The Will Clark Incident

Earlier in this blog’s life, we revisited one of the very first Draft Day “Incidents” in the CFCL’s history: the time the Co-Founders found themselves locked in an insane episode of bidding on Phillies’ outfielder Jeff Stone during the 1985 Draft. The end of that write-up teased a similar incident from the following year. It’s now time for the Co-Founders to to reminisce about 1986’s The Will Clark Incident…

RICH
I LOVE the history of the CFCL. I LOVE the fact that I have been a part of all the history of the CFCL – many times on the embarrassing end (see Jeff Stone Incident, Mitch Williams Incident, Murphy/Dysktra Trade). But every so often I am able to come out on top (Steve Carlton Incident). And here’s one more – The Will Clark Incident. 

The problem is I don’t remember the minute by minute, blow-by-blow happenings. I remember the before and I remember the after. The during? Not so much. It could be because I was still reeling from the Jeff Stone Incident the year before. It could be that it was 28 years ago and, really, how much can one person remember?

DAVID
Flashback to spring training, 1986 -- This was in the early days of Rotisserie and fantasy baseball, and information on minor leaguers and prospects was still fairly hard to come by. The minor league overview in Bill Mazaroski's annual magazine was the best of the easily-obtainable sources, and the owner who knew about Baseball America's "Top Ten Prospects" issues, let alone who could find one on a newstand, had an incredible advantage. 

RICH
Here’s what I do recall. The Rebels and Copperfields had teased each other with our plans heading into 1985 when we both had our eyes on Jeff Stone. After we squared off in the bidding on Jeff Stone, I think we were both reluctant to lend voice to our intentions for the 1986 draft. 

This time around we both had our sights on a young left handed slugger in the Bay Area. I can’t recall if we gave each other even a bit of indication of our desires or if we figured it out during the bidding.

There was still a good chance of “back-dooring” a young or unknown talent. There wasn’t ESPN and Internet. You had the Sporting News and Bill Mazeroski’s mag. 

DAVID
And it’s not like Mazeroski was over the moon for Clark. In the positional outlook for the major league team the magazine mentioned Clark as a possible contributor in 1986: 

"[Dan] Driessen’s limitations could help [Bob] Brenly worm his way in here, at least against lefthanders. And don’t count out last June’s No. 1 draft pick, Will Clark, who pumped 25 homers in just 65 games at Mississippi State last year, then jumped to Fresno and hit .305, drove in 48 runs in 65 games, jacked 10 home runs and had an on-base percentage of .458. Clark might not be able to make the jump this year, but it won’t take him long."

The minor league write-up at the back of the magazine said: “He’s a disciplined left-handed hitter with 20-homer strength and Gold Glove potential. Clark will get a chance to take first base this spring because he’s so far advanced in the mental aspects of the game.”

Jackpot! Just what every Rotisserie owner longs for – mental aspects!

Clark didn't even make Maz’s Gold List (the prospects likely to make their presence known in the majors in the coming season). Instead, that list was toting the likes of Todd Worrell, Lance McCullers, Andres Galarraga, and Roger Mason. Maz’s list of secondary prospects did mention Clark, saying that he “could make the leap this year – sometime.”

All-in-all, not exactly ringing endorsements; and not the type of write up that would set our winter hearts a-lusting.

RICH
So if you read those periodicals, you knew of a guy named Will Clark. Had a pretty good college career and was expected to make the team and be wonderful in 1986. But to the passive eye, he wasn't that well known. 

DAVID
It wasn't until March 1986 that stories of "The Natural" came drifting Chicago-way. Tales told of an intense young slugger with only 65 minor league games under his belt who was the hit of the Giants' spring camp. There were rumors that he hit a ball through the outfield fence in a spring training game. 

RICH
Clark had a pretty solid spring. This was when the Cubs played the Giants about 450 times during the Cactus League, so now he was becoming less unknown. But one could still be hopeful that the other owners would attribute it to a young kid having a good spring against lesser pitchers (kind of like being Gary Scott before Gary Scott).

