Presidential Players

In honor of Independence Day, we're going to look at some of the most Presidential players in league history...

Hmmm, there's no Washington yet...Washburn is close...no cigar! I guess we'll have to start with number 2. Terry Adams was a somewhat useful reliever for Columbia earlier this decade. He first broke in with Newark in 1997, but was pretty mediocre (5-0, but with a 5.40 ERA in 40 games). He was pretty solid for the Crusaders in 2000 and 2001 so they decided to make him a starter. Yikes, what a disaster (1-8, 6.06 ERA). At least Terry was able to end it on a high note in 2004, when he was 5-2, with a 2.03 ERA back in the bullpen. Overall, he finished with a 24-19 record and 4.49 ERA.

Only one Jefferson, so Reggie Jefferson gets the nod by default. Reggie struggled in his rookie year in 1997 (.226/.254/.343) with Newark. The next season he got more of a regular role in Stanhope and had a very solid season (.324/.352/.496, 15 HR, 58 RBI, in 411 AB), but was never heard from again...kind of like the two-dollar bill.

No Madison...maybe Ryan Madson? Close enough, I guess, but can his wife make ice cream?

Next on the list we have Craig Monroe, who broke into the DMBL with Arkansas back in 2004, but he only got 33 at bats. His first starting gig was the next season with Phoenix, where he hit .272 with 17 HR and 75 RBIs. Of course he also struck out 106 times in 486 at bats, leading to a much diminished role the following season in Hillsborough. He only played in 65 games that year and was out of the league after that.

There were two Adams presidents so we get two Adams players on our roster. Unfortunately, that means we're stuck with either Willie Adams or Mike Adams, neither of which had much of an impact on the DMBL. I guess we'll take Willie, since he had a decent year in 1997 for Arkansas, going 16-8 with a 4.81 ERA in 31 games.

Well there were plenty of Jacksons in the list...we could have made our own Jackson 5 if we wanted to, but in honor of the King of Pop, we'll pick Mike Jackson, a premier reliever from 1992-2000. Jackson's best stretch was in Austin in 1998 and 1999. His first year there he was 11-3 with a 3.77 ERA, but the next year he had a nifty 1.67 ERA and 32 saves in 64 games.

We have to skip a bunch of guys here, since we don't have much for you until a Van Buren makes the bigs. Next on our list is Billy Taylor, a mediocre reliever/closer who played from 1997-99 on four teams. His best year was probably 1998, when he was 2-1 with 8 saves and a 3.63 ERA for New York. He only ended up playing in 128 games, all relief appearances.

Recently released Mike Lincoln is not exactly one of our greatest DMBLers. He previously played two seasons, way back in 2002-2003 for Carolina and Columbia before seemingly disappearing from the league. Newark found him bagging groceries and decided to give him a chance to relive his glory days. Lincoln pitched in two games, winning one and amassing a 3.38 ERA in 2.2 innings. He's back working at the Stop n' Shop now.

Randy Johnson is the easy pick for this position. Johnson is one of the game's great lefty pitchers, winning 223 games in his career and striking out 3361 batters. Johnson has won 18 or more games 7 times and struck out at least 200 batters 9 times in his career.

Charlie Hayes takes this spot easily over Von Hayes. Hayes only had one season in which he was a full-timer - 1994 with Arkansas. But he made the most of it, hitting .298 with 45 doubles, 17 HRs and 116 RBIs. Hayes never had a season with more than 61 at bats again.

Lots of Wilsons to choose from, but it really comes down to Dan Wilson or Preston Wilson. Both were pretty regular contributors to their teams. Well, let's just pick Dan for the heck of it. Wilson was involved in some big trades in his days - first in a deal that sent Bernie Williams to Jerusalem from Vancouver, then in 1998 in the blockbuster that sent Schilling to Arkansas. Wilson's bat was somewhat mediocre (.256/.302/.379), but it was his glove that kept him in the lineup.

Next on our list, we have Adam Kennedy - I suppose the crass thing to do would be to pick Joe Kennedy because of his untimely death, but we at DMBL News have too much class for that! Kennedy was the ultimate "fill-in" player. He was a guy who teams would pick up to plug in a hole or cover for someone while they were on the DL. Kennedy played for 6 different teams in his DMBL career. His only full-time season was in 2003 with Phoenix when he batted .291 with 7 triples and a .718 OPS and played in all 162 games.

Back to another Johnson, and this time we'll go with a batter. With due respect to Charles Johnson, we're going to go with speedster Lance Johnson. Lance batted .283/.329/.379 in his 8 seasons, amassing 110 stolen bases and 36 triples. He didn't become a regular player until 1996 with Toledo.

Two ways to go on the Nixon selection. Trot was a decent player at times, but Otis was a terror on the basepaths. Nixon stole 197 bases in his 7 seasons and was a sparkplug first for Columbia and then for Honolulu. Nixon also batted a solid .293 with a .358 OBP.

