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FOR THE RECORD A Brief History of the Greater Sanborn Rotisserie Baseball League 1985
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| Gorillas |
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| Culls |
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| Truckers |
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| Cougars |
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| Mohawks |
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| Overtures |
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| The League began with seven charter members: Al Gellin (Gorillas), Bill Storch and Ed Testa (Culls), Mark Seland and Paul Seland (Truckers), Keith Seland (Cougars), Mike Casale and Marty Bauer (Mohawks), Jon Williams (Overtures), and Len Sabato (Buffaloes). The Mohawks had the first overall pick in the draft and chose as the very first player in the league, the great Yankee firstbaseman Don Mattingly. The Gorillas chose Dan Quisenberry as their first choice establishing a pattern they would use in the years ahead. The rest of the first and second round picks for that inaugural year: Jim Rice (Culls), Eddie Murray (Cougars), Dave Winfield (Buffaloes), Frank White (Truckers), Rod Carew (Buffaloes), Dave Stieb (Cougars), Cal Ripken (Culls), Alan Trammell (Gorillas), and Bert Blyleven (Mohawks). Jon Williams' Overtures made no selections because they were absent at the first draft and selected their team from all of those players left over (two of those overlooked players were Kirby Puckett and Jimmy Key!). This would not be the last time that Williams would miss a draft. Len Sabato also was not present at the draft, but left Trucker co-owner Paul Seland a prioritized list from which to pick. This accounted for the otherwise inexplicable selection of Onix Concepcion for the Buffaloes in the sixth round. Seland's defense? "He was the next guy on his list!" There was a lot of debate about the rules (a trend which would seemingly never end). One spirited point involved whether Rickey Henderson, then on the DL, could be drafted by the Truckers. After much heated discussion it was determined that he could not be selected (the Trux had the last laugh when they later acquired him in a pool move). The confusion about the rules was best exemplified by Paul Seland's post-draft explanation of his pitching selections. Said Seland: "I thought strikeouts was a category." |
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A Second Season-- the League Survives |
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| Culls |
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| Truckers |
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| Gorillas |
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| Polemen |
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| Overtures |
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| Cougars |
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| Knuuts |
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| Mohawks |
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| The League survived its first year and returned for a second season. The Testa Culls romped to a huge victory and won the championship, finishing twelve points ahead of the Truckers. The League mourned the death of Buffalo owner Len Sabato. The owners were to subsequently name the trophy to be presented to the winner of the league the Len Sabato Memorial Trophy in his honor. Eric Knuutila's Aiken Knuuts and Mark Berube's Polemen joined the fray. A team by the name of the Bears was supposed to join the league, but never showed up for the draft. The season was marked by bitter fighting among the owners (although the specific disagreements have been lost to antiquity, the owners from that season still cringe at the sound of Bill Storch's name). The first protected lists were submitted: Gorillas (Boggs, P. Bradley, Quisenberry), Overtures (Jacoby, Slaught, Young), Culls (Ripken, Gedman, W. Hernandez), Truckers (Lance Parrish, R. Henderson, Saberhagen), Mohawks (Mattingly, J. Morris, Jack Howell), Cougars (Murray, Stieb, Guidry). The new teams held a mini-draft and selected the following players: George Brett, Kirk Gibson, and Joachin Andujar (Polemen); and Paul Molitor, Dave Winfield, and Dave Righetti (Knuuts). The first round picks were: Bert Blyleven (Gorillas), Harold Baines (Knuuts), Pete Incaviglia (Overtures), Charlie Leibrandt (Polemen), Jim Rice (Culls), Jim Presley (Truckers), Jesse Barfield (Mohawks), and Bob James (Cougars). Williams' Overtures showed up for the draft and selected Buddy Biancalana in the 21st round. The Gorillas drafted Cecil Fielder in the 18th round and owner Gellin observed, "I think he can hit twenty homers" (subsequent laughter held up the draft for five minutes). |
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Expansion |
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| BD&HR's |
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| Truckers |
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| Cougars |
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| Elephants |
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| Pholders |
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| Culls |
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| Polemen |
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| Gorillas |
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| Knuuts |
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| Knoockers |
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| Indians |
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| Three teams were added in 1987: Dan Rogala's Rogue Elephants, Bob Rosie and Bob Pecuch's Manilla Pholders, and the BD&HR's, a mysterious team owned by two guys, one of whom was named Banawitz (or Banana-wich?). The BD&HR's--short for Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers also absconded with the statistician fees while producing only one or two reports. Elephant owner Rogala produced the first Unauthorized Statistical Report of the Sanborn RLBB League which evolved into the Rogue Report. The BD&HR's won the pennant and then promptly disappeared into fantasy baseball oblivion (one report had it that they had to keep moving to duck alimony payments). The draft of that year featured a full-blown battle over rules interpretations, which kept Bill Storch fuming for over 30 minutes. The expansion mini-draft saw the Elephants spurn a last minute trade offer from the Indians (who offered Jesse Barfield) to make Jeff Reardon the first Elephant. They also picked Tony Fernandez, Jim Rice, and Bert Blyleven. The BD&HR's selected Danny Tartabull, Gary Gaetti, Cory Snyder, and Rick Rhoden. The Pholders picked Tony Bernazard, Alan Trammell, Larry Parrish, and Don Slaught. Buddy Biancalana was picked by the Gorillas in the 20th round. Lenn Sakata held the distinction of being the last player selected when he was tabbed by the Knuuts. Cecil Fielder was taken by the Knuuts in the 18th round. Unlike the Gorillas the previous year, the Knuuts made no guesses as to Fielder's expected home run production. |
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The Year of Name Changes |
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| Pholders |
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| Truckers |
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| Guerillas |
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| Polemen |
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| Cougars |
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| Blue Sox |
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| Elephants |
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| Knoockers |
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| M&J Cards |
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| Knuuts |
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| For the second straight year an expansion team won the championship, and it was difficult to tell the teams without a scorecard. The Culls were culled and an audible sigh of relief was heard from the remaining owners (the fiesty Bill Storch was not missed, but nice-guy Ed Testa was). Marty Bauer split from former co-owner Mike Casale and bought the Culls franchise, renaming it the Blue Sox. Casale found another partner from within his family and he and brother Joe changed the Indians to the M&J Cards. Jon Williams' Overtures became the Knoockers (evidently Williams figured the connection to the conductor of the Boston Pops was too obscure for the other owners, and thought that they certainly could all understand the concept of Knoockers). Not to be outdone, Al Gellin made a slight adjustment and turned the Gorillas into the Guerillas. The draft was highlighted by Bauer's unconventional picks. The Blue Sox first four memorable picks: Steve Lombardozzi, Willie Upshaw, Dan Schatzeder, and Mel Hall. The Blue Sox owner, an ardent and unabashed Cleveland fan, managed to place eleven Indians on his roster (if you can pay, you can play any way you want). The M&J Cards made Lee Smith the first pick of the draft, but the Knoockers managed to get Dennis Eckersley with the tenth overall pick. Although Buddy Biancalana went unpicked, the Elephants selected Cecil Fielder with their next to last pick (activated briefly during the season, the Pachyderms managed to get six home runs out of him). Randy Bush was the last pick of the draft, selected by the Cougars. |
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Elephants Trample to Victory; Bye-Bye Blue Sox |
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| Elephants |
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| Polemen |
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| Truckers |
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| M&J Cards |
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| Pholders |
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| Cougars |
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| Guerillas |
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| Knoockers |
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| Knuuts |
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| The Elephants rose from a seventh place finish in 1988 to become the league champions in 1989. They were the third straight expansion team to win the pennant, following in the footsteps of the BD&HR's and the Pholders. The Blue Sox dropped out of the league despite a sixth place finish the year before. Teams took a very conservative approach to the 1989 draft as seven of the nine teams protected the maximum number of players (eight). The Knuuts opened the draft with the first two selections and they chose Steve Sax and Gary Sheffield. The Cougars picked Raphael Palmeiro, the Knuuts then chose Don August and Roberto Kelly before the Cougars closed out the equalization rounds by selecting Dave Stieb. The regular first round went as follows: Dave Henderson (Elephants), Ken Griffey, Jr. (Polemen), Somebody Ray (Cougars), Storm Davis (Cards), Steve Farr (Knuuts), Charlie Hough (Pholders), Oddibe McDowell (Knoockers), Jeff Robinson (Truckers), and Nolan Ryan (Guerillas). Cecil Fielder went undrafted because the league rules forbade the drafting of players in Japan. The steal of the draft proved to be Mickey Tettleton drafted as a farm catcher in the twentieth round by the Knuuts. The Knuuts traded him to the Elephants; he wound up hitting twenty-one homers for the Herd. Bad picks? Second pick Sheffield hit just three homers and batted a paltry .247; Don August, the first pitcher selected, won four games and compiled a 5.31 ERA and a 1.637 Ratio! 1989 was definitely not the "Year of the Knuuts." The rules continued to cause consternation, exemplified by Paul Seland's explanation for drafting two pitchers (Jose Guzman and Eric Hanson) who were on the disabled list. Said Seland, "I thought we could have two pitchers on our farm team." At the awards dinner Commissioner Keith Seland suggested another rotisserie league based upon the Senior League, which was scheduled to begin play the following winter. |
