American Baseball Federation

gwalk · 05-22-2014, 08:53 PM

Hello Everyone,
My name is Gary, I've been lurking on OOTP forums for a long time, and have begun reading some dynasties. None seemed to stick with me past pages 2-3. Until i happened across Mr Otto Orcin's threads. I love his format of creating an alternate baseball league/universe. And enjoying writing his fun stories.
I hope to do something similar, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I probably will try different methods, and i havent decided how many images ill throw in, but i'll be researching that as we go.

Having said that, i will be disconnecting from reality and making posts "in character" from here on out, MOSTLY.

Basic Rules rundown
40/40/15/5 - ratings weight
Finances will mimc Orcin's CBA financials (go read his thread for those)
Trade - Avg / Hard / Nuetral
Both leagues will have the DH. I'm not a fan of the pitcher hitting, i rather just let a more mature batter be able to slowly retire and just focus on batting a la Ortiz/Thome or just Focus on batting his whole career Butler.

I created the league in 1995, and simmed it 20 years until 2014.
My ingame character will be 37 at the time of his hiring.

Goals
I plan to use a moneyball type approach, but i'll definitely leave room for the 'old ways' so to speak.

I appreciate any future comments/suggestions/questions!

One final note, i am not a great writer, so i'll hope this helps me in that regard and i'll try not to get too crazy, but i love me some imagination!

Without further hesitation let's begin the story!

gwalk · 05-23-2014, 02:22 PM

Actually on second thought let's introduce the teams! (Once i figure out where to post pictures i'll throw up an images which should help me write less!)

There are 24 teams, within TWO conferences. Each conference has two divisions.
Each division sends 1 team to the playoffs, then you get two wildcard teams from either division in each conference.

You'll have 8 playoff teams each season, so it's not an easy road for teams.

In the Freedom League you have the Pacific and Southwest Divisions.
The Pacific Division teams are the San Fran Sting, Las Vegas Swarm, Seattle Pandas, Salt Lake City Crusaders (i had fun throwing SLC in with LV and SF. Should be comical) Los Angeles Admirals and Portland Wizards.
The Southwest Division features the Phoenix Panthers, Denver Dynamo, Louisville Blackbirds, Houston Bombers, Dallas Bulls and Oklahoma City Bobcats (who were almost called the bombers, but.. ya...)

The Liberty League features the North Eastern Division and the Midwest Division.
The NE Division had a team list of the Cleveland Rampage, Baltimore Bears, New York Kings, Boston Phantoms, Philadelphia Royals and Washington Patriots.

The MW Division features the Birmingham White Hawks, Atlanta Arsenal, St Louis Sabercats, Milwaukee Tigers, Detroit Pumas and the Chicago Lions.

Birmingham was put on the map by Michael Jordan's days in baseball, otherwise most of these cities are within the top 30 cities for TV markets. Pete Rose and his financial backers always had a plan!

gwalk · 05-23-2014, 02:37 PM

It was 1994, baseball was having an impending strike in the air. Tupac was shot, Hurricanes were killing people and causing billions in damages to the southeast. In July the Kingdome had several panels from from the roof! Baseball was losing any leverage it had gained since it's past strike.

One event changed history as we know it, and MLB was never quite able to rebound.

Donald Sterling, David Stern and Bud Selig among other big wigs were having a private poker game in a smokey club in Downtown Chicago, discussing the future of their businesses and leagues. Michael Jordan had just served the first of his two year ban from basketball for betting on bulls games. (For more info go read Bill Simmons book of basketball). Among the racism and large bundles of money exchanging hands an intrepid reporter was able to record several IMPORTANT matters and discussions that these powerful men did not want repeated in the media. The reporter hand this information off to the outstanding citizen by the name of Pete Rose (Yes, that Pete Rose). While Pete had no ties to the MLB, baseball was still his passion. He had many connections inside the League and decided to press matters.

Through back channels and deals with several major cities, once the MLB began looking at an obvious strike the ABF was formed. American Baseball Federation. The silent majority backers installed Pete Rose as commissioner to this competing league. Some rumors surfaced years later that Pete had no dirt on these men, but someone powerful was behind him and orchestrating the entire thing. Either way the ABF had begun and started to replace the MLB in Americas Hearts.

June 21st, 1995....

