The Completely Fictional History of Baseball

[legendsport]

OK, so now that I've had OOTP 2007 long enough to really play around with it, I've decided that I can finally do something I've wanted to do for a long time - try to sim the entire history of professional baseball. Now I'm not talking about just the majors. I mean the minors, Negro Leagues, Japan, Cuba, Mexico... you know, everything.

My ultimate dream would be to do it with real players, but lacking a comprehensive minor league database (though I am working, like Aesop's tortoise, towards at least a PCL/AA/IL db), I will settle for trying to do it with fictional players in "real" leagues.

The best part about this approach is that I can involve the community by letting folks create players for this project as it goes along. Yeah, it's been done - and very, very well, by "Time Warp" and "Plague!!!" among others - but adhering to the philosophy that the greatest form of flattery is imitation... I'll go with it.

Now, the flip-side: I want to do this right. So I am going to suspend working on all my other dynasties EXCEPT the "Greater Baseball Co-Prosperity Sphere." This means that 'A House Divided" will remain on hiatus and both the "History" dynasties (Negro Leagues and Big Leagues) as well as the newer "Grinding It" dynasty will also go on hiatus. Of these, "Grinding It" is most likely to continue as it involves the least amount of work to keep going.

This dynasty will likely be far less prose driven than any of my other previous efforts. This is mainly due to the scale of the project. I'd like it to resemble "Time Warp" or "Plague!!!" in its presentation (Again that whole "flattery through imitation" thing at work). I hope Pete and Matt (wherever he is these days) don't mind.

So, expect to see a sign-up thread in addition to this one, which will be the main dynasty thread. I've already set up and played an 1871 NA season (with real players), so I have a template I can use to start building with.

EDIT: Here's the link for the player creation thread

[Snap Wilson]

I'm bummed about you putting the Negro Leagues thread on hiatus. That was my favorite to read.

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by Snap Wilson

I'm bummed about you putting the Negro Leagues thread on hiatus. That was my favorite to read.

I'm sure I'll get back to it once this gets rolling. I just didn't want to leave people hanging waiting on them.

[legendsport]

OK, I'm very close to being ready to crank this up. Big, big thanks to satchel73, who has come up huge with a wealth of background info for the project. If anyone hasn't already done so, they should definitely check out his blog at Agate Type. Great, great stuff.

Also I have to give credit to Bobble, Deft and Markmeister for their work on beards and old-timey uniform mods. While facegen isn't necessary for a fictional league, it sure does add a lot of flavor to it and being able to make players look the "right" way is fantastic.

I'm going to start in 1869, since that was the first year of acknowledged professionalism in baseball. There were 12 teams in the National Association of Base Ball Players that year (that's the forerunner of the National Association of PROFESSIONAL Base Ball Players which started in 1871). Among them was the undefeated Cincinnati Red Stockings (who went 19-0 against NABBP competition). Can they do it with their fictionalized roster? We'll see...

The plan is to replay history, using real leagues and teams but fictional players. The teams will include the majors (of course), the minor leagues, the Negro Leagues, the Cuban league, Japan, Mexico, etc. The first "minor" league (they didn't consider themselves thus) will show up in 1876, the same year the National League makes its debut.

I am going to create a thread to allow readers to create players for this universe, though I will probably progress until 1876 before doing so.

Players will jump leagues, teams will fold, relocate, jump leagues, etc. The 19th Century was a wild & woolly period and I will try to replicate that as best as I can. If things go well, perhaps this can become an online league like Time Warp or PBRL. It's certainly the largest project I've ever attempted.

So, coming soon - the 1869 season...

[mjj55409]

[legendsport]

The Base Ball Intelligencer, Troy, New York - May 1, 1869:

The dawning of the 1869 base ball season draws nigh. Therefore it is time to meet the men who will compete on the fields this summer for the right to claim the title of the champions of the National Association.

