Fallout 4's Commonwealth Baseball Organization

[StLee]

Today in the CBO

News and Notes - Reports from around the Commonwealth

by Nat Wright-Kowalski

6 April 2296 – Tentsleep, Hugz to Miss Week 2

The Slog shortstop Lernz Tentsleep and Salem ace starting pitcher Josh Hugs had a short first game of the season after a fight. Now, the two will have to sit out the entirety of the second weekend due to their shenanigans.

The CBO league office passed down the suspension today after a fight caused both to be ejected from the first game in CBO history.

Hugs (0-1) was unhappy after he gave up a two-run home run to Ghouls’ second baseman C.T. Woodard, the game’s first runs. Woodard moved a little too slowly for Hugs’ taste during his home run trot. Hugs then responded by throwing the ball straight at Tentsleep, plunking him in the back. Tentsleep then charged the mound, knuckles blazing.

Commissioner Nate Howard said that he understands it will take time to “make gentlemen out of savages,” but he expects decency and good sportsmanship to be the “rule rather than the exception.”

Neither team nor the players were available to comment since they were preparing for this week’s games. Salem left The Slog en route to Finch Farm. The Ghouls will remain at home to host Nordhagen Beach.

6 April 2296 - Oberland Not Happy

It is with a disclaimer that I run this report. Please be aware that this report is based on Publick Occurrences reports by our correspondents. As the relative of the object of this report, I, Nat Wright-Kowalski, absolve myself of any added rumor or innuendo or personal reflection.

With that mentioned, the son-of-a-***** owner of the Oberland T-51s is apparently unhappy that one of the greatest minds and men in the history of the Commonwealth had one bad game.

That supposed owner, August Oberland, criticized a supposed bad game by the handsomest of men, Sheng Kawolski.

Drafted in the first round at the #10 pick, Kawolski was drafted nine spots too late, or so I have heard from many people who know better than August Oberland or the owners of Abernathy, Fort Hagen, Fairline Hill Estates, Salem, Quincy, Goodneighbor, Warwick, The Slog, or Concord. In my humble opinion, they all drafted fools. But my sister says that I am biased. Brahmin****!

So, just because Shengie-poo allowed 8 runs in 4 innings and has an 18.00 ERA, that radscorpion-spunk owner Oberland is talking about trading him. I hope he does. Then Sheng can go to a team that will actually win in this lifetime and will actually have a stadium in its own town so that the team doesn't have to cross the river in that dangerous area every time they play.

Anyway, that is what I was told by our Oberland correspondent. Who knows if any of this is accurate?

[StLee]

I just discovered that the News segment of OOTP is much better than when I last ran a dynasty. The only problem is that I cannot edit dates of news stories. Anyway, from now on, all of these Publick Occurences stories are also going into my newsfeed on OOTP. I like the look of my current posts for those, so I'll keep running them the same, but that is awesome that teams and players now get linked--well, it marked Warwick the team as Warwick the player, but close enough.

[StLee]

Escape from Dread

by Piper Wright

South Boston – As I walked from my rented bungalow at The Castle to Gwinnett Restaurant to meet a CBO player, I noticed that the breeze broke over the coast, drawing out the salty swell of a time gone by.

In my lifetime, there has always been the dread of it all: the settlements, the death, the rotten corpse of an earth once teeming with life and intrigue. The capsized statues dot the landscape across Boston of 500 years ago. That, too, was a time of change, of an infant country just broken free from the chains of its captor.

We here in the Commonwealth have a thousand stories about the dreadful lives we’ve led. My sister Nat Wright-Kowalski and I experienced the unfortunate murder of our father by a man looking to load his pocket with caps. Blue, known to all as Nate Howard, saw his wife murdered, saw his child kidnapped, and woke up to a world he could not recognize. We all suffer tragedies, that dread, but the hope of this new Commonwealth has infected us.

When I walked into Gwinnett Restaurant, there were new experiences from the old. Fresh grilled meats from the land and sea invaded my nostrils, to go along with the strong scents of served brews from the nearby Gwinnett Brewery. Chirps of young, excitable wastelanders made a buzz, not of an infestation of bloatflies, but of that same newness that gives us all a jolt of energy.

He was sitting at a corner booth in the restaurant, tufts of curls from a haircut overdue poking from the edges of his ballcap, an emblem of Commonwealth dread on the front in the old Gunners logo. He stood upon seeing me, a 6’3” godling of muscles and bashfulness all packed into his tight-knit plaid button-down. He smiled and waved and looked like he never knew the dread of the Commonwealth at that moment. We exchanged greetings and then sat down to talk about dread, to talk about hope, to talk about life and baseball.

