An Entirely New Lens
ADDED 2/8/23: COMPLETE MLB-NLB (RETROPLAY-QUALIFIED) PLAYER DIRECTORY HERE…
1/12/23 Update: When we use the slogan, “Baseball History Viewed Through An Entirely New Lens,” we’re talking about a birthplace-based “replay” project that spans all MLB-NLB years from 1871 through 2020. Call it the “Natal League,” if you wish, but all of the team rosters have been determined by (re-)assembling the historical players according to birthplace within nations/states/regions and even cities. So it’s all about putting “native sons” together, and for entire careers; players born in the same locality remain together as a cohort moving through generations in time (and even outside of it, via the Time-Travel teams). This birthplace-based, Wins-Above-Replacement-stat-driven, fantasy-league-replay-of-historical-seasons project is going on over at my other baseball site, Retroplay.net. To keep things straight on what you’ll find where, you can jump down the page to an explanatory article (on this page) here.
But let’s get back to this “new lens” stuff first.
When the “new lens” is employed, we can now see an alternative or parallel “universe” of 150 years of major-league baseball. We are NOT attempting to re-write actual history, but we are offering a new way to look at baseball history if it had maybe “zagged” instead of “zigged,” at least in the freed-up imagination. While nostalgic notions can play with our memories and lead to delusions about the past, it seems to me that some “WIST-ful thinking” is permissible, as long as reality and fantasy aren’t confused: In this particular case, we’re taking an approach along the lines of asking with a sigh, “Wasn’t it just possible to avoid an unwritten, unofficial “color line” and to put ALL of the best professional baseball players on the same major-league ball fields?” And, secondarily, “Isn’t it more naturally attractive to the fans in the various locales to gather and maintain teams — throughout the generations — that truly represent geographical areas, with all of the players having been born in those parts, rather than collecting “mercenaries” from “parts unknown” to wear the uniforms?”
I realize that the latter question is likely to draw more immediate pushback than the former, because today’s wide-open free-agency is generally seen as a good thing, and the much-reviled “reserve clause” occupies a grave that nobody seems to want to visit. Granted, but here’s the give-AND-take on this issue that many would not even begin to consider:
- The obvious DOWN-side to a system in which players are bound by geographical limits is that they’d be able to play only for one particular (local/regional) team; they couldn’t “sell their services” to any team outside of their “birthplace zone” (obviously, this would have a negative impact on player mobility);
- However, the UP-side to such a system is that if it includes ALL geographical regions, it automatically opens up the possibility to players everywhere to play for A team/SOME team (no color barrier, no nationality barrier; obviously, this would have a positive impact on openness to opportunities ; every capable player would at least have a team for which he could potentially play);
- With regard to the followers (fans) of baseball teams at all levels, loyalty to the locals is naturally produced, and many of those local players would love nothing more than to succeed as worthy representatives of that area and wear that particular, time-honored uniform with the pride of one in a long line of native sons. A generational legacy of loyalty is what’s in view here, whether that’s realistic or just plain naive.
A quote from “JUST CALL ME MINNIE ” by recently-elected (finally!) Hall-of-Famer, Minnie Minoso (died, 2015), might help me to get nearer to the point on this whole business of the interaction between local fans, local players, and even (in most cases) local ownership/management. This is from page 115 of that 1994 book (reflecting on his being traded to Cleveland in 1957):
“In those days you developed a real emotional attachment to a club and the fans. We were not
ballplayers for hire like today. We didn’t sell our bat to the highest bidder. We had a loyalty that
doesn’t seem to exist now. Baseball is a different business today; the world has changed and so
has baseball. True, we did not have the mobility and freedom that today’s ballplayers have.
We did not have free agency, multi-year contracts, or high-powered agents. We could not veto a
trade or dictate terms to the management. But we did have loyalty and friendship, a love for
the game, and a burning desire to play. We held dear the tradition and professionalism of the
sport.
We wore our uniforms with pride and dignity.” [Bold emphasis is mine]
When we make our way back to the beginning, through contemporary and pieced-together historical accounts and documentary films, we can readily see that from the start, “base ball” was an avocation that rapidly grew in popularity primarily because it was a local enterprise that had an innate, universal appeal. If the game caught on in Town A, nearby Towns B, C, and E liked what they saw and got going on their own teams (Town D might’ve been slow to succumb to its charms, but eventually….). So interest spread on a word-of-mouth/example-observed/free-will-adoption basis; there was nothing top-down about it, and even the local “Pee Wee” could become a local celebrity of sorts by playing the game well; a local-boy-makes-good, feel-good story that elevated the community itself. And if the local nine’s reputation extends outward into the rest of the state or bordering states, all the more glory for the community that produced these top-shelf players, right?
