Hey Fish:
It's not a mod, but I started a Canadian League dynasty. As you say, you can pretty much do what you want here. I'm also (non-dynasty) playing a 1901 game and it...hm....feels right compared to BM. As you say it can be more complex, but you can also turn off a lot of that complexity until you're ready for it.
For your league, if you want to use real ballparks check
www.ootpmodsquad.com. One of the files has ratings for the Northern League and Can-Am Parks, as well as Hamilton's Berne Arbour and others.
There are also plenty of logos to be had in the Mods area of this forum, and people willing to help design custom ones for you. That's eye candy of course.
I suspect with a little tweaking (don't be afraid to play with the menus in Commish mode) you should be able to build the league you want.
Welcome and good luck!