You'll note that it's not all holiday cheer, though, as the bit of business at the bottom reminds everyone that Draft Day is just over three months away...
Showing posts with label 1992. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1992. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
From the Archives: Happy Holidays, CFCL Style
Dipping in to the CFCL's history treasure chest, here's a hand-illustrated and colored Christmas greeting that Rich sent to CFCL owners during the during the off-season between the end of the 1992 campaign and the start of 1993.
You'll note that it's not all holiday cheer, though, as the bit of business at the bottom reminds everyone that Draft Day is just over three months away...
You'll note that it's not all holiday cheer, though, as the bit of business at the bottom reminds everyone that Draft Day is just over three months away...
Thursday, October 17, 2013
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.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
The Darryl Strawberry Incident
You have been very loyal readers. You have been patient. You deserve to be rewarded. And so we bring you "The Darryl Strawberry Incident". 1992 may have been the best draft ever for humor and entertainment, and here is the Piece de Resistance (French for "good stuff").
Some background. For eight years the CFCL owners enjoyed the Draft Day Bidding Process. We would typically nominate every player for ".01" and then go around the table increasing the bid by a penny. Ridiculous to bid .01 on a superstar? Well, sure. But it was quaint and fun. It was also amusing to watch the momentum build as the bids got higher. I still recall the exuberance of The Professor when the bidding went around the table on some forgotten player some forgotten year with each owner bidding and each owner only increasing the bid by .01. There were ten owners in the league and when the bidding got back to The Professor for a second trip around the table, the bid was a perfect ".10".
There were times (as you will see in the video below) when an owner would begin the bidding a little higher than .01. And occasionally an owner would increase the bidding by more than a penny, but usually it was no more than two or three cents.
Enter Pat McGuire of the Twin Picks. Pat had been in the league previously from 1988-1990, stepped away in 1991 and returned for a two year run beginning in 1992. Apparently three years of this "quaint and fun" bidding style crap was enough. It appeared that he thought he could singlehandedly shave hours off the draft by getting the bidding to an appropriate price as quickly as possible.
What you are about to see is, in my opinion, the quintessential moment of the CFCL. The reaction of two owners (Tom Clark and Dave Holian) to McGuire's efforts to get the bidding going has been retold around the CFCL Draft Table a million times. Fortunately for all of us it was captured on video and it is yours to see here.
Some background. For eight years the CFCL owners enjoyed the Draft Day Bidding Process. We would typically nominate every player for ".01" and then go around the table increasing the bid by a penny. Ridiculous to bid .01 on a superstar? Well, sure. But it was quaint and fun. It was also amusing to watch the momentum build as the bids got higher. I still recall the exuberance of The Professor when the bidding went around the table on some forgotten player some forgotten year with each owner bidding and each owner only increasing the bid by .01. There were ten owners in the league and when the bidding got back to The Professor for a second trip around the table, the bid was a perfect ".10".
There were times (as you will see in the video below) when an owner would begin the bidding a little higher than .01. And occasionally an owner would increase the bidding by more than a penny, but usually it was no more than two or three cents.
Enter Pat McGuire of the Twin Picks. Pat had been in the league previously from 1988-1990, stepped away in 1991 and returned for a two year run beginning in 1992. Apparently three years of this "quaint and fun" bidding style crap was enough. It appeared that he thought he could singlehandedly shave hours off the draft by getting the bidding to an appropriate price as quickly as possible.
What you are about to see is, in my opinion, the quintessential moment of the CFCL. The reaction of two owners (Tom Clark and Dave Holian) to McGuire's efforts to get the bidding going has been retold around the CFCL Draft Table a million times. Fortunately for all of us it was captured on video and it is yours to see here.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The Rebel Puberty Incident
Ok, this has nothing to do with baseball, but it seems fitting that today, on the anniversary of Rich’s birth, we celebrate the time he seemingly went through puberty right in the middle of the Draft.
First, a little background … after the 1991 season, Bald Eagle owner and defending CFCL Champion Bob Monroe announced he was withdrawing from the CFCL. Bob’s job had taken him out of town, and in 1992 the CFCL hadn’t yet made the transition to the Internet. Long-distance ownership was a non-starter.
Bob’s departure led to two new features at the 1992 Draft:
At one point in the Draft, I got up to fill in an acquisition on the big Draft Tracker on the wall. Since Bob’s head was nearby, I gave it a vigorous spin on its string. At the same time I was doing this, Rich was finishing up a pretzel rod, stuffing the last half of it in his mouth at once.
He noticed Bob’s Linda Blair act and – showing great restraint and respect for the owners sitting across the table from him – tried to laugh without spewing half chewed pretzel across the room. What emanated from him wasn’t a laugh so much as on odd squeak.
