Award for Best Pitching

The final award to be recognized that originated in 1984 is Best Pitching.  Pretty self-explanatory, like Best Offense.  This award is not voted on, it's simply a mathematical fact.  The team that acquired the most points in the pitching categories has the Best Pitching.  In 1984 we used Wins, Saves, ERA and WHiP as our categories.  When we changed our offensive stat categories we also modified our pitching categories.  We changed them (and still use) Quality Starts, Saves+Holds, ERA, WHiP and K/BB.  Here are the past winners.

1984		Fred's Friars		36 points
1985		Mudville Sluggers		37 points
1986		Paul's Penguins		35.5 points
1987		Bald Eagles		37 points
1988		Bald Eagles David's Copperfields		37 points
1989		Dem Rebels		37 points
1990		Twin Picks		35 points
1991		Bald Eagles		36 points
1992		David's Copperfields David's Ruffins		34 points
1993		David's Copperfields		37 points
1994		Da Paul Meisters		33.5 points
1995		David's Copperfields		37 points
1996		Dem Rebels		34 points
1997		David's Copperfields		40 points
1998		David's Copperfields		32 points
1999		Six Packs		34 points
2000		David's Copperfields		43.5 points
2001		David's Copperfields		44 points
2002		Eric's Lambchops		38 points
2003		Eric's Lambchops		57 points
2004		Steve's Stones		55.5 points
2005		David's Ruffins		53.5 points
2006		David's Ruffins		52 points
2007		David's Ruffins Kenndoza Line		44 points
2008		Mo's Red Hots		48 points

2009     DoorMatts                      43 points
2010     DoorMatts                      40 points
2011     DoorMatts                      42 points
2012     Candy Colored Clowns  43 points

Award for Best Offense

Sticking with our 1984 awards, one of the two that we haven't highlighted yet is Best Offense.  Unlike the recent posts about Steal of the Year and Best Free Agent Acquisition, this is simply a numerical calculation.  There is no voting involved.  The team that earns the most points with their offense is winner of Best Offense.

As you look through the previous winners you will see some increase and decrease in the winning point totals.  That comes from a couple of sources.  First, the number of teams in the league has shifted from six to ten to twelve and back again.  So if we have twelve teams in the league there are 12 points available in each offensive category.  Additionally we started the league with four offensive categories (batting average, home runs, RBI and stolen bases).  Eventually we switched to what we felt were categories that were more representative of what it took to put together a complete, solid team.  So we changed our categories to Total Bases, On Base Percentage, Runs, RBI and Stolen Bases.  With five categories instead of four, there are more offensive points in play as well.

Here are the past winners of Best Offense.

1984		David's Copperfields		38 points
1985		David's Copperfields		34 points
1986		David's Copperfields		35 points
1987		David's Copperfields		38 points
1988		David's Copperfields		36 points
1989		David's Copperfields		37 points
1990		Eric's Lambchops		35 points
1991		Eric's Lambchops		35 points
1992		David's Copperfields		38 points
1993		David's Copperfields Clark's Kents		35 points
1994		Eric's Lambchops		30 points
1995		David's Ruffins		36 points
1996		Dem Rebels		39 points
1997		David's Ruffins David's Copperfields		34 points
1998		David's Ruffins		36 points
1999		David's Copperfields		37 points
2000		David's Copperfields		45 points
2001		David's Copperfields		44 points
2002		Eric's Lambchops		43 points
2003		Reservoir Dogs		58 points
2004		David's Copperfields		55 points
2005		David's Copperfields		57 points
		Reservoir Dogs
2006		David's Ruffins		59 points
2007		Davids Copperfields		50 points
2008		Steve's Stones		54 points

2009     Graging Bulls                 47 points
2010     David's Ruffins               48 points
2011     Morkertzuma's Revenge   45 points
2012     Dem Rebels                     44.5 points

Best Free Agent Acquisition

In continuing our look at the CFCL Post Season Awards we come to Best Free Agent Acquisition. This award was also established back in our inaugural season and had a lot to do with the fact that all Original 6 owners were Cub fans. 1984 was magical beyond the fact that the CFCL was born. That was the year that the Cubs finally made the post-season for the first time since 1945.

A common thread among CFCL owners and real life GMs life Dallas Green is that we are constantly trying to improve our team during the season. One way for a CFCL owner to do that is by acquiring a National League player that isn't currently on a CFCL roster. That can come about a couple of ways. One is that the player was never selected at the draft or in the reserve rounds. It's also possible that the player became available when they were traded from the American League to the National League.

