The Grand Rail Baseball League

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1 Jan 1875

A new year and a new chance for the teams to win a pennant and a cup. In the first four years of the Pacific Coast League, the list of Pennant and Championship Cup winners was small. Pennants: Vancouver 2, Olympia 1, Tacoma 1; Cups: Tacoma 3, Olympia 1. For 1874, Tacoma won 3 season awards. Stan Johnson (C) was awarded the batter of the year award, Jeff Stephens (P) was awarded the pitcher of the year award, and A.C. Boehm (RF) was awarded the rookie of the year award. Seattle’s closer, Shawn Reyes, was awarded the reliever of the year award. Reyes also set a new record for ERA in a season with a 2.08. Rory Powell (VAN) notched 259 Ks which was a new season record. He was now within 4 Ks of the all-time leader, Jeff Stephens (TAC). Both players were on pace to pass 1,000 Ks in the coming year.

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1 Feb 1875

After four seasons, a review of the career records was as follows:

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1 Mar 1875

The new capitol was nearing completion. President Stanford and his Cabinet were deciding what the name the city. New Washington… Jefferson… New Athens… These were a few of the names being considered. The President had targeted 25 Oct 1875 to officially declare the new city as opened. This corresponded with the date that had traditionally become the Grand Railroad Expansion date. Anticipating that the Grand Railway of the South would be connected to Texas by the end of summer, the Commander-in-Chief of Texas, U.S. Grant was invited to the inauguration of the new city. The teams in the Pacific Coast League began preparations for a new season. Many of the players were coming back to their teams from their off-season labors. Only the highest paid players in the league could afford not to work in the Off-Season.

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1 Apr 1875

Opening day of the fifth season was here. It was an outright miracle that a baseball league had survived the turmoil that took place over the past 7 years. The WSA was a brand new country, born from the ashes of the almost complete destruction of a relatively new nation. Word reached the capitol that England and France were having great difficulty with the Native Americans that lived throughout the great plains. President Stanford had taken a completely different stance and welcomed the Natives whole-heartedly. They had positions in local, state and federal government and were able to influence decisions when it came to expansion and land ownership. Some even began to pick up the game of baseball. After all, it was similar in some ways to a game that they played from time to time. For the fifth year in-a-row, Olympia was predicted to win the Pennant. So far, they had only come through on one of those occasions. It was time to get started; Play Ball!

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1 May 1875

Team Recap:
Seattle: What a start to the season! Three times were tied on top of the league with a 18-10 record. This meant that the bottom two teams were struggling mightily. Seattle’s RF, John Carter, was the batter of the month finishing with a .313 BA, 13 HRs, and 28 RBIs. Seattle did not start strong but finished the month 9-1 to catch other two 18-10 teams.
Tacoma: Back-to-back champions, Tacoma was in the hunt again. Their Ace, Lance Davis, had a stellar month and picked up the monthly award. He collected 6 wins and no losses with 39 strikeouts in 7 starts, putting up a fine 1.51 ERA.
Vancouver: After winning the Pennant twice in first three seasons and battling for the Cup in each of those first three, Vancouver finished 4th last year. As the third team at 18-10, there were back in it. Rory Powell (SP) climbed into first place for career strikeouts after racking up 62 in the first month.
Olympia: They were picked by pundits to run away with every season so far and they were still in the thick of the race after starting 17-11, only 1 game back from the three teams at the front.
Salem: On paper, this team got better this year but they had a very poor start. They won just 7 games in the first month.
Portland: Also an improving team, they were off to a worse start than Salem, managing 1 less win. On the good news front, their rookie CF, Pat Brooks, was awarded as the rookie of the month. We would have to see if he could start to pull the team in the right direction.