The point is simply this: Base ball/Baseball as a game has always depended — for its sustained popularity — on its continuing ability to attract interest within generations of families and the neighbors with whom they’ve had the most interaction; local popularity has radiated steadily outward. Base ball clubs were formed on the basis of a common interest in “wholesome exercise” in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, those local pockets where it all started before 1871. The business of baseball is a whole different story. Everybody wants to make big money off the game, and that has long been the case. That development was inevitable in the growing sport’s economy, but that side of things has never captivated my imagination like the history of the game on the field. Just sayin’ ….So, bottom line: I like the premise of a Major League Baseball Organization that draws teams of players from all over the world (universal aspect) who compete for the prestige of local, generationally-supplied teams (local aspect). Sure, the players are attached to one team for an entire career in such a system, but also to fellow players that move together as a cohort if the team’s territory expands or contracts, and…. they enjoy a lifelong natural attachment to succeeding generations of fans from the same area. Let the moneymakers figure out how they’d have still derived their personal fortunes from birthplace-built, local franchises in a world-scope league. After all, I’m guessing, that’s what their on-paper fantasy-leagues would be about.
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“STAFF OF ONE,” BUT TWO WEBSITES: AN EXPLANATION
I (THE “STAFF” OF ONE, THE “1” IN Seaporter1) RUN TWO BASEBALL-ORIENTED SITES, RETROPLAY.NET (ongoing for several years), AND BASEBALL150.COM (established in 2022, and where you are now). WHILE YOU’LL FIND A PLETHORA OF OVERLAPPING/REDUNDANT MATERIAL AT BOTH SITES, REMEMBER THIS 2-PART RULE OF THUMB IN ORDER TO BETTER KEEP THINGS STRAIGHT:
- AT RETROPLAY.NET, THE FOCUS IS ON THE FANTASY-LEAGUE “REPLAYS” OF 150 MLB-NLB SEASONS FROM 1871 THROUGH 2020 THAT EMPLOY TEAMS ASSEMBLED SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF BIRTHPLACE. THE “OPEN BASEBALL LEAGUE” (O.B.L.) IS A “PARALLEL UNIVERSE,” SO IT IS NOT HISTORICAL, AND NO CLAIMS ARE EVER GOING TO BE MADE THAT IT IS OR WAS. HOWEVER, . . . IN ORDER TO NOT REPEATEDLY TRY THE PATIENCE OF ANYONE TAKING AN INTEREST IN THE PROJECT, RATHER THAN USING PHRASES LIKE — “SO IF THIS HAD BEEN TRUE, AND THE TEAMS HAD SET UP JUST LIKE THIS, AND THERE WAS NO COLOR BARRIER, AND IF ALL OF THE PLAYERS NEARLY EXACTLY PRODUCED AS THEY DID IN REAL LIFE IN THAT PARTICULAR SEASON, WE THINK THE RESULTS WOULD HAVE LOOKED LIKE THOSE WE CAME UP WITH, AND THEREFORE, . . [etc.]” — WE’LL JUST PRETEND THAT THINGS DID UNFOLD JUST AS WE’RE PRESENTING THEM; IT’S JUST SO MUCH EASIER. BESIDES, IT’S WHAT WE USUALLY DO WITH FICTION, RIGHT?
- AT BASEBALL150.COM, WE’RE LOOKING AT THE ACTUAL, HISTORICAL MAJOR-LEAGUE SCENARIO AS IT SURELY DID UNFOLD FROM 1871 THROUGH 2020 (and possibly beyond, if time remains available to me). SO INSTEAD OF RE-COMBINING TEAMS THROUGH RETRO-ACTIVE, ARTIFICIAL MEANS, WE TAKE ALL OF MLB-NLB HISTORY JUST AS IT PLAYED OUT, HIGHLIGHTS, LOWLIGHTS, WARTS, AND ALL; WE’RE NOT CHANGING A THING. INSTEAD, THE “NEW LENS” WE’RE PROVIDING ON THIS HISTORICAL SIDE OF THE OVERALL PROJECT IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY OF RANKING PLAYERS (W.A.R.-BASED, USING THE HISTORICAL STATS) VIA THE RETRO-PLAY RATING (RPR); SO THAT PART IS BEING CARRIED OVER FROM THE RETROPLAY SIDE, AS WELL AS BIRTHPLACE-BASED ALL-TIME (ALL-STAR) GROUPINGS (BY STATE/REGION/NATION, EVEN A MAJOR-CITY SECTION). IN MY OPINION (IMO, elsewhere), LOOKING AT WHICH PLAYERS WERE THE BEST EVER TO BE BORN IN A PARTICULAR GEOGRAPHICAL ZONE IS STILL A MATTER OF ENGAGING CURIOSITY.
