Blessed in the West - A Pacific West League Story
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NOTE: the following is a brief story to compliment the league, and all reports will be written in past tense]
New Year's Eve. Benjamin François - a French immigrant with his mother and father in 1994 - was living the high life. Benjamin had just recently turned 19, two weeks prior, and had become a permanent United States citizen after residing in Astoria, Oregon for five years. The Northwest is a beauty. Certainly more so than back home in Sadroc - a small French village. He hated it there during his childhood - no entertainment, little friends, and plains...everywhere. But, he did miss home. The local baseball team, the Sadroc Boys, were left to play with just 8 after the departure of long time 1st Basemen, Marin Leroy, and after Benjamin - who played Right - went, the Boys were down to 7. He did wonder, every once in a while, how his buddies back home are doing.
His father had received a call the night before, December 30th, 1999. Brasil Orléans - Manager of the Sadroc Boys, and long time friend of the François' family. The true inspiration for Benjamin's love for baseball, had called to schedule a visit to the U.S next month.
...
January 23. Benjamin's father greeted Brasil at the Portland International Airport, and drove him back to Astoria. However, Brasil's visit to the U.S wasn't fun and games. The now-67 year old had gotten lung cancer in 1995, shortly after Benjamin's exit from the country. Just one year to live...The news came as an absolute shock to the François' - Brasil was a wonderfully, energetic and kind old man just a few years back. But, his visit wasn't just to spread the bad news, as he had brought a gift - a Babe Ruth signed baseball card. How he had obtained such item is unknown, but he claimed to have gotten it from his father, who served in the First Great War (most likely from a fellow army-men). Brasil does not have any children, so had decided to make the special trip to the U.S to say goodbye, and pass down the card. He asks of one thing from Benjamin in return - to bring the joy of baseball to the residents of Astoria. Yes, it was true. Astoria lacked any baseball program in Junior-High, High-School, College, and even Little League. Of course, this sort of problem to Brasil was like a public health crisis.
"Let the west be blessed with baseball, Ben!"
The final words Benjamin were to ever hear from his longtime coach.
February 1st. Brasil had flown back home to spend his final months with the comfort of his family in Sadroc. And Benjamin did not take his upcoming death lightly - he knew very well that he had to follow up on Brasil's wishes in order to honor him. So with the help of his father, Benjamin, an aspiring 19 year old, took to the Oregon State Administrative Office in request of licenses to start a baseball league of sort. Of course, this would not be an easy task, as the response he received was something along the lines of "Money, or nothing". Thankfully, the François' were quite a wealthy household, but a requirement of 100 different public contributions had been placed on the license, furthering the task. The following days were spent in recruiting patrons for the league funding - the deadline being Valentine's.
Valentine's Day. He had done it. With nearly 120 contributions, and upwards of $15,000 in cash, Benjamin took back to the OSAO. Permission was granted, but the true task had yet to come. Construct a league of at least 8 teams by March 1st. Jesus ****ing Christ. 8 teams? This would not be as simple as the patrons, as Benjamin knew damn well that he wasn't going to find 8 local Astorian clubs. He had always hated the octet-rule. An all-Oregon league? Possible. An Oregon-Washington league? Also possible. How about a Pacific West league? Oregon-Washington-Idaho-California-Nevada. The dream was still far from forming.
March 1st. Over the course of two weeks, Benjamin took the streets of the entire West Coast, in search of eight teams to play in the league. On February 29th, the league had been filled with a single team from each Pacific West state, but falling three teams short, he had his father hit up some colleagues in Arizona, Montana, and Utah to complete the octet. Thank god it was a leap year. The OSAO once again approved the final process of the league creation process, and left the rules, details and finances of the league up to newly-promoted Commissioner, Benjamin François. His love for baseball and the West Coast had finally prevailed.
Teams:
Northwest Division
Boise Bombers
Montana Bears
Oregon Trailers
Seattle Pilots
Southwest Division
California Claim Jumpers
Nevada Sierras
Phoenix Venoms
Salt Lake City Alpines
Rules
Roster Size: 26
Reserve Roster Size: 50
DH: No
Schedule Length: 84 Games
Balanced Schedule: No
Inter-league: Yes
Season Start Date: March 15
Trading Deadline: April 30
Amateur Draft: October 1 (5R6G)
HoF:
Waiting Period - 3y; On Ballot - 5y; Min. Service - 5y, Induction - 80%, Drop - 20%
Financials
(as a C-Student in school, Benjamin had the respective owners decide this)
Ticket Price Baseline: $10.00
Gate Share: 20%
Min. Days of Service for 1 Service Year: 100
Posting System: No
Years Required for Arbitration: 2
March 2nd. Players from around the nation scrambled to register for the Pacific West League tryouts, estimated to be about Low A ~ Double A skill level.