What Could Have Been: An Alternate Baseball Reality

[Big Six]

Last night, I was reading an excellent book by David Kaiser, The Epic Season: The 1948 American League Pennant Race. Kaiser mentioned that before the 1948 season, the Pacific Coast League asked MLB to be recognized as a third major league. As we all know, the PCL was turned down. I remembered having read that before, but it got me thinking...

Kaiser argued persuasively that "the structure of baseball would obviously be far different--and quite possibly more exciting than it is today." He mentioned that had the PCL been given major league status, the National League would almost certainly never left New York. After all, the booming cities of the West Coast would already have major league baseball.

This morning, I booted up OOTP (still OOTP8 in my case) and started putting a new league together. At first, I wanted to try to graft an additional eight-team PCL onto an existing 1948 MLB universe, but that wasn't possible. So, I did the next best thing.

I created a brand new baseball world: one subleague, three divisions, eight teams each. It's not a perfect setup, because I wasn't sure how an All-Star game would work, and I have to use a wild card in the playoffs, which I'm not crazy about. Each division champion, plus the runner-up, will advance to the playoffs.

I played Great Baseball Deity and shifted some franchises to new cities. Metropolitan New York kept all three of its teams, and Chicago kept both the Cubs and White Sox. Boston, Philadelphia, and St. Louis each lost the franchise that actually relocated in real life.

The league is, therefore, structured like this:

American Division
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Athletics
New York Yankees
Washington Senators

National Division
Brooklyn Dodgers
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Braves
New York Giants
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals

Pacific Coast Division
Hollywood Stars
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Oaks
Portland Beavers
Sacramento Solons
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Seals
Seattle Rainiers

I created an affiliated minor league, which is set up as described below. Each minor league club's parent organization is listed in parentheses. In many cases, the minor league teams are matched with a real-live parent club. The PCL teams, being independent, naturally did not have affiliates.

I changed a minor league nickname or two, but in each case I picked one that was actually associated with the city at some point in time.

International Division
Buffalo Bisons (Tigers)
Jersey City Giants (Giants)
Montreal Royals (Dodgers)
Newark Bears (Yankees)
Richmond Virginians (Orioles)
Rochester Red Wings (Cardinals)
Syracuse Chiefs (Reds)
Toronto Maple Leafs (Phillies)

Southern Division
Atlanta Crackers (Braves)
Birmingham Barons (Red Sox)
Chattanooga Lookouts (Senators)
Little Rock Travelers (Athletics)
Memphis Chickasaws/Chicks (White Sox)
Mobile Sea Gulls (Indians)
Nashville Volunteers/Vols (Cubs)
New Orleans Pelicans (Pirates)

American Division
Columbus Clippers (Rainiers)
Dallas Eagles (Seals)
Houston Buffaloes (Angels)
Indianapolis Indians (Padres)
Louisville Colonels (Oaks)
Minneapolis Millers (Beavers)
St. Paul Saints (Stars)
Toledo Mud Hens (Solons)

I'm beginning this league in 1920. In the very beginning, all of the players will be fictional. Each year, I'll import real rookies for my draft pool, but naturally they won't be assigned to their actual teams. Therefore, over time, the rosters should fill up with actual major leaguers.

Other "rules" are as follows:

• Financials, coaching, and scouting are all off.
• The rookie draft will last five rounds.
• Minor league rosters are set at 35 players. If the minor leagues start running low, I'll simply generate some more fictional guys. This isn't a straight historical simulation, after all.
• The Great Baseball Deity reserves the right to add Negro League, Japanese, and real PCL stars whenever I want to. The Deity also reserves the right to add members of the O'Farrell family.
• Development/aging speeds set to default.
• Trading is set to "very low."
• Injuries are set to "low."
• Fatigue is set to "normal."

I'll be moving quickly and covering the league in broad strokes, at least in the beginning. I might write a newspaper article or an interview from time to time, because I think they're fun to write. I'm not sure where this will go, to be honest.