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1 Jun 1875


Team Recap:
Tacoma: It was another strong month for the team trying the win their third straight cup. They finished May at 37-20 pulling 1 game ahead of second place and leaving 3rd and 4th behind in the race of the Pennant.
Olympia: Climbed into first place a few times during the month, they were locked in a grand struggle for the Pennant. Jack Right (LF) picked up the batter of the month prize batting .364 with 10 homeruns, 31 RBIs, and 26 runs scored.
Seattle: Only 4 games back of Tacoma half-way through the season. Seattle had a quiet May, going 15-14, but they would need to create some excitement to make it back to the Championship Cup for the second year in-a-row. Seattle had the right batters in place as they were 1st in the league with a .280 team BA but they were 4th in the league for ERA. Would they make a move on the last day of trading?
Vancouver: After a 13-16 month, Vancouver fell 5 games back from a Championship Cup spot. They were still in the hunt but fading. They were on the same track as the previous year when they finished 17 games back from the pennant.
Salem: Managed a 13-16 month. It was their best month yet in their third season. They were led by their ace, Michael Sinclair, who collected 5 wins and 2 losses with 43 strikeouts in his 8 starts, putting up a fin 2.05 ERA in 57 innings of work. 21-year-old CF, Tom Martin, contributed significantly and picked up the rookie of the month batting .278 with 3 HRs and 6 RBIs.
Portland: They were still struggling mightily. They were 5th or 6th in the league in every offensive and defensive category, save stolen bases (league leaders with 34). The only other positive news for the team is that they were still improving over both previous seasons.

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1 Jul 1875


Team Recap:
Olympia: Another strong month and another great battle with Tacoma. The two teams continued to swap the lead in the race for the Pennant and the Cavalry ended the month a game-and-a-half in front of Tacoma. Their star reliever, Will Chandler, pulled in the pitcher of the month award. He threw 41.2 innings over 17 relief appearances and collected a 6-1 record with 59 strikeouts and 4 saves while etching a 1.30 ERA.
Tacoma: They were still fighting hard but had 3 less wins than Olympia during the month. With Seattle only 3-and-a-half back, they were stuck between a rock and a hard place. Although, in their first 4 seasons, they always had a great July; and August for that matter. With two back-to-back Championship Cups, they were still the team to beat.
Seattle: Etched a game back on the second place team over the course of the month. During June, the Generals were led by their one-time rookie of the year (1871) and league MVP (1873), Geoff Williams. He had a BA of .337, hitting 9 homeruns and driving in 28. He increased is yearly total to 23 HRs and career total to 133 HRs, 12 behind his teammate, Henry Hill who led all hitters with 145 total HRs in just under 5 seasons. Seattle was part of history too in June, they were just on the wrong end of it.
Vancouver: On 18 Jun 1875, David Bird carved his name into the record books and the first pitcher to ever record a no-hitter. After defeating the Seattle Generals 3-0, he commented, “I’m just glad to be here. I want to help the club any way I can. Today I just went right at the Generals as hard as I could, as long as I could.” Unfortunately, that was the only excitement for Vancouver in the month. They were still in the hunt, but a full 7 games out of contention with only 1 month to play.
Salem: The Steamboats got way worse in June. They only managed 6 wins and just didn’t do much else.
Portland: It was the same for Portland. With 5 wins in June, they were mathematically eliminated from contention on 28 Jun, but let’s face it, they were out of it from the start…

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1 Aug 1875


Team Recap:
Olympia: On 24 Jul, the celebrations in Olympia began. They clinched their second Pennant in history and secured home field advantage for the Championship Cup. This would be only their second trip in 5 years but they did pull the double in 1872. They had 19 wins in each of the last three months to finish the season 5 games ahead of the Admirals.
Vancouver: With a 4-2 win over Salem on the last day of the season, the Admirals fought all the way from 4th place to win the right to play in the Championship Cup. For the second time in his career, CF Howard Carter won the league batting title with a .330 average. This, plus another stellar month from David Bird, allowed Vancouver to capture 22 wins in July and secure the playoff spot.
Tacoma: The Rainiers also won their final game, a 12-5 victory over Portland, but had not done enough. They managed only 15 wins to Vancouver’s 22. It was only the second time in 5 years that they didn’t play any games in August. They only had themselves to blame.
Seattle: The Generals faded even worse than Tacoma by playing less than .500 ball in July. After an appearance in the Cup last year, they finished in fourth. It was a place they were familiar with having finished there in each of the first 3 years of the league.
Salem: The Steamboats ended the season worse than the previous year after having such a promising off-season. There could be some shake-ups in the team going forward.
Portland: The Explorers managed 11 wins in July and finished only 2 games behind Salem. The perennial basement dwellers even managed to make the last few weeks of the season exciting for their fans. Is this a sign of better things to come?

