American Baseball League: THREAD IS DEAD

[dsaline97 635]

The American Baseball League was formed in 1936 when 6 teams met in Washington, DC, in hopes of bringing the United States out of the Great Depression. Franchises were placed in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Des Moines, Atlanta, and Washington, DC, and Christopher Husley was elected the first commissioner of the ABL.

The ABL is divided into the American Conference and the National Conference, each with 3 geographically-named subdivisions: East, Central, and West. These two conferences came into existence when the twelfth team was formed in 1958. As years passed, more expansion teams were created, and the ABL reached 24 teams in 2003. Below is a map of the teams' current locations:



Each year, 8 out of the 24 ABL teams make the playoffs. Each division winner receives an automatic berth, and the team with the next-highest record in their respective conference earns a wild card spot. Each round is a best-of-five series, with the winner moving on after winning 3 games. The playoffs end with the ABL Championship Series between the two conference champions, and the winner of that is crowned the ABL Champion.

The league logos are all relatively simple, yet strong. The main league logo has six stars around its edges, representing the six subdivisions in the league. Each conference logo has twelve stars, representing the twelve teams in their conference.



The uniforms used in the ABL are similar to those in the MLB. The primary home uniform can be either white, grey/silver, sand/tan/cream, or powder blue. The primary road uniform is one of the team's colors, with the same color pants as the home uniform. Teams may have a maximum of two alternate jerseys, and three total caps. Throwbacks are not included as alternate jerseys. Teams will also receive a 4th of July uniform set, a Memorial Day uniform set, and a Cinco-de-Mayo uniform set. Teams may create patches to be placed on uniforms to honor those affected by local, national, or global catastrophes, team anniversaries (i.e., 10, 25, 50, 100), or in honor of certain people.

These are the team names with their color schemes, divided into their conferences. Some are subject to minor changes, but most are set in stone:



Iowa Dusters | New Mexico Suns | Philadelphia Liberty | New York Knights | Portland Loggers | Indiana Tribe | Arizona Sidewinders

[dsaline97 635]

Originally named the Cropdusters, the Iowa Dusters are one of the original 6 teams in the American Baseball League. Their roots as a baseball club trace as far back as 1925 and were known as the Iowa Professional Baseball Club. Then, in 1936, the ABL was formed and the team adopted the name of the Cropdusters because of their use in an attempt to slow the Dust Bowl.

The Dusters have 11 ABL titles, the second most in the league. The franchise won their first league championship in 1942 under the command of manager Jeremy Tomlin, shortstop Steve Bradley, and first baseman Arthur Simmons, who led the ABL with 57 homeruns. Those three have all been elected to the ABL Hall of Fame.

Today, Iowa is a consistent contender to win the American Conference West Division, and they are led by their young, all-star catcher, Julio Romero, who hit .336 and drove in 87 runs in 2007, his rookie year, and the year of the Dusters’ most recent championship. Ron Hubbard, the dominant ace in Iowa’s starting rotation, posting back-to-back seasons with 20 wins and an ERA of under 2.00.

The Dusters have a long tradition of winning, and their uniforms display this tradition. The jerseys and pants both have basic, outlined piping, with a patch on the left sleeve. The primary logo consists of a cropduster plane inside of a roundel, with the words “Iowa Dusters Baseball Club” around the edges. The cropduster logo also appears on the caps of the batting practice uniforms.

C&C Appreciated! Can't wait to see what you guys think!

[FGM13 767]

I will be following this project closely. It looks great so far

[JCRGraphix 2,082]

This has a lot of potential...

[generalshepherd141 86]

Not to be one to try and ruin your project and all, but in real life Omaha, Iowa, Idaho, Roanoke, and Maine would not be able to survive in their markets. Not to mention Houston ain't have no team.

But, this is your project, so whatever.

[mrmitch999 3]

I love the font used for the wordmarks and numbers. Gives the whole team a "classic" feel. Also, what template are you using for the jerseys?

[darkpiranha 559]

I'm normally disinterested in baseball concepts, but like The America League/soccer, this is one I'll be following. Cool stuff so far.

[camly 20]

i was originally going to complain about the odd choice of markets but that first concept was so amazing. Any concept series that includes team histories is enough to have me hooked!

[Magnus 379]

Not to be one to try and ruin your project and all, but in real life Omaha, Iowa, Idaho, Roanoke, and Maine would not be able to survive in their markets. Not to mention Houston ain't have no team.

But, this is your project, so whatever.

Besides, if it is a fictional league (or even if it wasn't), teams could always go the Green Bay route and be community-owned...

Bring on the concepts!

[generalshepherd141 86]

Not to be one to try and ruin your project and all, but in real life Omaha, Iowa, Idaho, Roanoke, and Maine would not be able to survive in their markets. Not to mention Houston ain't have no team.

But, this is your project, so whatever.

Besides, if it is a fictional league (or even if it wasn't), teams could always go the Green Bay route and be community-owned...

Bring on the concepts!

Yep. But I don't really care because the Dusters looked fantastic!

[grant1woods 16]

bump

[HighNoon23 3]

Being from Iowa, Iowa Dusters concept doesn't look to bad

[KyleMakesConcepts 4]

Just going to say this, Buffalo needs a team.

[dsaline97 635]

Don't worry, my thought was to get these 24 teams, then expand to 30 or possibly 32 teams. Not to mention all of the defunct teams. But thanks for feeding all of these ideas.

I'm likely going to post the second team later this week (Thursday or Friday), and I'm out of town next week. I may or may not post one then.

I'm glad this is getting interest! Thanks for the comments everyone.

[seancarter 25]

why no team in pittsburgh

[MojoRoberts 13]

I am looking forward to seeing more from this series. No complaints here about the choice of small markets, it's all about creating unique identities for these teams and fun detailed stories that makes these kind of things interesting. It's nice to see what sports could be like without the ugliness of money.

[rsaline 525]

So will all the teams have white pants and colored (dark) jerseys for roads? League looks really good, can't wait to see the New York Knights, hopefully something based on The Natural.

[dsaline97 635]

So will all the teams have white pants and colored (dark) jerseys for roads? League looks really good, can't wait to see the New York Knights, hopefully something based on The Natural.

Got it. Updated the original post.

[grant1woods 16]

dumpidy dump dump dump

[dsaline97 635]

Any more comments on the Dusters? Team 2 should be up today.