Presenting the free 2010 Fantasy Baseball War Room.   It’s an auto-updating Excel workbook that keeps track of all the necessaries:

• Color Coded Dashboard that “crosses off” selected players.
• Team by Team analysis of players taken, players left.
• League wide finances – how much was spent, how much can still be spent, and that all important “Max Bid.”
• Real time projected totals, along with real time projected league standings.
• Goal Tracking Dashboard.
• Auto updating Draftee List for you team, that includes both the projected dollar amount and winning bid amount so you can keep track of your value gained or lost.

Download the 2010 Fantasy Baseball Snake War Room and/or 2010 Fantasy Baseball Auction War Room.  Any problems using it go ahead and ask in the comments.  Enjoy! (UPDATE:  These downloads are now Version 2.  Minor tweaks and inflation added.)

UPDATE II: NL-Only Straight Draft War Room; NL-Only Auction Draft War Room

UPDATE III:  AL-Only Straight Draft War Room; AL-Only Auction Draft War Room
UPDATE III 1/2: AL-Only Straight Draft War Room was tweaked.

UPDATE IV:  Auction War Room inflation tweak.

UPDATE V: Mixed League War Room with Grey’s projections in RED; Chone’s projections in BLACK.

UPDATE VI:  Tweak to the War Room with Grey’s projections.

Ben Francisco – 2-for-3 with a steal.  Hitting .360 in the last seven games and has 5 homers and 9 steals on the year.  Yawnstipating, for sure.  But Francisco will now be batting in the top of the order while Sizemore nurses his elbow.  Is Sizemore nursing his elbow in public? Gross!

Victor Martinez – Sat out yesterday.  Are the Indians punting this season?

Jhonny Peralta – 3-for-4, 3 RBIs and the Indians batted third their .339 SLG shortstop.  Though I don’t think that lasts.

Chien-Ming Wang – 8 IP, 2 ER and 7 Ks since he’s returned, but, man, it really feels like he’s trying to get you to fall for the old-banana-in-the-tailpipe, right?

Kevin Youkilis – 2 HRs yesterday as he bats .366 on the season and way above where his BABIP says he should be, i.e., the bottom could fall out.

Jon Lester – 6 IP, 1 ER, 12 Ks.  Even if you missed this start because you benched him, this is a good sign going forward… Unless he continues to alternate good and bad starts, then you’re gonna have to wait ten days for another good start, at which time you’ll probably bench him again.

Alex Rios – 5 for his last 8 and a homer and steal yesterday.  In case you don’t own him, which I don’t, you may not know his current stats.  6 homers, 4 steals and a .276 average.  From a 3rd round draft pick in ’08 to 5th round in ’09, he’s making a case for the 8th round next year.  Maybe the -is on his first name was his Samson’s hair.

John Maine – 6 IP, 0 ER, 5 Ks.  Besides some early season struggles, he’s pitched well.  Can’t hurt to pitch at Metco.  If he’s out there, he gets the Nats next time out.

Edwin Jackson – 8 IP, 0 ER, 7 Ks.  Falls into those untradeable guys.  You can’t trade him for how valuable he’s been, because no one believes it.  On the other hand, you can’t trade for him either, because you don’t believe it either.  Wait, huh?

Jason Berken – 7 IP, 1 ER.  Didn’t this guy used to date Lauren Conrad?  (BTW, how about that Hills finale?  Tears, pho sho!)  Anyway, Berken’s not worth a pickup in 16 team leagues that only use Orioles.

Josh Willingham – 2 HRs yesterday and 3rd homer in three days.  Had a good May, wouldn’t trust him to have a good June.

Elijah Dukes – Returns Tuesday.  That’s if he doesn’t end up in jail.  I could totally see Phil Spector producing a Dukes album.

Edwin Maysonet – Rod Roddy, “For the next contestant on The Price is Right… A brand new…. Maysonet!”  9-for-20 since being called up to fill-in for Kaz Matsui.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say 9-for-20 is the best string of 20 ABs he’s ever had in pro ball.

Paul Maholm – 7 IP, 1 ER, but lost in a pitcher’s duel to Mike Hampton, who went 7 IP, 1 ER with 3 Ks.  The official attendance was 19,566 people bored out of their mind.  This would be a good test to see if a girl likes you, “Baby, you wanna take in the Astros/Pirates game? I hear the Pirates mascot, Captain Jolly Roger, shoots wieners into the crowd.”

