ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE Sidebar: American Baseball in 2123

[Johnny1A.2]

ORICHALCUM UNIVERSE Sidebar: American Baseball in 2123

Baseball is still played in the United States in 2123, and in fact it is the most popular spectator sport in the country, having long since reclaimed its title of 'national sport' from American football and basketball. Even so, there have been some changes.

The sport as played is more-or-less similar to the game as played a century before, albeit with a few tiny rules changes (plus the elimination of the designated hitter rule*). The organizational background, however, is rather different from the practice in 2023.

For a time in the course of the Twenty-first Century, baseball was practically eclipsed in the USA, and in the chaos of the Third World War and the aftermath, for a time baseball was all but forgotten.

As it happened, the Third World War was nowhere close to as bad as it could have been, but it was quite horrible and destructive enough. The United States continued to deploy its 'lucky charm', and emerged from the War less damaged than many of the other belligerents, but 'less' was also quite bad enough.

For reasons historians and psychologists would later study with interest and debate, amateur baseball reemerged in the aftermath of the War, mostly at a purely local level, and began to regain popularity.

The revival of the sport began as an amateur effort, with a consciously retrospective, vintage ‘feel’, a call back to what were by then seen as ‘the good old days’. It was an amateur effort, but something about it caught on with a tired and at that time still somewhat demoralized general public.

Amateur teams began to form into leagues, and the teams were mostly geographically based, in towns, cities, or sometimes a rural region. It became customary that the players had to actually be long-term residents of their town or region, and local pride began to be caught up in the performance of the teams. These were not 'professional' teams so much as teams of amateurs, who later became paid players as new 'leagues' emerged.

The 'leagues' were in some ways more like high school athletic associations, and initially they were mostly local or regional. As popularity increased, the initially amateur players became paid athletes, but the organizations retained much of their original character even so.

Eventually, as the country recovered, and the popularity of the game increased, a new nation-wide baseball league emerged. It was loosely patterned after the organization of the defunct MLB, but in some ways it was also more like a high school/college athletic association. The resemblance was actually more to the high school level, because of the continuing requirement that the teams be made of local residents (usually at least five years of residency was required).

By 2123, the American Baseball Association (it's formal name) spans the United States, and is made up of regional Leagues. The individual teams are based either in major cities, or modest-sized rural regions usually named for a town within them. To play for a local team, one must have been a resident (and actually have lived in that location at least 50% of the time during that five years, simply establishing technical residency is not sufficient).

Salaries are modest, though a skilled player can make a decent living at the game. Social status is high for a successful player. The games are telecast, but with limits on what can be shown, the intention being to keep live attendance as a primary support. The regional nature and root of the teams means that a team cannot 'change cities', it's an intrinsic part of its home city.

Some of the teams fielded by major cities are named after old MLB teams. For example, New York City is the home of the Yankees, Chicago fields the Cubs, and Saint Louis is home to the Cardinals. Los Angeles wanted to name their team the 'Dodgers', but New York City reclaimed the title for their 'minor league' team the Brooklyn Dodgers (see below about the 'minor leagues').

All the players on these teams, however, are either native to those cities, or have lived there for several years before being allowed to even try out.

The terms 'major league' and 'minor league' are still used, but with different meaning. The major league are the primary baseball teams. Many cities and regions, though, also maintain semi-formal teams for minors, and these are what Americans mean by 'minor league baseball' in 2123. (One of the teenage teams in New York City ended up capturing the old 'Brooklyn Dodgers' name, to the disgust of Angelenos).

The local leagues play each other in the 'Playoffs', eventually producing two teams that go on to the World Series, played in September. The playoffs are structurally slightly different from the MLB version, because of the lack of two overarching superleagues within the overall association.

Baseball is a summer game, the main season usually starts on May 1 and continues to the playoffs in late August and early September. The World Series is usually held in the second half of September.

(In the 2122 World Series, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Los Angeles Archangels in seven games, and are the reigning national champion in 2123.)

Organizationally, the American Baseball Association is run by a board with one representative from each member League, and a Commissioner chosen by that Board for a five year term. Local leagues have various organizational structures.

The symbol of American Baseball in 2123 is the 'Baseball Bird': a mascot figure loosely designed after the legendary San Diego Chicken. There is a robot Baseball Bird that sometimes hams it up at major games, and is beloved by fans, especially children. The robot is more than it appears to be, though (about which more later).

Baseball remains primarily an American game. The former Japanese fixation on the game has long since faded in 2123, though the Scots have, for unknown reasons, become baseball fans, with several Scots cities now fielding teams along the American style and playing each other. There has been occasional talk of Scots and American teams playing each other, at least in exhibition games, but as of 2123 that remains speculative.

* The elimination of 'designated hitter' is a side effect of the amateur roots of the revived game. The teams are expected to play their members, so the pitchers swing a bat with the others.

[RGTraynor]

... so Anaheim doesn't reclaim the name 'Angels,' and Boston doesn't reclaim the name 'Braves?'


(grins)

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by RGTraynor

... so Anaheim doesn't reclaim the name 'Angels,' and Boston doesn't reclaim the name 'Braves?'


(grins)

Nope. :lol: But Brooklyn/NYC and Atlanta had the juice. The baseball revival started in the northeastern States, and that plus tradition allowed NYC to reclaim the title for one of their teenage teams.

One reason the LA team name is 'Archangels' instead of just 'the Angels' is partly rooted in Angeleno resentment over that incident.

[mburr0003]

I clicked into this thread mildly hoping it would be something aiming to ape this:
https://www.sbnation.com/a/17776-football