This caught the attention of David’s Ruffins owner, Dave Holian, who wondered if Rich was “going through that change thing”. That comment set us off on what would prove to be the first of many digressions into 1970s television that we enjoyed over the years.
Before we go to the film, just one quick note about 1992. Between the Ramon Martinez Incident, the Bret Barberie Incident (listen for him being nominated at the end of this clip), the Origin of the Ruffin Privilege, light hearted moments such as this, plus a number of others to be shared later, 1992 is far and away the most entertaining Draft we recorded.
First, a little background … after the 1991 season, Bald Eagle owner and defending CFCL Champion Bob Monroe announced he was withdrawing from the CFCL. Bob’s job had taken him out of town, and in 1992 the CFCL hadn’t yet made the transition to the Internet. Long-distance ownership was a non-starter.
Bob’s departure led to two new features at the 1992 Draft:
- We knew we’d miss having Bob around, so to take his place at the Draft, we placed a helium-filled balloon at the corner of the draft table. To ensure everyone recognized him, Rich used a marker to draw a fringe of hair around the bare top, glasses, and a beard … the splitting image of Bob.
- Bob made it clear he was going to miss being at the Draft too. After hearing him bemoan the fact that he’d miss out on the fun of Draft Day, we decided to video tape the whole Draft and send it to him. It was the first Draft we recorded, something we did for the next 15 years or so.
At one point in the Draft, I got up to fill in an acquisition on the big Draft Tracker on the wall. Since Bob’s head was nearby, I gave it a vigorous spin on its string. At the same time I was doing this, Rich was finishing up a pretzel rod, stuffing the last half of it in his mouth at once.
He noticed Bob’s Linda Blair act and – showing great restraint and respect for the owners sitting across the table from him – tried to laugh without spewing half chewed pretzel across the room. What emanated from him wasn’t a laugh so much as on odd squeak.
This caught the attention of David’s Ruffins owner, Dave Holian, who wondered if Rich was “going through that change thing”. That comment set us off on what would prove to be the first of many digressions into 1970s television that we enjoyed over the years.
Before we go to the film, just one quick note about 1992. Between the Ramon Martinez Incident, the Bret Barberie Incident (listen for him being nominated at the end of this clip), the Origin of the Ruffin Privilege, light hearted moments such as this, plus a number of others to be shared later, 1992 is far and away the most entertaining Draft we recorded.
Monday, June 17, 2013
The Bret Barberie Incident
Last week, we heard about the disastrous start to the Six Packs' 1992 Draft, with The Ramon Martinez Incident.
As I alluded to at the time, that incident didn't mark the low point of the Six Packs' draft that day. Six Packs' owner Kelly Barone fell into a distracted, brooding funk after getting stuck with Martinez. He came into the Draft with significantly less money to spend than all but one other owner, and blowing .13 on a pitcher he wanted nothing to do with threw his entire strategy and approach into chaos.
When he should have been focused on moving on, all Kelly could think about was his misjudgment in bidding on Martinez. This festering wound was brought back to the surface when Kelly tried to bid on Tom Candioti, a pitcher he had come into the Draft wanting, but was unable to bid high enough because of the money he'd wasted on Martinez.
Of course, Pitcher wasn’t the only roster spot Kelly needed to fill that day. He also came into the Draft with all three corner infield spots open (1B, 3B, 1B/3B). Combined, the other eight teams needed to fill 11 corner spots. Considering the disadvantage Kelly was working with money-wise compared to the other teams, he had is work cut out for him.
Throughout the Draft, there had been a lot of joking about which team would end up with Cub third baseman Gary Scott. In 1991, Scott had torn the cover off the ball in Spring Training and went early in the Draft, for .09 to Dem Rebels. Scott had a terrible season, hitting just .165, and the Rebels cut him. When Scott had another great Spring Training in 1992 and was again named the Cubs’ starting third baseman, Scott’s availability in the Draft became a running gag.
As the Draft wore on, corner infielder after corner infielder was put up for bid, 7 of them over the first several rounds of the Draft, and Kelly did not acquire a single one of them. Whether it was by design or the effects of the Martinez/Candiotti debacle, the 6th round of the Draft was drawing to a close and Kelly had not filled any of his corner infield spots. In fact he hadn’t drafted a single player since Ramon Martinez.
Dem Rebels owner, Rich, was sitting directly across from Kelly, and noticed him dropping out of the bidding early on corner men, and began to speculate about who Kelly was waiting for. When Ruffins’ owner, Dave, nominated Expos infielder Bret Barberie, Rich and Kelly began to discuss whether Barberie, the Expos’ Opening Day third baseman, had been the corner infielder Kelly had been waiting for. Kelly claimed he had forgotten about Barberie, but he joined in the bidding, clearly encouraged by the opportunity to fill his 3B roster spot.
