Welcome to the Alternate History Baseball League

matttb324 · 10-05-2022, 04:36 PM

In this historic league, I am going to replay the entire history of Major League Baseball beginning in 1903.
I am really excited to see how history changes.
Here are just some of the questions I hope to find out:
*How will Black players entering the Majors earlier affect history? What will Jackie Robison’s career look like, Satchell Paige, Josh Gibson?
*What team will draft Babe Ruth? Will his career be different if he plays outside of New York?
*What will Koufax’s career look like if he plays to 40, if Williams is not drafted in the wars, if Shoeless Joe is not kicked out?
*How will playing in different parks with different teammates affect players careers?
*Will some of those sacred numbers be repeated? DiMaggio’s hit streak, will Ripken take a day off, will Marris hit 61, will Aaron be the home run champ?

The League will begin with 16 clubs playing in two leagues called the Cartwright League and Wheaton league after two old Knickerbocker organizers.
The Cartwright League will feature the teams of the East: Boston Bayonets, Cambridge Schooners, Brooklyn Eagles, Manhattan Skyliners, New Jersey Elysians, Philadelphia Founders, Washington Monuments and Worcester Hearts.
The Wheaton league will have the teams a bit to the West: Two Chicago teams, the Chicago Firemen St. Louis Explorers, Louisville Sluggers, Detroit Pinstripes, New Orleans Jazzcats, Cleveland Catamounts and Pittsburgh Golden Triangles.
Here are the club logos:

I will update from time to time on the league’s progress.

matttb324 · 10-05-2022, 04:40 PM

matttb324 · 10-07-2022, 02:28 PM

The leader of the Wheaton League, the Southside Strikers, are star-studded: Honus Wagner and Jack Chesbro to name just a couple. But the two leaders in the Cartwright League (the Brooklyn Eagles and Washington Monuments) do not really have any giant stars. They do have balance and both teams are far out-pacing others with Hall of Fame names (Boston Bayonets and Christy Matthewson, Manhattan and Cy Young, Worcester and Addie Joss, Philadelphia and John McGraw, the N.O. Jazzcats and Nap Lajoie, Louisville and Rube Wadell)

Not that Washington and Brooklyn do not have very good players like Buck Freeman (WAS), Jimmy Barrett (WAS),Billy Lush (BRK) Jimmy Sheckard (BRK) but they don't have those huge names that almost any casual baseball fan would know.

matttb324 · 10-09-2022, 02:41 PM

The top vote-getter in the first AHBL All-Star Game was a player I was not familiar with: Danny Green. The right-fielder for the Cambridge Schooners has spent much of the season leading all of baseball in RBI. He actually does not seem to have a bio with SABR, which is rare for the early stars of the 20th Century. Sounds like an arm injury in early 1906 basically ended his career.
Sadly, Wikipedia reports that "Green died in Camden, New Jersey just three days after his 38th birthday. While Green's family always insisted he died of complications from a beaning, the book, Death At the Ballpark reveals Green most likely died from complications of syphilis."

matttb324 · 10-09-2022, 05:19 PM

One thing I have always wondered about the MLB prior to the modern wild card is how did they sell tickets with so many teams so far out of the race? I guess the answer is, they didn't.

In the 1903 AHBL it has been a see-saw pennant race is both leagues. Southside and Detroit have basically swapped the lead all year in the Wheaton League while Brooklyn and New Jersey are now back and forth in the Cartwright League with Washington and Manhattan right in it.

