OC,SH ALERT:
Hall Of Fame broadcaster Milo Hamilton died today, 09/17/2015.
More, including a special link, after the article.

RE-ALIGNING MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

As a fan of a team that shares a city with another team, I often find myself wishing my home town area had only 1 team. I wouldn’t say I’m jealous, but it would be nice to be in a city where everyone rallied around the same team, like Pittsburgh, Detroit, St Louis, Kansas City. Those type of towns don’t have in-city “my team is better than your team” debates, & baseball fans can talk about the team without wondering if the person next to them is actually routing for the city’s “other” team. Just seems to be something magical for a city to rally around just 1 team.

So, to give more towns the “1 team” feeling, I theorize these moves, none of which would require switching leagues or divisions:
Los Angeles Angeles to Albuquerque NM
Oakland Athletics to Boise ID
New York Mets to Charlotte NC
Chicago Cubs to Nashville TN

MLB would look this way:

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays
Boston Red Sox

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
Detroit Tigers
Cleveland Indians
Chicago White Sox

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
Albuquerque Angels
Houston Astros
Texas Rangers
Seattle Mariners
Boise Athletics

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
Washington Nationals
Charlotte Mets
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
Philadelphia Phillies

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
St Louis Cardinals
Pittsburgh Pirates
Nashville Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
San Diego Padres
Colorado Rockies

On the other hand…. I’m guessing some fans would love to have 2 baseball teams in the same town. So, an alternate proposal, creating a situation where each area has 2 teams.

To do this, I theorize these moves, none of which would require switching leagues or divisions:
Tampa Bay Rays & Miami Marlins both move to Orlando FL
Philadelphia Phillies move to Toronto
St Louis Cardinals move to Kansas City KS
Cleveland Indians & Cincinnati Reds both move to Columbus OH
Houston Astros move to Arizona
Seattle Mariners & Colorado Rockies both move to Salt Lake City UT
Atlanta Braves move back to Boston
Detroit Tigers move to Pittsburgh
Milwaukee Brewers move to the Twin Cities in MN
San Diego Padres move to Texas

MLB would look this way:

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST
New York Yankees
Orlando Rays
Baltimore Orioles
Toronto Blue Jays
Boston Red Sox

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL
Kansas City MO Royals
Minnesota Twins
Pittsburgh Tigers
Columbus Indians
Chicago White Sox

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST
Los Angeles Angels
Arizona Astros
Texas Rangers
Salt Lake City Mariners
Oakland Athletics

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST
Washington Nationals
New York Mets
Boston Braves
Orlando Marlins
Toronto Phillies

NATIONAL LEAGUE CENTRAL
Kansas City KS Cardinals
Pittsburgh Pirates
Chicago Cubs
Columbus Reds
Minnesota Brewers

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Francisco Giants
Arizona Diamondbacks
Texas Padres
Salt Lake City Rockies

So, whatdya think!? Have any other move possibilities, suggestions or tweaks!?

OC,SH ALERT

As announced at the top of this entry, Hall Of Fame MLB broadcaster Milo Hamilton died today, 09/17/2015, at the age of 88.  Perhaps his best-known & most-memorable call is that of Hank Aaron’s 715th Home Run during the Atlanta Braves 1974 home opener:

Here’s the pitch by Downing… swinging… there’s a drive into left-center field… that ball is gonna beeee… OUTTA HERE! IT’S GONE! IT’S 715! There’s a new home run champion of all time… and it’s HENRY AARON!

That call was used as part of the opening sequence to a country classic radio program that aired locally on WCCQ, 98.3 FM, every Sunday morning.

A native of Fairfield IA, Hamilton broadcast for several teams:
St Louis Browns (1953)
St Louis Cardinals (1954), alongside Harry Caray & Jack Buck
Chicago Cubs (1955-1957), alongside Jack Brickhouse & Vince Lloyd
Chicago White Sox (1961-1965), alongside Bob Elson
Atlanta Braves (1966-1975), replaced by Skip Caray
Pittsburgh Pirates (1976-1979), succeeding Bob Prince
Chicago Cubs (1980-1984), alongside Brickhouse, Lloyd, Lou Boudreau & Harry Caray
Houston Astros (1985-2012), retiring before they switched from the NL to the AL (2013)

I found this, which includes some of Hamilton’s calls with the Chicago Cubs: