My Fictional History of Major League Baseball

jte87 · 06-29-2007, 04:21 PM

I've got a fictional league I started in 1901 following most of the guidelines laid out in Larry Anderson's excellent guide to doing such a thing over at planetootp.com. I have just about finished simming up until the 1992 season, when I will finally take control of some team in need, not sure who just yet.

I intend to provide a mix of posts detailing my trials and tribulations in charge of a major league team and also some retrospectives on past events and players in the league.

The league is set up similarly to the current MLB, now that I have expanded out to 30 clubs. However, there is no DH in either league. Our version of the Cy Young Award is the Bill Franklin Award, named after the man with 372 career wins. The Top Hitter Award is known as the John van Dam Award, named after the centerpiece of the Cleveland Navigators dynasty a half century ago.

More to come...

jte87 · 06-29-2007, 06:05 PM

All right, things are pretty much ready to go. Here is a snapshot of the league layout at the end of the 1991 season.

Code:

AL Central					NL Heartland
Minneapolis Missions		92-70		Cincinnati Seals		92-70
Chicago Roughriders		86-76		Indianapolis Miners		91-71
Milwaukee Ducks		  82-80		        Kansas City Grizzlies		90-72
Denver Eagles			78-84		Cleveland Navigators		84-78
Detroit Otters			62-100		St. Louis Spartans		78-84

AL Northeast					NL Dixieland
Boston Bears			97-65		Miami Hitmen			89-73
New York Americans		91-71		Charlotte Rockets	   85-77
Baltimore Robins		90-72		Louisville Stars		79-83
Washington Jets		82-80		       Atlanta Mavericks		69-93
Philadelphia Pelicans		69-93		Richmond Buccaneers	     65-97
						San Antonio Oilers	           55-107

AL Southwest					NL Pacific
Dallas Gauchos			103-59		San Francisco Green Tide 	98-64
Las Vegas Heat			79-83		Los Angeles Vandals		88-74
Salt Lake City Kings		69-93		San Diego Argonauts		82-80
Phoenix Mustangs		54-108		Portland Sea Rays		81-81
						Seattle Thunder			70-92

Dallas won the World Series, their second consecutive title and their third straight appearance in the WS.

jte87 · 06-29-2007, 06:31 PM

J.T. Edwards Named New GM in Seattle

At the conclusion of the World Series, Seattle ownership wasted no time in announcing the hiring of J.T. Edwards to be the new General Manager.

"We feel that as we enter the sixth year of operations for our franchise, J.T. is the right person to lead us into the next stage in the growth of our franchise," said team chairman Al Golagnic.

The team is attempting to show its fans a commitment to winning, as a large contingent had grown weary of the tactics of the GM since the team's inception, Jassen Enderle, who has been reassigned within the organization.

"I have the utmost respect for Jassen and what he did for this club," said Edwards. "Their second place finish in 1990 was entirely due to his diligence in preparing this organization to be immediately competitive."

The step backward in 1991 sealed the fate of Enderle, but by no means is the cupboard bare in Seattle. The National League batting champion in 1991, first baseman Parker Beatty, is only 22 years old as he comes off his .353 campaign. The swiping of Beatty from Salt Lake City when he was still only 18 ranks as Enderle's signature moment.

The team's respected veteran catcher, 34 year old Gerald Ross, endorses Edwards.

"He's a guy known around the league, and in the brief discussions I have had with him in the past he always came off as a really bright guy. I hope he has some good ideas to turn us around quickly, I don't know how much time I have left."

Edwards is already hard at work analyzing the roster, and preparing for arbitration hearings and potential free agent maneuverings. He indicated a willingness to make trades as well.

jte87 · 06-30-2007, 10:22 PM

Kane Huff: An American Original

In a day and age when the American populace is enamored with the home run, it is all the more astonishing that the greatest hero in the history of Major League Baseball is a man who socked a grand total of 38 home runs during a 23 year career.

Yet Kane Huff still exemplifies much of what we are told makes America great. He came from humble beginnings in San Bernardino, CA, and got himself noticed as a 15 year old playing semi-pro ball in southern California. Noticed in such a way that he became the third overall pick in the 1909 draft by the Atlanta Mavericks, in fact. As a 17 year old, Huff played in all 152 of Atlanta's games and posted a VORP of 53.9, and also collected the NL's Rookie of the Month Award every month of the season!

Huff was a contradiction on the field. A guy with little power who routinely drew 100 walks or more in every season from 1915 until his retirement after the 1931 season. The relentless pressure he placed on opposing pitchers was a large reason that Atlanta made eight consecutive World Series appearances from 1912 to 1919, winning five in a row from 1913 to 1917.

