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tarmer · 08-15-2019, 01:21 PM

Alternate Universe

The year is 1946 - Baseball struggles to find its footing after the war. With some of it's most well known names (as well of many of it's lesser known names) enlisting to serve the country and the cries from the country to serve, and conserve - MLB had a hard time attracting fans.

It continued to operate but as the draws become smaller and smaller several of the major league cities could not continue to field a team and they would just fold. Major League baseball went through contraction as attendance dropped and owners could no longer afford to pay salaries. The players that remained continued to hold out for a couple of seasons in hopes that as the war ended players and attendance would return.

The 1946 season had only 8 of the 16 teams being able to field a team (Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cards, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians) - The other 8 teams either went bankrupt or merged with the other clubs in the same city (White Sox, Browns, Athletics, Braves). This contraction found several baseball players without a job as the bankrupt teams just released their players to find other work, or the teams that merged raided only the top quality players and let the rest go.

This set the stage for further problems as the few remaining fans become upset about letting some of their favorites go for the guy who used to play across town. As the 1946 season got under way - Players found themselves playing in front of increasingly smaller attendance and making less pay (The owners were becoming more cash strapped) and having to buy out star players contracts put a further strain on the budget.

The 1946 season ended with 3 more of the remaining 8 teams going under. The 1947 season was cancelled and MLB was effectively killed off.

Meanwhile in the warm climate of the Caribbean, Baseball was growing. Part of this growth was attributed to the influx of major league players that had been put out of a job and wanted to continue to play the game. Baseball in the Caribbean had been in exsitence in some form since the late 1930's - Though it was always considered a lesser league than MLB. In 1946 with the influx of former players from the USA and the Negro League players that played in the area the talent was considerable. In 1947 the Caribbean Baseball Union was formed - It consisted of 8 teams in 2 divisions.

In 1950 a group of wealthy investors led by names like Getty, Rockefeller, DuPont and Hughes decided that they would try to fund the creation of a new baseball league - But with some changes to the base game rules, the biggest of these came with the influence of soccer - as many of these investors had spent much time in Europe they had a fondness for the the more exciting nature of soccer - and as they were all wealthy they also liked the idea of adding to their wealth at the cost of another owner. And though baseball afforded this in some sense through the growth and falling of attendance (driven by performance on the field) they more appreciated the concept of promotion and relegation that was prevalent among the European sport

They formed the American Circuit

The American Circuit was made up of 8 teams. These teams were to be located in cities that did not have any MLB presence previously, They felt that these cities would better support a team without as they had been left out of the MLB previously.

The AC cities for the inaugural season were as follows

They also wanted to support a more international draw that would insure that growth could continue.

The American Circuit made a deal with the Caribbean Baseball Union to form one league that would encompass the Western Hemisphere (as travel to Europe was still costly and time consuming). The league they formed was the Baseball Association.

This is their story

This will be a historical league (in that it will be using real MLB players in the league) - It will be fictional in the respect these are not MLB cities in the 1950's -

It is not a replay league - player results may or may not be the same as real life stats - DO NOT EXPECT IT

The league will be broken into 3 tiers (1,2,3) 6 teams per tier. It will be 84 games per season. The Bottom 2 teams will be relegated to the lower tier, the top 2 promoted to the upper tier.

There will be no regular free agency - all players will be under contract to the signing team (just like prior to free agency) the only way to get better is by trading, drafting or signing an unsigned player (there will be a pool of them that will grow as the seasons progress) and yes though the draft was not in place in the 50's - it will be here

There will be no DH - all players hit and play -
I will work through finances to assure teams have money to sign players but there will be no 50 million dollar signings

That is the outline of the rules - I am putting the league site up right now and post it when it is up.....

A final note - These teams and this concept is the work of a lot of other people who have been OOTP contributors in the past.