Unfortunately Kelly and Rich failed to check Barberie’s defensive games played for the previous season. Although he had played 10 games at 3B, that was short of the 20 needed to qualify to be drafted there in 1992 – Barberie qualified only at SS, the position he had played the most in 1991.
When Kelly finally won the bidding for Barberie, there was some good natured celebration over the fact that Kelly had recovered from his earlier troubles, but the celebration was short-lived as other owners put the kibosh on his plans to put Barberie at 3B.
The Bret Barberie Incident was yet another mishap in Kelly’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, but it wasn’t the final insult. That came later, when Kelly was forced to draft Gary Scott for .09 to fill his last corner infielder spot.
Enjoy…
As I alluded to at the time, that incident didn't mark the low point of the Six Packs' draft that day. Six Packs' owner Kelly Barone fell into a distracted, brooding funk after getting stuck with Martinez. He came into the Draft with significantly less money to spend than all but one other owner, and blowing .13 on a pitcher he wanted nothing to do with threw his entire strategy and approach into chaos.
When he should have been focused on moving on, all Kelly could think about was his misjudgment in bidding on Martinez. This festering wound was brought back to the surface when Kelly tried to bid on Tom Candioti, a pitcher he had come into the Draft wanting, but was unable to bid high enough because of the money he'd wasted on Martinez.
Of course, Pitcher wasn’t the only roster spot Kelly needed to fill that day. He also came into the Draft with all three corner infield spots open (1B, 3B, 1B/3B). Combined, the other eight teams needed to fill 11 corner spots. Considering the disadvantage Kelly was working with money-wise compared to the other teams, he had is work cut out for him.
Throughout the Draft, there had been a lot of joking about which team would end up with Cub third baseman Gary Scott. In 1991, Scott had torn the cover off the ball in Spring Training and went early in the Draft, for .09 to Dem Rebels. Scott had a terrible season, hitting just .165, and the Rebels cut him. When Scott had another great Spring Training in 1992 and was again named the Cubs’ starting third baseman, Scott’s availability in the Draft became a running gag.
As the Draft wore on, corner infielder after corner infielder was put up for bid, 7 of them over the first several rounds of the Draft, and Kelly did not acquire a single one of them. Whether it was by design or the effects of the Martinez/Candiotti debacle, the 6th round of the Draft was drawing to a close and Kelly had not filled any of his corner infield spots. In fact he hadn’t drafted a single player since Ramon Martinez.
Dem Rebels owner, Rich, was sitting directly across from Kelly, and noticed him dropping out of the bidding early on corner men, and began to speculate about who Kelly was waiting for. When Ruffins’ owner, Dave, nominated Expos infielder Bret Barberie, Rich and Kelly began to discuss whether Barberie, the Expos’ Opening Day third baseman, had been the corner infielder Kelly had been waiting for. Kelly claimed he had forgotten about Barberie, but he joined in the bidding, clearly encouraged by the opportunity to fill his 3B roster spot.
Unfortunately Kelly and Rich failed to check Barberie’s defensive games played for the previous season. Although he had played 10 games at 3B, that was short of the 20 needed to qualify to be drafted there in 1992 – Barberie qualified only at SS, the position he had played the most in 1991.
When Kelly finally won the bidding for Barberie, there was some good natured celebration over the fact that Kelly had recovered from his earlier troubles, but the celebration was short-lived as other owners put the kibosh on his plans to put Barberie at 3B.
The Bret Barberie Incident was yet another mishap in Kelly’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, but it wasn’t the final insult. That came later, when Kelly was forced to draft Gary Scott for .09 to fill his last corner infielder spot.
Enjoy…
Friday, June 14, 2013
The Ramon Martinez Incident
If you play Rotisserie Baseball long enough, eventually you’ll have one of THOSE Drafts. You know the ones … where, despite the months of careful preparation, you can’t do anything right and everything that can go wrong, does.
For Six Packs’ owner Kelly Barone, that Draft was 1992. Unfortunately for Kelly, 1992 was the year we started video taping our Drafts, so his Disaster Draft was preserved for posterity and can now be relived in front of the entire world via the magic of the Internet.
Ok, first I ought to explain what’s up with this whole video taping thing. Long-time owner Bob Monroe (Bald Eagles) had to resign from the league following the 1991 season because he moved out of state. During the off-season he had mentioned a number of times how much he would miss the fun of Draft Day, so as a gag we decided to record the Draft and send it to him. There were so many classic moments in that 1992 Draft, we decided to tape again the following year, and continued doing so for the next 15 or so Drafts.
But back to the matter at hand … Kelly entered the 1992 Draft with .85 to spend on 11 players, but only one other team had less than $1.30 available. After he acquired second baseman Juan Samuel in the first round he was left with just .69 to spend the rest of the day, so Kelly knew he had to be careful with his money.
When Dodger pitcher Ramon Martinez was nominated for bidding, Kelly figured he could safely participate – feigning interest and hoping to drive up the bidding to force someone else to spend their money.
