As the 1908 Legacy Baseball season came to a close with the Brooklyn Whales defeating the Twin Cities Empire five games to one, the Pittsburgh Oilers had finished in a respectable 3rd place in the Frontier Division of the Western League, with an even 60-60 record. The Oilers’ owner, Chester Colfax had decided a new direction for the team was needed to propel them forward towards reaching the playoffs, which the Oilers had yet to see ever since the league first started in 1895. Mr. Colfax hired a new General manager for the team to replace the Previous Manager, hiring Cincinnati-Born General Manager named Mr. Tyler Saylor.
Mr. Saylor has had a background in managing Baseball, having managed a team in another, unaffiliated League from the LBL, that had recently disbanded known as the Boston Shamrocks, a team who once won a pennant after a long drought over on that league’s Detroit team. It was said that during his tenure on the Shamrocks, he cobbled together a ragtag team through years of drafting and a bit of luck on his side in part of one player who he held in high regard, Mr. James Butler.
James Butler, who according to the Boston newspapers, lead his league in Pitching Wins and strikeouts, sporting A 30-10 record, 2.10 ERA, 11.8 WAR, and had struck out 268 opposing batters over 42 games during what was his final season before being forced into retirement after the team was defunct at the age of 27-years-young.
Upon Mr. Saylor being out of the job from both the Shamrocks, and the other league itself after the disbanding, he took to seek new work in Baseball soon finding himself working for the Legacy Baseball League as the Pittsburgh Oilers Head of Front office.
“I’m just glad to have a new job again, I’m sure this is a whole other animal to work in as compared to Boston but I will do my utmost duty to give a team this city can be proud about. I wish I could’ve taken my players from the Shamrocks with me but that’s all water under the bridge; all in the past. It’s time for the here and now, and I look forward to the next year as the new Manager of the Pittsburgh Club”, is what Mr. Saylor responded to a question about what was his background before accepting the job.
“Before y’all know it, the Oilers will soon become the next best thing in Baseball since the Boston Shamrocks from my ol’ days running them, and that’s a promise”, he declared. Whether Mr. Saylor’s promise will yield fruit is yet to be seen but he had shared a bout of confidence in this declaration, whether it’d be the case, the denizens of Pittsburgh might have something to look forward to come 1909.