Help Starting a league

[orin2]

Greetings everyone,

I am waiting for the new OOTP to come out so I can start my first league. I have some things that I would like to do and any advice or pointers would be welcome.

The Setting:

Welcome to the world. In 1941 the United States entered WW II and baseball was suspended as being non-essential and a drain on national resources. The German offensive swept through France and crossed the English channel to take the fight to the shores of England. The Nazis took control of most of England except for Scotland and parts of Wales. The United States focused its energy on the Nazi threat as Hitler was promising in his radio-casts to take the fight across the Atlantic to the states. In 1944 the US launched a brave seaborne assault on the western shore of England and after a year of fighting managed to drive the Nazis out of England. Two years later, they took the fighting to the shores of France as they landed near Calais. The German army, heavily thinned due to fighting with the Russians on the eastern front, was smashed at the point of the invasion and had to withdraw to pre-prepared positions. However, the German's new jet powered aircraft, although few in number, decimated the Allied air assault and slowed the invasion.
America used its first two nuclear weapons to force Japan to surrender but another bomb was at least six months away in the fall of 1946 and the Germans threatened to unleash their own nuclear weapon should America attack the Reich with the bomb. The war in Europe dragged on for three more long years until Hitler was assassinated by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The German Reich surrendered and America was able to bring its troops home after nine long years of warfare.
MLB attempted to restart but interest in the game was low and attendance struggled. In 1952 MLB shuttered the doors on its stadiums stating that the American public had lost their ability to love the game in the carnage of WW II. Contributing to the fall of major league baseball were two other factors. Owners were unable to come to an agreement on how revenues were to be shared and how they were to manage the expected growth in player salaries. The second factor was the sudden rise in popularity of the NFL. Football was fast paced and full of former soldiers, sailors and marines. America had a new past time and its name was football.
Meanwhile, across the pond, the British Isles struggled with inflation and the strain on the economy as it attempted to rebuild. Hundreds of thousands of people had been killed during both invasions and most of the cities lay ruined even four years after the end of the war. The spirit of the British people was at the breaking point.
A man named Gregor Llwyedd settled on the idea of baseball as the savior of the British people. The British had long been fans of crickett and Llwyedd figured that by giving the people something to talk about and think about other than their day to day lives, it wold help restore national spirit. Llwyedd settled on the name British Isles Baseball League, a 16 team league with 4 teams each in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Englad. Llwyedd convinced a handful of former MLB stars to move to the isles and play.

Welcome to 1953 and the BIBL.

So thats my idea. What I want to do is find a way to generate mostly English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh names with the occasional US player as well. I want to use a regular draft order with the top 6 teams in a lottery setup similar to the NBA.
I need to figure out how to import a handful of real 1940s-1950s stars and the occasional real player. I guess that will be hard without actually having the new software.
Any comments/ advice?

Thanks!

Fred

[lencombs]

Originally Posted by orin2

Greetings everyone,

I am waiting for the new OOTP to come out so I can start my first league. I have some things that I would like to do and any advice or pointers would be welcome.

The Setting:

Welcome to the world. In 1941 the United States entered WW II and baseball was suspended as being non-essential and a drain on national resources. The German offensive swept through France and crossed the English channel to take the fight to the shores of England. The Nazis took control of most of England except for Scotland and parts of Wales. The United States focused its energy on the Nazi threat as Hitler was promising in his radio-casts to take the fight across the Atlantic to the states. In 1944 the US launched a brave seaborne assault on the western shore of England and after a year of fighting managed to drive the Nazis out of England. Two years later, they took the fighting to the shores of France as they landed near Calais. The German army, heavily thinned due to fighting with the Russians on the eastern front, was smashed at the point of the invasion and had to withdraw to pre-prepared positions. However, the German's new jet powered aircraft, although few in number, decimated the Allied air assault and slowed the invasion.
America used its first two nuclear weapons to force Japan to surrender but another bomb was at least six months away in the fall of 1946 and the Germans threatened to unleash their own nuclear weapon should America attack the Reich with the bomb. The war in Europe dragged on for three more long years until Hitler was assassinated by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. The German Reich surrendered and America was able to bring its troops home after nine long years of warfare.
MLB attempted to restart but interest in the game was low and attendance struggled. In 1952 MLB shuttered the doors on its stadiums stating that the American public had lost their ability to love the game in the carnage of WW II. Contributing to the fall of major league baseball were two other factors. Owners were unable to come to an agreement on how revenues were to be shared and how they were to manage the expected growth in player salaries. The second factor was the sudden rise in popularity of the NFL. Football was fast paced and full of former soldiers, sailors and marines. America had a new past time and its name was football.
Meanwhile, across the pond, the British Isles struggled with inflation and the strain on the economy as it attempted to rebuild. Hundreds of thousands of people had been killed during both invasions and most of the cities lay ruined even four years after the end of the war. The spirit of the British people was at the breaking point.
A man named Gregor Llwyedd settled on the idea of baseball as the savior of the British people. The British had long been fans of crickett and Llwyedd figured that by giving the people something to talk about and think about other than their day to day lives, it wold help restore national spirit. Llwyedd settled on the name British Isles Baseball League, a 16 team league with 4 teams each in Scotland, Ireland, Wales and Englad. Llwyedd convinced a handful of former MLB stars to move to the isles and play.

Welcome to 1953 and the BIBL.

So thats my idea. What I want to do is find a way to generate mostly English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh names with the occasional US player as well. I want to use a regular draft order with the top 6 teams in a lottery setup similar to the NBA.
I need to figure out how to import a handful of real 1940s-1950s stars and the occasional real player. I guess that will be hard without actually having the new software.
Any comments/ advice?

Thanks!

Fred

Excellent backstory for a league there, close enough to the reality of what happened, but takes a different bounce. Very imaginative.
As for European names set, I have never seen one, but should be easy enough to filter through your names.dat just weed out the italian, polish names etc, and toss in a bunch of Mc for irish, like McDavidson, etc. Most american surnames are european anyways.