The League of Nations

[Syd Thrift]

Both the LCS and the WS rounds are best-of-seven. Incidentally the real-life MLB did a best-of-nine this year but we are not the real-life MLB.

September 7: The Dutch airline KLM is founded (as of 2019, it is the world's oldest airline still flying under its original name). Too late to help the Admirals but the Velocity bump is nice: All-Star closer Coljin Kamp and RP Manfred Essers get the boosts. Essers is now a side-armer who can hit 96 MPH.

September 8
-----------------
Zoss Handcuffs Dragons, Yankees Seize 1-0 Advantage in LCS
The stakes were high. Steve Zoss was ready.

The left-hander turned in a performance for the ages at Yankee Stadium today, pitching a 9-inning, complete-game shutout to lead the New York Yankees to victory in Game 1 of the League Championship Series. Zoss held the Beijing Dragons to no hits and 1 walk, while striking out 6. The win got the best-of-7 series off to a good start for New York, which now leads 1-0.

Zoss, the New York left-hander, went 9 innings, allowing no runs on no hits. He collected 6 strikeouts.

"Winning the game is always the first objective," Zoss said.

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Yankee Stadium in New York.

September 9: In Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds win the World Series, five games to three, over the Chicago White Sox, whose players are later found to have lost intentionally. This can't be anything but a pretty huge athletics (SPD) hit for the Defenders. 1B Adam Collins, who is already super slow, backup SS Brendan Townson, and part-time OF Joey Benson, who was also super slow, take hits. I'm half thinking that this should carry a BABIP hit/bump as well but then I kind of like the weirdness around athletic endeavors having a relatively minor impact (even a slightly negative one here since higher Speed encourages teams to steal more and right now teams steal under the 70% break-even threshold).

League Championship Series Game 1 Victory for Mincewicz and Warsaw

The Warsaw Crusaders started the League Championship Series in style today, downing the visiting Paris Revolutions at Field of the Crusaders by a score of 4-3 to stake an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series. Crusaders left-hander Iwo Mincewicz threw 8.0 innings allowing 3 runs.

Lars Rolnik, the Warsaw left fielder, contributed a 2-run single in the bottom of the third inning to make the score 4-1, Crusaders. For the game, Rolnik was 2 for 4 with 2 singles. He drove in 2 runs.

"For the most part, I made good pitches when I needed to," said Mincewicz.

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Field of the Crusaders in Warsaw.

Beijing Win Evens Series at 1

The Beijing Dragons topped the New York Yankees by the score of 5-2 and moved into a 1-1 tie in the League Championship Series today. The largest share of the credit belongs to Beijing starter Xiao-wei Cao, who threw 8.2 innings of 5-hit ball in the win.

The Yankees had trouble solving Cao, who surrendered 2 runs on 5 hits over 8.2 innings.

"It takes a lot of things to win a ballgame," said Beijing manager Xu Schichang. "It's usually not just one thing."

Game 3 is scheduled for Saturday at Dragons Ballpark in Beijing.

September 10: Estonia adopts a radical land reform, nationalizing 97% of agrarian lands, mostly still belonging to Baltic Germans. That's unequivocally a loss of POWer for Germans and therefore the Knights. Only Dennis Lehr, who didn't have any HRs in 1919 anyway, takes a hit since, I mean, it's Estonia we're talking about (no offense, Estonians).

Revolutions Even With Crusaders After Extra-Innings Win

The Paris Revolutions went the distance and then some at Field of the Crusaders today to drag themselves back into a tie with the Warsaw Crusaders.

It took 11 innings to settle Game 2 of the League Championship Series, but Paris eventually took the 5-3 win behind the efforts of starting pitcher Roger Mercier. Mercier threw 7.0 innings of 6-hit ball to aid the Paris cause. The clubs are now tied 1-1 in their best-of-7 series.

Enzo Thomas made it 3-2 in favor of Paris when he delivered a run-scoring single. It came with two out in the top of the 11th. The Revolutions went on to win.

"Our team showed some resilience," said Thomas.

The next game is set to be played for Sunday, October 12th, 1919 at Revolutions Stadium in Paris.

******

It's my experience that Game 2s always even the series at 1-1 unless they don't, and this LCS was no exception.

October 11:

New York Takes Series Lead in Low-Scoring Affair

With starter Andrew Ketchum leading the charge, the New York Yankees defeated the Beijing Dragons, 3-2, in Game 3 of the League Championship Series today. The right-hander threw 5.1 innings of 4-hit ball at Dragons Ballpark to help New York take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Sean Hurd, the 31-year old left fielder , had a direct impact on the outcome. Hurd contributed a run-scoring triple in the top of the eighth inning to put New York up, 3-2.

"Our guys are never satisfied," said New York manager Woodrow Wilson.

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Dragons Ballpark in Beijing.

September 12
------------------
Revolutions Rally Past Crusaders to Claim 2-1 Series Lead

When the games really matter, the Paris Revolutions put on their best show, beating the Warsaw Crusaders by a final score of 4-3 today. Pielgrzym Gajdzinski threw 8.0 innings of 6-hit ball. Paris now leads Warsaw 2-1 in the best-of-7 affair.

The game was decided with one out in the bottom of the ninth. With Paris trailing 3-2, Alexis Schmidt hit a cutter from Stefan Hahn to center for a 2-run single. Just like that, the Revolutions had a walk-off win.

"This place was electric at the end," Schmidt said.

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Revolutions Stadium in Paris.

Almost There: New York On Cusp of LCS Triumph After 14-4 Win

Riding the 4-hit performance of first baseman Albert Cushing Read, the New York Yankees got a road win against the Beijing Dragons, 14-4, in Game 4 of the League Championship Series today. Read was 4-5 with a home run, a double, and 2 singles, while scoring 2 and driving in 3 for the Yankees, who now lead the best-of-7 series, 3 games to 1.

It could have been a different outcome for New York, had it not been for Scott Carpenter, the 28-year old shortstop . Carpenter contributed a 2-run home run in the top of the first inning to put New York up, 3-0.

"Things broke our way today and that's great," Yankees manager's wife Edith Wilson said. "It's important, though, to stay focused and not pat yourself on the back too much. We aren't done yet. Anyone up for some tea?"

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Dragons Ballpark in Beijing.

September 13: The Convention relating to the Regulation of Aerial Navigation is signed, in Paris, France. I could easily give this the GRIT BUMP but I don't know, I think all the aviation stuff from this era is pretty interesting, so instead the Revolutions will get a little VELO buff. Yves "The Beret" Huart sees his velocity spike to 99 MPH in the middle of a close series.

Warsaw Win Evens Series at 2

The Warsaw Crusaders topped the Paris Revolutions by the score of 3-1 and moved into a 2-2 tie in the League Championship Series today. The largest share of the credit belongs to Warsaw starter Tomislaw Lukowski, who threw 8.0 innings of 4-hit ball in the win.

Lukowski gave Warsaw a solid start. The right-hander allowed 1 run on 4 hits over 8 innings.

"I just trusted my stuff," said Lukowski.

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Revolutions Stadium in Paris.

New York Win League Championship Series

New York Yankees fans are rejoicing after a 5-1 win at Dragons Ballpark has propelled the club to a 4-1 League Championship Series victory over the Beijing Dragons.

With the win, the club advanced on to the World Series.

"Total team effort, that's the only way we get it done in this one," said New York left fielder Sean Hurd, who was named series MVP.

The New York Yankees don't know who they will face in the next round. They will play the winner of the Paris Revolutions - Warsaw Crusaders series. That series is tied at 2 games apiece. The World Series schedule will be announced after the League Championship Series finishes.

***********
Incidentally, Steve Zoss left that game in the 8th with what's described as mild shoulder inflammation. You'd think a guy would just suck it up and play through the most important series of his life, but this will more than likely take him out of the World Championship.

