Just as the title says, what would be some interesting POD's for sports timelines starting in the early 1900's?
Sports POD's for the Early 1900's
- Thread starter OldNavy1988
- Start date
EDIT: ANNDDDDD I MISREAD THIS AS EARLY 1990s
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Well, the biggest baseball one would be no 1994 strike, or a 1994 strike where the salary cap isn't struck down in court.
Others:
-Kirby Puckett never develops glaucoma
-Clemens accepts Boston's offer in 1996
-Baltimore rejects HOK's design for a retro ballpark
-Steinbrenner is reinstated earlier and mettles with the core-4 while they are prospects
-Boston moves out of Fenway (V1991)
Any number of PODs with the list of cities considered for 1993 expansion:
"Buffalo, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Miami, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Sacramento, California; Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida; and Washington, D.C. The Florida Suncoast Dome was built in St. Petersburg specifically to lure an existing or expansion MLB franchise"
Also, not straight up PODs, but a fascinating look at unrealized stadium concepts.
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Well, the biggest baseball one would be no 1994 strike, or a 1994 strike where the salary cap isn't struck down in court.
Others:
-Kirby Puckett never develops glaucoma
-Clemens accepts Boston's offer in 1996
-Baltimore rejects HOK's design for a retro ballpark
-Steinbrenner is reinstated earlier and mettles with the core-4 while they are prospects
-Boston moves out of Fenway (V1991)
Any number of PODs with the list of cities considered for 1993 expansion:
"Buffalo, New York; Charlotte, North Carolina; Denver, Colorado; Miami, Florida; Nashville, Tennessee; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix, Arizona; Sacramento, California; Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida; and Washington, D.C. The Florida Suncoast Dome was built in St. Petersburg specifically to lure an existing or expansion MLB franchise"
Also, not straight up PODs, but a fascinating look at unrealized stadium concepts.
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GunsCarsGuitars
Banned
Knute Rockne does not die in a plane crash, and coaches Notre Dame until his retirement in 1950.
Or how about if American football was supplanted in favor of a hybrid of handball and rugby, but still have helmets and the forward pass?
Baseball playing the 1904 World Series, thus postponing if not eliminating the "Brush Rules" that came into effect due to the series not being played because the Champion Giants refused to play.
The obvious POD would be a failure of TR's conference in 1905 to 'civilize' American Football. Such a failure would probably have doomed football as we know it with unpredictable results, since at that time it was strictly a collegiate game. In Base Ball one of the two most significant POD's would be if Carl Mays did not kill Ray Chapman in 1920, which was the proximate cause of the spitball ban and the move to put clean balls in play, both of which contributed to the offensive explosion on the 20's. The other of course is Babe Ruth not being sold to the NYY and remaining in Boston as a Pitcher-Outfielder. No other US sports were significant at that time save boxing and I know little and care less about that barbaric sport. It's main POD would be in 1961 or 62. Remember Benny the Kid Paret.
It would take very little for the 1922 St. Louis Browns to win two more games, and for the 1922 Yankees to lose two more. Do that, and the Browns win the 1922 AL pennant. With that, quite possibly St. Louis becomes an AL town--or at least the Browns aren't the afterthought they were IOTL. And with that, maybe it's the Cardinals that move some time in the late 1940s / early 1950s.
Or try this: John McGraw, fed up with coming in as runner-up to the Yankees and Washington Senators, gets his list out and goes to Giants owner Charles Stoneham. He tells Stoneham that with the players on that list, the Giants will likely dominate the NL for years to come--and regain primacy over the Yankees, Babe Ruth notwithstanding. That list has the names of several Negro League stars of the day. Stoneham, urged on by McGraw, plus the fact that this is, after all, New York, where nearly anything goes, says the hell with the so-called Gentlemen's Agreement and signs those stars. Thanks to McGraw and Stoneham, baseball integrates approximately 20 years earlier than in OTL. (BTW, I could see Connie Mack following suit fairly quickly--and the same goes for Clark Griffith.)
Or try this: John McGraw, fed up with coming in as runner-up to the Yankees and Washington Senators, gets his list out and goes to Giants owner Charles Stoneham. He tells Stoneham that with the players on that list, the Giants will likely dominate the NL for years to come--and regain primacy over the Yankees, Babe Ruth notwithstanding. That list has the names of several Negro League stars of the day. Stoneham, urged on by McGraw, plus the fact that this is, after all, New York, where nearly anything goes, says the hell with the so-called Gentlemen's Agreement and signs those stars. Thanks to McGraw and Stoneham, baseball integrates approximately 20 years earlier than in OTL. (BTW, I could see Connie Mack following suit fairly quickly--and the same goes for Clark Griffith.)
Ok. In 1908 Milan ad interim president Giannino Camperio decides to not change his mind and confirm that Milan will join the Federal Championship and not the Italian one. The internationalists don't leave Milan to found the Internazionale (ndr: Inter) and if the US Milanese dies like in OTL Milan remains the only big team of Milano.
What about wiping out the Black Sox Scandal?
Over the pond, and with a five year grace period to accomodate - League and Union don't split Rugby Codes
Over the pond, and with a five year grace period to accomodate - League and Union don't split Rugby Codes
Don't know squat about the second so I won't comment.
On the first: as we know, IOTL Buck Weaver got wind of the impending fix but said nothing (hence his expulsion from the game). In this case, he tells Chick Gandil, "You're crazy. It'll be obvious something's fishy. And then what? As soon as they found out, it's your ass. If you're smart you won't go through with this. Instead, we play our game the way we played all season and win it for us. Then when Comiskey comes out with his usual nickel-nursing contracts, we hold out as a team and tell him to shove them up his ass. What's the worst that can happen then--guys get traded to another team that actually pays what they're worth?" Gandil thinks it over and decides Weaver has a point. Together with Weaver and Swede Risberg, they manage to get the team to go along with the Weaver plan.
The White Sox win the 1919 series, five games to two. During the winter, a few meetings happen in neutral cities (say, Louisville and Indianapolis) to re-affirm the plan. Then, when the contracts arrive by mail, they're returned to Comiskey unsigned, many with explanatory notes. Comiskey goes through the roof and starts lining up trades...
One of the biggest possible sports POD's for the US in the early 20th century is the banning of American Football/Gridiron from colleges in the mid-1900's. Had President Theodore Roosevelt not stepped in in 1905, a year where 18 players actually died on the field, we wouldn't have college football, the NFL, the Super Bowl, a lot of the things that American sport has as an anchor point today.
What if the courts ruled in favor of Eddie Livingstone in 1918?
Would Livingstone simply be awarded cash, which would likely bankrupt the Toronto Arena Company early? Would he get his assets back, and if so, where would they play with the NHA on indefinite hiatus and the NHL blacklisting him? Make it really interesting... Livingstone gets not only his players back but gets control of Arena Gardens through the bankruptcy. Now if the NHL wants a Toronto team, they have to deal with him.
Would Livingstone simply be awarded cash, which would likely bankrupt the Toronto Arena Company early? Would he get his assets back, and if so, where would they play with the NHA on indefinite hiatus and the NHL blacklisting him? Make it really interesting... Livingstone gets not only his players back but gets control of Arena Gardens through the bankruptcy. Now if the NHL wants a Toronto team, they have to deal with him.