First, our local entry, the Union Club of Troy:
Led by Greg Dixon, the Unions look to be a solid compendium of play making parts. Will it be enough to topple the powers of the Association, you ask? One might wonder, for beyond the aforementioned Dixon (who mans the third base and is the club's top batsman), many of the battists are unknowns. Having witnessed their play with mine own eyes however, this writer can confirm that the Union club does have the makings of a champion. Clint Vestal and Ernie Beall patrol the outer pastures and are dead ringers with a club in their hands. Backstop Ernie Heinen, whose proud Pap runs an Elmira brewery, is also a promising player. The hurler will be the man upon which the team's ultimate destiny will ride and in Doug Manchester, the Unions have a golden arm.

Next, the favorites, the Red Stockings of Cincinnati:
It all starts with Rube Pitman, the star rover - or shortstop, if you will - of the Red Stocking club. Born in Birmingham, England, this former cricketer is a master with a wand of wood and is fleet afoot with sure hands afield. Possibly the best practicioner of base ball in the world, he's also purportedly the highest-paid. The rest of the team is made up of stars as well, from pitching master Robby Buse to household names Asa English (1B), Rit Withers (LF), Ron James (2B), and Ernie Biscan (RF). Without a doubt, this is the team that all others will be measured by.

Other contenders:

Maryland Club (Baltimore): Hurler Bunker Theobald and outfielder Ethan Gunkel lead a rag-tag group.
Atlantic Club (Brooklyn): CF Kevin Ager is the top-man in Brooklyn
Eckford Club (Brooklyn): CF Erik Anson represents the main opposition to Pitman for the "best player in base ball" title. Not much else for Eckford supporters to rally around.
Forest City Club (Cleveland): Catcher Ken Bigler represents the main talent on this club.
Irvington Club (New Jersey): One of the game's best in Johnie Bryant. Precipitous drop-off in talent thereafter.
Mutual Club (New York): A quartet of strong batsmen (Spencer, Boyd, Dedrick, Miller) provide runs; the New Yorker's weakness lies in their pitcher.
Athletic Club (Philadelphia): Two players who share the same initials (A.M.) also share the load for Athletic. Aleck Mason and Alvin McMahon are the fuel that stokes the fire in the City of Brotherly Love.
Keystone Club (Philadelphia): 1B Powhatan Bellino, despite his unfortunate moniker, is a player that must be considered among the game's elite. Rumors abound that the Red Stocking club heavily courted the rotund Bellino last winter, to no avail.
National Club (Washington, DC): Is the glass half-full or half-empty? The National club features four top players, among them the man considered the top chucker in all of the sport, J.W. Chapman, but beyond their vaunted quartet, the team is weak, weak, weak.
Olympic Club (Washington, DC): Possibly the weakest of the Association clubs, Olympic relies on an above-average hurler in Ron Pierce and a sporadic offense.

Images (left to right): Troy's Greg Dixon, Cincinnati's Rube Pitman, Eckford's Erik Anson, Keystone's Powhatan Bellino, National's J.W. Chapman

[Dagrims]

No doubt this will be a serious contender for the 2007 top dynasties list. Completely ambitious and what I really like about it is there won't be any preconceived notions of who should win, make the HOF, etc. I like your decision to make the entire thing fictional.

Best of luck!

[legendsport]

The Base Ball Intelligencer, Troy, New York - September 15, 1869:

SEASON RECAP!

The Standings of the Clubs:

Team				W	L	PCT	GB	Pyt.Rec	Diff	Home	Away	XInn	1Run	M#	Streak	Last10
Cincinnati Red Stockings	17	5	.773	-	16-6	1	9-2	8-3	2-1	2-1	0	W1	7-3
Brooklyn Atlantics		15	7	.682	2.0	17-5	-2	8-3	7-4	0-2	3-3		L2	7-3
Troy Unions			14	8	.636	3.0	12-10	2	7-4	7-4	1-2	5-2		W1	6-4
Washington Olympics		13	9	.591	4.0	14-8	-1	8-3	5-6	1-0	2-2		W4	7-3
Brooklyn Eckfords		12	10	.545	5.0	10-12	2	5-6	7-4	1-1	6-2		W2	5-5
Baltimore Marylands		11	11	.500	6.0	15-7	-4	7-4	4-7	1-0	3-4		L1	6-4
Irvington Club			10	12	.455	7.0	13-9	-3	4-7	6-5	0-0	4-6		L2	3-7
New York Mutuals		10	12	.455	7.0	13-9	-3	4-7	6-5	4-1	4-5		W3	7-3
Philadelphia Athetlics		9	12	.429	7.5	8-13	1	5-6	4-6	2-0	4-2		W1	6-4
Washington Nationals		9	13	.409	8.0	8-14	1	5-6	4-7	0-4	1-5		L1	1-9
Cleveland Forest Citys		8	14	.364	9.0	6-16	2	4-7	4-7	2-2	2-3		L1	4-6
Philadelphia Keystones		4	19	.174	13.5	3-20	1	2-9	2-10	0-1	1-2		L6	1-9

CHAMPIONS: Cincinnati Red Stockings

As expected, the Red Stocking Club was the class of the Association. Some players from other Clubs, baiting the bull, were heard to proclaim that the Red Stocking Club was "over-paid and over-rated." In the end, only half of that statement is even debatable. Over-paid they may be, but the Red Stocking Club is certainly not over-rated, posting the league's best mark with a record of 17-5. Two of their losses came to the team placing second in the rankings, the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn. This led to some discussion among the fashionable followers of the game as to whether the Atlantic Club might be more deserving of the claim as the "champions."

TOP BATSMAN: At the ripe old age of 36 Troy's Ernie Beall had a mammoth season for the Union Club. Beall's batting average of .464 was easily the best in all of Association play, bettering Red Stocking Rit Withers' .375 by nearly 90 percentage points. In the suddenly mercenary world of base ball, Beall - who toiled for the princely sum of 228 dollars this season - should find himself a wealthier man by the time the 1870 season arrives.

TOP CHUCKER: It should come as no surprise that the best hurler in all of the game should come from the club with the strongest record in the game. Robby Buse of the Red Stocking Club of Cincinnati won 17 of his 22 games and allowed the opposition a mere 68 runs, with just 35 of those "earned." Like Beall, Buse is in line for a significant increase in financial compensation. Unlike Beall, Buse had serious competition for his title, as Bunker Theobald of the Maryland Club (1.44 "Earned" Run Average) and T.E. Kane of the Atlantic Club (1.42 ERA) had very strong seasons.

BOTTOM OF THE BARREL: The dubious distinction (accent on the "stink") of finishing at the bottom of the Association belongs to the Keystone Club of Philadelphia. Keystone collectively managed just a .219 batting average. Surprisingly that was not at the bottom of the league as the Forest City, Irvington and National Clubs all had lower marks. The real blame for the shoddy performance can be laid at the feet of hurler Thad Schneck, who made fifteen appearances and posted an incredible average of more than six runs - "earned" - allowed per game. Had Jon Cochran (a mere 2.00 ERA) been able to stay healthy, wealthy & wise, the Keystone club would not have sunk so low.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: For those of a mathematical bent, the Intelligencer is pleased to provide some numbers to chew on. In Association play, the teams collectively batted .234, fifty four basers were tallied and 936 runs were scored. On the pitchers' side, the "earned" run average was a mere 2.29 (considerably ballooned by the putrid 4.25 mark of the Keystone club) with 608 (about two-thirds of the total) runs being "earned" by the pitchers.