Ben Zobrist – 1-for-4, batting leadoff yesterday.  While it might be nice in theory, let’s not put too much pressure on The Zo.  He’s 25-for-74 with 4 homers batting sixth.  The Zo likes to relax!

Randy Choate – What, no save today?  As I said in the comments on Saturday after Choate notched back-to-back saves on Friday and Saturday, Choate’s a situational lefty.

Kris Medlen – 6 IP, 1 ER, 9 Ks.  The forces of the universe are conspiring against Hanson.

Max Scherzer – 3 2/3 IP, 8 ER.  Ouch… Wait, huh?  Ouch…  Sorry, having a hard time sitting down.

Chipper Jones – This year might be the first time I’ve owned Chipper in any league in ten years — in fairness, I only own him there because it’s an OBP, and Chipper does the OBP thing almost as well as he does the, “Ow, my v-jay hurts,” thing.  So, my conclusion after owning him for two months is I hate him even more this year.  5 homers is unacceptable.  Seriously.

Yovani Gallardo – I thought I was going to witness something historic when he struckout 8 through the first 9 batters.  Alas, the pitch count was high and he had to get pulled in the 6th.

Zach Greinke – 7 IP, 3 ER, 7 Ks.  Who slipped the Kryptonite into his Prozac?  Not cool, guys.

John Danks – 5 1/3 IP, 4 ER.  Walks haven’t been great, but he’s striking out guys at a solid rate.  The opposing team’s hits are just coming at the wrong time.  His ERA should come down.

Adam Kennedy – 2 HRs yesterday.   Though Nixon demanded a recount.

Josh Hamilton – Headed for a MRI for his abdominal and groin problems.  Hopefully, they’re separate issues.  Otherwise, that would really be a problem.

Andrew Bailey – 1 2/3 IP, 0 ER, blown save, but the Win.  Now not only is he the closer, but he’s also the setup man.  Maybe Ziegler disagreed with the choice of Brad Pitt to play Billy Beane in Moneyball:  The Movie. I, for one, hope Pitt channels his True Romance character for the role.

Scott Hairston – 2-for-4, and a steal.  I know, he’s a Padre, but, seriously, he has value.

Ervin Santana – 5 1/3 IP, 8 ER.  I kinda wish instead of saying you should trade him after a few good starts, I pressed you, dear Razzball reader, to trade him before his first start.  I think a trip to the Disgraceful List is more likely than a turnaround, but you’ll need to bench him and wait it out.

David Aardsma – 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 4 BBs. I didn’t see this outing, but he must’ve been very wild.  It’s hard to walk four Angels in two-thirds of an inning.   Luckily, Morrow’s been erratic as all get-out.

Ichiro Suzuki – 4-for-5 with a homer.  He’s batting .354 so that’s, uh, ya know where you expect it.  But he only has 19 Runs.  Surprisingly, he doesn’t have 19 solo homers.

Chad Gaudin – 6 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 9 Ks.  Threw a masterpiece on Sunday in Colorado.  Of course…  Sonavabench!

Adrian Gonzalez – Hit his 20th homer yesterday.  Padres could clear 200 homers this year.  If Gonzalez hits 180.

Joey Votto – Totally pulling a Kotchman at this point as he heads to the DL with a stress-related issue.  What, he misplaced his ear drops and totally freaked?  What’s the deal, Votto?  Let’s get our shizz together.

Brandon Phillips – 2-for-4, HR yesterday.  I think my concerns about Phillips’s hairline fracture in his thumb were prematurely reported.  Seems to be fine.  I recant. (<–16th Century Word of the Day!)

Micah Owings – 5 2/3 IP, 5 ER.  Nothing really to report with this guy, but the Brewers announcer said something funny during yesterday’s game. (FYI, something is guaranteed to not be funny, when you say it’s funny.  Anyway…) Dusty walks to the mound and the Brewers announcer says something to the effect, “There’s no one ready in the Reds bullpen so this is probably just to talk to Owings about strategy for this next hitter.”  Then Dusty removes Owings from the game after five and two-thirds and 103 pitches.  So the Brewers announcer says, “I wonder what Owings said to get Dusty to pull him from the game.”  This made me laugh.  What on earth could Owings had said to get removed after only 103 pitches?  “Please, Dusty, I’ll wash your car!”  “I’m your man next time Dusty Jr. needs a babysitter on a Friday night.”  “Dusty, I’ll tell you who crapped in your Cubs Dairy Queen sundae helmet.  It was Votto!”