Huff was a spectacular talent on the field, but also quite mercurial off of it. As the team's fortunes began to fade after their incredible run, Huff began acting out in public more and more often. Or maybe his acting out in public simply became bigger news when the team was finishing 20 games out of first place. In 1920, there was a much publicized incident which involved Huff to some extent and resulted in the deaths of two men from stab wounds. No individual was ever brought to trial for the deaths, but Huff never managed to completely clear himself. Not that it mattered one bit to the fans, who only wished to see Huff dart around the basepaths and cared about nothing else.

Some people cared, however. Atlanta's ownership tried hanging on to the glory years as long as they could, but eventually came to the conclusion that Kane wasn't worth the trouble if he wasn't producing titles. Still an extremely valuable player, Huff was dealt on July 28, 1925 to the Kansas City Grizzlies. Huff was incensed that he was dealt along with closer Jose Cuevas for only one player in return, a quality young starter in Bob Hendricks. Hendricks would win over 200 games in the major leagues, but this dishonor was too much for Huff and he could not stay in Missouri. After the 1926 season, in which he posted a 69.5 VORP, KC dealt him as part of a five player deal to the Chicago Roughriders, where Huff would continue to be successful for another four seasons.

With Huff, successful meant getting on base and then taking more bases as the opposition allowed. Kane Huff stole 1717 bases in his career, 341 more than his nearest competition, Norbert Smith, who played from 1941-1958. Huff is also the all time leader in Runs, with 2562, walks, with 2601, and triples, with 326. He compiled 3669 career hits, and a career batting line of 309/430/421. Huff won the NL Batter of the Year award 8 times, and patrolled center field with such skill as to be named a Glove Wizard 7 times.

Despite all of these accolades, Huff did not take aging well. After his fourth season in Chicago, he was told by management to expect a significant paycut. The 37 year old Huff had still gotten on base at a .419 clip in the 1930 season, and he responded by traveling to Chicago in the winter from his California home, walking into the office of owner Nick Lucchesi and spitting in his face. Huff was instantly dealt to the Cleveland Navigators, with whom he would score career run #2500 in 1931. Cleveland's owner, Geoffrey Whoria, apparently was unaware of how Huff responded to aggressive negotiation tactics and informed Huff of a paycut in his future. Huff knocked the old man out, but this time he would never play ball again.

Kane Huff retired with a career VORP of 1298.4. He was revered in his day as a hero, and was the first athletic celebrity in American history. He often made news for the wrong reasons, but he was still the centerpiece of arguably the greatest dynasty in the sport's history. Fittingly, he passed away in the early 1960s, just as the sport renamed the Most Outstanding Hitter award after John van Dam. Huff steamed at the oversight, and the lifelong bachelor succumbed to the first broken heart of his lifetime not long after.

Charismatic and enigmatic, one doubts that the sport will ever see another player of quite the same makeup as Kane Huff ever again.

jte87 · 07-01-2007, 01:17 AM

First Offseason Under Watch of Edwards A Mixed Bag

J.T. Edwards wasted little time in beginning to craft the roster of the team to his liking after being named General Manager of the Seattle Thunder. The team was moderately active in the free agent market as it looked to unearth some starting pitching which could prevent the team from finishing dead last in the NL again in runs allowed.

His first step was signing starting pitcher Mark Bowers away from the Boston Bears. The 27 year old Bowers has always had good success in the win column, posting a career 97-47 record. His success comes from keeping away from free passes to hitters, and it has worked well so far. Other suitors were skeptical, however, and Bowers only cost $578,840 for one year.

The day after signing Bowers, Edwards was able to pry solid MR Albert Ellis away from Baltimore. In actuality, the Robins had been trying to push Ellis to Seattle since Edwards was hired, but had no success until they offered to pay $3M of Ellis' $4.56M contract for 1992. Backup catcher Curt Yarbrough and a minor league filler pitcher were the price paid by Seattle.

December started off nicely, as Edwards was able to flip disgruntled CF James Collins to Atlanta for a younger, cheaper player to hold down that position in the 25 year old Arnie Elkin. Elkin had hit 28 and 27 homers the last two seasons for the Mavericks.

The final piece of the puzzle was laid in place one week before Christmas, when SP Jorge Rivera finally accepted the offer the team had given him of a 4 year contract worth $16,800,000. Rivera will be entering his age 30 season, and though his peripherals always seem shaky, they guy has been able to keep runs off the board well enough every year so far.

