The (English) Baseball League (est. 1888): A History

[chucksabr]

The 1890 Season Almanac For The Baseball League is Now Available

http://goo.gl/oqNiMV

The almanac for the Baseball League 1890 season can be acquired here, to be perused at your leisure. (WinRAR required to unzip the almanac.)

[chucksabr]

League Teams Starting to Enjoy Talents From Beyond City Borders

Despite that League base ball is still a weekend affair, undertaken by labourers who still toil Monday through Thursday at real employment, more clubs have been looking for talent on the pitch (and, incidentally, in the factories) from surrounding towns to help lead them in their efforts to usurp the Clarets’ hold on the glories of League championship. Reciprocally, baseballers are starting to traipse in to these towns of their own accord, looking both to obtain steady work and for the opportunity to play base ball among the best peers that their chosen game has to offer them.

Old man Gregor Hughes with the Villans of Aston Villa was among the early pioneers of this trend, travelling in from Oldbury, Smethwick to help the Villans in their chase last year by providing stellar relief pitching. But we expect to see a veritable plethora of such mercenaries for 1891, and from points both near and far, which seems to portend an inevitable trend toward the all-week commercialisation of the game.

Some of the young mercenary names we should expect to make impact in the near future for their clubs include Derby County’s second baseman William Bates (from Coventry, 52 miles away), short stop Edwin Geary (Macclesfield, 67 miles) for West Bromwich Albion, William Perry (Bury, 90 miles) as centre fieldsman for Wolverhampton, pitcher Augustus Hunt (Oxford, 80 miles) for new league club Small Heath, and the distance winner thus far, centre fieldsman Frederick Magee of Stoke Ramblers, who travels 205 miles from the far reaches of Brightlingsea, Essex. There are more, but these are considered the best young "guns for hire" that have signed on with clubs so far.

There are pitching talents we are hearing about that have made their way to the Midlands and north region and are trying to catch on with a League club, including Southern League star Richard Banks of London, Reuben Worthington of Bournemouth, and Welsh hurler Jim Seares who hails from Cardiff. All are aged in the teens as of yet, but judging from the advance notice we have received about these moundsmen, we should be shocked to hear that they have not caught on with clubs serious about their future at this time next year.

[chucksabr]

1891 Baseball League Season Is Nigh!

New Clubs Immediately Considered Among Favourites

An exciting chapter is about to be written in the History of the Baseball League, now entering their fourth season in the midlands and north of England. Two additional clubs have joined the ranks, and as such the season has been extended to seventy-eight total matches, retaining the three home/three away regimen that each league club has worked under these first three years. The League are also starting a full month early, on 3 April, which will tempt the fates of meteorology.

In a testament to the growing and spreading acumen the best baseballers in the country display, the talent gap among the top teams in the various leagues is narrowing considerably, leading to speculation that substantial growth will be imminent and sudden. To wit, two of the better teams in the league are expected to be the two new ones springing up from the Baseball Alliance, the Blues of Small Heath and the Salmoners of Darwen. Each club is expected to finish in the higher end of the middle of the pack. Look especially to Darwen to see the likely top-rated pitcher alight in the form of 24 year old Noah Walmsley, who led the Alliance with 11 wins and an earned runs average below three.

Returning champion Burnley returns as strong as ever, with a squad of regulars that will challenge for a fourth consecutive crown. The three Freds seem to be in fine preseason form, and are holding in their ageing quite well by the looks of their March practice session. But annual powers Aston Villa, Burnley and the surging Sunderland Black Cats will also have their say during the season, especially given that they have twelve additional chances to close whatever gap there is between the leaders and themselves.

We continue to mourn the exile of Vivian Mad Dash Sharp, Theophilus Hurley and Brendan Philips to the base ball dungeon of Derby, the erstwhile Cup winners who have fallen into on-pitch disrepute. Despite being considered among the best players in the League, the Derby club chairmen have surrounded these three marvellous talents with nothing more than warm bodies, thus finding it unable to extricate themselves from such a mournful fate to ply their talents elsewhere, given they are under (admittedly lucrative) contract. It is no secret that the three are quite unhappy with this state of affairs, for the simple reason that they have themselves been keeping it no secret.

As for the Baseball Alliance, they, having lost two clubs to the League, now have fourteen clubs and are showing cracks of organisational weakness as a direct competitor for the best baseball talents. The talk is about a possible merging of fixtures with the League, although it is a little unclear how the League might absorb twenty-eight different members, particularly since League officials and clubs stubbornly believe that the Alliance provide an inferior product. This could be a problem as all will recall just a scant few years ago how difficult it was for top-level clubs to obtain games against similarly matched clubs. There may or may not be a match between reality and perception, but the latter does influence motion towards consolidation of both the League and Alliance, not to mention the eventual fates of other top circuits such as the Midlands League and Lancashire League and, to the south, the Southern League.

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1891: Clubs

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Baseball League 1891: Club Locations

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Baseball League 1891: Top Prospects

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Baseball League 1891: Results

[Lukas Berger]

Really, really enjoying this. I don't generally follow other people's dynasties at all, but this is probably the best/most interesting dynasty I've ever seen. Combines my two favorite sports and does so incredibly compellingly!

Would you be willing to post the logos/unis at some point?

[chucksabr]

Glad to hear that, lukasberger, thanks! Stick around, it should get better.

On the logos/unis, I have been posting them at the beginning of each season, as in post #64, for instance. Are you looking for something different than those?

[Lukas Berger]

Originally Posted by chucksabr

Glad to hear that, lukasberger, thanks! Stick around, it should get better.

