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September 1, 2000
8 Billionaires sat together in a conference room above Crump’s Boise based Candy Factory and toasted a bottle of champagne.
“Thank you everyone for believing in this crazy idea. Baseball is back and it’s profitable. Who would have thought?” Crump chuckled, pleased with himself. The man was only 30, yet here he was, the head of a new baseball empire.
Maxwell Pennington, the British owner of the San Francisco, set his drink down without taking a sip.
“So boys? Are we coming back next year?”
The group agreed resoundingly.
Guillen, so far the only the champion of the bunch, smiled and said “I don’t see why we can’t be as popular as the NFL with these numbers! We’ll be on for a long time.”
Pennington leaned back in his chair and took his first sip of Bubbly.
Early the next morning, the Electricity announced that they had signed 25-year-old superstar Jorge Merced to a 7-year extension worth $93,360,000. Pennington was not content with being last place any longer. Now that he knew the league was here to stay, he was ready to shell out. Jorge’s mega-deal kicked off a new type of show. Every player suddenly released that they could be compensated.
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September 16, 2000
Phil Alexander paced around the room with tears in his eyes. His agent, a crotchety old man named Gareth Bunion, drummed his fingers on the table and sighed.
“Phil you know you can’t accept a one-year deal, no matter how much of a team you were. This league might not exist after next season. You need guaranteed money. Think about your family.”
Phil grew up poor in Oildale California. All he had was baseball. The MLB folded when he was 7. But his dream never died. He trained every year, playing for amateur teams for next to nothing. Now he had a chance to secure his family for life. But what about the Santa Fe Rattlers? What about the beautiful team ball? The fans?
“I don’t know if I can do it Gareth.”
“Sleep on it, Phil. Offers like this are once in a lifetime.”
Phil slept on it.
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September 17, 2000
Rafael Guillen mixed himself another old fashioned. The Seagull’s owner made himself a personal pledge only to have an old fashioned on very special occasions. This was his second in two months.
He had just gotten off the phone with his GM Javier Torres. The Seagulls had signed Phil Alexander to a 6-year, $177,600,000 contract. Later that evening, 7 other fan bases found out the news for themselves.
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