OOTP Developments Forums - View Single Post - Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs (1961-)

gskweres9 · 02-27-2018, 01:18 PM

NOTE: This is a reboot from my original Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs. My laptop crashed towards the end of the first season and I lost my progress,
so I am starting it over in a new thread. You can read the original thread in the link above. The first few posts here will just be copying and pasting from the old thread, and in the next day or two I will begin doing the gameplay over again.

Turmoil. One word described the state of franchises in Major League Baseball in 1958. The Dodgers left Brooklyn. The Giants left New York. The Browns left St. Louis. There's a lot more teams that moved that I haven't even mentioned.

New York Mayor Robert Wagner was hell-bent on bringing another baseball team back to New York. His city just didn't feel right with only one team in it. The mayor was a busy man, and he couldn't bring baseball to New York by himself, so he tabbed Brooklyn attorney William Shea to lead the charge.

Shea originally went directly to baseball with a simple plea -- expansion. However, baseball refused to expand. The National and American Leagues each had 8 teams since 1900, and nobody saw a reason to change the construction of the league.

This left Shea with only one option...Create a league of his own.

Insert the Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs.

“This country has grown too big for the entire framework of the major leagues to consist of 16 franchises, just as it did 58 years ago,” Shea said.

Shea needed help to make this vision come to life, and let me tell you, William Shea couldn't have picked a better person.

Branch Rickey

Think about all of the things Rickey had done for baseball: He pioneered the farm system, he invented baseball academies, he helped break the color barrier.

Rickey jumped all over the opportunity. He had been forced into retirement after being fired as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates just a few years prior, and he wasn't exactly enjoying it. The way he saw it, his footprint was all over baseball, and now he could form a league completely in his own image.

So in 1958, Branch Rickey became the President of the Continental League.

Rickey and Shea got to work on finding financial backing for their league.

The two wanted franchises in baseball starved cities around the country, and maybe even out of the country. Eventually they tabbed Robert Howsam to own a team in Denver, oil magnate Craig F. Cullinan Jr. to own a team in Houston, Wheelock Whitney Jr. to own a team in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Joan Whitney Payson to own a team in New York, and Jack Kent Cooke to own a team across the border in Toronto.

The owners each pledged to pay the league $50,000, and they all committed to a capital investment of $2.5M, excluding stadium costs. Each team would be required to construct a stadium with a capacity of at least 35,000.

Rickey knew that the league would need something to set it apart from the already established teams in America, and he wanted to hit them where it hurt. Rickey always believed parity was a good thing, so in order to keep the teams competitive, he instituted revenue sharing. It always ticked him off watching the damn Yankees win every single year, his league would be different. The owners would all split the money they made off of television between the teams. Rickey believed this league could be special.

The five owners joined Shea and Rickey at the Biltmore Hotel as they revealed the league to the media.

The media loved it. These were powerful businessmen, and Rickey was a powerful baseball mind. The league became front page news immediately.

“What impresses me is the dream of baseball hasn’t perished in this country,” Jimmy Cannon wrote in The New York Journal-American. “We still want it in our cities and important people are willing to risk fortunes to buy it for their hometowns.”

Questions remained, who would play for these teams? Will it only be five teams? How long until the league is a true competitor to MLB?

***NOTE: ALL OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS FACTUAL, INCLUDING QUOTES. I HAVE FOUND THEM IN ARTICLES AND IN RESEARCH ABOUT THE CONTINENTAL LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL CLUBS. IN REAL LIFE, MLB FINALLY GAVE IN AND EXPANDED, ADDING THE METS IN 1962. WITH BASEBALL BACK IN NEW YORK, SHEA FOLDED THE CONTINENTAL LEAGUE BEFORE IT EVER BEGAN PLAY. IN THIS OOTP UNIVERSE, THE MLB WILL CONTINUE TO BE STUBBORN, AND WE WILL SEE IF SHEA'S DREAM COULD HAVE PANNED OUT.

