For LupineLazy.

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Name: Martin Anderson
Team: Hartsby Wizards
Position: First Baseman
Age: 29

There’s a magnetic force to the stadium, located dead center of the capital Hartsby City, known by its many residents as nothing other than The Dome. A brutalist artifact of yesteryear’s town, it stands stark and bold in the mountains, thousands of feet above sea level. It reflects the team itself, who had the audacity to name themselves after the general Hartsby region, which--confusingly--six other teams now call home. The Wizards just happened to be the first ones here.

Martin always reflects on that as The Dome pulls him back in. Smashing home runs into the second deck, doing sprints down the foul line and across an outfield of artificial turf, his regular conditioning in the offseason makes adjustment easy. This allows for his mind to wander on those first days back in team facilities.

He’s been here seven years now; far longer than the loyalty of an average slugger. Many other teams want what he offers, and would grant him a comfortable shot at a championship if he wore another cap. As a foreign player, he has no hometown dream to fulfill in Hartsby City. He never even intended to play first base when he arrived, forced to swap positions in favour of a faster defender. In spite of this, he recently negotiated for his right to play here until retirement.

It’s a simple matter of comfort. As a timber wolf with thick fur grown to withstand the cold, playing baseball in the climate of his overseas home exhausted him, as would playing any long stretch of home games if he joined one of Hartsby’s tropical rivals. In the combatively nicknamed Capital of Cold, he could stay near town for the better part of the winter and backpack through its forestland. Every time he’d return for the spring, he’d be ready to demonstrate his commitment for a new crop of young players brought in by management. He wordlessly fits into that role, now, teaching about everything it takes to be a Wizard. With an iron man streak developing over the past few years, he’s gained a lot of experience in that regard.

When he’s done, he’ll go home. For now, he keeps his eyes locked on a championship. The team has won enough to dodge lower league status like their neighboring teams, the Comets and Yetis. But despite Martin’s desire to win it all, they’ve never been quite good enough to earnestly contend. The finals run they lost two years ago still eats at him, but he believes there’s always a path to victory. Every year’s a new one, after all.

If it isn’t, he’ll disappear back into the forest and emerge a slightly better, more motivated wolf. Eventually, his age will stop letting that happen. But for now, stretching far into the future, Anderson, 1B, will always be penciled into the starting lineup.

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Logo, uniform, and card assets by me. Card font free for personal and commercial use. Character owned by LupineLazy.