Only one Ford, and his time in the DMBL was rather short. Lew Ford played in 2005 and 2006 for Tijuana/South Boston. He had a very good year in '05, hitting .301/.356/.447 with 11 3Bs and 72 RBIs, but couldn't really work his way into a starting gig the next year and is now out of the DMBL.

Joe Carter was a big-time slugger in the early days of the DMBL/MicroLeague. In 1993, Carter hit 49 home runs for Columbia with 161 RBIs. Carter had a pretty decent 3-year stretch from 1992-1994, but never had a full-time job after that. He was relegated mostly to platoon roles, but retained his powerful bat.

Two Bushes. First there was Homer Bush, Pat Listach award winner in 2000 for Vancouver. Bush had a great rookie season, hitting .349 with 56 stolen bases. But he could never replicate his success and soon moved on to Carolina, and fell out of the league. The other Bush, pitcher David Bush came on the scene in Newark in 2005, winning 17 and losing 4, but with a 5.40 ERA. That ERA rose to 7.45 the next year, then to 10.80 the next. He only pitched in 4 total games in 2007 and 2008 combined. He's become a fill-in this year, first for Philadelphia (6-5, 6.04), then for Sardine City (0-1, 7.71).

Enjoy the weekend, and don't blow off any of your fingers or toes.

End of the Road for Schilling

Curt Schilling announced his retirement yesterday. The longtime Falcon and Iron Fist pitcher has assembled quite the career and is a lock for induction into the DMBL Hall of Fame. Let's take a look...

Schilling was signed as a free agent relief pitcher back in 1992 by Vancouver. The Iron Fist were struggling and looking to rebuild for 1993 and took a chance on some young hurlers like Schilling, Greg Maddux, and Greg Swindell. In Schilling's first DMBL season, he compiled a 15-9 record with a 2.95 ERA and 14 complete games. That season, Vancouver won their first of two consecutive championships. Being a relief pitcher the year before, Schilling wasn't ready for such a workload and ended up missing the entire 1994 season. Of course the strike took out the 1995 season so Schilling was well rested for the 1996 season. Schilling came back as new pitcher. After striking out a mere 143 in 226 innings in 1993, Schilling struck out 228 in 229 innings in 1996. In 1997, Schilling won 20 games for the first time, even though his ERA rose to 4.41 and helping Vancouver reach the World Series again. Unfortunately for him, they ended up losing this one. This would be Schilling's last full season in Vancouver because in June of 1998, he was part of a blockbuster deal that sent Schilling, along with Kenny Lofton and Dan Wilson to Arkansas in exchange for Javy Lopez, Ryan Klesko, and a bonanza of draft picks. Schilling led the Falcons to a championship over his former team in 1998, then again in 1999. Schilling probably enjoyed his best season in 2003, when he went 19-6 with a 2.90 ERA and 263 strikeouts, leading the Falcons to another championship, this time over the hated rival Newark Sugar Bears. For his efforts, Schilling won his first and only Ben McDonald Pitcher of the Year Award. In all, Schilling contributed to 4 World Series winners and was on the runner up five times. Schilling contributed a couple more solid seasons before missing the 2006 season. Schilling came back and pitched a partial 2007, appearing in only 16 games and finally pitched his last full season last season, going 13-10, with a 4.46 ERA for the Falcons.

Overall, Schilling is in very good company. He finishes his career with a 205-104 record. The wins are good enough for 5th all-time, just behind teammates Pedro Martinez (207) and Roger Clemens (211). His .671 winning percentage is good for second best. His 2553 career strikeouts are 4th all-time, once again behind Clemens and Martinez and the all-time leader Randy Johnson (3249). He has 402 career starts, plus 3 relief appearances, good enough for 5th all time. His 87 complete games are second only to Greg Maddux (100). He's 4th with 18 shutouts. His career ERA (3.97) and WHIP (1.26) are also in the top 10 all-time.

Thanks for the memories, Curt. We'll revisit you in 5 years!

St. Patrick's Day: Top Pats

In honor of St. Pat, we're going to count down the top Pats in DMBL history. There have been only 9 Pats that we could find in the history books, and none of them have exactly been legends. Well, let's take a look anyway...

9) Pat Rapp, 1996-2000. Sure he gets a bad rapp (yeah, yeah, yeah, I know), but it's deserved based on his horrible DMBL career. Rapp stunk up the joint for the Louisiana Lightning in 1996, pitching in only 9 games, but giving up 36 runs in those 9 games for a 9.62 ERA. In 2000, Philadelphia brought him back and the results were somewhat better. Rapp actually lasted the entire season, going 7-13 with a 5.59 ERA.