September 14
--------------------

Pivotal Game 5 Goes to Host Revolutions, 8-5

The Paris Revolutions moved to within one game of the World Series today, downing the visiting Warsaw Crusaders at Revolutions Stadium by a score of 8-5. Revolutions shortstop Robert Prost did some major damage. He went 2 for 4 with a triple and a double, while adding 6 RBI and scoring once. The win gives the Revolutions a 3-2 advantage in the best-of-7 League Championship Series.

The Revolutions took a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Facing Warsaw hurler Iwo Mincewicz with two outs, Prost hit a bases-clearing double.

"We took advantage of our opportunities," Prost told the Paris Observer. "It's as simple as that."

The next game is set to be played for Thursday, October 16th, 1919 at Field of the Crusaders in Warsaw.

September 16: In Germany, Adolf Hitler gives his first speech for the German Workers' Party (DAP). Normally this would be an add a player point but I'm going to make the game decision not to add Adolph god damn Hitler into my league. It's going to be bad enough come the 1930s when he's the GM of Berlin.

September 16: The historic Condado Vanderbilt Hotel is inaugurated, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. PR is a US territory but I'm going to make Cuba the voice of Latin America for now so they get this bump. It's commerce and so BABIP, albeit a small effect. CF Roberto Doria, who looked "not quite good enough" before and now looks "still not quite good enough", receives it.

Raucous Field of the Crusaders Crowd Propels Crusaders to 5-3 Victory; Series Tied at 3

The Warsaw Crusaders and the Paris Revolutions will take the League Championship Series to a decisive 7th game. In a must-win situation today, the Crusaders beat the Revolutions 5-3 at Field of the Crusaders to force the series into what will essentially be a one-game playoff. Warsaw right-hander Czestobor Wisniewski had a big role in the win. He threw 8.1 innings allowing 3 runs.

Fryderyk Panek, the Warsaw catcher, contributed a 2-run single in the bottom of the first inning to make the score 4-3, Crusaders. For the game, Panek was 1-4, while adding 2 RBI.

"It was a solid team effort," said Wisniewski after the game.

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Field of the Crusaders in Warsaw.

************

The Crusaders don't know how not to keep things tight, do they?

October 17
---------------------

League Championship Series Goes the Distance, Paris Prevails

In an exciting League Championship Series that had its fair share of drama and intrigue, perhaps it is League of Nations fans who have come out the winner.

But on the field, the winners were the Paris Revolutions, who edged the Warsaw Crusaders 4-3 to advance to the World Series.

Paris won the final game by a 4-2 count to wrap up the series. Bastien Mathieu earned series MVP honors, by hitting .407 with a .448 on-base percentage. He had 0 home runs, drove in 1 RBI and scored 8 runs.

The Paris Revolutions will play against the New York Yankees in the next round. New York won their series against the Beijing Dragons 4 games to 1. The World Series schedule will be announced after the League Championship Series finishes.

***************
There you have it! Yankees vs Revolutions!

[OrangeP47]

As primarily a soccer fan actually it's gonna take me awhile before I can get it through my head that the Revolutions are not the NE Revolution based out of Boston in the MLS, which would make this World Series... weird... but this would be the dynasty for it

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by OrangeP47

As primarily a soccer fan actually it's gonna take me awhile before I can get it through my head that the Revolutions are not the NE Revolution based out of Boston in the MLS, which would make this World Series... weird... but this would be the dynasty for it

Also the Yankees’ Championship League affiliate is the Boston Red Sox.

[Sevsdast]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Also the Yankees’ Championship League affiliate is the Boston Red Sox.

But why?

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by Sevsdast

But why?

Who else could be the farm team for the faces of true evil in this world???

[Syd Thrift]

World Series Game 1 Victory for McGrattan and New York

The stakes were high. Chris McGrattan was ready.

The right-hander turned in a performance for the ages at Yankee Stadium today, pitching a 9-inning, complete-game shutout to lead the New York Yankees to victory in Game 1 of the World Series. McGrattan held the Paris Revolutions to 2 hits and 1 walk, while striking out 1. The win got the best-of-7 series off to a good start for New York, which now leads 1-0.

McGrattan delivered a quality start for New York. The 5' 11" right-hander allowed no earned runs on 2 hits over 9 innings of work.

Revolutions manager Georges Clemenceau did not take questions after the game, telling assembled reporters that he would hold a press conference "if and when we win the World Series."

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Yankee Stadium in New York.

Revolutions Even With Yankees After Extra-Innings Win

In a crucial game, the Paris Revolutions put on their best show, beating the New York Yankees by a final score of 6-4 today. Pierre Bianchi went 1-2 with a triple and 2 walks. He scored 2 runs. Paris and New York are now tied at 1 wins apiece in the best-of-7 affair.

Paris used the timely hitting of Mickael Maillet to seize the win. The shortstop stroked a 2-run single in the top of the 12th inning to put the Revolutions on top, 6-4. It was his only hit in 1 at-bat, but it was a game-changer.

"We took advantage of our opportunities," Maillet told the Paris Observer. "It's as simple as that."

Game 3 is scheduled for Wednesday at Revolutions Stadium in Paris.

New York Tops Paris 7-0, Claim 2-1 Series Lead

Starter Warren Brockman was sensational for the New York Yankees in his team's 7-0 triumph over the Paris Revolutions in Game 3 of the World Series today. Brockman pitched well, but New York picked up the win to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

New York relied on the hitting of Nick Arnold to pick up the win. The catcher ripped a run-scoring triple in the top of the eighth inning to put the Yankees on top, 2-0. For the game, Arnold had 1 triple and 2 singles in 5 at-bats.

Brockman called the win "a lesson in teamwork."

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Revolutions Stadium in Paris.

**********
Incidentally, the Yankees' Game 3 starter, Warren Brockman, was the closer for the first chunk of the season before moving into a starter's role in the 2nd half. As a result, he's got a kind of crazy seasonal statline of 9-6, 7 saves, 36 G, 18 starts, and a 2.63 ERA.
**********

Almost There: New York On Cusp of World Series Triumph After 12-2 Win

Riding the 3-hit performance of shortstop Scott Carpenter, the New York Yankees got a road win against the Paris Revolutions, 12-2, in Game 4 of the World Series today. Carpenter went 3-5 with a triple and 2 singles, while scoring 2 and driving in 4 for the Yankees, who now lead the best-of-7 series, 3 games to 1.

In the top of the first, with the game still scoreless, Carpenter hit a run-scoring single to put his team in the lead.

"I thought we played a nice game," Carpenter told the New York Citizen. "Good pitching, timely hitting, it was all there."

The next game is set to be played tomorrow at Revolutions Stadium in Paris.

*********
Speaking of... interesting lineup decisions, Ben Hank had 1 start the entire regular season. The Yankees are playing without Mike Stroud (13-6, 2.13) as well as Steve Zoss (17-10, 2.07) but man, that pitching just comes in waves...
********

Yankees Beat Revolutions in World Series

With a 2-0 win over the Paris Revolutions at Revolutions Stadium today, the New York Yankees wrapped up their 1st title in team history.

The Yankees left little doubt who was the better team. Celebrating a banner year, "team" was the word of the day in the victorious clubhouse after the game.

"Hitting, pitching, fielding; those are all things you need to win, but most importantly you need a team, a team that works together toward the same collective goal," said New York acting manager Edith Wilson. "Our boys felt that way all year, and they played that way. When one guy had an off day, 24 others stepped up their game and filled the void. But what do I know?"

A jovial mood filled the air as New York celebrated into the night. The city's mayor said parade plans were underway and a "huge celebration" would be in order.

"I hope they have a big celebration," Paris manager Georges Clemenceau said. "They deserved to win this series and they deserve to celebrate it. And I hope they all contract the influenza and die."

[Syd Thrift]

I added a thing to keep the baseballs going in the offseason: the Winter Baseball Invitational, held this year in New York City in the depths of winter. This was a bad idea! Anyway, this year all 24 teams are involved. We'll see what happens in years to come.

