The Ultimate Baseball What If: 1961 Continental League for History Maker Baseball

The tabletop baseball hobby has been around for over 70 years, and it's rare to find something that hasn't already been done. But I think the 1961 Continental League card set for History Maker Baseball qualifies for that status. It features real ball players, in a real historical setting, with an open-ended outcome--I think it's pretty cool!

As many know, I created a similar hypothetical season for Second Season Football, the 1957 American Football League. The AFL actually formed in 1959, with play beginning in 1960, but the idea of an alternate football league was in play years earlier and the AFL could have happened sooner. The '61 Continental League, though, is even more rooted in actual sports history than the '57 version of the AFL was. Here's the back story...

Shortly after I created the '57 AFL in 2014, PLAAY Gamer and baseball card collector Charlie Sacheli got in touch with me about doing the 1961 Continental League. Of course, I was immediately intrigued, partly because of how much fun it was to make the '57 AFL but especially because of how certain it appeared at the time that the league would take the field, and--given the ultimate success of the American Football League in a similar situation--the strong odds for its success.

Having just finished the football project, I was had a pretty good idea of how a similarly-themed baseball card set could be put together and started to collect the data. Basically, I went through the baseball-reference.com archives player-by-player, searching for ball players whose careers either ended in 1960 or before, or began in 1962 or later. Yes, this was an arduous process! It took a number of years to complete the list. I would do a letter or two at a time, starting with the "A's" and "B's" and moving on down the alphabet. I worked in this intermittently as I had time, starting in 2015, finishing in 2020.

All along, I had the intention of creating a '61 Continental League card set that could be played alongside real-life 1961 pro baseball teams. Even though it was logical that some of those who played in the real life '61 season could/would have migrated to the Continental League, I didn't want to have any duplicate players. Thus, our version of the league is a completely unique set of players. All of them had at least a "cup-of-coffee" in the big leagues. I took poetic license with future baseball stars like Willie Stargell and Joe Pepitone, who were in the minor leagues in '61 but--who knows?--could have been enticed to jump to a new major league for more money. Remember, the Continental League was announced in 1959, with plenty of time to begin recruiting and signing players.

Once the player pool was created, I had to winnow it down to a manageable number and assign players to specific teams. I decided on rosters of 24 players per team, based on my experience in creating late '50s and early '60s baseball. Team assignments were mostly arbitrary, although I did take into consideration regional ties a player might have had, if I was aware of them.

Rating the players was fairly straightforward, I used career data and either projected or retro-fitted it to 1961, based on where the player was in his career. It made sense that there would be a few over-achievers, so I gave some players an extra dollop of ability, mostly arbitrarily. I spent many hours looking up players and getting some background info on them, nuggets of information that could be applied to the card-making process.

A word about that--as you might expect, this group of players will under-perform relative to the AL and NL teams, much like how the early AFL stacked up against the NFL. There's an abundance of youth on the CL rosters, and a fair share of over-the-hill veterans eager for one more season of big league glory. However, I think that's part of the charm of a league like this--it's what makes me want to play it even more!

Finally, Sam and I collaborated on a cool "look" for the cards, based on 1960s style Topps baseball cards. We chose an era-appropriate nickname for each team--mascots that would have logically been in the mix in the early '60s. We want this to be more than a replay-type project, but rather something that evokes a period and a theme.

Which teams are favored? Well--hard to say, but I feel like the Montreal team has the inside track to the '61 CL pennant. With an aging but still effective Ted Williams, and youngsters like Manny Mota and Luis Tiant leading the way, the Royal Blues should be an exciting club!

I do realize that, in our hobby, a hypothetical baseball league isn't everyone's cup of tea. But I know that there are folks for whom a card set like this is exciting and full of possibilities. I certainly fall into that category. Even for those who don't intend to complete a long-term project with the cards, the '61 Continental League set can provide some great moments. For me, it's fun to just pick a player and "google" his name, read about his career.

In any case, this was a "bucket list" project for me, and it's so satisfying for me to check it off. I look forward to undertaking a long-term project with these cards one day. I hope that others will have as much fun with it as I plan to have! I'm indebted to Charlie Sacheli for the inspiration and ongoing encouragement--there were numerous times over the past half-dozen years where Charlie would send me Continental League suggestions from his massive baseball card collection. Thanks, Charlie!

Thanks also to everyone who picked up the ‘61 Continental League during the Holiday Sale! We are planning on bringing these cards back in the spring time as both a digital download and a printed-and-shipped card set. There were a couple typos that slipped through, here are the corrected cards for Mel Clark, Bob Martyn, Billy Ott and Bob Tillman.

For those who didn’t get the set but are curious about it, here are the '61 Continental League Rosters, team-by-team...

Atlanta Emeralds

Dick Radatz, Relief Pitcher

Tom Butters, Relief Pitcher

Jim Heise, Relief Pitcher

Leo Kiely, Relief Pitcher

Charlie Rabe, Relief Pitcher

Morrie Steevens, Relief Pitcher

Don Gross, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Ron Negray, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Ben Johnson, Starting Pitcher

Johnny Kucks, Starting Pitcher

Stover McIlwain, Starting Pitcher

Bob Uecker, Catcher

Doc Edwards, Catcher

Don Lock, Center Field

Jim Pisoni, Center Field

Tommie Aaron, First Base/Outfield

Herb Plews, Infield

Bob Hazle, Outfield

Willie Stargell, Outfielder/First Base

Mel Clark, Outfielder

Johnny O'Brien, Second Base

Bobby Young, Second Base

Willy Miranda, Shortstop

Preston Ward, Utility

Buffalo Bees

Hank Mason, Relief Pitcher

Dale Willis, Relief Pitcher

Frank Barnes, Relief Pitcher

Zach Monroe, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Elmer Singleton, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Ron Blackburn, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Jack Harshman, Starting Pitcher

Sammy Ellis, Starting Pitcher

George Gerberman, Starting Pitcher

Frank Kreutzer, Starting Pitcher

Dave Stenhouse, Starting Pitcher

Joe Lonnett, Catcher

Ray Katt, Catcher

Dee Fondy, First Base

Whitey Lockman, First Base/Outfield

Sandy Amoros, Left Field

Bill Renna, Outfield

Roger Repoz, Outfield

Ron Davis, Outfield

Bob Martyn, Outfield

Ray Webster, Second Base

Solly Hemus, shortstop/Second Base

Benny Valenzuela, Third Base

Steve Demeter, Third Base

Dallas Rustlers

Marv Grissom, Relief Pitcher

Lefty Hayden, Relief Pitcher

Tom Flanigan, Relief Pitcher

Dwight Siebler, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Dick Tomanek, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Gaylord Perry, Starting Pitcher

Alex Kellner, Starting Pitcher

Herm Wehmeier, Starting Pitcher

Ralph Mauriello, Starting Pitcher

Joe Bonikowski, Starting Pitcher

Red Wilson, Catcher

Jack Feller, Catcher

Ted Uhlaender, Center Field

Gail Harris, First Base

Dan Ardell, First/Third Base

Bob Burda, Outfield

Jim Delsing, Outfield

Tex Nelson, Outfield

Chuck Oertel, Outfield

Lou Skizas, Outfielder/Third Base

Chico Ruiz, Second/Third Base

Tom Carroll, Third Basen/Shortstop

Rick Joseph, Third/First Base

Norm Zauchin, Utility

Denver Grizzlies

Babe Birrer, Relief Pitcher

Bob Davis, Relief Pitcher

Lou Sleater, Relief Pitcher

Jim Stump, Relief Pitcher

Dave Tyriver, Relief Pitcher

Bud Podbielan, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Bo Belinsky, Starting Pitcher

