The Legacy Baseball League: An Alternate Baseball History (Plenty of Franchises available!)

[catamount_kid]

JOIN US ON A JOURNEY THROUGH THE BASEBALL AGES.

Two years in the making, the LEGACY BASEBALL LEAGUE is a combination of creativity, history, writing, and competition. We are currently recruiting passionate, competitive, and creative GMs to join us on our baseball journey from 1895 to present day.


Full League Name (Initials): Legacy Baseball League (LBL)
Main URL: LBL Home Page
Reports URL: League Reports
Commissioner(s) OOTP Forum Username(s): catamount_kid
Email Address: andrew.visscher@gmail.com
OOTP Version: OOTP 22
Game Needed: Required
Players: Fictional
# of Teams: 16
Sim Times: Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday (evenings ET)
League Time Per Sim: One week/seven game days
First Season: 1895
Latest Season: Currently 1902 Off-Season
Special Rules & Settings: Constitution, StatsPlus integration, Writing Required, Upgrades to Newest OOTP Version Required, Slack for casual communication and Live Sims


HOW DO I JOIN?

Apply here, and join us on our Slack channel for discussion and inquiries into the LBL. As this is the labor of love for the founders, we are extremely discerning in who we permit to manage teams in the LBL.

More information regarding our founding principles, rules, and League Constitution can be found at our website.

APPLY HERE
LEAGUE PODCAST
LEAGUE WEBSITE
LEAGUE REPORTS
STATS+
LEAGUE CONSTITUTION

(Credit to Brendan H. for the artwork and Cooleyvol for the HoF team format)

[catamount_kid]

Some updates to the advertisement. Good time to hop on with the 1901 season just underway!

[catamount_kid]

Franchise Highlight: The Cleveland Athletics


This original LBL Pitching Dynasty is the dominant force of the LBL West-Frontier, and currently on an historic charge toward victory behind a veteran pitching arsenal.

Currently leading the Division by a wide margin, all Cleveland needs is a dedicated GM to balance the scales, bring in new talent, and keep the dominance in Cleveland alive.



"The Best Great Lakes Team not in the Great Lakes,” as the rooters of Bozeman Municipal Park might jaw at an out-of-towner when a Chicago or Detroit team come to play.

Nestled near the shores of Lake Eerie, the tall, elegant ballpark looms large against the dockyards that convey trade across the windswept Great Lakes.

Baseball has a long tradition in Cleveland–even before the Legacy Baseball League, the parks and alleyways of the Forest City have lived within the sound of baseball.

With the disassociation of the National League in 1894, an aging politician who made a fortune incorporating Montana Territory into the United States sold his properties in the western capital of Helena and moved east, taking the first train he could from his father’s namesake city of Bozeman, Montana–first to Minneapolis, then Chicago, then Detroit. At last, Jacob Bozeman arrived in Cleveland, where he found a city league that had not yet been converted and applied to the LBL, and bought it as quickly as he could.

So the Cleveland Athletics were born. Utilizing political connections in Washington, Bozeman purchased a lot of warehouses on the shores of Lake Eerie and converted it into Bozeman Municipal Park over the next year.

Making four playoff appearances in their first six years, Cleveland quickly became known as a temple of no-nonsense pitching, featuring 2-time Pitcher of the Year Matthew Holiday and Samuel “Warhorse” Altman. Three-time golden bat Mike Sherrod garnished a case full of Western League batting trophies, yet the mighty Athletics, despite four playoff appearances, have yet to make it to the Legacy Cup. The franchise has one Western League Cup from 1898, but they fell to the Philadelphia Brewers in 8 games.

The Cleveland star seems on the rise again, but the fans know too well to trust to luck. As the dominant force in the WL Frontier begins to age, the team must look to new heroes to keep the legacy of baseball in Cleveland alive."

Apply for the GM Position Here!

[catamount_kid]

Update: Wester League-Frontier contender Pittsburgh Oilers claimed!

[catamount_kid]

Update: Boston Banshees claimed!

[LBL_Brendan]

Franchise Highlight: The New York Kings

Owned by the loathsome Alexander Bingley, the embodiment of the term "robber baron," the Kings of New York having a pitching staff anchored by one of the most promising young pitchers in the LBL, Eduardo Chell, and a solid offensive core. Currently tied for second in the Eastern League's Ivy Division, the Kings are looking for a ruthless GM to match their owner's ferocity--someone driven to bend the LBL to his or her will.