Previous Decades: 1970s, 1960s.

Famous for its pitching splendor, the 1960’s brought runs scoring back down to levels not seen since the deadball era of the 1910’s. Many casual fans do not realize the trend actually began a decade earlier, in 1951, which ushered in a 20-year era that mostly belonged to the starting pitcher.

The image below charts the average runs scored per game in Major League Baseball from 1903 to present. Runs scored declined almost 30% between the high point in 1950 (4.85 r/g) and 1968 (3.42 r/g).

With relief pitchers not yet stereotyped solely into late inning roles, and starting pitchers routinely going the distance, the fantasy game was nothing like we see today. The best batting stats of the decade seem rather typical:

AVG:   .365 – Mickey Mantle (1957)
RS:    132 – Mickey Mantle (1956)
HR:    52 – Mickey Mantle (1956)
RBI:   145 – Al Rosen (1953)
SB:    56 – Luis Aparacio (1959)

However, the effect of the era is apparent once we move to the pitching side of the equation:

W:     28 – Robin Roberts (1952)
ERA:   1.97 – Billy Pierce (1955)
WHIP:  0.95 – Warren Hacker (1952)
SO:    263 – Herb Score (1956)
SV:    27 – Ellis Kinder (1953)

Wins are up significantly and saves are down to the lowest levels we’ve come across. Not shown here are the incredible innings pitched totals as well. No pitcher since 1980 has reached 300 innings pitched, while the 1950s alone had seven.

(An interesting side note, though not germane to a discussion on the 1950s, is the fact 300 inning occurrences increased through 1969, before declining into non existence about a dozen years later.)

Finally, before getting to the players, below is our customary graph of the basic fantasy batting stats. As expected, batting averages declined throughout the1950s, starting off at around .265 and ending 10 points lower. Stolen bases increased significantly, starting at one stolen base ever 130 at bats, and ending at a stolen base every 92. Home runs were fairly constant, though occurring at a higher rate in the earliest part of the decade.

Keep in mind that this decade was the last in which every year featured the 154 game schedule. In 1961 baseball expanded to 162 games, more than a 5% increase, allowing season totals forever after too look a bit better than those that came before.

Top-10 Players of the 1950s

10) Eddie Mathews, 3B
Peak Avg in Decade: 12.1
Overall FBHOF Score: 71.7

Mathews smacked 25 home runs in his 1952 rookie year and 16 “fantasy worthy” seasons later ended his career well past the 500 HR plateau at 512. He reached 40 or more four times in the ‘50s and is currently ranked as the 3rd best third bagger of all time, behind Mike Schmidt and George Brett

His fantasy finest season came in ’59. Batting .306 / .390 / .593, he also added 118 R, 46 HR, and 114 RBI in his stat line, and finished the year as the 5th best batter in baseball. A cross decade star, Mathews has four 11+ FBHOF points seasons to his credit in the 1950s, and two 13 point seasons to start the 1960s.

9) Minnie Minoso, OF
Peak Avg in Decade: 12.4
Overall FBHOF Score: 68.0

A very good major leaguer, Minoso was even better as a fantasy baseball player. The seven time all star had the same number 10+ point seasons in the decade and was a rare 5-tool star. I am reminded of a modern day Bobby Abreu at his peak, only with a longer period of success.

During his career Minoso scored 90+ runs nine times; batted over .300 eight times; stole 17 or more bases seven times; and hit 19+ home runs or drove in 90 or more runners five times. His best season came in 1954:.320 AVG, 119 R, 19 HR, 116 RBI, 18 SB, 13.4 Points.