"Even if Jorge is just an average pitcher for us, it will improve our club greatly over last season," said Edwards. "We had so few internal options to fill out our rotation, bringing in another starter was imperative. The loss of our first round draft pick stings quite a bit, but I still think it hurts less than watching our pitching staff this season would have if not for the signing."

When asked by reporters what he thought still needed to be worked on as the season drew nearer, Edwards was blunt. "We have a home field which has been shown to be very advantageous for left handed batters, yet our lineup is stacked with righties. As painful as it may be should we have to make a deal, we will have to keep our eyes and ears open in looking for a way to find some balance."

Rookie outfielder Brian O'Neal will be trying to find playing time and figures to get lots when the team is at home. "Certainly, we hope he can make the adjustments and be succussful early," said manager Vicente Rodriguez. "We know he'll be a special player, we just hope it starts in 1992."

O'Neal hit 334/421/573 last year in AAA with Jersey City. The third overall pick in 1988 has 55 minor league jacks and a career BB:K ratio of almost 1:1.

jte87 · 07-01-2007, 11:09 AM

New Bullpen Same As The Old Bullpen On Opening Day

Mother Nature was not kind to the 43,786 fans in attendance in Seattle on Opening Day, but that was nothing compared to pain inflicted on them in the late innings by their bullpen. A 56 minute rain delay in the third inning with the Miami Hitmen ahead 1-0 dampened their spirits and chased both starting pitchers early.

Things soon got better for Seattle, as Arnie Elkin put the team on the board in the bottom of the fourth with his first home run of the year and the score was 2-1 Miami. By the end of the sixth inning, the score was 5-3 in favor if Seattle, largely thanks to a clutch 2 out pinch hit single to drive in the go ahead run by Brian O'Neal.

O'Neal's first career hit and RBI looked to be the big story of this game until the 8th inning, when new setup man Albert Ellis took the mound to try and preserve the lead until Luis Trevino could close the door in the ninth. A few bloopers, bleeders, and infield hits later, the score was tied at 5 and Miami still had 2 men in scoring position with 2 down. Second basemen Salvador Herrera came up with the timely hit for Miami to drive them both in and Seattle trailed 7-5.

"I didn't feel I pitched badly tonight," said Ellis, "but I just looked at my line and it was certainly ugly, you can't deny that."

Miami tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth to make a comeback even more challenging for the Thunder. But thanks to a single and a couple of walks, Seattle managed to load the bases with one out. Troy Leblanc popped out and it was up to pinch hitter and backup catcher Rodrigo Lopez to save the day. Lopez has some power in his bat off the bench, and he showed it here, smashing a drive to the gap in right center field. But the defense was playing him correctly, and centerfielder Cesar Rodriguez made it over just in time to secure the ball in his glove for the final out of the game.

"I thought I had tied the game with that one there. You just have to tip your cap to those guys for playing great defense all day long," said Lopez.

"It's one game of a long season," said skipper Vicente Rodriguez, who should know with his 39 years of experience in baseball. "We'll be back out here tomorrow and we'll try it again."

06-29-2007, 04:21 PM	#1
jte87 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 305	My Fictional History of Major League Baseball I've got a fictional league I started in 1901 following most of the guidelines laid out in Larry Anderson's excellent guide to doing such a thing over at planetootp.com. I have just about finished simming up until the 1992 season, when I will finally take control of some team in need, not sure who just yet. I intend to provide a mix of posts detailing my trials and tribulations in charge of a major league team and also some retrospectives on past events and players in the league. The league is set up similarly to the current MLB, now that I have expanded out to 30 clubs. However, there is no DH in either league. Our version of the Cy Young Award is the Bill Franklin Award, named after the man with 372 career wins. The Top Hitter Award is known as the John van Dam Award, named after the centerpiece of the Cleveland Navigators dynasty a half century ago. More to come...

