Steelman wrote:

H-Town1141 wrote:

TL;DR: Viar got all mad and threw the game to get back at the organization for not letting him start an extra game in the Championship the year prior. The Association creates a president position filled by Worton Campbell, who is in charge of a committee that can ban players. They ban Tom Viar with ease.

Great story and writing! (Also appreciated the TL:DR)

Keep it up.

 Thank you! I think I'm going to add TLDRs to the end so that people can get the gist of the story and enjoy the uniforms, while anyone who cares can read the whole thing to find out the names and people involved.

1900 Season:

                Baltimore literally did not leave first place all season. From the start of June until the American Championship, no team even came within 4 games of the club, with the closest being Federal Athletic in mid-June. Bryan Taubenfeld finally reached the MVP award after 3 years of insane production, leading the East in WAR, AVG, OPS and stolen bases, (4.5, .326, .858, and 103 respectively). LF Kyle Bell played out of his mind and finished second on the team in all of those categories, while 2B Frank Dering, an understated piece acquired the year prior, provided clutch hitting and star-level defensive skills. The team’s pitching wasn’t anything in the realm of special, but kept teams at bay long enough for the bats to rake. The head into the championship series unflinchingly confident.
 
                BC Boston surprised the East and found themselves 2nd in the final standings, sitting pretty with their first winning record since before the Association. Danny Ostrowski led the way in ERA, but was the only starter with a losing record. Nonetheless, the starter rattled off some impressive wins and led a revitalized pitching corps that was one of the Association’s worst the year prior. The pair of Billys led the team in runs produced but took a backseat to breakout phenoms 2B Jaime Brueck and SS Chad Georgi. Although both on the team for the past 2 seasons, they finally got solid playing time this year and formed one of the best middle infields in all of baseball. Because of their emergence, many newspapers are switching to simply calling them the Bees, although Billys is still predominant.
 
                The Philas, although mocked for their name, found some good fortune by finding their first winning record since 1897 with the resurgence of SS Jonathon Needham and the continued production of Max Chestnut. Scott Sulka pitched well, leading his team with a 2.72 ERA, but led a pitching corps that was underwhelming outside of him. It’s a testament to the overall team production that let Philadelphia end up with a winning record, but ownership is content to sit back and park it in neutral for a little while. The name, though, has been agreed upon as being undeniably stupid and reporters in Philadelphia have started to ridicule the team for putting it on their uniforms. “It’s one thing”, a columnist in Baltimore writes, “for it to be on the front of a tabloid. It’s another to see it on the front of a uniform.” (HINT: SUGGEST NAMES)
 
                Brooklyn found itself leaderless after Lisiewicz’s leave of absence was declared indefinite. Dan Hymel was the fresh face of the team, but became just as loud as Lisiewicz about his own skills. Although a solid pitcher, he was nowhere near that skill level, and the Jays nickname became sort of an insult to those even in Brooklyn. Buckman was once again solid, but Kenzie Curnew was benched midway through the year and replaced by a stopgap option named Dan Mann. Seriously. Mann went 10-28, the worst ever record for a Brooklyn pitcher in any league at any time, but that wasn’t just his fault. Offensive production grinded to a halt, with 2B Randy Pankey and 1B Mike Filsinger falling from unsustainable levels of production, and Championship MVP SS Jimmy Manko was benched in favor of David O’Reilly, who produced less than Manko’s production the year prior.
HOWEVER, THERE WAS A BRIGHT SPOT
                Untold to reporters, Asher Lisiewicz was to return to the mound August 30th in Boston, against a white-hot Billys team looking to stay in the pennant race. The Slingin’ Pole gave up 4 runs through 7, three of them earned, and only struck out 3 batters. However, it didn’t matter. The team rallied around their star pitcher and won, 9-4. Lisiewicz finished the season undefeated at 7-0, and Brooklyn is looking to retool and reload following a disappointing season with a single silver lining.
 