“I never thought I would see this day,” he started. This day is the early Friday afternoon of game day. The second game of the season is to take place in just six hours. His team must meet at the stadium in two more hours. On this day, he and I are sharing a plate of fried corn and tatos and skewers of grilled radstag. I’m having a Gwinnett Pale, he a purified water.

Just one night ago, this player, Andrew Nuka, the left fielder for the Quincy Gunners, experienced his first professional regular-season baseball game. His team lost 5-3 to the Goodneighbor Hancocks at Third Rail Stadium at South Boston High School, but Nuka led his team in hits, going 2 for 3 and hitting a double.

You see, this day was a lot more special because it was the exact opposite of the dread Nuka experienced in his young life. “It was ten years ago,” Nuka said. “I’ll never forget it.” Nuka is not from Boston. He’s from out west, a place we now know and love as Nuka-World. He lived right in the heart of the park in Nuka Town USA. That was, he lived there until dread showed up, a monster of devastation sweeping right through the “cheeriest place in all the world.”

In 2286, three gangs called the Pack, the Disciples, and the Operators teamed up to overtake a peaceful trading settlement and turned it into their own twisted playground.

“I remember when they rolled up,” Nuka said. “I was helping my mom load our stall in the market. Suddenly, you could hear the ‘tak tak tak’ of gunfire and people screaming. It was just chaos, but people were yelling ‘Run!’ My mom and I didn’t hesitate, but my brother and sister and dad weren’t with us.”

Nuka and his mother fled the market and ran until they reached a small settlement. He could not remember the name of the settlement, but remembered it was about 30 minutes of constant running from Nuka Town USA. They rested there before moving farther away from Nuka World to escape any roaming groups of raiders.

“I heard later that [the Raiders] killed some people and slapped slave collars on others,” Nuka said. “My mom and I got away, but we never saw the rest of my family again.” Nuka’s mom got radiation sickness a few months later after they escaped and passed away, leaving the still 14-year-old alone.

Nuka returned to Nuka World in 2289, looking for his remaining family. He had heard about Nate Howard slaughtering the raider gangs and freeing the slaves of Nuka Town USA, so he went looking for the rest of his family. Although he searched the area, there was no sign of his father or siblings. Some of the locals who knew his father before the takeover mentioned that he was never seen and definitely wasn’t a slave in Nuka Town USA. They didn’t know anything about his siblings.

“My brother was only 9 years old. My sister was 11. I know the raiders and the things they would do. I know it’s sad to say since I have no idea what came of them, but I hope my brother and sister got killed right away if they couldn’t escape. I just can’t imagine what might have happened if they became slaves to those brutes.”

Nuka gave up his search and accompanied a group of travelers to Boston. There he made his way farther east in pursuit of seeing the coast. He eventually made his way to Kingsport Lighthouse in 2290, where he settled for three years working at Longneck Lukowski’s Cannery making mirelurk cake cans. Later, he made his way to Bunker Hill where he got work helping to repair service robots.

He first heard about baseball in Bunker Hill. “A caravan passed through and there was a group of 10 guys who said they were on their way to play baseball. I know Deb had some baseball equipment at her stall, so I asked those guys if I could play, too. They agreed, I spent half of my money buying myself baseball stuff, and the rest is history.”

Nuka did not know it, but in 2294 he had joined the Boylston Club Boys, the Commonwealth’s first traveling baseball team. They had been playing since 2288 and played travel ball until 2295 since the CBO was set to start this year.

“I joined Boylston and we did nothing but play ball during the day and travel and talk at night. I never even knew that I could sleep on a cart getting pulled by brahmin. But I slept like a baby every night. It was my new joy. You could say it was like an escape…”

Nuka hesitated, not sure how to finish his sentence. “From dread?” I asked.

“Yes,” he smiled wider than when I first walked up. “Playing baseball was an escape from dread.”

[StLee]

DCR – EGRET SCRAPPERS (2-1) AT SHAW HS KNUCKLE PUNCHERS (1-2)

WHAT TO KNOW

The Egret Scrappers were predicted to finish last in the Railroad League, but got out to an encouraging start with a series win over the Vault 81 Dwellers in Week 1. Considered to have the worst pitching staff in the RL, and perhaps even the entire CBO, the Scrappers did not disappoint by giving up a league-high 21 runs over the first weekend, but still found ways to win 2 of 3.

