[Pelican]

Awhile ago I wanted to test some mid-Century stuff, before pursuing in any active sims I had running. I randomly chose the 1954 Season for my “proof of concept”. Or maybe not so randomly, as it is the only season where Philly and Baltimore had teams in the same league. The Orioles’ first season after moving from St. Louis as the Browns. And what turned out to be the A’s last season in Philadelphia, before the unfortunate move to KC.

The Athletics had long been the top team in Philly, winning championships while the Phillies languished in Baker Bowl. In 1938, the Phillies were forced to move to Shibe Park and become tenants of the A’s. But in the post-war era, with the Carpenter family in charge, the Phillies began to be competitive, while the A’s (with the exception of 1948 and 1952) were not. It was the sad twilight of the Mack family era with the team.

I recently researched the machinations after the ‘54 Season that led to the A’s leaving town. Not quite the Baltimore Colts skulking off to Indiana in the middle of the night; but a bad deal, with willing (and able) Philly investors left behind. It’s clear that the A’s could have stayed in Philly, if only the Macks had been a bit more patient - and had some regard for the City - rather than taking the easy money.

What could have happened would have been new ownership and an infusion of investment, in players, the farm system, and aging Shibe Park, now Connie Mack Stadium. Could the City support two MLB teams? Put it this way, Philly has always supported winners. All the Athletics really needed was stability, direction, and a fresh organization. And all this, OOTP can provide.

So, this test run has morphed into another of my “what if?” sims. In this case, what if the A’s, with new owners, stayed in Philadelphia, invested in their team, retained instead of selling off players, built on what was actually a solid foundation?

Another fascinating aspect of the 1954 Season is the turnover that took place in Baltimore. It almost seems as if the Orioles wanted to erase all those painful memories of the Browns, by trading away players. The 1954 Orioles were something of a veteran fire sale, in favor of prospects and unproven players. They made a very good Cleveland team even better, by trading away Vic Wertz for a pitcher named Bob Chickales. What if the Orioles actually tried to compete?

The Orioles were a sensation, drawing over a million fans to Memorial Stadium, even though they lost 100 games and finished seventh. (The A’s lost 103 games to finish last., and drew only 304,666.) It was as if management figured they didn’t have to be good. They released Satchel Paige! (They did sign Brooks Robinson.) We can do better.

So, what follows is an active effort to improve each of these teams, with prime focus on the A’s, by retaining solid players, signing free agents, and making a whole bunch of trades. The goal is for the A’s to improve enough to ignite the sleeping fan base. And for the Orioles to establish a winning tradition right away.

You might question whether a path forward was even available to such bad teams. Well, they each had decent farm systems. This was still the era just before baseball expanded to he West Coast, and there were good ballplayers in the Pacific Coast League available for purchase. And, in the early years of pathetically gradual integration of baseball, there were still a number of former Negro League players who had been overlooked. As well as some dark-skinned Latin American players who had been shut out. Opportunities, if one knew where to look, and had some money to spend.