October 26: 1919 Luxembourg general election, the first in the duchy with female suffrage, following constitutional amendments of May 15. I mean, Luxembourg isn't in this save (and might not be for a long time) but I can't help but think that it was the POWer of Belgium and the Netherlands that got them to this. So... Painters 3B Laurent Esnault, who hit .271 with 8 dingers and 70 RBIs for Brussels last year, gets a bump, as does Admirals backup 3B / pinch-hitter Omer Guerts.

October 28: Prohibition in the United States: The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act, over President Woodrow Wilson's veto. Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution. The loss of POWer here is staggering! New York sees a hit to SS Scott Carpenter and CF Ken Blanton, the latter of whom is nursing the after-effects of a concussion and might not be ready to play by Opening Day. LA sees hits to aging 3B Dan O'Donnell and his platoon mate, 3B Craig Heib, who is no spring chicken himself. Chicago is just like "lol wut?" (because, look, whatever Prohibition did to the rest of the country, it pretty much went unrecognized in Chi-town).

November 1: The Coal Strike of 1919 begins in the United States, by the United Mine Workers under John L. Lewis; a final agreement is reached on December 10. It's a pretty big POWer deal for Chicago here. C Brian Schlesinger, who I feel has been on the losing end of some of these events in the past, gets a boost, as does CF Joe Quinn, who started last year but doesn't look like he's going to this year (by the way, Al Capone is on the Defenders' offseason roster right now. Exciting!).

November 3
---------------------

New World Announces Great Glove Award Winners
Monday, November 3rd, 1919
Defense is a critical element in the game of baseball. Many times late in the game, a light-hitting defensive specialist will be inserted in place of a superstar hitter. Good defenders are worth their weight in gold and today the best of them for 1919 have been recognized. These players will receive the New World Great Glove Award:

Pitcher
Carlos Hernandez (Mexico City Aztecs)

Catcher
Zubair bin Marzuq (Tehran Tigers)

First Baseman
Ruben Espinosa (Havana Sugar Kings)

Second Baseman
Saud bin Malik (Tehran Tigers)

Third Baseman
Ben Salas (Chicago Defenders)

Shortstop
Majdy Abdul-Wahhab (Tehran Tigers)

Left Fielder
Rintaro Nagase (Tokyo Samurai)

Center Fielder
Motohiro Hayashi (Tokyo Samurai)

Right Fielder
Eric Ridgeway (Los Angeles Stars)


Year's Best Gloves Selected by Old World
Monday, November 3rd, 1919
While their actual gloves may be black or brown, these fielders proved the value of their gloves was golden in 1919. The following players have been named the Great Glove Award winners for the Old World:

Pitcher
Sefa Yazîcîoglu (Istanbul Sultans)

Catcher
Fryderyk Panek (Warsaw Crusaders)

First Baseman
Maurice Noordermeer (Amsterdam Admirals)

Second Baseman
Quentin Robert (Brussels Painters)

Third Baseman
John van der Wiel (Amsterdam Admirals)

Shortstop
Kâdizâde Dursun (Istanbul Sultans)

Left Fielder
Gerardo Cordova (Madrid Matadors)

Center Fielder
Antoine Thomas (Brussels Painters)

Right Fielder
Veit Schutzhauer (Vienna Musik)

**************
I'm considering what to call Gold Gloves / Silver Slugger awards in this game. It's evolving!
**************

November 4
--------------------

Best NEW Reliever Named
Tuesday, November 4th, 1919
When David Winstead jogged in from the bullpen this season, opposing teams knew they were going to have a tough time putting up runs.

The New York Yankees reliever turned in a dominant campaign and has been named the New World Reliever of the Year Award winner for 1919.

His award-winning season saw the bullpen ace get 23 saves in 59 relief appearances, 42 strikeouts in 75.1 innings and only 22 walks. He had a record of 10 wins and 4 losses to go with his 1.31 ERA.

"I hope I can pitch like this every year," he said.

He received 24 first place votes, as a unanimous winner. Korbin Jackson of the Los Angeles Stars (8-6, 33 Sv, 1.97 ERA) finished second in voting, while Kalidas Honnenahalli of the Bombay Elephants (3-5, 35 Sv, 1.94 ERA) finished third.

**************
I personally would have probably given it to Jackson. Remember when the Rolaids Relief Award was given out based on a very simple formula of I think 1 point per save + 2 points per relief win? I should do that.
**************

Reliever of the Year Award Goes to Kamp
Tuesday, November 4th, 1919
His manager and teammates call Colijn Kamp a true bullpen ace.

The Old World calls him the winner of the Reliever of the Year Award for 1919.

The Amsterdam Admirals relief specialist out of Amersfoort, The Netherlands, won the award with 28 saves in 73 relief appearances, 67 strikeouts in 91.1 innings and 26 walks.

He compiled a record of 6 wins and 9 losses and had a 1.77 ERA.

He received 19 first place votes out of a possible 24. Gino Roncero of the Rome Cardinals (6-4, 33 Sv, 0.77 ERA in 82 IP) finished second in voting with 5 first place votes, while Vid Krull of the Berlin Knights (3-6, 40 Sv, 2.04 ERA in 83.2 IP) finished third.

***********
There were some lights-out closers in the Old World in 1919 being used in very, very mid-80s fashion (think Dan Quisenberry and Marc Eichorn, though I don't think either of those guys were ever as dominant as Kamp or Roncero). All that said, I might have gone with the actual league leader in saves, Vid Krull, but it's hard to argue with any of those three.
***********

November 5
---------------------
Top NEW Hitters Honored with Platinum Stick Award
Wednesday, November 5th, 1919
For some it was a breakout year, while others had a breakout year too BECAUSE THIS IS THE FIRST DAMN YEAR OF THE LEAGUE GO HOME OOTP YOU'RE DRUNK. Today, the 1919 New World Platinum Stick Award winners were named:

Pitcher
Akrsnakarman Pasapuleti (Bombay Elephants)
.326/.337/.360, 86 AB, 105 wRC+, 0.9 WAR

Catcher
Nick Arnold (New York Yankees)
.361/.402/.447, 512 AB, 140 wRC+, 4.3 WAR

First Baseman
Adam Collins (Chicago Defenders)
.351/.377/.452, 613 AB, 7 HR, 1 SB, 143 wRC+, 5.1 WAR

Second Baseman
Tom Garcia (Los Angeles Stars)
.321/.378/.384, 638 AB, 1 HR, 52 SB, 101 R, 126 wRC+, 8.4 WAR

Third Baseman
Elimilton Dehaine (Rio de Janeiro Carnivale)
.336/.377/.429, 613 AB, 2 HR, 4 SB, 140 wRC+, 5.5 WAR

Shortstop
Victorino Ribas (Rio de Janeiro Carnivale)
.402/.482/.507, 418 AB, 4 HR, 3 SB, 196 wRC+, 6.5 WAR

Left Fielder
Rintaro Nagase (Tokyo Samurai)
.355/.389/.475, 653 AB, 4 HR, 38 SB, 158 wRC+, 7.7 WAR

Center Fielder
Omar Padilla (Havana Sugar Kings)
.341/.374/.496, 498 AB, 4 HR, 33 SB, 148 wRC+, 4.7 WAR

Right Fielder
Ching-wei Jiao (Beijing Dragons)
.322/.363/.483, 578 AB, 4 HR, 39 SB, 145 wRC+, 3.2 WAR

OLD Names Platinum Stick Award Winners
Wednesday, November 5th, 1919
For being the strongest offensive contributors at their position this year, the Old World has named a group of players as recipients of the Platinum Stick Award.