06-30-2007, 10:22 PM	#4
jte87 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 305	Kane Huff: An American Original In a day and age when the American populace is enamored with the home run, it is all the more astonishing that the greatest hero in the history of Major League Baseball is a man who socked a grand total of 38 home runs during a 23 year career. Yet Kane Huff still exemplifies much of what we are told makes America great. He came from humble beginnings in San Bernardino, CA, and got himself noticed as a 15 year old playing semi-pro ball in southern California. Noticed in such a way that he became the third overall pick in the 1909 draft by the Atlanta Mavericks, in fact. As a 17 year old, Huff played in all 152 of Atlanta's games and posted a VORP of 53.9, and also collected the NL's Rookie of the Month Award every month of the season! Huff was a contradiction on the field. A guy with little power who routinely drew 100 walks or more in every season from 1915 until his retirement after the 1931 season. The relentless pressure he placed on opposing pitchers was a large reason that Atlanta made eight consecutive World Series appearances from 1912 to 1919, winning five in a row from 1913 to 1917. Huff was a spectacular talent on the field, but also quite mercurial off of it. As the team's fortunes began to fade after their incredible run, Huff began acting out in public more and more often. Or maybe his acting out in public simply became bigger news when the team was finishing 20 games out of first place. In 1920, there was a much publicized incident which involved Huff to some extent and resulted in the deaths of two men from stab wounds. No individual was ever brought to trial for the deaths, but Huff never managed to completely clear himself. Not that it mattered one bit to the fans, who only wished to see Huff dart around the basepaths and cared about nothing else. Some people cared, however. Atlanta's ownership tried hanging on to the glory years as long as they could, but eventually came to the conclusion that Kane wasn't worth the trouble if he wasn't producing titles. Still an extremely valuable player, Huff was dealt on July 28, 1925 to the Kansas City Grizzlies. Huff was incensed that he was dealt along with closer Jose Cuevas for only one player in return, a quality young starter in Bob Hendricks. Hendricks would win over 200 games in the major leagues, but this dishonor was too much for Huff and he could not stay in Missouri. After the 1926 season, in which he posted a 69.5 VORP, KC dealt him as part of a five player deal to the Chicago Roughriders, where Huff would continue to be successful for another four seasons. With Huff, successful meant getting on base and then taking more bases as the opposition allowed. Kane Huff stole 1717 bases in his career, 341 more than his nearest competition, Norbert Smith, who played from 1941-1958. Huff is also the all time leader in Runs, with 2562, walks, with 2601, and triples, with 326. He compiled 3669 career hits, and a career batting line of 309/430/421. Huff won the NL Batter of the Year award 8 times, and patrolled center field with such skill as to be named a Glove Wizard 7 times. Despite all of these accolades, Huff did not take aging well. After his fourth season in Chicago, he was told by management to expect a significant paycut. The 37 year old Huff had still gotten on base at a .419 clip in the 1930 season, and he responded by traveling to Chicago in the winter from his California home, walking into the office of owner Nick Lucchesi and spitting in his face. Huff was instantly dealt to the Cleveland Navigators, with whom he would score career run #2500 in 1931. Cleveland's owner, Geoffrey Whoria, apparently was unaware of how Huff responded to aggressive negotiation tactics and informed Huff of a paycut in his future. Huff knocked the old man out, but this time he would never play ball again. Kane Huff retired with a career VORP of 1298.4. He was revered in his day as a hero, and was the first athletic celebrity in American history. He often made news for the wrong reasons, but he was still the centerpiece of arguably the greatest dynasty in the sport's history. Fittingly, he passed away in the early 1960s, just as the sport renamed the Most Outstanding Hitter award after John van Dam. Huff steamed at the oversight, and the lifelong bachelor succumbed to the first broken heart of his lifetime not long after. Charismatic and enigmatic, one doubts that the sport will ever see another player of quite the same makeup as Kane Huff ever again. Last edited by jte87; 06-30-2007 at 10:25 PM.

06-29-2007, 06:31 PM	#3
jte87 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 305	J.T. Edwards Named New GM in Seattle At the conclusion of the World Series, Seattle ownership wasted no time in announcing the hiring of J.T. Edwards to be the new General Manager. "We feel that as we enter the sixth year of operations for our franchise, J.T. is the right person to lead us into the next stage in the growth of our franchise," said team chairman Al Golagnic. The team is attempting to show its fans a commitment to winning, as a large contingent had grown weary of the tactics of the GM since the team's inception, Jassen Enderle, who has been reassigned within the organization. "I have the utmost respect for Jassen and what he did for this club," said Edwards. "Their second place finish in 1990 was entirely due to his diligence in preparing this organization to be immediately competitive." The step backward in 1991 sealed the fate of Enderle, but by no means is the cupboard bare in Seattle. The National League batting champion in 1991, first baseman Parker Beatty, is only 22 years old as he comes off his .353 campaign. The swiping of Beatty from Salt Lake City when he was still only 18 ranks as Enderle's signature moment. The team's respected veteran catcher, 34 year old Gerald Ross, endorses Edwards. "He's a guy known around the league, and in the brief discussions I have had with him in the past he always came off as a really bright guy. I hope he has some good ideas to turn us around quickly, I don't know how much time I have left." Edwards is already hard at work analyzing the roster, and preparing for arbitration hearings and potential free agent maneuverings. He indicated a willingness to make trades as well.