As more of the players become familiar, I'll probably slow the pace down a little bit, and if any of you ever become particularly interested in how a particular player is doing, please post and let me know, and I'll fill you in. I enjoy it when "fans" of my dynasties post, so don't ever feel like you're intruding.

I'm really excited about this baseball world. I hope it's a lot of fun for me to play and write about, and for all of us here to follow.

[RchW]

Are you going to play this in v10?

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by RchW

Are you going to play this in v10?

I haven't bought v10 yet. I suppose when I do, I'll move it over to that version.

[Big Six]

1920 Season Summary

NATIONAL        W   L   PCT  GB    
Philadelphia   88  66  .571  --
Cincinnati     87  67  .565   1
Brooklyn       82  72  .532   6
Pittsburgh     79  75  .513   9
Milwaukee      77  77  .500  11
St. Louis      75  79  .487  13
New York       67  87  .435  21
Chicago        60  94  .390  28

AMERICAN        W   L   PCT    GB
New York       84  71  .542    --
Baltimore      83  72  .535     1
Chicago        82  72  .532   1.5
Detroit        73  81  .474  10.5
Kansas City    72  82  .468  11.5
Washington     69  85  .448  14.5
Cleveland      63  91  .409  20.5
Boston         60  94  .390  22.5

PACIFIC          W   L  PCT  GB
San Francisco   98  56 .636  --
San Diego       91  63 .591   7
Sacramento      84  70 .545  14
Portland        80  74 .519  18
Los Angeles     80  74 .519  18
Seattle         76  78 .494  22
Oakland         74  80 .481  24
Hollywood       65  89 .422  31

The 1920 season featured a thrilling three-team pennant race in the American Division that required a one-game playoff to settle, a classic National Division battle that was nearly as exciting, and the rise of a powerhouse out on the Pacific Coast.

As the last day of the regular season dawned, the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles were tied for first, with the Chicago White Sox a game behind. All three teams did what they had to do, winning their games that afternoon; that meant the White Sox were eliminated, while the Yankees and Orioles met in a one-game playoff.

The Yankees won and advanced to the Division Series, where they met the powerful San Francisco Seals, champions of the Pacific Division. The Seals dispatched of the Yankees, 4 games to 2, while the San Diego Padres, winners of 91 regular season games and the wild card berth, beat the National Division champion Philadelphia Phillies, 4 games to 1.

The World Series, therefore, matched the two teams with the best regular-season records, both from the Pacific Coast Division. The Padres' bats blazed during the Series, producing 29 runs in five games and powering a 4-1 Series win.

Cincinnati CF Mitsuo Nakada, a 33-year-old Japanese import, was the hitting star of the year, batting .404 and drawing 114 walks for a .484 OBP. Nakada also drove in 117 runs and won the Outstanding Hitter Award. He barely won the batting title, as Oakland's slugging catcher, Tim Stephens, hit .402.

Other offensive stars included Milwaukee 1B Owen Hall (.371-2-132, 67 2B), the league's RBI king; Cleveland's dynamic duo, LF Ken Rich (.370-0-92) and 3B Pat O'Hartigan (.367-2-80), and young Brooklyn 1B Mike Dickey (.367-2-100, 234 hits, 58 2B). Home runs were few and hard to come by, as no batter connected for more than six.

The league's Outstanding Pitcher was San Francisco's ace lefty, Roger Skinner. He went 23-8 with a 3.26 ERA, in a league that posted a 4.60 ERA overall. At 38, Skinner might not have many more productive seasons, but in 1920, he was as good as it got.

Hefty Argentine righthander Constantin L'Archibudelli of the White Sox matched Skinner's 23 wins and posted a 3.27 ERA. Emilio Romano of the Portland Beavers won the ERA title with an even 3.00, and won 17 games.