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1 Sep 1875

Championship Cup:
The series saw the Olympia Cavalry and the Vancouver Admirals battle for the right to hold the cup. Olympia, as the pennant winners, had the home field advantage and game 1 was a slugfest. Vancouver started the game leading 3-0 in the second, and 4-3 after the top of the fifth. A seven-run inning in the bottom of the seventh gave Olympia the victory to go up 1 game to none. Olympia continue their run of offence in game 2 grabbing onto a 5-1 lead through 7 innings. The Admirals, however, fought back by scoring two runs in the 8th and 9th innings each. The game went all the way to the bottom of the 12th inning, where a 2-0ut double, followed by a single with a close play at the plate saw Olympia walk off with the win! The teams travelled to Vancouver for game 3 where the Admirals fed off the energy of their home crowd to take game 3, 8-2. Game 4 was a pitcher’s duel that ended 2-1 in favor of Vancouver and the series was now tied at 2. Vancouver couldn’t maintain the home field advantage as Olympia stole game 5 7-3. The series returned to Olympia and the Cavalry capitalize in the very first game there and won 4-1 to clinch the series and take their second Cup. Olympia completed the pennant and cup sweep for the second time in their history! Vancouver lost the Championship Cup for the 4th time in 4 tries. The fifth season of the Pacific Coast League was now over. All eyes were now turned to the off-season and what would happen next. The PCL announced its annual award winners toward the end of the month. This was something that the players had been sharing but now the media and fans were involved. There were 4 categories: best hitter, best pitcher, best reliever and best rookie. Will Chandler (OLY) won the best reliever, playing in 53 games with a 9-6 record, 22 saves and a 1.74 ERA. 26-year-old third baseman Donald McClure (VAN) won the rookie of the year award. He played in all 112 games, had 10 HRs, 18 RBIs and a BA of .247. For the second year in-a-row, Jeff Stephens (TAC) was named the best pitcher of the league. He went 10-9 with a 3.71 ERA and struck out 190 batters. Finally, for the second time in his career, SS Geoff Williams (SEA) was the batter of the year. He had 140 hits, 30 HRs, 92 RBIs and finished the year with a .319 BA.

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1 Oct 1875

All of the railroads commission for 1875 were complete, here is Map of the stadiums and rail lines in 1873. Full version of the map at NatGeo Mapmaker Interactive



1875 would also see the next Presidential election. President Stanford was well on track to see himself re-elected for another 4 years.

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1 Nov 1875

On 25 October, President Stanford made the annual Railroad construction announcement. For the next summer, there were two priorities. To establish a railroad along the eastern border and to connect to a booming American lumber yard north of Seattle known as Gastown. The GPR would be extended north to Gastown and possibly into disputed territory with the English. President Stanford’s announcement signaled that the WSA felt quite secure west of the Rockies with no real way for England or France to reach them. The Northern rail would extend east into Idaho. The Central line would extend south and east to end at El Paso. Again, only 600 miles of track were to be constructed; however, with the connection to Texas recently finalized, the US began the process of securing more steal. At the end of the event, President Stanford announced that the new Capitol was ready and that the government would begin the process of moving there right away. He stated that after the inauguration of the new President, to be elected in the coming weeks, the Capitol would be fully functional. This new capitol would be called Athena, in honor of the birthplace of democracy. The Capitol would have all of the grandest items that modern day technology could provide. This was an exciting announcement for all there and just when they thought it was over, he added one last wrinkle. He stated that the Capitol would have a baseball team that would compete in a league to be formed in January called the Capital League Baseball. There would be four teams initially with plans to expand the league in the coming years. President Stanford left the podium and the crowd cheered mightily.

