Diamond Kings Baseball brings legends back to life

"Walter Johnson looks in for the sign. Harmon Killebrew cocks his bat and waits. Here's the two-strike pitch. There's a drive to deep left field! It might be! It could be! It is!"

The above scenario would have been impossible considering Johnson's brilliant career ended nine years before Killebrew was born. And the fact that the "Big Train" died when the former Twins third baseman was just 10 years old eliminates any possibility of an exhibition game encounter. Johnson may be pitching in Heaven --or Iowa, if that's where you believe baseball heaven resides -- but Killebrew is still among the living here on Earth. So how could "Killer" have taken Johnson deep in any context? Diamond Kings Baseball, that's how.

Have you ever wondered how Babe Ruth would have done against Bob Gibson? Ever imagined yourself sitting in front of an old radio and listening to baseball games the way your grandfather used to? If you answered affirmatively to either question then Diamond Kings Baseball is what you've been looking for.

Diamond Kings Baseball pits 24 teams made up of players past and present against each other in a 162-game season. That sounds like a slew of other leagues out there in cyberspace, but what sets Diamond Kings apart from other leagues is that their games are broadcast over the Internet at www.fancast.com every week, bringing major league heroes from yesteryear back to life.

The first game of the Diamond Kings season featured American League East division rivals Boston and Baltimore, who sent pitchers Ed Reulbach and Vean Gregg, respectively, to the mound to do battle. In the early years of modern baseball Reulbach was instrumental in helping the Cubs to a record 116 wins and led the National League in winning percentage three straight years from 1906 to 1908. In Diamond Kings Reulbach led the American League with a 2.07 ERA en route to a 17-5 record for the second place Red Sox. Meanwhile Gregg was toiling for the Cleveland Indians, posting three straight 20-win seasons from 1911 to 1913, before fading. But he was Baltimore's best pitcher last year in Diamond Kings, winning 18 and posting a 2.27 ERA.

Diamond Kings Baseball mixes talent carefully constructed from every decade in baseball history from 1901 to 2000. The Red Sox, for example, feature a pitching staff composed of one of the best starters from the 1900's (Reulbach), one of the aces of the sixties (Gibson) and perhaps the seventies' best closer (Rollie Fingers). And they have an outfield that consists of Hall of Famer Al Simmons (1924-1944), future Hall of Famer Tim Raines (1979-1998, present) and enigmatic troublemaker Carl Everett (1993-present).

The beauty of Diamond Kings Baseball is that fans can actually listen to these players perform every week, cheering on their favorite players while learning about players they had never heard of before. Where else can a fan tune in and listen to 1994 A.L. Cy Young Award winner David Cone take on Dazzy Vance, who led the National League in strikeouts for seven consecutive seasons from 1922-1928? Cone faced a Cardinals lineup that featured Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, Sal Bando and Robin Yount and shut them down for eight innings, the only blemish being a single run in the ninth in a 10-1 Florida victory last Thursday.

But Diamond Kings Baseball isn't just about stars. The Indians, for example, recently lost reigning A.L. MVP Babe Ruth to injury and were forced to replace him with Lou Skizas. In case you've never heard of Skizas-and who among us has-he compiled 30 home runs during a four year career from 1956 to 1959 while playing for four different teams-the Yankees, Athletics, Tigers and White Sox. In a division as solid as the American League East, Ruth's six-week absence could spell doom for Cleveland.

A commissioner who understands the value of democracy, but reserves the right to make the final decision on all league matters expertly runs the league. A rules committee made up of the commissioner, both league presidents and one team owner from each of four divisions convenes each offseason to discuss rules that would benefit the league. The league constitution covers everything from contracts to waivers to free agency to eligible defensive positions for each player, and it is strictly adhered to.

The league website, which can be found at www.seamheads.com, serves as home to all the stats and features that any stat geek-or "seamhead" as these geeks are affectionately known-could ask for. Broadcast times and dates are listed at the site, so if you missed the Johnson/Killebrew battle, fear not. They'll be facing each other again this season. Try not to miss it this time.