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

[chucksabr]

Someone dropped me a PM noting that the two divisions really do have a skill difference, and that many teams who are promoted drop right back down while other teams who are relegated pop back up, and he asked how I regulated this.

Primarily, I use financials to do this. I make sure every season that the divisions have different attendance levels, ticket prices, player salaries and scouting/development budgets. This gives First Division teams more money to work with, and as in real life, the more money there is available, the better the free agents they get. I also don't have a draft in my league, because they don't have drafts in European soccer leagues, which my league is intended to mimic (at least roughly).

The other thing I did when I created the Second Division was to do so as an unaffiliated minor league with sabermetric player creation modifiers that are roughly -5% to -15% lower than the First Division, so players created as free agents there are already at a lower skill level than Free Agents created in the First Division. I also have a third league going that is not part of the Baseball League, but that feeds teams into the League when bad D2 teams are voted out by the Board, and replacement teams with a history already are needed. That third league was created at the same skill level as D2, which is why good teams from that third league frequently come in and do really well in D2, which is also what happened fairly regularly IRL as well.

Other than that, I just let things play out. It seems to be regulating itself OK so far.

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League Cup Renamed in Honour of Our King

The Baseball League Cup, contended by the clubs of the First Division since the inception of the League in 1888, has been renamed in honour of His Majesty King Edward VII. Henceforth, the cup will be known as the Emperor of India Cup, starting with the 1901 season.

His Majesty is known to be a great supporter of the sport of baseball from when the Spalding contingent travelled through the Island during the Spring of 1879. The then Prince of Wales attended one of the matches played in London and came away quite taken with what he’d witnessed.

The renaming of the Cup is a fitting honour for our first King since William IV passed on in 1837, and we trust it will be counted as a tribute befitting the newly established House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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Achievement Awards for League Players

Commencing with the 1901 season, each Division will confer upon her best players achievement awards in recognition of their superior performances during the season.

The bevy of awards that have been created include: Pitcher of the Year; Batsman of the Year; Fieldsman of the Year (one for each defensive position); Newcomer of the Year (for the best player in his first year of professional baseball, and debuting in the League); and Baseballer of the Year. Each award will be awarded by vote among the players, coaches, managers and baseball newspapermen taking place at the end of each year.

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The Momentous 1901 Baseball Season
Commences To-Day

Another spring is upon us, another football season is winding down, and with that, another baseball season begins.

It has been a momentous winter, replete with changes that have altered the very League itself. Among them, our newly crowned King has graciously consented to lend one of his titles to our League Cup, and we could not be more honoured and pleased. Add to that the official recognition that the very best players will receive for their achievements, and it is clear that the credibility and importance of the sport of baseball is growing by leaps and bounds in Great Britain, and indeed throughout the Empire. We shall dare to say that as the nineteenth century belonged to American baseball, so will the twentieth century belong to the baseball of the British Empire.

In the First Division, the top clubs will likely be Bolton and Newcastle United, closely trailed by a cluster consisting of Sunderland, Stoke, and Burslem Port Vale. The pitching of the Wanderers have become the equal of that of United, by dint of their front line strength. The top three Bolton starters (Scott, Fulton, Peace) are all among the best five in the entire League, and while the Magpies also have four top starters of their own (Morgan, James, Magill, Phillips), only Jesse Morgan, the strike out artist on course to become the greatest pitcher in the history of the British game to date, matches up with Bolton’s best three. Add to that the superior attack of the Wanderers at the plate, and one must conclude that Bolton are the clear favourites to repeat as champions, and be the first to hoist the Emperor of India Cup.

Keep an eye, too, on Pat Hodgson, Burslem Port Vale’s young slugging right fielder and the heir apparent to Alistair Bolton’s top flight home run crown. Mr. Hodgson has been smacking the ball quite sharply in spring practices, and has cultivated a lift in his batting style that should carry more hits over fences than in seasons past.

Speaking of young Mr. Bolton —he of the power stroke unparalleled by anyone in history and perhaps the world —his being unfortunately saddled with terrible team talent has sunk him and his mates to the Second Division. He should benefit from feasting on inferior pitching, but will also be challenged by longer pitches and higher fences, so it is anybody’s guess as to how that will affect his homer totals.

Also in the Second Division, trained eyes are on the new entrants from London: Fulham and Clapton Orient, champions of the surprisingly skilled Central League. No Lancashire League this, the Central has housed the very best teams from the south for some years now. The execrable Woolwich Arsenal club notwithstanding, all the while our League have been slow to adopt the southern teams, the latter have coalesced into their own strong loop that many feel is the superior of the Baseball League’s lower division and perhaps even the equal of the top flight. While nominally professional, they are in reality the most advanced university influenced league in the country. No one south of Birmingham would be surprised to see the new London entrants run the table and land in the top flight for 1902.

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Baseball League 1901: Clubs

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Baseball League 1901: Club Locations


First Division



Second Division

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Results

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Champions

Newcastle United Magpies

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Final Table

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Team Batting and Pitching

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Award Winners

Baseballer of the Year and Batsman of the Year: Pat Hodgson




Pitcher of the Year: Jesse Morgan




Newcomer of the Year: Charles Sanders

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Baseball League 1901
First Division League Leaders

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Top Game Performances

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Top 20 Batsmen and Pitchers

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Baseball League 1901
First Division Financial Report

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By very odd coincidence, the football versions of the two clubs who happened to be relegated from the First Division of the Baseball League in the current 1901 season also happen to be the same clubs who are playing each other IRL in the FA Cup fourth round replay matchup tomorrow:

BBC Sport - Preston North End v Nottingham Forest

You can't make this **** up.

[Nugget699]

Any chance West Ham could make an appearance in your next expansion?

[chucksabr]

If the League votes to expel any bad D2 teams and vote in a Central League team this year, West Ham won't be in the mix, although they're pretty close. They finished fourth out of twenty teams in '01 (49-27, .645 WPCT), so they could compete. Their financials are good enough but, again, fourth in the Central. So the League will probably vote in Hull City or Huddersfield Town, if they take in any.

If the Hammers can make it soon, we would see the top offense in that League step into D2. They led the Central in a number of categories: 446 runs; .305 average; .376 OBP; 315 BB; 154 SB. On base skills and speed, and a bit HR pop (second in the league, but with only 20), but their Achilles heel is gap power.

On the other side of the ball, West Ham are in the second quartile in different run prevention metrics, which is pretty good too. I'd say, if they can keep up the hitting, and tighten up the pitching/defense just a bit, they'll put themselves in a good spot to be voted in soon. It's up to them to make it happen.