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1 Dec 1875

Doc Holiday had not disappeared after all. Following the humiliation of his departure from the Pacific Coast League, he pulled himself together and went to Sacramento. He spent months looking for players, businessmen and cities that wanted to get involved. He discovered that San Francisco had a vibrant baseball community prior to the Civil War. There was no less than 12 baseball clubs in San Francisco but all were abandoned as the US tried to fend off their European adversaries. It was in San Francisco that he met Captain Al Fritz, a prior baseball club president and war hero. Captain Fritz had a club building downtown and his team played in the first ever organized game in San Francisco in 1860. The club was called the Eagles and Doc convinced the captain to reorganize his club. Captain Fritz did just that and Doc had his first new team in California, the San Francisco Eagles. Doc and Captain Fritz became fast friends and Captain Fritz used his connections to find two other previous owners of teams that were based on the east coast. In San Jose, there was Alfred T. Goshern, who owned the Cincinnati Red Stockings and fled to California in the late 1860s. He was eager to restore his team to play baseball again. His new team would be called the San Jose Red Stockings. In Sacramento, they found another prior owner of an east coast team, James N. Keras. He owned and operated the Philadelphia Athletics and was truly enchanted by Doc's league in Washington State and wanted to get in on the action. He formed the Sacramento Athletics. As Doc and Captain Fritz were celebrating their third team in Sacramento, they found their way to a fancy pub to play cards and have a drink. Of course, Doc who was a master card player by now, made an impression in the pub and soon the two friends found that they were upstairs in a high-roller game. Doc and Captain Fritz could not stop talking about what they were trying to do and a man at the table said he could help. That man was President Stanford himself. He liked a good game of cards every now and again and while playing, he decided that the new Capitol would need a team too. President Stanford turned one of his business friends onto the idea and the fourth team was formed. They were to be the Athena Senators and would play their games in the new capitol. A stadium was added to the city plans and Doc, using his new found influence from men in high places, secured the loan to kick-start the league. After President Stanford's announcement in late October, the Capitol League Baseball front offices opened for business in downtown Athena, very near to the new national capitol building. Doc's reputation and dream were restored.

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1 Jan 1876

The new league structures.


With the Capitol League already pulling star players from the north, the bad blood that existed between Doc and the Pacific Coast League was about to boil.

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1 Feb 1876

Spring Training for the Capitol League is scheduled to begin on 17 Feb 1876 with the regular season underway on 2 Mar. Doc and the commissioner staff created a fixed schedule that was 31 weeks long. Each week, teams were to play a 4-game set from Thursday to Sunday. Monday through Wednesday would be travel days. This was done because Doc was acutely aware of the size of California and the league was already gaining interest from Los Angeles and San Diego far to the south. There were rumors that other form baseball club owners had made their way to California along with some experienced players. Doc set out to find them in late January. He left the league to be run by Captain Fritz with a promise to be back by opening day.

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1 Mar 1876

Doc returned to Athena with amazing news! He found Alexander Cartwright alive and well in Fresno, California. He founded the New York Knickerbocker club who played the very first organized game in 1846. Mr. Cartwright had only recently arrived from the east and his finances were destitute. Doc decided that Mr. Cartwright must be involved and used league funds to provide Mr. Cartwright enough cash to form a club and start negotiating a stadium to be built in Fresno. It seemed that the Fresno Knickerbockers would join the league from 1877. Tomorrow would be the first day of the new season. President Stanford was slated to watch the opening pitch in Athena. In just 6 years, baseball had become very important in the new nation. As Doc Holiday had predicted, the people were turning to distraction to help heal the devastation that occurred during the 1860s. Baseball was the perfect diversion!

