American Association (A New Dynasty)

[big freddy]

This is my 1st attempt at writing a dynasty. I have read many on here and now have decided to write my own. Here is the league and my idea. I started with my great great grandfather's name and pretend he was a GM for the new league formed throughout the U.S. The league began in 1901. The name of the league is American Association. The settings are relative to the era.

The teams are divided into 2 Leagues. The Western Association and the Eastern League.

Western Association
Pacific Coast Division
Los Angeles Suns
Portland Pioneers
San Diego Captains
San Francisco Earthquakes
San Jose Falcons
Seattle Volcanoes

Rockies Division
Albuquerque Missions
Billings Cowboys
Boise Coyotes
Denver Mountaineers
Phoenix Rattlers
Salt Lake Sea Monsters

Eastern League
Atlantic Divsion
Atlanta Force
Boston Pilgrims
Charlotte Eagles
Jacksonville Gators
New York Knights
Washington Capitals

Midwest Division
Chicago Fire
Detroit Speedsters
Houston Stampede
Indianapolis Hackers
Omaha Beef
Saint Paul Lakers

Atlanta leads with 6 championships.

It is 1927 and my great great grandfather has become the GM of the Salt Lake Sea Monsters.

[big freddy]

George Frady takes over struggling club

Salt Lake City, Utah (AP)- George Frady was sitting in his office looking over the rosters of the minor league affiliates.

"We have some good prospects down there. Julian and I were discussing how to make this season work so our prospects can get some grooming while still winning on the major league level." said Frady.

Julian Oginlara is the scouting director for the Sea Monsters, who have not enjoyed a winning season in 8 years and have not made the play-offs in 9 years. Their 3 play-off appearances are the worst in the American Association.

"We should finish .500 this year, and challange for a play-off birth. I feel real guility for our paltry minor league system. I have not done my job, but after Mr. Frady came in and made a few trades, he is holding me accountable for the future of this club," said Oginlara.

"The fans want a winner. I am going to give them a winner. I want a championship before I retire," said the 54-year old GM Frady.

[big freddy]

A balding older looking gentleman sat ruffling through the papers sitting on his desk. An even older looking gentleman came by the office.

"Can I bother you for one second?" asked Julian Oglara, Scouting Director for the Salt Lake Sea Monsters.

"What's on your mind?" responed George Frady, GM of the Sea Monsters.

"We have to decided who to invite to Spring Training camp this year. So, I thought if you had time we could do that right now," said Oglara.

"I was just thinking the same thing. I was looking through your scouting reports. You did a very good job," responded Frady.

"Thank you," said Oglara compimintary.

"Let's start with the Starting Pitchers. Of course, we are going to keep the guys who pitched all year for us. Les Decker was our best pitcher last year. He won 20 games. He will be our number 1 guy to start the season," started Frady. "Next, we will have Jesus Cabrara, who while losing 20 games also won 18 last year. He is 36, so hopefully he can give us some veteran starts."

"I see Ricardo Vargas on the active roster. I think he can give you innings. I can't say if they will be very productive," chimed in Oglara. "Neal Potter needs to get an invite. I think he will be a future 2 or 3 starter, and he could really challange Vargas. He had 16 wins last year in AAA Dallas and an ERA in the mid 3's."

"That's what we really need, competetion. No one will be entitled to a job, but will earn it. That being said, I really, I really think we have something special with this Jim House guy. He absolutly dominated in AA Fort Worth last year going 22-4 with a 2.00 ERA. I think he has a very good chance to stay up here and be the number 3 starter this year. Is this a misprint? Is he really only 20 years old?"

"That is correct"

"We really need to hold onto him," commented Frady. "Just like this Juan Oliveras, who you say could be a number one starter soon."

[big freddy]

George Frady was reluctant to pick up the phone. It was the middle of spring training. The players were getting into form. Tough decisions were being decided by the staff. Then in a game against the Denver Mountaineers, everything went sour. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Frady saw what no one in the Sea Monsters organization wanted to see. Star rookie Takuji Hosokawa, who batted .383 with 5 HR's and 32 RBI's in 40 games last season, was laying on the ground in obvious pain. Armando Galindo, the team trainer, was tending to Hosokawa.

"Where does it hurt?" asked Galindo.

Hosokawa looked at him questionably. Hosokawa was born and raised in Japan, and could not speak english.

"Get me somebody who can translate for us, and hurry," ordered Galindo.

Out came hitting coach Yoshinori Kato.

"What can I do for you?," asked Kato.

"I need to know where it hurts, so I can asses the damage," replied Galindo.

"He said his back is throbbing with pain," translated Kato.

"Oh, ok, we'll need an ambulance and a cart," ordered Galindo, looking very worried.

