Some notes on how I've structured the Figment Universe. - Most institutions (colleges/universities being the most notable example) are fictional, but have in many cases been inspired in some way by a real-life school (it's hard to come up with hundreds of fake schools, let me tell you).
- I have done the same thing with "events" - like the Triple Crown of Horse Racing. There is a Triple Crown (with that name) in the Figment Universe. The three events are the Knickerbocker Stakes, the Chesapeake Derby and the Continental Derby.
- Sticking with horse racing - as that is the biggest part of the early years of this universe - the horses are fictional, but in some cases I've cadged some elements of real life stories to weave into the narrative.
- Real world events do have an impact on things. The World Wars, the Influenza Pandemic, the Depression, etc. all will play a role.
- This thing has a cast of thousands (heck just the baseball league has that), but there is some crossover (maybe more than could be considered realistic) because in many cases I like these characters and the more they're involved in, the more interesting it is (and I hope you'll find the same to be true).
Now, to give a brief, initial taste of the Figment Universe, we'll start way back in 1867, before William Whitney organized the disparate groups of increasingly professional base ball clubs into a unified "league" - and we'll start with the "Sport of Kings" - horse racing.
Westchester County, New York: June 19, 1867
The Knickerbocker Racing Track was still fairly new when it hosted the first event of what would become one of the crown jewels of American sport. The Knickerbocker Racetrack, as it was popularly known, had been built on land acquired at a bargain basement price (some said by virtue of dangling the previous owner off Coogan's Bluff in Manhattan). Whether that story is apocryphal or not is debatable - certainly the purchaser was capable of that sort of thing. His name was Charles Bigsby and he would eventually be imprisoned for his many nefarious deeds. A well-connected and well-heeled criminal, Mr. Bigsby's family eventually made the transition to legitimate business, but that was after Charles had left the scene.
Bigsby built the Racetrack in 1866 (a decade before he built a bicycle racing park in Manhattan that would eventually become the famous Bigsby Oval baseball stadium). The next year, he decided he needed a big event - he was knee deep in bookmaking and few things brought out the bettors like horse racing. With the help of a more legitimate partner (Jacob Knickerbocker, whose name adorned the track and would also be the name of the event itself), the Knickerbocker Stakes was born with the initial running - a modest four horse event - to occur on June 19, 1867.
The day of the race was overcast and the dirt track was "heavy" which meant slow. The four horses entered in the race included two owned by Bigsby crony Francis Cabell, one of them a filly (the other three were colts); the other horses were owned by James Davidson (a moneyed Manhattanite whose son would eventually battle Bigsby's brother for the hearts & minds of New York baseball fans) and a small, jovial fellow named Brutus Anderson, who would also ride his entry in the race. The other three horses had professional jockeys.
The filly, Augusta, was a local product (as was her stablemate, the colt Thunderer), raised at Cabell's farm near Throgg's Neck. But Augusta's sire and dam were both imported British horses who had been successful racers in their native land. Thunderer was of American stock, but well-formed and fast.
Few gave either Augusta or DeWitt (Anderson's horse) a chance. The betting favored Davidson's Umbria. The race was 12 furlongs (a mile and a half) and no one figured the filly or DeWitt would have the staying power for that distance.
In a surprise, Augusta won the race, beating Umbria by a head to become the first winner of the Knickerbocker Stakes. She carried three pounds less than her competition. Also, being lighter, some felt she may have handled the sloppy track better than her heavier competition. Others just figured she tapped into her innate talent. Whatever the reason, she ran the race of her life and won in just over three minutes.
Cabell was thrilled, Bigsby less so - he had bet heavily on Thunderer. Cabell's purse for winning was $1,800. At the time no one could have imagined that the race would become an annual event watched by millions and the final leg of the sport's most prestigious triumvirate of races.
The story did not have a particularly happy ending for Augusta. She raced for another year before retiring to life as a broodmare. She was the dam of another quality racehorse (we'll hear more about him later). She died in a tragic accident in 1876 when a hunter, trespassing on Cabell's land in Westchester County, mistakenly shot her.
Quote:
1867 Knickerbocker Stakes
June 19, 1867
Knickerbock Racetrack, Westchester Cty, NY
Track: Dirt, condition: heavy
Distance: 12 furlongs (1 1/2 miles)
1. Augusta (F), 3:02, jockey Ben Hartung, trainer Aldolphus Faust, owner Francis H. Cabell
2. Umbria, 3:03, jockey Robert Morton, trainer Daniel Linton, owner James B. Davidson
3. Thunderer, 3:08, jockey Tom Gilbert, trainer Aldophus Faust, owner Francis H. Cabell
4. DeWitt, 3:11, jockey Brutus Anderson, trainer Brutus Anderson, owner Brutus Anderson
|
Note: I won't always have writeups as detailed as this one. But for bigger events, such as this first running of a Triple Crown event, there will sometimes be a slightly bigger writeup.