The summer was hot and humid in Chicago, more so for one young man. Gary Walker was finishing his senior year in high school and and had a Michael Jordan sized hole in his heart. The Rockets were on their way to capturing their impressive 1st of two championships in basketball and the NBA was unwatchable without his airness. Gary focused on baseball, only to have that ripped from his TV by the greedy battle of millionaires and Billionaires. This is where the ABF came into play. Chicago hosted one of the twenty four original franchises in the ABF. The Chicago Lions promised to be a team to follow, and after the first year, began with a bang!

In 1995 Gary was in attendance of an ABF game. ABF was cheap, beer and sunflower seeds were flowing around the ABF. Gary attending an evening game versus the Rival Detroit Pumas. In the bottom of the ninth with the Lions down by 3, their star First Baseman hit a bleacher bomb into Gary's area. Gary lost his beer, but the Lions had won his heart! The rest of the season progressed and the Lions were bad, but Gary saw the underlying talent and dove head first into ABF and what it takes to be a successful team.

The Lions overcame their opening season and in '96 and '97 they climbed into contention. Finally in '98 the Lions won a franchise record 106! games. They werent able to capture a championship that year, but Gary took notice. Gary was away attending college in Phoenix. He would be graduating in 2000 with a BS in Sports Management. The following year the Lions took a step back in wins but they won 100 games and ended up hoisting the trophy come October. After that season the Lions made the playoffs again but Gary had begun to notice the deterioration of the Lions and he tried reaching the front office to let them know the errors of their ways. As usual it fell on deaf ears.

The years went by, and Gary graduated in 2000 with his degree. His initial applications fell upon deaf ears(again) in Chicago. Gary ended up accepting an entry level job with the Phoenix Panthers in an attempt to work his way up and some day return to Chicago....

gwalk · 05-23-2014, 03:15 PM

Phoenix made the playoffs in the opening season. A feat they would only duplicate 4 more times over the next 15 years. They experienced an early end to the season the next two seasons and went hungry in to the '98 Season. They proceeded to roll off four playoff seasons. Never once tasting that final game W. They were an average ball club for two seasons until finally the wheels fell off.

Gary had begun working for the Panthers in 2000. Until 2006 every year he worked for them the club lost more games than the year before. Gary was constantly trying to give his ideas up the ladder, but as usual it seemed Gary was speaking Klingon to his bosses and he never found a sympathetic ear who would listen. In '06 and '07 things began to turn around, but Gary knew otherwise. He had begun a relationship with other franchises hoping to jump to Chicago at the earliest time. Along the way Gary had gotten the ear of a Raul Santos who had begun his ascent within a competing franchise. Gary and Raul continued correspondence and eventually Raul realized Gary knew what he was doing and one day this kid would be running a team. Raul just hoped he didnt replace him one day.

Raul Santos...

Raul Santos had begun in baseball as a player. He was highly recruited out of high school but decided to get an education. He ended up blowing out both his knees while manning the backstop. He finished his degree and continued his hobby of baseball on the side. He entered into the business world and began losing his first love. After riding the wave of Internet Businesses, and making and losing Millions in the real estate market. Raul felt a longing to return to baseball. He began fully diving in and began hitting the pavement trying to find a high level job in baseball. He wanted the right owner. s

Phoenix....

In 2010 the owner of the Phoenix Panthers made a change at the top. He hired Raul Santos who had watched one too many Kevin Costner and Disney movies and said in the interview that he could win a championship within four years. He was going to take the WORSE record in team history and transform them to champioins in 'four years'. The owner was intrigued and figured things couldnt get much worse.

The Panthers had just finished a Franchise WORSE 60-102 in 2010. The owner wanted changes and wanted results. He hired A forward thinking GM, Raul Santos. Raul began looking to assemble members of his staff. He needed an ASST GM to help with day to day tasks as this wouldnt be an easy process. He assembled a top notch scout, Colt McCoy (i dont care, this name rocks). Colt and Raul began scouring the league and world for players who could help turn around the Panthers. Raul also began further searching for help to finish out his staff. He found one person inside the franchise that really interested him, so he brought him in to discuss a position on his staff.

gwalk · 05-24-2014, 06:33 PM

The start of a great duo....

Gary entered the office of GM Raul Santos very nervously, yet reassured as he had enjoyed his time in Phoenix if things went badly int he meeting.

As most gentlemen do, Gary started his journey with a knock on the door.

RS : Come in! Hello Gary, How are you doing?
The two exchanged pleasantries and continued with some small talk. Not one for extended small talk Gary struck quickly like a young predator in the jungle.

