1901 CALIFORNIA LEAGUE
This was either the third or fourth - and penultimate - season of this iteration of the California League. (Some sources consider this California League to have begun with the 1899 season, while others trace its origins to a merger of two 1898 start-up leagues - the Pacific States League and the California League, which briefly resulted in the league renaming itself the "Pacific Coast League" before it reverted to the more-traditional "California League.")
Teams:
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Commuters
Sacramento Senators
San Francisco Wasps
Schedule Characteristics:
SCHEDULE type="ILN_BGY_G169_T4_C_" inter_league="0" balanced_games="1" games_per_team="169" start_month="3" start_day="31" start_on_weekday="1"
This schedule is primarily based upon the schedule printed in the 4/6/1901 edition of The Sporting Life, and also based upon research in a the Los Angeles Herald and San Francisco Call.
Teams play between 156 and 169 games:
LA 158 (76h, 82r)
Oak 167 (96h, 71r)
Sac 156 (69h, 87r)
SF 169 (84h, 85r)
Teams play each other 55-57 times, except LA/Sac play each other just 45 times.
Season starts on March 31st and ends on December 1st. Series' run Thursday through Sunday, with doubleheaders in the Bay Area on Sundays (morning game in Oakland, afternoon game in San Francisco).
(Note that Since OOTP schedule file formatting doesn't allow for games being played at locations other than at the home team's park, Oakland or San Francisco - whichever team is hosting the series - is designated as the home team for both the morning and afternoon game of doubleheaders. However, when the matchup includes both Oakland and San Francisco, Oakland is the home team for the morning game and San Francisco is the home team for the afternoon game.)
- No games on Mondays except for single games on Labor Day, Sept 2nd; (California) Admissions Day, Sept 9th; and on October 7th (not sure why teams played on this particular Monday; it's possible that the SF/Sac game was a makeup for the postponement of their game on 9/19, the date of President McKinley's funeral. However, LA/Oak also played on Oct 7th, but their postponed 9/19 game was made up the following Monday, 9/23).
- No games on Tuesdays or Wednesdays
- Doubleheaders on all Sundays for Bay Area (Oak/SF), except opening day, which was a single game
- Doubleheader on Independence Day, July 4th for LA @ SF (single game for Oak @ Sac)
- Single games on Decoration Day, May 30th
- Doubleheader on Sunday, Nov 24th for Sac @ LA (not sure, may have been to make up for a previous rainout, or because LA & Sac played fewer games against each other than the rest of the league's matchups)
- Doubleheader on Thanksgiving, Nov 28th for SF @ LA (single game for Sac @ Oak)
Start Times
Actual start times not known, although start times for games in LA are generally known. For this schedule file:
- Weekday & Saturday games generally start at 3 pm
- Single Sunday games start at 2 pm, except in LA where most start at 2:30 pm (a few start at 2:15 pm)
- Doubleheader games in LA start at 10:30 am and 2:30 pm
- Doubleheaders in Bay Area start at 10 am at Oakland and 3 pm at San Francisco
No postseason games were played. However, the day after the regular season Los Angeles hosted San Francisco in game played to benefit a gravely ill person named Fred Truett... In addition, ten days later LA hosted a team of NL all-stars for a series of four games, which they split two games apiece.
Update Notes & Alternate File- The primary attached file has been updated since the original posting to include more (semi-)accurate start times (primarily for games in LA), a Sept swapping of road trips for Sac & Oak of games at LA & SF, and a few other minor corrections/updates.
- The primary attached file does not include the postponements of games on 9/19 due to President McKinley's funeral. IOW, this file will include those games as originally scheduled (Oak at LA was rescheduled & played on 9/23; I wasn't able to determine if/when Sac @ SF was rescheduled)
- The primary attached file can only be used if you start your OOTP game prior to the 1901 season. This is because the schedule starts on 3/31/1901, but if you create your game beginning with the 1901 season OOTP will start the game on 4/17/1901. However...
- The alternate file below keeps the spirit of the original schedule but begins with a 4/19/1901 start date, and thus can be used if you start your game with the 1901 season. This ALT schedule still ends on 12/1/1901 and maintains the original number of games; the games that were originally scheduled from 3/31 through 4/18 have been redistributed, mostly to Wednesdays (a few to Mondays).
Schedule Characteristics for Alternate File:
SCHEDULE type="ILN_BGY_G169_T4_C_" inter_league="0" balanced_games="1" games_per_team="169" start_month="4" start_day="19" start_on_weekday="6">