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USOB: Baseball saves America

There are a hundred different stories outlining the Russian invasion of the U.S.A. in 1962 and many different heroes who led the way out of Russian domination and back to the land of the free but our story is about baseball and that story begins in 2012 with the formation of the United States of Baseball. A 20 team league formed in the remnants of the United States, an expanded Canada, and the newly formed Kallipolis. The U.S.o.B. was formed on presidential order in an effort to bring America Pastime back from a forced extinction by the Russians and hopefully start to heal the damage done and find a way back after 42 years of occupation. For those interested here is my favorite account of the events leading up to and through the Russian occupation written by one of my favorite journalists Jimmy the Kid.


Posted 27 July 2012 - 01:09 PM
October 24, 1962

Washington, D.C., USA


“President Kennedy, we have Premier Khrushchev and the Kremlin on the Red Phone.”

It was quarter to midnight, and President Kennedy was exhausted. The Cuban Missile Crisis and naval standoff with Russian submarines was entering its tenth day. The last week and a half was full of political muscling, back room deals and military escalation. For the first time in the two years he held office, Kennedy was legitimately nervous. The United States was the only nation in the world capable of firing long-range nukes, but now the Soviets were arming the United States’ volatile southern enemy. The threat of nuclear war was real.

“Jack,” the President’s brother and US Attorney General Bobby Kennedy said. “Would you like us to wake Vice President Johnson.”

“Let him sleep,” President Kennedy responded. “This shouldn’t take long.” Before retiring to his bed chambers, President Kennedy had received a telegram from the Russian Premier. He referred to the Cuban blockade as “pirate action” and reiterated that the Soviet Union views military escalation as an act of aggression. Kennedy had a feeling about how this would go.

“Nikolai, this is Jack.” Strangely, the President and the Premier had developed a personal relationship, and spoke to each other on a first name basis. In the room, Kennedy was joined by his brother, Bobby, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and a handful of secret service agents. Khrushchev sat alone with Vladimir Semichastny, the head of the KGB.

The conversation lasted only 15 minutes, and it was the same old song and dance. As the clock struck midnight, and Kennedy was in the middle of reiterating the United States’ unwillingness to allow the armament of Cuba, a single gunshot was heard over the line, and Khrushchev screamed. There was frantic Russian, and then a second shot. Silence.

“Nikolai? ...was that us?” President Kennedy directed at Secretary of Defense McNamara. “WAS THAT US?!”

“No...uhh not that I know of,” stuttered McNamara. “Uh, can we get Langley on the phone?” He had removed his glasses and was rubbing his hand across his forehead.

As Bobby reached hand up the phone, there was a noise on the Russian end of the line, and the Americans froze. “Nikolai?” President Kennedy asked, breaking the silence. “Nikolai, is everything alright?”

“This is Commander Vladimir Semichastny. Nikolai Khrushchev and members of his cabinet have disgraced the Soviet Union, and have been relieved of their position.” Semichastny was reading from a prepared statement, and the finality in his tone sent chills down President Kennedy’s spine. “As the new Head of State, and Commander of the Red Army, I immediately enact Operation Red Mole, and openly declare war on the United States.”

“Have you lost your mind?” President Kennedy erupted. “The arsenal of the United States far surpasses that of the...”One of the secret service agents shifted, and the movement, though slight, caught the attention of the motionless leaders around the phone.

“Splotila naveki Velikaya Rus’!”, the agent shouted as he drew his firearm. It wasn’t until that moment that President Kennedy realized that he did not recognize the four agents in the room. As the first agent took aim, the other three agents drew their weapons, taking aim at the President and his accomplices.

The President was first struck in the left shoulder, and then in the head as he spun to the carpet of the oval office with a loud thud. Bobby Kennedy and McNamara were each shot in the throat, dying instantly. The barrage of iron was too much, and Rusk was struck in the abdomen. The agent who initiated the task stood over the helpless Secretary of State. “Yedinyy, moguchiy Sovetkiy Soyuz!” he preached as he fired a final bullet into Rusk’s skull.

Simultaneously, identical undercover attacks occurred against Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Speaker of the House John William McCormack, a number of high profile Senators and members of the intelligence community. Half a decade after Joseph McCarthy’s “Red Scare”, it was apparent that the Soviet intelligence network had infiltrated the United State at multiple levels, from local police departments to the Secret Service and Pentagon.

Many Americans woke the next morning to a standard Red screen on all major networks, issuing a statement that Semichastny and the Soviet Union were now in control of the United States’ Government. On every street corner in every major city, stood members of the Red Army. Flag and book burnings peppered every city block from San Francisco to New York. Churches were shut down and boarded up, and many of the countries wealthiest and powerful families were jailed in the first 48 hours.

