under a common banner; green for the Irish majority, a St. Andrew's cross for the Scots, and a fleur-de-lis for the small yet significant French community.
In 1873, the British colonies of Newfoundland and Labrador won their independence from Britain after a three year revolution. A year of deliberation and referendum followed, after which the two colonies united to form the Kingdom of New Hibernia. Situated on the north-easternmost edge of the North American continent, New Hibernia holds the unique distinction of being the only independent kingdom in the Western Hemisphere.
Baseball was introduced during the Second World War. The Germans sought to gain a North Atlantic base from which their U-Boat fleet could disrupt allied shipping lanes. In early 1942, an Expeditionary Force of American and British troops was hastily assembled to occupy the neutral Kingdom before a German invasion could take place. The Americans would often play baseball in front of increasing numbers of New Hibernians who would gather to watch this foreign sport. The occupation ceased by 1946, but the Kingdom had become baseball mad. Gaelic sports and association football had long been the Kingdom’s main pastimes, but by 1950, almost every town had its own amateur baseball team and most schools were operating a baseball program.
The first New Hibernian baseball player to garner foreign interest was Finn Garrity, a young pitcher from Carbonear. Garrity attended Yale University from 1951-55 on a full athletic scholarship. His impressive college career earned him a tryout with the Brooklyn Dodgers, with whom he signed a minor league contract upon his graduation from Yale. Garrity joined Brooklyn’s Montreal affiliate for the 1956 season and was the International League’s best pitcher for the first half of 1957 until an automobile accident put a premature end to his playing career. He returned home to Carbonear that year where he began teaching and coaching high school baseball.
In 1961, a group of businessmen from St. John’s asked for Garrity’s help in building a new semi-professional league from the existing amateur teams. Though his playing days were over, he was still seen as the popular face of New Hibernian baseball. Offered the role of League Commissioner, Garrity insisted on being made manager of his hometown Carbonear team instead. By the spring of 1965, the sixteen teams of the New Hibernian Baseball League were set to begin play for their inaugural season.
To be continued...
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