DAVID
Still, Rich and I both hoped -- no, believed -- that each of us was the only one to be hearing this info. We were both certain we would be able to sneak Clark though at the end of the Draft. Of course, this was another textbook case of Hyper-Inflation resulting from Pre-Draft Obsession.

RICH
We were both disappointed on Opening Day. Any chance we had of trying to sneak Clark through at a low price ended on April 8, 1986. Keep in mind, back in the early days, we drafted after Opening Day so we knew who was on an NL roster. By the time we drafted there were some games already played and emotions affected (see Brian Littlefield effect in the original Rotisserie Book).

On April 8th, Will Clark came to the plate for the first time EVER in a major league game. And he homered. Homered in the first inning against the Astros. Homered to straightaway center field in the Astrodome. Homered off of . . . Nolan Ryan in his first at bat ever. And the legend exploded.

No more sneaking him through. Now it’s good ol’ country hardball ala 1985 and Jeff Stone.

DAVID

Flash forward, to Draft Day 1986 -- Our new owner, Dave Holian, received the honor of nominating the first player of the Draft. This ended up being the unofficial institution of what would come to be known as The Ruffin Privilege, which wasn't formally recognized until 1992.  

Of course, it's obvious who he chose to make the first player up for bid in 1986 -- Will the Thrill.

Bidding quickly escalated, with the Bald Eagles, Copperfields, and Dem Rebels the main participants. Bob Monroe, owner of the Eagles, called a conference with Head Copperfield in a side room. The Bald One offered to drop out of the bidding on Clark if In would promise not to bid up another player later in the Draft. I refused, and we returned to the draft table where the bidding continued. Monroe remained in a little while longer, then dropped out, leaving me and Rich as the only two active bidders. Another showdown between the Co-Founders/Co-Commissioners. As the bidding reached the upper 30s, memories of the Jeff Stone Incident crept into both our heads.

RICH
I was probably feeling the pain of Stone still so at some point I blinked and the Copperfields got Will Clark for .40.

DAVID
Perhaps it was the memory of what Jeff Stone did to his team, but whatever the reason, after I said ".40", Rich said "Pass", and I brought his head crashing to the table at the realization of what I had done.

Clark's stats for the year: .287-11-41-4. Respectable, but not worthy of .40.

RICH
Clark would go on to hit only 10 more home runs and drive in only 40 more runs all season. So I finally won a showdown against the Copperfields, right?

1985 – Rebels outbid the Copperfields on Jeff Stone for .32 and finish 4th out of seven teams.

1986 – Copperfields outlast the Rebels on Will Clark for .40 and win their first championship (first of three in a row and first of eleven overall).

And that right there in a nutshell is the Rebel/Copperfield rivalry.

Trade Deadline Review: 1984-1987

This post is the first in a series taking a look at the trading deadline action in each season during the CFCL’s first 29 years. 

A few notes about these posts:

1) For our purposes here, “trade deadline” action will reflect the trades made in the 3-4 weeks prior to the trade deadline (which, as we noted in an earlier post, varied from season to season). 

2) For the most part, we’ll be looking at a team’s overall trading turnover in the weeks before the deadline, not individual deals.

3) Individual deals will continue to be listed (though not analyzed) in the “This Week in CFCL History” posts.

So let’s get started. This post will cover the trading deadline action in 1984 – 1987.

1984
Trade Deadline: June 15
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 2 teams, 1 trade
Number of Players Changing Hands: 6
Busiest Teams: Copperfields (1 trade) and ForGoetz Me Nots (1)
The 1984 trade deadline saw only one deal – the only trade of the 1984 season, it was made right at the deadline. Given the trade’s historic standing as the first trade in CFCL history, the deal was covered in detail in a post on June 15.

As noted in that post, the Copperfields really came out ahead on the stats side of the equation, and they picked up 14.5 points in the standings following the deal. The trade almost proved to be a disaster for the ForGoetz Me Nots, as they ended up finishing in first place by a single point.

