Quote:
Originally Posted by RMc
I don't understand...why would black players form their own league if they were not banned from the FL?
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The short answer regarding the NNL is I have full minors enabled so it is automatically created when I advanced to 1920 by the game meaning I have no choice but to include it. I did not want to mess around with deleting or changing the NNL because I think if I did so it would reappear in 1921 again. The only change from real evolution I used was to unaffiliate the Federal League (in the year it folded) and change it to an independent as well as create some independent minor leagues like the PCL that I will fold as they become affiliated with MLB.
As for why the NNL forms in 1920 in this replay. I probably should have done more back story but since so many Negro League players import in 1920 they needed a place to play. My briefly touched upon story line was there were a number of barnstorming or semi-pro negro leagues around the nation and they decided to organize themselves into a professional league with a set schedule.
My thinking is these teams have existed for a while and they may have lost a few players to the Federal League or independent minor league teams but there were still plenty of talented players to stock NNL rosters. It makes sense for the owners of the NNL teams to organize into a formal league for a couple of reasons:
1- To capitalize on the growing audience for baseball across the nation. The owners see a potential source of increased revenue if they organize into a professional league.
2- Negro players are still presently barred from MLB and as more and more minor leagues become affiliated with MLB they will be barred from those leagues as well. For example, my International League is presently an independent league so negro players are not barred but when the real IL is added by the game in 1927 it will be segregated as it is affiliated with MLB.
3- The Federal League is on very shaky ground. It could lose more teams or fold altogether which makes the NNL a necessity unless MLB ends the color barrier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RMc
And why wouldn't the NNL allow white players?
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Primarily because of the limitations of the game. If MLB has a color barrier it applies to all feeder leagues, of which the NNL is one. Not sure the color barrier can be turned off for a single affiliated league.
I am getting a little ahead of the storyline here but my idea was that the final straw in folding the Federal League - if indeed it does fold - would be for MLB to end the color barrier much earlier than it did in real life.
I am envisioning someone like perhaps Oscar Charleston, who is a star with Brooklyn in the Federal League jumping to the major leagues as MLB drives a dagger in the heart of the FL by taking away it's one advantage in player signings - the ability to sign Negro stars without bidding competition from MLB.
I think that would make a fitting end for the Federal League's existence in this replay. My first choice would be to see some Federal League teams survive and merge with MLB but because of automatic league evolution I don't think that can happen without a ton of work on my end to keep those teams in existence year to year.
Failing that I think it would be a great story and a fitting end to the Federal League if, although it did not survive, it's legacy would be it forced MLB in this sim to allow Negro League players much earlier then 1947.
I don't know what year that will happen yet, as I let chance, along with the events of the sim, play a role but I could see the beginnings of the great depression in the fall of 1929 being the end of the Federal League.