Alternate History Sports » Robin Island Baseball Federation

QCS · 6/08/2020 1:51 pm

(Editor's Preface: Hello and welcome to the first part of the Robin Island Sports Saga! If you want to learn more about Robin Island and its 14 provinces and many cities, check here. Without further ado, let's get started!)

The year is 1954, one year after the United States of America granted Robin Island its independence after about 10 years of occupation following its capture in World War II. Tensions between the Japanese and American sides of the country are boiling, so the government meets with several important businessmen to ask them about methods of increasing national morale. Together, 10 businessmen and the federal government established the Robin Island Baseball Federation, an organization dedicated to increasing national morale through the common love of baseball. Each businessmen was assigned a metro area deemed worthy of a team and set about building their teams. These 10 teams would be split into two leagues, each taking their name from a popular amateur league before it: the Robin Bay League for the American side and the Shinsakai Bay League for the Japanese side.
A map of the original 10 metro areas can be seen here (along with the league's logo):

The ten cities selected were Aorin-shi, Shinosaka, Joestar, Toramoto, Queenston, San Juan, Yosemite, Vertlac, and two teams in Shinkyo. However, the league almost immediately ran into trouble: Bernard Bartram, prospective owner of the Yosemite team and current owner of Canary Mining, wanted instead to place his team in San Moriuchi and thus refused to fund renovations to the 35 year-old Canary Stadium, leaving the league in a rough place. Eventually, a compromise was reached where Bartram would keep the team in Yosemite for at least one year, but if attendance didn't reach a certain (undisclosed) figure, he would have the league's permission to relocate to San Moriuchi.

Former government official Ishimoto Aoyama was tapped to act as the first commissioner of the league, with Aorin native Junichi Maeda, owner of Blue Lumber, selected as Aorin-shi's representative, Hikari Mizuno of Golden Power recruited for Joestar, John Watts, the incredibly wealthy owner of Bank of Robin Island, tapped for Queenston, the outspoken Giles Carrey acting as San Juan's owner on behalf of RI Air, Simon Walker, part of the powerful Ishikawa Group keiretsu, took on one of Shinkyō's franchises while KHK's owner Daisuke Yoshida took control of the other. The son of Shrike's owner, Ryota Fujimori, was selected for Shinōsaka, while defense company Boreas (represented by Trey Tachibana) was selected for Toramoto. Takahiro Wilton of 35 Motors was tapped by sheer luck when Fujimori ran into him on the streets of Shinkyō and convinced him to listen to the pitch for the RIBF. Finally, Bernard Bartram rounded out the league at 10.

With everything finally settled, the owners decided if would be the interest of fairness if they held an initial draft instead of signing free agents as they pleased. Through a random draw, San Juan received the first pick and Joestar received the tenth, with a serpentine draft to follow. With this decided, owners began the process of marketing their teams, selecting names, designing jerseys, and preparing for the opening of the league in 1955.

Through later meetings, a schedule of 142 games was decided and interleague play was decided against. The playoffs would consist only of the two league winners facing each other in a seven-game series named the Robin Island Championship Series.

Stay tuned for the identity reveals of each team!

LEAGUE HISTORY:

Past Champions:
1955: Shinosaka Shrikes
1956: Shinosaka Shrikes
1957: Joestar Crusaders
1958: Shinkyo Robins
1959: Shinkyo Robins
1960: Shinkyo Robins
1961: Shinkyo Robins
1962: Queenston Monarchs
1963: Shinosaka Stars
1964: Toramoto Tigers
1965: Toramoto Tigers
1966: Shinosaka Stars
1967: Shinosaka Stars
1968: Shinosaka Stars
1969: San Moriuchi Kings
1970: San Moriuchi Kings
1971: Hokkyo Thunderbirds

View the logo and uniform archive here.

