The Fort Wayne Summit...big city dreams with a small town budget

Tiger1022 · 04-08-2026, 12:48 AM

For years I've found the most entertaining way to play OOTP is creating fictional leagues. It's just fun to literally write history and watch it come alive in front of you. I also grew up in a small town in Ohio between Fort Wayne, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio....and I've been fascinated for the years by the "what if" knowing that the first professional game was in Fort Wayne. There can't be a smaller town in America that at one time meant so much to TWO different sports...even if their time in both was pretty brief. So with all of that said, I introduce to you....the United Baseball League.

Founded in 1876 the UBL at the start consisted of 2 separate and NO WHERE CLOSE to equal leagues...the Eastern League and the Frontier League. The Eastern League had the talent. They had the money. It's where anyone who was anyone in the country was at and no one else mattered. They actively thumbed their noses at their Frontier League siblings from the West. And for good reason....the Frontier League was basically a minor league compared to the Eastern. An ace pitcher in the FL? He'd be lucky to crack an EL's team bullpen. Whoever wins the MVP out West? MIGHT be a utility guy in the EL. Might.

In this thread I'm going to tell the story of the biggest underdog in the underdog league....the Fort Wayne Summit. The majority of the storytelling will be done through a newspaper chronicling everything- the Summit and their quintessentially Rust Belt owner and GM (to be introduced later), the Frontier League, and the UBL as a whole. The main journalists you'll see are Silas T. Pennington and Horace Whitcomb, a journalist and editor at the Fort Wayne News-Gazette. Silas, I'll point out now, is run by Chat GPT, a passionate, opinionated reporter tasked with following the Summit. Horace, the pragmatic, straight to the facts editor, will focus on the league at large. I WILL post screenshots of standings, league leaders, star players and record holders at the end of every season, but I want to actually stay interested in this save and tell a story.

This is issue 1.

JackOnAMacYT · 04-08-2026, 09:14 AM

Very good opening post. I will be following this save to the best of my ability.

David Watts · 04-08-2026, 11:19 AM

Ah just for the fun of it, you should make Jean Marie Nicol have some role in history of this league

Tiger1022 · 04-11-2026, 02:35 AM

Settings for this save- 1981 statistical output. Finances make sense for 1876, 5-7% inflation per season.

140 game season, no interleague. Split season format (just for something different). Since it's set up as an association, All Star game will be played as a 1 game tournament post season.

Draft will be happening from year 1...10 rounds. Lottery for the 3 first picks.

25 man roster with shorter bullpens than modern day. 5 man rotation, 5 man bullpen, 15 position players.

We're up to Opening Day...and Fort Wayne has won the coin toss to host the first game (much like real life). Going forward I'm trying to decide on the pace of updates...thinking monthly, but if that begins to feel too much, we'll go 2-3 per season.

Tiger1022 · 04-11-2026, 02:37 AM

Issues 2 and 3 of the Baseball Bonanza. Still trying to work on formatting and may need to start editing a bit of the Chat GPT content, just so it's not running on so long and so short paragraph based.

But tomorrow, we get to Opening Day....and see how Danooo and the boys handle the early season.

Tiger1022 · 04-11-2026, 08:17 PM

Opening Day, a time of great hope for everyone. But for Fort Wayne? In 1876? At the start of the league? This feels like life or death. Cornelius and Otto settle into their seats somewhere inside Vogel Field...unsure of what they'll see but knowing it means SOMETHING they can't put into words.

1739 show up....not a terrible figure, but lower than expected. 49 degrees and windy in Northeast Indiana though? For a team projected to be bad? Ok. Understandable.

In the end, the team battles, but isn't good enough on this day....and Silas has thoughts.

04-08-2026, 12:48 AM	#1
Tiger1022 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2026 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 9	The Fort Wayne Summit...big city dreams with a small town budget For years I've found the most entertaining way to play OOTP is creating fictional leagues. It's just fun to literally write history and watch it come alive in front of you. I also grew up in a small town in Ohio between Fort Wayne, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio....and I've been fascinated for the years by the "what if" knowing that the first professional game was in Fort Wayne. There can't be a smaller town in America that at one time meant so much to TWO different sports...even if their time in both was pretty brief. So with all of that said, I introduce to you....the United Baseball League. Founded in 1876 the UBL at the start consisted of 2 separate and NO WHERE CLOSE to equal leagues...the Eastern League and the Frontier League. The Eastern League had the talent. They had the money. It's where anyone who was anyone in the country was at and no one else mattered. They actively thumbed their noses at their Frontier League siblings from the West. And for good reason....the Frontier League was basically a minor league compared to the Eastern. An ace pitcher in the FL? He'd be lucky to crack an EL's team bullpen. Whoever wins the MVP out West? MIGHT be a utility guy in the EL. Might. In this thread I'm going to tell the story of the biggest underdog in the underdog league....the Fort Wayne Summit. The majority of the storytelling will be done through a newspaper chronicling everything- the Summit and their quintessentially Rust Belt owner and GM (to be introduced later), the Frontier League, and the UBL as a whole. The main journalists you'll see are Silas T. Pennington and Horace Whitcomb, a journalist and editor at the Fort Wayne News-Gazette. Silas, I'll point out now, is run by Chat GPT, a passionate, opinionated reporter tasked with following the Summit. Horace, the pragmatic, straight to the facts editor, will focus on the league at large. I WILL post screenshots of standings, league leaders, star players and record holders at the end of every season, but I want to actually stay interested in this save and tell a story. This is issue 1. Attached Images

04-11-2026, 02:35 AM	#4
Tiger1022 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2026 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 9	Settings for this save- 1981 statistical output. Finances make sense for 1876, 5-7% inflation per season. 140 game season, no interleague. Split season format (just for something different). Since it's set up as an association, All Star game will be played as a 1 game tournament post season. Draft will be happening from year 1...10 rounds. Lottery for the 3 first picks. 25 man roster with shorter bullpens than modern day. 5 man rotation, 5 man bullpen, 15 position players. We're up to Opening Day...and Fort Wayne has won the coin toss to host the first game (much like real life). Going forward I'm trying to decide on the pace of updates...thinking monthly, but if that begins to feel too much, we'll go 2-3 per season. Attached Images

04-11-2026, 02:37 AM	#5
Tiger1022 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2026 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 9	Issues 2 and 3 of the Baseball Bonanza. Still trying to work on formatting and may need to start editing a bit of the Chat GPT content, just so it's not running on so long and so short paragraph based. But tomorrow, we get to Opening Day....and see how Danooo and the boys handle the early season. Attached Images

04-11-2026, 08:17 PM	#6
Tiger1022 Bat Boy Join Date: Apr 2026 Location: Ohio, USA Posts: 9	Opening Day, a time of great hope for everyone. But for Fort Wayne? In 1876? At the start of the league? This feels like life or death. Cornelius and Otto settle into their seats somewhere inside Vogel Field...unsure of what they'll see but knowing it means SOMETHING they can't put into words. 1739 show up....not a terrible figure, but lower than expected. 49 degrees and windy in Northeast Indiana though? For a team projected to be bad? Ok. Understandable. In the end, the team battles, but isn't good enough on this day....and Silas has thoughts. Attached Images

04-08-2026, 09:14 AM	#2
JackOnAMacYT All Star Starter Join Date: Jul 2021 Location: NJ Posts: 1,436	Very good opening post. I will be following this save to the best of my ability.

04-08-2026, 11:19 AM	#3
David Watts Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Looking for a place called Leehofooks Posts: 10,143 Infractions: 0/1 (1)	Ah just for the fun of it, you should make Jean Marie Nicol have some role in history of this league