Bread and circuses? The pursuit of great wealth at all costs, unscrupulous though the methods may have been, had been a successful one for Alexander Bingley. The son of an Episcopalian clergyman, the native New Yorker had treated the accumulation of vast sums of capital as his divine right throughout his lifetime. He started his impressive career in the backbone of the American capital markets—serving as an errand boy at the age of 14 before becoming a member of the New York Stock Exchange in his late teens. He would later use the wealth earned on Wall Street by acquiring, rehabilitating, and then selling flagging railroad lines—always at considerable profit.

Throughout his journey to the peak of capitalism—a journey aided by price-fixing, stock manipulation, collusion, bribery, and blackmail—one thing had become clear about the native-born Midas, Mr. Bingley: he was not to be trifled with and knew no boundaries in his pursuit of profit.

When the man who’s name had become synonymous with the phrase “robber baron” acquired a New York baseball organization of affiliated ball clubs in order to form a national caliber team to compete in Michael Monroe’s new baseball venture, those that had done business with Mr. Bingley in the past rightly assumed that he had done so in further pursuit of making money. Others assumed that he had done so to help rehabilitate his public image and to associate his name with America’s beloved sport in order to whitewash his own sullied reputation. While Bingley’s true motivations cannot be known, his actions suggest that both theories may ultimately be true.

Prior to the inaugural 1895 LBL season, Bingley acquired the plot of land for, and constructed, Kings Park using the proceeds of an insurance policy purchased on a dilapidated railyard that had burned under mysterious circumstances. Using his virtual monopoly on local New York talent to exact concessions from the new league, Bingley has been able to secure a larger percentage of the gate than his league rivals for games played in his ostentatious park.

Naming his New York club the “Kings,” a choice that would not have even been of interest in the burgeoning field of psychoanalysis (given its obvious roots in his ego), Mr. Bingley has encouraged his players to pursue fame and celebrity and, most crucially, to reference Mr. Bingley’s largesse frequently. Conversely, the Kings are the only LBL ballclub known to include non-disparagement clauses regarding club ownership in their contracts. Breach of these clauses is thought to carry with them significant penalties, although no reporter can get any current or former players to comment on the nuances of the contract in any detail.

Apply for the GM Position Here!

[LBL_Brendan]

Franchise Highlight: The Chicago Doves

The Doves were originally established, as part of an Exhibition at the 1893 World's Fair, to showcase what baseball could be to an international audience. This beacon of American Exceptionalism have a strong core on offense and have historically featured great pitching. The Doves need a GM willing to establish a succession plan for an aging rotation of local legends to help bolster an offense (mostly entering its early 30s) for another run at the Legacy Cup.

Located in Jackson Park on the south side of Chicago, at the site of 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, stands a neoclassical ballfield with a white façade and an elaborate presentation. Home of the Chicago Doves, World Fair Field, with its Beaux-Arts design, stands as a gleaming pearl of American Exceptionalism and is one of the few surviving structures from the Fair.

World Fair Field made an auspicious debut in 1893 during the Exposition by hosting a night game of baseball seen by thousands of international fans. The four-inning exhibition game, illuminated by the inventions of Nikola Tesla, saw a team made up of the City of Chicago’s best ballplayers, wearing all white uniforms—to match the park’s façade and the other structures in the White City—face a team of Cuban All-Stars from Havana. The Chicago team won 2-1, supported by a beautiful pitching performance by Doves’ ace Billy Emig, after the Cuban right fielder was unable to track a towering flyball hit above the lights by the then-22 year old rookie SS, and now-Chicago fan-favorite, Dom Shearer.

The Doves, so-named for their all-white look dress on the ballfield, serve as a symbol of hope and optimism for the City of Chicago–much like the World’s Fair in which they made their debut. The team, originally organized for the 1893’s World Fair by current-owner, Jack Vaughn, a banker and Chicago business magnate, has been hosting exhibition games against the world’s best teams ever since.

The Windy City Birds, with a home field built as a vision of what the future could be by looking to the past, hope to bring an exceptional, aesthetically pleasing style of ball to the Legacy Baseball League which has been honed against the world’s best ball clubs. Anchored by a veteran pitching staff, good defense, and an athletic offense based on strong baserunning, the Doves will look to stretch their wings beyond Chicago and bring their brand of beautiful baseball all the way to the Legacy Cup.

Apply for the GM Position Here!

[catamount_kid]

Franchise Highlight: The Detroit Giants


Two-time Legacy Cup champions, the Detroit Giants were a dominant force in the Great Lakes throughout the 1890s . The 3-time Division Champions are led by 3-time batting champ Ricky "Lightning" McCoy, the Giants are still a powerful force in the Western League with elite Shortstop Billy Coats manning a tough, no-nonsense infield. Prospect Alois "Bear" Godden is among the best in the league and looks to lead Detroit back to Western League glory.



