Reinventing the game: Neloxian Baseball

[darkcloud4579]

I've run 14 years of the league already, so we're hoping it won't crash I actually want to write this dynasty!


Forget everything you know about baseball. Throw out peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Babe Ruth...no longer exists and never did. And never will.

Barry Bonds, steroids -- well, ok. maybe steroids -- and labor agreements -- well...actually.. -- ok, so...like I said, throw out almost everything you know about baseball.

I want to take you not just to a different league or a different era where the game evolved.

No, I'm taking you to an entire new country. Where baseball REALLY got started. And the only people who play the game...come from there, too.

Baseball is a sport where you come from now. But where we are, baseball is religion. If soccer rules the Known World, baseball makes this world worth living in.

Whether you're 2 or 102, you eat, sleep and breathe the game. You follow it religiously. Your dad plays, your mom played and yes, even your annoying little sister gets to don a batting helmet and plays the game.

Because you see, you're not in Kansas anymore. We're not even sure where that is, but...we can assure that once you find out more, that you won't want to leave.

Welcome to Sanfranchez. Welcome....to baseball, Neloxian style.

[darkcloud4579]

So...you're thinking to yourself.

What in the hell?

A Nelox-what? How do you even say that word?

And where in heaven's name is Sanfranchez?

Ok, I'll help you out.

It's Nel-OX-ee-AN. Got it? Everyone in the country is one. Doesn't matter what you look like, where your momma came from or who your daddy isn't. If you're born in the borders of the Dominion, then a Neloxian you are.

Not Sanfranchezian. Not Sanfranciens. Neloxian. That's it.

Now that we have that out of the way.

Where is this mystical place?

It's not particularly mystical, though admittely, it's completely made up and I reserve the right to make it so.

Sanfranchez as it "exists" is part of the world of Eshraval, a whole internet world. But, it goes back way further than that. When I was about 9 years old, I came up with this. (I'm 27 now..)

It wasn't that original, as my best friend had filled up numerous books with his entire made-up world, its wars, economics systems and all that. So...naturally, peer pressure led me to create my own place. In the late 90s, I took all of it out of the notebooks and put it online. Just for myself, so I'd never lose it.

I decided to move into this new world, to keep it going, but..for the purposes of this dynasty..the ONLY place you'll visit is Sanfranchez, as there aren't any other nationalities allowed in this league. In the off-chance one of them makes it in down the road, I might opt to turn this thing into a different sort of deal, but...I don't see that happening anytime in the remote future.

In this dynasty, you'll not just read about baseball.

You'll learn about WHY Neloxians love the game. You'll embrace their love affair, you'll understand who OUR heroes are, what the mythology that surrounds the game...you'll adopt teams, discover rivalries an have an opportunity to contribute in real ways to the dynasty, as it goes on, since I'm not even sure exactly where its headed.

[darkcloud4579]

So what does this place look like?

Here's a map for reference:



The country is about the size of Spain. The population, is about the size of France's...to give you real-world proportions and such alike.

The southeastern part of the country is really mountainous. Extremely so. Yet, I haven't Coorsified any of the ballparks there yet. We'll get there...

The game is loaded with about 60...probably more...Neloxian cities from all over Sanfranchez. So, players can come from all over and teams are located randomly, too.

We got started in 1901. Let's go over league structure, now.

[darkcloud4579]

Here's how things are setup:

At the top levels of Neloxian Baseball, you have the Neloxian Championship League (NCL). The NCL is a 8-team, single table league. From 1901-1912, there was no relegation or promotion in any of the Neloxian Leagues. 1913 was the first season for it and we just passed through that year. But we'll get to that in a bit.

The Championship, as the NCL is commonly called, is the highest level of baseball in all of Sanfranchez. This is the majors. That's it and its the creme of the crop. The top team and the #2 team play after a 114-game season in the Neloxian Series. It's a best-of-nine game series.

That doesn't really give you the full magnitude of how important it is for a city to have a team just MAKE the Neloxian Series. First off, it's not "the series." It's THE NELOXIAN SERIES. It's March Madness, Masters week in Augusta and the Super Bowl.

COMBINED

First off, Neloxians become "adults" when they're 15. But, say you're a kid...like 13 and you're in high school (it's called something different in 9 of the 10 states, but just go with it..) and you're a fan of the St. Langsburg Lions. They've never won the Neloxian Series, but they've made 3 appearances.

Say, they make it this year.

That Monday, you find out that school is closed for the week.

Why?

Because no one would come anyway. They have to go to the games at home. AND the ones on the road.

Town members own shares in their teams, meaning that if you don't have a seat, you have friends who probably do. You'll pack the ballpark and if you're aat home, you spend 9 innings giving the other team absoute hell. You get a real education that week, because you hear your mother call the outfielder who stole a homerun from your team's slugger every interesting and colourful name in the book.

Every day is like a block party in town. If your team loses or whether they win, things go back to normal after the Series ends. But if your team wins, it seems everyone in the neighborhood seems just a little bit prouder, just a bit nicer and more upbeat.

We call it The Champions Effect. No one can explain it. But it happens, even if your team just wins the Township Series -- which I'll get it to -- it doesn't really matter what series you all win. A Series win, they say, is a Series win.

Almost.

[darkcloud4579]

BASEBALL STRUCTURE CONTINUED..

I'll cut the chatter short, I might be boring you.

At the next level, you have the 8-team Neloxian First League (NFL), which is the first division or Triple-A league if you will. They play 102 game season. The teams are independent, as there is no such thing as a "farm system" as we understand it, in Sanfranchez.

The NFL is second-tier to a degree, but the goal of the League is to be the top division of the so-called "underleagues" and to complement to the Championship League, because...its a HUGE complement to be asked to send up a team to the Championship League.

The top two teams in the NFL play in a best-of-seven game League Series.

That said, the first league is often considered MORE competitive because teams are really duking it out for respect amongst each other. After all, each wants to prove they're a "cut" above the rest.

Unlike promotion/relegation, it doesn't happen every year. It's more like expansion to a degree or membership to a prestigious club. Of course, its only when the NCL asks for a new team from an underleague, that the underleagues then themselves swap teams, too.

After the NFL, you have the Neloxian Second Division (NSD), which is the lowest professional level in Sanfranchez. At least, professional in the sense that we're used to. The level of play is probably about Double-A quality give or take. Most players won't ever sniff the Championship Leagues, though. The NSD features 10 teams, separated in two unnamed divisions.

The two division winners, plus two wild cards compete in the Division Semi-Series, with the winners competing for the Division Series Title. Both are best-of-five games. The regular season is 95 games in the 2nd Division.

The three professional leagues could trade amongst each other if they so decided.

Then, you have the amateur levels. (Financials turned off..)

The Neloxian University Division or (NUD) is not a traditional 4-year university type of deal. Instead, they are barnstorming teams comprised of students, professors, janitors or whoever else wants to play baseball for them. Its promotional to a degree, but the players are also provided meals, in-kind financial support for their education and other fringe benefits. The NUD is comprised of 24 teams in two different leagues.

All in all, players can spend an entire career at this level. Hence 35-year old vets playing in the Uni Division.

The Consortium League (14 teams)is best equated with the Ivy League in America in terms of its prestige. Its comprised of two divisions, the Neloxian Colleges Consortium (8 teams) and The Beta League. (6 teams) Both are academic consortiums.

The other college league is the Neloxian Independent Colleges (10 teams), which are comprised in two divisions of 5 teams each.

The college regular season is 60 games. The playoffs are comprised of the division champs and 2 wildcards from each league. There are the best-of-five game University League Semis, the University League finals and the winners of both leagues duke it out in the University Series, which is best-of-seven games.

The Uni League is probably Low-A ball quality.

The Neloxian Township Association is the lowest level of organization baseball in the Neloxian system. It's comprised of 48 teams. From 1901 to 1910, the teams played in twelve 2-team divisions. They were unnamed and solely for the purposes of figuring out the pecking order for an enormous national township tournament that happened annually.

Starting in 1911, the leagues made their divisions slightly more formal. The Confederate League went to three 8-team divisions and the State League went to six 4-team divisions.

The Township League play 180-game season. Each league adds a wild-card team to the division winners for the playoffs, which are still a tournament, just a decidedly smaller one.

The Township League Quarterfinals, Semifinals are both best-of-three games and the finals commence with the Township Series, which is best-of-seven games.

The saying is.. "You play township for the love of the game, until you start to lose. Then you're just playing to win."

[Jamee999]

This is looking very, very good.

Keep it up.

[scuffleball]

Oh yes!!! This is going to be good!

I've been looking forward to this one since I saw it in your signature. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on my own dynasty on Eshraval (see signature). Love the setup . . . there will be no 'minors' in my dynasty either, and a large amateur/rookie system for the leagues to sign players.

Look forward to reading more.

[MikeSlugga]

Great so far, i'll be following this one!

[darkcloud4579]

The sheer volume of information is astounding and so, I sit here and never knew WHERE to start....and that's a good thing, but wow..anyway

We should go over the teams, so you can get familiar with them.



1912 was the first time that promotion/relegation happened, though it was called "invitation" at the time and of course, teams that were kicked out of their leagues were simple "disinvited."

At that point, Alvintowne Excelsior went down to the NFL and the Des Villes Outlaws, who won four straight NFL titles from 1908-1911 were invited up.

In 1914, the Championship League expanded to 10 teams. That's when the Nelitz Metropolitans (Nelitz was the capital of the country for several hundred years and is the largest city in the nation, FYI) and Sharptown Steel (Sharptown, South Nelitz...has over a million folks. Sharpetown-Fifty Lakes, Brnysel....has over 3 million. Just FYI, they are on the map, too..for reference)

Also in 1914, the Ninneberg Statesman went down to the NFL and Alvintown Excelsior came back up after winning two straight NFL titles in 1912 and 1913. Alvintown is a small city in Evanston, less than 60,000 people.

So, this past off-season, the team moved to St. Etienne which is (currently, but not in 1923) the capital of the country, but is about 60 miles or so from Nelitz. So, its part of the metro area and has close to million folks. So this will be their first year there.

That's the only team in the Championship League (so far...) to change cities. Outmount is a city in the state of Anderson and Anderson United still plays there. Fifty Lakes Professional, arguably the most successful franchise in league history, didn't move either. Just changed their name, to avoid confusion with the other city.

[darkcloud4579]

[darkcloud4579]

Just like in the Championship League, there was some movement here too. You already know that Alvintown Excelsior (now Saint Etienne) spent two years (1912-1913) here and won two consecutive titles, before going back. And that Des Villes Outlaws also left after being successful, heading to the NCL.

And you also know that the Ninneberg Statesman came down from the top division and have been successful since doing that.

The West Villa Spades moved up in 1912 from the Second Division after winning 4 titles and making 8 playoff appearances in that league. The team that was sent down was Morrisberge, but on that image they're listed as Nicosa United (the game didn't record the previous name for some reason...) but, I'll explain why the team's entire name changed and their "fall from grace" in a future post.

[darkcloud4579]

[darkcloud4579]

In the 2nd Division, beyond the moves you already know about...

Morristowne Mashers were the first pro team to be sent to the township leagues in 1912. They were replaced by the Turtle Beach Shoresman who won the 1911 Township Series and have gone on since moving up to win three Division Series titles.

Morrisberge (now Nicosa United) spent two years in the NSD, before sent completely OUT of the professional ranks, to the Township Leagues.

When this happens, the team itself essentially disbands and reforms, though its often just as much a reflection on the players, as it is the organization.

So, in Morrisberge's case, they moved to Nicosa and became Nicosa United. Nicosa is a town of just over 6,000 folks in the state of Ninneberg.

That city was opened up when the Nicosa (Now Becheolivia Bengals) of the Township Leagues moved to Becheolivia (Reyevist), because its a lot bigger (over 900,000 folks). From 1901 to 1913 they made the Township League playoffs each year, though never winning the Township Series.

They kept their playoff streak in tact from 1914 to 1918 upon moving up to the Second Division, though still never claimed a title to date.

[darkcloud4579]

[darkcloud4579]

[darkcloud4579]

As you may know, some of the leagues don't update the league champ until the following year, so..this past year's champ is missing from this image.

[darkcloud4579]

Ok...

So, there is obviously a TON of information and all sorts of ways I can go with this.

I want to solicit the readers here for a little bit. What do you want to see? I mean, do you want to learn about particular players? Follow a certain team?

This dynasty is surely different than any of my past ones, but its also different than the conventional dynasty where we're all over a team over a long period of time. It'll be a lot more fluid, more dynamic and I hope...more fun.

So, go ahead and throw out those ideas for me to see as the dynasty goes on....because it'll be a good way to keep this fresh.

[Vris]

Man. Where to start. Maybe some history on the big teams and names. How did these teams get to be so successful? Follow one team's journey to being invited up to the Champion's League?

[darkcloud4579]

Collin Masshum was born on December 15, 1896 just outside Nelitz and grew up there. His father was a welder, his mother was a schoolteacher.

Growing up in Nelitz during the early 20th Century meant that it was very likely that Colin did one thing a lot as a schoolboy.

When he wasn't studying, he was playing baseball.

The craze that began in the state of Brynsel, in the north has sufficiently spread across Sanfranchez.

