About the League

-

Pilgrim Baseball League (PBL) is a project to assemble great, near great, and not so great baseball players from 1901- present and play out at least one spectacular season. It is what might be called replay historical fiction with the intent to capture the flavor of games in different eras as well as celebrate the players and ballparks that made and continue to make the game great. As in many pieces of historical fiction, real life figures interact with fictional characters. Real events are mixed with imagined situations.
The League’s story and season results will be told through many perspectives. You will see articles by jaded columnists, quotes from players, scouts, and owners. Salty sports-talk radio hosts and the voice of the man on the street will be mixed in.


Game results will be generated using Dave Koch’s Action PC Baseball game, because, you know, you can’t get Ty Cobb in the same room with Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds in real life. (There’s some bad blood there, and I’m not pointing fingers at who probably started it.)
The league’s name is inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, Slaughterhouse Five. This league, like Billy Pilgrim, Vonnegut’s protagonist “has come unstuck in time” making it possible for top players from different eras to play together.
As we go through the process of creating the league, selecting players, teams, cities, and stadiums, this blog will report the latest news. It will be the source for trivia, historical oddities, and other baseball related nonsense.

Contributors to this blog include:
New York Bureau
Spalding Cooper, League office columnist
Red Lillaprosa- Columnist
Dick Campbell- Columnist
Boston Bureau
Jerome Kennedy, a Boston-based reporter
Tony Canetti, North End News
Southeast and Latin America Bureau
Hugh DeWitt, Florida based Spring training maven
Lazlo Yankovic, a seasoned baseball features reporter
Smallwood Rocehembeaux- Devoted al Dark fan and an expert on southern baseball
Rick Guiterrez- Miami born and raised, he knows the local sports scene like no one else.
Chicago Bureau
Andrew “Can Lookitup” Lukatow- History and stats Wizard
Barry Goldstein
Cincinnati Bureau
Bill Crochetti- Columnist for the Cincinatti Bugle, possibly since before prohibition.
California  Bureau
Lester Mann
Patty Kraft
Barry Lann
Northwest Bureau
Keith Boyles
Texas Bureau
Sam McClellan
Canada Bureau
Ab Campbell
Mike Bouchard
Lanny LaRocque
Ad Hoc Contributors-
Two Seam News
Northern Horsehide


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

League Office Mum as Rumors Spread About Venues

-
By Spalding Cooper Secaucus, NJ- Sources close to ownership groups in several cities say they have been asked to provide their final choices for home stadiums. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a source close to a one of the Chicago consortiums bidding for a team said, “The league is pretty much settled on eight cities and are clearly enamored with some of the venues. Those (expletive deleted) North Siders are a shoe in, as are teams in New York and St. Louis.” League officials have stated that they are “looking for cities and stadiums that exemplify baseball’s rich history.” Some potential owner’s groups appear to be a little more cynical. “History? You look at a city like Milwaukee or Cleveland or Kansas City.” A source familiar with the negotiations between the league and the Detroit consortium said. “Milwaukee had three major league franchises since 1900, and Cleveland has been a hotbed of baseball since the late 1800s. KC had the Monarchs of the Negro leagues, th...
Read more

Pitchers and Catchers Continue to Report

-
Vero Beach, FL - By Lazlo Yankovic “When you think of February, if you’re a romantic, you probably think of valentines Day.”   Lou Michaels said. “You may think of Black History Month, or the Amethyst birthstone. I think of baseball. Pitchers and catchers reporting. The promise of rookie phenoms and veteran heroics. Horsehide hitting wood. The crack of the bat, the double down the line, the shortstop going deep in the hole behind the outstretched arms of the third baseman, grabbing the ball on the hop, and making the off balance, yet remarkably accurate the throw to first.” February may be known for Valentine’s Day, but in parts of Florida and Arizona, it is known as the beginning of Spring Training. More than 1500 pitchers and catchers have been invited to participate by the PBL.   “That’s a whole hell of a lot of people in one place whose fingers smell of horsehide.” Jay Johnstone, an outfielder with 20 years of major league experience said.   I...
Read more