The United States military was left crippled following the attacks on the Pentagon and CIA. Many high-ranking military officials were pulled from their beds the night of the Kennedy assassination. The few soldiers that were able to mobilized lacked numbers and organization, and were ousted quickly. Soon, the blue on the flag was replaced with red, and the stars replaced with the hammer and sickle.

In January 1963, the Red Army heard of a group of former Air Force pilots and Marines organizing in Seattle. According to Kremlin reports, they were using an old Boeing factory as a base and had established a network of underground passage ways to avoid Red Army foot traffic. Similarly, in Boston, a group of former Naval officers had formed a militia named the Sons of Liberty. The group had begun to pirate Soviet ships utilizing Boston Harbor as a port. The Sons were also suspected of smuggling English arms into the country to arm groups fighting back against the Red Army.

Intent on flexing their muscle and crippling any of Democratic Europe’s connection with the Occupied States, on January 16, 1963 the Soviets exploded a nuclear bomb in Seattle airspace, leaving devastation similar to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Boston, Red Army U-Boats attacked all unmarked ships in Boston Harbor, and fired on major buildings alongside the port. The day became known as the “Lowering of the Red Curtain”.

Seeing the strength and mindset of the Soviet Union, many of the United States’ allies withdrew the support of the Occupied States, leaving a crippled nation with no centralized military. The Soviets had finished their takeover in six months time, and became the largest and most powerful nation in the world.

In need of paying off quickly accumulating war debts, the Soviet Union sold Louisiana, parts of Souther Mississippi, parts of Alabama and Florida to Fidel Castro and Cuba in 1965. The newly acquired land was then gifted to Castro’s dear friend and fellow communist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Guevara renamed the area Kallipolis, which in Greek means “the Great City”.

Alaska, Washington, Northern Idaho and Montana were sold to Canada. Following the nuclear attack of Seattle, the Soviet Union did not have any use for the city’s resources, nor did they have the fund to properly clean the city. The money used from the transaction was put into the space program to develop a high-speed, high-altitude jet to shorten the distance between Moscow and the Occupied States.






2004


For forty-two years, the Soviet Union occupied what was once the United States. The USSR became the most powerful, uncontested nation in the world. They utilized new found natural resources and exported heavily, building a large cash-flow. The army crushed the few rebellions there were, and as time went on the American will that once thrives from Atlantic to Pacific was soon extinguished.

Together with Cuba and Kallipolis, the Soviet Union controlled both hemispheres. Canada was apathetic and had actually benefitted in acquiring much of the Pacific northwest, and without American intervention, Cuba was able to expand into South America. This included parts of Brazil and Venezuela, and Fidel Castro now controlled many of the Caribbean Islands. The entire political landscape had changed, and the number of communist nations in the world outgrew the number of democracies.

_____

Following her husband’s assassination, Jackie Kennedy was able to sneak Caroline and John Jr. out of the country. Drawing on the vast resources of the Kennedy family, mother and her two children were able to board a Russian freight ship and escape to Ireland. Luckily for the Kennedy family, the Soviet business enterprise was as corrupt as the government that controlled it. There, here family was safe under the Catholic rule of their new home.

Now 44 years old, John F. Kennedy Jr. was fully-grown, educated at Oxford and a successful business owner. Owning a shipping conglomerate in Ireland and the UK, Kennedy was one of the most influential and well-known business men on the Irish island. Rumors circulated about his involvement with the IRA, and they were neither uncommon nor unfounded. Kennedy had the ships the group needed, and the IRA supported both the spread Catholicism and democracy.

Though successful in Ireland, John Jr. always wanted to go home. His mother told him and Caroline stories of Boston, Washington DC and Long Island. She told him of America’s vast forests and high mountains. She told him stories of his father. Though happy and successful in Ireland, Kennedy knew, deep down, that his American story had not reached its end.

_____

By February 2004, the Soviet Union had grown into the largest economic power in the world. Together with Cuba and Kallipolis, the three nations controlled more than half of the world’s natural resources.

Out of good spirit and because the Soviets had such an abundance of lumber in the Motherland, they had historically allowed Cuba and Kallipolis to import lumber for North America without large taxes. This led to a number of construction projects in the two Latin nations, and they began to rapidly industrialize. This practice was known as “Red Tie”, symbolizing the common ideologies and cultures between the three nations. With this in mind, Cuba pledged to make Havana the “City on a Hill”-- a Utopia for all other nations to look up to. Operation “Ciudad del Monte” began on January 1, 2004, and Cuba rapidly became the largest importer of North American lumber and steel.