1984 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

  

1985
Trade Deadline: June 22
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 2 teams, 1 trade
Number of Players Changing Hands: 2
Busiest Teams: Copperfields (1 trade) and Friars (1)

Yup – that’s right, we were a bunch or wild men in those early days. Two trade deadlines, two trades total. And for a second year in the row, the only deadline deal was made between teams in first and second place at the time. Hey, we were still feeling our way and hadn’t had to face option year decisions, etc. We hadn’t yet mastered the art of the dump deal.

In the case of this trade, made the day of the deadline, the first place Copperfields sent currently-DLed pitcher Bob Welch to the second place Friars for pitcher Larry McWilliams. As related in the This Week in CFCL History write-up, the Friars came out ahead on this one, and it may not be a coincidence that the Copperfields dropped 9 points in the pitching categories in the 5 weeks after this trade.

In the end, neither team came out on top, as the Copperfields finished the season in 3rd place and the Friars in 2nd, both behind the 1985 Champions the Mudville Sluggers.

1985 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

1986
Trade Deadline: August 5 (the first Tuesday after July 31)
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 3 teams, 3 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands: 7
Busiest Teams: Bald Eagles (3 trades)

A little more action in 1986, as Bob Monroe and his Bald Eagles entered the league. Still, though there may have been more trades in number, in terms of the players changing hands this deadline is largely a “meh” – not much going on.

All three teams in action were contenders in ’86: By the first full week of July the Copperfields led the league, three points ahead of the Rebels, while the Eagles trailed in 4th, 12 points out.

Only the Eagles/Rebels swap of Murphy and Dysktra, made the day of the deadline, was really noteworthy, but we won’t go into the detail here. Check back on August 5, when Rich will have the full story behind that deal.

BALD EAGLES

Acquired	Traded	Results
Steve Lake Jim Morrison Dale Murphy	Alan Knicely Graig Nettels Bill Madlock Lenny Dykstra	Powered by Morrison (11 HR, 39 RBI) and Murphy (12 HR, 38 RBI), the Eagles moved up to 2nd place by season’s end, finishing 7 points out.

DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Alan Knicely Lenny Dykstra	Steve Lake Dale Murphy	Not a good deadline for the Rebels.  Knicely barely played and Dykstra fizzled (1 HR, 6 SB).  They dropped to 4th by the end of the season.

 DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Graig Nettels Bill Madlock	Jim Morrison	Madlock hit for average and drove in 32 runs, but wasn’t a huge factor as the Copperfields held on for their first CFCL Championship.

 

1986 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

 

 

 

1987
Trade Deadline: July 21, trading between contiguous teams in standings allowed until August 31
Number of Teams / Number of Trades: 6 teams, 7 trades
Number of Players Changing Hands: 26 players, 3 waiver choices
Busiest Teams: Copperfields (4 trades), Bald Eagles (3)
Contenders: Copperfields, Bald Eagles, Crocketts
Rebuilders: Ruffins, Dem Rebels, Aces To Win

Now that’s more like it – a fairly busy month leading up to the trade deadline, and for the first time there was a pretty clear delineation between the rebuilders and contenders.  Although trading was allowed after July 21 between teams next to each other in the standings, no such deals were made.

DAVID’S RUFFINS

Acquired	Traded	Results
John Smiley Casey Candaele	Doyle Alexander Mike Easler 1987 waiver choice	Not a great rebuilding job for the sophomore Ruffins.  They waived Smiley immediately upon acquiring him – he had a 5.15 ERA at the time - but he won 13 games with a 3.25 ERA the following year.  Candaele lasted the season, but the Ruffins released him prior to the ’88 draft, leaving them with nothing to show for this deal.

 DEM REBELS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Dwight Smith Matt Williams Chuck Jackson Fernando Valenzuela Lance McCullers Pat Pacillo 1987 waiver choice	Mike Schmidt Ron Darling John Franco Rich Gossage	The Rebels show ‘em how rebuilding is done.  They weren’t going to keep Schmidt at his .46 salary, and got out from under a couple oppressive long term contracts with Darling and Franco.  They acquired Williams, Valenzuela, and McCullers – all a penny each – and a promising minor leaguer in Smith.   In terms of rebuilding, the Rebels’ didn’t see much payoff from these deals.  They waived Pacillio and Jackson later in 1987, and dealt all the other players away during the off-season.   The Rebels apparently did see some benefit, though – they rose two places in the standings after the deadline to finish in 4th place.

