A Bitter Rivalry

Former Allies Compete For The First Time

by Gregg Evans for Uplantica Sport

June 25, 1928

PRISSLEY, TOFORD – The Rivals and Trail Blazers began a three game series on Sunday afternoon, their first meeting of the regular season. There has been a notable rift between team owners Wesley Sullivan and Jason Conner.

The two worked together in the Thundaru Juniors front office before founding UA teams. The Juniors are now a premiere traveling youth team, but up until the UA began play, the Juniors were part of the Herders baseball organization. The Juniors helped to spread the popularity of the sport amongst families in Speakowa and northern Toford. The Juniors’ baseball diplomacy is arguably a big part of the Herders becoming successful enough to join the UA, as well as the popularity of the sport growing enough for the UA to exist at all. Wesley Sullivan and Jason Conner were at the center of the team’s success. Both men left the Juniors shortly after the end of the 1923 season.

Wesley Sullivan grew up in one of the wealthiest families in Taawa, and grew his fortune investing in the railroad industry. When he left the Juniors, he immediately began work on putting together a new professional team in Railey, hoping to enter the new league. It is unclear why Sullivan chose not to continue his working relationship with Jason Conner, but it is clear that Conner took offense.

Conner told me: “After what we did at Thundaru, I thought we were a team. We had talked about the opportunities in the new pro league, and were trying to narrow down our options. I didn’t realize until my letters came back that he had moved on. I have no idea [why Sullivan moved on].”

At that point, Jason Conner found himself at a crossroads. He lacked the personal capital to start a team on his own the way Sullivan had, but he had spent his professional life in baseball. He was not ready to try his luck in another industry, especially when baseball was on the brink of going nationwide. He began a campaign to fund a new team and was able to put an organization together with help from a group of investors in Prissley. The Trail Blazers were the last team to join the UA.

Curiously, although Conner’s Trail Blazers were the last team to join, Wesley Sullivan’s Railey Rivals were the last team to officially submit a team identity to the league. Is the “Rivals” name a reference to the bad blood between Conner and Sullivan? Jason Conner had no comment to offer on this question, and Wesley Sullivan could not be reached.

Sullivan traveled across the river with the Rivals to Prissley for this first series between the teams, but was conspicuously absent from the visiting owners’ box at Prissley Grounds during Sunday’s game. Conner was photographed at the game in sunglasses, but appeared to have a bruised eye beneath the dark lenses, fueling rumors and speculation.

Railey won on the field in a wild game that took 10 innings to decide after a dramatic comeback by the Blazers tied the game in the bottom of the ninth. The Rivals held on for the 11-10 win. The two teams are currently in the middle of the pack in the East division; Prissley trails the Stags by 2 games, Railey trails by 3 games.