Martinez had turned in some very solid seasons for the Dodgers, winning 20 games in 1990 with a 2.92 ERA and winning 17 with a 3.27 ERA in 1991. However, he also pitched over 450 innings during those two years and there were reports out of a tired arm coming out of Spring Training. Here’s what Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball Magazine had to say in 1992:
Who would have thought the Dodgers’ list of worries would include Dominican right hander Ramon Martinez? … a sore elbow caused Martinez to leave an all start team touring Japan last winter (1990) … As it turned out, Martinez may have paying for the elbow injury all season. His smooth mechanics became disjointed, his arm weakened, and … he wasn’t close to the Ramon Martinez of old.
So the warning signs were there, and apparently they were enough to give most of the CFCL owners second thoughts about bidding too high on Martinez.
Kelly got stuck with Martinez, sucking another .13 out of his available budget, and driving Kelly into a stunned funk that lasted over an hour. As you’ll see in the video, Kelly brooded about The Ramon Martinez Incident for quite a while, feeling “absolutely shattered.” When a pitcher he had hoped to acquire, Martinez’s Dodger teammate Tom Candiotti, was nominated later in the Draft, Kelly wasn’t able to bid high enough to get him.
Eventually Kelly shook it off and acquired another player, but this too turned into a disaster. But the Bret Barberie Incident is a tale for another day. For now, enjoy Kelly’s agony with The Ramon Martinez Incident…
For Six Packs’ owner Kelly Barone, that Draft was 1992. Unfortunately for Kelly, 1992 was the year we started video taping our Drafts, so his Disaster Draft was preserved for posterity and can now be relived in front of the entire world via the magic of the Internet.
Ok, first I ought to explain what’s up with this whole video taping thing. Long-time owner Bob Monroe (Bald Eagles) had to resign from the league following the 1991 season because he moved out of state. During the off-season he had mentioned a number of times how much he would miss the fun of Draft Day, so as a gag we decided to record the Draft and send it to him. There were so many classic moments in that 1992 Draft, we decided to tape again the following year, and continued doing so for the next 15 or so Drafts.
But back to the matter at hand … Kelly entered the 1992 Draft with .85 to spend on 11 players, but only one other team had less than $1.30 available. After he acquired second baseman Juan Samuel in the first round he was left with just .69 to spend the rest of the day, so Kelly knew he had to be careful with his money.
When Dodger pitcher Ramon Martinez was nominated for bidding, Kelly figured he could safely participate – feigning interest and hoping to drive up the bidding to force someone else to spend their money.
Martinez had turned in some very solid seasons for the Dodgers, winning 20 games in 1990 with a 2.92 ERA and winning 17 with a 3.27 ERA in 1991. However, he also pitched over 450 innings during those two years and there were reports out of a tired arm coming out of Spring Training. Here’s what Bill Mazeroski’s Baseball Magazine had to say in 1992:
Who would have thought the Dodgers’ list of worries would include Dominican right hander Ramon Martinez? … a sore elbow caused Martinez to leave an all start team touring Japan last winter (1990) … As it turned out, Martinez may have paying for the elbow injury all season. His smooth mechanics became disjointed, his arm weakened, and … he wasn’t close to the Ramon Martinez of old.
So the warning signs were there, and apparently they were enough to give most of the CFCL owners second thoughts about bidding too high on Martinez.
Kelly got stuck with Martinez, sucking another .13 out of his available budget, and driving Kelly into a stunned funk that lasted over an hour. As you’ll see in the video, Kelly brooded about The Ramon Martinez Incident for quite a while, feeling “absolutely shattered.” When a pitcher he had hoped to acquire, Martinez’s Dodger teammate Tom Candiotti, was nominated later in the Draft, Kelly wasn’t able to bid high enough to get him.
Eventually Kelly shook it off and acquired another player, but this too turned into a disaster. But the Bret Barberie Incident is a tale for another day. For now, enjoy Kelly’s agony with The Ramon Martinez Incident…
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The Origin of The Ruffin Privilege
This video was taken and posted on YouTube by League Historian, League Founder and Former Team Owner, David Mahlan. All the video clips and cool computer tricks you see here over the next year are courtesy to his genius and creativity. He posted this back in 2009. Rather than redo the whole video and lose its history, I am adding below the Ruffin Privileges from 2010-2013.
2010 Roy Halladay .37 to the DoorMatts
2011 Hanley Ramirez .49 to Dem Rebels
2012 David Wright .27 to David's Ruffins
2013 Troy Tulowitzki .33 to the Granging Bulls
2010 Roy Halladay .37 to the DoorMatts
2011 Hanley Ramirez .49 to Dem Rebels
2012 David Wright .27 to David's Ruffins
2013 Troy Tulowitzki .33 to the Granging Bulls
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