The Shaw HS Knuckle Punchers are considered to contend for a playoff spot, even though they are predicted to finish in second behind the Oberland T-51s. Still, an opening weekend series loss to the T-51s may give some initial distance to the teams. While the Knuckle Punchers were disappointed with the series loss, they can be encouraged to know that they lost both games by only a run while beating Oberland by nine in their win.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM EGRET

They will need runs at a steady pace to be able to outscore their opponents. The middle of their lineup can be a powerful one with right fielder Crops Gerdenheimer, left fielder Paladin Danse, and catcher Tony Tamez powering the way. Second baseman Dustin Bowfiddle had an impressive first week, hitting .500 to start.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM SHAW HS

The Knuckle Punchers may be stronger than first expected, doing an equally good job of producing runs and holding the T-51s down in runs. If ace pitcher Brad Westing pitches better than he did in the opening weekend, Shaw HS has a huge advantage in pitching over the Scrappers.

KEY PLAYERS IN THE SERIES

EGR: Top of the Lineup—Center fielder Bill Chaney and first baseman Kyle Boohoo in Game One and third baseman and Bowfiddle in Games Two and Three will need to put steady pressure on the Knuckle Punchers’ pitching to manufacture runs throughout the series.

SHS: Second and Third Pitchers – Nick Mutfruit and Tony Acosta could put away the Scrappers if they are able to slow down Egret’s output. Mutfruit had a masterful first start, not allowing a run in 8 innings. Acosta doubles as the third pitcher and a utility infielder, making him a two-way threat. Though he lost his first start, Acosta only gave up four earned runs in 5.2 innings.

PREDICTION: We were close to picking the Knuckle Punchers to sweep the series, but we feel something is going to go right for Egret, probably in Game 3.

Knuckle Punchers Win 2 of 3

[StLee]

WRVR – JAMAICA PLAIN TREASURES (1-2) AT GOODNEIGHBOR HANCOCKS (2-1)

KNOW THE STARS

JP: 2B Alan Setter – There was no indication going into the first weekend that his bat was that effective, but Setter proved to be lights out against the University Point Deathclaws. In 15 at bats, Setter had 7 hits, including a home run and a five-hit game.

GOOD: 2B Jumper Hayes – Unlike Setter, the second-round pick Hayes is expected to be a standout player in the Minutemen League. The 16-year-old flexed his teenage muscles, hitting 6 times in 12 official at bats, with two doubles and two home runs to go along with six runs batted in. He leads the Hancocks in hitting, home runs, runs batted in, and stolen bases entering the second weekend.

PLAYER VS PLAYER – GAME ONE LINEUPS AND STARTING PITCHERS



TEAM ANALYSIS

Jamaica Plain is not likely to go far, and they get a tough early-season test against Goodneighbor. The Treasures are going to need Setter to continue hitting well, as well as first baseman Cody Flatt, center fielder H Matsumoto, and right fielder D Seaweed. If hitting is not working, the Treasures will probably be buried.

Pitching is not expected to keep the pace it set in Week 1, with all three starters capable of giving up lots of runs. Despite losing his first start, ace pitcher Will Rope will need to tie knots in the Goodneighbor lineup for the Treasures to avoid the sweep.

While Goodneighbor’s starting pitching did not overpower the Quincy Gunners in their series win, the bullpen tripped the ghoul in the remaining innings. The Hancocks will need more production out of their top two pitchers, Quincy Eloquent and John Oldsink. If they do find success, then the offense should be able to put away the Treasures.

On offense, the Hancocks will use their ability to get on base to score even more than the 23 runs they scored in Week One. While Hayes stood out and leadoff hitter James Kimbrough started out well, 1st round pick Bryan Assman did not have a hot weekend. If Assman finds his stroke, Goodneighbor could realistically score 10 runs a game against Jamaica Plain.

PREDICTIONS

Hancocks 6, Treasures 5
Hancocks 10, Treasures 3
Hancocks 13, Treasures 8

CBO FULL SCHEDULE

[StLee]

The Confidence Man Minute with Travis Miles



This is a transcript from Travis Miles’ post-game sign off of Game Three of the DCR Series of the Week.

Wow! Six games in, and I am convinced that the Commonwealth Baseball Organization is more drama than our near-war of the factions. I mean, this game has everything: upstart teams rising from the expectation of mediocrity or worse, game-changing home runs, huge comebacks, the thrills of victory.

If there was a lesson to be learned watching and broadcasting the first two weeks, it would be this. Baseball is less predictable than an afternoon radstorm. Well, we can predict radstorms, at least based on the sky turning from blue to green in a matter of minutes.

But who could have predicted a six-run inning? Who could have predicted the seventh batter in the lineup, third baseman Jon Hitman, hitting what turned out to be the game-winning grand slam? Now that is unpredictable and fun.

