AHC: Mexican League changes course of Major League Baseball?

A Whole Different Ball Game: The Sport and Business of Baseball, Marvin Miller, 1991.

" . . . The most famous challenge occurred after World War II when two wealthy Mexican brothers named Pasqual succeeded in luring a number of U.S. big leaguers to the Mexican League. They hoped, eventually, to upgrade the league to a major league level. Three St. Louis Cardinal stars, Max Lanier, Lou Klein, and Fred Martin (who was to become a pioneer of the splitfinger fastball) were among the earliest to go south . . . "
1) What if the MLB reaction — and overreaction — leads to a successful court case against the "Reserve Clause"?

2) What if the Mexican League is successful?
 
For all it's tyranny over the player, Baseball's big mistake was allowing team owners to move, no mistake bigger than allowing the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to California.

Although this probably started with the Boston Braves moving in 1944.

If an owner is unhappy, help him or her sell the team and then give them first dibs on a new franchise in a new city. It's elementary!
 
I've long wondered how a MLB team would fair in Mexico City in previous decades.
Build an immense stadium that sells out and have an advantage signing Latin players that prefer to be in a Spanish speaking city.
Imagine Fernando fever in Mexico City....
 
Imagine Fernando fever in Mexico City....
Might be another powerhouse to give Yankees, Dodgers, Cardinals a run for their money!

And just like the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves have their superstation TV networks, the Mexico City team might become a very popular broadcast for a number of radio stations throughout Mexico to subscribe to.

Just not sure how playoffs are going to work with three major leagues!
 
Not sure the economics would have worked for it to compete with MLB. Would really need to boost the Mexican economy to where it could compete and maybe force a merger.

Maybe they start earlier and merge with the negro leagues absorbing a lot of the African-American players instead.

As far as reserve clause, maybe a suit by a player could occur in the 50's long before Curt Flood did it and maybe the US Supreme Court rules against MLB starting the free agency frenzy off decades earlier but seems doubtful
 
How about more of an ABA-NBA type situation? Instead of one of the 1960's expansions, two Mexican League teams are added to MLB. These teams get to draft a certain number of players from the rest of the Mexican league and/or MLB.

Possibly after a dispersal draft, the remaining Mexican League teams become minor league affiliates of a MLB team with a few remaining independent. Of course $$$ need to be floated around to the owners, but that's always the case in sports.
 
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Remember that IOTL the Pacific Coast League was granted Open status (between AAA and Major) in the mid-50s, so it's entirely possible that there could be four Major Leagues.
 
Remember that IOTL the Pacific Coast League was granted Open status (between AAA and Major) in the mid-50s, so it's entirely possible that there could be four Major Leagues.

So this whole time, we could've had a free for all between the American, National, Pacific Coast and Mexican Leagues? That would be good as long as we San Diegans get to keep our Padres. :)
 
So this whole time, we could've had a free for all between the American, National, Pacific Coast and Mexican Leagues? That would be good as long as we San Diegans get to keep our Padres. :)

The World Series might be the top teams of each of the four leagues. Two playoffs, then the actual Series with those two winners. We could even add in a Havana, Cuba team (and that is how Fidel Castro became the Commissioner of Major League Baseball).

Eventually there is a merger of some kind, leaving two major leagues and the remaining teams that didn't make the major league cut going to Triple A. Though in that case, there will be still be teams of Triple A or even Major League caliber that aren't part of a Major League team's farm system.
 
The World Series might be the top teams of each of the four leagues. Two playoffs, then the actual Series with those two winners. We could even add in a Havana, Cuba team (and that is how Fidel Castro became the Commissioner of Major League Baseball). . .
There could even be a committee who is to pick the other four teams for an eight team playoff based on overall season strength and judged strength at the end of the season. Make for some great discussion and debate on talk radio!! :)
 
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And if you lived in California, this was how you watched baseball in the 1940s, for there wasn't ready travel between the Coasts.

But perhaps ready enough for playoffs and a World Series. ;)
 
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Eventually there is a merger of some kind, leaving two major leagues and the remaining teams that didn't make the major league cut going to Triple A. Though in that case, there will be still be teams of Triple A or even Major League caliber that aren't part of a Major League team's farm system.

Promotion and relegation pls :O
 
I'd like to see two timelines:

a high trajectory where it kind of is a World Series, with interesting twists and turns,

and then another trajectory where it's an interesting failure.

PS don't know what relegation means
 
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