The 1899 Southern Union Baseball Season was the sixth season of professional baseball within the Southern Union and and first season of promotion and relegation in Koana Islands since the merger of the Super Ligan and Nationella Basebolligan. It was also the first season of professional baseball within Ianoia, with the 10-team I-League beginning play on the 13th of April 1900.

Domestic Baseball

Koana Islands

Super Ligan

The 1900 Super Ligan season was clinched by Omfattandestad BoIS for the second time in four years on the 2nd of August, finishing 10 games clear of Vizhune IS who trailed the eventual champions by as much as 12 games at one point in the season. Freshly returned to the Super Ligan this season, Ny Aucklanda IF hung with Omfattandestad BoIS and Vizhune IS for the early half of the season, managing to hold on to third place but finishing 8 games further back.

At the opposite end of the standings, IK Förenta Saffron became the first team to ever be relegated from the Super Ligan when they lost 11-2 at home to Körsbärstad IF, with the club never looking like escaping the drop. Uckford Gemenskap were mathematically in with a chance of survival going into the final weekend of games as they had a three-game series against SK Ryttare who were only three games ahead in tenth place. A 5-1 win for SK Ryttare condemned the Uckford Gemenskap to relegation on the Friday, making the last two games redundant.

Division Ett

Despite sitting 6 games off league-leading BF Oberoendestad at the start of June, BK Salau won the inaugural Division Ett title, having lifted the first Nationella Basebolligan title four years earlier. BF Oberoendestad finished second and also clinched promotion to the Super Ligan, needing run differential in their games against Sandford Stad BF to claim the final promotion spot; Sandford Stad BF will rue what could’ve been, having been an early pace-setter with a 21-6 record after the first two months of play.

BK Embleton and Bryankeld Förenta BK hovered just outside the promotion spots for most of the year and went head-to-head in the final weekend of the season. With a sweep by either team giving them a slim chance of promotion, BK Embleton took the Friday game but Bryankeld Förenta BK won on Saturday, ending any chances of an unlikely promotion. Like the two above them in the standings, Portlethen Måndag GK and Rovaniemi Förenta both stayed in the hunt for much of the season before falling away in late July. The latter briefly occupying second spot during May whilst Portlethen Måndag GK had their best ever finish in 6th.

Jordnot Kanjon BK had a rollercoaster campaign, languishing in 13th after winning just 2 times in their first 13 games, before going on a tear in April to win 10 times and posting winning records in May and June. 1890 Ängelar SK finished 9th for the second straight year, tied on wins with Hamnområde BK. The Humoor-based had a dreadful month of May where they won just twice to see them languish in the lower half of the table for the majority of the season, winning one game more in May than Västra Delen 95 who could only muster 19 victories all year to finish last.

Prestons-Grenada finished two games ahead of a much improved Freyr Viksida IK who found form in the latter half of the year following a slow start, winning just 5 times in their first 27 games, before sweeping Prestons-Grenada and finishing with 9 wins the following month. IF Blidområde’s slow decline continued unabated, with worse finishes every season since becoming professional in 1897.

The 1900 season was the first time re-election was imposed on Division Ett teams. IF Blidområde and Västra Delen 95 were placed on the ballot for the first time in their history, but easily won re-election over the 3 amateur teams attempting to join the competition.

• IF Blidområde – 15 (Re-Elected)
• Västra Delen 95 – 19 (Re-Elected)
• Gamla Pojkar – 5
• GK Udde Korall – 8
• Litenstat Jarnekdal SBK – 5

Günsovölk

Baseball Meisterschaft

In a hotly contested race with Blau-Weiss Ruigoord, Fortuna Juemen clinched their first ever Baseball Meisterschaft title having fallen short the year before. Blau-Weiss was the team to beat for much of the season before both themselves and Juemen broke clear of the chasing pack in early June. It looked like Ruigoord’s championship to lose before they suffered a 5-game losing streak in mid-August; a 2-1 series loss to Ducibus BV preceded a sweep away to defending champions Rasensport Sorgenfrei, and that gave Fortuna a 2-game lead with three games to play. Fortuna dispatched BV Küstestadt on Friday the 24th with a score of 6-to-4 to wrap up the title with two games to spare.

Despite the two teams at the top of the table breaking clear by some margin in June, the remaining teams in the top half had an exciting finish that eventually saw Ducibus BV have their best ever finish in 3rd with Mächtstadt VfL finishing in fourth for their best ever finish. SG 1632 Schönheit looked like early title contenders before a dip in form during June put them too far back to realistically challenge. Despite sweeping Viktoria Grosstadt in mid-August with 6 games to play, Schönheit were mathematically out of the hunt for the title and were dually swept by Fortuna Juemen.