Kevin Harper, Mark Cooley and John Comey - all of whom I thank for the graphics, the friendships and the inspiration for this league

08-15-2019, 01:21 PM	#1
tarmer All Star Reserve Join Date: May 2005 Location: Out in Leftfield Posts: 616 Blog Entries: 1	Baseball Association Alternate Universe The year is 1946 - Baseball struggles to find its footing after the war. With some of it's most well known names (as well of many of it's lesser known names) enlisting to serve the country and the cries from the country to serve, and conserve - MLB had a hard time attracting fans. It continued to operate but as the draws become smaller and smaller several of the major league cities could not continue to field a team and they would just fold. Major League baseball went through contraction as attendance dropped and owners could no longer afford to pay salaries. The players that remained continued to hold out for a couple of seasons in hopes that as the war ended players and attendance would return. The 1946 season had only 8 of the 16 teams being able to field a team (Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cards, Brooklyn Dodgers, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Cleveland Indians) - The other 8 teams either went bankrupt or merged with the other clubs in the same city (White Sox, Browns, Athletics, Braves). This contraction found several baseball players without a job as the bankrupt teams just released their players to find other work, or the teams that merged raided only the top quality players and let the rest go. This set the stage for further problems as the few remaining fans become upset about letting some of their favorites go for the guy who used to play across town. As the 1946 season got under way - Players found themselves playing in front of increasingly smaller attendance and making less pay (The owners were becoming more cash strapped) and having to buy out star players contracts put a further strain on the budget. The 1946 season ended with 3 more of the remaining 8 teams going under. The 1947 season was cancelled and MLB was effectively killed off. Meanwhile in the warm climate of the Caribbean, Baseball was growing. Part of this growth was attributed to the influx of major league players that had been put out of a job and wanted to continue to play the game. Baseball in the Caribbean had been in exsitence in some form since the late 1930's - Though it was always considered a lesser league than MLB. In 1946 with the influx of former players from the USA and the Negro League players that played in the area the talent was considerable. In 1947 the Caribbean Baseball Union was formed - It consisted of 8 teams in 2 divisions. In 1950 a group of wealthy investors led by names like Getty, Rockefeller, DuPont and Hughes decided that they would try to fund the creation of a new baseball league - But with some changes to the base game rules, the biggest of these came with the influence of soccer - as many of these investors had spent much time in Europe they had a fondness for the the more exciting nature of soccer - and as they were all wealthy they also liked the idea of adding to their wealth at the cost of another owner. And though baseball afforded this in some sense through the growth and falling of attendance (driven by performance on the field) they more appreciated the concept of promotion and relegation that was prevalent among the European sport They formed the American Circuit The American Circuit was made up of 8 teams. These teams were to be located in cities that did not have any MLB presence previously, They felt that these cities would better support a team without as they had been left out of the MLB previously. The AC cities for the inaugural season were as follows They also wanted to support a more international draw that would insure that growth could continue. The American Circuit made a deal with the Caribbean Baseball Union to form one league that would encompass the Western Hemisphere (as travel to Europe was still costly and time consuming). The league they formed was the Baseball Association. This is their story This will be a historical league (in that it will be using real MLB players in the league) - It will be fictional in the respect these are not MLB cities in the 1950's - It is not a replay league - player results may or may not be the same as real life stats - DO NOT EXPECT IT The league will be broken into 3 tiers (1,2,3) 6 teams per tier. It will be 84 games per season. The Bottom 2 teams will be relegated to the lower tier, the top 2 promoted to the upper tier. There will be no regular free agency - all players will be under contract to the signing team *(just like prior to free agency)* the only way to get better is by trading, drafting or signing an unsigned player (there will be a pool of them that will grow as the seasons progress) and yes though the draft was not in place in the 50's - it will be here There will be no DH - all players hit and play - I will work through finances to assure teams have money to sign players but there will be no 50 million dollar signings That is the outline of the rules - I am putting the league site up right now and post it when it is up..... A final note - These teams and this concept is the work of a lot of other people who have been OOTP contributors in the past. Kevin Harper, Mark Cooley and John Comey - all of whom I thank for the graphics, the friendships and the inspiration for this league Last edited by tarmer; 08-16-2019 at 03:50 PM.