To an uncommon cathedral—both pastoral and timeless—distinct from a city exploding with industry and lurching towards the future, generations of Detroit natives and immigrants journey in exultant pilgrimage to root for the local team. The Old Grounds, an unassuming ballpark located just off of Jefferson Avenue near the Detroit River, had served as the primary home of organized baseball in Detroit for as long as anyone could remember.

The Grounds’ primary tenant since the early 1870s, Detroit’s most popular team has loomed large over baseball in the Great Lakes region throughout its various incarnations. Originally a semi-professional team comprised of workers from the Michigan Stove Company, the Giants have been known by many names over their various stages of professionalization—the Grays, the Beaters, and the Ironworkers. Regardless of the name on the program, however, the result has mostly been the same—the Detroit team wins.

The Giants’ long-standing affiliation with the Michigan Stove Company is the root of their current moniker. As part of promotional efforts in connection with the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, the Michigan Stove Company produced a giant replica of their popular Garland stove. At the end of the World’s Fair, the giant stove was returned to Michigan and displayed outside of the Michigan Stove Company’s factory on Jefferson Avenue, not far from the Old Grounds. It was not long after that local sportwriters drew a connection between the Garland’s dominance in global commerce and the extraordinary on-field results of Detroit’s baseball team.

The current owner of the Giants, Marcus Finch, was an initial partner in the Michigan Stove Company and a frequent presence on the factory floor where he would routinely help meet construction quotas by working alongside his employees. As a result of his willingness to roll up his sleeves and get dirty, Mr. Finch was beloved among the Company’s workers and personal friend to many. Accordingly, he was also a frequent presence at the Old Grounds, rooting fervently for the earlier Detroit teams. After a long career, Mr. Finch finally cashed out his stock in the cast-iron manufacturing giant and purchased the Detroit ball club.

Apply for the GM Position Here!

[LBL_Brendan]

Franchise Highlight: The Providence Angels

The Angels are a hard-charging, no frills, no nonsense ballclub owned by a devout New England judge. They started the LBL as a playoff mainstay, but have scuttled more recently. The Angels need a disciplined GM ready to roll his/her sleeves up in pursuit of the eternal glory of a Legacy Cup. Fierce rivals with the Baltimore Clippers, the Angels are looking to even the score with their rivals (Baltimore has 53 wins to Providence's 42 head-to-head as of the date of this post).

The life work of sporting enthusiast and Superior Court Judge Jacob Cartwright, the Providence Angels are a successful and strait-laced ballclub who play in the scenic center of Roger Williams Park on “Angel Island.”

A successful lawyer, respected judge and soft-spoken Roman Catholic deacon, Jacob Cartwright purchased the center of Roger Williams Park in 1893 to build a “holy, disciplined, and transcendent” baseball club. Originally formed from Judge Cartwright’s highly competitive diocesan club, the Angels were opened to non-Catholics in 1895 to comply with LBL mandates.

Likely the most rigid team in the Legacy Baseball League, Angels players are held to “Cartwright’s Canons,” a handbook of strict protocols, courtesies, and exercises written in the fashion of a Liturgy of the Hours. “Non-Catholic brethren are welcome to participate in the organization,” the introduction of Cartwright’s Canons reads, “just as our Savior Jesus Christ healed the gentiles and shared a well with the harlots.”

Players are fined for failure to shave, unkempt hair, cursing, rudeness, impiety, drunkenness, and failure to observe the sabbath.

Judge Cartwright’s no-nonsense franchise is often seen as the complete foil to Father Thomas Carlow’s rowdy Baltimore club. Archdiocesan gatherings between Baltimore and Rhode Island clergy are less than warm during the baseball season, with the respective Archbishops famously devoting pre-series homilies and Prayers of the Faithful to their respective teams.

A perennial contender in the Ivy Division, the Angels play a disciplined, clean, and polished form of defensive baseball under Virginia native Michael Scully. Behind pitching star and East Providence native John Griffith, the Angels established themselves as a LBL contender in the mid-1890s. Hard-hitting lefty Vic Kilgo leads a powerful offense with growing talent in prospects like outfielder Rufus Burnell.

A 3-time Ivy Division champion, Cartwright’s Angels are looking to win their first Eastern League Championship.

Apply for the GM Position Here!

