The Baseball Chronicle - Fictional Players in a Historical Universe

[legendsport]

The Baseball Chronicle which began as a dynasty covering the years 1871-91 went live as an OOTP 9 online league for the 1892 season. The league converted to OOTP 10 for the 1904 season. The league is a fast-paced thrill ride across baseball history.

GMs (and non-GM followers of the leagues) are encouraged to create their own players (either "ancestors" or simply made-up guys) through this thread on the Dynasty Forum.

Using kq76's recommendations, here are the cogent points in list form:

Full League Name (Initials): The Baseball Chronicle (TBC)
Main URL: The Baseball Chronicle :: Home
Reports URL: BNN Home Page
Boards URL: The Baseball Chronicle :: Home
Commissioner(s) OOTP Forum Username(s): legendsport
Email Address: commish@legendsport.com
OOTP Version: 10
Game Needed: Required
Players: Fictional players in Historical setting
# of Teams: 16 (will expand based on MLB History)
Export Deadlines Days And Times: Monday thru Saturday 8pm ET
League Time Per Sim: 1/2 month (15 or 16 days per sim)
First Season: 1871 (as dynasty), 1892 (as online league)
Latest Season: 1913
Special Rules & Settings: This is a talent-only league. Coaches are on, scouts are off. We'll attempt to mimic the Reserve Clause era with financials on, no free agency, no rookie draft. The upper tier of Minor League baseball will be simmed and teams will procure players through purchasing them from the minors (as the real teams did) or occasionally thru free agency. The Negro Leagues will also be simmed alongside when we reach 1920. The commissioner will handle the minor league teams, the Negro League teams will likely have human GMs.
Currently Available Teams:
AL - New York, Philadelphia
NL - Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia

The Baseball Chronicle will attempt to model, as closely as possible, real baseball history with fictional players. We use special rules for player procurement and will include things such as the Federal League, the World Wars, the Negro Leagues and the gradual development of the farm system in our march through history.

TBC is an homage not only to great OOTP 6.5 leagues such as Time Warp Baseball and PBRL, but also to baseball history itself. Who will be TBC's "Babe Ruth" or "Ted Williams?" Join in and find out, it's going to be a great ride.

About the TBC Commissioner:
The commish has years of experience running OOTP leagues going back to OOTP 2 the most successful of which was Greatest Generation Baseball which ran for 20 seasons, covering versions 4 thru 6.5 of the sim. Other long-running leagues included the 20th Century Chronicle, a season-per-week league that ran the 1901-2000 seasons and BaTTY which was similar to 20CC but scrambled debut dates. All three were long-running, successful leagues and some of the GMs from those leagues (as well as some TWB & PBRL vets) are signed on for TBC.

[Jeremy Weimer]

I was wondering if you were still running any OOTP leagues. Good to see that you are.

I really miss some of your previous leagues that I was in.

[William Foster]

PM Sent (I think). If not just PM me and I'll send it again.

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by William Foster

PM Sent (I think). If not just PM me and I'll send it again.

Got the PM (two of 'em actually). You're all set, thanks for signing up.

New York (A) and Brooklyn remain available.

[legendsport]

Available team update:

New York AL
St. Louis AL
Chicago NL

We just started our 1904 season.

[legendsport]

Cubs have been filled. We still have NY (AL) and St. Louis (AL) available. We're wrapping up 1904 this week and will be starting the offseason activities for 1905 next weekend.

[bigargon]

i've been looking for a more realistic (i.e no draft, talent) historic/fictional for a while...i'd be interest in New York highlanders

[legendsport]

NY Highlanders are taken - Browns are still available.

[legendsport]

To get a feel for how the league works, you can also check out the dynasty thread, which I also update with stories about the league. It's linked in my sig.

[legendsport]

The Baseball Chronicle is in the 1908 season and has several openings.

The Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Athletics and New York Highlanders are available.

We've got a solid core of guys, most of whom have been in the league since it went live for the 1892 season. The league runs like clockwork, we sim Monday thru Saturday at noon ET, covering half-months in each sim, so the seasons move fairly quickly.

