Can I do this
 

Start a game in say 1893. At this point I am unable to have new rookies go to correct teams...so I just have to place players for a few seasons after they come in as free agents.

Then before 1901 starts, can I then click off the draft but have players go to their correct teams, and then that will work.
Can I do that before 1900 starts, as long as I have all the correct 16 teams in the league a year early?

Just curious how to work with getting players going to their first teams historically when beginning a game prior to 1901.

Thanks

Players dont go to real actual teams til 1901, I believe.

Right but for players in 1901, that would mean players come into the game after the 1900 season...

Perhaps then the game is only allow players to actual teams for 1902, so after the 1901 season,

Going to do a check out test

I think you can have players go to correct teams pre-1900 but it takes some editing of the database. Also you would have to keep in mind if you didn't perform the actual transactions then teams would be short some players on their roster. But they would have the rookies. At least it worked in previous versions.

You can have the rookies populate on the correct team in the 1890's and not have to mess with the database. You just need to make sure the "Historical Team ID" and "Historical Franchise ID" are correct on the Team Settings pages. You can find these in the Teams file. Take the Cleveland Spiders as an example: The team ID is CL4, the Franchise ID is CLV. This doesn't change through the life of a franchise, at least in your case.

From 1892 on you will not need the draft on as there are no additional teams in the NL. You will hit a hump in 1901 when you add the American League. When 1900 ends the database loads and all AL players have nowhere to go. So they go to the free agent list. What I have done in the past is create the AL teams and either have those teams sign their correct players from the FA list, or turn transactions off from Nov-Feb and on the first day of the preseason turn financials off and have the AL teams sign the correct players free of charge and then turn financials and transactions on. Just something to think about.

I'm not sure that is correct. If I remember correctly it was the league abbreviation that you needed to change. If it was anything but AL or NL the team would not be imported. Of course it may gave changed but I don't recall having to change team ids. I think you still need to change the league abbreviation in the teams, batting, pitching and fielding files to AL or NL for players to go to their correct team as a rookie during 1871-1900.

That is true when you have multiple leagues. I play with expansion off and when I have the NL and AA playing I only have the database load once, through the NL, and all AA players and players of NL teams not created yet are dumped in the FA list. From there you can do whatever. 19th century is complicated enough so switching league abbreviations is a bit much and not always needed. I do most of the offseason with transactions off and have the players sign with their respective AA teams and new NL teams.

In this particular case if you start in 1892 the correct teams with be created, but Baltimore for example has a Team ID of BLN and Franchise ID of NYY. Baltimore rookies in 1893 will be FA because they are looking for Team ID BLN and Franchise ID BLO. The NL ID's you need for 1892-1900 are these:
Team Team ID Franchise ID
BAL BLN BLO
BOS BLN ATL
BRK BRO LAD
CHI CHN CHC
CIN CIN CIN
CLE CL4 CLV
LOU LS3 LOU
NY NY1 SFG
PHI PHI PHI
PIT PIT PIT
STL SLN STL
WAS WSN WAS
All rookies will load onto the correct team until 1901 when you create the AL
The game will load 16 teams in 1892 and there were only 12 so it's up to you how you want to go.

Also when creating the NL, in whatever year, and I know this is going to sound stupid, make sure the NL teams (all of them) are in the bottom subleague in the setup screen. You will need both subleagues and you can keep the top (future AL) empty. If you don't set it up like this you could end up in 1901 with NL records becoming AL records when the AL didn't exist and scheduling could get a little goofy come 1901 with both leagues.

Of course this is OOTP so each their own. I've been doing 19th century since forever and it can be a bit daunting and at times complicated and I'm just saying what works for me. Once 1892 comes around it's easy till 1901 when you create new teams for the AL.