The Boys of Summer: AGBA Eastern League Setup (Robinson Division)

We continue the APBA Galaxy Baseball Association's (AGBA) league breakdown, and continue with the Robinson Division (named after Jackie Robinson) in the Eastern League.

Originally: I used to use the Atlanta Generals uniforms from Out of the Park Baseball, but when the Generals and Philadelphia Veterans uniforms were too similar, I momentarily went with the Atlanta Pilots.

Then a year ago, I finally fell upon a really cool uniform set in the Atlanta Firebirds. The uniforms were love at first sight, while the name at first kind of threw me. Once I read the creator's reasons for the name, the logo and fonts chosen, it all made a world of sense. The rising phoenix became a symbol of post-Civil War Atlanta, after nearly the entire city burned to the ground. It was used all across the city through many outlets over time. The block A at the top of the Atlanta Firebirds logo, and also as the secondary logo, is the same font used for the old Negro League team named the Atlanta Black Crackers. Add these two elements, the rising phoenix, the 'A' to the mix of old school Braves uniforms from the 50's through 70's and you have these beauties...

Team Makeup: The team is represented by players from the 1968, 1993 & 2018 Atlanta Braves, which are loaded with current and upcoming talent. The Braves made the playoffs in 1969, while the 90's Braves were starting to arrive, plus the talented group in today's team. The Firebirds should be in AGBA World Championship hunt for the immediate future.

Early Predictions: Like I mentioned above, a championship contender. The team does have the big three in Greg Maddux, John Smoltz & Tom Glavine, while the team also has Phil Niekro. Keeping the big three together over time will definitely be a challenge, and definitely will be expensive. The Firebirds had to make necessary cuts which watched Steve Avery land with the New Orleans Pirates & Felipe Alou playing in the outfield for the San Diego Tigers.

On the Farm: The Firebirds may have the best group of talent in the minors in Chipper Jones, Javy Lopez, Dusty Baker, Ryan Klesko, Ralph Garr & Max Fried.

Interesting Fact: The Atlanta Firebirds color scheme are similar to other Atlanta sports teams in the Falcons, Hawks & Thrashers, while also continuing the bird theme.

Originally: The Brooklyn Mets was the New York Gothams at one point, while I also thought of going with the Gothams uniforms that sported the old New York Giants color scheme. The more recent Gothams theme was basically the typical New York Mets uniforms, with the word Gothams in the place of Mets. Then I fell onto the Brooklyn Mets uniforms that teamed the old Brooklyn Dodgers uniform look with the typical Mets look, and it created a very interesting hybrid.

Team Makeup: The team consists of 1968, 1993 & 2018 Mets. The team's backbone is the strong promising rotation in Jacob deGrom (A&C-KZ), Tom Seaver (A-YZ), Jerry Koosman (A-Y), Noah Syndergaard (B-YZ), Nolan Ryan (B-XYW) & Zack Wheeler (B-Y). The talent among the position players are definitely in flux considering the weak hitting of 1968, and the confusing direction of the 1993 & 2018 players.

Jeff Kent, Jeff McNeil, Michael Conforto & Brandon Nimmo seem to be the only players in the lineup with significant upside.

Early Predictions: Hard to say, the rotation definitely gives them a chance to win some ball games, but the lineup needs love & luck. The team most likely will fall somewhere between 3rd & 5th place. Atlanta is too good, while Carolina has a great blend of pitching and depth... Not to mention, getting by Philadelphia and Washington won't be easy as well. The team's future could be a slow burn, but if they hold onto all that pitching, eventually things will bounce the Mets' way.

On the Farm: Jeromy Burnitz, Bobby J. Jones, Ken Boswell, Mike Jorgensen & Jim McAndrew.

Interesting Fact: The MLB New York Mets built Citi Field, in which the outside of the stadium is reminiscent of Ebbet's Field. The Brooklyn Mets play at New Ebbets Field in this universe, while the New York Knights will play at Citi Field.

Team Makeup: The team originally consisted of 10 players from the 2018 Tampa Bay Rays, plus 10 various 1993 players & 10 various 1968 players. A well-balanced team with a strong bench, good rotation, and bullpen.

Early Prediction: Carolina should make a strong playoff push with its competitive roster, while Gates Brown's strong J-3 card should be fun to watch everyday.

On the Farm: Not much... Brandon Lowe, Jake Bauers, Greg Garcia & Adam Kolarek are about it, but they do have a lot of young talent on the main team in Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Willy Adames & Austin Meadows.

Team Makeup: It really should go without mentioning it, but the team name and look for the most part is from the fictional team from the movie, 'The Natural'. In this day and age of custom logos and uniform-making, the internet had no problems doing their versions of the famed uniformed looks. I will be using those uniforms for classic nights, not to mention a Roy Hobbs edition for an alternate home look. The other uniforms at the top were originals created from the Out of Park Baseball community, by OOTP Uniform guru TXRanger... I can't say enough about his uniforms and logos.

I was going to go with New York Titans, a name used for the old football teams, while the Knights were supposed to be the Los Angeles Knights (representing mostly Angels players), but I decided to go with the Guardians. I felt with having the Los Angeles Royals, that the Knights would make it to much of a renaissance thing in the same city, plus we also had the Monarchs possibility as well, which then came at the last minute for Kansas City.

The team has 10 players from each of the three eras: 1968, 1993 & 2018.

Early Prediction: The Knights will likely be at the bottom or near it, but it will be very exciting to see Japanese stars Sadaharu Oh and Isao Harimoto playing together on the same team, like they did for the Yomiuri Giants from 1976-1979 at the tail-end of their Japanese baseball careers in real-life.

On the Farm: Nothing but a fringe prospect in IF-Domingo Cedeno.

Team Makeup: The Philadelphia Veterans could have been named numerous things from Freedom, Patriots or Liberty, but in the end it was the Vets, not for its name though. The choice was for the logo and the uniform sets that I found in the Out of the Park Baseball community. The team consists of Phillies for the most part from 1968, 1993 & 2018, while the team landed outfielder Nick Markakis in the waiver draft.

Early Prediction: The team has a chance to be very competitive with outside shot at the division title, but likely will be fighting Washington for 3rd place, behind the N.Y. Pigeons and Boston Colonials. The team is built on a lineup & solid bench that can get on base, while the starting pitching is pretty good as well. The bullpen, and some pitching projects are the team's biggest question marks.

On the Farm: Brewers fans may recognize the two names in Larry Hisle & Don Money, plus Philly also has relief prospect Seranthony Dominguez.

Team Makeup: There was plenty of options for the Washington franchise. I wanted to get away from the Senators and Nationals, while I had options for the Generals, Capitols, Sentinels and Warriors. In the end, I went with the Maroons for numerous reasons. I enjoyed the look of its uniforms, plus I always got a kick from Bugs Bunny saying "What a Maroon." -- So yeah, it plays off the word morons, because let's face it, I think we can agree that the city of Washington is unfortunately populated by many morons in the federal government. The teams consists of 1993 Montreal Expos & 2018 Washington Nationals, plus various players from 1968.

Early Prediction: The Washington Maroons will likely be in the middle of the pack, competing for third place. The Maroons are a talented bunch that are competing in a tough & talented division... but anything is possible, that's why they play the game.

On the Farm: Victor Robles, Wil Cordero, Rondell White & Kirk Rueter lead the pack.