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Stability and a Repeat Champion |
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| Guerillas |
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| Knoockers |
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| Elephants |
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| Polemen |
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| Truckers |
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| M&J Cards |
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| Cougars |
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| Pholders |
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| Knuuts |
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| The Guerillas became the first Greater Sanborn Rotisserie Baseball League team to win a second championship as they handily trounced the rest of the field, winning by a huge 12.5 point margin. For the first time in the league there were no franchise changes, nor name changes. Stability appeared to be at hand. The Knuuts established a record for pitching futility. With one less win they would have finished dead last in each pitching category. The draft could have been called "The Mark Davis Sweepstakes" as five of the nine teams only saved four players in the hope that they would have the first crack at the former NL Cy Young award winner. The Guerillas proved to be the winners and took Davis, who wound up having a horrible season! Yet, his teammates rallied and pulled off the first place finish. The other high expansion picks were: Mark Langston (Cougars), Wade Boggs (Knoockers), Pascual Perez (Knuuts), and George Bell (Truckers). Cecil Fielder came back from Japan and was selected by the Polemen in the 23rd round (only ten players were picked after he was); Fielder was soon brought up to the main roster where he belted 38 homers and drove in 100 runs for owner Mark Berube. |
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Another Bad First Pick; Cougars Win in Photo Finish |
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| Cougars |
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| Guerillas |
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| Polemen |
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| Elephants |
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| Truckers |
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| Knuuts |
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| Knoockers |
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| M&J Cards |
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| Pholders |
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| In the closest race in the history of the league the Cougars nipped the Guerillas by one-half point and the Polemen by two points. How close was it? If the Guerillas would have hit ONE more home run they would have been the victors. If the Polemen could have found TWO more steals, ONE more win, and been .002 better in ratio, they would have been the champions. The final results were gone over with a fine-tooth comb, but the results stood. There was a remarkable parallel between 1990 and 1991. The Cougars by virtue of saving only four players and the luck of the draw won the right to the top pick and they selected Glenn Davis. He proved to be nearly a complete bust; yet his team won the pennant. Was this the secret to winning? Draft somebody named Davis with the highest pick, and hope that he has a bad year? It was hard to argue with success. Other high picks in the Equalization Round: Joe Carter (Guerillas), Tim Raines (Truckers), Frank Thomas and Randy Milligan (Elephants), Eric Hansen (Truckers), Kevin Maas (Knuuts), Jeff Montgomery (Guerillas), and Raphael Palmeiro (Cougars). Clearly, the owners were getting a bit better at assessing talent. Joel Skinner won the dubious distinction of being the last player selected in the draft (by the Cougars). Great picks included: Jack Morris who won 15 games for the Truckers who drafted him in the last round, Milt Cuyler who stole 40 bases for the Polemen who made him their 23rd round pick, and Jim Abbott won 18 games for the Knuuts who drafted him in the 19th round. The Dolly Parton "Big Bust" awards went to: Glenn Davis of the Cougars who provided only four home runs, Pascual Perez of the Knuuts who pitched only 58 innings and recorded but one win, the Truckers' second, third and fourth picks (Eric Hanson, Mark Davis, and Sammy Sosa). Hanson won just seven games, Davis racked up an ERA of 8.36 and a ratio of 2.286, while Sosa ripped out a .200 batting average. Ominous rumblings began to be heard in the off-season and one group of owners felt that the league needed to make wholesale changes. According to Mark Seland, "it just wasn't fun anymore." There was consideration to adding new categories, changing RBI's to Runs Produced, having a September draft, and more. The stormy awards dinner at the Parkway Ramada portended trouble. |
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Trekers Arrive, Mohawks Return, and Fle's Attach to Knuuts |