8) Pat Borders, 1993-1997. Borders was a bit player in his brief DMBL career, playing backup in Scranton, Carolina, and Jerusalem. Borders only amassed 256 career DMBL at-bats, hitting a pitiful .246 with a .640 career OPS.

7) Pat Mahomes, 2000. Sure Mahomes only lasted one season, but at least it was a full season. As in full of disappointment. Mahomes pitched in 82 games and 144 innings as a reliever for Honolulu, but sported a nasty 6.56 ERA, worst among all Pats.

6) Pat Kelly, 1993-1994. Kelly was a Waikiki fan favorite, but when the franchise went belly-up, so did Kelly's career. Kelly came on board as a part-timer in 1993, but played full-time in 1994. Kelly hit a decent .252, but with a .315 slugging and .292 on-base percentage. To make up for it, Kelly committed 48 errors that season.

Not looking good for the Pats so far...

5) Pat Neshek, 2007-2008. Neshek was brought in with high hopes for the Marietta bullpen in 2007, but he was a big disappointment. Neshek was 4-1, but with a 5.58 ERA in 37 appearances. Marietta traded Neshek away to Las Vegas for the 2008 season where he had slightly better numbers - 5-3, 4.39, 1.13 WHIP, 86 K's in 82 innings.

4) Pat Hentgen, 1994-2004. Hentgen was a mainstay in the Columbia Crusaders rotation for 3 years, winning 37 games and losing 37. Hentgen's best year was 1997 when he went 16-12 with a 4.44 ERA. Hentgen was let go after a poor start in 2000 and became a spot starter, first with Kentucky, then in Philadelphia.
3) Pat Listach, 1993. The namesake for our Rookie of the Year award, Listach only had one DMBL season, but he made the most of it. He hit .315 with a .368 on base percentage and stole 17 bases (a good number in that era). Little known fact: in Spanish, "listach" translates to "flash in the pan".

2) Pat Meares, 1996-1998. The name Meares screams utility player, but he was actually a pretty useful player for the Norfolk Ewes and later the Louisiana Lightning. Meares hit a solid .261 in 1996 for the Ewes with 19 homers and 65 RBIs. He was relegated to a platoon role in 1997, but returned in '98 with the Lightning to hit .308 with 11 homers and 57 RBIs.

and the #1 Pat...





1) Pat Burrell, 2001-present. Burrell is by no means a great player, but compared to his namesakes he shines just for being more useful and for doing it longer. He leads all Pats with 7 seasons of service and is currently with the Amityville Ant Slayers. Burrell started his career with the Carolina Mudcats, where he lasted for three seasons. Burrell had a few okay seasons: he hit 30 home runs in 2003 with 88 RBIs, but he couldn't ever crack the .250 batting average mark. He was a fill-in in 2005 with Newark and Las Vegas, and then again in 2007 with Hoboken and Arkansas. In 2008, he earned a full-time job back again as a first round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Plunkers. Maybe he didn't put up great numbers, but he did hit career highs in home runs (32), runs (95), RBIs(97), walks(102), and slugging (.464). Tip o' the old shellelagh to you, Patty boy. Have a pint of Guinness on us.

Dynamic Duos

Dave asked me a little trivia question earlier today:

"Now that the John Smoltz-Chipper Jones tag team has been busted up, after 16 years together, which pair of active teammates has played together the longest?"

The answer of course is

Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. Curiously enough, both pairs play on the same teams in the DMBL (Newark and Marietta, respectively) and have done so for quite a while.

Which DMBL duos have played together the longest?

* For the sake of this conversation, we have left out players on Sardine City and New Jersey, since those teams are made up from the ashes of two defunct teams. Other teams that simply changed owners, like D.C., Las Vegas, and Blue Ridge were considered.

While Smoltz and Chipper have been together for an impressive 9 seasons, we will limit this to those duos that have spent at least 10 seasons together.

Bobby Abreu and Chipper Jones and Bobby Abreu and Manny Ramirez, Newark. The three Sugar Bear teammates have been together since 1999 when the Sugar Bears acquired Abreu from the Jerusalem Rabbis. Of course, Chipper and Manny were already on the roster when Abreu was acquired - more on them later. All three are expected to return to the Newark roster this season.

Barry Bonds and Curt Schilling, Arkansas. Bonds is the only player left over on their original roster from the inaugural 1991 draft. Schilling joined the team midseason in 1998 in a blockbuster deal with Vancouver. With the likely possibility that Bonds will retire, this one looks like it's over.

Billy Wagner and Greg Maddux, Vancouver. Maddux is probably the second-longest tenured player in the league after Bonds. He's been on the team since 1992 when the Fist signed him off the waiver wire. Wagner was drafted in 1997. Wagner will likely rejoin the team, but Maddux has noted that he will retire after this season, ending a stellar DMBL career. Maddux has already been tapped as the club's pitching coach, pending his official retirement.

Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, Marietta. The duo is up there, not only in MLB, but also in DMBL. Both were high draft picks of the Jerusalem Rabbis in 1997 and have lived through the club's moves out of Jerusalem, to Stanhope and finally to Marietta. With both players expected to be retained by the club for years to come, these two will probably hold the record eventually.

Chipper Jones and Manny Ramirez, Newark. Yep, they've been together even longer before Abreu showed up on the scene. Ramirez was acquired from Toledo in the 1997 offseason and has been an integral part of the Sugar Bear lineup since. And that's not even the top duo in Newark.

Chipper Jones and Randy Johnson, Newark. Johnson was the first pick selected by Newark in the dispersal draft that created the Sugar Bears back in 1996. Jones was selected in that year's draft. Though Johnson missed some time due to injury, the duo has been in Newark since the beginning. Both are expected back in Newark next season, when they will officially take the title from our winning duo.

Barry Bonds and Pedro Martinez, Arkansas. Martinez was acquired from the Louisiana Lightning in a blockbuster deal during the 1994 season. Martinez did not play in the regular season, but was on the roster for the team's World Series run. The 1995 season was wiped out because of the player strike, so the two only appeared together in a regular season game in 1996, but the extra time gives these two the lead. With Bonds retiring and Pedro's status up in the air, it's likely that this duo's time is up, but what a run!

What is a first overall pick worth?

It's always nice to win the lottery and get your pick of the litter in the first round. It would seem certain that you will get a top notch player - well certain at the time. How often does that pick really pan out? We'll take a look at the last ten drafts to see how our owners did...

Year	player	Team	Yrs w/ team
2007	Jered Weaver	HON	1+
2006	Zach Duke	WWD	1/2
2005	David Wright	ARK	3+
2004	Dontrelle Willis	TIJ	4
2003	Vicente Padilla	HAR	2
2002	Albert Pujols	PHI	6+
2001	Kaz Sasaki	VAT	3
2000	Tim Hudson	CAR	8+
1999	Orlando Hernandez	COL	1
1998	Nomar Garciaparra	PHX	9

In 2007, Honolulu selected pitcher Jered Weaver. Weaver had a solid rookie season and is looking as a likely keeper, so Honolulu did ok with this pick...for now.

Westwood's selection of Zach Duke was looked at as a no-brainer at the time, but Duke was mediocre for the Deductions in 2006 (8-8, 4.74) and was shipped off to Newark before the trade deadline. Duke fared much better for the Sugar Bears (5-1, 3.40), but wasn't protected for the 2007 season. South Boston drafted Duke on a flier, but he only got into a few games in relief and looks like a non-factor for the 2008 season.

Arkansas traded up to get the first overall pick in 2005, sacrificing C.C. Sabathia and six quality draft picks in order to get David Wright. That goes to show you what the Falcons thought of the young third baseman. For the most part, they were right to covet Wright as he has turned into a stud, possibly the best third baseman currently in the DMBL.

Tijuana had the first pick in 2004 and chose lefty Dontrelle Willis. It was a tough decision between Willis and Brandon Webb, who was drafted number two by Phoenix. In hindsight, he probably should have gone with Webb, who is a solid member of the Philly rotation now, but Willis did provide some decent seasons for the Banditos, even if his rookie year was a disaster. It remains to be seen if Willis is protected by new owner Tom Zagenczyk, though a productive 2008 season does not look to be in the cards.

In 2003, Harrison made a miscalculation by picking Vicente Padilla. Why was it a miscalculation? Because the third pick (that's right Junior Spivey was taken next) was none other than two-time Ben McDonald Award winner Johan Santana. Padilla was thoroughly mediocre in '03 (7-12, 4.31). Don't blame the Rats too much. No one knew Santana would be that good, but ouch, that still has to hurt.

2002 was another no-brainer as Philadelphia selected rookie phenom Albert Pujols. Pujols has been a fixture in the Endzone Animal lineup since day one and led the team to their first Morris Division title this year. Pujols is a perennial Mitchell candidate.

In 2001, Vatican City shocked the DMBL by picking reliever Kaz Sasaki with the first overall pick. Sasaki wasn't a bad pick, per se - he did save 57 games in three season with the franchise. But most of the league had been speculating over whether Jeff D'Amico or Barry Zito would claim the number one spot. It's not a true bust of a pick, more like a brain fart.

Carolina selected starter Tim Hudson in 2000 and as a testament to the Mudcats drafting prowess, Hudson is still a member of the Mudcats. Hudson has accumulated a 90-80 record over his eight seasons with a solid 4.20 ERA and 953 strikeouts. In 2004, Hudson won the Ben McDonald Award for his excellent 17-3, 2.08 season, the only award winner of the bunch so far.

