What era do you start your fictional leagues in?

[professor ape]

I'm planning to start a fictional universe in 1870 with a number of independent regional leagues. I will sim thirty years in relatively short order to build up some history and get the player development curves settled in. I'll then form a primary major league out of the top markets from the independent leagues. The remaining regional independent leagues will continue for a while but eventually become absorbed in as a minor league system. I'll work out the details later.

I have to decide on league settings as I do not want a full blown dead-ball era. The idea will be that the baseball minds in the early independent leagues will have figured out at least some of the modern aspects of the game much earlier on. Part of the story is that my universe's owners will figure out the fans' love of the long ball and will invest in keeping fresh live balls in play from the start of the major league.

[Syd Thrift]

I started mine in 1893 and am now up in the middle of 1903. I'm not keen on the way the leagues start out more or less equal if you start them right from 1901.

[cienpelusas]

Usually the juiced years.

[kq76]

3 good years for me:

1985:
-it was the year of the KCR-STL WS and I love how both played
-it was the year before the great rookie class of 86 including Jackson, Canseco, Bonds, Clark, Mitchell, Joyner, Tartabull, Sierra, Larkin, etc
-it was the first year the Jays had the most wins in the league, almost going to the WS
-it was around the time I first started to fall in love with baseball

1994 - giving the Expos a chance to win the WS, preventing the strike, trying to keep the Blue Jays on top

1946 - post WWII, minor league boom, pre 60s expansion, turning the PCL into the 3rd major league, keeping the Giants and Dodgers in NY

[T-Bone]

Originally Posted by David Watts

How are you liking the 20's. I started there playing historical this year. Not sure If I will like entire teams hitting .300. Going to give it a shot though.

I really don't like it so much. I think part of it is I don't really know the players so well. Even though I started watching baseball in the 1970's, the 1950's seems so much more "current" than 1920's.

Maybe the game was still in transition from the dead-ball era. Also, I think the War years creates a disconnect as well.

If I do another re-launch - I think I'll go back to starting in 1950.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by T-Bone

I really don't like it so much. I think part of it is I don't really know the players so well. Even though I started watching baseball in the 1970's, the 1950's seems so much more "current" than 1920's.

Maybe the game was still in transition from the dead-ball era. Also, I think the War years creates a disconnect as well.

If I do another re-launch - I think I'll go back to starting in 1950.

The 20s are as insanely high offense as the 00s and 10s are low offense, really, and there are still some fundamental differences in the game between then and even the 50s (the homerun was, outside of Babe Ruth, still not all that important for much of the decade, 3rd base was still much more of a defense-first position than it became later, teams didn't have set rotations vs. bullpens so much as they had a list of pitchers they went down when they wanted to start someone or bring in a change pitcher, etc.). I agree that by the 50s a lot of what we see today really started to get in place. It's still not the modern game - no closers to speak of, not a lot of pinch-hitting specialists, not a huge amount of platooning except by Casey Stengel - but it is a lot, lot closer.

[cavebutter]

Typically I start my fictional leagues in the 60's and begin taking a team over in the mid-70's. My current league started in 1930. I'm in the middle of the 1963 season now.