The WBA - An alternate history of Major League Baseball

Lee · 08-15-2008, 05:50 PM

The year is 1871 and the World Baseball Association has been formed to organize and bring order to a game which has slowly transformed into a capitalist enterprise with rogue leagues springing up across the country, prompting insane bidding for players services, often prompting players to jump teams in the middle of the season, or even between contests of a multiple game series. The WBA brought the wealthiest and most influential owners together, forming a two tier professional system. The Major League consisted of two six team Leagues, the American and the National.

Charter members included franchises in Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St Louis and Boston. A second tier organization was created combining the 6 best teams from the Pacific Coast League and the International League, each team having an affiliation to a major League counterpart. The League incorporated a strict financial structure including a salary cap, ticket price range and binding player contracts. A limited reserve clause was also incorporated binding players to the team that originally drafted them for a minimum of 10 years, though the team reserved the right to release or trade the player at any time. Trades could also include cash payments and trading of draft picks if agreed upon by the principles.

As the fledging league prepared for play, a 30 game schedule was announced for the initial season to gauge interest and to allow the teams the opportunity to establish legs within their communities, without an extensive financial commitment to begin with.

Note:
This dynasty will be an alternate recreation of the history of baseball with real players including Negro league stars and selected Japanese players as well, using the spritze DB. Fictional players (created at a lower talent level than the initial RL players) will fill out the initial rosters. Expansion will occur in each league prior to the beginning of the 20 century to fill two 8 team leagues and will continue at regular intervals until there are 32 total Major league teams by 1990. Players will all enter the draft prior to their RL debut year and Free agency rules will not change, which will hopefully mean more players spend their entire careers with one or two teams. At the end of each season I will post a brief summary including standings, World Series scores, award winners, league leaders and events. This will allow things to progress at a rapid pace. Along the way, if requested, I will also post comparisons of players alternate career to their RL careers.

Lee · 08-16-2008, 10:23 AM

			Season Summary 1871

American League		W	L	GB	National League	W	L	GB
Baltimore Canaries		20	11	-	New York Mutuals	22	8	-
Troy Haymakers		19	12	1	Louisville Colonels	17	13	5
Detroit Wolverines		14	16	5.5	Chicago White Sox	16	14	6
Philadelphia A's		14	16	5.5	Cincinnati Reds	15	15	7
Cleveland Spiders		13	17	6.5	St Louis Browns	13	17	9
Boston Red Sox		11	19	8.5	Brooklyn Atlantics	7	23	15



				** World Series **
	New York - 4		Baltimore - 2		New York - 7	Baltimore - 4
	New York - 9		Baltimore - 7
	Baltimore - 5		New York - 4
	New York - 11		Baltimore - 9		World Champions	New York Mutuals


AL Awards					NL Awards
Silver Slugger		Lip Pike CLE .369 - 5 - 24			Silver Slugger	George Hall STL .417 - 1 - 20
Diamond Ace		Dick McBride BAL 12-7 2.07			Diamond Ace	Al Pratt CIN 11-7 2.26
Rookie of the Year		Dick McBride BAL 12-7 2.07			Rookie of the Year	Al Pratt CIN 11-7 2.26

AL				League Leaders			NL
Batting					Batting
Deacon White		Baltimore	.406		George Hall	St Louis	.417

Home Runs					Home Runs
Lip Pike		Cleveland	5		Clipper Flynn	Cincinnati	4
					Chick Fulmer	Cincinnati	4
RBI					RBI
Jimmy Wood		Detroit	27		George Bechtel	New York	25

Stolen Bases					Stolen Bases
Cal McVey		Troy	14		Ross Barnes	New York	14

Wins					Wins
Dick McBride		Baltimore	12		Lefty McMullin	New York	13

ERA					ERA
Larry Carroll		Troy	1.45		Shawn Porter	Louisville	1.54

Strikeouts					Strikeouts
Dick McBride		Baltimore	126		Bill Stearnes	St Louis	149

Saves					Saves
Bryan Valentine		Troy	4		Jorge Rodriguez	New York	3

Events					Hall of fame
Bill Stearnes STL strikes out 16 vs Brk					None






Milestones					Top 5 Draft picks
None					Cy Bentley - SP		Brooklyn
					Nully O'Rourke - SP		Boston
					Jim Britt - SP		St Louis
					Martin Malone - SP		Cleveland
					Jim O'Rourke - SS		Detroit

The inagural Season of the newly formed WBA is an asthetic, if not financial success as a season long battle between Troy and Baltimore in the American League comes down to a one game playoff as the teams finished tied at 19-11. In the National, the Mutuals lead throughout and parlay that dominance into the first league championship, taking Baltimore 4 games to 1 in the World Series. Lip Pike stakes his claim as the best overall hitter in the game and Bill Searnes turns in the years most dazzling performance on the mound striking out 16 Atlantics in an early Season contest. The underwhelming performance by Brooklyn sets the tone for the season as they are the only team to finish with single digits in the win column.

Lee · 08-16-2008, 06:21 PM

			Season Summary 1872

08-15-2008, 05:50 PM	#1 (permalink)
Lee Global Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Phoenix Az Posts: 1,851	The WBA - An alternate history of Major League Baseball The year is 1871 and the World Baseball Association has been formed to organize and bring order to a game which has slowly transformed into a capitalist enterprise with rogue leagues springing up across the country, prompting insane bidding for players services, often prompting players to jump teams in the middle of the season, or even between contests of a multiple game series. The WBA brought the wealthiest and most influential owners together, forming a two tier professional system. The Major League consisted of two six team Leagues, the American and the National. Charter members included franchises in Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, Cleveland, St Louis and Boston. A second tier organization was created combining the 6 best teams from the Pacific Coast League and the International League, each team having an affiliation to a major League counterpart. The League incorporated a strict financial structure including a salary cap, ticket price range and binding player contracts. A limited reserve clause was also incorporated binding players to the team that originally drafted them for a minimum of 10 years, though the team reserved the right to release or trade the player at any time. Trades could also include cash payments and trading of draft picks if agreed upon by the principles. As the fledging league prepared for play, a 30 game schedule was announced for the initial season to gauge interest and to allow the teams the opportunity to establish legs within their communities, without an extensive financial commitment to begin with. Note: This dynasty will be an alternate recreation of the history of baseball with real players including Negro league stars and selected Japanese players as well, using the spritze DB. Fictional players (created at a lower talent level than the initial RL players) will fill out the initial rosters. Expansion will occur in each league prior to the beginning of the 20 century to fill two 8 team leagues and will continue at regular intervals until there are 32 total Major league teams by 1990. Players will all enter the draft prior to their RL debut year and Free agency rules will not change, which will hopefully mean more players spend their entire careers with one or two teams. At the end of each season I will post a brief summary including standings, World Series scores, award winners, league leaders and events. This will allow things to progress at a rapid pace. Along the way, if requested, I will also post comparisons of players alternate career to their RL careers. __________________ Chilton Roughnecks My UTBA Franchise Last edited by Lee : 08-15-2008 at 10:55 PM.