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Doubleday is a fine player, a right-handed hitter and graceful fielder (sort of like Joe DiMaggio, though he hasn't turned out quite as good). You'll be hearing more about him.
As for the Civil War--at first, I thought it could be interesting to simulate the effect it might have had on a league at the time, with certain players drafted, even some getting killed. In this era, you could pay somebody to do your military service for you, so I can imagine that the richer players would do that, but fans would hate them. The draft lottery riots might carry over to the ballparks, and all kinds of mayhem would ensue.
But the whole idea behind this is to imagine a kind of ideal world where everybody gets his chance. So, in this world there will be no Civil War (no World Wars, either). I'll leave the historical justification up to your imagination--but will note that the first real-life black player, one Octavius Catto of Philadelphia, will enter the league in about 1858. Catto was the real-life founder and captain of the Philadelphia Pythians, a black ballclub that was turned down for membership in the amateur National Association in 1867 or 68.
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