But still that's a lot of both leagues completely out of the race. In looking at the real MLB 1903-1907, usually one league had a competitive race with two teams and the other league, not-so-much.

matttb324 · 10-10-2022, 09:41 PM

If the 1903 season in the ABHL was a real MLB season it would have to rank as one of the great pennant races of all-time. Here are the September standings heading down the stretch.

matttb324 · 10-11-2022, 07:34 PM

Powered by a real-life 213 at bats with Brooklyn in 1903, Judge McCredie has become a minor star in the AHBL. He is a world champion with the Southside Strikers, the MVP of the World Series and a 1903 All-Star to boot. He also won the Rookie of the Year Award. In real-life his contract was sold in 1903 to Baltimore of the Eastern League, never to return to big-league ball.

matttb324 · 10-12-2022, 08:00 AM

At first glance, the Worcester Hearts would seem to have some pieces to contend. Sam Crawford is having a big year and their rotation features both "3 Fingers" Brown and Addie Joss. But the Hearts are 9-21, the worst team in the league. It is an interesting experiment to put a big-league club in a "tiny" market like Worcester to see if they can make a go. So far, not so great.

matttb324 · 10-12-2022, 04:52 PM

Probably not, but Tim Jordan, who did not even really play in the majors until 1906, has 7 home runs through 40 games in 1904 for the Chicago Firemen. Not bad.

matttb324 · 10-13-2022, 07:01 PM

By finishing last in the AHBL in 1903, the Worcester Hearts got the #1 pick and drafted 17 year-old Ty Cobb. This means Cobb will join Sam Crawford in the outfield (which might be trouble) and be on the same club as Addie Joss and Mordecai Brown. Could be quite a good club in a couple years.

Interesting that Cobb went first because he is only 17 in the game and I am a little surprised he would have been viewed as the superstar he would becom,e at the time in mid-1904. In the real MLB it seems, if I am reading the SABR biography correctly, that Cobb's playing in exhibition games against the Tigers was a difference-maker in his signing.

"The year 1905 was to be a fateful one for Cobb. He reported to Augusta for spring training, and got the chance to play in two exhibition games against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers trained in Augusta in return for an option to purchase one player from the Augusta team at a later date. Cobb made an impression on the Tigers with his talent and his aggressive, even reckless, style of play."

luckymann · 10-13-2022, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matttb324

By finishing last in the AHBL in 1903, the Worcester Hearts got the #1 pick and drafted 17 year-old Ty Cobb. This means Cobb will join Sam Crawford in the outfield (which might be trouble) and be on the same club as Addie Joss and Mordecai Brown. Could be quite a good club in a couple years.

Interesting that Cobb went first because he is only 17 in the game and I am a little surprised he would have been viewed as the superstar he would becom,e at the time in mid-1904. In the real MLB it seems, if I am reading the SABR biography correctly, that Cobb's playing in exhibition games against the Tigers was a difference-maker in his signing.

"The year 1905 was to be a fateful one for Cobb. He reported to Augusta for spring training, and got the chance to play in two exhibition games against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers trained in Augusta in return for an option to purchase one player from the Augusta team at a later date. Cobb made an impression on the Tigers with his talent and his aggressive, even reckless, style of play."

I've never seen The Peach not go first, a lot of which I think is due to it being a pretty ordinary Pool in '04. Always been fascinated to see what would happen if Cocky Collins came in a year earlier or Ty a year later to pit them against each other.

matttb324 · 10-14-2022, 03:50 PM

The Boston Bayonets, who featured Christy Matthewson, Bob Ewing, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Dan McGann just ran off 19 in a row, taking over first place in the Cartwright League. I believe that would tie for 8th all-time if in MLB. The 1916 Giants won 26 in a row.

matttb324 · 10-15-2022, 03:08 PM

Heading into September 1904, the AHBL had another tight race on its hands. New Orleans would eventually pull it out by a few games over Louisville, led by star Nap Lajoie.

matttb324 · 10-15-2022, 03:13 PM

New Orleans defeated the Boston Bayonets 5 games to 2 in a World Series in which Boston was certainly favored. Nap Lajoie was series MVP, hitting .433 and slugging .600 in the series. Big Ed Walsh would win 2 games and go 16 innings without giving up a run. Christy Matthewson pitched alright for Boston but was 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings. It is the second championship won by the Wheaton League with the Southside Strikers winning in year 1.

matttb324 · 10-16-2022, 10:20 PM

Looks ike Eddie Collins will go up against Cobb in this years draft as Cobb is back in after a year of college in Texas.

luckymann · 10-16-2022, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matttb324

Looks ike Eddie Collins will go up against Cobb in this years draft as Cobb is back in after a year of college in Texas.