Frady ran from the office, where he was listening to the game on the radio while working on some paper work for the team. He didn't stop until he was in the dugout.

"How does it look, doc?" asked Frady, after Hosokawa had been taken to the hospital.

"It doesn't look good," replied Galindo.

"It doesn't look good, as in I better start looking for a FA LF, or it doesn't look good, as in we can get by with a minor leaguer for a little while?" Frady asked.

"I am not going to tell you how to run a Major League team, but it looks like it might be awhile before he comes back. I will let you know tonight, what the diagnosis is going to be," a sullin Galindo stated.

That brings us to the phone call.

Frady cleared his throat as he picked up the phone.

"Hello," Frady chimed.

"Hello," replied Galindo.

"It's bad, isn't it, doc?" asked Frady.

"Yup, 11 months is my guess. He has a herniated disk in his back."

"That's not good. I hope he gets healthy soon, but now I need to find a LF'er again."

Just then, a really old man entered the doorway to Frady's office.

"I'm really sorry, boss, but I've been around this game along time, and I can tell you that we can still make a go of this," said Charles Andrews, a 49 year veteran of baseball, who has won 1350 games as a manager, 2nd most in the history of the American Association. He is 63 years old and jubiliant as ever.

"You heard the news?" responded George, after saying good-bye to Armando.

"I sure did," replied Charles, breaking open a 6 pack of Schlitz. "You want one?" offering Frady.

"Why not? It's been a rough one today."

"Let's see if we have anything in the minors before we get too worried about replacing Tak . . . Takgu, ah, the LF'er. That name I never could pronounce," said Charles, opening up his first beer. "Anyways, I have Ramiro on my case every single day about getting in the starting line-up, just get me a guy that can field and run, and I will patch things together this year."

Ramiro Mejia is a big scrappy LF'er out of Mexico, who was the 11th round draft pick of the San Francisco Earthquakes in 1915. He has been traded twice to Salt Lake.

"Well, let's finish this six-pack, and get home, little Jack is waiting for me to play catch with him. You know how much I spoil my grandchild plus I need to try to get some shut eye to help you out this year," commented Frady, as he locked the door behind him and Charles.

"See ya tomorrow, boss," replied Charles.

"See ya," Frady said in the distance.

[big freddy]

STREET & SMITH SPORTING NEWS
1927 BASEBALL PREVIEW

SALT LAKE SEA MONSTERS
Projected Line-Up (1926 stats in parantheses)
38 Emilio Salinas RF (.238-2-31)
24 Mike Murphy C (.300-10-74)
23 Tony Willis CF (.335-15-101)
51 Juan Lopez 3B (.321-7-88)
34 Simon Major 1B (.262-1-48)
32 Jose Silva LF (.310-14-59)
10 Pancho Sanchez 2B (.239-0-19)
40 Mokichi Kouda SS (.238-2-15)

Key Bench Players
54 Will Grant INF (.278-5-62)
22 Ramiro Mejia OF (.258-3-33)
5 Kisho Abe C (.000-0-0)

Starting Rotation
17 Les Ducker (20-14, 3.73)
62 Jesus Cabrara (18-20, 4.16)
31 Ricardo Vargas (8-16, 5.40)
73 Jim House (0-0, 0.00)

Bullpen
Guillaume Lambert (4-4, 6, 3.57)
Luppe Zwarthoed (4-2, 3, 4.58)
Bob Fox (8-4, 11, 1.10)

The franchise hopes that George Frady can be the savior they have been longing for since the inception of this league in 1901. It won't be easy as Frady has inherited a lot of problems.

Getting Jose Silva in a deal in December is a huge step in the right direction for this team. The 27 year old 2 time all-star selection is a career .328 hitter and has never hit less than 10 HR's in his brief 5 year career. He will team up with powerful CF'er Tony Willis, a .321 career hitter who belted a career high 15 HR's last year, and has driven in 101 runs in back to back years. The team was 10th in the league in runs scored last year.

They might need those runs as they have a suspect pitching rotation. While #1 starter Les Ducker had a solid year, the rest of the staff struggled as they finished 8th in the league in ERA.

Projected order of finish
Rockies Mountain Division
1. Billings
2. Albuquerque
3. Phoenix
4. Denver
5. Boise
6. Salt Lake

[big freddy]

George took a nice whiff of the clean, cool mountain air. The opening day festivities were over. The mayor of Salt Lake City, Junior Davis, had thrown out the first pitch. The national anthem was performed briliantly by the BYU chorus. It was time for the game George loved, to begin.

He was sitting right behind the Sea Monsters dugout in seats saved for the organization's leading man. Owner, Donald E. Jenkins, president of a coal mining operation in Utah, sat next to George.

"How's the team this year George?" asked Donald, pretending to care.

