Calcaterra
Donor
Just as the tin says, your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to make it so that that New York Yankees never become the powerhouse they are now.
Don't forget about the Washington Senators who eventually moved to Minnesota. They were rarely competitive. At least the Philadelphia Athletics had some great competitive teams during the early 1900's 1911-1914, and the late 1920's team actually were rivals with the Murders Row Yankees of Gehrig and Ruth. I always found it ironic that the Cardinals were tenants of the Browns at Sportsmans Park all those years until the Browns sold it to them before they moved to Baltimore, and the A's sold Shibe Park, renamed Connie Mack stadium to the Phillies when they moved to Kansas City.In the National League the teams were more balanced the attendance average of the teams was higher and than the American League.
Most of teams in the American League depended on the Yankees coming to town to make their money.
If the American League was more competitive then maybe teams like the St. Louis Browns and the Philadelphia Athletics would have stayed and the Cardinals and Phillies would have moved instead.
The Senators moved after the Browns moved to Baltimore, the original plan was that Minneapolis-St. Paul was going to get a expansion franchise along with Los Angeles but Calvin Griffith Sr. was a racist and the story was that when he found out how few African-Americans lived there and he moved the team and the expansion team went to Washington D.C.instead.
Fun Fact: Griffith Park were the Senators and the not to be named NFL team played (the team was also owned by a notorious racist William Preston Marshall) is now the Howard University medical school.
I thought my Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996?![]()
Until you just pointed that out I never made the connection, what a maroon I am.I thought my Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996?![]()
I think we can start with Mickey Mantle going elsewhere and Babe Ruth staying with the Red Sox. Not a big baseball fan, so that's basically the extent of my knowledge.
Yawkey isn't a racist sob and signs Hank Aaron and Willie Mays to the Red Sox.
He had first chance to sign both of them and didn't because they were black. That's why they took his name off the street outside Fenway Park.
One option would be having the Yankees never build the original Yankee stadium, they only won a title after the park was built. If they remained a secondary tenant in the Polo Grounds, who knows what could have happened.
Colonel Rupert and Cap Hutson don't buy the team. They were able to add an influx of money that allowed the team to acquire top level executive talent (Miller Huggins and Ed Barrow) and also buy some of the best players in baseball (Babe Ruth). That raises the overall reputation and wealth that leads to the team becoming a powerhouse in the 20s and 30s, making them the most attractive destination for young players in the decades to come, allowing them to recruit the top talent. This was before the draft. It also raised the monetary value of the team to the highest in baseball, meaning only the wealthiest of owners could afford to buy the team in the future. So when Free Agency comes shortly after the draft is abolished (which is interesting as the years between the draft and free agency are some of the worst in Yankee history), the Yankees are the most attractive destination based off of money and reputation.