In the June draft, the Boston Red Sox made pitcher Pete Donohue the #1 overall pick. Donohue, only 19, reported immediately to Boston, but was hit hard (7-12, 5.84 ERA). Another pitcher, Ray Kolp, went #2 to the Giants, followed by three position players: OF Kiki Cuyler (#3, Cubs), OF Goose Goslin (#4, Stars) and 3B-OF Riggs Stephenson (#5, Indians). Goslin was the only one of the trio to make any impact at the big league level, hitting a crisp .370 in 54 AB for Hollywood.

[Al_Boe]

love it!

[TribeFanInNC]

Nice idea Big Six. I also enjoyed the Kaiser book. I haven't read it in a while; maybe it's time for a reread. I'm fond of the ending

By 'adding real PCL stars', do you mean guys that primarily just played in the PCL (as opposed to ML stars that played in the PCL like Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio)? That would be an interesting history lesson. I don't know much about the pre-westward expansion PCL.

[Big Six]

Thanks, guys! I hope you'll keep reading along.

TribeFan: By "real PCL stars" I meant guys who primarily played in the PCL, guys who were major stars in that league and either didn't play, or didn't play much, in the AL or NL. After all the PCL was "their" league, so it wouldn't really be fair to annex their league without allowing them to play, would it?

[ryanivr]

Big Six...I love all of your dynasties and will definitely be following along with this one. I'm a big fan of semi-historical dynasties that take things in a different direction, not just re-simming history.

Your dynasties are a huge inspiration for my UBA dynasty I'm writing now, so thank you and keep it up!

[Al_Boe]

does that include Albie Pearson? The great seals outfielder of the 50`s who happened to be good friends with my grandma?

[ifspuds]

Go Beavs! I've wanted to do a league like this for a long time... you bet I'll be reading.

[Big Six]

Thanks for the comments!

ryanivr: I enjoy semi-historical dynasties very much, too. If some guy who hit 500 home runs in real life crashes and burns, and ends up hitting 150, that's just the way it goes. If some real-life journeyman ends up as a Hall of Famer, that's fine too. I don't want the world turned upside down, with all the stars turning into bums, or all the bums turning into stars. If the world I "create" resembles real-life baseball, then I'm happy. Good luck with your UBA dynasty. I'll be reading.

Al_Boe: Pearson would be part of this world anyway, since he had a fairly substantial career in the "real" major leagues. I looked him up last night, and it looks like he debuted at age 24. Since Albie appears to have a fan following already, I might bring him along a couple years earlier so you'll have more of a chance to root for him.

ifspuds: Good to see you made it over here! In my next post, I'll provide a little extra information about the Beavers for you, so you'll have some players to root for.

Thanks again for your comments, everybody.

[Dr. Wu]

This sounds great, Big Six. I hope it doesn't put the Finger Lakes League too far on the back burner, though.

By the way, how does the All-Star Game work with that league setup?

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by Dr. Wu

This sounds great, Big Six. I hope it doesn't put the Finger Lakes League too far on the back burner, though.

By the way, how does the All-Star Game work with that league setup?

The Finger Lakes League is still very much alive and well! I plan on keeping both of them going, because they fill very different "needs" in my OOTP experience.

I don't have an All-Star Game in this universe. I wasn't sure how the game would handle it with 3 divisions, and rather than risk crashing it, I played it safe. I might try to add one, however.

Thanks for the comments, Dr. Wu.

[Big Six]

I wanted to include several PCL legends in this dynasty story. Most of them played only a few hundred games in the AL or NL, at most, but went out West and enjoyed long, productive careers.

The first group of these players joined my dynasty at the beginning. I didn't put them all into the rookie draft, because they were slightly older than most of the rookies, and were already fairly established players by 1920.

One such player was outfielder Jigger Statz, who signed with the New York Yankees. As a 22-year-old rookie in 1920, Statz hit a solid .347 with a .418 OBP. He hit only one home run, but demonstrated lots of gap power--48 doubles, 11 triples.

Another outfielder, Ike Boone, alternated between RF and LF for the St. Louis Cardinals. Boone, 23, batted .334-7-92 and, like Statz, stroked a ton of doubles--47, along with 5 triples.