Despite Egret's rise, they are not likely to sustain that pace. To me, they look like breaks were in their favor for this weekend. However, the Scrappers have to take on the Oberland T-51s in two out of their next series. At the time of this broadcast, I have no idea how Oberland fared against Fairline Hill Estates, but a T-51s win would put them at 5-1 on the season.

Shaw has now lost two straight series, including losing to the T-51s. They now go on the road for three straight series, which could put them way behind in the division if they get off to too slow of a start. That offense will need to outblast the other teams along the way.

Next week, we head to University Point to watch the Deathclaws take on the Goodneighbor Hancocks in Minutemen League action. Here's looking forward to a fountain of Gwinnett beers both in the celebrating winning players' bellies and in mine. This has been “The Confidence Man Minute,” and this is the Confidence Man, Travis Miles, signing off.

[Tib]

Wow. This looks fantastic and it's clear how much you know about Fallout. Really in-depth descriptions and thoughtful set up. Looking forward to this. Good luck!

[StLee]

Originally Posted by Tib

Wow. This looks fantastic and it's clear how much you know about Fallout. Really in-depth descriptions and thoughtful set up. Looking forward to this. Good luck!

Thank you for the kind words! I am also a long-time reader of your ITP dynasty, and have enjoyed your way with words. I have fallen a little behind in reading recently, but that is because of my unsteady balance of reading 100+ freshman composition research papers and final reflections, which usually deflate my love of reading for a solid month! Still, I will have more time for everything in the world after this week! I would love to give you more feedback and encouragement to continue on so that you will!

[StLee]

The Silver Spoon with Anne, Rex, and George

A: Good evening baseball fans and the perpetually bored. This is your host Anne Hargraves presenting to you WRVR’s “The Silver Spoon,” the concluding radio show for Week 2 of the Commonwealth Baseball League Series of the Week. Today we saw the Minutemen League’s Jamaica Plain Treasures defeat the home Goodneighbor Hancocks 11-7 at The Third Rail Stadium at South Boston High School. My co-hosts, Rex Goodman and George Cooper will give you more of a breakdown of the game. Rex, take it away.

R: Ah, the exciting drama of baseball has only excited my passion for sport. These Shakespearian Gargantuans of the Diamond bring forth melodramatic intrigue beyond the euphonious ramblings of the Charles River Trio’s midweek broadcasts. While we hem and haw in our twisted tales at the sneaky raider of the overpass, these baseballers are pure warriors on the pitch. For example, today’s hero, the honorable David Seaweed of the Jamaica Plain Treasures, has shown us what grit is: not the ponderings through words, but the crisp path of wood meeting leather for a glorious explosion of cheers and fireworks. That, my dedicated audience, is the drama we must seek, for which we must hunger, for which we must find our sustenance.

G: I want to say, too, that we must give credit to everyone on both of the teams for how well they played. I thought the first weekend was exciting, but it was new, you know? New things are interesting at first, but they can also get old quickly. That was not the case this weekend. I felt that the matchup we had this weekend offered even more because it was not just nostalgia, but an actual competition. That can’t be undervalued.

A: I agree. And something more we saw this weekend was how a passionate owner can make a difference in the experience of the game. I mean, John Hancock. He is not only a fierce leader of a community, but a fierce fan of the game. Goodneighbor players should count themselves lucky to have him as their team owner.

G: I second that. John Hancock may not look nor play the part of the gentleman, but when he is on your side, there are very few who can show more loyalty. I know I don’t have that quality.

A: And it has looked like the Hancocks have responded well so far, even if they lost today. They are now 4 and 2, which means they have four wins and two losses on the season. Of what I’ve been told, that is an excellent winning percentage in baseball, to win two out of every three games.

R: It may not be a desirable stat in the wastes, but of what Nate Howard has told us, baseball is about celebrating the seldom victories rather than the often ones.

A: Well, my fellows in the booth, both at the field and station, let us now move to our weekly awards so that we can move on to our dramas of the week and next weekend’s drama.

Just to let you know for those who have been listening, tune in this week for the final chapter of “In the Mirelurk’s Claw.” In these last three episodes, our lovely heroine, Cappy Galore, played by yours truly, will attempt to free her beau, Holt Tatohead, played by the delightful Rex Goodman, from the clutches of an evil red-eyed mirelurk patrolling the shores of East Boston. It may not be as dramatic as baseball, but at WRVR we promise one more surprising twist to scare you out of your power armor. So please tune in Monday through Wednesday nights from 6 PM until 9 PM for “In the Mirelurk’s Claw.” OK, Rexie, tell us about your award winner of this week.