As we have gone to great lengths to point out, the CFCL is very deep in talent with our owners. A lot of guys know a lot of stuff. Even with all that knowledge, we miss things. We don't anticipate who the next break out star will be who is languishing on the bench as of Draft Day. We realize Giancarlo Stanton (Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg) is supposed to be the Rookie of the Year but we miss the Chris Coghlan's of the world. Here is a list of past winners and the team that chose them.

As you look at the list some guys seem obvious. Rick Sutcliffe is famous for joining the Cubs mid-season and going 16-1. He wasn't available at the draft so that's why he could be picked up during the season. Some other guys (Tom Browning, Tom Glavine, David Cone, Gene Garber) were either not the player they eventually came to be OR were available in all their glory on Draft Day but weren't needed. Remember the CFCL didn't start out playing with 17 man reserve lists from the beginning. If we had seven CFCL teams and only needed nine pitchers (total of 63), that left A LOT of talent out there just waiting to be scooped up.

1984		Rick Sutcliffe		Fred's Friars
1985		Tom Browning		Dem Rebels
1986		Gene Garber		Bald Eagles
1987		Greg Dunne		David's Copperfields
1988		David Cone		Bald Eagles
1989		Mark Langston		Six Packs
1990		Hal Morris		David's Copperfields
1991		Tom Glavine		Mr. Paul's Swordfish
1992		Moises Alou		David's Ruffins
1993		Kirk Rueter		David's Copperfields
1994		John Hudek		David's Copperfields
1995		Mark Whiten		David's Copperfields
1996		Jermaine Dye		David's Ruffins
1997		Rich Loiselle		DoorMatts
1998		Kerry Ligtenberg		Eric's Lambchops
1999		Todd Ritchie		DoorMatts
2000		Jeff D'Amico		David's Copperfields
2001		Vinnie Castilla		Steve's Stones
2002		Scott Stewart		David's Copperfields
2003		Scott Podsednick		Dem Rebels
2004		Milton Bradley		Steve's Stones
2005		Randy Winn		Reservoir Dogs
2006		Brandon Phillips		David's Ruffins
2007		Brad Hennessey		David's Ruffins
2008		CC Sabathia		Mo's Red Hots

2009     Chris Coghlan           Revenge
2010     John Axford              DoorMatts
2011     Antonio Bastardo      DoorMatts
2012     Jason Grilli                Beatniks

Steal of the Year

During the off-season, one of the traditions of the CFCL is to recognize various accomplishments from the recent season.  We send out an Awards Ballot so the owners can vote for MVP, Cy Young, GM of the Year, etc. 

Some awards have been added to the ballot over time and others have been around since the start of the league back in 1984.

One award that's been around since the beginning is the Steal of the Year.  The CFCL's draft is an auction draft.  So every year the owners are charged with trying to identify which players they want to add to their team and then (more importantly) figuring out how much they are willing to spend on the players.  Most players, when you head into the draft, you can accurately guess the range of cost they will fall in to.  Walking in to the draft, for example, you could say "Clayton Kershaw is available and he's probably going to go for .35-.45."  Most of the time you'd be right.  Sometimes there are surprises both high and low.

We don't really know who the great steals are until the end of the year when you can compare a players production vs. his cost.

Here is the description of our Steal of the Year Award from othe CFCL Headquarters:

Steal of the Year

Since our inaugural season of 1984, this award is given to that player whom the CFCL owners feel was the biggest bargain in the Draft that year. With so many writers publishing player values these days, it would be a simple task to just subtract each player's salary from his calculated value at the end of the season. However, this is about perceived value as much as anything, and it's a lot more fun to ponder the candidates than it would be to determine the winner with a calculator.

 

The key word there is "perceived".  We don't have any hard and fast rules for our owners to follow in voting for any of the awards.  We try to offer some parameters for consideration, but how much weight to assess to the variables is up to each owner.  For example, for SOTY, is production more important than price?  Does it matter what position the player plays?  That's all for the owners to decide and we get wide-ranging opinions in the voting.  But this is all meant to be fun and part of an end of the year celebration so we don't take things too seriously.

 

Here is a list of all the previous SOTY winners and the team that drafted them as well as their salary.  As you can see, most winners had extremely low salaries.