On February 4th 2004, the Soviet government withdrew the “Red Tie” legislation, and without any preceding noticed, heavily-taxed the largest steel shipment of the operation. The Cuban port refused to pay the taxes, and the Soviet ship turned around and returned to their home port. Enraged, Cuban diplomats demanded an explanation and that the Soviets immediately reinstate the Red Tie legislation. The Soviets refused, citing that they were missing a large economic opportunity and that they had allowed the Cubans to import at-cost for the last four decades.

Diplomatic relations quickly dissolved between the three nations, Kallipolis siding with Cuba, fearing that the high taxes would soon apply to them as well. At first their were embargoes, and then small naval clashes. What was once an indestructible and mighty alliance was rabidly deteriorating beyond repair.

_____

Because of long-standing peace in the western hemisphere, the Soviet Union had withdrawn most of its military from the region. There had also been a series of uprisings in Eastern Europe and members of the Soviet Union began to fight back against the government’s oppressive rule.

In this, John F. Kennedy Jr. saw an opportunity. Without Cuba and Kallipolis at its side, and with small wars brewing in Eastern Europe, the Occupied States were less of a priority to the USSR. Kennedy had the funds from personal wealth. He had the arms necessary with his IRA contacts. All he needed was an ally. Taking a great risk, Kennedy stowed away to New Orleans, where he had a secret closed door meeting with Ernesto Guevara, Fidel Castro and Canada’s President Megan Calvet. After three days of what would become known as the Third Continental Congress, Kennedy had himself two strong allies.

The revolution began on, suitably, July 4th, 2004. Without notice, and without provocation the Soviet Occupied States was attacked on all four sides. From the south came the land and sea forces of Cuba and Kallipolis. Kennedy’s ships and members of the IRA hit major ports along the east coast. Canada invaded from the north and west. By the time the greater Red Army had been notified, Kennedy and his allies had already controlled major ports and had crippled the Red Navy on the open sea. The modern day blitzkrieg has taken the Soviets by surprise.

By the end of the year, the Revolution received economic and arms support from Great Britain, Ireland and France. By June 2005, the list of supporters had grown to include Italy, West Germany, Spain and Portugal. At this point, the Revolution controlled all of the Occupied States’ borders and the Soviet control was slowly collapsing on itself.

The following happened quickly, and is best described in a timeline.
December 25th, 2005: Known as the Christmas Morning Uprising, troops take back Washington, DC. and Kennedy returns to the White House. The Soviet Union is ousted from American Soil.
January 16th, 2006: John F. Kennedy Jr. assumes control and reappoints himself President of the United States of America. For the first time in 42 years, the USA is its own nation.
January 17th, 2006: John F. Kennedy Jr. reinstates the Constitution of the United States and the governing document of the nation.
January 17th 2006: Kennedy signs a peace treaty with Fidel Castro, Ernesto Che Guevara and Megan Calvet. The three pledge to rejuvenate an “American culture” and return peace to the western hemisphere.
February 14th, 2006: The United States signs a free trade agreement with Cuba and Kallipolis, eliminating the high taxes of the Soviet Union. The mutually beneficial agreement allows the Cubans to finish operation “Ciudad del Monte” and allows releases economic burden from a now fledgling United States.
March 18th, 2006: The United States holds its first general election after Soviet occupation.
March 18th, 2006: John F. Kennedy Jr. is officially elected President of the United States, beginning his first of two terms.
November 8th, 2006: The Soviet Union collapses in Europe, spinning off 9 free countries.
______

In his second inaugural address in January 2010, Kennedy announced the Manifest Destiny Initiative. By this time, the United States, Kallipolis and Cuba had crawled out from their war debts. Their economies were recovering, they undertook advanced domestic projects and were enjoying an extended time of peace. The primary purpose of the initiative was to establish a common American culture.

Part of that doctrine was the constitution for the USoB: the United States of Baseball.



The early years of the USOB:

In the inaugaural season a solid Scottsdale team with a superior gm, took the championship of the the usob in a short 120 game season as the league got a late start that year. While 63-57 is by no means a dominant showing it was a herald of things to come as Scottsdale would win the next years championship and prove there first was no fluke going 84-60. The super snakes were led at the plate by the first truly great superstar of the USOB John Sharp who hit 43 dingers and posted 125 RBI's for the Copperheads in there 2nd Season.

2014 was a tough season in Scottsdale as the uber talented snakes proved they were human after all as they were destroyed by injuries and for the first time in USOB history someone else would lift the USoB championship trophy. The New Boston Heroes were great in 2014 and with a massive push in the playoffs the Hero's put an end to the talk of three-peats.

In the winter of 2014 the USob owners got together at the winter meetings and with a lot of fanfare voted to expand the league from 20 teams to 24 forming two more divisions and adding a 2nd wild card spot.

The City of St Louis was awarded a team and my time as a gm in the USoB began.