02-27-2018, 01:18 PM	#1
gskweres9 Major Leagues Join Date: May 2015 Location: Houston Posts: 439	Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs (1961-) NOTE: This is a reboot from my original Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs. My laptop crashed towards the end of the first season and I lost my progress, so I am starting it over in a new thread. You can read the original thread in the link above. The first few posts here will just be copying and pasting from the old thread, and in the next day or two I will begin doing the gameplay over again. Turmoil. One word described the state of franchises in Major League Baseball in 1958. The Dodgers left Brooklyn. The Giants left New York. The Browns left St. Louis. There's a lot more teams that moved that I haven't even mentioned. New York Mayor Robert Wagner was hell-bent on bringing another baseball team back to New York. His city just didn't feel right with only one team in it. The mayor was a busy man, and he couldn't bring baseball to New York by himself, so he tabbed Brooklyn attorney William Shea to lead the charge. Shea originally went directly to baseball with a simple plea -- expansion. However, baseball refused to expand. The National and American Leagues each had 8 teams since 1900, and nobody saw a reason to change the construction of the league. This left Shea with only one option...Create a league of his own. Insert the Continental League of Professional Baseball Clubs. “This country has grown too big for the entire framework of the major leagues to consist of 16 franchises, just as it did 58 years ago,” Shea said. Shea needed help to make this vision come to life, and let me tell you, William Shea couldn't have picked a better person. Branch Rickey Think about all of the things Rickey had done for baseball: He pioneered the farm system, he invented baseball academies, he helped break the color barrier. Rickey jumped all over the opportunity. He had been forced into retirement after being fired as general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates just a few years prior, and he wasn't exactly enjoying it. The way he saw it, his footprint was all over baseball, and now he could form a league completely in his own image. So in 1958, Branch Rickey became the President of the Continental League. Rickey and Shea got to work on finding financial backing for their league. The two wanted franchises in baseball starved cities around the country, and maybe even out of the country. Eventually they tabbed Robert Howsam to own a team in Denver, oil magnate Craig F. Cullinan Jr. to own a team in Houston, Wheelock Whitney Jr. to own a team in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Joan Whitney Payson to own a team in New York, and Jack Kent Cooke to own a team across the border in Toronto. The owners each pledged to pay the league $50,000, and they all committed to a capital investment of $2.5M, excluding stadium costs. Each team would be required to construct a stadium with a capacity of at least 35,000. Rickey knew that the league would need something to set it apart from the already established teams in America, and he wanted to hit them where it hurt. Rickey always believed parity was a good thing, so in order to keep the teams competitive, he instituted revenue sharing. It always ticked him off watching the damn Yankees win every single year, his league would be different. The owners would all split the money they made off of television between the teams. Rickey believed this league could be special. The five owners joined Shea and Rickey at the Biltmore Hotel as they revealed the league to the media. The media loved it. These were powerful businessmen, and Rickey was a powerful baseball mind. The league became front page news immediately. “What impresses me is the dream of baseball hasn’t perished in this country,” Jimmy Cannon wrote in The New York Journal-American. “We still want it in our cities and important people are willing to risk fortunes to buy it for their hometowns.” Questions remained, who would play for these teams? Will it only be five teams? How long until the league is a true competitor to MLB? ***NOTE: ALL OF THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS FACTUAL, INCLUDING QUOTES. I HAVE FOUND THEM IN ARTICLES AND IN RESEARCH ABOUT THE CONTINENTAL LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL CLUBS. IN REAL LIFE, MLB FINALLY GAVE IN AND EXPANDED, ADDING THE METS IN 1962. WITH BASEBALL BACK IN NEW YORK, SHEA FOLDED THE CONTINENTAL LEAGUE BEFORE IT EVER BEGAN PLAY. IN THIS OOTP UNIVERSE, THE MLB WILL CONTINUE TO BE STUBBORN, AND WE WILL SEE IF SHEA'S DREAM COULD HAVE PANNED OUT.