WAYS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS PAGE: 1) EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN THE OBL/FANTASY REPLAY SIDE, YOU CAN STILL LINK TO BASEBALL-REFERENCE’s PAGES THAT LIST ALL OF THE OFFICIAL MLB PLAYERS BORN IN A GIVEN LOCALE (EVEN “AT SEA” IN ONE CASE). THOSE LINKS ARE ALL PROVIDED BELOW AND WILL OPEN UP TO YOU IN A NEW TAB (FOR EASY RETURN TO THIS PAGE; 2) IF YOU DO HAVE AN INTEREST IN SETTING UP A SIMILAR FANTASY-LEAGUE PROJECT, 99% OF THE INTENSIVE LEGWORK HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE; A WORKABLE TEMPLATE IS RIGHT HERE, READILY AVAILABLE (RIGHT DOWN TO THE SUGGESTED WAY TO SPLIT THE DOMINICAN INTO TWO TEAMS); 3) IF NOTHING ELSE, YOU’VE GOT A “REFRESHER COURSE” MAP OF THE UNITED STATES TO AID IN SELF-TESTING YOUR GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE (HOW MANY STATE-BLANKS CAN YOU IDENTIFY?).
A color-coded map of the American regional picture in the Open Baseball League (for 1871-1945):
Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com, we can instantly check who was born where, and as a result in the RetroPlay /OBL system, who played/plays for whom during each “replayed” season. Here is the general index page (birthplace by nationality): https://www.baseball-reference.com/bio/
The links below are grouped by ERL (Expanded Regional League, a prior experimental league) team assignments, moving from the northeastern American states to the southeast, the deep south, the Appalachian region, the midwest, the Mississippi River region, the “classic west,” and the “far west,” including Alaska and Hawaii, and Guam and Samoa. Extra-national groupings follow.
[NOTE: “RC” = REGIONAL CODE, AN IMPORTANT SPREADSHEET/DATABASE-SORTING TOOL]
NEW ENGLAND (NEL) REGION (DESIGNATED NEA WHEN ALLIED WITH EXTRA-NATIONAL PLAYERS)
Players born in Maine (ME) (RC=10) Players born in New Hampshire (NH) (RC=11) Players born in Vermont (VT) (RC=12) Players born in Massachusetts (MA) (RC=13) Players born in Rhode Island (RI) (RC=15) Players born in Connecticut (CT) (RC=17)
NEW YORK and PENNSYLVANIA were/are generally “stand-alone” states, and regions by themselves
Players born in New York (NY) (RC=20) Players born in Pennsylvania (PA) (RC=30)
(THE DESIGNATION NYE USED — FOR NEW YORK EXTENDED — WHEN ALLIED WITH EXTRA-NATIONALS)
MID-ATLANTIC REGION (MAT)
Players born in New Jersey (NJ) (RC=41) Players born in Delaware (DE) (RC=43) Players born in Maryland (MD) (RC=45) Players born in Washington, D.C. (DC) (RC=44)
SOUTHEAST REGION (SE)
Players born in North Carolina (NC) (RC=50) Players born in South Carolina (SC) (RC=52) Players born in Georgia (GA) (RC=53)
DEEP SOUTH REGION (DS)
Players born in Florida (FL) (RC=55) Players born in Alabama (AL) (RC=60) Players born in Mississippi (MS) (RC=65) Players born in Louisiana (LA) (RC=66)
APPALACHIAN REGION (APP)
(NOTE: VA and WV “swing” between Mid-Atlantic, Appalachia, and Ohio+ (WV paired w. OH as co-op)
Players born in Virginia (VA) (RC=77) Players born in West Virginia (WV) (RC=76) Players born in Kentucky (KY) (RC=80) Players born in Tennessee (TN) (RC=82)
OHIO (OH) was/is generally a stand-alone state or regional co-op Players born in Ohio (OH) (RC=70)
MIDWEST REGION (MW)
Players born in Indiana (IN) (RC=85) Players born in Michigan (MI) (RC=90) Players born in Wisconsin (WI) (RC=95) ILLINOIS (IL) until 1905, was part of Midwest (MW) Players born in Illinois (IL) (RC=98)
MISSISSIPPI RIVER REGION (MRR)
Players born in Minnesota (MN) (RC=101) Players born in Iowa (IA) (RC=103) Players born in Missouri (MO) (RC=105) Players born in Arkansas (AR) (RC=110)
TEXAS (TX) at various times is known as Texas Plus (TX+, with Oklahoma and New Mexico), or as a co-op with Latin America (Texas-Latin America, or TXL) Players born in Texas (TX) (RC=120)
WESTERN REGION (ALL STATES & U.S. TERRITORIES WEST OF M.R.R. : 1906+, EXCEPT CA SINCE 1931)
Players born in Oklahoma (OK) (RC=130) Players born in Kansas (KS) (RC=134) Players born in Nebraska (NE) (RC=135) Players born in South Dakota (SD) (RC=137) Players born in North Dakota (ND) (RC=138) Players born in Montana (MT) (RC=139) Players born in Wyoming (WY) (RC=140) Players born in Colorado (CO) (RC=141) Players born in New Mexico (NM) (RC=133)