Smooth moves, bud. I still reckon TC goes first.

matttb324 · 10-17-2022, 07:53 AM

It sure looks like the World Champion New Orleans Jazzcats are the cream of the crop again this season. They are the only team in either league with a particularly impressive record. They are 25-12 so far with a +25 run differential. Can they repeat?

The team is managed by John McGraw, last year's manager of the year. The rotation includes Big Ed Walsh, Eddie Plank, Fred Glade and Bob Wicker, a pretty strong four. And the lineup includes Nap Lajoie backed by Socks Seybold, Sport McAllister, Harry Bay and others. Ed McFarland is having a huge year at catcher with a nearly 900 OPS.

matttb324 · 10-18-2022, 12:06 PM

With Ty Cobb back in the draft after failing to sign with Worcester last year, it was a tough call between who would go 1 and 2 with Eddie Collins entering the draft. As it turns out, Collins went 2nd and was taken by Worcester with the supplemental pick they got for not signing Ty. Cambridge took Cobb at #1. Now let's see if either Massachusetts team can actually sign their picks.

matttb324 · 10-19-2022, 12:44 PM

New Orleans looks to be coasting to another league title in the Wheaton but there's lot of parity in the Cartright in '05. Here are the July standings:

It will be interesting to see whether this league set up results in a few teams consistently winning championships or if it will be more like the 1980s where everyone gets their turn.

matttb324 · 10-19-2022, 07:57 PM

Both Ty Cobb and Eddie Collins are signed. The Schooners may get the #1 pick again in 1906 to add to a roster that includes Mike Donlin and Harry Steinfeldt among others. Worcester has called up Collins to be their cleanup hitter on a roster including Sam Crawford, Addie Joss and the injured Mordecai Brown.

Meanwhile it took a while but Boston is finally pulling ahead in a very even league. Looks like it may be a New Orleans-Boston rematch in the Series.

10-05-2022, 04:40 PM	#2
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	Off and Running in 1903! Last edited by matttb324; 10-05-2022 at 04:55 PM.

10-07-2022, 02:28 PM	#3
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	June 1903: Do you need a superstar to win? The leader of the Wheaton League, the Southside Strikers, are star-studded: Honus Wagner and Jack Chesbro to name just a couple. But the two leaders in the Cartwright League (the Brooklyn Eagles and Washington Monuments) do not really have any giant stars. They do have balance and both teams are far out-pacing others with Hall of Fame names (Boston Bayonets and Christy Matthewson, Manhattan and Cy Young, Worcester and Addie Joss, Philadelphia and John McGraw, the N.O. Jazzcats and Nap Lajoie, Louisville and Rube Wadell) Not that Washington and Brooklyn do not have very good players like Buck Freeman (WAS), Jimmy Barrett (WAS),Billy Lush (BRK) Jimmy Sheckard (BRK) but they don't have those huge names that almost any casual baseball fan would know. Last edited by matttb324; 10-07-2022 at 03:23 PM.

10-09-2022, 02:41 PM	#4
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	July 1903: Who is Danny Green? The top vote-getter in the first AHBL All-Star Game was a player I was not familiar with: Danny Green. The right-fielder for the Cambridge Schooners has spent much of the season leading all of baseball in RBI. He actually does not seem to have a bio with SABR, which is rare for the early stars of the 20th Century. Sounds like an arm injury in early 1906 basically ended his career. Sadly, Wikipedia reports that "Green died in Camden, New Jersey just three days after his 38th birthday. While Green's family always insisted he died of complications from a beaning, the book, Death At the Ballpark reveals Green most likely died from complications of syphilis."