 

Steal Of The Year

1984		Charlie Lea		Fred's Friars		.01
1985		John Tudor		Mudville Sluggers		.08
1986		Bob Ojeda		David's Ruffins		.01
1987		Chris James		Dem Rebels		.01
1988		Randy Myers		Twin Picks		.10
1989		Mike Bielecki		David's Copperfields		.01
1990		Norm Charlton		Bald Eagles		.02
1991		Mike Morgan		Six Packs		.01
1992		Eric Karros		Six Packs		.01
1993		Mark Whiten		David's Ruffins		.01
1994		John Franco		Da Paul Meisters		.07
1995		Vinnie Castilla		David's Copperfields		.01
1996		Henry Rodriguez		FlatFeet		.04
1997		Jeff Kent		Six Packs		.09
1998		Greg Vaughn		Steve's Slackers		.09
1999		Scott Williamson		Six Packs		.04
2000		Ryan Dempster		Dem Rebels		.02
2001		Albert Pujols		DoorMatts		.03
2002		Dave Roberts		Lambchops		.01
2003		Javy Lopez		Lambchops		.06
2004		Adrian Beltre		Reservoir Dogs		.12
2005		Todd Jones		DoorMatts		.01
2006		Freddy Sanchez		Lambchops		.03
2007		Kevin Gregg		Lambchops		.02
2008		Ryan Ludwick		Mo's Red Hots		.01

2009    Matt Cain                  David's Ruffins               .10
2010     Angel Pagan             Twin Killers                    .01
2011     Lance Berkman        David's Ruffins               .14
2012     Adam LaRoche        Dem Rebels                     .05

Off-Season Agendas

I am sure this is the case for most leagues.  During the off-season it is time to look back on the accomplishments of the recently completed season (the CFCL does that by sending out an Awards Ballot - the categories have been mentioned previously and will be further examined later this weekend and next week) as well as address items for the upcoming season.

The CFCL is no different.  Having completed our 30th year of competition we are in the throes of potential change moving in to 2014.  We already know that one of our teams resigned (the Stranger Danger informed us that life was getting too busy with two young children and wanted to resign in fairness to the remaining owners).  So we have to find a replacement.

Well, we don't HAVE to but 10 is a nice solid number of owners to have.  Nine owners would make it feel like one of our front teeth were missing. 

But throughout the season we had toyed with the idea of expansion and moving up to twelve teams.  We had twelve teams for nine seasons (2000-2008) but we also had 16 National League teams to draw from.  With Bud Dumber moving the Astros to the AL, we have 25 fewer active players to put on our rosters.

So there's a diluted talent pool to consider.  We also want to make sure we don't run into the Danger-ous situation again of having an owner (or multiple new owners) come into the league and not be able to commit to the rigors of a long season.

And that's the tough part.  Whenever we talk to someone mildly interested in fantasy baseball it's like going on a first date.  All the positive things are talked about.  But inevitably once the season starts the dirty socks and toe-nail clippings are left on the floor and everyone feels had.

We are in the process of figuring this out.  If you would like to see the behind the scenes badinage and bickering, you can tap into it here.

CFCL Owners of 1992

 

Pictured from the left:  Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels), Pat McGuire (Twin Picks), Paul Zeledon (Da Paul Meisters), Eric Lamb (Eric's Lambchops), David Mahlan (eventual 1992 CFCL Champion David's Copperfields), Tom Clark (Clark Kents), David Holian (David's Ruffins), and Kelly Barone (Six Packs).

1992 saw the CFCL returning to full stable of 8 owners, which matched the number of franchises we'd had from 1986 through 1990.  We played 1991 with only 7 teams because Pat McGuire, owner of McGuire's Picks, withdrew from the league shortly before Draft Day 1991, leaving us no time to find a replacement.

As you can see, though, we held no ill will, as we welcomed Pat back with open arms (and a new team name - Twin Picks) following his one year hiatus.  In addition to the Return of the Pickster, two new teams joined us in 1992 - Da Paul Meisters and Clark's Kents, replacing Mr. Paul's Swordfish and the CFCL stalwart Bald Eagles.

We knew we'd miss Bob's presence at the Draft, so Rich brought a helium-filled balloon inscribed with Bob's face in Sharpie as a stand-in.  You can barely see the yellow balloon behind Eric's head, but the shot below, of Kelly posing with Airhead Bob, gives a good view.  In retrospect, you have to wonder if it was this interaction with "Bob" prior to the Draft, which caused Kelly to have one of the most disastrous Drafts in CFCL history (more on this below).

