Major League Baseball

[kenyan_cheena]

PLANS FOR NEW NATIONWIDE
BASEBALL LEAGUE
ANNOUNCED IN NEW YORK

Friday 9 May 1952

Story by Larry Mason of the New York Age

At a news conference held this morning in Manhattan, a quartet of high profile New York businessmen revealed that they will be working together to create a new national baseball league.

The quartet, led by self-made millionaire James Harrison, expressed their dissatisfaction over the current state of baseball in America, saying that they believe the sport deserves to be held in a much higher regard than is currently the case.

Indeed, for what seems like decades now, baseball has been no more than a second tier sport in the USA, below football, basketball and even tennis in terms of popularity. It has been a combination of poor, sometimes outright incompetent administrative decisions and a lack of financial resources that has seen the sport, the oldest of all those played in this land, descend to its present circumstances, where there is no national competition, only a collection of regional leagues such as the Atlantic Coast Baseball League.

"This sport of ours deserves to be one of the pilars of our society, one of the constant comforts of our nation," Harrison said. "It amazes me that, more than 100 years since its creation, baseball is in such a sorry state. Well, we intend to change that. Over the coming weeks and months, we will be meeting with representatives of each of the six active regional leagues to discuss our ambitions for this great sport."

The endeavours of Harrison and co., if successful, will result in the third instance of a national baseball league in America. Whatever name they think up for it, this new league will follow on from the National Baseball League of 1869-1881 and the American Baseball Federation of 1902-1929, both of which enjoyed brief popularity before folding for the aforementioned administrative and financial reasons. The regional competitions (in their various formations) have been the only baseball leagues that have existed almost uninterrupted during the sport's lifetime, and convincing all of them to ban together to form one national competition might be harder than James Harrison and his associates believe...

[kenyan_cheena]

ACTIVE REGIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUES

* The Atlantic Coast Baseball League

The oldest and largest of all the RBLs, it features the two clubs that are recognised as the oldest in America, the New Jersey Titans and the New York Yankees. As it is written in history books, the two clubs participated in the first competitive baseball game on the 19th of June 1846 at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey, where the Titans still play their home games.

The league is also home to the biggest rivalry in the sport, between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. They have clashed to decide the ACBL Champion in each of the past three years and between them have won almost half of the championships contested during the life of the league.

Teams from Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Brooklyn (amongst others) are also a part of the ACBL.

* The North-East Baseball Association

Formed in 1868 as the first step in the expansion of baseball west of the Atlantic Coast, the NEBA features clubs from a number of cities that are located on the banks of Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland and Toledo are all part of the league, as is Chicago, a city so enamoured with the sport that it has two teams, the Cubs and the White Sox.

The league also includes teams from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Indianapolis. A number of these clubs competed in the National Baseball League during the 1870s, and the financial strains that their inclusion caused has often been stated as the main reason for the league folding.

* The South-Eastern Baseball Federation

Following the inroads it made into the Great Lakes region, baseball set its sights south, with teams starting up in Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte. Unfortunately, it does seem that baseball in the south will always be fighting a losing battle with football, and it will be interesting to see the approach that Harrison and his associates take when it comes to this particular region.

* The Midwest Baseball League

By the early 1890s, baseball had made its way to Missouri, Minnesota and Texas. The Midwest Baseball League struggled during its early years, with the controversy of the league's four Texas teams spliting due to disagreements over the use of designated hitters not helping matters any.

However, the league has gradually built support and steadily expanded to include teams from North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Colorado.

* The Texas State Baseball League

This league came into being in the first year of the 20th century, as the quartet of Texas teams that were competing in the Midwest Baseball League withdrew from it due to their desire to employ designated hitters, a policy that was fiercely opposed by the other teams in the league. Since then, the league has grown to eight teams, with the Houston Astros and the Arlington Rangers the class of the league. It is still the only league where all teams use a designated hitter.

* The Pacific Coast Baseball Federation

Stretching from Seattle, Washington to Phoenix, Arizona, the PCBF takes in more real estate than any other league in the land. The league is split into two divisons, the north and south. Teams in the north division use a designated hitter. Teams in the south division do not. When teams from either division play each other, home field determines use of the DH.