10-09-2022, 05:19 PM	#5
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	August 1903: How Did They Sell Tickets? One thing I have always wondered about the MLB prior to the modern wild card is how did they sell tickets with so many teams so far out of the race? I guess the answer is, they didn't. In the 1903 AHBL it has been a see-saw pennant race is both leagues. Southside and Detroit have basically swapped the lead all year in the Wheaton League while Brooklyn and New Jersey are now back and forth in the Cartwright League with Washington and Manhattan right in it. But still that's a lot of both leagues completely out of the race. In looking at the real MLB 1903-1907, usually one league had a competitive race with two teams and the other league, not-so-much.

10-10-2022, 09:41 PM	#6
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	September 1903: Some Kinda Race! If the 1903 season in the ABHL was a real MLB season it would have to rank as one of the great pennant races of all-time. Here are the September standings heading down the stretch.

10-05-2022, 04:36 PM	#1
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	Welcome to the Alternate History Baseball League In this historic league, I am going to replay the entire history of Major League Baseball beginning in 1903. I am really excited to see how history changes. Here are just some of the questions I hope to find out: How will Black players entering the Majors earlier affect history? What will Jackie Robison’s career look like, Satchell Paige, Josh Gibson? What team will draft Babe Ruth? Will his career be different if he plays outside of New York? What will Koufax’s career look like if he plays to 40, if Williams is not drafted in the wars, if Shoeless Joe is not kicked out? How will playing in different parks with different teammates affect players careers? Will some of those sacred numbers be repeated? DiMaggio’s hit streak, will Ripken take a day off, will Marris hit 61, will Aaron be the home run champ? The League will begin with 16 clubs playing in two leagues called the Cartwright League and Wheaton league after two old Knickerbocker organizers. The Cartwright League will feature the teams of the East: Boston Bayonets, Cambridge Schooners, Brooklyn Eagles, Manhattan Skyliners, New Jersey Elysians, Philadelphia Founders, Washington Monuments and Worcester Hearts. The Wheaton league will have the teams a bit to the West: Two Chicago teams, the Chicago Firemen St. Louis Explorers, Louisville Sluggers, Detroit Pinstripes, New Orleans Jazzcats, Cleveland Catamounts and Pittsburgh Golden Triangles. Here are the club logos: I will update from time to time on the league’s progress. Last edited by matttb324; 10-05-2022 at 04:51 PM.*

10-11-2022, 07:34 PM	#7
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	May 1904: Big Season for The Judge Powered by a real-life 213 at bats with Brooklyn in 1903, Judge McCredie has become a minor star in the AHBL. He is a world champion with the Southside Strikers, the MVP of the World Series and a 1903 All-Star to boot. He also won the Rookie of the Year Award. In real-life his contract was sold in 1903 to Baltimore of the Eastern League, never to return to big-league ball.

10-12-2022, 08:00 AM	#8
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	May 1904: Stars Aren't Everything At first glance, the Worcester Hearts would seem to have some pieces to contend. Sam Crawford is having a big year and their rotation features both "3 Fingers" Brown and Addie Joss. But the Hearts are 9-21, the worst team in the league. It is an interesting experiment to put a big-league club in a "tiny" market like Worcester to see if they can make a go. So far, not so great.

10-12-2022, 04:52 PM	#9
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	June 1904: Will Tim Jordan hit 25 homers? Probably not, but Tim Jordan, who did not even really play in the majors until 1906, has 7 home runs through 40 games in 1904 for the Chicago Firemen. Not bad.

