The Buckeye Baseball League began taking shape during the 1993-94 offseason.  Founder Rob Ratliff placed an ad in the Strat-O-Matic Review advertising openings in a new 10 team NL-only draft league.  The ad produced responses from Gary Pekoa (Cubs), Cliff Gartska (Mets), Rick Timmermans (Giants), Tom Nahigian (Phillies), Phil Meade (Braves) and Bill Young (Rockies) to go along with Rob Ratliff (Dodgers), Charlie Witten (Cardinals), Chuck Hildbold (Pirates) and Scott Ratliff (Expos).  Managers were allowed to protect 10 players from their franchise and a draft was held to disperse the rest of the National League.  The first player taken in the innaugural BBL draft was Jose Rijo (to the Pirates).  The first season proved surprisingly smooth until the post season.  The Pirates and Giants advanced to the finals only to see Giant manager Rick Timmerman drop out of the league due to frustrations with the Pirate manager not getting his games played in swift fashion.  Pirate manager Chuck Hildbold was dismissed from the league and the first championship series was actually played via auto-play with the now ownerless Giants prevailing.  The turmoil of that first season proved to not be indictive of the subsequent history of the league as dedicated ownership has insured smooth sailing since.

In season #2, Jeff Rappuhn joined as the new Giant owner and Eric Tobin took over the Pirate franchise.  In 1996, season #3 saw the BBL expanding by adding a 10 team AL league to the mix.  NL owners Gary Pekoa (Red Sox), Cliff Gartska (White Sox), Tom Nahigian (Blue Jays), Phil Meade (Royals), Bill Young (Rangers), Rob Ratliff (Orioles), Charlie Witten (Mariners), Jeff Rappuhn (Yankees) and Scott Ratliff (A's) all took AL franchise.  Chris McDonald joined the league as the Angel owner.  Each AL team again protected 10 players from their real life franchise.  In the initial AL draft, Toronto made Albert Belle the first player chosen.  Seattle became the first AL champion and was defeated by the Dodgers in the first true BBL World Series.

In 1997, Cliff Gartska and Gary Pekoa both decided to leave the league and were replaced by new comers Steve Spann (Red Sox) and Kyle Schmidt (Mets).  Chris McDonald took over the Cubs and Eric Tobin the White Sox.  Steve Spann's tenure as Red Sox owner was brief and he was subsequently replaced by Mike Lauglin in 1998.  Steve remains best known for his one and only BBL first round pick of then retired Ryne Sandberg.  1998 also saw Tom Smith entering the league as the White Sox owner, replacing Eric Tobin.

In 1999 the league expanded to 24 teams.  Eric Tobin (Tigers), Rob Ratliff (Indians), Chris McDonald (Reds) and Tom Smith (Diamondbacks) assumed the helm of the four new teams and an expansion draft was held with each existing team losing 3 players to the expansion teams.  Kyle Schmidt became the new owner of Rob Ratliff's Orioles and Steve Smith entered the league as the new owner of the Cubs.  In 2000, Mike Lauglin became the new owner of the Pirates, replacing Eric Tobin.

Scott Ratliff gave up his A's franchise to Steve Fisher in 2001.  Kyle Schmidt gave up his Oriole's franchise to Dave Tobin as well in 2001.  Dave was removed after the 2001 season and Scott Ratliff re-entered the American League as the new Oriole owner in 2002.  In 2003, Tom Smith gave up his Arizona franchise to Steve Fisher.

On the field, as we mark the 10th year of BBL existence, clearly the Dodgers have been the class of the league for the first decade, winning 6 of the 7 World Series titles.  Atlanta won the other one and San Francisco and Montreal took the NL titles before the AL was added in 1996.

All in all, it's been a wonderful first ten years of BBL exsistence.  Below is the current roster of BBL owners and when they entered the league.

Steve Fisher (2001)
Mike Lauglin (1998)
Chris McDonald (1996)
Phil Meade (charter member - 1994)
Tom Nahigian (charter member - 1994)
Jeff Rappuhn (1995)
Rob Ratliff (charter member - 1994)
Scott Ratliff (charter member - 1994)
Kyle Schmidt (1997)
Steve Smith (1999)
Tom Smith (1998)
Eric Tobin (1995)
Charlie Witten (charter member - 1994)
Bill Young (charter member - 1994)