"FERROTYPES"

This edition of "Ferrotype" introduces the reader to Aleck "Pep" Mason of Athletic. Pep plays that pivotal defensive position - rover (or shortstop, if you prefer) - with aplomb and ease, and was noted as the top defender at that position for the 1869 campaign. At 31 years of age, Mason is a bit long in the tooth - base ball is after all a young man's game. A native of the Dakota Territory, Mason picked up the game during the late war in the camps of George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac. Quickly mastering the finer points of base ball, Mason remained in the civilized east and joined the Athletic Club of Philadelphia in time for the 1866 campaign. A blacksmith by trade, Mason's strong grip on the bat is no doubt attributable to the years spent wielding the hammer and tongs in his father's forge. For the 1869 campaign, Mason finished second (to Molly Gendron) on the Athletic Club in batting, with a tidy .330 average, proving that he is (nearly) as adept with the club as he is in the field.

ALECK "PEP" MASON

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by Dagrims

No doubt this will be a serious contender for the 2007 top dynasties list. Completely ambitious and what I really like about it is there won't be any preconceived notions of who should win, make the HOF, etc. I like your decision to make the entire thing fictional.

Best of luck!

Thanks. I'm hoping this'll live up to its potential and not turn out to be like that 5-star stud you draft in the first round whose talents fall off the face of the earth and ends up still languishing in A ball at 28 before hanging 'em up for good.

[Dagrims]

Originally Posted by legendsport

Thanks. I'm hoping this'll live up to its potential and not turn out to be like that 5-star stud you draft in the first round whose talents fall off the face of the earth and ends up still languishing in A ball at 28 before hanging 'em up for good.

I agree - I don't want to read a dynasty slowly declining in quality for six years.

The Keystones exceeded their Pythagorean projection, so they have something to cheer about anyway.

[metsgeek]

I'm all over this puppy!

[Sir Lurksalot]

Originally Posted by metsgeek

I'm all over this puppy!

Oh yeah!

[RoyalsBlue]

Sounds like an intriguing undertaking, legendsport. I'll be tuning in to see it unfold!

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by metsgeek

I'm all over this puppy!

Originally Posted by Sir Lurksalot

Oh yeah!

Originally Posted by RoyalsBlue

Sounds like an intriguing undertaking, legendsport. I'll be tuning in to see it unfold!

Thanks, guys. I've finished prepping the 1870 season - had a couple of franchises leave and a few new ones pop up - and a lot of player movement. The "Intelligencer" should be out with a new edition soon.

[Syd Thrift]

OMGLOLOLOL THEY DIDN'T USE ERA OR BA BACK THEN LOLOLOL

Actually the only statistic that they used back in '69 that I'm aware of is a holdover from cricket called "average and over". Essentially it's runs per game, only you treat the decimal as a fraction. A guy who scored 14 times in 7 games would be "2 and zero", a guy who scored 11 times in 5 games would be "2 and 1" and so on. I want to say that batting average is one of the Henry Chadwick additions to the game like runs batted in but I'm not totally sure about that.

Anyway, it's really cool to see all the early, early baseball sims going on. It's the next best thing to leagues of the weird.

[legendsport]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

OMGLOLOLOL THEY DIDN'T USE ERA OR BA BACK THEN LOLOLOL

Actually the only statistic that they used back in '69 that I'm aware of is a holdover from cricket called "average and over". Essentially it's runs per game, only you treat the decimal as a fraction. A guy who scored 14 times in 7 games would be "2 and zero", a guy who scored 11 times in 5 games would be "2 and 1" and so on. I want to say that batting average is one of the Henry Chadwick additions to the game like runs batted in but I'm not totally sure about that.

Anyway, it's really cool to see all the early, early baseball sims going on. It's the next best thing to leagues of the weird.

Valid points that I am well aware of, but I believe few here would understand/enjoy the terminology used in 1869 anymore than an HBO audience would "get" the actual language used in Deadwood in the 1870s instead of the modern vulgarities they use in their show of the same name. Besides this is titled the Completely Fictional History of Baseball so I have no problem throwing in some statistical measures we'd all recognize.

And yep, batting average is the brainchild of Henry Chadwick. So is the earned run average and the box score. We're just using them several years early. I'll try to stay away from things like VORP and Win Shares.

[legendsport]

The Base Ball Intelligencer, Troy, NY - April 13, 1870:

It was a tumultuous winter for the member clubs of the National Association of Base Ball Players. With more and more of the aforementioned member clubs embarking on the course pioneered by the Cincinnati Red Stockings - namely that of a fully professional operation - the upcoming summer season shapes up to be even more interesting than season last.

The Keystones, doormats of the "professional clique" within the Association, have disbanded, the clubs' playing parts scattered to the four winds. Also disbanding was the Irvington club. Moving into the openly professional ranks were five new contenders: the Tri Mountain club of Boston, their nearby cousins the Riversides of Plymouth, the Union club of Morrisania, the Forest City club of Rockford, Illinois, and the most interesting of all - the White Stockings of Chicago. All these clubs have competed in the Association for years, but never with openly professional players.

Once again, the Red Stocking club is the favorite to defend their (disputed) championship of the 1869 season. The New York Mutuals are a likely competitor, and the Chicago White Stockings made a big splash by copping talented hurler Bunker Theobald from the Maryland club of Baltimore. Theobald was one of the best chuckers in the business last year, and there is no reason to expect he will not continue his success in his new surroundings.

The Tri Mountain club has an interesting chucker of its own in Eddie Brien, a slip of a lad of merely 17 summers, who spins a wicked ball for what looks to be a very talented Bostonian club.

Aleck Mason is back for the Athletic club of Philadelphia and assuming Lloyd Bohler, a fresh-faced Texan, can hold his own in the pitching box, the Athletic Club may be tough competition for the Cincinnatis.

The key question for the Union Club in our beloved Troy? That would be whether at the age of 37 can Ernie Beall and Clint Vestal continue their success on the ball field. Greg Dixon, at 26, is young and strong, but one man does not a club make, so the Unions will succeed only if Beall and Vestal can contribute.

In Brooklyn, the Eckford Club will again rely on center fielder Erik Anson, while the Atlantic Club is based on the keystone play of Tommy Kilgore. In nearby New York, the Mutual Club's Dirk Boyd will compete with the Union Club of Morrisania's prized acquistion Powhatan Bellino (late of the Keystones) for the title of the best first baseman in the nation's largest city.

The nation's capital sends two entries into the fray once again, with the National Club clearly superior to the Olympic Club. Where the Nationals quartet of pitcher J.W. Chapman, catcher Elroy Heinen, third baseman Vern Irving and short fielder Eric Bohen - top players all - the Olympics feature no superb practicioners of base ball.

The Plymouth entry is not expected to have the stout play needed to compete in this fast company, with the Forest Citys - both the Club in Rockford and the one in Cleveland - and Maryland Club also considered below the quality of the rest of the Association.

Pictured:
Eddie Bryan, Bunker Theobald, Aleck Mason, Ernie Beall, Dirk Boyd

[legendsport]

The Base Ball Intelligencer, Troy, NY - October 31, 1870:

SEASON RECAP!

The Standings of the Clubs:

Team				W	L	WPct	GB	R	RA
Chicago White Stockings		22	9	.710	-	153	130
New York Mutuals		18	8	.692	1.5	136	91
Troy Unions			17	8	.680	2.0	133	89
Washington Olympics		17	11	.607	3.5	125	93
Brooklyn Atlantics		17	11	.607	3.5	140	84
Baltimore Marylands		14	11	.560	5.0	112	81
Plymouth Riversides		4	3	.571	6.0	23	23
Brooklyn Eckfords		11	12	.478	7.0	95	133
Cleveland Forest Citys		13	14	.481	7.0	148	141
Washington Nationals		5	7	.417	7.5	83	83
Boston Tri-Mountains		1	3	.250	7.5	9	16
Cincinnati Red Stockings	11	16	.407	9.0	140	199
Philadelphia Athletics		10	18	.357	10.5	119	132
Morrisania Unions		6	19	.240	13.0	46	91
Rockford Forest Citys		5	21	.192	14.5	78	154

