ABSTRACT
While isolated instances of fantasy baseball can be found going back a generation or more (e.g., Joe Morgan of Middletown, Ohio has operated a league since 1964 called Wheelin’ ‘n’ Dealin’ With Your Own Baseball Franchise, and wrote a book about it in 1975), it did not enter the national consciousness until after a group of New York baseball fans, with strong connections in the media, gathered for lunch at an East Side restaurant called La Rôtisserie Française in January 1980. They all shared the perception that they could run a major-league club better than those actually doing it.