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| Elephants |
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| Cougars |
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| Guerillas |
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| Pholders |
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| Trekers |
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| Truckers |
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| Polemen |
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| Knoockers |
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| Mohawks |
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| FleKnuuts |
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| The Elephants joined the Guerillas as two-time winners of the GSRBBL and they did it without taking a Davis with their first pick. In a race that went right up to the wire the Pachyderms edged out the Cougars and the Guerillas. Paul Seland split from brother Mark to form his own franchise—the Trekers. Prodigal son Marty Bauer was welcomed back into the league as he rejoined former partner Mike Casale to resurrect the Mohawks. Eric Knuutila added a partner and changed the name of his team to the FleKnuuts. Due to the contributions that Paul Seland had made to the league since its inception, the Trekers were accorded very generous terms for entering the league. They were permitted to take the first four picks of the draft. Following a trade in which they acquired Kevin Appier from the Polemen, the Trekers selected Kevin Mitchell, Phil Plantier, and Gregg Jefferies. Since half the teams protected eight players there were only twelve players taken in the Equalization Round. The Guerillas tabbed George Bell, Mickey Tettleton, and Lou Whitaker; the Trekers selected Doug Henry, Luis Polonia, and Greg Vaughn; the Knuuts took John Olerud and Scott Sanderson; the Pholders selected Frank Viola and Juan Guzman; and Ellis Burks was taken by the Mohawks. While the Pholders cornered the market on starting pitchers, including two Guzman's, the Elephants selected the most Johnsons (Randy, Lance, and Jeff). The last player selected was Terry Shumpert by the Elephants. There were very few low round picks who starred, although Tino Martinez turned in a good year for the Cougars (he was selected in the 21st round). The Cougars had quite a steal when they chose Kenny Lofton in the 16th round. Worst first round picks of the regular draft went to the Elephants (Brian McRae) and to the Polemen (Milt Cuyler). Major busts included the first two selections of the draft, Kevin Mitchell and Phil Plantier. Combined they hit seven homers, drove in 44 runs and hit a paltry .227 in 370 at bats for the Trekers before they were shipped off to the Truckers for Jose Canseco and Candy Maldonado. A Summer Meeting was held at Jamaica Joe's during which several resolutions passed which were later overturned at the winter meeting. Shortly after an unusually stormy winter meeting, four franchises withdrew from the league. Gone were all the Seland teams (Cougars, Trekers, and Truckers) and the Mohawks of Mike Casale and Marty Bauer. Earlier Jon Williams had removed his Knoockers from play. The departed teams were reported to have joined another league. The remaining teams (Elephants, FleKnuuts, Polemen, Guerillas, and Pholders) agreed to play on and were soon joined by two expansion teams, the Kandymen of Greg Kern and the Spin Dr.'s of Jeff Lasky and Ron Vastola. The league prepared for the 1993 season with the same number of franchises that it had in its inaugural season, eight years earlier. |
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Guerillas Win Third Title as League Survives "Seland Secession" |
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| Guerillas |
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| Elephants |
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| Polemen |
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| Pholders |
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| Spin Dr.'s |
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| FleKnuuts |
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| Kandymen |
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| The Guerillas became the first three-time champion of the Greater Sanborn Baseball League. They won a fairly close contest as challenges by the Polemen and the Elephants fell short. The season was undoubtedly the smoothest that the league has experienced since its inception; there were no controversies or challenges to the rules. There were indications that there was a new spirit in the league at draft day, which was held at St. Paul's church and featured cooperation rather than confrontation. That attitude carried on throughout the season. Can it last? When the league lost half of its franchises at the conclusion of the 1992 season, there were many doubts about whether it could survive. The remaining stalwarts—the Guerillas, Elephants, FleKnuuts, Pholders, and Polemen—were joined by new teams, the Kandymen of Greg Kern and the Spin Dr.'s of Jeff Lasky and Ron Vastola, and the league not only survived, it flourished. The revamped league saw numerous changes. Dan Rogala volunteered to serve as temporary commissioner and Al Gellin served as secretary-treasurer. The season-end banquet was eliminated with the crowning of the new champion held at the winter meeting. Trophies and prizes were eliminated, except for the revolving trophy and the new "golden baseball" award which the championship team receives. Due to the unusual circumstances, the draft format was modified and each team was only permitted to save four players. This meant that some awfully good ball players were available. The FleKnuuts used the first pick of the draft to select Dennis Eckersley; the rest of round one went as follows: The Polemen took reliever Duane Ward, Cal Ripken was tabbed by the Pholders, the Guerillas picked Rick Aguilera, the Elephants took Kirby Puckett, the Kandymen selected Roger Clemens, and the Spin Dr.'s picked Mike Mussina. The second round proved to be a disappointment for five of the seven teams, as Shane Mack, BJ Surhoff, and Brady Anderson had either mediocre or terrible seasons, and Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire spent most of the season on the DL list. The last player picked was Harold Reynolds by the Spin Dr.'s. Steals of the draft were Alan Trammell, picked in the 22d round, and Greg Vaughn and Tim Salmon, both selected in the 20th round. Clemens and Mussina both pitched like Scott Sanderson, although at least Mussina had an excuse in that he was pitching with a bad arm. The Spin Dr.'s roster was ravaged by injuries in their inaugural season. Every one of their starting hitters was injured at some point in the season. While the Dr.'s tried to treat their injuries, the Kandymen were busy making moves. No team ever made more. At the winter meeting the owners approved a rule change that would permit each team to have one unrestricted move to the pool during the season. The league also expanded to eight teams for the 1994 season by welcoming Keg's Cards and owner Dave Kagels. |
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Baseball Labor Dispute Taints Elephant Victory |
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| Elephants |
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| Pholders |
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| Polemen |
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| Kandymen |
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| Spin Dr.'s |
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| FleKnuuts |
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| Guerillas |
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| Keg's Cards |
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| The Elephants joined the Guerillas as three-time winners of the Greater Sanborn Baseball League as they won the 1994 championship. Their victory was tainted by the labor dispute and subsequent strike which saw the cancellation of the last seven weeks of the season. The first Rogue Report of the year saw second-year teams, the Kandymen and the Spin Dr.s, and an expansion team, Keg's Cards, occupy the first three positions in the standings. The Elephants took over first place in mid-May and held it to the end of the abbreviated season. The K-men held fairly steady thanks to an outstanding pitching staff, while the Spin Dr.'s plummeted to the cellar before rebounding to tie the K-Men for fourth place. The Pholders and Polemen challenged for the lead at times, but ultimately fell into a battle for second place, which was won by the Pholders. The defending champion Guerillas, plagued by abysmal pitching, dropped to finish next to last. The GSBBL suffered a major split after the 1992 season for, among other things, not having enough trades. The Spin Dr.'s demonstrated that the owners most certainly would trade as they completed several major deals. In fact, their final 23 man roster included nine players (nearly 40%) who were acquired through trades. The free pool move made its first appearance and the owners were unanimous in agreeing that it was a positive change; even those owners whose pool picks were disastrous recognized that one-time access to the pool during the season added to the game. The 1994 draft saw yet another disastrous number one pick as the Kandymen made Carlos Delgado their first choice. Delgado, who played most of the season in Syracuse, joined these other ignominious #1 picks: Kevin Mitchell in 1992 (Trekers), Glenn Davis in 1991 (Cougars), Mark Davis in 1990 (Guerillas), and Steve Sax in 1989 (FleKnuuts). The 139th and last player selected was Julio Franco, chosen as an afterthought as Keg's Cards owner was heading for his car in the parking lot at the close of the draft. Franco turned in a monstrous year. What did relief pitchers Steve Farr, Mike Henneman, Xavier Hernandez, Joe Grahe, and Jeff Nelson have in common? Besides turning in horrible performances, they were all selected before the FleKnuuts used the 117th selection to take Bobby Ayala! Steve Howe, the 134th player selected also turned in an excellent season. |
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Guerillas Capture Fourth Title; Outlaws In, Cards Out |
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| Guerillas |
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| Spin Dr.'s |
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| Elephants |
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| Polemen |
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| Pholders |
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| Kandymen |
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| Outlaws |
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| FleKnuuts |