"I got to think we will be pretty solid, Mr. Jenkins," responded George, hoping that he wouldn't have to talk to him very much throughout the game.

"You know, I am expecting a winning team this year."

"I know. I know. I really want to deliver. We're sending out our ace today. Hopefully he can get us started out on the right foot.

"Look, at all these people. I never thought we would get this many people all year. I have to say, George, you did wonderful job, getting this team together, and talking it up in the community."

"Thank you, Mr. Jenkins. My promotional staff deserves the credit though. They worked their tails off this off season. We really want the fans to come out and enjoy the game."

The game was just starting and Frady was glaring out at the field. The first pitch from Les Ducker was a called strike, and the season had begun. Frady was trying to figure out who had more butterflies in their stomach, him or Ducker. Today, the Sea Monsters were facing division rival Boise. Alberto Cerda was the lead off batter. He was a pesky hitter, who would try to stay alive fouling off pitches. After 6 pitches, he was headed back to the bench after striking out. The next two batters went quickly and quietly in the first inning.

"Can I get you anything, George?" asked Mr. Jenkins, as the bottom of the 2nd inning was about to get under way.

"No, thank you, I'm good," responded George.

"Who could eat a time like this?" thought George. George's stomach was tied in knots, as he wanted to win the first game to give the team confidence.

The bottom of the 2nd had begun. Juan Lopez lined the first pitch he saw to left center for a single. Simon Major followed by rolling an 0-2 pitch through the right side for a base hit. 2nd and 1st 0 outs. The big acquition, Jose Silva, coming to the plate. "C'mon big fella. This is why I got you," thought George. Silva swung at the 0-2 pitch and lined one to center field, but the CF'er got over in time to make the catch. "Rats, so close," said George. A groundout and a strikeout ended the inning, and after 2 innings there was no score.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Ducker led off with a single. After a lineout and a FC. Willis hit a ball to CF. "Another wasted scoring opportunity," said George. "Wait, he dropped it! That definitly hit the ground after he bobbled it. Can't the ump see that." Frady was livid with the 1st base umpire. After a brief conference by the umps, they ruled he did not have it and the CF was charged with an error. "I told you. We have runners at 3rd and 2nd. We need some runs." Lopez delivered an RBI single to deep short and Salt Lake led 1-0 after 3 innings.

The top of the 5th begun, Ducker had not allowed a hit through the first 4 innings. Something that George had noticed, but knew the unwritten rule of baseball, "Never talk about a no-hitter, else you will jinx it." Just then he overheard a fan say "I don't remember him giving up a hit. He hasn't given up a hit." He knew it was over. Sure enough 1 out into the 5th, a solid single between 2nd and 1st, and there would be no no-hitter tonight.

Things were getting tense in the ball game. The game was going to the bottom of the 5th and Salt Lake had only touched starter Francisco Silva for 1 run. They led 1-0, but George knew they would need more runs. No sooner did he think that than a single, double, and 2 sac flys had 2 more runs accross for the Sea Monsters in the 5th. George was much more relaxed with a 3 run lead.

Ducker was cruising through eight innings allowing only 2 hits and 0 runs. The Sea Monsters could not capitilize on their opportunities after the 5th, and led 3-0.

George was feeling the victory. Only 3 outs to go. Ducker walked the lead-off batter. "What are you doing?!" exclaimed Frady. "You have a 3 run lead, don't walk anybody. The worst you could do is give up a HR, but you would still have the lead. Make them earn it." Carlos Fernandez struck out looking. 2 outs away from victory. A single by Jonathan O'Rorke put runners on 2nd and 1st with 1 out. Ramon Zambrano flied out to shallow right for the 2nd out. A 2 out double by Pancho Viera scored both runners and Boise had battled back to a 3-2 deficit. Up stepped Chris Walker. George knew Ducker should finish this journeyman third basemen. The first pitch is a ball. "Go after him," Frady mumbled to himself. The next pitch was slow chopper to 3rd. A tough play for Lopez who threw on the run and with a fraction of a second to spare knipped Walker for the final out.

The coaches and bench players came out led by Charles to congratulate their teammates on a well played game.

George, who had been standing since the beginning of the inning received a congratulatory handshake from Mr. Jenkins. "Good start to the season isn't it?" said Donald.

"Yes, it is," replied George.

Only 161 games to go.

[big freddy]

George had something that was eating him up inside. "I really want to see how others feel about this team, and how we could get this team to keep improving," thought George as he tossed and turned in bed on Saturday night following the Sea Monsters 5th straight victory.

The next day, George spotted his secertary coming out of church. "I'll be right back," said George to his lovely wife.