We knew Bob would miss Draft Day as well, which is why we decided to video tape the proceedings to send to him later.  It turned out to be one of most fortuitous decisions we've made, as the 1992 Draft was incredibly entertaining and featured a number of "incidents" which would be remembered as classics of CFCL lore.  I'm sure that the fun Rich and I had re-watching the video tape later had a lot to do with us deciding to record the 1993 Draft ... and the 15 or so to follow ... as well.  I have no doubt that if 1992 had been a routine Draft the video taping would have stopped after that first year.

A number of highlights from 1992 have already been posted on the blog:

The Origin of the Ruffin Privilege (which gives the honor of nominating the first player for bidding to Ruffins' owner, Dave Holian

The Ramon Martinez Incident (in which things begin to go awry for Six Packs owner Kelly Barone)

The Bret Barberie Incident (in which things go from bad to worse for Kelly)

The Rebel Puberty Incident (in which an interaction with Airhead Bob causes Dem Rebel owner Rich Bentel to emit some odd sounds)

The Darryl Strawberry Incident (a classic moment in CFCL history, in which two owners simultaneously react in the same way when an owner more than doubles the current bid on Strawberry ... if it wasn't so spontaneous, you'd swear it was choreographed)

All this took place at the Oak Park apartment of Copperfields owner, David Mahlan.

The CFCL Awards Banquet

One of the (many) things that makes the CFCL special is the end-of-season Awards Banquet. Since our very first year, the CFCL has traditionally gathered in October or November (and once or twice, December or January as schedules required) to celebrate the accomplishments – and failures – of the recently completed season.

We seldom got full attendance at the banquet – especially in recent years, with a number of owners living out of town – but whether we have three owners present or ten, a good time is had by all.

In the CFCL’s early years, the big attraction at the banquet was the revealing of the final standings. Until 1997, when the CFCL finally modernized and hired a stat service, I compiled the standings by hand and until the final rankings were announced at the banquet, no one knew for certain who the league champion was.

To get a real feel for what goes on at the CFCL Awards Banquet, check out this clip from Trading the Gator, with highlights from the 2002 banquet. Some things to watch for:

• Pizza – the official banquet food of the CFCL. In the early years, we usually held the banquet at an owner’s house and ordered pizza in. After a few years, though, we decided to actually go out for the banquet. Although there were a couple years in the 90s when we met at a Chinese restaurant, most of the time we stuck to pizza. The pizzeria in the video is Giordano’s in Oak Park. 
• Awards – In addition to awarding certificates for the final standings, we also recognize a number of other award winners at the banquet. Some of the awards, such as the Dallas Green Award (which was described in an earlier post), are based on the point totals accumulated by CFCL teams, while others are voted on by the owners. We’ll be looking at some of those awards in future posts.
• Championship Trophy – Of course the big prize of the night is the CFCL Championship Trophy. This has evolved over the years, from a photocopied certificate to a customized trophy. Rich described this evolution in an earlier post.
• Baseball Cards – For a number of years beginning in the late 1990s, I started handing out unopened packs of baseball cards from the mid-80s to add some more fun and nostalgia to the proceedings. Each owner would get 3-4 packs to open, and we’d rip through them with the enthusiasm of 12-year-olds. The fact that the cards were from 8-10 years prior allowed some of the old-timers to reminisce about owning some of the players in the past, and it also meant many of the packs included the cardboardy plank of pink gum. Usually the gum was discarded untouched, though in 2002 – the banquet captured in the video below - the owner of Da Paul Meisters accepted the challenge to chew a couple sticks – you’ll see him putting his hand over his mouth in the video in an effort to keep from gagging it up.

Of course, the real attraction of the awards banquet is to spend an evening visiting with the rest of the owners in the league, outside of the usual Draft Day pressure cooker.

Here’s what the CFCL awards banquet looked like back in 2002:

CFCL Owners of 1993

Picture from left:  Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels), Tom Clark (Clark Kents), Dave Holian (David's Ruffins), Eric Lamb (Lambchops), Kelly Barone (Six Packs), Paul Zeledon (Da Paul Meisters), Pat McGuire (Twin Picks), David Mahlan (and eventual 1993 CFCL Champion David's Copperfields).

1993 saw all 1992 owners returning.  We were supposed to be nine owners, but a vile, despicable scum changed his mind at the last minute and didn't have the courtesy to let us know.  As a result, a draft that was supposed to begin around 7pm didn't start until almost 9pm and as a further result, didn't end until the wee hours of Saturday morning. 

Dave Holian of the Ruffins graciously provided the location for our draft and, when the hours became later and later, led us in our first International Incident in CFCL history, The Orestes Destrade Incident.