 ACES TO WIN

Acquired	Traded	Results
Terry Leach	Bill Gullickson	Like the Ruffins, the Aces don’t come away with much to show for their rebuilding effort – they released Leach before the 1988 season.

 DAVIES’ CROCKETTS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Candy Maldonado Ken Griffey Sr Glenn Davis Doyle Alexander Rich Gossage 1987 waiver choice	Tim Raines Jim Lindeman Nick Esasky Nolan Ryan Dave Dravecky	The Crocketts were in 4th place the month of the deadline and were making a run at a money spot (the top 3 paid out in ’84).  Maldonado and Davis provided good power, combining for 22 HR and 84 RBI, but Alexander got dealt to the AL a few weeks after the CFCL trade deadline.   Gossage pitched in 5 Saves, but it wasn’t enough to help the Crocketts and they fell to 5th place in the final standings.

 BALD EAGLES

Acquired	Traded	Results
Tim Raines Jim Lindeman Nolan Ryan <Rich Gossage>	Ken Griffey Sr Candy Maldonado Rich Gossage Pat Pacillo 1987 waiver choice 1987 waiver choice	The Eagles entered July in first place, and acquiring Raines was huge – he hit .317 with 11 HR, 30 RBI and 23 SB after they picked him up.  Ryan pitched great (2.28 ERA), but playing for the Astros could only post 4 Wins.   In the end, Raines and Ryan helped but not enough to keep the Eagles from dropping into 2nd place.

 DAVID’S COPPERFIELDS

Acquired	Traded	Results
Mike Easler Nick Esasky Mike Schmidt Ron Darling Bill Gullickson <Doyle Alexander> Dave Dravecky John Franco 1987 waiver choice	Glenn Davis Matt Williams Casey Candaele Dwight Smith Chuck Jackson Fernando Valenzuela John Smiley Doyle Alexander Terry Leach Lance McCullers	Gullickson bombed and Easler’s contributions were marginal, but every other pickup was huge:  Esasky slammed 10 homers while Schmidt cranked 16 and drove in 55 runs; Darling and Dravecky combined for 14 Wins, and Franco added 15 Saves.   It all contributed to a huge second half for the defending Champion Copperfields, who rode their contributions to their second title and a then-CFCL record 73 points.

1987 Standings at Trade Deadline and End of Season (click to embiggen)

 

 

 

The Steve Carlton Incident

It was 1986.  The first year of the Bald Eagles and David’s Ruffins.  Bob graciously opened his home to the draft.  It was also the first evidence of deliberate price enforcement and may have been the beginning of the torment the Eagles heaped on the Rebels for six years.

Oh, don’t get me wrong.  The CFCL had already seen its own version of price enforcement with Jeff Stone the previous year and Will Clark earlier in this draft (yeah, yeah, yeah – We’ll get to “The Thrill” in a later post.  I’m offering some fore-shadowing).  But those instances (soon to be named “Incidents”) were price enforcement from maniacal owner belief and over-hyped media.  The Steve Carlton Incident, I truly believe, was the first evidence of price enforcement of the “Oh, I can’t let that happen” variety.  And unsurprisingly, Bob Monroe was right in the middle of it.

We set the stage.  In the basement of the Bald Eagle’s Nest, we have three or four card  tables laid out end to end to accommodate Dem Rebels, Paul’s Penguins, David’s Copperfields, Fred’s Friars, Bald Eagles and David’s Ruffins.  After the draft we ended up having two vile, despicable scum owners join the league.  Why?  Well ON DRAFT DAY we were notified that the ForGoetzMeNots and Ghostbusters would not be returning for 1986.  We kept those teams intact, maybe because I knew I could ask the scum to join us.  They were acquaintances of mine from work and I must have thought that we could keep the league at eight teams with their involvement.