The league's rules have been tweaked a bit - we still don't draft, but teams have Transaction Points they can use to purchase players from the minor leagues, and also "discovery" players who are based on guys from lower minors, town teams, etc. We bid in-season on next season's rookies (or you can pay a little extra and get them right away). There's a lot of strategy involved and I feel it captures the era's "feel" as far as player procurement.

If you have any questions, or would like to take one of the open teams, please PM me here or over on the TBC website.

[rocknfire7]

This is a great league, with a great commisioner and a great crop of GM's to boot. You really get a feel for a turn of the century baseball atmosphere. I was involved for a short time and I wish I had the time to stay in the league, so instead I'd like to help promote TBC.

[legendsport]

The Cubbies have been claimed. The Athletics and Highlanders are still available, and the Reds have also just come open.

[legendsport]

Giving this a bi-weekly bump. I've told Santa that what I really want for Christmas is to see TBC have a full complement of human GMs.

[legendsport]

TBC currently has 5 open teams as we start the 1913 season:

AL:
New York Highlanders (soon to be the Yankees)
Philadelphia Athletics

NL:
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Philadelphia Phillies

We have 11 very good GMs running the other teams. This is a fairly unique league. As commish I do not run a team, but handle all the administrative stuff instead. We will soon be adding the Negro Leagues and active GMs will be able to run both a MLB and Negro League club. In addition, we have the Federal League coming next season which will see some good old fashioned player raiding going on. In short, it's a good time to get in on the action.

[legendsport]

We're currently in 1915, with the Federal League having raided the rosters of the NL & AL in 1914 (and those players slated to return to the fold when the Fed does that - folds - in 1916).

The same teams are available. Some notes:

• The Yankees won the 1914 World Series are in first place as of May 16
• The Athletics won the 1913 World Series and are in 2nd in the AL
• The Cubs have an emerging two-way star in Rudolf Holzer
• The Reds feature the player who could become TBC's Babe Ruth in young CF Joel Faulk
• The Phillies are a team on the rise, currently 2nd in the NL

In short, the time to get in on this is now. All of these teams have great upside.

We will be switching over to OOTP 11 shortly after the new version is released in April. The league moves at a quick pace and we will hit 1920 with the end of the deadball era and the addition of the Negro Leagues, in June. GMs will be allowed to run a team in both the Majors and Negro Leagues. I am also considering adding in the Texas League and Southern Association (now the Southern League) to increase the depth of the player pool.

Come on over to the TBC site - where I recently added Stats Lab - and check things out!

[legendsport]

The Cubs have been claimed. We've just wrapped up 1915, and with the Fed League folding, this offseason (starting Friday) will be a really interesting one.

The Yankees - still available - just won their second straight AL pennant and will face the Giants in the WS tomorrow.

The Phillies and A's - still available - both finished second to the NY teams in their respective leagues.

The Reds - still available - well... they finished last. So they're a challenge for someone willing. They do have an absolute stud in the making in Joel Faulk.

[legendsport]

TBC is upgrading to OOTP 11 for the 1917 season.

[udbacker58]

Just wanted to stop in and sing the praises of this league. legendsport puts in a lot of time and is a great commish, anyone looking for a historical experience should definitely join. I had the opportunity to take the commish role in 2 of my other leagues, which forced me to drop TBC. Really enjoyed my time in the league (though the state of the Reds could probably be traced back to me ) and would definitely consider going back if time would allow.

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by udbacker58

Just wanted to stop in and sing the praises of this league. legendsport puts in a lot of time and is a great commish, anyone looking for a historical experience should definitely join. I had the opportunity to take the commish role in 2 of my other leagues, which forced me to drop TBC. Really enjoyed my time in the league (though the state of the Reds could probably be traced back to me ) and would definitely consider going back if time would allow.

Thanks for the endorsement! You'd definitely be welcome back if you ever have the time.

I've posted the league over in the OOTP 11 Online League forum... here.