Featuring no less than SIX teams from California (two in Los Angeles), it is, with the exception of the Atlantic League, the most financially sound of all the RBLs. But it wasn't always that way. Established in 1931, just a couple of years after the bodyblow the sport suffered with the debacle that was the disintegration of the American Baseball Federation, it took some time to sell the sport to the West Coast. When the Los Angeles Dragons were formed in 1942, they gave interest in the sport a shot in the arm, thanks in a large part to the smart hiring decisions and marketing savvy of their extroverted owner, Kelvin Molk. In its ten years of existence, Molk has turned the Dragons into one of the most powerful and talented ballclubs in the nation. There is little doubt that the Los Angeles Dragons will figure heavily in James Harrison's plans for the future of baseball...

[kenyan_cheena]

PROGRESS IS STEADY IN MARCH TOWARDS
NEW NATIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE

Wednesday 6 August 1952

Story by the Boston Globe's Maurice Klein

Almost three months have passed since New York millionaire James Harrison and his supporting trio of businessmen announced their intentions to form a new nationwide baseball league. In the time since, "The Manhattan Quartet", as they've come to be known, have made good progress towards their goal, meeting with a number of representatives from each of the six regional baseball leagues currently active across America. These representatives have included, amongst others, league presidents and directors and individual managers and owners of at least twenty different ballclubs. Los Angeles Dragons owner Kelvin Molk has been very vocal with his suggestions and opinions on how the new league should work.

"What we've found is that there is a real, palpable desire to take this sport to the next level," Harrison said today. "Almost without exception, everyone we've spoken to understands that co-operation and compromise is needed to make this vision for baseball work. It's a pleasant surprise that so many of them are looking at the bigger picture. We have requested that a number of these regional representatives take up positions in our organisation to assist in the shaping of this new league."

As yet, and understandably, no decisions have been made in regards to the size or structural format of the league. Harrison only revealed that they are hoping the league will feature "at least 24 teams" and will provide "a broad representation of all regions of the United States." They have yet to come up with a name for the league, either, although a suggestion that was made to call it the United States Baseball Federation seems to have received a positive response.

"We still have quite a lot of work ahead of us to get this thing off the ground," Harrison said. "But with each day, we're getting closer, and that's just making us more determined to achieve our goal."

[goroyals]

Excellent backstory. I'll be reading.

[kenyan_cheena]

NEVADA CASINO KING WANTS
TO BRING BASEBALL TO VEGAS

Friday 3 October 1952

Story written by Leonard Parish of the Carson City Courier

After hinting for the last few weeks that he would do so, prominent Nevada businessman Talon "Lonnie" Goldstein has met with James Harrison and the other directors of the newly-formed American Professional Baseball Council and proposed that the nation's new baseball league include a team from Las Vegas.

Goldstein is the wealthiest businessman in Nevada, the owner of a host of hotels and casinos in Reno and Vegas. He is also rumoured to have serious links to organised crime, and it must be asked whether the APBC would be wiser to steer clear of an individual of such questionable character.

A major player in the Nevada business scene named Brian Jenson has said that Goldstein's motives in regards to Las Vegas baseball stem from nothing more than petty jealousy.

"You see, Lonnie has hated Kelvin Molk for years," said Jenson. "I'd almost call his feelings towards him an obsession. I don't know where this hatred stems from, but for over a decade now, Lonnie has made it his mission to be better than Kelvin Molk. At everything. Now, I don't know if this story is true, but some say that Lonnie has bedded three of Molk's ex-girlfriends, just so they would know that his, 'equipment', functioned more effectively than Molk's. This thing with the baseball team is surely just a continuation of this hatred and desire to outdo Kelvin. Lonnie sees that this new league will surely feature Kelvin's Dragons team, which is going to bring a lot of publicity to him. Lonnie won't like that one bit, so that's why he wants a team in the league. The man doesn't know diddly-squat about baseball, but that doesn't matter because he's rich and he'll just be able to surround himself with people who do."

The fact that the Carson City Rattlesnakes, one of the top teams of the Pacific Coast Baseball Federation, will most likely find a home in the new league won't make it any easier for Goldstein to convince Harrison and the others that they need a team in Las Vegas. We'll just have to wait and see where this situation leads...

***

The Goldstein proposal has come just two days after a preliminary draft for the structure of the new baseball league was rejected by a number of east coast teams. The draft called for the teams to be put into four divisions: Atlantic, Central, Midwest and Pacific. These divisions would be very similar in appearance to the various leagues that represent these different regions of the country. Teams would play the majority of their games against the teams in their division.

New Jersey Titans owner Vincent Tataglia was just one of those who rejected the draft.