Wally Burnette, Starting Pitcher

Bob Sadowski, Starting Pitcher

Art Ceccarelli, Starting Pitcher

Jim Campbell, Catcher

Lou Berberet, Catcher

Stan Lopata , Catcher/First Base

Mickey Vernon, First Base

Carl Boles, Left Field

Joe Durham, Outfield

Frank Ernaga, Outfield

Jerry Schoonmaker, Outfield

Rod Kanehl, Outfield

Billy Ott, Outfield

Al Weis, Second Base/Shortstop

Dal Maxvill, Shortstop

Casey Wise, Shortstop/Second Base

Bobby Avila, Third Base

Houston Heroes

Frank Linzy, Relief Pitcher

Ray Narleski, Relief Pitcher

Pete Richert, Relief Pitcher

Bud Byerly, Relief Pitcher

Hal Stowe, Relief Pitcher

Jim Hannan, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Hal Griggs, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Corky Valentine, Starting Pitcher

Denny Lemaster, Starting Pitcher

Bill Faul, Starting Pitcher

Art Quirk, Starting Pitcher

Jeff Torborg, Catcher

Jim Hegan, Catcher

Pidge Browne, First Base

Dusty Rhodes, Left Field

Del Ennis, Outfield

Ted Savage, Outfield

John Glenn, Outfield

Bill Kern, Outfield

Bobby Morgan, Second Base

Dick Barone, Shortstop

Ramon Conde, Third Base

Al Dark, Third Base/Shortstop

Pete Ward , Utility

Montreal Royal Blues

Hal Jeffcoat, Pitcher/Outfielder

Tony Balsamo, Relief Pitcher

Bob Mabe, Relief Pitcher

Doug Gallagher, Relief Pitcher

Chuck Churn, Relief Pitcher

Morrie Martin, Relief Pitcher

Jim McDonald, Relief Pitcher

Ron Taylor, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Luis Tiant, Starting Pitcher

Murry Dickson, Starting Pitcher

Curt Raydon, Starting Pitcher

Rube Walker, Catcher

Ed Fitz Gerald, Catcher

Johnny Groth, Center Field

Rick Herrscher, First Base

Larry Raines, Infield

Ted Williams, Left Field

Howie Bedell, Outfield

Manny Mota, Outfield

Jim Bolger, Outfield

Purnal Goldy, Relief Pitcher

Jim Baxes, Second Base

Chico Carrasquel, Shortstop

Max Alvis, Third Base

New York Skyliners

John Boozer, Relief Pitcher

Dick Brodowski, Relief Pitcher

Moe Savransky, Relief Pitcher

Jack Smith, Relief Pitcher

Herm Starrette, Relief Pitcher

Carl Thomas, Relief Pitcher

Brooks Lawrence, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Carl Erskine, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Vito Valentinetti, Starting Pitcher

Fritz Ackley, Starting Pitcher

Von McDaniel, Starting Pitcher

Jack Urban, Starting Pitcher

Bill Hall, Catcher

Jay Porter, Catcher/First Base

Ron Jackson, First Base

Sandy Valdespino, Left Field

Joe Pepitone, Outfield

Solly Drake, Outfield

Eddie Haas, Outfield

Irv Noren, Outfielder/First Base

Milt Graff, Second Base

Gil McDougald, Second Base/Shortstop

Dick Gray, Shortstop

Felix Torres, Third Base

Toronto Totems

Don Choate, Relief Pitcher

Paul LaPalme, Relief Pitcher

Dick Luebke, Relief Pitcher

Phil Paine, Relief Pitcher

George Susce, Relief/Starting Pitcher

Cal Koonce, Starter/Relief Pitcher

Dave Giusti, Starting Pitcher

Willard Nixon, Starting Pitcher

Bill HarrisvStarting Pitcher

Bob Smith, Starting Pitcher

Roger McCardell, Catcher

Bob Tillman, Catcher

Rogelio Alvarez,First Base

Don Eaddy, First/Third Base

Amado Samuel, Infield

Gus Zernial, Left Field

Joe Taylor, Outfield

Corky Withrow, Outfield

Manny Jimenez, Outfield

Hector Martinez, Outfield

Zeke Bella, Outfield

Ernie Fazio, Second Base/Shortstop

Dick Tracewski, Shortstop/Second Base

Don Wert, Third Base