alternatehistory.com

I'd posted this at baseball-fever.com, but hadn't here yet. I dont' think I'll have any other baseball ones, I'm still busy with "If Baseball Interated Early"'s history analogue, etc.; but, here goes one more.

Author’s note: Before a major computer crash, I had the start of 2 timelines. One was Babe Ruth as a Red. There wasn’t a lot different, except a cheating scandal involving Hal Chase – Chase is traded to the Giants in mid-1917, a bit earlier than OTL – and a few others, who are found to have thrown the 1917 World Series. (Chase is more open.) This led to William Howard Taft as Commissioner for a few years, & someone followed him. If I’d found a way to integrate the majors earlier it could have kept going, but the earliest easy place was 1937-9. Ruth would be in 3-5 World Series, win a couple, and have about as many home runs as OTL, while Lou Gehrig would be the start of the Yankee dynasty we all know. Ruth would own Cincinnati, they’d have a bigger, newer park than OTL’s Crosley Field, which lasts till Great American Ballpark, but otherwise, not as many butterflies as one thinks, so I’d forgotten about it before the crash, anyway.

The other? The Athletics staying in Kansas City. It was about a different Commissioner, such as Curtis LeMay. I don’t remember a lot of the early part that I had done, it was only up to 1970 anyway. But, I wanted to do it as a shorter piece, anyway, just to give the basic detail. Then, I’ll do more if I have time.

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Part 1: The Curse of Bud Selig

Who knows what might have happened had a different man been named Commissioner of baseball in late 1965. Well, January of ’66, really – that’s how long it took deadlocked owners once news leaked out that William Eckert was being considered, a man who knew nothing of the game. Well, okay, it might have been Zuckert who was considered, and Eckert recommended, but some owners got them confused, the press got more mixed up about each man’s credentials, and the whole thing fell apart for both men.

They couldn’t have kept the Braves from moving to Atlanta, though some like to dream. The city had exhausted all legal challenges, and the Commissioner wasn’t in office a few months when Atlanta played its first game. The Commissioner, in this case, was Curtis LeMay, who referred…Zuckert…we think. No, he referred Eckert. Or…well, owners were looking at Zuckert, when…let’s just say they finally offered LeMay a ton of money. Senator Symington finally pushed him into it, telling him, “Do something about Finley!”

(Note: I’m not being too facetious in writing this alternate history of the deal, given that LeMay referred one and owners got him confused with the other. It’s quite plausible that confusion could lead to leaks and neither man being named.)

Anyway, it’s what followed, involving Tom Seaver, that brought on what some in Atlanta called “The Curse of Bud Selig.”

The head man of baseball had decided that Seaver could sign with the Braves. Seaver had been part of exhibitions that meant he was no longer eligible under NCAA rules. He was going pro, that was certain. But, rather than make the Braves – as some suggested – cause them to lose the rights to Seaver, the new Commissioner decided the Braves hadn’t been flagrant in what they did, so they could just keep him.

Commissioner LeMay tried to alleviate Selig’s hurt feelings; he promised that Selig would get an expansion team. However, when the Braves – behind Seaver’s 25 wins and Hank Aaron’s 44 home runs – won the N.L. pennant at 97-65 (by 3 over the surprising Mets, 7 over the Cubs), Selig proclaimed: “That should be our pennant! They better enjoy this World Series, because that’s more than they deserve, and all they’re going to get!”

(Note – Aaron hit 5 of his 44 against expansion teams, he’d be expected to hit 8 all things being equal. His average increases, too, a bit, to about .305, given how he did in OTL.)

Baltimore, of course, easily dispatched the Braves in 6. The Braves surprised them by winning game 2 in Baltimore, but the Birds and Jim Palmer overpowered the Braves in game 3. Tom Seaver got back at Mike Cuellar with a win in game 4, but the Orioles came back to win game 5 versus Phil Niekro, 7-4. They captured the World Series in Game 6, with an easy win back home in Baltimore. Still, many considered this the best Braves’ squad in history, certainly on a par with 1957. Indeed, many said Hank Aaron would have won the MVP award were it not for Seaver siphoning off some votes, giving the award to Willie McCovey in a very tight vote. Still, the Orioles had gone 109-53.

(Note: They lost Wally Bunker and Moe Drabowski to the Royals, 2 hurlers who did quite well for an expansion club. Put them in instead of the worst 2 Oriole hurlers, and it’s a wash, even with no expansion teams to play. They’d have more like 103-105 wins in 1970, though, before another 100+ win season after expansion in ’71.)