Last edited by QCS (9/12/2020 4:31 pm)

Dan O'Mac · 6/08/2020 2:34 pm

This sounds great. I'd be a touch concerned personally with the lack of Interleague play. It seems likely that with 142 games on the schedule, there will be series. With 5 teams in each league, that means one team in each league will be "off" at any given point. Strangely enough, an additional 2 teams in each league (or unbalanced leagues, 6 in one, 4 in the other) actually would eliminate that down time, without introducing Interleague play.

Section30 · 6/08/2020 4:20 pm

Definitely looking forward to this!

Steelman · 6/08/2020 8:01 pm

Looking forward to seeing this develop! I think if you're going to use the league logo in different colorways for the teams, the actual league logo should have something extra to make it stand unique, like an extra outline or something. Good start to the story. Only 5 teams per league without interleague play seems like an odd choice, I'd think an even number per side would make scheduling easier, as Dan mentioned. Can't wait to see the identities!

QCS · 6/09/2020 1:30 pm

In regards to concerns from fans that a lack of interleague play and an odd number of teams in each league will create an unbalanced schedule, the RIBF as pledged to look into matters and implement a solution soon. (That's code for: whoops, didn't realize the schedules would be unbalanced! Most likely the Shinkyo SBL team will move to the RBL. Thanks for that, guys!)

Today we'll unveil the first two identities, so get ready! Some league rules that have put into place regarding team jerseys, which will be explained here: as a cost saving measure, teams are only allowed one hat, one pair of pants, and one pair of socks. The home jersey must be white while the away jersey must be "sufficiently distinguishable" from white. Additionally, the federal government forbade teams from taking their parent company's name as a way to increase local connection.

First to announce their identity was Daisuke Yoshida's Shinkyo team.

About Daishinkyō:

Daishinkyō, known often by its nickname Daikyō, is on the larger island and is the largest city in Robin Island, by far. Daikyō is famous for its incredible culture and diversity, as well as being home to most government functions. The legislature (known as the People's Branch), the Executive (known as the Prime Minister), and the Judiciary (known as the People's Court) all reside on Daikyō, as well as things like the National Bank and the Police Bureau. Notably, the military is not found in Shinkyō but is instead based in Ft. Hayakawa in Toramoto. Daikyōens often consider themselves superior to Kokyōers, causing something of a rift between the two islands.

About the Identity:
Shinkyō Baseball Club, nicknamed "The Senators", are a legacy team dating back to the founding of baseball itself in Robin Island. After cycling through many names, they settled on "Senators" after a former senator bought the team in the early 1930s. The logo takes inspiration from the Robin Island flag, with the official colors being known as "White", "National Red", and "National Blue". The logo itself is the "rising sun" of the Robin Island flag with the top half occupied by "Shinkyo Baseball Club" and "The Senators". The jersey are unique in the RIBF because the home jersey is a vest with red sleeves. Yoshida was also willing to spend to the extra money to give his players two caps, so the league granted him a waiver (no other owner was willing to do so). The away jersey is red with "Shinkyo" in arched block text and a red and blue cap. The pants have a simple red stripe down the side while the socks are basic red stirrups.

About the Team:
Yoshida has financed a brand new field to be built in Seidaishinkyō, the western portion of Daishinkyō. Yoshida Field is the largest stadium in the league, with a capacity of 31,000. As the owner of TV network KHK, Yoshida doesn't have much to worry about in the money department. The two best players on the team are 2B Yorkis Wada and 3B Masakatsu Masuda. The team is expected to be average this season, but Yoshida is hoping for immediate success to help justify his investment.

NEXT: Aorin

Last edited by QCS (6/09/2020 1:46 pm)

QCS · 6/09/2020 1:46 pm

Later that day, Aorin put out a press release detailing the team and identity.

About Aorin-shi:

Aorin, named after the province, is the largest city in the province of Aorin and the 6th largest in the country. It's built on the excellent fishing that can be found in the channels around the city and island it occupies. It was selected to be the capital in 1953 through a random drawing between the three biggest cities in Aorin at the time: Aorin, Aokawa, and Aoba. This has skewed the development of all three, with Aorin becoming definitively the largest city in the province. Baseball is the premier sport in the city, followed closely by soccer.