The Copperfields would end up winning their second title in a row and sixth overall.  At the end of the season, the Picks resign, but the remaining seven owners would continue as a core for the next two years.

Oh, almost forgot.  Also pictured in the back on the left, ominously hovering over Eric Lamb was a balloon representation of Bob Monroe (former owner of the Bald Eagles).  As has been chronicled, the Bald Eagles were part of the CFCL from 1986-1991.  For a few years after Bob left, we blew up a balloon, drew a beard and glasses on it in an effort to make it feel like Bob was still around.  At this particular draft, I believe the balloon took its fair share of punishment as the hours dragged on into early Saturday morning.  There is no empirical evidence as to the negative influence of Bob the Balloon, but Eric and Kelly (seated closest to Bob) finished 7th and 8th respectively.

2013 - What Could Have Been

Kenn Ruby, while waiting for the CFCL Awards Ballot to come out, played with the rosters and numbers to create - well he does a great job of explaining what he did and how he did it.  Suffice to say, he created a team that could have caused all of us to be playing for second.

 

Thanks Kenn!

 

I wanted to see if I could construct a winning team out of players that were available on draft day at their prices. So I didn't include anyone kept (and just because I felt like it, I also didn't include anyone that went in the rotation draft) and constructed a team that, if you came into the draft with no keepers, you could have bought and it would have won the league. And it cost exactly $2.60 (and for those of you nitpicking, yes, technically I should have added 23 cents to this total because this fantasy team would have had to outbid the winning bids, but do I really need to do that? Come on...I'm just having fun here).

 

Anyway, here's the roster you could have had six months ago. It may not look that great on the surface, but it's solid top to bottom and includes some stars and some cheapies:

 

C - Jon Lucroy (14)

C - Evan Gattis (1)

1B - Michael Young (11)

3B - Hanley Ramirez (21)

CI - Todd Helton (3)

2B - Daniel Murphy (13)

SS - Ian Desmond (28)

MI - Daniel Descalso (1)

OF - Shin-Soo Choo (28)

OF - Hunter Pence (21)

OF - Michael Cuddyer (20)

OF - Jayson Werth (16)

OF - Eric Young (1)

UT - Matt Adams (1)

P - Cliff Lee (41)

P- Zach Greinke (18)

P - Mike Minor (7)

P - Ricky Nolasco (6)

P - Mark Melancon (4)

P - Hyun-Jin Ryu (2)

P - Matt Belisle (1)

P - Heath Bell (1)

P - Trevor Rosenthal (1)

 

You might say...that team has Todd Helton on it! Daniel Descalso, really? Heath Bell sucks!

 

 

However, This team would amass...

926 runs (first)

899 RBI (second)

2993 TB (second)

173 SB (first)

.344 OBP (first)

101 QS (sixth)

120 H+S (tied for fourth)

3.12 ERA (first)

1.135 WHIP (first)

4.182 K/BB (first)

That's 89 1/2 points. Not bad. It would be even better if I had taken eligible players from the reserve draft, like Jose Fernandez, Tony Cingrani, and Pat Corbin, although there weren't many good eligible offensive options.

 

So next time you think you have no good keepers, remember that you can build a team from nothing and dominate the league! Or something like that

Meet the Malcontents

Last week we met Drew Gallagher from the Altered States League.  I mentioned that the ASL had a sister league called the Eternal Squabblers League.  The ESL has also been around since 1985, so they are going to be celebrating their 30th year of existence next year. 

There are a few similarities between the ESL/ASL and the CFCL which we will delve into in a later post.  But today we learn about Chris Malinowski and his team the Malcontents.  Trying to put things in CFCL terms, the Drewers bear a shocking resemblance to Dem Rebels (original owner, a little success, best friends of another original owner).  So that would mean that the Malcontents would be the Copperfields.  Well, yes, but it would be more accurate to say the Malcontents are the Copperfields on steroids (I mean that in a "oh my god this is unbelievable" way rather than in a "cheating, performance enhanced" way).  The Copperfields, as we know won 11 titles (and seven 2nd place finishes) in 28 years.  Pretty damn good.

The Malcontents have won 16 championships (and finished 2nd four times) in 28 years.  I'll let that sink in for a minute.  Forty-five percent more titles than the Copperfields!  The Malcontents, if you can believe this, won six consecutive titles from 1991-1996 and then turned around and won five in a row from 2000-2004.

Despite all that success, Chris comes off as a normal, humble guy who appreciates his fellow owners, especially Gallagher.  Let's hear about it in his own words.  It's time to meet the Malcontents.

How did your league start?