"I hate to bug you on a Sunday, but I have an important memo I need to get out to the owner and the rest of the staff by tomorrow afternoon," said Frady to his young secertary.

"What is it about?" questioned the secertary.

"I want everyone to meet me at the ballpark in the meeting room for a meeting Monday afternoon," responded Frady.

"That shouldn't be a problem. I will have it done first thing in the morning, and passed out to everyone including Mr. Jenkins, whom I am assuming that you want to be there."

"Thank you very much."

The next day, George went to the meeting room with a folder full of papers. Everyone, but Mr. Jenkins was there. "I suppose we could give Mr. Jenkins a few minutes to get here seeing as he is paying all of our salaries here," joked George.

Spirits were very high among the staff as the Sea Monsters had just finished off a very successful month going 14-9 in the month of April. Not only that, they were also 11th in the league in total attendance. Money was flowing in, and the team was winning.

Mr. Jenkins came into the meeting room around 3:30. "Sorry, everyone, we had a minor crisis at the coal mine, and it took me a while to get here," said Mr. Jenkins.

"No problem," responded George, accepting the apology.

"I called you all here today to start a new idea I came up with Saturday night. I feel that we should get together once a month, and see how the team is going. I am a man who feels that we can solve more problems as a unit than as individuals. So, let's get this meeting started," stated George.

After a few minutes of looking over the papers handed out by George, the brainstorming began.

The scouting director, Julian Oginlara got up in front of the room, and put up his chart of the organization, and the players at each level.

"We really need to find some hitting prospects, George. All we have in the minors is pitching prospects. They are good prospects, but we really need to focus on hitting in the draft," said Oginlara.

"I agree. Do we need much at the major league level, Julian?" responded George.

"We seem to be doing well in that area. I still haven't figured out though, why you put Vargas on waivers?"

"He seemed to be struggling with us, and Sergio was coming off the DL, so I had to find some room for him. Tough decision. Hopefully, it won't come back to bite us."

Next, Mr. Jenkins got up to tell everyone how happy he was with the team. Many just doodled on their notepad and paid no attention to what he had to say. "Keep this up and there might be a raise in the future for all of you," commented Jenkins.

Everyone's ears perked up at that comment.

The standings were in the room as plain as day. "I know we have a long season ahead of us, but just keep up the good work, and we will be playing in October!" excaimed George.

The Standings (May 2nd)
Rockies Division
Denver 16-8 --
Salt Lake 15-9 1
Phoenix 10-15 6.5
Billings 9-15 7
Boise 8-17 8.5
Albuquerque 5-19 11

[big freddy]

George Frady is searching for answers. The team has tailed off quite a bit as June begins. The draft is 10 days away, but he has called a meeting with manager Charlie Andrews today.

"Hey there boss. You wanted to see me?" greeted Charlie.

"Yes. I need to talk about this message I received from one of the players," responds George.

"Whose it from?"

"It's from Ramiro Mejia."

"What's his problem now."

"I'll let you read it." George says as he hands the paper to Charlie.

"You have to be kidding me!" exclaims Charlie. "He seriously wants more playing time. I have Emilio hitting .310 with a couple homers and stealing some bases. I mean when you only hit .280 with no power and no speed, you probably are going to get benched for the other player."

"Well, I have a choice to make. Keep Ramiro and let his negative attitude affect the clubhouse or trade him, hoping to get someone younger and more in-line with our goals as an organization."

"I am probably not going to get him enough at-bats to make him happy, so if we could get a SP or OF for him, I would be more than happy to try to make a run," said Charlie.

"Alright, I had a feeling you were going to say that so I called a few teams just to see what they were offering," said George.

"What can we get for a disgruntled 33 year old left fielder?" asked Charlie.

"Well, we have gotten 3 teams interested that offered us any quality," responded George. "Two are starting pitchers and one center fielder."

"I would definitly be interested in the starting pitchers," said Charlie.

"Ok, we can have Luis Guerra, a 26 year old from the Charlotte Eagles. Our scout doesn't seem to think to highly of him as he said he'll be a back end starter. He is 5-4 with a 4.46 ERA," said Frady.

"Whose the other?" asked Charlie seeming disappointed with the first pitcher.

"The other is more of a prospect. He is 25 year old Leon Ornales, pitching for New York. Oginlara seems that he could fit in the middle of the rotation eventually. This year he is 2-4 with a 4.78 ERA," said George.

"I think we should go with Leon, and send our 5th starter that we never use, on the road," finished Charlie.

"Alright, I am going to send Ramiro on his way then," responded George. "Thank you for your time."

Standings (June 5th)
Rockies Division
Denver 34-19
Salt Lake 29-26 6
Phoenix 26-30 9.5
Billings 23-31 11.5
Boise 22-35 14
Albuqurque 16-39 19