"If that's their plan, they might as well just forget about it and let us continue on with the regional leagues," Tataglia said. "Our fans have been watching us play the Yankees, the Red Sox, the Senators, the Phillies and all those other east coast teams for years. Harrison's gonna have to come up with something different, something more attractive than that. We spoke to our fans when the plans for this new league were announced. They don't mind watching us play the Yankees and the others, but they know that this new league represents a chance to bring some much-needed variety to the sport. They want to see us playing against teams from the west; teams like the Dragons and San Francisco and even Seattle or Portland. I've relayed their feelings on the matter to the APBC. It's up to them where they go from here."

Indeed, it appears that potholes are starting to show in the road to a new national baseball league. The next couple of weeks will be vital in determining how these obstacles are overcome...

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by goroyals

Excellent backstory. I'll be reading.

Thanks, man. I don't know if you read my HBF thread, but I've set the two threads in the same "universe", although fifty years apart. In a recent post in the HBF thread, the HBF President Michael Vincennes was reminiscing on his memories on baseball growing up, comparing the struggles that the two sports have in common. He finishes by saying "Just look at it now. Baseball's our national pasttime, our most popular sport, and they're just nine days away from the commencement of their 50th season."

This baseball dynasty will move along a lot quicker than the boxing one, so eventually, some of the journalists from the boxing dynasty will start popping up here.

[goroyals]

I don't venture over to the other boards much, but that sounds like its worth a look.

[kenyan_cheena]

APBC AND TEAMS CLOSE ON
LEAGUE STRUCTURE ISSUES

Friday 14 November 1952

Story by Larry Mason of the New York Age

James Harrison, the chief director of the American Professional Baseball Council confirmed today that the parties involved in the formation of a new American national baseball league are "95% done" on the issue of the league's structure.

"After countless hours of consultation and discussion with team owners, team managers and the general public, we believe we've come up with an excellent format," Harrison said.

The New York millionaire went on to describe the league structure. Using the names of the two failed leagues (National Baseball League and American Baseball Federation) as a starting point, and taking into consideration the strong push by most teams to split up the existing regional leagues, Harrison and co. came to the conclusion that the new league should itself be split into two leagues, called the American League and the National League. Within each of these leagues will be an east divison and a west division. A lottery of sorts will be held to split the eligible teams from each regional league into either the American League or the National League.

"Obviously, the teams from the Atlantic, North-East and Southern leagues will fill out the east divisions, while the teams from Texas, the Midwest and the Pacific will make up the west divisions," said Harrison.

He went on to announce the names of the ballclubs who have met the APBC's criteria for inclusion in the new league.

The teams were:

(From the Atlantic Coast Baseball League)

New Jersey Titans
New York Yankees
Brooklyn Dodgers
Boston Red Sox
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Senators
Baltimore Orioles

(From the North-East Baseball Association)

Detroit Tigers
Milwaukee Brewers
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Cincinnati Reds
Pittsburgh Pirates

(From the South-Eastern Baseball Federation)

Nashville Kings
Atlanta Braves
Charlotte Jaguars

(From the Midwest Baseball League)

St. Louis Cardinals
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
Oklahoma City Seminoles

(From the Texas State Baseball League)

Arlington Rangers
Houston Astros

(From the Pacific Coast Baseball Federation)

San Francisco Giants
Los Angeles Dragons
San Diego Padres
Oakland Athletics
Carson City Rattlesnakes
Portland Panthers
Seattle Mariners

Harrison stated that the final league structure will "almost certainly" number 32 ballclubs. If this turns out to be the case, each division will feature eight teams.

When questioned regarding Nevada businessman Talon Goldstein's request to field a Las Vegas team in the new league, Harrison was unwilling to speak on the subject.

"That matter is still under consideration," was the only reply the APBC Chief Director would give.

Harrison was asked about the player personnel of the clubs, and was more accomodating on this topic.

"Some people have suggested we should disband each team and run a draft lottery," he said. "I don't subscribe to this idea. Why should we tear apart all the hard work and effort these ballclubs have put into developing their rosters? How is that fair on teams who have been willing to spend money to sign their players? Teams like New York and Los Angeles? Not to mention the fans who have grown to know, love and support their players. No, the teams will stay as they are, besides what I foresee as being a busy pre-season trading period. The APBC has taken a good look at each team's financial situation, and we will be providing assistance in a way that will, to an extent, level the playing field."

With that Harrison excused himself, stating that he would soon be required in another APBC meeting, where the name of the new national league would be discussed...

