Mr. Irrelevent

Throughout the posts you have been provided with all sorts of nuggets of information.  Tonight is the first formal piece of CFCL Trivia.  Can you name the only CFCL owner who was actually drafted on to a CFCL team?

Your mind is spinning no doubt.  Who had professional baseball experience?  Who was in shape to actually throw a ball?  Remember the CFCL rules.  For the Rotation Draft we can select anyone who is on a National League roster, in the minor leagues of a National League team, in college, is a free agent, plays in Japan (or any other country) or even lives down the block and has a live arm.  Anyone as long as that person is not affiliated with an American League team.

With the final pick of the 1993 Rotation Draft the Copperfields selected . . . . Bob Monroe, former CFCL owner of the Bald Eagles.

Let me set the stage.  It's 1993.  You've already been introduced to that draft because it was the same year as the Orestes Destrade Incident.  We started drafting in Dave Holian's basement at 8pm.  I distinctly remember taking a break and walking around Dave's backyard around 1 or 2am wondering what his neighbors must be thinking to have seven strange guys and Dave walking around outside at that time of the morning.

Bob's been out of the league for two years, but he's not forgotten.  You'll see in the background of the video from the Destrade Incident that there is a balloon hovering near the ceiling.  That was our way of keeping Bob around for a few extra years.  We would blow up a balloon, draw a mouth, nose, eyes, glasses and beard on it.  Because we were doing a life-like depiction of Bob we didn't have to add anything on top.

In 1993 we had eight teams, just like the year before.  But in 1993 we decided to expand our reserve list from 12 to 17 players.  That meant that we had to pick 40 extra players.  Doesn't sound hard?  Try doing it at 2 in the morning.  So with the last pick of the draft, all eyes were on David.  Not because we were excited to see who he picked, but because we wanted to get the hell out of there and go to bed.  Sensing the tension, being at wits end and most likely also being out of his mind just a little bit, David threw up his hands in exasperation and said "I'm drafting Bob."

And with that CFCL history.  The first, and only time, a CFCL owner was drafted to a team.  **  While it may have seemed a stunt, Bob actually kept his spot on the roster for about five weeks.  No, he never was activated, but he did last longer than expected until on May 4th David improved his roster by waiving Bob and acquiring the completely inept Luis Mercedes.

** (Yes, I stole this move from Joe Posnanski).  While Bob was the only owner drafted to a team, it should be noted that the Eric Lamb did draft his dog, Cassie, to his roster during the rotation draft one year.

Once David waived Bob, I felt that shouldn't be the end of it.  In the following week's Monroe Doctrine, I wrote this suggestion.

"From the "I didn't exactly say that" department - I would like to defend myself a bit late. Dave reported [in a Roster Change report] that I referred to Bob as a cheap bottle of booze, but it was taken out of context. When I saw that Dave had waived Bob I thought that all the CFCL teams should be allocated an honorary 18th spot. You would only be able to use it when you acquired Bob. Dave waived Bob so then the Rebels could claim Bob, keep him on the roster for a couple of weeks, get tired of his lack of production and waive his sorry butt. Then the Ruffins could claim Bob by using their 18th spot. After a couple of weeks and countless requests by Bob for some of Dave's hair, the Ruffins would waive Bob and so on. Thus Bob would be passed around like a cheap bottle of booze. The owners wouldn't even have to do anything. Every couple of weeks the league secretary could rotate Bob. I don't know. I think it's a great idea.

Back to Back

Yesterday we learned that only twelve guys have won the CFCL.  With 29 seasons in the books, that means there were multiple winners.  And if there are multiple winners, there is a chance that there were some back to back champions.

Today we're going to have some fun with numbers.  Including this year the CFCL has had 263 years of play.  By that I mean if you add up each team in every year there have been 263 years (2013, for example added 10 years since there are 10 owners).  Throughout 30 years we have had 38 different owners and those owners have averaged 6.92 years of play.  Seven owners lasted just one year.  Nine owners stayed with the league for more than 10 years.

Twelve owners in 29 years won the championship.  Of those twelve owners, six owners have won multiple titles.

David's Copperfields (a.k.a. the New York Yankees of the CFCL) 11 times
David's Ruffins  4 times
Dem Rebels  2 times
Lambchops  2 times
Kenndoze Line  2 times
Steve's Stones  2 times

Of the above six owners, three of them won back-to-back championships.

David's Copperfields four times (1986-1987; 1987-1988; 1992-1993; 2000-2001)
Lambchops once  (2002-2003)
David's Ruffins (2010-2011)

You'll notice that in the Copperfield's dominance, they actually had a three-peat (1986, 1987, 1988), never done before or since.  While the record of the Copperfields is amazing - eleven titles in 27 years - perhaps looking at the back-to-back accomplishments makes an even bigger statement.  The Copperfields won their first title in 1986 and their last in 2005.  But look at the dates of the back-to-back titles.  They won consecutive titles IN THREE DIFFERENT DECADES! 

It's possible for anyone to win once (Dem Rebels have proven that).  And if you build a really solid team, solid inexpensive core, it would be possible to dominate for a few years in a row.  But to win consecutive titles in three different decades you need to well, I don't even know.  It's just an amazing accomplishment(s).

Champions of the CFCL

When I really let myself sit and think about it, I am amazed the United States has only had 44 Presidents.  I think we get numb to the number.  When an election brings us a new President, like it did back in 2008 with President Obama's first term, we heard it all the time.  "President Obama becomes the 44 President of the United States".

Being from Illinois we know Abraham Lincoln was the 16th.  To differentiate George H. W. Bush from George W. Bush, sometimes we would hear "41" or "43".  But when you think about it.  Only 44 for a country that was founded 237 years ago.  Of course the math makes sense.  On average each President has served 5.38 years.  Forty-four still seems like an incredibly small number.

The CFCL, as has been well documented, has completed 29 season and is embarking on it's 30th.  That means we have had 29 teams finish in first.  Potentially we would have 29 separate champions.

But here's today's trivia.  How many different champions has the CFCL seen?

I'll give you a minute.  OK, I waited a few second to type the next sentence.  In the history of the CFCL, only twelve different owners have won the championship.  Twelve.  Twelve people in the world can say they won the CFCL.  They are:

ForGoetzMeNots - Dave Goetz
Mudville Sluggers - Jim Fenton
David's Copperfields - David Mahlan
Dem Rebels - Rich Bentel
Bald Eagles - Bob Monroe
Da Paul Meisters - Paul Zeledon
David's Ruffins - Dave Holian
Six Packs - Kelly Barone
Lambchops - Eric Lamb
Steve's Stones - Steve Olson
Kenndoze Line - Kenn Ruby
Candy Colored Clowns - Mike Coulter

That's it.  In the ensuing days we'll breakdown more trivia among the winners, but there have only been 12 so far.  The same number of men who have walked on the moon.