Players born in Arizona (AZ) (RC=143) Players born in Utah (UT) (RC=145) Players born in Nevada (NV) (RC=146) Players born in Idaho (ID) (RC=148) Players born in Oregon (OR) (RC=150) Players born in Washington (WA) (RC=155) Players born in Alaska (AK) (RC=157) Players born in Hawaii (HI) (RC=158) Players born in Guam (GU) (RC=159) Players born in American Samoa (Tony Solaita, only one so far) (RC=159)
CALIFORNIA (CA): Stand-alone state or region since 1931; [Future arrangements: split (1971 thru 2020) into California-North (CAN) (RC=161) and California-South (CA) (RC=160), carrying on as the flagship franchise 1971+). Note that CA[S] could be/was further sub-divided into CA SouthEast (CSE) (RC=180) and CA SouthWest (CSW) (RC=170). CSE would/did include these 5 counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, San Diego, and Orange. CSW would/did include these 5 counties: Los Angeles, Ventura, Kern, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo]. Players born in California (CA) (the most by far) (RC=160)
EXTRA-NATIONAL REGIONS (outside of the United States)
CARIBBEAN REGION (REGIONAL CODES FOLLOW IN PARENTHESES; THESE ARE NOT PLAYER COUNTS)
Players born in the Bahamas (BAH) (201) Players born in Cuba (CU) (202) Players born in Jamaica (JAM) (204) Players born in Puerto Rico (PR) (205) Players born in the U.S. Virgin Islands (VI) (208) Players born in Curacao (CUR) (218) Players born in Aruba (ARU) (219) Players born in the Dominican Republic (DO) (210)
The map used [much later] to split the Dominican Republic into Dominican-East (DOE) and Dominican-West (DOW) in 2002 (the continuing arrangement in the Open Baseball League (OBL) through 2020). Orange line marks the division, with DOW to the left and DOE to the right):
LATIN AMERICA REGION (CENTRAL and SOUTH AMERICA) (LAT ) and (SAM )
Players born in Mexico (MX) (RC=301) Player born in Belize (RC=302) Players born in Nicaragua (NI) (RC=303) Players born in Honduras (HON) (RC=304) Players born in Panama (PAN) (RC=305)
Players born in Colombia (COL) (RC=401) Players born in Venezuela (VE) (RC=402) Players born in Brazil (BR) (RC=407) Player born in Peru (PRU) (RC=408)
CANADA-EUROPE (REGIONAL CODES FOLLOW IN PARENTHESES; THESE ARE NOT PLAYER COUNTS)
Players born in Canada (CN) (700) Players born in Ireland (IRE) (613) Players born in the United Kingdom (UK) (614) Players born in Austria (AUS) (607) Player born in Belgium (BEL) (615) Players born in the Czech Republic (CZ) (606) Player born in Denmark (DMK) (618) Players born in France (FRA) (611) Players born in Germany (GER) (617) Player born in Greece (GRE) (610) Players born in Italy (IT) (609) Player born in Latvia (LTV) (604) Player born in Lithuania (LITH) (604) Players born in the Netherlands (NET) (616) Players born in Norway (NW) (621) Players born in Poland (POL) (605) Player born in Portugal (POR) (612) Players born in the Russian Federation (RUS) (603) Players born in Ukraine (UKR) (603) Players born in Slovakia (606) Players born in Spain (SPN) (612) Players born in Sweden (SWE) (620) Player born in Switzerland (608)
ASIA-PACIFIC-AFRICA (REGIONAL CODES FOLLOW IN PARENTHESES; THESE ARE NOT PLAYER COUNTS)
Player born in Afghanistan (601) Players born in Saudi Arabia (601) Players born in Australia (AU) (501) Player born in Hong Kong (505) Player born in Indonesia (502) Players born in Japan (JP) (507) Players born in the Philippines (503) Player born in Singapore (505) Players born in South Korea (KOR) (508) Players born in Taiwan (TW) (506) Player born in Viet Nam (504) Player born in China (CHN) (505) Player born “At Sea” Players born in South Africa (SAF) (602) Player born in Liberia (LIB) (602)
REGIONAL PLAYER-DISTRIBUTIONS, 1871 THROUGH 2020 (THE ENTIRE SCOPE OF THE PROJECT)
The files below reflect regional (birthplace) groupings as most-often defined (usual OBL boundaries), as well as the total number of players born within that region, historically-speaking. “Far West” and “Far West (+)” differ in this respect: FW comprises U.S. states and Pacific Territories only, and FW+ includes Pacific extra-nationals (Japan, Australia, Taiwan, etc.):