Why the Name?

I named this league “The Organization of Appalachian Baseball” because I wanted to be different. Coover’s book is called “The Universal Baseball Association,” and other folks had started similar ventures with either the same name or with similarly “spacey” names. The game is an imaginary version of baseball, so it is tempting to give it a name that reflects its physically disassociated nature.

But I wanted to be different. I have lived all my life in the mountains, so I naturally wanted this thing I have crafted to reflect my self and personal history. And “Appalachia” has such an earthier tone to it, a hardscrabble rockiness that is antithetical to the other kinds of names I have encountered for similar efforts. “The Organization of Appalachian Baseball” is local, organic. It also has an archaic, 19th-century ring to it that I like.