Rasensport Sorgenfrei entered the season as defending Champions knowing that a third-straight league title seemed unlikely. However, Die Wildkatzen hit July playing 500-ball, 8 games behind league-leading Fortuna Juemen, before a string of just two wins in 12 games put them in mid-table obscurity for the rest of the season. The sweep of Blau-Weiss Ruigoord in late August was part of a 7-game winning streak which included a further sweep of Gelb Kekerdom TuS who were touted as one of the favorites to win the championship after a third place finish last year. Having a tough start to the season with match-ups against Juemen, Mächtstadt, Ducibus and Blau-Weiss Ruigoord didn’t help Kekerdom who languished in last place at the start of May with 3 wins and 12 losses. A 6-game winning streak to end the season helped redeem some honor as they finished the season in 7th.

Tied with Kekerdom on 29 wins was a logjam of BV Küstestadt, Hafenstadt BV and VfB Andacht. BV Küstestadt had a quiet season despite losing their opening 9 games of the season and then going on a 6-game winning streak. June saw them win a further 5 straight to briefly sit on their own in 9th, 4 games clear of VfB Andacht and two games behind Viktoria Grosstadt SV. Hafenstadt BV trailed away as the season progressed, having started the season going 12-7. Eight losses in nine games in July – which included a sweep at the hands of cross-town rivals Ducibus BV – was the catalyst for a dismal end to the year.

Viktoria Grosstadt SV’s season was one to forget, despite hovering around the mid-table for much of the season. Four wins in their final 20 games tarnished the team that finished three games clear of Druten Stadt SV 91, who spent much of the year rooted firmly at the bottom of the standings having finished 10th last season and 2nd two years prior.

Ianoia

I-League

Unlike other leagues at the time, the I-League had a two week break midway through the season during June for Ianoia’s June Celebrations. Athletic Ivychurch was crowned the inaugural winner on run differential in the head-to-head fixtures against Oldstead Irish after they both finished with 34 wins.

In one of the tightest league tables and title races ever seen since baseball turned professional in the Southern Union in 1895, Athletic Ivychurch were declared champions on the final day through run differential between themselves and Oldstead Irish who tied on 34 wins. It was the Irishmen’s to lose however, entering the final game of the season knowing a win would see them as champions. A Dylan Stevenson 3-run home run in the 11th inning gave McCutchen City the victory and Ivychurch completed the sweep of Chatteris United on the same day to be crowned as champions. The two teams had met the previous weekend with Irish taking the back two games to tie the season head-to-head 3 games each, but a 10-5 victory to Athletic on the Friday proved to much of a mountain to climb in run differential between the two clubs with the Dockers coming out on top, 47-42.

Blenkinsopp Town finished third, tied on wins with Byfleet Hawks whom held third for the entirety of August until the final day. Blenkinsopp Town had briefly led the league at various points through the season after a strong month of May, alongside McCutchen City, before 6 losses in 7 games for McCutchen during July – including a sweep at Blenkinsopp – pushed the Myrmidons out of title contention by the time August rolled around.

Tyrant-Ilford and Ulcombe United’s form yo-yoed for much of the season, trading places repeatedly in the latter-half of the year as they struggled for consistency. A dreadful month of May in which Ilford won just three times before a string of wins on the restart after June pushed them back to 500-ball, whilst Ulcombe had a 5-game winning streak that stretched over either side of the break and briefly saw them crack the top half of the standings before an immediate four-game losing streak had them return to the lower half where they stayed.

Despite a solid start to the season that saw Donyatt-Burstwick hang with the early pace setters, the Sharks form nose-dived before the June break with a sweep at the hands of Ulcombe United following on from consecutive losses to Tyrant-Ilford. The fortunes of both Ilford and Burstwick changed considerably after that match-up, with the Claymores overtaking Burstwick at the end of July and never ceding the position for the rest of the year.

Juniors and Chatteris United consigned themselves to being the worst teams in the league, well off the pace by mid-July, notwithstanding the latter having an uptick in results through August by sweeping Juniors and briefly moving out of last place for the first time since early June. However, the Knights went on to lose 8 of there last 9 match-ups to eventually finish with a dismal record of 17 wins and 37 losses, whilst the Colts stunned Athletic Ivychurch with two wins, and a victory over McCutchen City during the same period, to finish 9th where they spent the majority of the season.