GW: Ok Mr Santos, let's get down to business, why was i called into your office today? I assume I'm not getting fired because i was just given a raise and no one else seems to actually watch baseball around here.My best guess would be that you need someone to brew your coffee every morning, and answer the question of "why'd we lose today" huh?
Well, Honestly anything less than ASST GM and i am not interested. I want your job, so lets figure out how to do that for me without you getting fired.

RS : Ha, I love the confidence son. I called you in here today because i do need to fill out my staff. I havent considered this, but i follow my gut normally and i think i'd like you to be my Skinny Jonah Hill.

GW : What?

RS : You'll get that one day, anyways. I need an ASST GM to help me achieve our obviously similar goals. This franchise could be the best, I'm very convinced of that matter.

GW: Well i do play a lot of Video Games and have tons of ideas for our franchise. I want to be upfront. As i said i want to be a GM within five years, so let's capture that ring before hand!

RS: How about we win in four?

The two began to exchange ideas and Santos loved the new perspective from Gary. After the meeting Gary took a tour of his new office (which was basically the GMs broom closet with a desk and room for 1 or 2 pictures of Brooklyn Decker.

Bumpy Roads ahead....

Phoenix began to find new players. They rebuilt the franchise from the ground up essentially. Managers came and went and the Panthers began grabbing the attention of the League.

2011 and 2012 didnt bring championships, the attention gained was not great, but the league took notice none the less.

While the Phoenix GM was going on the country tour one name kept coming up. Gary Walker. Santos often gave Gary much of the credit for the success of finding good players and took all the blame when a player or manager would flame out.

Later Santos in an interview remembered a conversation he had in 2011 with an unnamed owner.
As the story goes Santos and the Owner were talking about the normal random chatter. Eventually the owner begun talking to Santos about replacements for his GM. The owner was growing tired of losing and wanted to make changes.Santos relished in this conversation and mentioned his ASST GM. He told this owner stories upon stories of Gary's confidence and ability to find the gem or make the tough calls and distinguish the winners from the losers. Santos then mentioned that after 2014 when his Panthers would win the Championship (this caused the owner to chuckle) that said owner would have a hard time competing with the other 22 franchises trying to hire Gary. He mentioned Gary had a fondness for a certain franchise but didnt want to delve too far into that.

Santos only gave that last bit of information to one owner that winter.

05-22-2014, 08:53 PM	#1
gwalk Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 15	American Baseball Federation Hello Everyone, My name is Gary, I've been lurking on OOTP forums for a long time, and have begun reading some dynasties. None seemed to stick with me past pages 2-3. Until i happened across Mr Otto Orcin's threads. I love his format of creating an alternate baseball league/universe. And enjoying writing his fun stories. I hope to do something similar, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I probably will try different methods, and i havent decided how many images ill throw in, but i'll be researching that as we go. Having said that, i will be disconnecting from reality and making posts "in character" from here on out, MOSTLY. Basic Rules rundown 40/40/15/5 - ratings weight Finances will mimc Orcin's CBA financials (go read his thread for those) Trade - Avg / Hard / Nuetral Both leagues will have the DH. I'm not a fan of the pitcher hitting, i rather just let a more mature batter be able to slowly retire and just focus on batting a la Ortiz/Thome or just Focus on batting his whole career Butler. I created the league in 1995, and simmed it 20 years until 2014. My ingame character will be 37 at the time of his hiring. Goals I plan to use a moneyball type approach, but i'll definitely leave room for the 'old ways' so to speak. I appreciate any future comments/suggestions/questions! One final note, i am not a great writer, so i'll hope this helps me in that regard and i'll try not to get too crazy, but i love me some imagination! Without further hesitation let's begin the story! Last edited by gwalk; 05-22-2014 at 09:55 PM.