                Federal Athletic came into the year looking to build on their surprising finish from the year prior. Jamie Rodak was coming off an excellent season and the pitching was superb, they were looking to make moves int the offseason, it was all going to be gr-
                It all fell apart. Rodak fulfilled his role as franchise centerpiece well, hitting .272 and finishing 2nd in the Easter League in RBI, total bases, and stolen bases. Cy Sanusi, the Association’s first Rookie of the Year, produced better than years prior and almost eclipsing a .300 AVG. However, just like years prior, Owner Justin O’Shea failed to spend or encourage the club to make any real roster changes. The most the club did was trade away a few pieces for Brooklyn’s struggling third baseman David Bollon, who admittedly turned things around in DC. The pitching was definitively the worst in the East and failed to offer any assistance to a sputtering offense, and the Miracles failed to achieve their first back-to-back winning records since the late 1880’s.
 
                Athletic accomplished a single thing they set out to do; for the first time since the New York league, Athletic had a winning record against Brooklyn, going 16-12 against the team down the river. However, they sucked against everyone else. Kurt Dahms, signed to a major league retention deal the year prior, found his way to the active roster and won Rookie of the Year, while fellow rookie Terry Wheelock helped lead the best offense in the East. However, this was in spite of Dan Richmond, who despite coming off of a near MVP campaign, ended up playing so poorly that fans at the Polo Grounds booed him as he came up to bat. His struggles were more emblematic of the defensive side of the ball, where the pitching completely caved and left the offense to fend for itself. Starter Chris Meier was put into the ace spot for the first time, and stayed dominant Cartoons in the papers had Wester’s squad digging their way to the bottom of the standings, as Burrowers seemed to stick with even Athletic-related journalists.
 
                Cincinnati, after years of dealing with the pesky SA Chicago and St. Louis clubs dating back to the Midwestern League (not to be mistaken for the current incarnation of the Midwestern Baseball Association), finally get over the hump thanks to the new dynamic trio of an MVP-level Joe Watkins, the absolute machine in centerfielder Weldon Hill, and the best two-way shortstop in the game in Luis Flores. Pitching was on point, as well, with Mike Rouse dominating the West and taking away the 1900 Pitcher of the Year award. The team had to slog through the first half of the season, ending up tied for 1st in the West at the end of July, only to tear through August and maintain distance in September to win the first pennant in the team’s history. With their ace and core of experienced vets and new faces all entering their prime, Cincinnati is looking to supplant St. Louis and Chicago’s grip for years to come.
               
Chicago’s pitching, like always, carried them to their wins. Thad Fiefield was once again playing out of his mind, although slightly less than the year prior with a 2.76 ERA. Newcomer TJ Delaney matched that mark in his emergency role as a starter, before being shut down midway through the year with injury, and Cody Miller turned from elite to simply good. It didn’t matter that they gave up the least runs in the Association because the offense was officially the worst in the West, with the only real offensive contributors were a down-year Charisma Stahl and a group of underwhelming supporting pieces. Sporting Athletic was disgraced the year prior by the offseason events of Tom Viar, and could never recover to the emotional toll done to them by the media. They started slow and only got to 5 games over .500 with just a few to spare. As a result of their performance and the events that occurred in the offseason, the athletic club and its owner, John Pelletier, have considered shopping the team around and divesting themselves from Association baseball, potentially returning to the Midwestern league.
 
                You’d expect the team coming off of an ACS appearance and led behind true superstars in ace Bobby Farmer and 1897 MVP Frank Palmer that they’d look to contend once again. They did just that, but kept it close enough that Cincinnati was able to come roaring out in front by season’s end. St. Louis actually tied Chicago in both overall and head-to-head record, leaving only a run differential as a tiebreaker. St. Louis gave up over 100 more runs than Chicago, so here they are in 3rd. Part of that is because going into the year, the team only had two starters, so third baseman Will Moody had to sub in as a starter. He did well, but a 4.48 ERA certainly did his team no favors. The lack of true leadership also became a serious issue in the clubhouse, as Palmer (with a league leading 12 home runs), Farmer (1899 Pitcher of the Year, 2nd in 1900 POTY voting), and third baseman Jeremy Cunningham (the best shortstop in the West) were either apathetic or didn’t take the season seriously enough, and that allowed the team to falter down the stretch.
 