One younger star, OF Oscar "Ox" Eckhardt, entered the 1920 draft and was chosen in the second round by the Chicago White Sox. In 70 games, the Ox was very productive, turning in a .339-2-48 line with 28 doubles.

One pitcher, righthander Frank Shellenback, made his debut with the Hollywood Stars after the Stars took hiim in the third round of the rookie draft. Shellenback got hit hard, though, and didn't get much support from the cellar-dwelling Stars (4-10, 5.30).

All four of these players made the major leagues, with Eckhardt making the least impact and Statz, perhaps, the most. They were bona fide stars in the PCL, though, with thousands of base hits, hundreds of wins, and batting averages well in the .300s to their credit. I rated them to be about as good as a solid MLB player, perhaps an All-Star. I think it will be fun to see how they do in this alternative baseball universe.

[Big Six]

I just added links to pages with information about the PCL legends I've included in my universe, so if you'd like to read more about them, just click on their names.

I'm a history teacher; what do you expect?

[AZTarHeel]

Hey Big Six, this looks like a fun dynasty ... I did a double-take when I saw Pat O'Hartigan in the list of players. Sounds like another familiar name that is legendary on these boards ... I think I'll root for "hefty Argentine righthander Constantin L'Archibudelli" - I can't pronounce his name but he sounds like a fan favorite... good luck

[Big Six]

Originally Posted by AZTarHeel

Hey Big Six, this looks like a fun dynasty ... I did a double-take when I saw Pat O'Hartigan in the list of players. Sounds like another familiar name that is legendary on these boards ... I think I'll root for "hefty Argentine righthander Constantin L'Archibudelli" - I can't pronounce his name but he sounds like a fan favorite... good luck

I'm literally laughing out loud here. I noticed Paddy O right away, too. The fact that he plays second base makes the O'Farrell comparisons even more inevitable.

O'Hartigan apparently can rake, and he will draw more than his share of bases on balls. He's a very good fielder, too. Unlike Mr. O'Farrell, however, Mr. O'Hartigan can't run at all.

I wish the game had generated O'Hartigan as a younger player; he was 32 when the 1920 season began. And, sadly, he tore a thigh muscle in September, which could sideline him for up to a year. I'm rooting for him to come back strong.

I'm with you on L'Archibudelli's name, too. I announce a lot of high school basketball during the winter, and one year, I was calling a game in the girls' state independent school tournament that featured several Lithuanian players who had come to the US as exchange students. Instead of talking about the exploits of girls named Mitchell and Carr and White, I was facing a lineup sprinkled with names like Vasciunaite, Morkunaite, and Girstutaite.

Before the game, I asked each of the girls to pronounce her own name for me (I knew better than to ask their coaches, who said things like "We don't even try to say her name...we all call her V.") Then I wrote the names out phonetically. That's the only way I could manage them.

I'm pronouncing our Argentine friend's name "Larch-i-boo-delly" in my head. Works for me.

[Big Six]

I confess I put this dynasty on the back burner for a few days while I got my new Finger Lakes League up and running again. It will be back later today, with a fresh update on 1921.

Thanks for following along, and I'll try to give you more to read at a more regular pace from now on!

[Big Six]

1921 Season Summary

NATIONAL        W   L   PCT  GB
Cincinnati     93  61  .604  --
Philadelphia   88  66  .571   5
New York       83  71  .539  10
Brooklyn       80  74  .519  13
Milwaukee      80  74  .519  13
St. Louis      79  75  .513  14
Chicago        77  77  .500  16
Pittsburgh     57  97  .370  36

AMERICAN        W   L   PCT  GB
Baltimore      97  57  .630  --
Cleveland      80  74  .519  17
Kansas City    78  76  .506  19
Detroit        74  80  .481  23
New York       73  81  .474  24
Chicago        66  88  .429  31
Washington     65  89  .422  32
Boston         65  89  .422  32   