Eight teams meant we had to dig a little deeper into the National League rosters.  Eight teams and digging deeper into National League rosters meant we had to develop and follow a different strategy than in the previous two years.  PLUS we had two new owners attending the draft.  How would they handle their team?  How would they budget their money?  We were all learning there are games within the game.

It turns out my recollection of how things played out with the Steve Carlton Incident were a little off from what really happened.  With a BIG THANKS to CFCL League Historian and Archivist David Mahlan, here’s how it went down.

Bob and I were seated next to each other, Bob on my left.  When it came to be my turn to nominate a player in the second round I was looking to bring somebody up that I didn’t want on my team.  Why would I do that?  Well (and again, this comes from league archives) in the first round I picked up three players.  So when my turn to nominate a player came up, I had 29 cents to spend and needed four players.  So for some reason (don’t ask me why), I nominated Carlton for a penny.  I guess I figured he was a big name pitcher and might attract some interest.  I was hoping and praying and rubbing my little talisman (no that’s not code) that someone, anyone would bid .02

He was coming off a year where he was 1-8 and a 1.49 WHiP, so what I didn’t want was Carlton at a penny.

Bob was next to bid.  I recall him saying something like “Well Rich can’t have him for just a penny.  2 cents.”  David doesn’t recall Bob saying anything other than “2”.  Either way, the weight jettisoned off my shoulders and directly onto Bob’s as he heard the Copperfields, Ruffins, Friars, Penguins and then Dem Rebels all say “pass” in quick order.

The look on Bob’s face was priceless but all I cared about was I didn’t have Carlton.  I don’t think I fully appreciated getting the better of the Bald Eagle until much later.  Clearly our drafting (or my nominating) of players was still a work in progress.  While Carlton was a 300 game winner, it was very obvious he didn’t have much left in the tank.  Nominating him as the eleventh player in the draft is just insane.  But that may have worked to my advantage if Bob’s motivation was to make sure that no one walked away with a penny player in the second round.

That also could have worked to my disadvantage as that may have set Bob’s crosshairs on me for the next six years.  We’ll never know for sure as dust and cobwebs have taken over many parts of the league.  But it did make for a classic moment in a CFCL draft.

Ballad of the Bald Eagle

In American culture we are often exposed to things for a relatively short period of time, but the influence endures for generations.  Gilligan’s Island graced the airwaves for a mere three years but the terms “Little Buddy” “The Movie Star” not to mention the theme song are known by millions.

Star Trek was on T.V. for four years and yet there aren’t many people who can’t quote “live long and prosper” or do a passable Captain Kirk impression.  The impact these shows had was immense.  And it is with the CFCL, a microcosm of American society.

In 1986 the CFCL added four teams: 2 vile, despicable scum, one current owner and Bob Monroe.  Bob came to us via Co-Commissioner David Mahlan.  Bob was store manager of Minnesota Fabric in North Riverside while David worked there part-time.

Heading into the 1986 season our owners were comprised of one high school student, three college students, two twenty-somethings, David’s dad and Bob.  Bob, of the group, in my eyes was old.  David’s dad wasn’t – he was a dad.  But Bob was old, had to be late 30’s.  Old to the point that the first few times we got together (expansion draft, real draft) we addressed him as Mr. Monroe.

In looking back over CFCL history I am amazed to realize that the Bald Eagles were part of the league for only six years.  The impact Bob had on the league was similar to Gilligan’s Island and Star Trek.  To this day Bob is still with us.  The in-season weekly blog that I’ve kept for the last three or four years is named the Monroe Doctrine in honor of Bob.  The Constitution has two references to Bob (The Bald Eagle IP requirement and the Bald Eagle AB requirement) because of the way Bob would try to, I’ll say interpret the rules but in reality he would try to skirt the rules.  Many of the loopholes that were closed in the past are due directly to Bob and his manipulations.

When Bob came into the league he sent out this announcement.