[kenyan_cheena]

Above post has been edited and completed

[kenyan_cheena]

WHITE SOX REQUEST
TO BE PLACED OUT WEST

Wednesday 26 November 1952

Written by David Edmonds of the Chicago Tribune

Today, the American Professional Baseball Council announced that the Chicago White Sox had made a request to be placed in one of the western divisions of the new national baseball league.

In making this request, which the APBC accepted, the White Sox have effectively solved a problem for the council. That problem was that the council had already admitted seventeen "east coast" ballclubs into the new league. The APBC's "definitive confirmation" this past Friday that the league would be made up of 32 teams divided into four divisions meant that at least one of those seventeen "east coast" teams would have to be placed in one of the west divisions.

"We are very happy that the White Sox have taken this course of action," said APBC Chief Director James Harrison. "Otherwise, the only option would have been to pull a name out of a hat."

Indeed, it would have been likely that either the Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs or the White Sox (the three most west-located "east coast" teams) would have been placed in a western division, but the southside Chicago club's action has eliminated the problem.

"When we first started planning this league, we had ideas for a "one city, one team" format," said Harrison. "But nowhere in our nation is baseball more popular than in Chicago. There's no way we could have left out one of the city's teams. This action that the White Sox have taken just confirms how lucky we are to have them in the league, and it shows how much the club cares about this great sport."

"Our club looks at it as an exciting new direction for us to go in," said White Sox GM Theodore Driscoll. "It's something that our fans are happy with, because we'll be playing against ballclubs that we never have previously. It will benefit the whole city, because the Cubs will be in the east and we'll be in the west. Now, if things work out the way the APBC has told us they will, Chicago will be the only city that every club visits, every season."

In a busy day for baseball-related news, the APBC also announced that they have admitted a 31st team into the new league: the Bismarck Bisons. This means that there is room for only one more ballclub, and rumour has it that the early money is on Talon Goldstein and his Las Vegas bid.

"He doesn't have any players or a ballpark, but those are problems that can be quickly overcome because the guy is up to his elbows in cash," said sports commentator Riley Howard. "That's going to hold a lot of sway with the APBC. Along with the fact that the people of Vegas have responded favourably to the idea of a ballclub in their town."

Apparently, Goldstein will be meeting with the APBC again in the coming days, a meeting that could lead to the final piece of the new league's structure being put in place...

[Big Six]

This looks like it's going to be lots of fun, Cheena. You've already created some compelling characters, and that's before the players have appeared! I'll be reading this thread regularly, I can tell.

Good luck!

[kenyan_cheena]

Originally Posted by Big Six

This looks like it's going to be lots of fun, Cheena. You've already created some compelling characters, and that's before the players have appeared! I'll be reading this thread regularly, I can tell.

Good luck!

Thanks, Big Six. I can only hope that I'll be able to come close to what you have created with your brilliant Pat O'Farrell dynasty.

[kenyan_cheena]

"MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL" IS BORN!

Thursday 11 December 1952

The American Professional Baseball Council gave fans of the game an early Christmas present today when they unexpectedly announced the name that the new national baseball league will go by, along with a number of other revelations about the new competition.

Coming just a few days after the APBC confirmed that the 32nd and final ballclub to be admitted into the new league would be the Talon Goldstein-owned Las Vegas franchise, the council's Chief Director James Harrison made the big announcement at a media conference in Manhattan.

"I'd like to announce that America now has something she has been without for some 23 years: a national baseball league," said Harrison. "The name of this new league is something that was deliberated over for quite some time. We felt that the name had to reflect what the new league would represent, and considering that this new league is made up of ballclubs from six separate regional leagues, we believe that the name we have decided on is a fitting one. Ladies and gentlemen, the name of America's new national baseball league is MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL!"

As Harrison spoke those three words, banners were revealed behind him on either side sporting a red, white and blue logo depicting the silhouette of a player swinging at a ball, with MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL printed in bold blue underneath. The gathered throng greeted the announcement in a variety of ways: some applauded, some spoke excitedly amongst themselves, but many of the journalists contested with each other to be the first to ask the next question.

However, rather than answer questions, Harrison kept on talking.

"Major League Baseball will be a sporting league like no other, because baseball is a sport like no other," he said. "Our league, consisting of 32 teams divided into four divisions, will play a 162-game regular season schedule, starting on April the 1st of each year and stretching through until October."

This news brought a wave of murmur and surprise from the audience. Indeed, up to this point, no baseball league had even gone beyond 100 games in a season. 162? That just sounded crazy.