CHAMPIONS: Chicago White Stockings

The collapse - purely and completely unexpected - of the acknowledged world's champion Cincinnati Red Stocking Club led to the rise of a new power in base ball: the Chicago White Stocking Club. The Chicagoans made the move into the professional ranks after many successful amateur campaigns, and made an immediate splash when it was disclosed that the White Stocking Club had lured away pitching master Bunker Theobald from the Maryland Club. Theobald posted another outstanding campaign, winning 18 ballgames while losing just six, taking his spot in the box for all but eight of the White Stocking Club's 32 "championship" matches. Third sacker Frank Coolbaugh led the batsmen with 40 hits with first sacker Rube Clark (38) and center fielder Tom Casperson (37) right behind. According to Henry Chadwick's new fangled "batter's average" Coolbaugh's percentage of 29.6 (or .296) was the team's best mark.

TOP BATSMAN: In an otherwise surprisingly down season for the Cincinnati Club, keystone master Ron James has won the Intelligencer's award as the 1870 season's Top Batsman. James whalloped 42 hits in 111 chances at the home base, and his speed allowed him to race to a pair of four-basers on the season. According to Chadwick, Jones' batting average for this season was a league-best .378 - meaning he recorded a safety nearly 38% of the time!

TOP CHUCKER: Another Ron took the honors for our Top Chucker award - Ron Pierce of the Olympic Club of Washington. Pierce won 17 ballgames, losing 11, but allowed very few runs to score for the Olympic's opposition. His "earned run average" for the 1870 season was a stingy 1.74. His number of victories would undoubtedly have been higher had the Olympic Club been able to reach home base with more frequency than they did this year. Congratulations to Ron Pierce!

BOTTOM OF THE BARREL: This year's worst Club? That would be the Forest City Club of Rockford. Finding the fast company of the top Association teams to be more than they could handle, the Forest Citys at least had the fortitude to keep all 26 of their scheduled dates with the top clubs. Both the Tri Mountain of Boston and Riverside of Plymouth clubs backed out of many Association games after finding themselves to be lacking the calibre of player needed to stay with the top Clubs. Rockford won a mere 5 of those 26 matches, and were nearly doubled in runs - allowing 154 while scoring a mere 78. The question now is: will the Rockford nine return for Association play next year?

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: For those who are fond of the numerical stylings of Henry Chadwick, the acknowledge master of baseball "statistics" here are some league numbers for your grey matter to enjoy. The Association's pitchers posted a collective Earned Run Average (thank you, Mr. Chadwick) of 2.59 while the hitters collected a composite "batting average" of .236. The best pitching team was the New York Mutual Club, which posted a team ERA of 1.69 (Plymouth had a lower - 1.11 - ERA, but played only seven matches). The top batsmen were to be found in Cincinnati, which had a .288 team batting average - by far the best number of any Association member club. Where the Red Stockings fell short was in the pitcher's box, where they had a dismal 4.58 earned run average.

"FERROTYPES"
This second edition of the Intelligencer's "Ferrotypes" features the top batsman and pre-eminent short fielder of the Mutual Club of New York, Jon Spencer. The first feature one notices upon meeting Mr. Spencer is the fiery hue of his hair. Spencer is the son of a British fur trader who settled in Massachusetts after retiring from his business. One can only imagine the elder Spencer - red-haired like his son - fighting the bitter elements trapping beaver outside some Canadian wilderness outpost. The hardy younger Spencer had his 27th birthday this past February and enjoyed a strong campaign in 1870 after struggling in 1869. Spencer's batting average jumped from .223 in '69 to a nice solid .359 in '70. It is apparent that Mr. Spencer has "trapped" himself a raise in salary for 1871. Spencer had 33 hits in 92 times at bat and scored 21 runs for the Mutual Club this season.

Jon Spencer

[Vris]

Aren't those the '69 standings?