8. Stan Musial, 1B
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.3
Overall FBHOF Score: 71.9

“Stan The Man” is sold short by when analyzing his tenure within the 1950’s only. His career actually spans three decades and a few of his great seasons came in the 1960’s. Musial was pure hitter, one of the best baseball has ever seen. Including batters from the 1800s, Musial is among the all time greats in many career statistics:

.331 AVG – 30th
.417 OBP – 23rd
.559 SLG – 21st
.976 OPS – 14th
1949 RS – 9th
1951 RBI – 6th
725 2B – 3rd
6134 TB – 2nd

Fantasy wise, Musial was incredibly consistent in the 1950s, recording five seasons between 12.8 and 13.9 points. His 5 year peak during the decade was .341 AVG, 116 R, 29 HR, 109 RBI.

7) Hank Aaron, OF
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.5
Overall FBHOF Score: 98.8

You may recall Aaron was ranked as the 2nd best player of the 1960s as well, and now that we’ve completed the review of the 1950’s, his career stat line is complete. It’s pure gold. Aaron is the second best fantasy baseball player we’ve ever seen, and he currently owns the all time mark for total career points.

In a span of 11 years, the outfielder has an unheard of ten seasons of 15 or more FBHOF points. I would be surprised if any player, even going back through the 1920s, could duplicate this feat. Six of Aaron’s best seven seasons occurred in the 1960s, the one outlier being 1959: .355 AVG, 39 HR, 116 R, 123 RBI, and 8 SB.

Aaron became fantasy eligible in 1954. One year later he reached 11 FBHOF Points and only dipped below 10 points eighteen years later in 1972.

6) Ernie Banks, 1B
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.6
Overall FBHOF Score: 77.4

“Mr. Cub’s” three best seasons came while he manned shortstop, but for his career he played more games at first base (1534 vs. 1050) than short and thus is considered a corner infielder for our purposes. I fibbed a bit as well; in fact, he was eligible at shortstop over the course of his six best season, a consecutive year stretch from 1955 through 1960.

During this time he averaged 41 HR, 101 R, 116 RBI, 5 SB, and batted .294. He was also a top-5 batter four times.

5) Warren Spahn, SP
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.7
Overall FBHOF Score: 74.7

The first pitcher on our top-10 list, Span was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973, alongside Roberto Clemente, the only two voted in by the BBWA this year. Like Musial, Spahn’s career covered three decades but he Spahn at lease, was at his best in the 1950’s. His best season came in 1953: 23 W, 1.06 WHIP, 2.10 ERA, and 148 K in 266 IP. As with most of his peers, he didn’t maintain a high (by today’s standards) strikeout rate.

Interestingly, and perhaps unfortunately, Spahn also saved three games. In 1953, only four major league pitchers recorded 15 or more saves, and Spahn therefore gets an inordinate amount of credit for his three. This nuance will be typical with many of the pitchers of his era and earlier. No doubt, had fantasy baseball been invented in 1950, Saves would not have been a core scoring statistic. We’re stuck with it though, and Spahn’s 29 career saves make positively impact his overall score.

4) Mickey Mantle, OF
Peak Avg in Decade: 14.7
Overall FBHOF Score: 90.8

Moving from 5th place into 4th marks the beginning of a new tier of 1950s greats. The 8th through 5th slots are differentiated by just 0.4 FBHOF points. The jump into 4th is a full 1.0 FHBOF points. Deservedly so – Mantle was a hitting machine, and as we saw in the introduction, owns the best single season results in the decade in 3 of the 5 offensive fantasy stats.

Mantle was still great heading into the early 1960’s, but few in the history of the sport match his 19.0 point season in 1956.

His peak 5-year average during the decade: .322 AVG, 121 R, 39 HR, 99 RBI, 15 SB. His scores by year:

1951- 3.8
1952 – 10.8
1953 – 9.1
1954 – 10.9
1955 – 12.1
1956 – 19.0
1957 – 15.6
1958 – 15.8
1959 – 11.1

3) Duke Snider, OF
Peak Avg in Decade: 14.8
Overall FBHOF Score: 80.0

Snider typically falls short in his inevitable comparison to Mantle and Willie Mays. All three were of course New York centerfielders during the 1950’s and all three were no brainer Hall of Fame selections, but at least in terms of fantasy baseball, Snider can run with Mantle – during the 1950’s at least.

