Three things are certain in life: death, taxes, and the Fresno Raisin Bears sucking.
In 1920, with the MLB still trying to recover from the Black Sox scandal, a group of big city businessmen came together to form a baseball league of their own, which they called the Golden League of Baseball. The original plan was for there to be 19 teams in the USA’s biggest cities, and to have one team in Toronto which would be independent from the other divisions and play every team an (almost) equal amount of times. There were to be 2 sub-leagues, the Captain’s League and the Veteran’s League, which would both feature their own East and West divisions. Fancy ballparks were built, and rosters were filled through an inaugural draft.
Veteran’s League East:
New York Hawks (NYH)
Baltimore Barons (BAL)
Boston Trolleys (BOS)
Detroit Wolves (DET)
Cleveland Buckeyes (CLE)
Veteran’s League West:
Seattle Metros (SEA)
Houston Cosmos (HOU)
San Antonio Stallions (SA)
Jacksonville Sharks (JAC)
San Francisco Seals (SFS)
Captain’s League East:
Philadelphia Liberty (PHI)
Chicago Rogues (CHR)
Washington Senators (WAS)
Buffalo Bisons (BUF)
Milwaukee Admirals (MIL)
Captain’s League West:
Dallas Sheriffs (DAL)
Denver Loggers (DEN)
San Diego Surf Dawgs (SD)
Los Angeles Knights (LAK)
Independent:
Toronto Blue Jays (TOR)
Just a few months before the GLB’s Opening Day, the owner of the Toronto Blue Jays fell ill. Just 30 days later, he uttered his famous last words: “Move the team to uh, like, Fresno or something.” Fresno's team would be set up with homes in California immediately, and they would be moved to the Captain's League West Division.
The city of Fresno had just 39 days to prepare a ballpark, so they poured money into creating a stadium with fancy grandstands and a beautiful entrance. They called their team the Fresno Raisins.