05-23-2014, 02:37 PM	#3
gwalk Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 15	The Story Begins It was 1994, baseball was having an impending strike in the air. Tupac was shot, Hurricanes were killing people and causing billions in damages to the southeast. In July the Kingdome had several panels from from the roof! Baseball was losing any leverage it had gained since it's past strike. One event changed history as we know it, and MLB was never quite able to rebound. Donald Sterling, David Stern and Bud Selig among other big wigs were having a private poker game in a smokey club in Downtown Chicago, discussing the future of their businesses and leagues. Michael Jordan had just served the first of his two year ban from basketball for betting on bulls games. (For more info go read Bill Simmons book of basketball). Among the racism and large bundles of money exchanging hands an intrepid reporter was able to record several IMPORTANT matters and discussions that these powerful men did not want repeated in the media. The reporter hand this information off to the outstanding citizen by the name of Pete Rose (Yes, that Pete Rose). While Pete had no ties to the MLB, baseball was still his passion. He had many connections inside the League and decided to press matters. Through back channels and deals with several major cities, once the MLB began looking at an obvious strike the ABF was formed. American Baseball Federation. The silent majority backers installed Pete Rose as commissioner to this competing league. Some rumors surfaced years later that Pete had no dirt on these men, but someone powerful was behind him and orchestrating the entire thing. Either way the ABF had begun and started to replace the MLB in Americas Hearts. June 21st, 1995.... The summer was hot and humid in Chicago, more so for one young man. Gary Walker was finishing his senior year in high school and and had a Michael Jordan sized hole in his heart. The Rockets were on their way to capturing their impressive 1st of two championships in basketball and the NBA was unwatchable without his airness. Gary focused on baseball, only to have that ripped from his TV by the greedy battle of millionaires and Billionaires. This is where the ABF came into play. Chicago hosted one of the twenty four original franchises in the ABF. The Chicago Lions promised to be a team to follow, and after the first year, began with a bang! In 1995 Gary was in attendance of an ABF game. ABF was cheap, beer and sunflower seeds were flowing around the ABF. Gary attending an evening game versus the Rival Detroit Pumas. In the bottom of the ninth with the Lions down by 3, their star First Baseman hit a bleacher bomb into Gary's area. Gary lost his beer, but the Lions had won his heart! The rest of the season progressed and the Lions were bad, but Gary saw the underlying talent and dove head first into ABF and what it takes to be a successful team. The Lions overcame their opening season and in '96 and '97 they climbed into contention. Finally in '98 the Lions won a franchise record 106! games. They werent able to capture a championship that year, but Gary took notice. Gary was away attending college in Phoenix. He would be graduating in 2000 with a BS in Sports Management. The following year the Lions took a step back in wins but they won 100 games and ended up hoisting the trophy come October. After that season the Lions made the playoffs again but Gary had begun to notice the deterioration of the Lions and he tried reaching the front office to let them know the errors of their ways. As usual it fell on deaf ears. The years went by, and Gary graduated in 2000 with his degree. His initial applications fell upon deaf ears(again) in Chicago. Gary ended up accepting an entry level job with the Phoenix Panthers in an attempt to work his way up and some day return to Chicago....

05-23-2014, 03:15 PM	#4
gwalk Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 15	Now the Phoenix Side of the Story... Phoenix made the playoffs in the opening season. A feat they would only duplicate 4 more times over the next 15 years. They experienced an early end to the season the next two seasons and went hungry in to the '98 Season. They proceeded to roll off four playoff seasons. Never once tasting that final game W. They were an average ball club for two seasons until finally the wheels fell off. Gary had begun working for the Panthers in 2000. Until 2006 every year he worked for them the club lost more games than the year before. Gary was constantly trying to give his ideas up the ladder, but as usual it seemed Gary was speaking Klingon to his bosses and he never found a sympathetic ear who would listen. In '06 and '07 things began to turn around, but Gary knew otherwise. He had begun a relationship with other franchises hoping to jump to Chicago at the earliest time. Along the way Gary had gotten the ear of a Raul Santos who had begun his ascent within a competing franchise. Gary and Raul continued correspondence and eventually Raul realized Gary knew what he was doing and one day this kid would be running a team. Raul just hoped he didnt replace him one day. Raul Santos... Raul Santos had begun in baseball as a player. He was highly recruited out of high school but decided to get an education. He ended up blowing out both his knees while manning the backstop. He finished his degree and continued his hobby of baseball on the side. He entered into the business world and began losing his first love. After riding the wave of Internet Businesses, and making and losing Millions in the real estate market. Raul felt a longing to return to baseball. He began fully diving in and began hitting the pavement trying to find a high level job in baseball. He wanted the right owner. s Phoenix.... In 2010 the owner of the Phoenix Panthers made a change at the top. He hired Raul Santos who had watched one too many Kevin Costner and Disney movies and said in the interview that he could win a championship within four years. He was going to take the WORSE record in team history and transform them to champioins in 'four years'. The owner was intrigued and figured things couldnt get much worse. The Panthers had just finished a Franchise WORSE 60-102 in 2010. The owner wanted changes and wanted results. He hired A forward thinking GM, Raul Santos. Raul began looking to assemble members of his staff. He needed an ASST GM to help with day to day tasks as this wouldnt be an easy process. He assembled a top notch scout, Colt McCoy (i dont care, this name rocks). Colt and Raul began scouring the league and world for players who could help turn around the Panthers. Raul also began further searching for help to finish out his staff. He found one person inside the franchise that really interested him, so he brought him in to discuss a position on his staff.