When lining their best years up side by side, in order of greatness as opposed to chronological, the similarities are striking:

Snider        Mantle
17.67          18.98
15.11           15.80
14.68          15.58
14.65          12.06
11.98          11.14
10.80         10.94
10.16          10.83
9.64            9.07
5.98            3.84
3.70

In one of the most underrated seasons of all time, Snider in 1954 batted .336 with 132 R, 42 HR, 126 RBI, and 16 SB. He was the best fantasy batter of the season, for the second consecutive year. Mantle and (mostly) Mays would take honors in five of the next six seasons.

2) Robin Roberts, SP
Peak Avg in Decade: 16.7
Overall FBHOF Score: 92.0

Really. In his New Historical Abstract, Bill James ranks Roberts as the 16th best pitcher of all time. He’s a Hall of Famer and a six time 20 game winner. He led his league 27 times in various important statistical categories. Yes, to this day, he gets little credit as one of the all time great pitchers.

Perhaps it was the era in which he pitched. Following Roberts good fortunes in the 1950’s came the greatest pitching era of all time. With this of course, came some of the greatest pitching names of all time – Koufax and Gibson plus significant single season performances of historical importance – Denny McLain’s 31 wins in 1968 and superb seasons out of Juan Marichal and Don Drysdale. Roberts never struck out 200 batters, never had an ERA under 2.50, nor a WHIP below 1.00.

What he did do was finish 6 of the 10 seasons in the Top-3, and four consecutive as the best overall pitcher in the game. From 1952-1955 he averaged 24 W, 1.07 WHIP, 2.90 ERA, 172 K’s, and 4 saves per season.

He’s on his own plane when looking at 4-year peak scores among starting pitchers of the 1950s:

17.4 – Robin Roberts
14.1 – Warren Spahn
11.8 – Early Wynn
11.7 – Billy Pierce
11.2 – Mike Garcia

1) Willie Mays, OF
Peak Avg in Decade: 17.5
Overall FBHOF Score: 102.3

Through the 1950’s, Willie Mays is the greatest fantasy player of all time. His stats speak for themselves. Please pay particular attention to the sheer number of double digit FBHOF Point seasons, identified in the “score” column.

Presenting the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame War Room.   It’s an auto-updating Excel workbook that keeps track of all the necessaries:

• Color Coded Dashboard that “crosses off” selected players
• Team by Team analysis of players taken, players left.
• League wide finances – how much was spent, how much can still be spent, and that all important “Max Bid”
• Real time projected totals, along with real time projected league standings.
• “Traffic Light” Goal Tracking Dashboard
• Auto updating Draftee List for you team, that includes both the projected dollar amount and winning bid amount so you can keep track of your value gained or lost.

There is a more on the project here, including screen shots and instructions on how to download. It’s free too, though that might not live up to the grand prize of $50 dollars worth of stomach pain and quick moving bowels.

The tail end of the 1960s is famous for its strong favoritism towards the pitcher. In 1968 the average NL batter had a slash line of .243 / .300 / .341. The AL batters were worse off still – .230 / .297 / .339 and the league’s runs scoring was at its lowest point in the 20th century. Throughout the decade, as one moves closer to the 1970s, stolen bases and batting average were on the decline, though home runs were on the rise:

This created an environment where the fantasy standouts were relatively low average power hitters with a good deal of speed. The word relative is key however, as a .300 batting average in 1968 is more like a .335 average in today’s batting environment. As we did with the 1970s, here are a few examples of Fantasy Era players and their FBHOF scores:

• 90+ Points: Only two players have ever amassed 90 or more FBHOF points: Randy Johnson and Barry Bonds
• 80-89 Points: 7 Players are in this grouping, think Roger Clemens
• 70-79 Points: 15 players score in this bucket, the most common. Think of them as the average FBHOF’er – Ryne Sandberg, Jeff Bagwell, and Curt Schilling types.
• 65-69 Points: 12 Players. The low-enders such as Don Mattingly and Jose Canseco
• 52-64 Points: Only pitchers can score as low as 52 and get elected, David Cone is a great example

The ten best players of the 60’s were all Outfielders, Starting Pitchers, and First Basemen. Before admiring this group, a few words on the best of the rest at each position.

Catcher – Johnny Bench had the highest average peak score of the 1960s, but only played in 1968 and 1969 and two years a dynasty does not make. When looking at the 1970s, his FBHOF score was a fine 68.61 and adding these two new seasons in jumps his score up to 76.7, 24th best all time regardless of position.