R: As promised to all of you, I am shortening the name of my weekly award to the Sportiest Sport. And my winner for this week is not a player, but Anne, you hinted at it earlier. My Sportiest Sport is owner of the Goodneighbor Hancocks, the naming benefactor of the team, Monsieur John Hancock.

Hancock showed a love of the game we have not yet matched. He supported his team from the top of the dugout, and he did it with bravado, enthusiasm, and a lot of influence of the bottles he held in his hand. To show that he is a sporty sport, he only flung two of those bottles on the field, which is much fewer than we expected due to the language he pushed the umpires' way.

A: Thank you, Rex. Now you, George.

G: Since I am not hosting this week’s show, I will not choose the top player of the week. However, I do want to choose this week’s Top Pitcher. I am awarding that one to Quincy Eloquent, Thursday’s starting pitcher and the winner for Goodnieghbor that day. I am told pitchers may take some time to catch up in the league, but Eloquent threw a solid eight innings on Thursday, leading his team to a 6-4 victory.

A: I am going to finish off this episode of “The Silver Spoon” with the Outstanding Player of the Week. Although I am not officially giving out the Stud of the Week award, I just want to say that the Treasures' Aaron Welloff is yummy deviled-eggs with a double capital Y-U.

With that said, the Outstanding Player of the Week award goes to the Hancocks’ second baseman Jumper Hayes. According to our stats, Hayes was 8 for 13 with a double, a home run, three runs scored and five runs driven in. The 16-year-old second-round pick is now batting .560 on the season, which is a great batting average.

R: Shakespearian Gargantuan of the Diamond, he is.

A: That is true, Rex. That will do it for this week’s broadcast of the Commonwealth Baseball Organization. This post-game show has been sponsored by The Third Rail in Goodneighbor. The Third Rail, when you want to get ****** up drunk and ******, drink at The Third Rail.

For “The Silver Spoon,” tune in next week when we will host a Brotherhood League matchup with the Finch Farm Four Leafs visiting the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys. We look forward to partying on the coast. Remember also to tune in for WRVR’s exciting conclusion of “In the Mirelurk’s Claw.” And next weekend, maybe we’ll get to see some live mirelurks at Nordhagen Beach. This is your favorite radio troupe, the Charles River Trio. Hear us all week!

Now for Connie Allen, and "Rocket 69." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz8rsBX19Qk

[StLee]

Tyke,

I always have some version of Tom Jones in my dynasties that I like to make into a notable character. In this version, there is Tomas Jones, who was the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys' first-round pick. He is off to a blazing start, so I wanted to flash his stats thus far. I remember you were a huge fan of the Mojave League's Tom Effin Jones.

[StLee]

2296 Week 2 - The Week in Review

[StLee]

Today in the CBO

News and Notes - Reports from around the Commonwealth

by Nat Wright-Kowalski

13 April 2296 – Swatters Player Two-Timed, Bullet Peppered

The Diamond City Swatters returned to the city last night, and for one player, he got an unpleasant surprise. Swatters closer and first-round pick Josh Samm went home to his apartment to discover his key would not work. When knocking at the door, there was no answer, so he forced his way in.

What he found upon entering the apartment was his girlfriend, identified as Velma Scoby, standing behind her lover. The girlfriend’s lover, identified as Max Lurkheart, was holding a minigun and unloaded in Samm’s general direction inside Samm’s apartment. Thankfully for Samm, the minigun did a lot more damage to his apartment than his body, but he still suffered several wounds to his left arm, hip, and leg. A neighbor sleeping in the apartment across the hall also received bullet wounds to his buttocks and right hip.

Samm was also packing a 10 mm pistol at the time. He returned fire, apparently striking either Scoby or Lurkheart. Neither was there when Diamond City security swarmed the area. All the bonnific couple left was a trail of blood and poorly packed clothes. Dimond City security and Brotherhood of Steel operatives are searching the area for the clydian couple and ask that settlers report any suspicious activities or sightings.

Samm will need time to recover, but he is expected to make a full recovery. The 5mm bullets that entered his body damaged muscle tissue, which will keep him out at least a couple of months, if not the season.

13 April 2296 – Players of the Week

BL: BL's Best Player, Jones of Nordhagen Beach: It's always a thrill for fans of the team and students of the game alike when a superstar in the making shows what he's got. Tomas Jones, the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys 18-year-old right fielder, put himself in the spotlight last week making him the clear-cut choice for Brotherhood League Player of the Week honors.

He ripped 7 hits in 13 at-bats, compiling a .538 average with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs.