In 1999, Columbia selected their second Hernandez brother in their franchise history. Two years earlier, the Crusaders picked Livan Hernandez in the first round of the draft. El Duque fared no better than Livan in his rookie season (7-19, 4.97) and was traded the following season. Duque has hung around in the league and has had some success. In 2000, he had a solid year for the Hawaii Volcanoes (15-6, 3.99) and was 16-9 in 2005 split between Las Vegas and Stanhope.

Finally in 1998, the Phoenix Dragons successfully drafted Nomah first overall, a player that would become a cornerstone for the struggling franchise. Garciaparra was a fan favorite and was still playing with the team until the franchise was dissolved in 2006.

DMBL History Lesson, Part 4: the Modern Era

Amazingly the league back in 1997 is almost the same as it is today. Not much has changed other than some minor rules. Sure there's the Tom Prince Rule, which has never been implemented, the late season expanded roster rule, waiver period and the first round lottery, but none of these are really game-changing. Somewhere around 2004 or 2005 the waiver rules were relaxed and allowed teams to sign players after the trading deadline, though they were no longer elligible to be keepers past the current season.

On March 18, 2001, the first edition of This Week in the DMBL with Zane Smith premeired on the DMBL web site. Soon after, it was joined by Did You Know?, the Press Box, Rookie Watch, Number Crunch, and others.

2001 also featured the very first appearance of Butch's Pre-Season Sims. The Swami had debuted way back in 1993 in the MicroLeague Newsletter, but debuted on the web in 1999.

In the Summer of 2006, during a scheduled intermission, Butch Garretson ran a simulated tournament of the best teams in the DMBL's history, dubbed the Dream Season.

At the end of the 2006 season, the DMBL Hall of Fame began voting for its inaugural class. The voters voted in four members.

Who knows what the future holds for the DMBL? Maybe the scores will be featured on ESPN's bottom line? Maybe Mike and the Mad Dog will be doing more draft reviews? Maybe there'll even be a high-profile owner someday? Only time will tell!

DMBL History Lesson, Part 3: the Return

The MLB Strike left the MicroLeague in shambles even after the work stoppage was over. Many baseball fans were angry with the league and vowed to never attend, watch, or even follow another Major League ball game. But the MicroLeague was saved by another league. In 1995, Butch Garretson started the Steve "Bye-Bye" Balboni Newark Rotisserie Baseball League with six owners. One of the owners dropped out midway through the season and Garretson recruited Yaro Zajac to take over the delapidated roster. After being reintroduced to baseball, Zajac decided that he couldn't let the MicroLeague die. He recruited three of the Balboni League owners to take over for three of the owners who were no longer interested in reviving their MicroLeague teams - a fourth owner would drop out, and once again, another Balboni League owner was called on as a replacement. The three new teams would take turns picking apart the rosters of the three deserted teams, forming the Newark Sugar Bears, Jerusalem Rabbis, and the Toledo Mutthens. The league was successfully resurrected.

1997 saw a big change in the league for numerous reasons. MicroLeague was becoming old and stale and the new version, MicroLeague III was not a suitable upgrade. Garretson and Zajac had investigated a different simulation game - Diamond Mind Baseball. The game boasted more realistic results, with a lot more statistics in consideration and a lot more control for the owners. MicroLeague was cast aside and DMB became the new game engine.

With the success of the 1996 season and more interest in the league, the DMBL decided to expand to 14 teams in 1997. To accommodate four new expansion teams, the league instituted the first protected list rules. Teams would protect 15 players, then, as a player was selected in the expansion draft off their rosters, they could pull back one more player, up to two total players pulled back, for a protected list of 17 players. Austin owner Steve Zajac was vehemently opposed to the new rule, but the majority won out. In fact, most of the owners liked the idea of limiting the protected lists and kept the rule in place for each subsequent year.

Finally, the 1997 was perhaps most significant for the creation of the new league web site. Hosted on Yaro Zajac's AOL service, the site featured a lot of what it features today - stats, rosters, box scores. Finally, most of the league had a way to follow along with the happenings of the DMBL. About half of the owners had internet service at the time, but that number was going up.

DMBL History Lesson, Part 2

Please pay attention, there will be a quiz later. And spit that gum out...

So after a successful first season, Stump Matiash thought that he would run a similar league of his own. The league only had five owners and it didn't even make it through a full season before folding (I mean "permanent rain delay"), but it stoked the interest of Brent Campbell, who was invited to become the MicroLeague's first expansion team - the Scranton Sparrows.