[LBL_Brendan]

Franchise Highlight: The Chicago Packers

The Packers are the most intimidating team in the LBL with their blue-collar fans, employed in Chicago's booming meatpacking industry, frequently attending games wearing blood-stained aprons. Unlike their crosstown rivals--who are devoted to celebrating the beautiful aspects of baseball--the Packers are happy to get down in the slop and win dirty.

They have two undeniable stars at two of the most important positions -- C Celestin Robley and SS Geoffrey Burrows. SP Leopoldo Polk could also soon count himself among the LBL's very best. The Packers need a steadyhand to fill out the remainder of the roster and to avoid the ire of their dangerous fanbase.

Set against the bustling Polish neighborhood of Buck Town in the Wicker Park District, the Packers of Powers Field play against a noisy and bustling working-class community near the newly-constructed Wicker Park train line.

Hand-selected from the best city meat-packer baseball organization, local politician and banker Horatio Powers bankrolled the formation of the Chicago Packers in 1891 and secured several lucrative contracts with the city to construct a crude and unappealing ballpark amidst the dim and coal-swept brick neighborhood lined with factories and church towers.

The Packers are a tough, mean, and unforgiving lot–just like their diehard fans, who leave work an hour early for home games to line the stadium seats often still adorned in their bloodied aprons and coveralls. This is quite the sight to visiting teams, and generates the sort of intimidating air the Packers pride themselves in producing each home game.

As the legend goes, long before Wicker Park incorporated into the municipality of Chicago, “Buck Town” was so-named for the many goats who would wander the Polish shacks and alleyways. In this tradition, each home game begins with a parade of “The Great Goat of Bucktown,” a goat selected by Mr. Powers each spring to be spared the factory. The goat has it’s own booth near center field, and is indiscriminately named “Bucky.” So, in north Chicago, the Packers and their fans are often affectionately referred to as “Buckies.”

A struggling squad (albeit occasional contender) in the Great Lakes Division, the Packers have some reason to be hopeful in perhaps the LBL’s best Catcher, Celistin Robley. The 1897 Greenhorn Cup Winner is a 4-Time Golden Bat winner behind the plate. Likewise, RF Gary Johnson is a bastion of the Buckies–an extremely strong offensive producer with a bright future.

Former team captain, and current players' union leader, Tommy Hershey, finally retired in exchange for a number of concessions from the LBL owners. Will Hershey’s departure make way for up-and-comer Leopoldo Polk? The Packers seem poised to lift themselves out of the Great Lakes rut and make a run for the pennant.

Apply for the GM Position Here!

[catamount_kid]

Room for GMs in the Western League-Great Lakes--along with the likely Division Champion of the WL-Frontier, the Cleveland Athletics. Apply today!

[catamount_kid]

There are four more franchises remaining in the LBL.

Don't miss an excellent opportunity to get involved in a unique, enriching, and friendly historic league in its early era!

Apply today!

[Delgadodawg]

I have just recently joined and this league and it is one of the best I have been involved in. Extremely immersive with some great writers.

Commish(es) put a lot of time and effort into this league and it shows.

[LBL_Brendan]

Chicago Doves claimed.

[catamount_kid]

Come check out our newly-minted Legacy Podcast to learn more about the league and share in our baseball story.

[LBL_Brendan]

Only two openings remaining:

[LBL_Brendan]

Just wrapping up the 1901 Legacy Cup, so it's a great time to join as we begin the off-season. The Cleveland Athletics and New York Kings are still available.


Here's a great background on a blue collar team all the way out West in St Louis written by one of our members:


Franchise Highlight: The St. Louis Beavers

By the time venture capitalist and team owner Robert Schilling arrived at his recently constructed Riverlands Field the morning of October 19, 1894, the flames had mostly subsided. The large, newly painted grandstand and its buttressing block towers lay charred and crumbled. Firefighters scrambled about, and layers of smoke leapt and danced in the breeze, like silent, stinging taunts. Or, at least, that’s how it seemed to Robert Schilling.

Robert Schilling, Beavers’ Owner, circa 1894

Scorned by his family, Robert set out on his own as an investor and venture capitalist. After older brother Andrew moved considerable family capital into upscale department stores across Midwestern cities, Robert founded a rival chain of department stores, more appealing to the burgeoning middle class in the region, which he named, simply, “Robert’s.” When Saint Louis newspapers heralded Andrew’s purchase of a baseball franchise, to become the Saint Louis Reds in the newly minted Legacy Baseball League, Robert moved quickly to land a team of his own to rival and outlast his brothers’.


The younger brother of the famed Schilling Shipping and Trade Company family, Robert was left from his father’s will after what many in the family described simply as a disagreement concerning morality, horses, and the necessary quality of leather for workmen’s boots. However, whispers over expensive whiskey tell of Robert’s hatred for his favored older brother, Andrew, the heir to the family’s vast assets, as the reason.