IL: Tostado Chosen #1 Player: Crooked Tostado has the tools to stick in this league for many years. The 18-year-old right fielder of the Lexington Synths had a hot bat in the Institute League over the past seven days and won the Player of the Week honors.

Tostado batted .429 with 6 hits in 14 at-bats, 2 home runs and 4 RBIs.

ML: Week's Top Player: Atom's Ashfire: One of the league's most exciting young players, Will Ashfire of the Atom Cats earned himself Minutemen League Player of the Week honors with a standout performance in last week's games.

For the week the 18-year-old first baseman had a lofty .462 average (6-for-13), collecting 3 home runs, 7 RBIs and 4 runs scored.

RL: Gold Wins RL Honor: 24-year-old Erns Gold sent shock waves through Railroad League last week with an eye-popping performance that brought him the Railroad League Player of the Week Award.

A newcomer to the league, Gold made the establishment sit up and take notice, punishing opposing pitchers with a .583 average, 7 hits in 12 at-bats, 3 home runs and 6 runs batted in.

Where the Vault 81 Dwellers first baseman goes from here, only the baseball gods know for sure, but Gold certainly made his mark last week.

[Tyke]

You're right! I just thought that "Tom Effin Jones" was the most brilliant name I had come across in an OOTP dynasty! Thanks for pointing out Tomas Jones to me, that actually solves a problem: I am really enjoying this re-boot of your Fallout dynasty, but I hadn't settled on a team to root for. So it's got to be the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys!! Plus, back in the 60s I was a great Beach Boys fan, so that settles it. Will there be any Wilsons on the team? Great stuff, again, really enjoying following this. Come on the Boys!!

[StLee]

Originally Posted by Tyke

You're right! I just thought that "Tom Effin Jones" was the most brilliant name I had come across in an OOTP dynasty! Thanks for pointing out Tomas Jones to me, that actually solves a problem: I am really enjoying this re-boot of your Fallout dynasty, but I hadn't settled on a team to root for. So it's got to be the Nordhagen Beach Party Boys!! Plus, back in the 60s I was a great Beach Boys fan, so that settles it. Will there be any Wilsons on the team? Great stuff, again, really enjoying following this. Come on the Boys!!

There are currently no Wilsons; however, I have made a note to include at least two Beach Boy references for the 2297 player pool. Remind me if I don't point them out!

I like the Party Boys as a personality. I intend them to be somewhat of the beach bum mold of teams, a settler location where life is a little more relaxed than some of the more hectic parts of the Wasteland.

[StLee]

Today in the CBO

Settlements Today

by Nat Wright-Kowalski

14 April 2296 - Lexington

Each Tuesday for the upcoming weeks through the playoffs, we will feature one of the settlements, teams, and owners of the Commonwealth Baseball Organization. This is meant to tell you more about life in the Commonwealth, as well as give you more information about the teams and their owners.

In our first installment of "Settlement Today," I took a tour of Lexington. Once an area overrun by ghouls and crafty raiders, this area was one of the easiest resettlement locations due to mostly intact buildings with little structural damage.



According to the intranet (real-life https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Lexington so as not to plagiarize),
"Lexington was once a historic town northwest of Boston, remembered for its role in the American Revolutionary War. By 2077, Lexington was an industrial town known by its nickname of 'Corvega Town' thanks to the presence of the large Corvega assembly plant. An overpass for the elevated highway was built through Lexington, dividing the town, and many buildings were retrofitted to act as structural support.

After the Great War, Lexington's ruins became a raider stronghold until the abundance of feral ghouls forced most of the raiders to abandon it, leaving only a small group led by Jared in the Corvega assembly plant."


Owner - Trashcan Carla



Known as the "Junk Hoarder of the Commonwealth," Trashcan Carla always used the northwest region of the Commonwealth as her sales territory.

When Nate Howard cleared out Lexington from a bevy of ghouls and packs of raiders expanding out from the Corvega Assembly Plant, Carla immediately staked claim on Super-Duper Mart.

Instead of toting her trusty brahmin around, she made Super-Duper Mart a central location and hired security and salespeople to help run the store. When not rechecking inventory at Super-Duper Mart, Carla was out and about her old sales territory collecting junk and making trades as she saw fit.

Eventually, Lexington became a place where large-scale crews started hauling cement from Thicket Excavations to Lexington, among other cities. Because many buildings were structurally sound, crews worked to repair damaged walls and roofs. Many of those crews decided to take up residence in the area.



Carla worked more to help the infrastructure, investing her profits into other businesses in the area to promote growth. Kasumi Nakano opened a Red Rocket station. Lexington also added a Drumlin Diner, various bars, and a luxury hotel.

