Just caught up on this thread; love to see my hometown Fort Wayne represented!

Fall-1894:

Following what a consensus of league owners called the most successful season the league has ever had, it came as a shock when J. Earl Wagner informed the league that he was folding the Washington Senators after just one season in the league. What he had failed to tell the league prior to joining it was his large amount of debt he'd accumulated in the years before joining while the team had no league to play in. They had essentially been operating off of large loans on the speculation of joining a professional league. Wagner then defaulted on his loans at the end of the season, and the bank seized his remaining assets causing the club to dissolve. The effects in the following weeks caused many of the owners to accuse one another of potentially hiding finances from one another in attempts to fraud the league. All of this came to a head when James Kenton (Red Stockings) accused John B. Day (Giants) of paying players under the table to avoid the salary cap. Linus Gerzberg had been suspicious of these dealings when the Giants had submitted their payroll to the league and it had been nearly $10,000 less then what it likely should have been.

In all this chaos, the league settled on a new system of accountability for the following season and beyond;

- All transactions regarding any franchise & league will be published bi-weekly to the entirety to league
- Any team caught paying players above the salary cap will be penalized $3,000 per player over the cap
- Any new team will have to submit substantial case of financial stability before joining the league

[color=#141414]Later in the fall, Linus makes the decision to purchase the Fort Wayne Kekiongas from Charles Bonnaire and promises that they have a permanent home in Gerzberg Field. While not officially classified as professional or semi-professional, Linus makes it clear to the current team and to the lose association of negro teams

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Winter-1893/4 => Spring-1894:

Following a tumultuous fall for the league in terms of owner disagreements, things begin to settle down as talks with the Appalachian League finalize in the early days of the new year. The league agrees to admit the teams from Baltimore and Washington, with the intention to expand to Louisville and Charlotte once a stable owner is found, as both cities had experienced 4 different clubs in the 4 seasons of the Appalachian League. The new teams to be admitted in the 1894-Season are;

1. Washington Senators: a team with a nickname that has been carried by multiple clubs, but with their new ownership under J. Earl Wagner, they look to be a stable and competitive club. They will play their games at Boundary Field which is on the city's limits, giving the club room to expand the field from it current capacity of 3,500.

2. Baltimore Orioles: another causality of the American Association folding 5 years prior, this club had been reduced to the barely professional App. League. Owned by the brilliant financier Harry Von der Horst , the team, much like the Senators, is ready to compete in a new league with the opportunity to bring success to the city. The will play their games at Union Park in heart of Baltimore whose capacity of 5,000 will suit the city very well.

With expansion set and ready the league owners all meet to discuss the format of the season and changes to the league structure:

- The name of the league will officially change to the National Professional Baseball League (NPBL), to reflect its ever growing region of play
- The league's schedule will increase to 81 games
- Elimination of required 2 exhibition games, but pre-season exhibitions are still encouraged
- Elimination of specific day requirements
- 60 games against division teams, 5 home & 5 away for each team
- 21 games against other divisions' teams, 3 home & 3 away for each tea

…

Summer-1893:

The season starts off smoothly with each team playing their exhibition games including another match-up between the Fort Wayne Generals and Fort Wayne Kekiongas, this year the Generals win 2 to 1 with clutch performances by their entire outfield to seal the game for them. Following the game, Linus speaks with Charles Bonnaire of the Kekiongas about creating a trophy for the annual game between them, and after some initial hesitation, Charles agrees. The Three Rivers Classic is formed from this conversation, and will be a staple of Fort Wayne sports for years to come. Elsewhere in the league, the Chicago Braves also play against their city's negro team; the Chicago Lakers, losing in the match-up 4 to 2 in a tied up until the 9th inning.

As the regular season begins, the country while hurting financially is beginning to already show signs of recovery, particularly in the northeast as trade with Canada and the UK starts to return. Early season favorites are the Braves in the west and the Admirals in the east with both starting the season off very well. Unfortunately for the Admirals, their southern rival in New York showed the entire league why they're The Empire City. As the season approaches the end, the 4 teams left are the Giants, Brown Stockings, Braves, and Red Stockings.

1893 Final Regular Season Standings:

West Division:

1. Chicago Braves (35 - 17)
2. Cincinnati Red Stockings (31 - 21)
3. Fort Wayne Generals (27 - 25)
4. St Louis Malt-Men (22 - 30)
5. Milwaukee Brewers (18 - 34)
6. Indianapolis Greys (15 - 37)

East Division:

1. New York Giants (42 - 10)
2. Detroit Brown Stockings (35 - 17)
3. Boston Admirals (28 - 24)
4. Cleveland Spiders (25 - 27)
5. Philadelphia Athletics (22 - 30)
6. Pittsburgh Burghers (12 - 40)1893

Post-Season:

Western Divisional Series:

1. Braves 1 Red Stocki

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Spring-1893:

The somberness of the past winter begins to melt away as the flowers begin to bloom, but all is not well in the nation. In the last days of his presidency, Benjamin Harrison, sat back as the Reading Railroad, went into receivership. That collapse was soon magnified by the failure of hundreds of banks and businesses dependent upon the Reading and other railroads. The stock market reacted with a dramatic plunge. Fearing further collapse, European investors pulled their funds from the United States, but depression soon gripped the other side of the Atlantic as well. An ongoing agricultural depression in the West and South deepened, spreading the misery to those regions as well. The Mid-Western United States, largely reliant on customers and suppliers in their region largely remained unaffected outside of some of the cities along contact points with other regions most notably Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

The league meets to discuss financial situations, and despite no team currently suffering any serious issues, some worry that this season or next could be their last. Regardless of this, the league agrees to move forward with the season with a few minor changes to the structure of the league;

• Division realignment; New York, Boston, and Philadelphia join the East while Cincinnati joins the West
• Small extension to 52 + 2 exhibition games


• 20 Saturday, 20 Sunday, 10 Friday, and 4 Thursday games
• 8 games against each of your division's teams, 4 home & 4 away (40 games)
• 2 games against each of the other divisions's teams, 1 home & 1 away (12 games)
• 2 exhibition games against regional minor or negro teams


• Extension of end of season to play-off structure;


• 3 game series between the top 2 in each division
• 3 game series between division series winners


• Hard salary cap established, set at $45,000

[color=#141414]James O'Cahill also informs the le

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