PACIFIC         W   L   PCT  GB
San Francisco  93  61  .604  --
Los Angeles    85  69  .552   8
San Diego      80  74  .519  13
Sacramento     75  79  .487  18
Portland       73  81  .474  20
Oakland        73  81  .474  20
Seattle        72  82  .468  21
Hollywood      62  92  .403  31

The Baltimore Orioles, kings of the American Division, were clearly the best team in major league baseball over the course of the 1921 regular season. However, anything can happen in a playoff series, and the wild card Philadelphia Phillies proved that, eliminating the O's from the playoffs in a thrilling seven-game set.

The Pacific Coast Division champion San Francisco Seals swept the Cincinnati Reds in the other semi-final, setting up a World Series matchup with the Phillies. The Seals took care of their second straight National Division foe, beating the Phillies, 4 games to 1, and carrying the World Series trophy back to the West for the second straight season.

The Seals were a balanced team, second best in the league at scoring runs and at preventing them. CF Parker Johnson (.340-8-93, 197 hits, .410 OBP) and SS Jose Carlos (.338-4-85, 206 hits, 45 SB) led the Seals' balanced offense. Johnson won the Outstanding Hitter Award over batting champion SS Antonio Rodriguez of the Giants (.352-3-75) and 1B Joe Boyd of the Phillies (.350-2-108, 46 2B, 202 H, .887 OPS).

Five Seals pitchers won 15 games or more, led by Roger Skinner (18-8, 3.11) and Colton Blanton (18-14, 3.50). Alex Carey won 10 games and saved 12 more from the bullpen.

The Orioles were led by the league's Outstanding Pitcher, brilliant 24-year-old righthander Mike Crawford. The husky Hoosier went 25-5 with a 1.82 ERA and spun seven shutouts, all league highs. Offensively, Baltimore relied most heavily on its hard-hitting outfield, manned by CF Rick Mar (.305-8-82, 81 3B, 100 R, 52 SB), RF Dave McBride (.313-7-93, 16 3B), and LF Joseph Townsend (.301-10-82).

1B Mike Dickey of Brooklyn (.347-3-97, 219 H) and CF Robert Wallace of Portland (.334-2-64, 100 BB, .437 OBP) had productive years. Three players shared the home run championship, each slamming 13 homers: Cardinals SS Travis Crawford, Red Sox 3B Paul James, and White Sox LF Tanner Webster. Cleveland infielder Riggs Stephenson (.343-5-87) won the Rookie of the Year Award.

Veteran Troy Edwards, 36, went 24-6 with a 2.17 ERA for the Reds, and teammate Hector Orozoco added 23 more wins and a 2.45 ERA. Mario Garcia of Kansas City (23-9, 2.45), Bernardo Piniella of the Phils (22-9, 2.95) also enjoyed great mound success, as did Kansas City relief ace Johnny Sanders (10-6, 18 saves, 2.12 ERA).

Constantin L'Archibudelli toiled manfully for a poor White Sox team, going 15-14 with a 3.56 ERA. His control was superb, walking only 42 hitters in 265 innings.

In June, the Chicago Cubs chose RHP Syl Johnson with the first overall pick in the rookie draft. Johnson split the remainder of the season between the Cubs and their Nashville affiliate, with mixed results. Cleveland took the first position player off the board, C Gabby Hartnett, at #3, while the Senators used the #6 pick to take 1B Jim Bottomley.

The June draftee who made the biggest impact at the major league level was 1B Joe Hauser, whom the Cubs took in the second round. Joe produced a .299-8-44 line in 76 big league contests, and established himself as a young slugger to watch.

Another 1921 freshman of note was IF Judy Johnson, who hit a solid .308-1-65 for the Los Angeles Angels (Johnson became the first Negro League star to make a significant impact on this dynasty.)

[PhillieFever]

From concept all the way thru execution,this is virtually flawless.Way to go Big Six,I'll most definitely be following.Go Phils!