The 1919 winners of the award are:

Pitcher
Andres Mendoza (Madrid Matadors)
.296/.321/.358, 81 AB, 75 wRC+, 0.7 WAR

Catcher
Tobias Fisher (Berlin Knights)
.299/.357/.386, 448 AB, 1 HR, 2 SB, 110 wRC+, 4.1 WAR

First Baseman
Quentin Cole (Moscow Reds)
.344/.393/.522, 636 AB, 9 HR, 10 SB, 171 wRC+, 6.4 WAR

Second Baseman
Bastien Mathieu (Paris Revolutions)
.359/.419/.474, 546 AB, 3 HR, 2 SB, 163 wRC+, 4.7 WAR

Third Baseman
Aaron Humphreys (London Monarchs)
.361/.401/.515, 612 AB, 6 HR, 71 SB, 104 RBI, 10.2 WAR

Shortstop
Foeke Dane (Amsterdam Admirals)
.340/.369/.438, 623 AB, 3 HR, 36 SB, 136 wRC+, 8.5 WAR

Left Fielder
Gavriil Jukhvidov (Moscow Reds)
.341/.380/.421, 627 AB, 3 HR, 5 SB, 142 wRC+, 3.4 WAR

Center Fielder
Casper Zwartjes (Amsterdam Admirals)
.315/.361/.388, 650 AB, 2 HR, 82 SB, 125 wRC+, 5.7 WAR

Right Fielder
Efe Saffet (Istanbul Sultans)
.393/.490/.545, 501 AB, 4 HR, 74 SB, 114 R, 196 wRC+, 7.6 WAR

**********
This should also give you a decent preview of the MVP. I haven't seen it yet either but in the Old World I'd probably lean towards Efe Saffet instead of the obvious best-WAR choice of Aaron Humphreys, although man, that is a good season by the Monarchs hot corner man.
**********

November 6: There were ROYs too but do ROYs matter in the first year of a league? In case you're wondering, Albert Cushing Read won for the New World and SS Flavien Romanelli, who hit .304 with 4 HRs, 58 RBIs, and a .380 OBP for the Cardinals took home the Old World trophy.

November 7: The first of the Palmer Raids is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution; over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists are arrested in 23 different U.S. cities. These were a pretty big deal and they affected lefties and by extension the Defenders worst of all. I'm going to go so far as to call this a human rights issue, partially because it is and partially because I haven't pulled that lever yet (that's the one that affects fielding). 1B Adam Collins gets one of the hits, which, hey, 1B fielding matters the least, C Jesus "Old Man" River takes another, and 2B Luke Green, who was previously just barely able to play at the keystone, is #3.

Also, the Manager of the Year was awarded but a. my game crashed as I advanced to this day (after it saved the DB though; it's obviously an issue with the HTML rendering and I've copied the parts of the trace file that clearly show that this is the case and put that in the open bug I've got on the issue), and b. do we really care who the top managers are? (Woodrow Wilson and Jozef Pilsudski by the way... I wonder... he has non-traditional characters in his name; maybe that's causing this?).

November 7: Inspired by Cape Town's daily Noon Gun Three Minute Pause, King George V institutes the Two Minute Silence, following a suggestion by Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, to be observed annually at the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month. Sorry, while I understand that commemorating those who lost their lives in the Great War is kind of a big deal, this is pure, full-on GRIT BUMP territory. C Brayden Pugsley, the Aussie import with the supremely British name, sees his GRITTITUDE advance. He had a total of 2 sac bunts last year; perhaps the new GRIT will see him double that total?

Chris McGrattan Nabs Prestigious Pitcher of the Year Award
Saturday, November 8th, 1919
An old hand in this game, Chris McGrattan of the New York Yankees silenced critics as well as he silenced the opposition this year by winning the New World Pitcher of the Year Award.

The 37-year-old starter threw 284.2 innings, notched 95 strikeouts and put up a 19-7 record to claim the coveted award.

He received 24 first place votes, as a unanimous winner. Steve Zoss of the New York Yankees finished second in voting, while Xiao-wei Cao of the Beijing Dragons finished third.

Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Chris McGrattan (19-7, 1.83) - New York Yankees - 24 - 168
Steve Zoss (17-10, 2.07) - New York Yankees - 0 - 91
Xiao-wei Cao (21-9, 2.85) - Beijing Dragons - 0 - 51
Masahito Konishi (15-12, 2.35) - Tokyo Samurai - 0 - 44
Balbinder Tummala (18-13, 2.10) - Bombay Elephants - 0 - 39
Mike Stroud (13-6, 2.13) - New York Yankees - 0 - 15

************
My first thought was "give it to Cao because of the Ws" but McGrattan was awfully good, and I know you can't win the PotY in the postseason but if you could he was lockdown awesome in October. Surprised nobody else got first place votes though.
************

Warsaw Ace Wins OLD Pitcher of the Year Award
Saturday, November 8th, 1919
The Warsaw Crusaders have a rising superstar or maybe even a budding Hall-of-Famer in the making.
It's Iwo Mincewicz, this year's Old World Pitcher of the Year Award selection. This blossoming hurler wowed fans, peers and sportswriters with a fabulous performance.

Mincewicz compiled a 21-10 record in 35 starts, tallied 147 strikeouts in 286.2 innings and recorded a 2.79 ERA. Other clubs managed only a .247 batting average against him.

He received 14 first place votes out of a possible 24. Silvano Fatorini of the Rome Cardinals finished second in voting with 5 first place votes, while Yann Visconti of the Rome Cardinals finished third.

Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Iwo Mincewicz (21-10, 2.19) - Warsaw Crusaders - 14 - 127
Silvano Fatorini (16-6, 2.56) - Rome Cardinals - 5 - 99
Yann Visconti (14-13, 2.55) - Rome Cardinals - 0 - 63
Gino Roncero (6-4, 33 Sv, 0.77) - Rome Cardinals - 5 - 58
Roger Mercier (18-11, 2.93) - Paris Revolutions - 0 - 39
Iosif Yanushkovsky (9-10, 2.08) - Moscow Reds - 0 - 15
Michel Gourdon (20-13, 2.56) - Brussels Painters - 0 - 6
Ekrem Bele (14-16, 3.01) - Istanbul Sultans - 0 - 1

**************
Interesting that the 2nd place finisher in the Relief Award is the only relief pitcher to get PotY votes. Also, I'm sure Ekrem Bele is a very nice person (or collection of 1s and 0s as it were) but one of these things is not like the others...
**************

November 9: Felix the Cat debuts in Feline Follies. This is pure American cultural hegemony at work, perhaps the first big funny-animal comic to hit big. I think that instead of granting bumps I'm going to introduce the co-creators as players: RF Pat "Felix" Sullivan and SP Otto "The Cat" Messmer. It looks like Sullivan's going to sit at the end of the Stars' roster, but Messmer has that rare combination of zany animal-based wit, pinpoint control, and a 65 rated 4 seamer that make him the 2nd best starting pitcher on the team.

Nagase Selected NEW's Best Player
Sunday, November 9th, 1919
At the age of 26, Rintaro Nagase of the Tokyo Samurai could very well have his best years ahead of him.

It's a startling thought when you consider the year he had in 1919 was good enough to win the left fielder the New World Most Valuable Player Award.

"See the ball, hit the ball," he said. "That's my basic approach."

The top hitter put up a .355 batting average this year, as well as a .389 on-base percentage. He played 155 games and racked up 232 hits, 28 doubles, 19 triples, 4 home runs, 58 RBIs and 92 runs scored.

He received 21 first place votes out of a possible 24. Victorino Ribas of the Rio de Janeiro Carnivale finished second in voting, while Tom Garcia of the Los Angeles Stars finished third.

Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Rintaro Nagase - Tokyo Samurai - 21 - 320
Victorino Ribas - Rio de Janeiro Carnivale - 0 - 188
Tom Garcia - Los Angeles Stars - 0 - 168
Majdy Abdul-Wahhab - Tehran Tigers - 0 - 158
Chris McGrattan - New York Yankees - 3 - 120
Hugo Castaneda - Chicago Defenders - 0 - 103
Adam Collins - Chicago Defenders - 0 - 63
Steve Zoss - New York Yankees - 0 - 59
Nick Arnold - New York Yankees - 0 - 57
Ben King - Chicago Defenders - 0 - 37
Elimilton Dehaine - Rio de Janeiro Carnivale - 0 - 28
Autathya Rebani - Bombay Elephants - 0 - 24
Xiao-wei Cao - Beijing Dragons - 0 - 21
Du Tse - Beijing Dragons - 0 - 20
Keng-chi Chung - Beijing Dragons - 0 - 13
Albert Cushing Read - New York Yankees - 0 - 11
Masahito Konishi - Tokyo Samurai - 0 - 6
Balbinder Tummala - Bombay Elephants - 0 - 5
Diviraj Nitya-Sundara - Bombay Elephants - 0 - 4
Mike Stroud - New York Yankees - 0 - 4
Carl Bashford - Sydney Outlaws - 0 - 3
Omar Padilla - Havana Sugar Kings - 0 - 3
Ching-wei Jiao - Beijing Dragons - 0 - 1

OLD's Best Player for 1919 Named
Sunday, November 9th, 1919
London's Aaron Humphreys put the wraps on a fine campaign today by winning the 1919 Old World Most Valuable Player Award.

The 26-year-old veteran scorched the opposition with a .361 average, picking up 221 hits, 32 doubles, 22 triples, 6 home runs and 104 RBIs, while scoring 100 runs.

He received 23 first place votes out of a possible 24. Efe Saffet of the Istanbul Sultans finished second in voting with 1 first place vote, while Foeke Dane of the Amsterdam Admirals finished third.

Player - Team - First Place - Total Points
Aaron Humphreys - London Monarchs - 23 - 331
Efe Saffet - Istanbul Sultans - 1 - 219
Foeke Dane - Amsterdam Admirals - 0 - 177
Quentin Cole - Moscow Reds - 0 - 170
Wasylo Henryk - Warsaw Crusaders - 0 - 122
Flavien Romanelli - Rome Cardinals - 0 - 104
Bastien Mathieu - Paris Revolutions - 0 - 79
Casper Zwartjes - Amsterdam Admirals - 0 - 63
Stuart van Santen - Brussels Painters - 0 - 46
Elio Perani - Rome Cardinals - 0 - 35
Mickael James - Paris Revolutions - 0 - 21
Ostasz Dudek - Warsaw Crusaders - 0 - 15
Ethan Ashworth - London Monarchs - 0 - 10
Iwo Mincewicz - Warsaw Crusaders - 0 - 10
Maurice Noordermeer - Amsterdam Admirals - 0 - 8
Gino Roncero - Rome Cardinals - 0 - 4
Silvano Fatorini - Rome Cardinals - 0 - 1
Lars Rolnik - Warsaw Crusaders - 0 - 1

[OrangeP47]

Non-standard characters in the html might be doing it. I vaguely recall someone somewhere else on the forum this past week mentioning that support for such characters was expanded this year, but there's still some support missing. A bit of searching might uncover the topic that came up in and shed some light on the issue.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by OrangeP47

Non-standard characters in the html might be doing it. I vaguely recall someone somewhere else on the forum this past week mentioning that support for such characters was expanded this year, but there's still some support missing. A bit of searching might uncover the topic that came up in and shed some light on the issue.

As a matter of fact, I filed the issue, Matt responded, I sent up my save, and indeed that’s exactly what it is. Should be fixed in the next patch.

[Syd Thrift]

This post should take the league up to the World Baseball Invitational. This is the first time I've run a tourney in-game. Hope it doesn't break everything (I mean, I'm in a multiplayer league that uses it so I'm sure it won't).

November 10: Abrams v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the conviction Abrams for inciting resistance to the war effort against Soviet Russia. This has to be called a W for the right wing: OFs Sean Hurd and Aaron Hubbard get bumps. Hubbard, by the way, is exhibit A in why I set my AI evals to 0 ratings in leagues like this. He's got MASSIVE power numbers but all that translates into in 1919 is 1 HR in 189 at-bats and a .196 average. Also, Russia offers to take on the namesake of the lawsuit and for some reason the Yankees agree. 2B Jacob Abrams is penciled in as the Reds' starting 2B but he seems like he's more into writing polemic in Yiddish than he is in turning the double play. I think he'll hit well enough to hold the position but man, I don't know about the fielding...

November 11: The Northwestern Army of General Nikolai Yudenich retreats to Estonia and is disarmed. Big, big victory for the Russians here. SP Fyodor Raskolnikov, who I have to admit I get confused with the protagonist of Crime and Punishment a lot, Bela "The Red Hungarian" Kuhn, and... Raskolnikov again get bumps because of this potentially war-ending turn of events.

November 11: The Centralia Massacre in Centralia, Washington (United States), originating at an Armistice Day parade, results in the deaths of four members of the American Legion, and the lynching of a local leader of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). This is a major setback for the American left: 1B Brian Mattice, who spent all of last season in AAA but who is on their active roster for some reason, and 1919 New World batting champion SS Hugo Castaneda take the hits.

November 11: First Remembrance Day observed in the British Empire with a two-minute silence at 11:00 hours. Did we not just have this story? Congrats, Britain, you get a second GRIT BUMP for your efforts. CF Glen Wilcox, who did some gritty things but not all of them, is now increasingly grittified.

November 14: Russian Civil War, Siberian Front: Admiral Alexander Kolchak's White forces begin the Great Siberian Ice March from the cities of Omsk and Tomsk to Irkutsk, escaping from the victorious Red Army. This seems a bit excessive and for that reason all Moscow gets is the GRIT BUMP. RF Andre Kataev goes from being a horrible bunter to merely a bad one. Will that be the bump he needs to be propelled into the Reds' lineup? No, probably not.

November 16: After Entente pressure, Romanian forces withdraw from Budapest and allow Admiral Horthy to march in. This kind of tangentially involves Austria in the sense that several of their players will form the beginnings of the Hungarian team in the spring but man... this seems pretty inconsequential so for now I am rulling NO BUMPS on this one. If only I could add/subtract teams in November (I mean, you can run expansion but I don't want an expansion draft so that's right out).

November 19: The Treaty of Versailles fails a critical ratification vote in the United States Senate. It will never be ratified by the U.S. Good thing we have baseball! Anyway, mild POW hit to all 3 American teams here. Yankees' C Nick Arnold, whose power didn't translate into any 1919 HRs anyway, gets hit, as does Defenders backup OF Roy Gray (which, by the way, man oh man are the Defenders walking between the raindrops on these rolls), and LA Stars

November 19 (not a news story but something I'll try to keep track of): The Chicago Defenders trade for SP Ernest Hemingway, sending back 2B "prospect" Ryan Price in return. I was looking up when exactly Hemingway moved to Paris in anticipation of trading him to the Revolutions but saw that he lived in literal Chicago after the war so I had to move him along. He goes to Paris by the way in the fall of 1921... the 18 year old Hemingway immediately gets slotted in as the Defenders' minor league affiliate in Dallas' #2 starter; Price hit .131 in the minors last year so it probably doesn't matter much what happens to him and anyway he didn't write For Whom The Bell Tolls, so who cares?

November 22: An annular solar eclipse took place at Atlantic Ocean. The greatest eclipse was 6º56'01.68" N, 48º52'42.24" W. Go home, Wikipedia, you're drunk.

November 27: The Treaty of Neuilly-sur-Seine is signed between the Allies and Bulgaria. As hosts, the Paris Revolutions get some big ups for Avoiding K(onflict)s. RF Enzo Thomas, who started all year but only hit .251, gets some love, as does 3B Didier Tailander, who, truth be told, is kind of world class at avoiding k(onflict). He was nicknamed "Stony" before but now he's called "Peacemaker" in honor of this treaty.

November 30: Health officials declare the global "Spanish" flu pandemic has ceased. In truth, the "Spanish" flu probably originated in the American Midwest but since it's associated with Spain and Spain hasn't gotten much love, they'll be the recipient of the BAB(y)IP bump here: SS Hugo Martinez, who could use a bump, Gold Glove LF Gerardo Cordova, and Hugo Martinez for a second time all (both) benefit.