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| After finishing in seventh place the previous year, the Guerillas rallied to capture their record-breaking fourth GSRBBL championship. This marked the second time that the Guerillas had pulled off the seventh to first trick. In 1989 they finished in seventh place before winning their second title the following year. The G-Men were in first place for the entire season, except for a two week period in early June. Keg’s Cards joined the 1985 Buffaloes, the 1987 BD&HR’s (Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers), the 1988 Blue Sox, and the 1992 Trekers as franchises that lasted only one year. Shane Dixon’s Outlaws replaced the ill-fated Cards and proved to be highly successful in that they avoided finishing in the basement in their first year. The third year Spin Doctors finished in a second place tie with the Elephants. The always competitive Polemen finished third, another first-division finish for them. In the ten years that the Polemen have been in the league, they have finished in the first division eight times, but have yet to win a championship. The FleKnuuts finished in last place for the fourth time. It was their tenth straight year of second-division finishes. The Elephants set a league best in batting average as they hit .297; they also set a league worst in ratio as their pitchers combined for a 1.500 mark. The free pool move was used by all teams, but no team used it better than the Pholders who were able to take Bobby Bonilla. The Guerillas selection of Norm Charlton was also an outstanding pick. However, free pool moves were also squandered in the selection of the following: Vaughn Eshelman (FleKnuuts), Shawn Boskie (Spin Dr.’s), Curtis Goodwin (Kandymen), and Steve Sparks (Elephants). The 1995 draft saw the Guerillas make John Wetteland the first pick of the draft, a huge improvement over the first pick the Kandymen made the previous year when they picked Carlos Delgado (who was drafted in the 22d round one year later). Remarkably, the Guerillas were able to select Randy Johnson with their second pick (6th overall). As usual there were some great picks and some "What the hell was I thinking?" picks in the 1995 draft. The Kandymen picked J.T. Snow in the last round of the draft (he was the 136th player selected). Rookie-of-the-year Marty Cordova was picked in the 20th round by the Polemen. Eric Plunk, Mike Fetters, and Doug Jones were all taken before the Pholders made Jose Mesa their 13th round pick. Thirty eight players were picked before the Elephants made batting champion Edgar Martinez their pick in the 11th round. Pat Hentgen, the Elephants second pick contributed mightily to the pachyderms preposterously high ratio and ERA numbers, BUT he was still picked after the Outlaws picked Jason Bere whose 1.88 ratio and 7.19 ERA made Hentgen seem like Greg Maddux by comparison. The FleKnuuts certainly expected a lot more of their 9th round (18th player picked) selection of Bob Hamelin than 7 homers, 25 rbi’s and a .168 batting average. The last player picked was pitcher Scott Radinsky. |
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Elephants Lead Wire to Wire to Win Fourth Title; Arkies Join League |
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| Elephants |
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| Kandymen |
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| Polemen |
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| Spin Dr.'s |
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| Guerillas |
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| FleKnuuts |
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| Featuring a very balanced attack, the Elephants cruised to their fourth GSRBBL championship. The pachyderms led the Kandymen by 6 points in the first Rogue Report and held the lead throughout the season, extending their lead to 17 points on June 17 before finishing the season 12.5 points ahead of the K-Men. The Kandymen’s second-place finish was their best showing in their four year history. The Guerillas insured that the league would still not have a repeat champion as they rode anemic hitting to a fifth place finish. The Polemen continue to enhance their reputation as the best team to have never won a championship as they finished in the first division for the fourth straight year and the ninth time in their eleven years in the league. The FleKnuuts avoided the basement as they got hot in the second half of the season. The Pholders, on the other hand, collapsed in the second half of the season and dropped to seventh place. Steve Heyer’s expansion team won the battle for last place as they managed to finish ahead of the Outlaws. The Elephants dominated the categories as they won four of them outright—HR’s, RBI’s, ERA, and Ratio. Their 86% points percentage was second only to the Pholders 88% in 1988. The FleKnuuts Ratio of 1.52 was the highest in league history. Three teams did not take advantage of the "Free Pool Move" last year, but given the quality of the moves made by the other six teams it was easy to see why. Arguably the best pick was the K-Men’s choice of John Burkett, who managed to win just four games for them while compiling an ERA of 4.68 and a Ratio of 1.408. Perhaps no move was the best move. The top three picks of the 1996 draft were closers. In fact, four of the first seven picks were closers. The FleKnuuts used their first overall pick to select closer Randy Myers (they also selected a closer, Heath Slocumb with their next pick). The Arkies who acquired the second pick from the Spin Dr.’s picked Troy Percival, and the Spin Dr.’s followed with Norm Charlton. Jack Snow was the first non-closer and he was selected by the Arkies. Robin Ventura and Jay Buhner were the next two hitters taken by the Spinners and the Outlaws, respectively. The Elephants used their first pick, the 23d overall to take pitcher Ken Hill and they kept picking pitchers for the next five rounds. They didn’t draft a hitter until they picked Dwayne Hosey in the 15th round. The best pick of the draft was easily the Kandymen’s selection of Alex Rodriguez in the first round of the regular draft. He was the 20th pick overall. Some of the players chosen before Rodriguez included Jack Snow, Mike Stanley, Johnny Damon, Chris Hoiles. Ed Vosberg may have been the worst pick of the draft. He was selected by the Kandymen in the round before they picked Rodriguez. This shows how misleading a few early saves can be. The steal of the draft was Carlos Delgado, picked by the Pholders in the 20th round, who hit 25 HR’s and drove in 92 runs. The honor of being the last player selected went to Joe Randa. |