Back in the early days of the league, there were no protected lists. It was what is known as a dynasty league. The entire roster was your keeper list. Back in those days, the draft was only ten rounds long, and no supplemental rounds. There was nothing left by that time anyway. Most teams were done drafting by round eight, leading to some joke picks in the final rounds like "Mickey Mantle" or "Mark Zotti". Brent was given the second pick in each round. The thinking was that it would not be fair to deny Maine/San Antonio the first pick that they have so rightfully earned. Brent was then allowed to solo draft for the final rounds to fill out his roster. Naturally the Scranton Sparrows did not fare well that season. With seven teams in the league, the schedule had a "bye series" for one team, meaning that one of the teams would not play for three days. This was also the first year that allowed for 5-man reserve squads, though it was pretty uncommon in those days to stash inelligible players there.

Having an odd number of teams was just weird, so the Powers That Be decided that the league should expand to ten for the 1993 season. Mark Hazen was the first owner recruited by Steve Zajac. It would mark the only time that an expansion team would make a trade in a year before their inaugural season. The Outlaws traded Rickey Henderson to Hazen's Cheyenne Warhawks for a draft pick. After the other two owners were recruited, the three expansion teams were allowed to make five waiver claims each during the season. With a roster of five players, at least the new expansion teams would not be so far behind going into the new 1993 season.

The three expansion teams would be cycled into the second, third and fourth slots in the draft order and rotate each round. The player qualifications were relaxed a little to allow a larger pool of players to be available. Commissioner Yaro Zajac wanted the league to be a little more realistic and since MicroLeague would randomly injure players in the game, he thought that injuries should factor into the game. The problem was that the MicroLeague games had no continuity. The game had no knowledge of what happened in previous games. There was no fatigue, no pitch counts, and no long-term injuries. The game never replaced players in the game unless they were injured or ejected. Even though the games were quick played - note that the quick play was not instantaneous, but more of a fast forward - you could tell when a player was ejected by the music that played when it happened. During the quick play, the game would pause to play the music, then continue quick play. So the commish came up with a scheme to determine if the injury was long-term by a roll of the dice. He set up a chart for a 10-sided die that he found in an old Dungeons and Dragons kit. Three of the numbers indicated a 15-game injury and one number indicated a 30-game injury. The rest were single game injuries. The first player to fall prey to the luck of the dice was Waikiki's Rob Deer. Deer would also become infamous for his record number of strikeouts that season.

1993 was the birth of the MicroLeague Newsletter - a weekly publication featuring stats, rosters, transactions and goings on in the league. It was distributed to its members to that they could better follow the league, since there was no league web site yet. Previously, the owners would have visited the Zajac household or phone in for their results. The Newsletter unfortunately only lasted about seven or eight issues - which are forever enshrined at the DMBL Hall of Fame.

The 1994 season went on pretty much the same. One of the few seasons without any new owners. Of course you may remember that 1994 was the season of the infamous strike in Major League Baseball. The strike left a bad taste in the mouth for many baseball fans and that was also the case with the MicroLeague owners. The league was abandoned and apparently left for dead for the 1995 season.

Next week, we'll take a look at the post-strike MicroLeague and start getting into some DMB...

DMBL History Lesson, Part 1

Most of you weren't around in the infancy of the DMBL - referred to as the MicroLeague back in the beginning. Here's a little trip way back in time to the beginning...

Always big fans of baseball, the founders of the DMBL played a lot of video games and simulations, including Hardball and Earl Weaver on the computer, Pete Rose Baseball on the Atari, and whatever was popular in the arcades (RBI maybe?). Mike "Stump" Matiash introduced the game MicroLeague to Yaro and Steve Zajac. Soon the newer MicroLeague II came out and Steve Zajac came up with the idea to compete against each other. Steve went out and bought a roto magazine and soon we were out recruiting for a new league. Yaro signed up Paul Barbosa and Brian Dissler and Steve recruited his buddy, Eugene Mullin. Ryan and Mark DeRonde were also signed up, but bowed out before draft day. With five of the original owners waiting for the draft to start and Paul running late - really, really late, we went ahead and started the draft, awarding Paul a player that he had originally talked about drafting in the first round, Will Clark. After the draft was completed, Paul finally arrived but it was too late. The Newark Crimewave were off to a poor start, but after Barbosa cooled off, he sat down and picked up the rest of his roster.

Now at the time, the rules were quite different. There was no pre-season and no five-man reserve roster. The season was only 150 games long. Rules for qualifications were different (400 at bats, 35 games for relievers). There were no injuries. With only six teams, there was only one division and it was decided that only the top two would meet in the championship. With only one division, the All-Star game featured the MicroLeague All-Stars against the Major League All-Stars in a two game match - one against the NL stars and one against the AL stars. Very few trades were made in that inaugural season. Arkansas traded Kelly Gruber to Vancouver for Mark Grace. Columbia traded Cecil Fielder to Arkansas for a package of players.