Baseball clearly needed to be split into divisions by 1969. The N.L. pennant race had been very good and very close; the Cubs fell flat at the end, after leading by as many as four as late as August 22nd. But, the Mets got to within 1.5 of the Braves before the end. The Braves and Cubs had fought hard all the way before that. The World Series featured very close games in games 2, 4, and 5, and excited the Deep South when college football would normally dominate. Still, there were rumblings about the Senators – who had finished 6th, 30 games behind the Orioles – and the Phillies – who had been totally putrid – moving, even with what had happened to Kansas City’s Athletics. It was by no means certain, but there were plenty of cities who craved teams.

The N.L. had begun back in ‘67 to explore expansion by 1971. And, Charlie Finley was making lots of noise, despite the fact that he was no longer in baseball. He would be again, however, with expansion; not that owners were all that thrilled.

More on that in a moment. First, some player moves of note.

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Part 2: Clendenon, Allen, trades, and player rights

In the time that cities fought for the right to new teams, existing teams showed there was easily room for 100 new players. Because more holes needed filled as time wore on, there was lots of trading, especially in the 1968 offseason. However, one man threw a big hitch into some of the trades; a man named Donn Clendenon.

A native of Atlanta, he hadn’t wanted to go to Houston in a trade, talking about retiring instead. (Note – this is OTL.) The Pirates found another player to go instead, but still wanted to trade him, with some of their other young talent coming up. The Astros felt they had a decent shot at contending with another veteran slugger, in a league they sensed was growing very balanced.

With no expansion team to claim Rusty Staub would be the centerpiece, there was no way for Commissioner LeMay to see a trade was vital, like if Staub had been part of the trade to an expansion club. However, as teams talked, the problem became trickier.

Clendenon was approached by the Players’ Association, and convinced that – instead of retiring, since the Pirates really wanted to send him to Houston – he should be willing to challenge the Reserve Clause. He felt he wouldn’t be playing more anyway, so he said, why not? He sued to challenge their right to trade him when another attempt was made.

What had happened was, the Mets looked like they could contend, with the right pieces. They began to inquire about the rights to Clendenon. They had plenty of spare parts, especially in pitching, but they needed offense. Meanwhile, the Phillies wanted more power to go with Dick Allen, who was perceived as a major malcontent. The Mets felt Allen was younger, could possibly play third, and would cost little more than Clendenon would, for much more production. The wheels began turning on a trade with the Phillies, as the Mets realized Clendenon might not report anywhere. The Phillies traded Allen in June, for good young players like Duffy Dyer and pitcher Gary Gentry. Then, the Phillies tried to acquire Clendenon, and Clendenon refused to report.

The Phillies were absolutely woeful, at 54-108, in 1969. They were 18-34 when they finally pulled the strings on the Allen deal. The Mets were more willing to consider such a big deal, because they didn’t just have the Cubs, who were in first by 3 at the time over Atlanta, to hop over. The Reds, Giants, and Dodgers were also ahead of them at this point, but just barely. The Mets knew they had a good shot at contending, if not outright winning, but for now they were in sixth.

Their first pennant wouldn’t come until 1972, but the excitement over this ’69 team pushed them to front page status, ahead of the Yankees.

The Mets sent a number of promising players, including Gentry, former first round pick Dyer, and outfielders, promoting Amos Otis to the majors. It was a little early for Otis, who blossomed in ’70. Otis stabilized an outfield in ’72 that featured Rusty Staub – who was injured for a little over half the year – and aging Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee..

The Cardinals might have considered Allen, but were nowhere near contention. They were in 9th when the Allen deal was made; only the woeful Phillies separating the two-time defending N.L. champs from the basement. (The Cards were way ahead of the Phillies.) They decided not to panic; 1965 hadn’t been a great year, either, though this team was supposed to be better. As it was, they rallied to 80-82, thanks to the strong pitching of Gibson and Carlton. Only Brock and Gibson were deemed safe – not even Carlton was, as he became embroiled in a contract dispute. They wound up making a number of trades in the offseason.

Allen felt really good with the Mets; he’d been freed from a horrible situation in Philadelphia, where he’d hinted at a trade demand. The New York press, always eager for a story, provided him a mouthpiece to air all sorts of dirty laundry about the Phillies – including his side of an incident in 1965 that Phillie management tried to sweep under the rug. The fact other ex-Phillies agreed with his side, and that it involved an original Met, Frank Thomas, made it juicier, and it earned him some sympathy at first. As long as the Mets kept winning, his antics were okay; Allen was seen by some as divisive, but he was newsworthy, and he quickly lifted the Mets to third.