The best fantasy catcher of the decade was Joe Torre. His 68.6 FBHOF points is well within the range of Hall of Fame criteria and he was at his best in 1964 with 13.1 FBHOF points. He batted .321 with 20 HR, 87 R, and 109 RBI. Torre also has two other 10 point seasons and currently sits second all time at the position. This is a bit unfair though, since his best season was as a third baseman in 1971.

Second Base – There are no offensive stars here as only two times did a second bagger record 10-points in the entire decade. In 1961 as a rookie, Jake Wood stole 30 bases and scored 96 runs amassing 12.0 FBHOF points in the process. Two years later, Tony Taylor batted .281 with 102 runs scored for exactly 10.0 FBHOF points. Neither had noteworthy fantasy careers however, and the prize for best of the decade falls to Don Buford. While never a star, he did have four seasons of 7.7 or more points and his peak 5-year average of 7.5 points is easily best in the decade.

Third Base – No player at the hot corner meets FBHOF requirements but Ron Santo comes awfully close. The life long Chicagoan scored between 10.9 and 12.5 FBHOF points each year between 1963 and 1968, with an overall score of 63.6, 5th best all time from what we’ve investigated. He was routinely capable of 30 HR, 100 RBI, and 90 Runs Scored.

Shortstop – While not as weak of a position as their middle infield counterparts, the shortstops of the 1960’s weren’t very good either. The best of them was Maury Wills, he of the best fantasy stolen base seasons ever.

Closer – 32 saves was the highest recorded in a single season, and Hoyt Wilhem reached 152 on the decade.

Top-10 Players of the 1960s

10. Bob Gibson, SP
Peak Avg in Decade: 12.9
Overall FBHOF Points: 71.6

Though still great at the start of the 1970s, Gibson turned in his finest work between 1966 and 1969. In total, the pitcher had seven 10+ FBHOF points seasons, tied for 5th best we’ve seen. He recorded the 6th best pitching season of the decade in 1968 – 22 W, 0.85 WHIP, 1.12 ERA, 268 K.

9. Jim Bunning, SP
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.0
Overall FBHOF Points: 68.5

Bunning won at least 17 games six times between 1961 and 1967 and was incredible during the last two in which he averaged 18 W, 1.02 WHIP, 2.35 ERA, and 252 K’s

8. Orlando Cepeda, 1B
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.6
Overall FBHOF Points: 72.2

Went .311 with 46 HR, 105 R, 146 RBI, and 12 SB in 1961. Averaged a very good 31 HR, 93 R, 105 RBI, and .315 Average in his next best four years.

7. Don Drysdale, SP
Peak Avg in Decade: 13.8
Overall FBHOF Points: 71.7

Had three 14+ FBHOF seasons between 1960 and 1964. During these three years he averaged 19 W, 1.05 WHIP, 2.62 ERA, 238 K’s. During the decade Drysdale won 18 or more games four times; had an ERA under 3.00 seven times, and a WHIP better 1.20 eight times.

6. Lou Brock, OF
Peak Avg in Decade: 3.9
Overall FBHOF Points: 83.1

His career spanned 18 years and was very good in both the 1960’s and 1970s. In the earlier part of his baseball life from 1962 to 1969 he totaled 89.2 FBHOF points, and ended his career in 1979 with an additional 85.6 FBHOF points. Between 1964 and 1974 he recorded at least 10 FBHOF points per season for 11 straight seasons. 1967 was his finest – .299 AVG, 113 R, 21 HR, 76 RBI, 52 SB.

5. Juan Marichal, SP
Peak Avg in Decade: 14.8
Overall FBHOF Points: 79.4

A devastating pitcher in both 1963 and 1965, but was only an elite fantasy pitcher for a total of 5 seasons. His 5 year peak ranks 6th all time among starters, during this stretch he averaged 23 W, 1.00 WHIP, 2.29 ERA, and 225 K’s.