Robert secured a parcel of land to build a ball field to the south of the city, overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi River and the winding River Des Peres. He took great care and foresight in the ballpark’s construction, designing the tall block towers himself down to the slightest of details, and hiring, for above normal wages, only local skilled carpenters and craftsmen. He wanted to build a park where the more common of men could watch a ballgame as kings.

Riverlands Field, October 19, 1894

The fire turned his dream black and smoldered. When onlookers and firefighters noticed the stoic expression on Robert’s face as he took in the devastation, all became quiet. The sound of a falling tree along the banks of the River Des Peres interrupted the silence. It was soon discovered a beaver had felled the tree. Robert took the moment as a sign to rebuild.


A humbler grandstand was erected during the winter months, and, upon the first game played in the spring of 1895, locals began referring to the team as the Beavers, in recognition of the moment of hope provided by a beaver, the tenacious spirit of their team’s owner, and the hardworking laborers who rebuilt the field and now watch their team as fans.


A sign over the main gate, painted in blocked white letters, reads, “Built by you, for you. Beat the Reds”.

Apply for a GM Position Here!

[LBL_Brendan]

Player Highlight: Matthew Holiday, RHP Cleveland Athletics

Simply, Matthew Holiday is the greatest pitcher the Legacy Baseball League has known. Joining the Cleveland Athletics at league inception in 1895, the big righty from Kansas City has befuddled LBL hitters in each of his seven seasons. By the time he finally hangs up his cleats, he will have nearly single-handedly written the LBL pitching record book.

At 6'2", the mammoth right-hander is an intimidating sight when he takes the mound. Despite a generally soft spoken demeanor, the hurler has used an incomparable tenacity and competitive spirit to bend the LBL to his will since the day he first donned Cleveland's maroon-and-white uniform. Emerging from the old independent leagues in the Midwest, Holiday has never posted a season with less than 6.0 WAR/100 games. He has won 2 Western League Pitcher of the Year awards through the first 6 seasons and is the easy favorite for his third with the recently concluded 1901 season.

In 1901, Holiday raised the bar on his own unimpeachable standards of excellence by posting the best season of any LBL player in league history at the young age of 30. Posting 8.8 WAR in a 100 game season, Holiday led the WL in strikeouts (and posted a pitching line of 20-13 (with 2 saves), 166 Ks, 43 BB and a 2.67 ERA (2.26 FIP).

Holiday is the all-time LBL WAR leader through 7 seasons (with 47.9) and dominates with above average velocity and the total annihilation of the ability for opponents to square up the ball (55.4% GB rate).

Riding Holiday's dominant pitching efforts, Cleveland has won the Frontier Division of the LBL's Western League in five of its seven seasons. With exemplary work ethic and leadership, Holiday is hoping to get Cleveland over the hump in 1902 and help them to capture their first Legacy Cup.

Apply for Cleveland's Open GM Position Here!

[RingTheBell]

Hello everyone. I’m Michael, GM of the Pittsburgh Oilers in the Frontier Division.

I can honestly say that this league has lived up to, even exceeded, my lofty expectations since joining it. After browsing through all of the league’s lore before applying, I was awe-struck at the amount of time and effort that I figured must have gone into it. Our commissioner, Andrew, and vice-commissioner, Brendan, do an outstanding job of running the league.

We also have a fun group of guys that makes the competitive aspect of this league much more entertaining.

Come help us build the history of the Legacy Baseball League!

[LBL_Brendan]

Player Highlight: Randy Sliger, LF Pittsburgh Oilers

All he’s done since joining the Legacy Baseball League is hit. The unquestioned leader of the Pittsburgh offense, Sliger has compiled a .334/.369/.476 career line (good for 139 wRC+). He has twice taken home the Golden Bat award (1895 and 1899).

Solidly built at 5’9” and 200 lbs, the Ohio native is well-known around Pittsburgh for the show he puts on at the plate. His exploits around town are nearly as legendary.

On three occasions, the 30 year old slugger has led the Western League of the LBL in Hits and twice in total bases. He is routinely among the league leaders in batting average and extra base hits. He is the engine that makes the Oilers' offense go and the emotional leader of the squad from Western PA.

Looking ahead, Sliger’s role on the Oilers will be to help bridge the gap between the old guard and the new arms that are being broken in at the major league level. The exciting young battery of Oxenden and Hayter look poised to catapult the Oilers toward the top of the Frontier Division and hopes to capture the Oilers’ first division title in 1902.