He couldn’t field at third, though, where the Mets wanted him. Ed Kranepool did well at first. So, the Mets moved him to left later that summer, where he was less of a liability. He slumped at first in New York, since Shea Stadium was such a pitchers park, but he still grabbed a lot of attention and put fans in the stands, to see if he’d hit one of his long home runs. Many recall the Phillies’ first visit to Shea since the trade, when he blasted what some say was a homer of over 500 feet. He seemed to glare at the Phillies’ dugout all the way around the bases. A reporter asked him afterward about it, and he said, “I wanted to go to Jersey to see a horserace, but I wasn’t going to miss this chance. I’d been waiting to pay them back for how they treated me all these years!”

The scowl from Philadelphia was mostly gone. Still, comments like that – wanting to go see a horse race way over in New Jersey – and a few other issues involving showing up a little late meant Gil Hodges had a lot to handle. He called someone he knew from his playing days, one very familiar with racial taunts and the eye of what seemed to be an entire nation. Maybe he could help.

Allen didn’t mind New York too much – it was diverse enough, and it provided him with media attention. Still, he’d ruffled feathers even his first few weeks in New York. Hodges asked Jackie Robinson to work with Allen personally. It helped for a while, but Hodges was worried that he might need to hire Jackie as bench coach as 1970 wore on, and Jackie Robinson was starting to become ill by this time.

Allen made what many called an unintended peace gesture at first, after what Jackie – and Hodges, and Roy Campanella, etc. – told him. On the one-year anniversary of the trade, he said, “You people are all just upset ‘cause that no good Walter O’Malley stole your Dodgers out from under you. You should have some sympathy for me; our race has been havin’ Walter O’Malleys steal from us for generations!” He then said, “If it’ll make you feel better, maybe we oughta just rename the Mets the ‘Brooklyn Dodgers’.” He then challenged O’Malley to sell the naming rights!

As one Philadelphia paper put it, “He gets hung up on names for weird reasons. Now he’s trying to get all of Brooklyn on his side, while antagonizing all the former Giant fans.”

New York’s press honeymoon wore off in 1970. The Reds raced to an incredible record after 100 games. The Mets were out of things very early, and struggled to get to .500. Allen’s lack of production – because of the big ballpark, and lack of protection in the lineup – compared to last year was blamed for the Mets being unable to recapture the magic. They had been the trendy pick to win it all in 1970. With the media coming down on him more, the team itself didn’t seem to support Allen like he wanted. The fact Allen slumped to .278 didn’t help; he had 32 homers, but failed to reach 100 RBIs. He was walked a lot, and missed over 20 games with injuries. Still, some wondered – do they trade him, or get help behind him? Could trading him net both offense and another good pitcher besides Koosman?

Things had coming to such a head some say Phillie management would have suspended him for something in ’69 had he remained with them. The Mets’ big improvement after acquiring him meant his trade value wasn’t bad. Still, in 1970, the Mets finished 22 behind the Reds, in 6th. The Cardinals and Phillies were in 9th and 10th, respectively, showing that a couple smaller trades between them hadn’t worked out well for either side. But, the Mets felt that perhaps Carlton – who had done quite poorly because of the distractions of the dispute – could give them some help.

They knew they needed offense, too, though. And, they didn’t seem to be able, for sure, to get a pitching ace and good power for Allen. Besides, fans came to see him in droves. Claims he was divisive were now spread to an entire metropolitan area, as he talked a few more times about the Dodger move, but seemed to ignore the Giants. But, at least he was trying. And, with him permanently in left – though he spelled Kranepool at first some – his defense was up to mediocre, enough so that he was compared to Babe Herman less and less. He was having fun.

But, the White Sox came, then, and offered Tommy John. A multi-player deal was worked out, and the White Sox, with Allen’s potent bat at first full-time now, improved almost 30 wins from 1970 to 1971; in ’71 they snuck ahead of the Yankees for 4th in the new A.L. East, at 82-80. The following year, he’d lead them to a division title. His offensive production picked up, and the White Sox had found the man who would bring fans back to the ballpark.

As one later writer said, “Hodges tried as best he could to draw analogies to things he’d seen in his playing days. He felt if Allen looked at things from a different perspective, he would lose some of his stubborn streak. Allen had issues that went beyond the ball diamond. Still, you had to give Hodges credit for trying whatever he could.”

The same stands that – after his Brooklyn comments – saw numerous banners signed “Giants fan” saying “We were robbed, too!” saw another big banner unfurled on the last day of the 1969 season. It read “Wait Till Next Year!” An average of 28,000 fans had come to see the Mets the following year, 1970, and life in the Big Apple was good. “Next year” would come, in 1972. But first, there was expansion. That, alone, was a mess.
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