Harrison continued. "As you all know, MLB will itself consist of two leagues: the American League and the National League. Each of these leagues will feature an east division and a west division. Each division will hold eight teams, who will play each other a total of twelve times each during the season. These games will be referred to, from this point onwards, as divisional games. In addition, the two divisions in each league will play a number of inter-divisional games against each other. Each team will play six of the teams from the other division six times, and the two other teams in the division nine times. These two other teams will rotate on a yearly basis. Finally, there will be a handful of "inter-league" matchups: that is, matches between teams in the two leagues. Each year, the teams from one division in the AL will play the teams from one division in the NL three times each. In our inaugural season, teams from the AL East will play teams from the NL East, and teams from the AL West will play teams from the NL West. This will alternate each season, so that in the even years, the east teams will play the west teams. These inter-league games have been included in the schedule because we know that there are many fans who will miss the old rivalries, many of which will be terminated when we hold our divisional alignment draft next week. We don't want to be in a position where, for example, we might say that the New York Yankees will never play the Brooklyn Dodgers ever again. We don't want to completely turn our backs on the great rivalries that our regional leagues have given this sport during the past one-hundred years."

(to be continued)

[kenyan_cheena]

(continuation)

"At the completion of the 162-game regular season, the winners of each divison will qualify for the playoffs," said Harrison. "The Division Champions of each league will play a best-of-nine games series against each other, called the League Championship series. Then, the two League Champions will playoff in another best-of-nine series for the title of Major League Baseball Champions. In each of these series, the team with the superior regular season record will be granted home field advantage. These series will use a 3-3-1-1-1 format. That is, the team with home field advantage will host games one, two, three, seven and nine, while the other team will host games four, five, six and eight."

This was another revelation that had the crowd talking. A NINE game playoff series?!? In the entire history of the sport, only the Atlantic Coast Baseball League had come close to this with their use of a best-of-seven championship series, which had only been introduced back in '37. All the other RBLs and the old NBL and ABF had employed either best-of-three or best-of-five playoff formats.

"Now, there's been quite a bit of talk and speculation about our plans for designated hitters," Harrison said. "The Texas and Pacific leagues have been the only ones to use DHs in our sport's history. The popular opinion has always been that every player on the team should bat. Those who believe in the use of the DH have acknowledged that a league where some teams use them and some don't just won't work. So, we've come to the decision that the designated hitter will not be used in Major League Baseball."

Harrison paused briefly before continuing.

"On Monday night, December 15, we will be staging our divisional alignment draft at the Empire State Building, during which each team will be placed into one of the league's four divisions. Until then, I'd like to wish all of you a good day. We'll see you on Monday night."

An avalanche of questions erupted from the mouths of journalists but before they knew it, Harrison had already disappeared, leaving a trio of APBC officials behind to contend with the press...

[kenyan_cheena]

YANKEES-RED SOX RIVALRY TO CONTINUE IN MLB

Tuesday 16 December 1952

Story by Larry Mason, as it appears in today's edition of the New York Age

Last night, James Harrison and the American Professional Baseball Council hosted a black tie dinner at the Empire State Building, during which Major League Baseball's divisional alignment draft was held. In attendance were the owners and general managers of all 32 MLB ballclubs, aswell as a number of personalities from the business and entertainment world.

The divisional alignment draft turned out to be a more exciting event than had been expected, as the anticipation of where each team would reside in the new league builded as the draft progressed. Some local rivalries were severed and others remained intact, including the most heated, bitter rivalry in the sport, that between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Both clubs were placed into the American League's East Division.

When the draft was finally concluded, the new league's divisional makeup looked like this:

AMERICAN LEAGUE - EAST DIVISION

Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Charlotte Jaguars
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Nashville Kings
New York Yankees
Pittsburgh Pirates

AMERICAN LEAGUE - WEST DIVISION

Arlington Rangers
Carson City Rattlesnakes
Chicago White Sox
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Dragons
Minnesota Twins
Oakland Athletics
Seattle Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE - EAST DIVISION

Atlanta Braves
Brooklyn Dodgers
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
New Jersey Titans
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Senators

NATIONAL LEAGUE - WEST DIVISION

Bismarck Bisons
Houston Astros
Las Vegas Rollers
Oklahoma City Seminoles
Portland Panthers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
St. Louis Cardinals

Apart from the Yankees-Red Sox issue, perhaps the most talked-about aspect of the night was the presence of the New York and Los Angeles ballclubs in the American League. The two teams are widely considered to be the most talented and financially strong in Major League Baseball, and they must surely be inserted as early favourites to meet for the American League Championship at the end of the season.