On the logos/unis, I have been posting them at the beginning of each season, as in post #64, for instance. Are you looking for something different than those?

Yeah, was wondering if you'd be willing to share the actual logo and uni files so that I could use them in one of my own leagues.

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1891 Champions

Aston Villa Villans

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1891: Final Table and Voting Results

The Baseball League will increase by two clubs for the start of the 1892 season, bringing the League to a total of sixteen clubs. The four League sides seeking re-election were joined by eight non-league clubs in the vote for membership of the League for 1892.

Voting for membership of the Baseball League for the 1892 season.

10 votes	Sheffield Wednesday	Elected to the League
9	        Nottingham Forest	Elected to the League
7	        Accrington	        Re-elected to the League
6	        Stoke	                Re-elected to the League
6	        Newton Heath	        Elected to the League
5	        Crewe Alexandra	        Not elected to the League
4	        Small Heath             Not re-elected to the League
1	        Burton Swifts	        Not elected to the League
1	        Newcastle East End	Not elected to the League
1	        Middlesbrough/MI*       Not elected to the League
0	        Liverpool Caledonians	Not elected to the League


*Combination of Middlesbrough and Middlesbrough Ironopolis clubs.

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1891: Team Batting and Pitching

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1891: League Leaders

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Baseball League 1891: Top Game Performances

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Baseball League 1891: Top 20 Batsmen and Pitchers

[chucksabr]

Baseball League 1891: Financial Report

[chucksabr]

The 1891 Season Almanac For The Baseball League is Now Available

http://goo.gl/MFTKmq

The almanac for the Baseball League 1891 season can be acquired here, to be perused at your leisure. (WinRAR required to unzip the almanac.)

[chucksabr]

1891 Season News & Notes

With the advent of the new baseball, Charles Healey of Notts County Magpies set a league record for season ERA with 1.46 at the age of 40, smashing the previous record held by Brendan Phillips who twirled a 2.04 for Derby County Rams as a 20-year old in 1888 ... Richard Joseph became the first hitter in League history to reach the century mark in strikeouts, racking up 101 as a Lilywhite in Preston North End. Joseph broke his previous League record of 47 set just last year, but he was also joined by 12 other batters this year who also exceeded that prior record ... With the expanded schedule, Alfred Anderson and Gearróc McNurr became the League's first 20-game winners for Burnley Clarets and West Bromwich Albion Hawthorns, respectively ... On the flip side, four separate pitchers narrowly escaped the ignominy of losing 20 games in a single season in 1891, with Alfred Peebles of the Accrington Reds repeating the close call for a second straight season ... Despite the drop of offence through the League, Brandon Bradley of the Villans of Aston Villa nevertheless set a record in 1891 with 25 games consecutive in which he got a base hit.

Sydney Johnson and Fred Hole became the first baserunners ever to swipe five bags in a single game, with Johnson doing the deed for the Magpies in a 14-5 win against Bolton Wanderers on 18 July, and Hole stealing his five against Darwen Salmoners on 16 May, leading the Blues to an 8-1 victory ... William Bates (Derby County Rams) and Fred Grant (Notts County Magpies) became the first players in League history to hit for the cycle, the former going 4-for-5 versus Stoke Ramblers on 14 August, with the latter doing so in a 5-for-5 effort against Accrington on 5 September.

Frederick James, one of the famous Three Freds of the Burnley Clarets, called it quits folowing the end of the season. In four years pitching in the Baseball League, James was 42-25 with a 3.16 ERA in 67 starts. James spent the 1891 season on the Clarets reserve squad. James was also instrumental in leading Burnley to BA Cup victories in 1885 and 1886 ... Also retiring was Kieron Mason of Wolverhampton Wanderers. The 41-year old Mason hit .301/.355/.411 in 249 games over four seasons, but battled injuries in recent seasons and finished only .238/.264/.295 in 1891.

Gone are Rhys Wolston as GM at West Brom, Theo Fleming as manager in Bolton, and Zachary Davis as GM in Accrington, each to be replaced during the offseason ... Notts County are mourning the loss of chairman Gareth Shawcross, who died in hospital after a brief illness at the age of 78 on 12 December. Team spokesmen, speaking anonymously, told reporters that his son Percy Shawcross would take charge of running the team and would eventually be named the new chairman.

[chucksabr]

Accrington Embarrass League Yet Again

As if the general disarray in Accrington weren't enough, Zachary Davis was seen "making a scene", as they say in the theatre trade, whilst being sacked as general manager of the terrible Reds club. Reports from trusted sources confirm that Mr. Davis overturned a desk and threw a mid-priced vase against one of the walls, yelling and screaming as several team officials hustled him out the office doors.

This is emblematic of the general discord that characterises the Accrington club, in apparent contrast to the general harmony that rules the Steam Tramways Company also run by Sir Finlay Drury. It is nothing short of astonishing that two lines of the same business can be run with such different management tactics and achieve such opposite results.

The sacking of Davis follows on the heels of the sacking earlier in the season of William Marc, who himself will end up being remembered more for a memorable exit than for anything he accomplished on the baseball pitch. Upon hearing of his termination, Marc immediately went to general manager Aidan Whitwell’s office, where he laid into the Reds major decision-maker with a tirade behind closed doors. Not that it had any impact, since Whitwell himself was sacked later the same day.

Apparently, this is the kind of atmosphere the Baseball League sanction with their re-election of the Reds for the 1892 season. The integrity and good name of the League continue to be balancing on the precipice of jeopardy with every season they allow this organisation to be part of it.