I wanted to go about setting up the league in an organized fashion, so I began by taking a look at the US population data from 1900. The American and National League were competing and placing franchises in cities for that purpose. But for the WBL, I decided to try to award franchises based on city populations from the time. I also divided the leagues into East and West to create plenty of strong rivalries.
In the East, New York got a franchise along with Brooklyn (which had just joined NY as borough). I gave Boston one, not two, as well as Philly, one, not two. Washington and Baltimore received one, Baltimore is especially high on the list. Buffalo was also surprisingly high up on the list in 1900 so they got a franchise. I wanted one very small market, so Providence, which was much higher up on the list in 1900 than it would be now also got a club.
In the West, not limited by travel issues, I gave teams to 2 large cities, L.A. and San Francisco, two truly "west" locations. In addition, clubs went to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis and Cincinnati, cities which would lose population through the century but were quite large comparatively at the time. I ended up giving Chicago one franchise rather than two.
My plan is to take two of the cities that don't perform well financially and on the field and move their franchises in the first couple decades to a place like New Orleans, Milwaukee, Minneapolis or another city deserving of a team.
16 cities ready to compete!
