[StLee]

There are lots of stories to tell. Why stick to chronology? Right now, I want to talk about when the wheels were fully turning.

So, as a historian I hate to do this, but yada yada yada. Time passed by between Lee's first baseball camps and when he had active players he was paying out of pocket to play exhibitions around the Mojave. Then came the Commission.

On March 3, 2284, Lee brought together a host of big shots for a commission he nicknamed the High 15. Present were Lee’s right hand man Craig Boone; Veronica Santangelo, owner of the thriving Santangelo Farms; Pearl Harbor, leader at Nellis Air Force Base; Red Lucy, the owner of the still-popular The Thorn creature arena and petting zoo; former NCR Colonel James Hsu; The King, owner of the King’s School of Impersonation; Julie Farkas, leader at the Old Mormon Fort; Ringo Starr, co-owner of Whiskey Rose Caravan Company; Old Lady Gibson, owner of Gibson Scrap Yards; Doc Mitchell of Goodsprings; Dennis Crocker, ambassador for the NCR; Cliff Briscoe, owner of Dino Bite Gift Shop and the coming Dino Bite Theme Park in Novac; Johnson Nash, owner of the Mojave Express; and, of course, Rose of Sharon Cass, operating owner of Lucky 38 Casino.

Lee was looking for a variety of business owners and leaders who could push community in certain ways. As a side note, it was questioned in some ways why Lee had made certain rules about who would be allowed on the commission and then followed up with a few questionable characters. One of those questioned the most was Red Lucy. I don’t deal much with rumors, and I will try not to insert myself too much into the history I am telling, but there were whispers that Red Lucy and Lee were current and/or past lovers at the time of the commission.

A few of the members were given great honor and more speaking time than most. Lee began the meeting by having all members introduce themselves and he told what role they would have. Lee’s speech was filled with passion and expressions of his dreams. He told the people there how the New Mojave would be a place where people could move to be safe and escape the harsh reality they had known. Games would change from death games (no offense, Lucy, right?) to games where winning on the baseball field was the ultimate conquest.

He did not give the commission permission to debate whether or not baseball was the best option as the Top Priority of the New Mojave. Instead, he let them decide how it would be instituted and what roles people would play.

He also mentioned that he wanted the competition to be basically equal, so all teams had equal budgets and all players had equal pay with standard bonuses in gate receipts to the division winners and champions each year.

In the end, the commission agreed at a number of rules.

The Mojave Baseball League. A few rules:

• All players must be human. Because of their physical differences, super mutants and nightkin would never be allowed in the league. Ghouls were considered, but those present considered that more research needed to be placed in “ghoulism.” Here it was noted that Raul Tejada was not able to be present at the commission, though he was thought to be a contending team owner.
• All players must be drug screened on a daily basis before and after games. Anyone caught using performance-enhancing drugs will be suspended for a pre-determined amount of time.
• The following chems are banned from the league: buffout, cateye, doctor’s bag, fixer, hydra, jet, med-x, mentats, psycho, radaway, rebound, rocket, steady, stimpaks, and turbo.
• No one with any violent gang or hostile affiliation will be allowed to play.
• No weapons are allowed at any time. Any use of a weapon, including a baseball bat for weapon purposes, will result in a lifetime ban.

The commission also agreed that all communities would be considered for a baseball team, with the hope of trying to spread the league out beyond the scoop of the Strip. Dennis Crocker spent a lot of time explaining that President Aaron Kimball was willing to place teams on any of the facilities in the New Vegas/Mojave area except the Fort. Lee agreed that crossing the Colorado River was not in the league’s best interest at that time, lest there could be more future trouble from the remaining factions of the Legion.

The following potential locations for teams were brought up: Goodsprings (facility built in 2283), Red Rock Canyon (facility built in 2283), Freeside’s Old Mormon Fort (facility built in 2283), Westside (facility built in 2283), Camp McCarron (facility built in 2283), Nellis AFB (facility built in January 2284), North Vegas (facility to be completed in summer 2284), Camp Golf (facility to be completed in fall 2284), Novac (facility to be completed in fall 2284), Jacobstown (facility to be built by early 2285). Other potential locations for baseball facilities included 188 Trading Post, Primm, Black Mountain, the Hoover Dam, Aerotech Office Park, Whiskey Rose Caravans (formerly Crimson Caravans), and the NCR Correctional Facility.