10-13-2022, 07:01 PM	#10
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	July 1904: Would Ty Cobb Be Drafted First? By finishing last in the AHBL in 1903, the Worcester Hearts got the #1 pick and drafted 17 year-old Ty Cobb. This means Cobb will join Sam Crawford in the outfield (which might be trouble) and be on the same club as Addie Joss and Mordecai Brown. Could be quite a good club in a couple years. Interesting that Cobb went first because he is only 17 in the game and I am a little surprised he would have been viewed as the superstar he would becom,e at the time in mid-1904. In the real MLB it seems, if I am reading the SABR biography correctly, that Cobb's playing in exhibition games against the Tigers was a difference-maker in his signing. "The year 1905 was to be a fateful one for Cobb. He reported to Augusta for spring training, and got the chance to play in two exhibition games against the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers trained in Augusta in return for an option to purchase one player from the Augusta team at a later date. Cobb made an impression on the Tigers with his talent and his aggressive, even reckless, style of play."

10-14-2022, 03:50 PM	#12
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	August 1904: 19 in a Row? The Boston Bayonets, who featured Christy Matthewson, Bob Ewing, Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers and Dan McGann just ran off 19 in a row, taking over first place in the Cartwright League. I believe that would tie for 8th all-time if in MLB. The 1916 Giants won 26 in a row.

10-15-2022, 03:08 PM	#13
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	September 1904: Another Good Race Heading into September 1904, the AHBL had another tight race on its hands. New Orleans would eventually pull it out by a few games over Louisville, led by star Nap Lajoie.

10-15-2022, 03:13 PM	#14
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	October 1904: The Jazzcats Take it All New Orleans defeated the Boston Bayonets 5 games to 2 in a World Series in which Boston was certainly favored. Nap Lajoie was series MVP, hitting .433 and slugging .600 in the series. Big Ed Walsh would win 2 games and go 16 innings without giving up a run. Christy Matthewson pitched alright for Boston but was 1-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings. It is the second championship won by the Wheaton League with the Southside Strikers winning in year 1.

10-16-2022, 10:20 PM	#15
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	Looks ike Eddie Collins will go up against Cobb in this years draft as Cobb is back in after a year of college in Texas.

10-17-2022, 07:53 AM	#17
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	May 1905: One Good Team? It sure looks like the World Champion New Orleans Jazzcats are the cream of the crop again this season. They are the only team in either league with a particularly impressive record. They are 25-12 so far with a +25 run differential. Can they repeat? The team is managed by John McGraw, last year's manager of the year. The rotation includes Big Ed Walsh, Eddie Plank, Fred Glade and Bob Wicker, a pretty strong four. And the lineup includes Nap Lajoie backed by Socks Seybold, Sport McAllister, Harry Bay and others. Ed McFarland is having a huge year at catcher with a nearly 900 OPS.

10-18-2022, 12:06 PM	#18
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	June 1905: Cobb vs Collins With Ty Cobb back in the draft after failing to sign with Worcester last year, it was a tough call between who would go 1 and 2 with Eddie Collins entering the draft. As it turns out, Collins went 2nd and was taken by Worcester with the supplemental pick they got for not signing Ty. Cambridge took Cobb at #1. Now let's see if either Massachusetts team can actually sign their picks.

10-19-2022, 12:44 PM	#19
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	July 1905: Plenty of Parity New Orleans looks to be coasting to another league title in the Wheaton but there's lot of parity in the Cartright in '05. Here are the July standings: It will be interesting to see whether this league set up results in a few teams consistently winning championships or if it will be more like the 1980s where everyone gets their turn.

10-19-2022, 07:57 PM	#20
matttb324 Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 325	August 1905: Prospects Signed Both Ty Cobb and Eddie Collins are signed. The Schooners may get the #1 pick again in 1906 to add to a roster that includes Mike Donlin and Harry Steinfeldt among others. Worcester has called up Collins to be their cleanup hitter on a roster including Sam Crawford, Addie Joss and the injured Mordecai Brown. Meanwhile it took a while but Boston is finally pulling ahead in a very even league. Looks like it may be a New Orleans-Boston rematch in the Series.