About the Identity:
The Aorin Carp take their name from the NPB's Hiroshima Carp, although for different reasons. While the Japanese side was inspired by Rijo Castle (which means "Carp Castle"), Junichi Maeda decided to take inspiration from the carp that can be seen in the rivers and lakes in Aorin. The colors are "Aorin Blue" and "Carp Orange" from the province and the vibrant colors found on the fish. The logo is a "wishbone C" intersecting an A, for "Aorin Carp". The wishbone C came from the Hiroshima Carp, who were inspired by Chuo University, who were in turn inspired by the American Cincinnati Redlegs (formerly the Reds). The home jersey uses blue pinstripes with the logo stitched on the front chest. The away shirt is blue with an all-orange jersey of the logo with orange numbers on the back. The cap is all-blue with the same orange logo, while the pants continue the blue pinstripes of the home jersey. The socks are classic blue stirrups.

About the Team:
Owner Junichi Maeda of Blue Lumber (Aorin's biggest lumber company) is passionate about baseball and excited to be a part of the first nationwide professional baseball league. The team plays in Aorin Municipal Ballpark, built in 1936 with a capacity of 21,000. That makes it the second-smallest park in the league but Maeda isn't worried about profit and is focused on creating a winning team. The two best players on the Carp are P Taizo Nishimoto and P Shinsui Nagata. The Carp aren't expected to compete for titles, but will be one of the better teams.

NEXT: Joestar

QCS · 6/09/2020 1:52 pm

Dan O'Mac wrote:
This sounds great. I'd be a touch concerned personally with the lack of Interleague play. It seems likely that with 142 games on the schedule, there will be series. With 5 teams in each league, that means one team in each league will be "off" at any given point. Strangely enough, an additional 2 teams in each league (or unbalanced leagues, 6 in one, 4 in the other) actually would eliminate that down time, without introducing Interleague play.

Yep, I was looking at the schedule in OOTP and it was all messed up. I've moved the Senators to the RBL for now and that seems to have fixed the issues. Thanks for the feedback!

Section30 wrote:
Definitely looking forward to this!

Thanks! I'm excited to get back into having a league of my own, I plan on some fun storylines in the future!

Steelman wrote:
Looking forward to seeing this develop! I think if you're going to use the league logo in different colorways for the teams, the actual league logo should have something extra to make it stand unique, like an extra outline or something. Good start to the story. Only 5 teams per league without interleague play seems like an odd choice, I'd think an even number per side would make scheduling easier, as Dan mentioned. Can't wait to see the identities!

Yeah, the league structure was a little messed up. It's fixed now, thanks for the feedback. As of now, the different colorways for the league's logo is only for my own presentations and isn't supposed to be used in-universe yet, but when that does happen I'll be sure to properly distinguish between the league's logo and the team's version. Deciding the difference between the Senators and the league logo was actually pretty tough given they both use RWB, but by focusing on white for the Sens and blue for the league I think I've distinguished it enough for now.

Dan O'Mac · 6/09/2020 2:02 pm

I like the Senators a lot. It's a good looking set.

The Carp are gorgeous. Between the light blue pinstripes, and blue Away jersey, they look good. One thing I don't like is the way the logo looks in one color. It looks great in two colors, but in one, I feel it needs something to separate the C and A.

Section30 · 6/09/2020 4:28 pm

The Senators and Carp look great, I especially like Aorin. The colors and monogram are both excellent, I'll hold off on picking a favorite just yet but the Carp will be hard to beat.

Steelman · 6/09/2020 4:34 pm

Great start with the identities! Couple thoughts:

Senators: Classy set. I think if you thickened up the script just a bit it'd look a bit less frilly.

Carp: Dan has me beat, I definitely thought the same regarding the single color version of the logo. I think you might need to add white into the palette and make the A white on the blue cap and jersey. It's a nice set overall. I dig the light blue pinstripes a lot.

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