                Detroit got SO close to a winning record it hurts. They came out extremely strong behind Makofske, along with new starter at third base in Chris Spurlock and fellow newcomer left fielder John McCormick, while Dusty Wright remained a defensive beast. They headed into July with a chance at the pennant, only to get maimed in a 9-game losing streak that saw them give up double digit runs 3 times. The back half was a slog, and as the team drifted towards .500, no one seemed to right the ship. Becker and his squad are still playing the long game, and manager Rick Shultz was able to get them ahead of schedule this year. Hopefully it doesn’t fall apart on them.
 
                It just occurred to me that I haven’t mentioned George Rogers. Rogers has been consistently one of the best pitchers in baseball the past few years, with modern stats (like, 2020 modern stats) absolutely gushing over the guy. He’s compiled 26.2 wins above replacement over the last 3 seasons, more than any pitcher not named Asher Lisiewicz. His FIP, or fielding independent pitching, has an ungodly sub-3.2 during that stretch and dipping down to 2.97 (literally some of the best pitching stats I’ve ever seen), demonstrating that he is undeniably great and has poor defensive pieces behind him, as he finished the year 20-20 with a 2.97 ERA. He is criminally underrated, and will continue to be because the Brewers went 14 games under .500 and are not looking to make any big moves. Additionally, because of the contract structure depending on service time (it effectively operates as a 10-year reserve clause, so you see a bunch of teenagers get signed early to the Major League reserve roster while they play on development teams or in one of the larger regional leagues), he won't be able to leave the team during his peak despite only being officially signed through 1903.
 
                As the league has grown in popularity over the last few years, the more that Cleveland’s ballclub has been the subject of ridicule. In the era before pitcher dominance was the only was towards success, this team might have found its footing, but their pitching has consistently been the worst in the West, year over year, and for some reason they’re unwilling to trade any of the glut of offensive talent they have in Bachicha, Story, or Willie Burke, as well as breakout stars such as Jimmy Pulizzi. Exorcist Brown hasn’t been the same since his injury two years ago, and left 1900 worse than he entered the year. They are hopeless without pitching, so they will most likely remain hopeless.
 
Eastern TL;DR: Brooklyn fell off without Lisiewicz and got outplayed by NYCA head-to-head, fulfilling one half of Wester’s preseason boast. The other half. Not so much. Baltimore and Taubenfeld finally reach the eastern crown, with their star being named MVP. Boston surprised and might be here to stay, who knows. Philadelphia got bullied for their name by Eastern writers, so they might change it. DC fell off a cliff.

Western TL;DR: Cincinnati won the West behind Pitcher of the Year Mike Rouse. Joe Watkins won MVP, leading a star-studded lineup on a dismantling of the West. The Republics might be sold and the athletic club might form a Midwestern League team because Pelletier can’t handle the state of the team and its reputation after the Viar saga. St. Louis had all the pieces for another run but forgot 2 things: a leader and a 3rd starter. Detroit had a good year for their standards, but who knows if they’ll continue the momentum into the next year. Milwaukee and Cleveland suck. 

*READ MILWAUKEE'S ENTRY TO LEARN HOW CONTRACTS WORK (I'll explain the why in the offseason)

Up next: the 1900 Championship Series!

Last edited by H-Town1141 (5/09/2020 7:10 pm)

For the Philas maybe they could lean into the blue and go with something like Royals or Blue Jays

Maybe you could do Bells for Philly?  

Well their you go Brooklyn. We are comfortable digging deep down as long as we know that the chirp was taken out of you along the way.

Woohoo! Thank you Cincy!