Colin was different than his friends, in that, not only did the game sweep him up, but his parents encouraged it. Most Neloxian mothers loved the new game, because it focused their children's minds on something other than what their fathers would want.

That is, studying hard to get into Condotti-Vanguard or Romero-Finniski for University and of course, graduating and then finding some niche to make themselves a satisfactory living.

When you're the 7th largest economy in the world, the only way to keep things humming, is to make sure that the kids are contributing to society. That's the joke as to why school ends at 15, if you don't go on to college and if you're not college-bound at age 11, then you're going to start working at about age 13 part of the day and going to school the other half.

Baseball gave this kids a purpose, a mission and their lives meaning beyond beancounting and fulfilling the promises of their fathers.

So, it is said, that if you want to find the reason that baseball has sufficiently taken over Sanfranchez, blame every woman in the nation for encouraging her son to play the game.

Anyway..when Colin was 14, he tried out for his township team. Actually, he tried out for the six township teams around Nelitz. When all of them laughed and soundly rejected him, he settled for playing on a sub-township team..which is in essence, a local rec league.

In 1913, Henry Steggall, who too was a native of Nelitz and spent seven years as a player before retiring in 1907 to become a scout, was scouring a subleague in his hometown.

As he sat at the bleachers, where there was maybe 200 people, he was confused as to what the spectacle was. He asked one of the spectators what the fuss was about, as the game hadn't even started.

"Smash Em" Masshum is playing today, you picked a good day, pal."

"Who?" he thought to himself.

You see, the Township Leagues are full of lots of things. But its full of two things more than anything. Booze and Fantasies. I once hear that the "The NTA (Neloxian Township Association) is like the lockup. Everyone is innocent and if they'd just gotten their shot, they'd be a star in the Championship."

So, you can imagine what ol' Henry Steggal though when he heard them talk and oggle over a young boy who was tall, lanky and didn't seem to have much about him.

That is, until the game started.

Colin Masshum in that township league game was rumored to steal 5 bases, hit 4 home runs. One so far that it left the ballpark and came back in to do its own curtain call, from the other side.

Needless to say, after the game, Steggall told the kid that he HAD to have him on his team.

Colin, who had grown tired of hucksters and other so-called "scouts" who wanted him to play for peanuts, told him no thanks.

Steggall came to three of the sub-township games that week. On the last day he was there, he gave Masshum an ultimatum.

"Now son, if you don't have the sweetest swing I've ever seen in all my years of playing the game, then call me a blue whale. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you walk away from me once more time and tell me that you're waste all that damn talent here on some field with a bunch of old wiseguys with no future."

Masshum looked at him, but he'd done his homework. He asked his uncle who played on his team about the scout in the stands. When his uncle told him that ol' Henry Steggal was one of the pioneers of baseball in Nelitz and that he was robbed of a chance to go to NFL or maybe even the Championship, due to a bad eye after being hit by a pitch..he gained a measure of respect, because he knew this guy was serious.

Instead of saying anything about Stegall's speech, he merely shook his hand and asked him where he needed to be.

"Sarta Emiliae."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm the head scout for the Sarta Emiliae Wombats of the Confederate League."

"That's not local. I don't have any money and I have to...."

"Don't worry son, that will all be taken care of. One sight of you on our ballfield and I doubt you'll ever pay for a meal again back in town."

[darkcloud4579]

He wasn't kidding.

Colin's rookie season -- even for the Township League -- made news.

He hit 86 HRs/152 RBI and hit .442 during his rookie season. He's hit over 70 homers in each year of his 9 year career except in 1915, when he was sidelined for 3 months with a back injury.

In 1918, Masshum displayed raw power that has yet to be replicated at any level, hitting 101 HRs and 238 RBI in 168 games that year (.391 BA)

The Township league plays 180 game seasons. It's a taxing experience on the player's body. But ultimately, teams expected him to fall off or figured that he was a fluke.

No teams offered him contracts, not even University teams, who figured that having an so-called "unrefined" township player on their roster might give others "false hope" of moving up the ranks.

But after his 5th straight 200+ RBI season in 1922, Colin is the subject of much debate as to where he'll play in 1923.

At age 26, Colin "Smash 'Em" Masshum is the NTA's career home runs leader with 745 HRs. The next closest player on the active list is Maurice Drewery with 619 and the third-highest active player is at 500.

To say that Masshum is special, might be an understatement. He's a legendary figure and yet, many question whether he could truly be the first to make the jump from the Township to the Championship League.

It's an question that we'll soon have an answer for.