The Rise of Super-Duper Mart



According to terminals around the Wasteland, "The Super-Duper Marts chain operated chains stores throughout the United States and offered a wide variety of foods like Salisbury Steak and BlamCo Mac & Cheese and household products like Abraxo cleaner, gardening supplies and home décor. Some stores, like that in Lexington also had a cafeteria that offered customers hot coffee, espresso, tea and other hot beverages as well as snack food. Though all of the Super-Duper Marts that appear in the Fallout-series are on the east coast, advertisements can also be seen in the Mojave wasteland, suggesting that Super-Duper Mart had stores across pre-War America."

Pre-packaged foods and goods are not quite in abundance yet in the Commonwealth. The current iteration of Super-Duper Mart is mostly accumulated junk and traded goods, but there are distributions of Nuka-Cola, Vim!, Gwinnett beer products, and miscellaneous collections of canned goods. A few independent vendors have also set up shop, making Super-Duper Mart look like a Northwest Commonwealth version of the Bunker Hill caravan headquarters.

[Tyke]

Originally Posted by StLee

I like the Party Boys as a personality. I intend them to be somewhat of the beach bum mold of teams, a settler location where life is a little more relaxed than some of the more hectic parts of the Wasteland.

That sounds like me!

[StLee]

Originally Posted by Tyke

That sounds like me!

Well, then, Party Boys it is. They are currently in a 6-way tie for first place

[Tyke]

Originally Posted by StLee

Well, then, Party Boys it is. They are currently in a 6-way tie for first place

I suppose that means that from here the only way is down!

[StLee]

As Good as Gold

by Piper Wright

Vault 81 – The row of shacks, known as “The Dorms,” all look exactly the same except for the sprinkles of personality and painted numbers on the doors. I sit at a worn metal table with a faded orange and black-striped umbrella in the middle. The lounge chair creaks and adjusts to my weight, telling secrets about its pre-war life.

We are at dorm WB2, the row of dorms set closest to the Charles River. When players first moved to The Dorms in late February, there was a sense of newness to the players-only facilities and players quickly became a team because of it, especially when a fire wrecked one of the rows. This team is the Vault 81 Dwellers. None of them live in the vault itself, but they all represent the vault, and the vault thanks them by providing a mostly-private place to call home and three free daily meals.

Dorm WB2 belongs to the Dwellers’ third-round pick and current league leader in just about every batting category, Erns Gold. At the time of this meeting, Sunday, April 12, Vault 81 had just hosted and swept the Diamond City Swatters thanks in large part to the bat of Gold. In the series, he was 7 of 12 with 3 home runs, 2 doubles, 6 runs batted in, and 6 runs scored. He has now hit a home run in 6 straight games, meaning every game he has played in so far.

Looking at the two-weekend accumulation of stats in the Railroad League, Gold is 59 points ahead in batting average (.583), 4 homers ahead (6), 10 RBI ahead (18), and 0.3 WAR ahead (0.9), among other statistical categories kept by the league, than the second-best player in each of those categories. Quite simply, he has been “gold.”

“I don’t think that I will remain this dominant,” Gold said. “At some point, I would expect to struggle. Like life, baseball is a game of struggles.”

While he may struggle in the future, the first two weekends have shown that the third-round pick, number 64 overall, has been a major steal so far.

“I want to do my best every day,” Gold said. “I tried to tell the teams that when they interviewed me and I had tryouts for the league. I think I had a reputation from before that I had a low work ethic, but that’s not true. It was just, my job before, you know. Not everyone loves their job.”

Gold was a “caravaneer” before joining the Commonwealth Baseball Organization. Born into a life of caravaneers, Gold knew only one thing: transporting goods from place to place. While his earliest memories have mostly been in the Massachusetts area of the Commonwealth, he also remembers his family going as far as Appalachia for various reasons. He even claims to have seen the ruins of The Statue of Liberty.

“There wasn’t much to what I saw,” Gold said, a faraway look in his eyes. “You could see that the statue was in half. The legs were still normal looking from far away, but the top half from the torso up was sticking straight up from a beach. There was a man there, crying and yelling out things like, ‘you maniacs,” and ‘you blew it up,’ and something about hell. I was only 8, but it stuck with me, you know?”

When Gold was just 13, his family started moving farther east from their usual patrol area in Springfield towards Boston. Their trip took just over 14 months, that included several stops in less-than-reputable locations.

“Yeah, we were attacked a lot. You think of a creature or a bad human, and we met them along the way. Outside of Boston, the Commonwealth is wild. It is a miracle that it’s even like this here. We really are lucky.”