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13 Mar 1876


Capitol League Baseball Team Recap (2 week increments):
San Francisco: The Eagles played their first two weeks at home. They had the oldest stadium and the most knowledgeable fans. Captain Fritz had done an amazing job of gathering talent and the team split their series with San Jose 2-2 and swept aside Athena 4-0. They charged into the early lead with a 6-2 record.
Sacramento: Using the clout that the team owner brought from Philadelphia, the A’s snatched the 1874 rookie of the year from the Tacoma Rainiers in the PCL. They started the season with two weeks on the road and split both series with Athena and San Jose. An overall 4-4 record was a solid start.
San Jose: Cincinnati’s old team, they too started the year 4-4. They split both of their series with San Fran and Sacramento.
Athena: The nation’s most popular team thus far. It dominated the headlines and pulled in the nation’s President to every home game so far. After a descent start, they travelled to San Francisco and got swept aside.

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27 Mar 1876


Capitol League Baseball Team Recap:
San Francisco: They continued their strong start. They took 3 of 4 from Sacramento and travelled to San Jose where the split that series.
San Jose: The last team to play Athena, they won 3 games in that series and then split with San Francisco. This propelled them to a 9-7 overall record and into second place.
Sacramento: They had an up and down two weeks, losing 3 games to the Eagles and taking 3 from the Senators. They continued on the .500 track.
Athena: The could only manage 1 win per week and fell to 4-12 overall. It was early in the season but there were already rumblings that the Senators were out of contention.

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10 Apr 1876
GAME CRASH! Lost 1 Mar to 10 Apr; Will pick up with new sim from 1 Mar and, of course, it changed results quite a bit… bummer...


Capitol League Baseball Team Recap:
San Francisco: The Eagles have a 2-game lead over Sacramento. They established a 16-8 record and maintain an early lead in the CLB.
Sacramento: They have started their history in good form with a 14-10 record. They are 4 games ahead of Athena.
Athena: The Senators started the year playing .500 ball but a 4-game losing streak saw them fall to 10-14. They were swept aside by San Jose.
San Jose: Had a terrible start but have now won 5 straight to pull within 2 games of Athena.

Pacific Coast League Team Recap:
Portland: What a difference a year makes. A last-place until now, the Explorers fired their coach in August. Under a new system, they started 7-2 and led the league for the first time in their history. In the off-season they signed 2-time pitcher of the year, Rory Powell. The signing immediately paid off as Powell pitched a 2-hit shutout on opening day.
Vancouver: They started 1-3 but have since won 5 in a row. They are 1 game back from Portland.
Salem: They too were successful in the off-season signing two major free agents. A left fielder and a starting pitcher. The pair helped Salem to a 5-4 start and their highest position in the league ever, just 2 games back from Portland.
Seattle: In a continuing them, Seattle was in fourth. The Generals had only ever made 1 playoff appearance and have no pennants or cups yet. They were only 5-4 and tied with Salem but it seemed as if the creation of the league in California was shaking up the PCL.
Olympia: The Cavalry was quite busy in the off-season but they did lose a few key players. Early in the season, they were showing signs of weakness by starting 3-6. There was a lot of time to turn it around.
Tacoma: 3-time Championship Cup winners, the Tacoma Rainiers were off to their worst start in history. They started 1-1 but then proceeded to lost 7 straight. At this point in the season, they already had quite a hole to dig from if they wanted to continue as the dominant team in the league.