Eugene Mullin lost interest about 2/3 or the way through the season and Ryan DeRonde, originally slated as an original eight owner, took over. The Austin Outlaws took the division, but lost to the Vancouver Iron Fist in the first World Series. Bud Black was named the first series MVP - well-earned, as Black dominated the Outlaws in his two starts. Bobby Bonilla was named MVP and Ben McDonald earned the first "Cy Young" award in a controversial vote.

We'll take a look at some more history soon...

The Ichiro Deal

If you haven't noticed, there was a huge trade yesterday between New Jersey and Las Vegas. New Jersey, with a sparse roster of keepers traded away star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and a draft pick for seven players. It was a trade reminiscent of the old Brooklyn/Stanhope or Scranton/Arkansas deals that have been scarce lately. A look at some similar deals...

In 2003, the Brooklyn Bean Counters were in a similar situation as New Jersey and traded away Mike Lieberthal and a pick for four players to Stanhope. It didn't really work out too well for either team as all the players were either mediocre or useless.

In 2002, the Harrison Rats (now known as the Vegas Rat Pack) dealt lefty Al Leiter to Vancouver for three players. Leiter went on to have a good year and the Rats got a good year out of Javier Lopez, so it worked out for both teams.

Another Brooklyn/Stanhope deal occurred back in 2001 when the Bean Counters, in their inaugural year, dealt Todd Helton and Rich Garces to the Mighty Men for six bums -- OK, that's not really true. Bobby Higginson had a very nice year for the Beans and Lieberthal was serviceable, but the rest were bums. Garces was tossed aside, but Helton had an impressive season and has been the Mighty Men's first baseman ever since.

In 2000, the Hawaii Volcanoes made a trade with their fraternal (and unbeknownst at the time, satellite) team, the Arizona Rattlers to restock the Arizona roster. Hawaii acquired Brian Giles and Armando Benitez, both of whom had stellar seasons in 2000. Arizona got some help, but overall it looks like a bust for the Rattlers. Raul Mondesi and Dante Bichette had solid seasons, but the relievers made marginal contributions and the two draft picks netted zero results.

Ok, one more for shits and giggles. In 1998, the Wilkes-Barre Barons (who became the Keystone Gamblers) traded Moises Alou and a draft pick to Philadelphia for Carlos Perez, Garrett Anderson, and Mickey Morandini. Philly quickly traded Alou to New York in part of a ten-player mega deal and used the pick to select Dwight Gooden. Anderson and Morandini were solid if unspectacular and Perez and Gooden were both disasters.

Who knows what the future will hold for Vegas and Jersey after this blockbuster? It'll be fun to find out though.

Santana takes this round

After the young rookie Francisco Liriano won in the head-to-head playoff matchup, Johan Santana will have to console himself with the Ben McDonald Pitcher of the Year trophy. And it was a mighty close vote. The closest, in fact since Santana himself won it back in 2005. Is it the closest vote in DMBL history? Nope, a quick scan of the past winners will clearly show that's not true. In 1999, voters were torn between Arkansas' two aces and Kevin Brown and Pedro Martinez split the prize. It doesn't get any closer than a tie, folks.

A lone second place vote for Philly's Erik Bedard probably cost Liriano at least a tie for the award, but it's far from the most egregious award-voting sin. Way, way back in 1991 when the award still didn't have it's catchy moniker, there were three top candidates for the award - Ben McDonald of Arkansas, Dennis Martinez of Newark (that would be the Newark Crimewave, not the Sugar Bears of today), and Dennis Eckersley of Vancouver. While history shows that Eck probably had the best season of all three, being a reliever, he wasn't going to win this thing. One voter, who shall remain nameless, wanted to ensure that Ben Mac would secure the award (and unbeknownst to him grace the name of the trophy that would be awarded in the future). So the voter jotted down McDonald's name first and Martinez's name sixth, which sealed the fate of El Presidente. The two Denni were denied and McDonald won what some considered a tainted victory. McDonald didn't enjoy much of a career in the DMBL, despite being much younger than Martinez - in fact he only had one other winning season in 1997, while Martinez had a stellar run from 1991-1994. But if not for that single ballot, perhaps we'd have been awarding the Dennis Martinez Pitcher of the Year trophy?

Odds n Ends

The career stats have recently been updated. Browse through to bring back some of the memories of star players past. Remember when Jason Giambi was a Golden Falcon? Remember when Bob Tewksbury won 21 games? How good has Alfonso Soriano been in the DMBL? Skeptical about the "Lefties suck in DMBL" theory? Check out the careers of Tom Glavine, Randy Johnson, C.C. Sabathia, and others. Lots of good time-wastin' there.

Award winners will start to be announced Wednesday, so if you haven't voted yet, better get to it.

I'm not sure if I'll have enough to write about day in and day out during the offseason, so posts may be a bit sporadic in the next few months.

Expansion: Yea or Nay?

With expansion a hot topic lately, let's take a look at the pros and cons of expanding.

