Fictional Expansion in the 80s?

toddgregory · 06-10-2012, 10:01 PM

i am running a historical/fictional league starting in 1986 and want to expand the majors by 2 teams. just curious what might be some good cities to expand to? any suggestions as to what cities might have been under consideration for expansion during that time period?

LansdowneSt · 06-11-2012, 12:49 AM

The bridesmaid city was Tamba Bay. They built Tropicana field for the White Sox (who leveraged the thrat of moving to get new Cominsky Park) and then the Giants were going to move there (but actually they just used the leverage of the threat of moving to get their new ball park... The places MLB expanded to in the 90's+ were the top places. But since it's fiction, just move to Vegas or Mexico City to mix it up

CatKnight · 06-11-2012, 04:27 AM

Largest cities in the US, per the 1980 census:

http://www.census.gov/population/www...0027/tab21.txt

1980 saw Charlie Finley fail to move the A's to Denver. I can see them wanting a team badly: Mile High Stadium is available, and IRL was the Rockies' home early on.

1984 saw Indianapolis make a huge push to attract the NFL Colts. Phoenix was also in the running at the time. Either one would bend over backwards to attract a Major League team.

toddgregory · 06-11-2012, 09:37 PM

I used the 1980 census data and then randomly selected two cities for expansion... i weighted the selection giving larger cities a better chance. in the end, it turned out to be New Orleans (Pelicans) and san Antonio (Scouts0

Interesting since they automatically become natural rivals based on location and open up the possibility of a Southern Division in the NAtional League eventually

rferry · 06-14-2012, 01:38 AM

The Pirates also nearly moved to Denver in the 80s.

And there's always Washington, but there wasn't much talk between the 1974 Padres bid and 1993 expansion bid.

1993 Major League Baseball expansion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia lists candidates for 1993 expansion. A newspaper article from 1989 mentions some of the cities.

Also, consider only Miami, Denver and DC had stadiums that could accommodate baseball. Between the Metrodome in 1982 and Skydome in 1989 no stadiums were built. And the ones in the two decades preceding were also domes or cookie-cutter multipurpose parks (Royals Stadium the exception). Could your team end up with a Comiskey or Camden Yards or worse - a hockey arena (Tampa)?

HerbD · 06-14-2012, 07:09 AM

I remember in the late 80s when the Rockies and Marlins were named that Indianapolis was in the running. That team would have been named the Indianapolis Arrows but they didn't get selected.

06-10-2012, 10:01 PM	#1
toddgregory Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 336	Fictional Expansion in the 80s? i am running a historical/fictional league starting in 1986 and want to expand the majors by 2 teams. just curious what might be some good cities to expand to? any suggestions as to what cities might have been under consideration for expansion during that time period?

06-11-2012, 12:49 AM	#2
LansdowneSt Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: From Duxbury, Mass residing Baltimore Posts: 5,147	Tampa The bridesmaid city was Tamba Bay. They built Tropicana field for the White Sox (who leveraged the thrat of moving to get new Cominsky Park) and then the Giants were going to move there (but actually they just used the leverage of the threat of moving to get their new ball park... The places MLB expanded to in the 90's+ were the top places. But since it's fiction, just move to Vegas or Mexico City to mix it up

06-11-2012, 04:27 AM	#3
CatKnight All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cleveland, OH Posts: 1,199	Largest cities in the US, per the 1980 census: http://www.census.gov/population/www...0027/tab21.txt 1980 saw Charlie Finley fail to move the A's to Denver. I can see them wanting a team badly: Mile High Stadium is available, and IRL was the Rockies' home early on. 1984 saw Indianapolis make a huge push to attract the NFL Colts. Phoenix was also in the running at the time. Either one would bend over backwards to attract a Major League team. Last edited by CatKnight; 06-11-2012 at 04:35 AM.

06-14-2012, 01:38 AM	#5
rferry All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2002 Location: DC Posts: 549	The Pirates also nearly moved to Denver in the 80s. And there's always Washington, but there wasn't much talk between the 1974 Padres bid and 1993 expansion bid. 1993 Major League Baseball expansion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia lists candidates for 1993 expansion. A newspaper article from 1989 mentions some of the cities. Also, consider only Miami, Denver and DC had stadiums that could accommodate baseball. Between the Metrodome in 1982 and Skydome in 1989 no stadiums were built. And the ones in the two decades preceding were also domes or cookie-cutter multipurpose parks (Royals Stadium the exception). Could your team end up with a Comiskey or Camden Yards or worse - a hockey arena (Tampa)? __________________ please excuse my grammar, i read baseball weekly in my high school english classes.

06-11-2012, 09:37 PM	#4
toddgregory Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 336	I used the 1980 census data and then randomly selected two cities for expansion... i weighted the selection giving larger cities a better chance. in the end, it turned out to be New Orleans (Pelicans) and san Antonio (Scouts0 Interesting since they automatically become natural rivals based on location and open up the possibility of a Southern Division in the NAtional League eventually

06-14-2012, 07:09 AM	#6
HerbD All Star Reserve Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Indiana Posts: 854	I remember in the late 80s when the Rockies and Marlins were named that Indianapolis was in the running. That team would have been named the Indianapolis Arrows but they didn't get selected.