What’s the connection between the Altered States League and the Eternal Squabblers League?

Seems obvious but where did you come up with the name Eternal Squabblers League?

 

Our league started with Saturday morning Bowling. My Mom would drop me off at Bowl-O-Rama every Saturday morning in 5th and 6th grade. It was there that I was put on a team with a guy named Mike Capilo (future owner of the Baseball Caps...which he referred to as the Baseball CRaps whenever he was having a bad season.) Mike lived in a different neighborhood than I, but when you're in 6th grade, a 10 minute jog to your friend's house didn't seem like that big of a deal. (Whereas now, I would most definitely be very lonely if I had to jog 10 minutes to see a friend.)

 

Through "Caps" I met every other guy our age on his street and +/-2 blocks in either direction. It was certainly a motley crew of sizes, shapes and personalities ranging from a guy who was notorious for unexpectedly pee-ing on people out of a tree, to a guy who was twice our size who would threaten to kill you if you didn't refer to him as "The Myth." (It should be noted that "The Myth" was actually a very good dude.)

 

Drew Gallagher lived down the street from "Caps". Drew would later become the best man in my wedding. He worked as an intern for the Reading Eagle Sports department, ironically often taking local bowling scores for the section of the paper only read by local bowlers. I like to believe he was very excited whenever one of my scores would be called in. One of the writers for the Reading Eagle sports section was, and still is, Mike Drago, who covers the Reading Phillies...errr, I'm sorry, now the Reading Fightin Phils (team mascot, inexplicably an Ostrich due to the deep history of wild Ostriches in the Reading area.) Mike Drago (aka The San Drago Chicken), formed the Altered States League to start the 1985 season. Drew was invited to take part in the league as its only member who could not drive at the time. The ASL started and remains an AL-only, 12 team, 4x4 keeper league.

 

While playing stickball in a grassy field at the end of Drew and Cap's block (which we continued to play into our late teens because college chicks dig guys with broom sticks and tennis balls and frisbees for bases), we often discussed Drew's ASL "team". Because we couldn't play stickball after it got dark, the bunch of us agreed to form our own league beginning in mid-1985. The Eternal Squabblers League - a name adopted because we liked to argue over ever little rule - began and remains an NL-only, 10 team, 4x4 keeper league.

 

At that time, Drew was the only person in both leagues. 10 years later I finally succumbed to pressure and joined the ASL in 1995.

 

As time moved on, many of the ASL owners came to the ESL, and vice versa. Today there are 8 owners who are in both leagues.

 

16 titles, 4 2^nd place and 5 3^rd place finishes in 28 years. What the hell?

 

Ha. That's the question everyone's been trying to figure out for 30 years. Let's face it, even the smartest person in the world, were he to spend every waking moment studying, would have a hard time finishing first 16 times in 28 years. There's just so much luck involved. So I like to think of myself as the luckiest fantasy owner on earth. I am constantly stepping into players who not even I expected to be good.

 

During our drafts I am often getting penalized just for bidding. They refer to it as "The Malinowski Tax." "Chris bid...This guy must be good...If Chris says $19, I'll say $20...Malinowski tax."

 

How old were you when this all started?

 

Only 1 person in the ESL could drive when we started, and now that guy is homeless and doesn't have a car. Seriously. I couldn't make that up.

CFCL Owners of 1994

Picture from left:  Dave Holian (David's Ruffins), Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels), Matt Bentel (DoorMatts), Paul Zeledon (and eventual CFCL Champion Da Paul Meisters), Eric Lamb (Lambchops), Kelly Barone (Six Packs), Dave Goetz (ForGoetzMeNots), Tom Clark (Clark Kents).  Not pictured on the right: David Mahlan (David's Copperfields).

1994 was supposed to be the first time ever the CFCL had ten owners.  In 1993 (as you will see next week) we had eight owners.  Those eight had all committed to returning.  In addition FINALLY we were able to convince Rebels cousin Matt (DoorMatts) to join the league.  We had also been able to entice one of the Original 6 owners (and first ever CFCL Champion) back - Dave Goetz (ForGoetzMeNots).  Then on Roster Freeze Day, Pat McGuire showed his true colors.  Rather than turn in his keepers for the draft he sent a note saying, effectively, "I'm out".  The CFCL rolled on, probably the better for it, with nine owners.

Da Paul Meisters captured their first (and only) CFCL crown in just their third year of existence.

Dave Holian (David's Ruffins) opened his home to the CFCL, allowing us to draft in his spacious and comfortable basement.