Testing the Waters...Historical League

[LaggTime]

Looks like another solid league from Nate is right around the corner. I hope its a solid success and if its anything like SO49 it will be one of the best real soon.

[Ragin Cajun]

I'm a ****** for ground floor leagues with great leadership. Put me down as interested Prof.

[The Professor]

To update:

I'm working on editing a league file using several different resources, trying to get things pretty accurate. If nothing else, I will provide my edited 1930 file for any solo-gamers who might want to use it. I am also tweaking and reworking rules, working on salary pages, and trying to put some kind of website together (I'm a total hack with HTML and stuff...)

Anyway, slowly but surely. Stay tuned.

[IatricSB]

I'd be interested also if you have anymore openings.

[Jeremy Weimer]

Sure Stacy, follow me to another league.

[ShoelessJ03]

i would be interested. Let me know If this league becomes reality.

Email- Jundogg@cox.net

[TonyJ]

*drools*

[The Professor]

UPDATE:

Yes, I am still working on this project. Today, I think, I finally nailed down a solid core financial system that uses spreadsheets (easy for me). I've got to test it a bit and finalize some important modifiers (ie. what factors increase/decrease fan interest, which turns out to be a major factor in the system and influences not only base attendance reveune but also what sponsors will sign, etc.)

I've also reconsidered what kind of league it will be. It will be a historical/fictional league (with several influences that will be duly credited). I'm about 85% done with the league's story (why it came to be, what it is all about) and am editing the file which will include a healthy mix of MLBers of the era, Negro Leaguers, fictional players and players from the major minor leagues of the era (real names and, hopefully, real data but slightly fictionalized depending on what kind of stats I can pull together). As of now it looks to include 24 teams (fairly large for the era, yes, but once the back story is released, it makes a little more sense...)

In any event, I think it will be compelling and hopefully fairly unique despite its many influences.

[rem]

That sounds very awesome, I can't wait!

[jdettbarn]

Yes, sounds very cool.

I would be interested when this kicks off.

[Michael Xavier]

I can't wait Nate... you do a terrific job, regardless of my constant complaining in So'49.

[Jeremy Weimer]

Sounds like a lot of work Nate, good luck with it and hopefully it all works out in the end to make a very exciting and fun league.

[Bisbo]

Again, I would love to have a franchise when this is up and running!

[dougaiton]

Great stuff, Nate!

[goroyals]

Great ideas-I'm interested.

[BCStone57]

As I've been retired for the past few months from online leagues, this is the first league that has caught my eye since Ive started looking here on the boards.

[darkhorse]

Who wouldn't enjoy tenure in such a league. Good luck, Prof!

[Cooleyvol]

Any update, Prof?

[LaggTime]

People standing in line on this one Nate......

[The Professor]

Getting closer...

A few of the extras that will be included:

• Separate salary structure/ Revenue System
  
  
• Fan Interest now influenced by a number of variables including, but not limited to, team peformance
  
  
• Managers have a 'Winner Rating' (WR) that determines their salary as well as the potential effects of hiring/firing. The rating also fluctuates depending on a team's performance. Firing a winning manager can send a bad message to the fans and influence that critical Fan Interest.
  
  
• Teams will be able to sign up to 2 sponsors per season. Sponsors bring in extra revenue but the best sponsors require certain conditions be met (winning teams, announcers who can sell...)
  
  
• Broadcasters rated in three categories: PBP (which measures voice, language, and general skill at calling the action), SHILL (how good of a salesman is he) and POP (how popular is he?). Good announcers fan help improve Fan Interest. Bad announcers can hurt it. They can also determine what sponsors are willing to sign on.

...and more

Here is a brief version of the league backstory and a list of the teams that will be taking the field sometime in 1930...

The Columbia Alliance Story, In Brief...

WINTER 1929-1930

Los Angeles, CA –

A meeting between PCL President Hiland Baggerly, George Trautman of Columbus, and Mike J. Kelley of Minneapolis is held in Los Angeles. At this meeting Kelley unveils a proposal to unite several of the AA Class minor leagues in an effort to head off potential profit losses due to the recent economic dislocations troubling the country. Having gotten Baggerly’s attention, Kelley then suggests the possibility of vying with the two Major Leagues using Baggerly’s own Pacific Coast League as a foundation for a new, third, “Major League.” Baggerly promises to support such a venture if a majority of minor league owners, and the necessary capital, can be found to support it. This meeting will come to be known as the ‘Kelley Mutiny.’

Chicago, IL –

Following the Kelley Mutiny, Trautman organizes a collection of officials from the American Assocation, International League, Pacific Coast League, Texas League, Western League and Southern Association, gathering them in Chicago. Also present at this meeting is Chicago Cubs owner William Wrigley (who also has a vested interest in the PCL as owner of the Los Angeles Angels). While Trautman makes his case for a new alliance of the minor leagues, citing the ill effects of the MLB monopoly, especially the financial strain this places on the minors (making them sickly surrogates of the big leagues), he avoids mentioning the ‘Third League’ proposal. Wrigley, however, announces that he has been in contact with Baggerly and will not only support the establishment of a third major league, but also knows someone in the commissioner’s office who might be amenable to getting such a project off the ground. In short, Wrigley believes that a third league will not only survive but will prosper and, in time, will improve the fortunes of all American baseball. While other MLB owners are preparing to hunker down should the economic decline prove lasting, Wrigley insists that now is the time to expand and bring a solid brand of professional baseball to all the country, especially to large population centers like Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, CA –