[Syd Thrift]

I was initially freaked out by the schedule but it looks like it's even a bit on the short side this year; I'll see how long it goes in practice (I assume that after the play-in games there's a regular old tourney) and make it longer next season.

December 1: American-born Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, becomes the first woman to take her seat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having become the second to be elected on November 28. Hey, the UK does something good for once! In fact, it's a brand new thing there so SP Lonnie Williams learns the nickel curve and RP Corey Anderson, who will miss next season with elbow issues, is learning a straight change in his spare time.

December 1: XWA (modern-day CINW), in Montreal, becomes the first public radio station in North America to go on the air. Wow, Canada beating the US to a first. SP Jim Dial, who is missing the Invitational with an injury, is learning the circle change, and RP Brad Sandhoff has added an offspeed pitch of his own in case the Maple Leafs ever decide to use him as a starter.

December 3: After nearly 20 years of planning and construction, including two collapses causing 89 deaths, the Quebec Bridge opens to traffic. Hmm. GRIT BUMP or transportation issue? I'm gonna go with the latter if for no other reason than that I haven't really used it yet. SP Ben Williams, who gave up 8 HRs in just over 100 combined innings last year between Manchester United and Toronto, gets one bump; Jim Dial takes the other.

December 4: The French Opera House in New Orleans, Louisiana is destroyed by fire. I feel like I need something related directly to culture... actually, you know what? We haven't been using CON like, at all, so culture is the new Control. He who controls culture, controls the world or something like that. This is negative and since it happened in the South it hits Chicago, specifically RP Josh Messer, who already had 9 walks in 14.1 IP in the regular season and so far in the Invitational has 2 walks in 2.1 IPs.

December 5: The Turkish Ministry of War releases Greeks, Armenians and Jews from military service. I'm... not sure what to make of this. I'm pretty sure this reflects a loss in political power (POWer) on the part of ethnic minorities in the "new" nation so I'll go with that. 2B Namik Selaniki, who has a Greek sounding name, and Gold Glove SS Kadizade Dursun, take the hits.

December 7: The play-in round is over and here's the look of the first tournament bracket:



I think these are one-and-done series: definitely we'll expand everything next year (I don't want to do it now for fear that I'll break stuff). Anyway, no Yankees in this one, as they did not take this seriously and fell to 1-3 with a loss to Sydney before destroying the Maple Leafs 14-0 to close out the play-ins. Unsurprisingly given that half their team is suspended, the Vienna Musik went 0-5, although they only gave up more than 10 runs twice so there's that.

December 8: Bombay doubles up Rio de Janeiro 8-4 to advance to the WBI Championships. Reliever Adiraja Sumila gets the W; it looks like teams are playing cautious with their starters, which is OK by me.

Their opponent will be the LA Stars, who knocked off the Brussels Painters 6-2 to advance. New guy Otto "The Cat" Messmer got the W, his second of the Invitational. 1B Mike Youngworth went 2-3 with 2 walks and 3 RBIs for the Stars.

Elephants Win Championship Round
December 10, 1919
The 1919 Winter Baseball Invitational has come to an end after Bombay posted a 6-5 victory over Los Angeles to claim the title today.

It was a well-played tournament with excellent baseball from day one, and fans of Bombay will relish this victory for a long time while fans of Los Angeles may find themselves looking back in a few years and thinking about the crown that got away.

"There are going to be some long faces on the trip home," Los Angeles skipper Charlie Chaplin said.

**********
All right, that was fun. I'm gonna want to make next year's much, much bigger, maybe extend it into January or even right up to the cusp of preseason. World baseball also means year-round baseball!
**********

December 21: The United States deports 249 people, including Emma Goldman, to Russia on the USAT Buford. This is just straight up deportage: C Brian Schlesinger is caught up in the net, ending a tumultuous American career, and SP Brian Kidder, who finished 1919 with a 10-18 record, is also sent on the Buford. The Americans also catch LA Stars OF Art Morris in the dragnet. All three players start their time in Petrograd while Mother Russia determines what to do with them.

On an unrelated note, I completely forgot about cephasjames' collection of uniforms. We don't usually see eye to eye about stuff on the board, and heh, he's probably mortified that I'm using his unis here, but hat tip to him for collecting all of this great work, which I'll be including from here on out. In doing, there are a couple of name changes:

The Moscow Reds become the Moscow Bears; I could have imported some Cincy Reds historical / farm unis but I decided to just go for the Bears, the official riding animal of powerful Russian leaders.

The Rio Carnivale become the Amazons because I'm finding it kind of hard to find a Carnivale-related setup.

The Paris Revolutions drop the S.

December 23: Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 becomes law in the United Kingdom. In spite of the name, this actually made it legally possible for women to become lawyers and take up other professions, so it's a not-small increase in POWer. C Brayden "Pip Pip" Pugsley gets a very British bump. SS Bailey Powell, who might have been in danger of doing that thing where guys with the 1 rating underflow their container and become 250s, now has a teeny tiny bit of power.

December 25: Cliftonhill Stadium in Coatbridge, Scotland, opens as the home of Albion Rovers F.C. They lose the opening match 2–0 to St Mirren. How is this news? I'm going to do the athletic thing instead of the GRIT BUMP but I've got my eye on you, London. C Jason Findlay runs like a catcher and now he runs like a slightly faster catcher.

December 26: American baseball player Babe Ruth is traded by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at this time, a deal made public at the beginning of January 1920. I'm gonna do it! Babe Ruth is now in this league. As you might expect, the Bambino is going to hit 3rd and play in right field for the Yanks.

[Syd Thrift]

January 1: The Russian Red Army increases troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. Obviously a show of military STF, and man, Russia is getting into a lot of fights right now. I know the context is that everybody is freaked out about communism (and I mean, the Bolsheviks did kill the Russian royal family in an era when royal families still had a say in executive power) and the only reason there isn't a brand new world war with the Soviets is that everyone's basically too tired from the Great War. ANYWAY that's not important! What's important are BUMPS. RP Luka Mavlutdinov gets *another* one, as does RP Yura Vishnevsky, who was the closer before Bela Kuhn came aboard.

January 2: First Red Scare in the United States: The second of the Palmer Raids takes place with another 4,025 suspected communists and anarchists arrested and held without trial in several cities. Also known as "the Yankees blow up the Defenders". SS Al Capone is caught up in the raid and loses some POW. C Jesus "Old Man" River, who by the way is only 28 but is getting dinged like an old man, also takes a hit.

January 7: The forces of Russian White Admiral Alexander Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk; the Great Siberian Ice March ensues. Another big miltary STF deal for Moscow. Moscow by the way finished 2nd in the Old World in runs allowed and 3rd in strikeouts; with all of these bumps, you have to expect this will improve. RP Bohdan Yasyulevich, who pitched 4 innings last season before being struck down by injury, and... guess who? Luka Mavlutdinov, who I have now nicknamed "Red Star" in honor of his being, apparently, the symbol of Russian might.

January 7: The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen. That's a bump to Chicago's POW and a hit to New York's. Backup CF Todd Carroll hopes to get more PT this year and the power bump could help. RF Jaden Holly is one of the people who stands in front of him, though, and maybe with the power bump he'll improve on his 0 HRs last year. For New York, backup C Mike Alderman is appropriately named for this.

January 10: The Treaty of Versailles takes effect, officially ending World War I. The League of Nations Covenant enters into force. On January 16, the organization holds its first council meeting, in Paris. These were two stories, but this is sort of the same thing. It's a big, big win for Avoiding K(onflict)s for Paris though, right? Backup OF Dominique Remond seems like he played above his weight last year; we'll see what an AKs bump does to help that. LF Jean-Louis Boet finished the season and played in the WBI as a starter; at 30 years old, he looks like he's having a career renaissance (is it a renaissance when there's no "re" there?). Backup 3B Mickael Maillet gets the 3rd boost.

January 11: The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic is recognised de facto by European powers in Versailles. I believe I previously gave credit for their successes to Turkey and in the light of their soon-to-be upheaval, this is an increase in political POW I think. C Tabari Dikerdem had very little power of any kind last year - 14 extra base hits in 403 at bats - and can use any bit of power he can get.

