I am tired of guys joining historical franchise leagues and having no idea what that really means. How are they connected? Who can I use on my roster?

The Historical Lineage of a franchise is Critical to the Franchise League. What does that mean? It means that just because a player played for a team the same as yours, does not mean the franchises are related. Names have been reused throughout baseball history.

The bible for WiS is accepted as baseball-reference.com. You can view a complete historical breakdown at:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams

What makes a historical lineage is that the team was p***ed from 1 owner to the next, without breaking the chain. The name can be changed but the business of the franchise remains uninterrupted.

There are some very common ones that are messed up in WiS. A few that come to mind immediately are:

Baltimore Orioles
Cleveland Indians
St. Louis Cardinals
Oakland Athletics

Unfortunately the WiS Draft Center does not help you delineate all of these franchises. I have contacted admin and they say that they will include this in a future update.

The Baltimore Orioles

The current Baltimore franchise was founded in 1901 as the Milwaukee Brewers. To confuse things further, there was another franchise called the Baltimore Orioles that started in 1901. This franchise went on to become the New York Yankees.

So... the current Baltimore Orioles lineage is as follows:

1901 Milwaukee Brewers
1902-1953 St. Louis Browns
1954- Current Baltimore Orioles

There was another very successful unrelated Baltimore Orioles franchise in the 1800's that played in the old American ***ociation and then the Old National League. This team featured the great hitters like John McGraw, Willie Keeler, Joe Kelley and Hughie Jennings to name a few.

They played from 1882-1899 and then were disbanded.

St. Louis Cardinals

The current St. Louis franchise was founded in 1882 as the St. Louis Brown Stockings in the American ***ociation.

From 1883-1898 they were the St. Louis Browns. This team featured WiS greats Tip O'Neill, Jocko Milligan, Elton Chamberlain and Silver King.

They were the St. Louis Perfectos for 1899 before settling on the final name of St. Louis Cardinals from 1900 to Current.

St. Louis Cardinals (1900 - 2007)
St. Louis Perfectos (1899)
St. Louis Browns (1883 - 1898)
St. Louis Brown Stockings (1882)

Please note that the St. Louis Browns 1902-1953 are not related as they belong to the Current Baltimore Orioles as noted above.

Cleveland Indians

The current Cleveland Franchise was founded in 1901 as the Cleveland Blues and changed their name to the Cleveland Bronchos where Bill Bernhard had a stellar season.

From 1903-1914 they changed their name to the Cleveland Naps. The Naps featured Addie Joss and one of the greatest SP seasons in the SIM. Joss is probably one of the most forgotten seasons in Franchise leagues by Newbies as they do not include the Naps in their search. Shoeless Joe Jackson also played for the Naps.

In 1915 the name changed to the Cleveland Indians where the name remained.

Cleveland Indians (1915 - 2007)
Cleveland Naps (1903 - 1914)
Cleveland Bronchos (1902)
Cleveland Blues (1901)

*Please note that the Cleveland Infants and Cleveland Spiders are not related to the current Indians.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers (1958 - 2007)
Brooklyn Dodgers (1911, 1912, 1932 - 1957)
Brooklyn Robins (1914 - 1931)
Brooklyn Superbas (1899 - 1910, 1913)
Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1888 - 1890, 1896 - 1898)
Brooklyn Grooms (1891 - 1895)
Brooklyn Grays (1885 - 1887)
Brooklyn Atlantics (1884)



Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves (1966 - 2007)
Milwaukee Braves (1953 - 1965)
Boston Braves (1912 - 1935, 1941 - 1952)
Boston Bees (1936 - 1940)
Boston Rustlers (1911)
Boston Doves (1907 - 1910)
Boston Beaneaters (1883 - 1906)

The Braves are really broken out in the Database. The Milwaukee Braves are actually a very small portion of the history. Make sure you look at the Boston Braves, there is a really nice Hornsby.

Oakland A s

Oakland Athletics (1968 - 2007)
Kansas City Athletics (1955 - 1967)
Philadelphia Athletics (1901 - 1954)

** The mistake made here is that there were 2 unrelated Philadelphia Athletics franchises from 1882-1891. As a matter of fact, they were not related to each other.

Ed Seward and his stack of IP are often snuck into leagues from this franchise.


Chicago Cubs

Chicago Cubs (1903 - 2007)
Chicago Orphans (1898 - 1902)
Chicago Colts (1890 - 1897)
Chicago White Stockings (1876 - 1889)

Many forget about the White Stockings. Cap Anson, John Clarkson and King Kelly (who hit almost .390) not bad for a guy rated as a Catcher.

Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins (1961 - 2007)
Washington Senators (1901 - 1960)

Yes the Twins get Walter Johnson and Goose Goslin.

*There is an unrelated Senators franchise from 1891-1899.
**There is also a Washington Senators franchise from 1961-1971 who belong to the Texas Rangers.


Philadelhia Phillies

Philadelphia Phillies (1890 - 1942,1945 - 2007)
Philadelphia Blue Jays (1943, 1944)
Philadelphia Quakers (1883 - 1889)

Notice that the Phillies changed names in the middle for a couple years to the Blue Jays.

The Quakers have many great WiS players.

New York Yankees

New York Yankees (1913 - 2007)
New York Highlanders (1903 - 1912)
Baltimore Orioles (1901, 1902)

The funny thing about the Yankees is that with all those Championships the Yankees have very little elite WiS Starting Pitching (this side of Guidry) Searching the Highlanders will bring you Chesbro and Russ Ford.


Cincinnati Reds

Cincinnati Reds (1890 - 1953,1960 - 2007)
Cincinnati Redlegs (1954 - 1959)
Cincinnati Red Stockings (1882 - 1889)

The Washington Senators that start in 1961 are actually part of the Texas Rangers. So if you have Senators, make sure you are using the right version.

Thanks JohnGPF. I think that researching and understanding of the franchise history has made me a bigger baseball fan. It has helped me understand and tie together the games history, outside of just simming games.

Good info Bilfert - this should be posted in the Theme Cl***ifieds too.