[ednote]

I have begun anew with my new baseball world order, set in the aftermath of John McGraw's New York Giants refusing to play the 1904 World Series against a team from an "inferior league."

There have been a few changes. The managers remain the same. The coaches are turned off, financials are off for the time being.

And the Federal League did NOT raid National League rosters. Instead, they are an assemblage of minor-league caliber players getting their shot in the big time.

With that, the overview once more:

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An alternative timeline:

In 1904, John McGraw’s New York Giants won a record 106 games and easily won the National League pennant by 13 games over second-place Chicago. Still bearing a grudge against American League President Ban Johnson, McGraw convinced Giants’ owner John T. Brush not to meet the AL champion Boston club in the World Series, one year after the first World Series had pitted Boston against NL pennant winner Pittsburgh.

In the real world, McGraw and Brush succumbed to public pressure and the World Series went on without a hitch from 1905 until the players’ strike of 1994 forced the first cancellation of the big event in 90 years. But what if it had been different? What if McGraw’s grudge had driven a wedge between the American and National leagues and an entirely different baseball timeline emerged? Therein lies the basis for my first officially posted OOTP dynasty – baseball’s parallel universe.
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American League President Ban Johnson, incensed by the New York Giants’ refusal to meet the Boston Pilgrims in the world’s championship series between the pennant winners from American and National leagues, decides that peace between the two leagues is not possible.

Instead, Johnson begins to quickly assemble plans to create a third major league that, in association with his American League, would form a new entity to be known as the North American Baseball Federation. The NABF would consist of the two eight-team leagues, which would each be split into two four-team divisions based on geography. The division winners in each league would meet in a best-of-five series, to be known as the Pennant Series. The Pennant Series winners would then advance to the best-of-seven Federation Cup Series.

The pieces began to fall into place. Johnson’s game plan was simple: Franchises in the as-yet-unnamed new league would under no circumstances be placed in competition with teams in the American League, but any franchise wishing to go head-to-head in the market of a National League team would be allowed, if not encouraged.

The first franchise in the new league to be awarded was in Kansas City. The new team would be known as the Packers and would most likely be placed in the new league’s West Division.

Meanwhile, the American League went about setting up its new geographical boundaries. It was a fairly simple process: The East Division would include Boston, the New York Highlanders, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators. The West Division would be home to the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Naps, the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Browns.

The Baltimore Terrapins were the next franchise awarded to the new league, which would be known as the Federal League. Johnson and the new owners in the Federal League, however, were not planning to make any full-scale raids on the National League for talent. The wounds were still too raw from the American League's arrival on the scene in 1901, and Johnson feared a return to the days of lawsuits. In particular, he was worried that the injunction against Cleveland's Nap Lajoie, enjoining him from playing baseball in Pennsylvania for any other team besides the Phillies, would be particularly troubling, giving Lajoie's new status as the Cleveland club's player-manager.

The third franchise to join the Federal League was the entry from Buffalo. Named the Blues, the team brought the western New York city back under the major league umbrella for the first time since the Buffalo Bisons roamed the Players League in 1890. Next to be awarded was the Federal League’s first foray into National League territory with the acceptance of the Pittsburgh Rebels into the league.

Amazingly, Johnson and his band of baseball rebels accomplished all of this before Thanksgiving. After a break for the holiday, the work continued into December with the fifth Federal League franchise being awarded to Indianapolis. The Hoosiers were likely destined to the West Division, as well.

The final three entries were all in cities ranked among the top 20 largest American cities in 1900. The New Orleans Pelicans, Milwaukee Brewers and Newark Sailors would fill out the ranks of the Federal League. The Fed’s East Division would be made up of Baltimore, Buffalo, Newark and Pittsburgh. The West Division’s membership: Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and New Orleans.

With the league’s membership set, the work began to put solid ownership groups in place, hire management teams for the franchises and begin the task of assembling the talent.