1870s City Randomizer

[joefromchicago]

For all of you wanting to start a fictional league in the 1870s but who are wondering where to place your teams, this is a method for randomizing cities based on US Census data that weighs location by population.

To use:

1. Download and open the attached text files;
2. Open random.org in your web browser;
3. You can use the files in either of the following ways:

• 1870 Random Cities 1 lists cities and numbers. The number to the right of a city's name is the uppermost limit for that city in terms of random numbers. So, for instance, "New York 94" means that if random numbers 1-94 are drawn, then the result will be New York. The next line - "Philadelphia 161" - means that if random numbers 95-161 are drawn, then the result will be Philadelphia.
• Go to the Numbers --> Integers page on random.org. Choose how many numbers you want to select and set the limit on integer values to "1 to 570."
• Generate the random numbers and compare them to the city values to determine which cities are chosen.

OR

• 1870 Random Cities 2 lists all of the cities, with one entry on the list for each number that corresponds to that city. Thus, for instance, New York is listed 94 times, Philadelphia is listed 67 times, etc.
• Go to the Lists and More --> List Randomizer page on random.org. Copy and paste the entire city list to the box and then press "randomize."
• A random list will be generated for all cities.

So, for example, using the first method, I drew the following 20 numbers at random:

519 65 41 291 308 85 548 107 1 496 333 429 454 19 336 48 459 75 153 384

That yields the following list of cities:

519-Manchester NH
65-New York
41-New York
291-Boston
308-Boston
85-New York
548-Erie
107-Philadelphia
1-New York
496-Wilmington
333-Cincinnati
429-Rochester
454-Troy
19-New York
336-Buffalo
48-New York
459-Worcester
75-New York
153-Philadelphia
384-Pittsburgh

Some large cities, of course, will appear multiple times. The user can best decide on how to handle duplicates

Using the second method, I produced the following list (top twenty results):

1. Baltimore MD
2. Cambridge MA
3. Allegheny PA
4. Toledo OH
5. Allegheny PA
6. Boston MA
7. Boston MA
8. Manchester NH
9. Philadelphia PA
10. Buffalo NY
11. Philadelphia PA
12. Baltimore MD
13. Philadelphia PA
14. Dayton OH
15. New York NY
16. Utica NY
17. Hartford CT
18. Washington DC
19. Baltimore MD
20. Brooklyn NY

SOME NOTES ON USING THE LISTS:

• Values for cities are based on one integer for approximately every 10,000 population;
• Top 95 cities selected;
• To reflect the historical spread of professional baseball in the 1870s, no cities south of Norfolk VA or west of Omaha NE are included in the list. Users who wish to include southern and/or western cities can easily modify the lists using the census information linked in this post;
• Some cities in the list may no longer exist as separate municipalities, such as Allegheny PA.

1870 Random Cities 1.txt
1870 Random Cities 2.txt

[Brick]

If you need another Census year, search "Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places" and the year you want. Since it has to be a Census year, the year has to end in 0.

[joefromchicago]

Originally Posted by Brick

If you need another Census year, search "Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places" and the year you want. Since it has to be a Census year, the year has to end in 0.

Or you could just go here.

[joefromchicago]

1870s TEAM NICKNAMES RANDOMIZER

The names in this list were drawn primarily from sources related to baseball prior to the formation of the National League in 1876. Included are 162 names of actual ball clubs from that era. Although some names were more common than others (e.g. Mutual, Union, Athletic), there has been no attempt to adjust the frequencies.

The file can either be used as a substitute for the game's "team_nick_names" file (making the appropriate changes to the file name), or else the names can be copied-and-pasted into the randomizer program, as outlined above.

All nicknames are in the singular form (e.g. "Athletic" rather than "Athletics"). Teams, however, were frequently referred to by pluralizing the club name. Thus the teams fielded by the Athletic Club of Philadelphia, for instance, were commonly known as the "Athletics." Two modern teams have nicknames that can be traced to this practice: the Oakland Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies (teams from the Philadelphia Club were known as the "Philadelphias," which was then shortened to "Phillies").

There are three "wild card" entries for names based on city names, geographical features, and personal names that would not otherwise be appropriate in a randomized list:

1. City name or nickname: by far the most common type of club name was simply the name of the club's home city. So, for example, a club in Newark would be named the Newark Athletic (or Sporting or Base Ball or Social) Club and its teams would be called the "Newarks." Instead of adopting the city's name, a club might use the city's nickname. Examples include the Flour City club of Rochester, NY, the Quaker City club of Philadelphia, and the Cream City club of Milwaukee. There were so many "Forest City" clubs that I included that name as a regular entry in the list.
2. Geographical features: another common type of name for clubs, this was typically the name of a river or other local landmark. Examples include the Potomac Club of Washington, DC, the Susquehanna Club of Wilkes-Barre, and the Fallkill Club of Poughkeepsie.
3. Personal names: this could be the name of a prominent local citizen, a club benefactor, or a historical figure. Examples include the Mansfield Club of Middletown, CT, the Eckford Club of Brooklyn, and the Henry Clay club of Philadelphia.

1870 random team names.txt