January 13: The New York Times ridicules American rocket scientist Robert H. Goddard, which it will rescind following the launch of Apollo 11 in 1969. A relatively minor setback for science but still a setback. The save seems dead set on bringing Albert Cushing Read down; the 1919 Rookie of the Year and HR king takes another hit here.

January 16: The Allies of World War I demand that the Netherlands extradite ex-German Emperor Wilhelm II who fled there in 1918. The world is cracking down on the Netherlands... this feels like Movement somehow. I don't know. It's my save, shut up! RP Feltse Bos takes the hit. A bigger hit has to go to Germany itself though. RP Paul Weber now has literally the worst Movement you can have. He gave up 3 HRs in 28.2 combined League and WBI innings last year; let's see if he can beat that rate. RP Hugo Grant takes the other hit. He gave up a dinger in 5.1 WBI innings after going homer-free in the regular season.

January 16: Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, is founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington, D.C. My initial thought was GRIT BUMP but in looking this up, this is the first sorority for African-Americans, which is kind of a big deal. News of this founding encourages staff ace SP JD Yancer to add a forkball to his already impressive repertoire, and RP John Barron goes along with him on what must be a trek to a far-off mountain to discover this pitch.

January 17: Prohibition in the United States begins, with the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution coming into effect. This is a LOSS OF CULTURE CAN YOU IMAGINE to New York and LA: SP Warren Brockman of NY needed the booze to help control the yips and now he doesn't have it, and for LA RP David Gilbert already had a 1:1 K/W ratio and that will probably take a dive now.

January 19: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded. It's a clearly humanitarian action! Maybe one of the biggest! IF Steve Schneider turns into an outright plus defender with this influx of humanitarian power. C Jesus "Old Man" River has kind of turned into a complete good field no hit guy at this point so his bump is appropriate. And CF Zachary Carlson, who started all 5 games in the WBI, looks to move into the regular full time role with this bump as well.

January 21: The final session of the Paris Peace Conference is held, even though peace treaties with Hungary and Turkey remain to be concluded. The United States does not conclude its own treaty with Germany until August 25, 1921. Paris gets some Avoid K(onflict)s and Turkey and one of the suspended "Austrian" players get credit for trying. OF Dominique Remond and Mickael James get the bumps for Paris - James already only struck out 35 times in 565 at-bats last year. 2B Namik Selaniki looks like he's going to have more opportunities to ground into double plays for Turkey, and CF Hilarius Zingler will kick off what may very well be a starting gig with the bump.

January 22: The Australian Country Party is officially formed. This is a first in some ways but mostly I think it's a sign of political MOVement in Australia: RP Alec Mant got a bump and so did CL Walter Colcott. This feels a little "too little, too late" for a team that lost 103 games last season, but hey!

January 23: The Netherlands refuses to extradite ex-Emperor Wilhelm II; on May 15 he moves into Huis Doorn in the country where he remains permanently in exile. I mean, it was MOV last time so I guess it's still MOV here... SP Brett Wiltnik gets the bumpo la dumpo for Amsterdam, and the news that the Kaiser won't be returning to Germany encourages SP Albert Einstein to consider whether or not HRs = mC(squared), and SP Warner Rippner, who was 12-12 last year, also joins Einstein's lab.

January 28: El Tercio de Extranjeros (the "Regiment of Foreigners"), later the Spanish Legion, is established by decree of King Alfonso XIII of Spain. A true showing of military STF for a team that's remained relatively quiet this offseason: RP Lorenzo Sanchez and SP Andres Mendoza both add a little foreign-legion movement to their 4-seamers.

January 30: A pro wrestling match in which Joe Stecher defeats Earl Caddock in the United States is filmed for later viewing by cinema audiences, the oldest existing movie of professional wrestling. I guess this is culture? The LA Stars and Yankees are both recipients; Chicago is far too classy for this sort of thing. SP Bill Barry (14-12, 2.54 ERA last year) and CL Korbin Jackson increase CON for LA. For the Yankees, SP Warren Brockman had iffy control last year and now it's a little less iffy thanks to the power of pro wrestling, and 1919 Pitcher of the Year Chris McGrattan just keeps getting better in true Yankees fashion.

[Syd Thrift]

The Old World expands, reflecting the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The new teams are:

In the East: The new team is the Budapest Hawks. Hungary's national animal is a creature called a turul, which is mythical but is a bird of prey. The formerly suspended members of the Musik join this team; otherwise, both Vienna and Hungary will replenish their ranks from their minor league teams. Vienna's new minor league squad is the Prague Spring. Hungary's minor league club is the Debrecen Beermakers.

Speaking of, Vienna has a whole lot of Hungarians in their minor leagues due to their Championship affiliate being in Budapest. Those players will continue to play for Vienna, who now I think even has a minority of Austrians in their system (since the new CL team is Czech and produces Czech players).

In the West: The Geneva Mercenaries come in, representing Swiss neutrality. Their minor league team is the Zurich Jewelers. I added players to the team in the normal "first in the pros, then the CL" manner, although in the future I'll probably create fictional players in the affiliate twice to reflect the advanced baseball knowledge of the current teams. In true Swiss fashion, they have a super power too:

Swiss Banks: Other teams can conduct "rent a player" trades with Geneva, once per team per year. That player is returned at the beginning of the next season, and the collateral required is one non-named prospect.

This may not see a huge amount of action in the first year because Geneva does not look very good. Eventually though!

[OrangeP47]

Expansion is exciting, but hope it doesn't become too much to handle!

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by OrangeP47

Expansion is exciting, but hope it doesn't become too much to handle!

Yeah, that's a good point and while this could become a league in which all nations are represented by a team, that seems like it would get unwieldy in a big hurry. 26 teams feels like enough for now. What I will do is put down in writing a thing I've been more or less doing already, which has been having teams representing parts of the world...

Amsterdam: Pretty much just the Netherlands. I guess together with Belgium they also represent whatever random event might happen in Luxembourg. At this point in time, I guess they still had a colony in Indonesia, so there, too, I guess. Oh, and Curacao, though I'd be very surprised if there's a story out of there.

Beijing: China (by its modern borders) at least for now.

Berlin: Germany; Germany lost what little colonies it had pre-WWI so this is fairly clean.

Bombay: The Indian subcontinent, so including but not limited to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Burma.

Brussels: Belgium, Luxembourg (see above), and whatever colonies Belgium's still holding on to; the Congo is the only one I can think of off-hand.

Budapest: Hungary, the Balkan States. I went ahead and relocated Hungary's minor league team to Sarajevo to reflect this.

Chicago: As noted, this franchise goes the way of both the American left and the American Black experience.

Copenhagen: All of Scandinavia, so Sweden, Norway, Finland, and arguably Iceland. As much as I like the name Aarhus, their CL team now resides in Stockholm

Geneva: All of the tiny micro-states in Europe, at least those outside of Italy, so Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta. I moved their CL team to Monaco to represent this

Havana: The Caribbean. Their CL team has relocated to Kingston, Jamaica and has the horrifically inappropriate nickname, the Smoke.

Istanbul: The Turkish regions around Turkey (Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan) and the former nations of the Ottoman Empire not included elsewhere (notably Greece and Romania, also Cyprus I guess, if anything happens around Cyprus). I believe the strip of land between Turkey and Egypt where you have Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine (the English colony that's now where both Israel and modern Palestine are) is mostly controlled by Britain but where it isn't, Turkey has the domain. Their CL team relocated to Athens.

London: The United Kingdom - Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales (not sure what we'll do with Ireland) - and also to some extent the Empire.

Los Angeles: The US West Coast and also US culture.

Madrid: Spain and Portugal, whatever African Spanish/Portugese colonies still exist.

Mexico City: Central America.

Moscow: The former Soviet states, other newly-created communist states (although by and large, until the Iron Curtain was formed after World War II, these mostly flit in and out in a manner of months).

