[norva13x]

The Beginning:

Sports are a major part of American culture, and of world culture really. From the small sandlot games up to the international tournaments, sports is interwoven in the American psyche.
College Baseball is at it's peak in 1998, top conferences and school compete every summer and thousands of fans attend games every year. The University of Texas Longhorns for example can regularly pack their 80,000 seat baseball cathedral. Fans in the U.S. love their baseball.
That gave one man an idea. Rob Burde is a major businessman, one of the most powerful in the U.S., and he loves his baseball. He played third baseman for the Yale Bulldogs back in the early 70s and in his junior and senior seasons won All-Ivy League honors.
Burde had the idea of creating a professional baseball league. There were many amateur leagues, national and international events for post college players, but no one had yet to capitalize on the idea of creating a full-fledged pro league, and he knew there were tons of money to be had in it.
He announced in May of 1997 his intentions, and he was met with much criticism. People said that the idea of paying someone to hit a ball was ridiculous and an insult to hardworking Americans everywhere.
Nonetheless he pushed forward, he got together a group of some of the top college players from the last 20 years and played 6 exhibition matches all over the country. All 6 games sold out within hours. Burde had all the proof he needed, the people would support a pro league.
In June of 1998 he announced his intentions of launching a 10 team league, dubbed the National League, in 1999. He started tryouts and camps to start gathering players, he also cut stadium deals and sponsorship deals with many corporations eager to cash in.
All wouldn't go as planned however. Several business groups applied for a team in the new league, many were turned down. A lawyer by the name of Brian Ster stepped up to represent them. After gathering several prominent businessmen and woman and securing strong corporate support of their own, Ster announced in November of 1998 the launch of the American League.
Already Burde had to deal with a rival league and his league hadn't even thrown a single pitch yet!
The American League rose much faster than anticipated and by March of 1999 were ready to play themselves. Both leagues didn't have all their stadiums finished however, and those teams that didn't planned to play at college stadiums or other local ballparks for the 1999 season. nonetheless both had tons of money to back them up and both had star athletes on their rosters. Some teams had even jumped from one league to the other during the last few months.
In the ensuing chaos both leagues got together on March 23rd in New York City and announced the cancellation of the 1999 season. It was in the best interest of both leagues, if both played now they would drive each other to extinction. They decided to cancel the season and use the year to prepare for a stronger start in 2000.
A series of meetings were conducted throughout the summer, and on December 5th, 1999 the Professional Baseball Agreement was finalized. The Agreement was a "truce" between the leagues that laid out the format both leagues would follow from there on out.
There was 7 major points to the agreement:

- The Leagues would remain independent, but under the umbrella of Major League Baseball, an organization to regulate the highest level of pro baseball.

- The Leagues would be realigned geographically, the National League would have teams from the eastern half of the U.S. and the American League the western half. Each would start with 6 teams each, but there were plans to expand by at least 4 more teams before 2005.

- The leagues would play an equal amount of games each year, and would meet at the end of the year in the World Series, a 7 game series between the champions of each league to determine the "World" Champions.

- An All-Star game would be played mid-season featuring the best players of both leagues.

- All current contracts would be made void and an Inaugural Draft would be scheduled for January 2nd 2000.

- Players currently below the age of 22 or currently in school would have to wait until March 1st Amateur Draft, unlike the one time Inaugural Draft this draft would be on March 1st every year.

- Of the 12 teams selected to be in the MLB, 12 more were allowed to exist in two "farm" leagues. Each farm team will be affiliated with an MLB team. Another organization was created to regulate these two leagues: Minor League Baseball. The two leagues became known as the Eastern League, and the Western Baseball League.

The cancelled 1999 season thus became a blessing in disguise, a new agreement created a solid and stable structure for pro baseball and gave time for the new stadiums to be completed. Thus pro baseball was moving full steam ahead and more than ready to play in 2000.

Next up: Introducing the teams