05-23-2014, 02:22 PM	#2
gwalk Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 15	Actually on second thought let's introduce the teams! (Once i figure out where to post pictures i'll throw up an images which should help me write less!) There are 24 teams, within TWO conferences. Each conference has two divisions. Each division sends 1 team to the playoffs, then you get two wildcard teams from either division in each conference. You'll have 8 playoff teams each season, so it's not an easy road for teams. In the Freedom League you have the Pacific and Southwest Divisions. The Pacific Division teams are the San Fran Sting, Las Vegas Swarm, Seattle Pandas, Salt Lake City Crusaders (i had fun throwing SLC in with LV and SF. Should be comical) Los Angeles Admirals and Portland Wizards. The Southwest Division features the Phoenix Panthers, Denver Dynamo, Louisville Blackbirds, Houston Bombers, Dallas Bulls and Oklahoma City Bobcats (who were almost called the bombers, but.. ya...) The Liberty League features the North Eastern Division and the Midwest Division. The NE Division had a team list of the Cleveland Rampage, Baltimore Bears, New York Kings, Boston Phantoms, Philadelphia Royals and Washington Patriots. The MW Division features the Birmingham White Hawks, Atlanta Arsenal, St Louis Sabercats, Milwaukee Tigers, Detroit Pumas and the Chicago Lions. Birmingham was put on the map by Michael Jordan's days in baseball, otherwise most of these cities are within the top 30 cities for TV markets. Pete Rose and his financial backers always had a plan!

05-24-2014, 06:33 PM	#5
gwalk Bat Boy Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 15	The start of a great duo.... Gary entered the office of GM Raul Santos very nervously, yet reassured as he had enjoyed his time in Phoenix if things went badly int he meeting. As most gentlemen do, Gary started his journey with a knock on the door. RS : Come in! Hello Gary, How are you doing? The two exchanged pleasantries and continued with some small talk. Not one for extended small talk Gary struck quickly like a young predator in the jungle. GW: Ok Mr Santos, let's get down to business, why was i called into your office today? I assume I'm not getting fired because i was just given a raise and no one else seems to actually watch baseball around here.My best guess would be that you need someone to brew your coffee every morning, and answer the question of "why'd we lose today" huh? Well, Honestly anything less than ASST GM and i am not interested. I want your job, so lets figure out how to do that for me without you getting fired. RS : Ha, I love the confidence son. I called you in here today because i do need to fill out my staff. I havent considered this, but i follow my gut normally and i think i'd like you to be my Skinny Jonah Hill. GW : What? RS : You'll get that one day, anyways. I need an ASST GM to help me achieve our obviously similar goals. This franchise could be the best, I'm very convinced of that matter. GW: Well i do play a lot of Video Games and have tons of ideas for our franchise. I want to be upfront. As i said i want to be a GM within five years, so let's capture that ring before hand! RS: How about we win in four? The two began to exchange ideas and Santos loved the new perspective from Gary. After the meeting Gary took a tour of his new office (which was basically the GMs broom closet with a desk and room for 1 or 2 pictures of Brooklyn Decker. Bumpy Roads ahead.... Phoenix began to find new players. They rebuilt the franchise from the ground up essentially. Managers came and went and the Panthers began grabbing the attention of the League. 2011 and 2012 didnt bring championships, the attention gained was not great, but the league took notice none the less. While the Phoenix GM was going on the country tour one name kept coming up. Gary Walker. Santos often gave Gary much of the credit for the success of finding good players and took all the blame when a player or manager would flame out. Later Santos in an interview remembered a conversation he had in 2011 with an unnamed owner. As the story goes Santos and the Owner were talking about the normal random chatter. Eventually the owner begun talking to Santos about replacements for his GM. The owner was growing tired of losing and wanted to make changes.Santos relished in this conversation and mentioned his ASST GM. He told this owner stories upon stories of Gary's confidence and ability to find the gem or make the tough calls and distinguish the winners from the losers. Santos then mentioned that after 2014 when his Panthers would win the Championship (this caused the owner to chuckle) that said owner would have a hard time competing with the other 22 franchises trying to hire Gary. He mentioned Gary had a fondness for a certain franchise but didnt want to delve too far into that. Santos only gave that last bit of information to one owner that winter.