A hastily prepared meeting is held back in Los Angeles, the largest yet and including most of the dignitaries involved in the Chicago Conference. Presiding over the meeting with Kelley is the PCL president, Baggerly, and Trautman. By far the most conspicuous figure present is MLB secretary Leslie M. O'Connor who is here without the consent (or knowledge) of Judge Landis. The proposal unveiled to the minor league magnates is one of enormous ambition -- an alliance between the most prominent AA leagues and the formation of a new coast-to-coast baseball circuit composed of two baseball congresses. As Kelly and Trautman explain, the recent economic downturn offers the best opportunity for toppling the monopoly that is MLB, the monopoly that is strangling the minors and making them a dependent of the big leagues. Trautman rouses the crowd by noting that while MLB owners are protecting their pocketbooks, others can capture a slice of the baseball market. When the economy rights itself, as surely it must do in the coming months, they will stand to prosper. The meeting devolves into a debate on the severity of the economic crisis, but the general tenor of the room is one of cautious optimism. At last, Baggerly, whose league has long harbored ambitions of being 'the third Major League' is especially assertive in his belief that an alliance of this sort can - and will - succeed.

While some owners, led by Toledo president Waldo Shank, shirk at the idea and refuse to take part in what they consider a brazen declaration of war against the Majors, others are intrigued. Trautman leads a vote that determines Kelley, Baggerly, O'Connor and John Corbett of Jersey City as the men who will ultimately determine the fate of such a venture.

Corbett, president of the Jersey City Giants, will work at establishing a beachhead in New York, a market the fledgling alliance cannot afford to abandon. He also suggests that anchor franchises be formed in Boston and Chicago as well, cities that may be able to support a third (or even a fourth) franchise. The true strength of the circuit, however, will come from the core of the old Pacific Coast League which promises to retain or establish franchises in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, San Diego and Oakland.

League offices will be housed in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, CA --

News travels quickly and within hours headlines crow about the announced “War” against the majors, the treachery of owners at the “Los Angeles Revolution”, and the absurdity of the 'Kelley Proposal'. In the first official meeting of the venture’s supporters, O'Conner concludes that the new alliance could easily lure Major League stars with the promise of a progressive, but reasonable, salary structure, one that allows owners to retain a majority of control but which promises considerably more freedom than the MLB Reserve Clause does. When other owners contend that only the dregs of the Majors would consider crossing the lines, Montreal's Hector Racine suggests tapping into other reserves of talent, reserves that will not only provide a raw source of players, but also players of impressive caliber, players that might also give the league a new dimension and appeal to a larger fan base. "If we are but willing to abandon our prejudices," claimed Racine, "we might well put a superior product on the field. Talent isn't in the color of a man's skin..."

While several magnates are shocked at the implications of such a proposal, the 'Racine Coup' ultimately succeeds. By a rather slim 14-10 margin the gathering agrees that the success of their venture depends on ending baseball’s long tradition of segregation. The new baseball circuit will welcome African-American ballplayers. However, realist that he is, O’Connor also acknowledges that unless men of vision (as well as substantial wealth) are courted to invest in the league, men who aren’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with conventional wisdom as well as the tenuous depression economy, the venture will never get off the ground

In the weeks that followed the league, to be called the Columbia Alliance, establishes a working structure.

There were to be two Congresses, East and West, each housing two Leagues. The Eastern Congress, headed by Corbett, would be home to the Atlantic League and the Heartland League. The second Congress, led by Kelley, would look to include teams from throughout the Great Plains, as far south as Texas. It would include the Pioneer League and the core squads of the Pacific Coast League. Baggerly and O'Connor would act as the league's surrogate presidents, leaving the majority of grunt work to a newly assigned Alliance Secretary.

The first order of business would be to find willing investors, men and women who might be willing to stake their fortunes on baseball, who would purchase the majority of stock in the franchises of the Columbia Alliance.

The teams?

TEAM DIRECTORY - ATLANTIC LEAGUE

New York Knights
Knights Field

Montreal Royals
Le Stade Delorimier (Delorimier Downs)

Columbus Bluebirds
Neil Park

Buffalo Electrics
Offerman Park

Baltimore Orioles
Oriole Park

Boston Beacons
Braves Field

HEARTLAND LEAGUE

Milwaukee Hops
Stadium TBA

Chicago Bruins
South Side Park

Louisville Colonels
Stadium TBA

Memphis Blues
Martin Park

Indianapolis Indians
Stadium TBA

New Orleans Pelicans
Pelicans Stadium

PIONEER LEAGUE

Kansas City Rooks
Muelebach Field

Tulsa Oilers
TBA

Dallas Eagles
Schepps Field

Houston Buffaloes
Buff Stadium

Minneapolis Millers
Nicollet Park

Denver Grizzlies
TBA

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Los Angeles Angels
Wrigley Field

San Francisco Seals
Seals Stadium

Oakland Oaks
Oaks Stadium

San Diego Padres
Balboa Stadium

Portland Beavers
Vaughn Street Park

Seattle Rainiers
Dugdale Park