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24 Apr 1876



Capitol League Baseball Team Recap:
San Francisco: The Eagles continue to power their way through the league. They won both series in the previous two weeks 3-1. This put them at 22-10 for the season and already 7 games ahead of second place. 42-year old starter, Rod Macintosh, tossed a 2-hit shutout. He had experience playing on the east coast and was now shining in the new league. It was too bad his best years were behind him.
Sacramento: The other 3 teams in the league were beating each other and getting beat up by San Francisco. The Athletics were the best of the rest but were only 15-17. They had lost 7 of 8 and none of those games were against the Eagles.
Athena: The Senators played .500 ball by winning a series against Sacramento and losing won to SF. Overall, they stood at 14-18, just one game back from the Athletics.
San Jose: They lost 3 to the Eagles but turned around and swept the A’s. This allowed them to better their record to 14-18, only 1 game behind Athena.

Pacific Coast League Team Recap:
Portland: The Explorers continued their strong opening month. They picked up 9 wins again 4 losses to stand at 16-5 and doubled their lead over Seattle to 4 games.
Seattle: Climbed from fourth to second with a 7-6 record. They were 12-10 with April almost in the books. From second to sixth, there was only a split of 3 games.
Salem: After a positive start, the Steamboats faltered a little. They played 5-8 over the previous two weeks. They still managed to hang onto third place with an overall record of 10-12.
Vancouver: They now share third with Salem. The Admirals couldn’t sustain their 5 game streak and managed only a 4-9 record to bring their total to 10-12.
Olympia: The played better ball and managed a 6-7 record to bring their total to 9-13, only 1 game behind the two next teams in the standings.
Tacoma: Started to play the baseball they are capable of. They cruised to 8-5 record but still remain in the basement, tied with Olympia at 9-13.

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8 May 1876



Capitol League Baseball Team Recap:
San Francisco: The league was now one-third of the way through its inaugural season and the Eagles were pulling away. There was still a long season to be played but, at 27-13, SF was already 8 games ahead of second place. They won 3 against the A’s and split with the Red Stockings. If they continued to win or tie their series’ each week, they would win the first Pennant! 29-year-old starter, Allen Adams was the pitcher of April with 4 wins and no losses in 5 starts. Adams checked opposing batters on 15 base hits and a .129 BA. He rang up 35 Ks in 35 innings of work, surrendered just 15 walks and fashioned a 0.51 ERA. 33-year-old 1B, Wayne Johnston, was the batter of the month hitting .296 with 7 HRs, 16 RBIs and 16 runs scored.
Athena: In the CLB, the battle for the second spot in the Cup at the end of the year was very tight. 3 teams were just 3 games apart. Athena led the way at 19-21 overall. Over the previous two weeks, they won 3 against San Jose and split with the A’s.
Sacramento: They were only 1 behind Athena at 18-22. As mentioned, they split with the Senators but lost 3 of 4 to the Eagles.
San Jose: At 16-24, they were 3 behind the A’s and 11 games back from the league leaders. They lost 3 to the Senators but were able to split their series with SF.

Pacific Coast League Team Recap:
Portland: The Explorers stretched their league lead to 6 games despite a 4-5 record in the past two weeks. They were 25-10 overall and their 31-year-old starter, Michael Sinclair, scored the pitcher of the month award. In 7 starts, he posted a 2.11 ERA and struck out 39 batters in 59.1 innings.
Vancouver: Swept past both Salem and Seattle to sail into second place. They were 6 games behind Portland and posted a 9-4 record over the last two weeks to increase to 19-16 overall. After making the playoffs in 4 of 5 seasons, with 2 Pennants, the Admirals were attempting to make it back and win their first cup.
Seattle: They dipped one spot after going 6-7. At 18-17, they were only 1 game off in the playoff race.
Salem: Posted a winning record, 7-6, to pull within one game of Seattle and were at 17-18 overall. Geoff Williams, SS, put up some good numbers in April and earned the PCL Batter of the Month award. He was one of Salem’s offensive leaders with a .354 BA in 28 games. He also racked up 10 HRs, 30 RBIs, and 25 runs scored.
Olympia: They matched Seattle’s 6-7 run but were much further behind at 15-20.
Tacoma: After making a splendid run, Tacoma dropped 11 out of 13 games in the past two weeks. They were 11-24, a full 14 games behind league leaders Portland.