07-01-2007, 01:17 AM	#5
jte87 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 305	First Offseason Under Watch of Edwards A Mixed Bag J.T. Edwards wasted little time in beginning to craft the roster of the team to his liking after being named General Manager of the Seattle Thunder. The team was moderately active in the free agent market as it looked to unearth some starting pitching which could prevent the team from finishing dead last in the NL again in runs allowed. His first step was signing starting pitcher Mark Bowers away from the Boston Bears. The 27 year old Bowers has always had good success in the win column, posting a career 97-47 record. His success comes from keeping away from free passes to hitters, and it has worked well so far. Other suitors were skeptical, however, and Bowers only cost $578,840 for one year. The day after signing Bowers, Edwards was able to pry solid MR Albert Ellis away from Baltimore. In actuality, the Robins had been trying to push Ellis to Seattle since Edwards was hired, but had no success until they offered to pay $3M of Ellis' $4.56M contract for 1992. Backup catcher Curt Yarbrough and a minor league filler pitcher were the price paid by Seattle. December started off nicely, as Edwards was able to flip disgruntled CF James Collins to Atlanta for a younger, cheaper player to hold down that position in the 25 year old Arnie Elkin. Elkin had hit 28 and 27 homers the last two seasons for the Mavericks. The final piece of the puzzle was laid in place one week before Christmas, when SP Jorge Rivera finally accepted the offer the team had given him of a 4 year contract worth $16,800,000. Rivera will be entering his age 30 season, and though his peripherals always seem shaky, they guy has been able to keep runs off the board well enough every year so far. "Even if Jorge is just an average pitcher for us, it will improve our club greatly over last season," said Edwards. "We had so few internal options to fill out our rotation, bringing in another starter was imperative. The loss of our first round draft pick stings quite a bit, but I still think it hurts less than watching our pitching staff this season would have if not for the signing." When asked by reporters what he thought still needed to be worked on as the season drew nearer, Edwards was blunt. "We have a home field which has been shown to be very advantageous for left handed batters, yet our lineup is stacked with righties. As painful as it may be should we have to make a deal, we will have to keep our eyes and ears open in looking for a way to find some balance." Rookie outfielder Brian O'Neal will be trying to find playing time and figures to get lots when the team is at home. "Certainly, we hope he can make the adjustments and be succussful early," said manager Vicente Rodriguez. "We know he'll be a special player, we just hope it starts in 1992." O'Neal hit 334/421/573 last year in AAA with Jersey City. The third overall pick in 1988 has 55 minor league jacks and a career BB:K ratio of almost 1:1.

07-01-2007, 11:09 AM	#6
jte87 Major Leagues Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 305	New Bullpen Same As The Old Bullpen On Opening Day Mother Nature was not kind to the 43,786 fans in attendance in Seattle on Opening Day, but that was nothing compared to pain inflicted on them in the late innings by their bullpen. A 56 minute rain delay in the third inning with the Miami Hitmen ahead 1-0 dampened their spirits and chased both starting pitchers early. Things soon got better for Seattle, as Arnie Elkin put the team on the board in the bottom of the fourth with his first home run of the year and the score was 2-1 Miami. By the end of the sixth inning, the score was 5-3 in favor if Seattle, largely thanks to a clutch 2 out pinch hit single to drive in the go ahead run by Brian O'Neal. O'Neal's first career hit and RBI looked to be the big story of this game until the 8th inning, when new setup man Albert Ellis took the mound to try and preserve the lead until Luis Trevino could close the door in the ninth. A few bloopers, bleeders, and infield hits later, the score was tied at 5 and Miami still had 2 men in scoring position with 2 down. Second basemen Salvador Herrera came up with the timely hit for Miami to drive them both in and Seattle trailed 7-5. "I didn't feel I pitched badly tonight," said Ellis, "but I just looked at my line and it was certainly ugly, you can't deny that." Miami tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth to make a comeback even more challenging for the Thunder. But thanks to a single and a couple of walks, Seattle managed to load the bases with one out. Troy Leblanc popped out and it was up to pinch hitter and backup catcher Rodrigo Lopez to save the day. Lopez has some power in his bat off the bench, and he showed it here, smashing a drive to the gap in right center field. But the defense was playing him correctly, and centerfielder Cesar Rodriguez made it over just in time to secure the ball in his glove for the final out of the game. "I thought I had tied the game with that one there. You just have to tip your cap to those guys for playing great defense all day long," said Lopez. "It's one game of a long season," said skipper Vicente Rodriguez, who should know with his 39 years of experience in baseball. "We'll be back out here tomorrow and we'll try it again."