New York: The US East Coast, not to mention the American Right, kind of as a counterpoint to the Defenders.

Paris: France, French colonies in Africa and Asia, most notably Vietnam.

Rio de Janeiro: South America. Their minor league team was in Sao Paolo last year, which is the largest city in South America already but I still wanted to reflect the larger continent so I relocated the CL team to Lima, Peru.

Rome: Italy, Ethiopia, Libya, Sardinia, Corsica, and the microstates that exist specifically within Italy's borders - not that I think San Marino will ever show up but definitely the Vatican.

Sydney: Australia and Oceania.

Tehran: The greater Islamic world, excepting the places already represented by other nations. Maybe eventually I'll try and figure out some kind of Sunni/Shi'a breakdown but as of 1920 most Muslim nations are under the thumb of some European power. I'm moving the Iranian CL team to Medina in Hejaz (part of modern Saudi Arabia) to reflect this.

Tokyo: Japan and Southeast Asia.

Toronto: Just Canada. Only Canada. BORING Canada.

Vienna: Austria, Czechia/Slovakia, and the general areas around there too. I think I already noted that their CL team is the Prague Spring.

Warsaw: Eastern Europe that hasn't already been taken up by the above, which might just mean Poland (I guess the Baltic States until they're formally annexed by the USSR).

*******************

There's no straight up representative of Africa and that's something I'll want to change down the line but the 1920s are still very much in the era of colonialism.

[OrangeP47]

I mean I gave the warning, but it was more about "in the future" not necessarily "stop at 26" heh. But yeah whatever you feel is right. Maybe once we get to the cold war take inspiration from the board game Twilight Struggle. It's a good game, but I specifically mean it's map and how it categorizes countries as important or not.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by OrangeP47

I mean I gave the warning, but it was more about "in the future" not necessarily "stop at 26" heh. But yeah whatever you feel is right. Maybe once we get to the cold war take inspiration from the board game Twilight Struggle. It's a good game, but I specifically mean it's map and how it categorizes countries as important or not.

Totally. I'm not going to stop at 26 either, haha. I'm going to play exactly what happens by ear at this point, but I feel like Ireland might get a team after the Revolution of 1920, Africa, as noted, is completely unrepresented right now, and Asia's not getting a great deal of love either. But 26 or 28 might be a good sticking point for a few years to come. I guess we'll see!

Also, I have Ideas for both the Cold War and for the fascist/communist/democracy setup in the 1930s. But again, I'll get to that when it becomes a thing to get to!

[Fenway]

Very fun idea! How did you come up with all the fictional names, and how did you generate them for the game?

[Syd Thrift]

I’m just allowing the game to generate player names for the most part. Occasionally i notice that a particular nation doesn’t have proper names (Latvia) and I’ve gone out and used a random name generator I found when GMing a Fate game set in Ancient Rome, but otherwise OOTP has done most of the work there.

Thanks for the kind words!

[Syd Thrift]

The other thing I realized is that I ran the draft kind of exactly the opposite of how I want to do it in the future. Essentially, I've set up the country percentages for all countries, including the tweaks noted above (so the Netherlands has all ~4% of their talent coming from their nation whereas Saudi Arabia and Yemen, for instance, have a small percentage that's taken out of Iran's percentage). What's going to happen is that the draft will have talent for 5 rounds but will only actually draft 1 round. I will have each team autodraft its pick and then go in and change that player's name and nationality to one of the people I find who was born 20 years ago. Once the draft is over, I then go into the free agent pool and assign everyone to their "proper" country. Hope that makes sense because it does in my head!

February 1: The South African Air Force (SAAF) is established, the second autonomous Air Force in the world, after the Royal Air Force (RAF). Looks like we've got our first GRIT BUMP of the new year! C Brayden "Pip Pip" Pugsley just got 10% grittier with this news.

February 2: The Tartu Peace Treaty is signed, ending the war and recognizing the independence of both the Republic of Estonia and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. This seems like at least something of a coup for the USSR - they get an Avoid K(onflict)s bump. 2B Jacob "The Agitator" Abrams gets it.

February 2: France occupies Memel. This is part of East Prussia, so it's both a display of military STF for France and a loss of it for Germany. Junkballer SP Daniel Bellot gets some much-needed topsy turviness on his change-up for Paris, and RP Paul Weber's 4-seamer no longer looks so seamy.

February 9: Admiral Kolchak and Viktor Pepelyayev are executed by firing squad near Irkutsk. This is a symbol of the wrapping up of the Russian Civil War and is worth a pretty minor show of military STF for Moscow. SP Igor "Old Bear" Woitetsky gets the bump.

February 10: General Józef Haller first performs Poland's Wedding to the Sea, a symbolic celebration of the restitution of Polish access to the Baltic Sea. I don't even know what to make of this but it seems like a pretty big deal to Poland. Like, national morale... so... BAB(y)IP, I guess? CF Lazarz Smolinksi, who led the league in Ks in both the regular season and the WBI, gets a chance to offset his swing and missing with some BABIP. SS Ferdynand Zielinski doesn't look like much of a prospect but maybe he'll be a little bit better with this boost. Finally, OF Aldon Sokolowski gets a boost; he's the only one of the three players with an above average BABIP now.

February 12-24: Conference of London: Leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Italy meet to discuss the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. This seems like fodder for diplomacy / Avoiding K(onflict)s for the first three nations, and a kind of a prestige hit for Turkey. Backup OF Ronald Kelly of London, workhorse C Bernard Delorme of Paris, and the aging but still effective 2B Mattia Berruti all get boosts. For Turkey I'm having problems spinning this as anything other than a bit of lost military prestige / STF: Besim Cig gets the hit.

February 13: Switzerland rejoins the League of Nations, as part of their agreement to play baseball games. This did actually happen, so a little Avoid K(onflict)s move for SUI. Backup C Lance Lang, who of course has yet to play, gets the bump.

February 14: The League of Women Voters is founded in Chicago. This has to be both some political POW(er) for all three US teams AND a brand new, never done before thing for Chicago (so a new pitch). Am I giving Chicago too much? Maybe! Who's gonna stop me? First the power bumps: 3B Ben Salas, the 1919 Gold Glove winner who had 8 dingers already, gets more political power for Chicago. For the LA Stars, LF Quinn Banks, who only had 376 at-bats in the regular season but was the starter during the WBI, gets his own bump. For the Yankees, 1B Bronson Argento, who was relegated to pinch-hitting duties when the team signed Albert Cushing Read, gets a bump of his own. And finally, RP Rico Aldaco already throws a crap ton of pitches, so how about one more? He adds a knuckle-curve to his arsenal, at least in theory: he flat out lacks the stamina to start.

February 17: A woman named Anna Anderson tries to commit suicide in Berlin and is taken to a mental hospital where she claims she is Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia. This feels like a GRIT BUMP but on the other hand the Anastasia myth is kind of fun, so +CON to House Moscowindor! Mayer Yost, who somehow managed to lose twice in the 5-game WBI "season", takes one look at young Anna Anderson in the papers and gains control.

February 20: 1920 Gori earthquake: An earthquake hits Gori in the Democratic Republic of Georgia, killing 114. All-Star CF Panas Elistratov is feared lost in the disaster(!).

February 22: In Emeryville, California, the first dog racing track to employ an imitation rabbit opens. That's a brand new thing!!! NEW PITCH just kidding that is a GRIT BUMP if I've ever seen a GRIT BUMP. The aging 3B Craig Heib at least knows of one thing he can do well in 1920.

February 24: Adolf Hitler presents his National Socialist Program in Munich to the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), which renames itself as the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei). Nope, Adolf Hitler is not going to be in this god damn save. I guess this is worth a lot of political MOVement to the Germans, even if it is ominous. SP Jesse Arnold, SP Walter Jaeger, and RP Hugo Grant all get the bump, just in time for Movement to begin to be somewhat meaningful.

Spring training begins next!