Another point of conversation also involved the LA franchise, with the fact that Talon Goldstein's newly-created Las Vegas Rollers ballclub was placed in the National League sure to anger the Nevada businessman. Those who know how Goldstein ticks have said that he only pushed for the inclusion of a Las Vegas team in the new league so that he could continue his one-sided rivalry with the owner of the Los Angeles Dragons, Kelvin Molk. However, with the two teams being in different leagues, they will - barring a meeting in the MLB Championship Series - only play a three game series against each other every second year. Hardly what Goldstein would have been hoping for.

Harrison announced that Major League Baseball's first game would be held on the night of Thursday the 1st of April 1953, and what a first game it will be. The New York Yankees will host their arch-rivals the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, with the first pitch to be thrown shortly after 7pm local time...

[kenyan_cheena]

Coming soon...

A preview of Major League Baseball's inaugural season, featuring a team-by-team analysis and predictions for the post-season.

[kenyan_cheena]

HARRISON REVEALS PLANS
FOR "MLB ALL-STAR GAME"

Friday 2 January 1953

Speaking today at a business luncheon, APBC Chief Director James Harrison announced that Major League Baseball would be introducing an innovation that has never been seen in all of sports.

After wishing the gathered crowd a happy new year, Harrison went on to describe how, at the mid-point of each Major League Baseball season, the league would pause for a week to celebrate what will be known as "The All-Star Baseball Festival". This festival, to be held in a different city each year, would include a number of events, but its main focus would be an "All-Star" game, played on the Friday night between two teams composing the best players from the National League and the best players from the American League. These two squads would be decided upon via a combination of ballots of MLB Managers, baseball media representatives and the general public. Individual player statistics would also play a part in the selection process. Other aspects of the festival would include a "Home Run Derby", where the best longball hitters in Major League Baseball would compete against each other for charity, aswell as a series of coaching clinics for youngsters.

"Being selected to play in the All-Star game will be one of the highest honors that a Major League Baseball player can have bestowed upon him," Harrison said. "It will be the ultimate recognition of a player's skill and talent at his position."

Harrison also spoke of MLB's plans for team uniform standards and certain aspects of the league's game schedule.

"For many years, I watched games in the regional leagues and wondered why the administrations of these leagues never employed a uniform policy," said Harrison. "For example, I remember seeing the Yankees and Dodgers playing at Yankee Stadium. They played each other four times during a one week period, but in each game the two teams were never consistent with their uniforms. It would be like this: New York would wear white and Brooklyn would wear grey, but then the next game it would be reversed. Then, in the third game, the Yankees were wearing their navy blue jerseys and the Dodgers were back in grey and finally, in the fourth game they were both wearing white. I couldn't understand why there was no consistency. Major League Baseball will not experience such problems. We have released a definite uniform policy, which states that all visiting teams must wear grey uniforms and all home teams must wear white uniforms. The only exception to this rule is that the home teams will be able to wear their coloured uniform jerseys a maximum of eighteen times per season. They will have to inform MLB of their intentions to do so in advance of each occasion. We have surveyed the individual uniforms of the 32 clubs in Major League Baseball and have indicated to some of them that changes will have to be made in order to bring them up to the standard we are seeking. When they are on the field, Major League Baseball players will act and look like the professionals they are."

Harrison moved on to the topic of the league's schedule.

"As many of you know, the teams that occupy our western divisions are much further dispersed than those in the eastern divisions," Harrison said. "Because of this, we will be employing a schedule that will minimise the amount of travel required by the west division teams. We have made our schedule based on the week from Monday to Sunday, with each and every team in the league playing six games during each week. These six games will be played in two separate three game series against two different opponents. For our west division teams, these six games will be, during almost every week of the season, either all at home or all on the road. We believe that this policy is the most financially sound, in addition to providing our players with the greatest chance of performing at their peek."

***

In other baseball-related news, Las Vegas Rollers owner Talon Goldstein has confirmed that construction of a domed stadium for his ballclub will commence within the next six weeks.

The construction of the stadium was a condition of the agreement to allow the Las Vegas franchise into MLB. It will be called The Rollerdome and will be home to the Las Vegas team from the beginning of the 1955 season. Until then, they will play out of the 25,000 seat Las Vegas Stadium. Most of the Rollers home games at the stadium will be played in the evening to negate the effects of the Nevada heat.

[kenyan_cheena]

I'm going to try and get this thread going again, probably early next week. I've had some problems with my home PC during the past couple of weeks that have made it impossible to make any progress with the league setup.