More than anything, this announcement said to us “Dude has a computer!”  Remember this was 1986.  Not a lot of households had a personal computer – certainly not the Mahlan or Bentel households.  Bob brought the CFCL into the computer age.  Now David or I would go to Bob’s house each week to enter stats and have the computer calculate the standings, rather than have David do it by hand.

Over the course of the year we will post stories of Bob’s antics and intimidation.  He single handedly broke multiple drafting rules at the 1989 draft.  He perhaps was one of the first owners to practice price enforcement at the draft.   He was the architect of what, on the surface, could be viewed as the worst trade since Brock for Broglio (he receiving Brock).  These stories will come, but for now let me leave you with this.  One year Bob hosted the CFCL Banquet at his home in Brookfield.  He took David into the kitchen and said “Let’s give Rich a glass of water loaded with Tabasco Sauce.”  And so, Bob came out of the kitchen with a glass of water loaded with a red hue and said “Here’s your water Rich.  Sorry my pipes are a little rusty.”  That was Bob.

1986 - The Owner Draft of a Lifetime

Back in 1983 the Chicago Bears had a draft of a lifetime.  They drafted Jimbo Covert (1^st round), Willie Gault (1), Dave Duerson (3), Tom Thayer (4), Richard Dent (8) and Mark Bortz (8).  All of them (and Mike Richardson as well) were integral to the Bears winning the Super Bowl in 1985.  But 1983 was a phenomenal year for the Bears.

I often look at 1986 in the same way for the CFCL.  At the end of 1985 we had just completed our second year, we had seven owners and things were going well.  Then during the off-season we were informed that three (count ‘em THREE) teams would be leaving including defending champion and Original 6 member, Mudville Sluggers (one of the other Original 6, ForGoetzMeNots would also leave).

So here we were, a two year old league, league founders going to be finishing up their sophomore years in college and we suddenly have a league of four owners.  As has been mentioned before, David and I didn’t have a wide circle of people to tap into and we felt we had exhausted our resources just getting the league to seven.

But we scrambled and, in my opinion, had the results for our league similar to the Bears draft in 1983.  I had an acquaintance at work who, while a White Sox fan, knew about baseball and he had a friend who was also interested.  That brought us up to six.

**Side note – it turns out those owners (Z-28’s and Spherechuckers) proved themselves to be vile, despicable scum by essentially quitting the league mid-season and threatening physical harm to the Co-Commissioners if they tried to collect the owed team fees.

So part of our “draft for owners” ended up being a bust.  But we also found two other owners who wanted to join.  Walking into the 1986 season we went from seven owners in 1985 to eight in 1986 and during the off-season doubled our membership from four to eight.  It’s the other two owners that made this year’s expansion a homerun.

The first addition was a friend of mine from high school, Dave Holian.  He was my Sports Editor on the school newspaper, the shortstop on our recreation softball league and, it turns out, a terrific friend for the last 30 years.  When he heard that David and I had started a fantasy league, he started one of his own with some other friends in high school.  When we had the opening, he jumped at the opportunity and for the next 28 years has not let me live down the fact that he wasn’t invited to be an original member.  Truth be told, I didn’t think David and I were cool enough to ask Dave to join the league.  Not that Mr. Holian projected that air, he just seemed connected in every way at the high school and was more “diversified” in his life than David’s and my tunnel vision focus on everything baseball.

The Ruffins joined the league and have been a mainstay ever since.  The other owner that joined was Bob Monroe.  Bob was David’s boss at Minnesota Fabrics.  We had already lowered our standards by letting a White Sox fan enter the league, so we figured what harm could there be in letting a Cardinal fan in?  Harm not so much, but we had no idea what we had just done.

Bob kept his avian connection strong by cheering for the Cardinals and naming his team the Bald Eagles.  Couldn’t have been a more appropriate name given that Bob was, well, bald with the fringe on top.

Tomorrow we will meet, in detail, Bob Monroe of the Bald Eagles.  But safe to say, 1986 for the CFCL was a very good year.