Gold and his family finally made their way to the Commonwealth in early 2288. By the time they arrived around, there were many differences Gold could spot.

“I remember we walked up to Egret Tours Marina from the south. Dad had his hunting rifle ready in case it was a raider settlement, but then we could see several traders coming through. We found out later that they were provisioners working for a network of settlements. We couldn’t believe it, you know? Actual civilization!”

Gold and his two younger brothers discovered the joys of life that day. Not only was Egret Tours Marina welcoming to a family of caravaneers, but their dad was able to start working and earning money right away. The settlement worked to set up the family of five in temporary housing, which later became permanent. Also, the still-14-year-old Gold was able to learn about two of his loves right away.

“The first night there, one of the teenagers, David Shovel, rest in peace, showed me and my brothers the local pool hall. We played pool until the radstorm came through that night. It was unbelievable. That was exciting, but the next day, well, that was the day that spoiled me.”

The next day, the same David Shovel, who Gold said lost his life during a roving super mutant attack about one year later, brought Erns and his two brothers, Potter and Strike, out to an open field.

“David handed us all a glove and a baseball cap. We then joined 10 other people and played baseball all day. I never went a day again not thinking about that day. David got me started in baseball, and he would be playing in the CBO, too, if he was still around.”

Gold’s two younger brothers have not joined the CBO, though Gold said he’s still trying to convince them. For now, they still work for their father’s provisioner business out of Egret Tours Marina, the same business Erns just left late last year to pursue his baseball dreams. Gold’s father often called him lazy, but Gold claims he just didn’t love the provisioner life.

“Day and night, night and day, I just thought about baseball and pool. When I heard that [Nate Howard and other league founders] were going to start a baseball league, I just knew that was my way out of caravaning. Then I couldn’t ever focus on my work. I think my pop was glad I left because he didn’t have to yell at me every day to get me to move.”

For Gold, overwhelming talent may give way to the reputation for laziness and disinterest. Sitting here on his porch west of Vault 81, I can see through his front window that he did little decorating inside his home, except for one thing: baseball posters. It looks like he has some passion after all.

“I don’t know if I’m the best in the league, but I want to be. I’ll try to be. Gosh darnit, I will do whatever it takes to play ball and not have to pull a brahmin. I don’t think good is good enough.”

For the rest of the players in the CBO, they may only hope that they can be good enough to match him. They can only hope to be as good as Gold.

[StLee]

Today in the CBO

by Nat Wright-Kowalski

16 April 2296 – Bradberton to Tour Commonwealth, Watch CBO

Nuka-Cola pioneer and miraculous living head, John-Caleb Bradberton, will be on tour in the Commonwealth, accompanied by his wife, Sierra Petrovita, and their personal bodyguards and headguards.

One of Bradberton’s main motivations is to take in some baseball during his time here for potential sponsorship and other investments. He will visit the following stadiums during his time, taking in a game before traveling to the next location on his four-field tour: Fairline Hill Estates – April 16, Salem – April 23, Jamaica Plain – April 30, and Concord – May 7. All four teams are currently lacking a corporate sponsor. Bradberton is crossing through Downtown Boston three times on his tour for potential investments in some of the abandoned factories around the Commonwealth for potential production and distribution of Nuka-Cola products from within the Commonwealth instead of the long tram ride, which is doubling as both a distribution and passenger tram, limiting the transport of both.

In 2288, Nate Howard and Petrovita discovered Bradberton at Nuka-World as an animated head kept alive by sophisticated pre-War machinery. Howard completed a Cappy Quest around different locations in Nuka-World, granting him access to Bradberton’s personal office. There, he and Petrovita discovered Bradberton still alive, though his body was long-ago discarded.

Though Bradberton begged Howard to end his life, Petrovita, the sole proprietor of the Capital Wasteland’s Nuka-Cola Museum, and a lifelong Nuka-Cola fanatic, begged otherwise. Petrovita remained with Bradberton and they eventually were married in a ceremony in Nuka Town, the central district of Nuka-World.

With the help of Howard’s armies of do-gooders, Bradberton was able to reestablish Nuka-World as a premier tourist spot with a running train directly from the Commonwealth. Nuka-World features six different areas: Nuka-Town USA, Kiddie Kingdom, the World of Refreshment and the Nuka-Cola Bottling Plant, Safari Adventure, Dry Rock Gulch, and the Galactic Zone. There are also other attractions in the area, with temporary housing in the town of Bradberton, tours of the Nuka-World Power Plant, the renovated Wixson’s Shovel Museum, the Hubologist’s Camp, and the Grandchester Mystery Mansion where the proof of ghosts has been confirmed.