First the cons. Well obviously the talent level will be watered down. 60 more players selected means less quality free agents. It'll be harder to make the playoffs. Teams that have stockpiled great talent will obviously be hurt more than those with thinner rosters. Expansion teams will most likely raid these teams more than their weaker counterparts.

Now on the other hand, less free agents and harder to make the playoffs means the league will require you to dig deeper. If you like that sort of thing, then this is a bonus! Adding two more teams spreads the talent around more (hopefully) and gives you more possible trading partners.
Let's take a look at the history of those expansion teams that I mentioned yesterday.

The 1992 Scranton Sparrows finished dead last in the league, but in 1993, the Sparrows turned things around tremendously, winning 90 games and finishing just outside of the final playoff spot. In 1994, the team moved to Louisiana and regressed back to second worst, but the franchise enjoyed three straight winning seasons, including a Hanover Division title.

The three teams in 1993 went in three different directions. The Cheyenne Warhawks became the only expansion team to ever make the playoffs in their inaugural year. In fact, the team made the playoffs in the only two years of its existence. Meanwhile, the Waikiki Keys lost a still record 129 games and is probably the worst team in the history of the DMBL. But in year two the Keys made tremendous improvement and won 76 games. The team looked headed in the right direction before dissolving after the 1995 strike season. The Charleston Chiefs meanwhile finished second to last in 1993 and then dead last in 1994.

The 1997 teams almost all finished in the last spots, except for Carolina, who finished in 10th. The last three spots went to Honolulu, Lisbon, and Phoenix. Carolina would be the first to make the playoffs in their third season, while Honolulu didn't make the playoffs until 2003 and the Lisbon Diabos (which were sold and moved to Philadelphia) first made the playoffs in 2005. The Dragons (now defunct) have never made the playoffs or had a winning record.

Mathews' cycle

Although the league doesn't officially track cycles, it is a rare feat. Sardine City's Gary Matthews became the first player since 2005 to hit for the cycle in yesterday's 11-1 pounding of the Mudcats. Matthews hit a single in his first at bat, getting the easy one out of the way. Matthews struck out in his second at bat (getting the 0-base hit?). In the fourth innings, Matthews hit a double that scored two runs. At this point the fans still didn't sense that anything special was going on... In the sixth inning, Matthews hit a two-run shot to left field to give the Sardines a 7-1 lead. But the hardest component of the cycle was still needed. Luckily for Matthews, Justin Speier threw a meatball down the plate that Matthews lined past center fielder Grady Sizemore that scored Freddy Sanchez. It looked like an easy double but Sizemore had trouble playing the carom off the wall and Matthews went for it and made it easily. Matthews ended the day 4-5 with 5 RBIs. Tom Glavine earned his 9th win of the season and his 169th career, moving him into a tie for sixth all-time with Kevin Brown.

The last player to hit for the cycle was Eric Chavez, then with Vancouver, in August of 2005. Chavez achieved the feat a few days after Albert Pujols did the same. There were actually three players to hit for the cycle that year - Las Vegas' Carl Crawford did it early in the season. The first player to hit for the cycle was Todd Hundley of Toledo in 1998.

Meanwhile in the playoff race, Hoboken won their fifth straight and moved into fourth place overall, while D.C. continued their slide and moved into a fifth-place tie with Honolulu. Hillsborough and Vancouver both suffered ill-timed losses. Hillsborough falls into seventh with the loss and Vancouver is now sitting 2 1/2 games out of the final wild card spot. Honolulu has now won seven of eight games against Vancouver this season.

Remembering Rod Beck

This past weekend, former DMBLer Rod Beck passed away. "Shooter" was a key member of the early Arkansas World Series run in 1993 and 1994. Although he didn't win in those seasons, Beck finally earned that World Series ring in 2001 as a member of the Newark Sugar Bears. Beck's finest season was either 1994 with Arkansas (12-6, 3.04 ERA, 11 saves, 113 K) or in 2004 with Carolina (3.69 ERA, 34 saves). Beck ended his career after that 2004 season with 91 career saves, a 3.74 ERA in 381 appearances. Beck also spent time with the Philadelphia Eagle Wings and the Louisiana Lightning. Beck was 38 years old.

Carolina and Vancouver played a marathon 14-inning game yesterday, with the Mudcats winning in the bottom of the 14th on an Aramis Ramirez homer that led off the inning. Brian Sweeney, taking one for the team, had already pitched four innings and began his fifth when he surrendered the solo shot. Carolina's bullpen held Vancouver hitless for the final seven innings of the game, while Vancouver surrendered only four hits in the final seven.

Hoboken picked up their fifth straight victory by routing the Mighty Men in Marietta yesterday. Omar Vizquel was 4-6 and Miguel Cabrera and Josh Bard each hit a homer and drove in three runs in the 11-5 victory.