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Elephants Win Back to Back Championships |
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| Elephants |
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| Arkies |
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| Guerillas |
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| FleKnuuts |
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| Kandymen |
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| Polemen |
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| Pholders |
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| The Elephants became the first team to win championships two years in a row as they captured their fifth pennant in a convincing fashion. The pachyderms, who had tied the Guerillas for the previous greatest winning margin of 12½ points when they won in 1996, broke the record by four as they finished 16½ points ahead of the Arkies. Only the 1988 Pholders, who won their only championship in their second year, eclipsed the Arkies accomplishment of finishing in second place in only their second year in the league. Previous expansion teams have finished second, but it took the Spin Dr.’s three years, and the Kandymen four. The FleKnuuts had their most successful season ever as they climbed into the first division for the first time in their twelve-year history. Interestingly, the Polemen, who finished in sixth place, missed the first division for only the third time in their twelve years in the league. The Vampires barely nosed out the down-spinning Spin Dr.’s for last place, the second time in three years that they have claimed that position, thereby establishing themselves as heirs-apparent for the FleKnuuts former position. The Guerillas established a dubious achievement by having a 23-point difference between their hitting (a measly 9 points) and their pitching (a league best of 32 points). The Polemen almost kept up with the G-men as they had a 22-point difference between their league-low 7 pitching points and their very respectable 29 hitting points. You would think they would have made a trade with each other at some point in the season. In 1997 teams were permitted to make two free pool moves, one before the all-star break and the other after. Thirteen players were brought up using the free move, the best of which was Doug Jones, by the Vampires. Other excellent picks were Mike Cameron (Spin Dr.’s), Jose Cruz (Kandymen), and Jeromy Burnitz (Elephants). The most disastrous pick was the Doc’s selection of Hideki Irabu. The draft, as is the norm, was the highlight of the season. The first player picked was Matt Williams by the Vampires. The Spinners selected Marquis Grissom next and the Guerillas picked Roger Clemens, who had an amazing season with the pick that they had acquired in a trade from the Vampires. The Polemen, desperate for a closer, used their first pick (7th overall) to take Norm Charlton, who had a horrible year. The Arkies took a chance by selecting an untested, although highly regarded, rookie shortstop with the 12th overall pick and struck paydirt as Nomar Garciaparra looks to be a long-term fixture Arkie fixture. Other great picks included Brian Hunter (Polemen, 20th overall), Tony Clark (Pholders, 29th), Brad Radke and Scott Erickson (FleKnuuts, 46th and 118th), and Sandy Alomar (Polemen, 115th). As usual there were plenty of bad picks besides Charlton: Ken Hill (FleKnuuts, 10th), Jaime Navarro (Vampires 14th), Rich Becker (Spin Dr.’s, 19th), Jamie Bluma (Kandymen, 24th), Todd Walker (Polemen, 25th), big fat Kevin Mitchell (Guerillas, 45th), and many many more. The steal of the draft was either Sandy Alomar or Scott Erickson. The honor of being the last player selected in the draft belonged to Ron Coomer. |
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Headline Forthcoming |
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| Pholders |
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| Truckers |
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| Guerillas |
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| Polemen |
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| Cougars |
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| Blue Sox |
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| Elephants |
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| Knoockerss |
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| M&J Cards |
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| Knuuts |
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| Indians |
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Arkies Break Guerilla-Elephant Streak to Win First Championship |
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| Pholders |
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| Truckers |
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| Guerillas |
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| Polemen |
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| Cougars |
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| Blue Sox |
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| Elephants |
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| Knoockerss |
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| M&J Cards |
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| Knuuts |
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| Indians |
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