4. Frank Robinson
Peak Avg in Decade: 15.5
Overall FBHOF Points: 80.1

Played from 1956 through 1976 but his greatest seasons came in the 1960s. They are prolific enough to admire individually:

1962 – 17.8 Pts, .342 AVG, 134 R, 39 HR, 136 RBI, 18 SB
1966 – 16.4 Pts, .316 AVG, 122 R, 49 HR, 122 RBI, 8 SB
1961 – 15.9 Pts, .323 AVG, 117 R, 37 HR, 124 RBI, 22 SB
1965 – 13.6 Pts, .296 AVG, 109 R, 33 HR, 113 RBI, 13 SB
1964 – 13.6 Pts, .306 AVG, 103 R, 29 HR, 96 RBI, 23 SB

3. Willie Mays
Peak Avg in Decade: 16.4
Overall FBHOF Points: 88.5

Only two batters since the 1960s have recorded 5 seasons of 15.5 FBHOF points. Given that Mays’ career started in 1951 and has five Top-5 MVP seasons during the decade, it is safe to assume he’ll end up with more. His power was awesome, reaching 40+ home runs four times in the 1960s. Two others matched this accomplishment, but Harmon Killebrew batted .267 and Hank Aaron is next up on this list.

2. Hank Aaron
Peak Avg in Decade: 16.8
Overall FBHOF Points: 92.9

Aaron is the new single season record holder for most FBHOF Points in a season for a batter. In 1963 he went .319 with 121 R, 44 HR, 130 RBI, and 31 SB for 19.7 FBHOF points. He had eight additional seasons of 14 or more FBHOF points, reaching the 30-HR plateau an incredible eleven times. Like Mays, Aaron too had his share of great seasons in the unexplored 1950s and both have a great chance at being named the greatest fantasy player that ever lived when all is said and done.

1. Sandy Koufax
Peak Avg in Decade: 17.5
Overall FBHOF Points: 89.1

In 1994 Greg Maddux was masterful, and few pitchers have dominated batters as often and as easily as he did. In 202 innings batters were held to a .502 OPS (.207 / .243 / .259) and routinely looked silly getting bad wood on the ball. His ERA was 1.56 and his WHIP 0.90, only Doc Gooden had a better ERA during the fantasy era and nobody topped his WHIP until Pedro Martinez in 2000. The Mad Dog, in a strike shortened season, gave up 3 runs or less in 24 of his 25 starts (13 of which were 1 run or less).

He was unhittable. From a fantasy standpoint, the only knock on his season was a relatively low 156 strikeouts. This mattered little in real-life, but this K/9 rate of “just” 6.95 did hold back his fantasy scoring.

Keep this season in the back of your mind. Now picture the same thing only with the pitcher punching out 382 batters, almost two and half times as many, then picture that same pitcher doing it three times in four years.

Sandy Koufax’s FBHOF score surpassed 20 points, a new record in and of itself, three times – in 1963, 1965, and 1966. His fantasy lines:

No player in fantasy history (that we’ve seen) has been remotely as good as Koufax during their three year peaks. The Top-10 three year peak scores:

20.8 – Sandy Koufax
17.9 – Randy Johnson
17.5 – Hank Aaron
17.3 – Pedro Martinez
17.1 – Alex Rodriguez
17.0 – Joe Morgan
16.8 – Greg Maddux
16.7 – Frank Robinson
16.7 – Willie Mays
16.6 – Steve Carlton

You may recall my request for new owners a few weeks ago and our league had the good fortune to have several Razzball readers apply for ownership. With this in mind I thought a general update would hold some interest and while our draft is still going strong, round 20 of 30, we can pause and take a look back at the all important first round. There is no need to dissect all 20 picks and commentary will provided for the more interesting ones.

Please note that while similar to fantasy drafts, ATB requires a full 30 man squad with all positions filled (i.e., RF, CF, LF not 3 OF) plus defense counts. It isn’t only about which player had the best offensive statistics as all owners have to take into consideration offense, defense, and league context.

Pick #1 – Babe Ruth, 1921 – LF
.378 / .509 / .846, 59 HR, 177 R, 171 RBI, +4 NSB, 1.355 OPS, Av LF

Historically in ATB, Ruth is the common number one overall draft pick with the only question being the year chosen. Many point to Ruth’s 1927, sixty-home run season as his best, though most ATB’ers recognize that 1920 and 1921 were better seasons, and one can even make a case that 1923, 1926, and 1919 where superior when taking league and park context.

Ruth 1921 was the choice for this draft and it was of course a monster. One item to note however, is that he played in the Polo Grounds in a year that inflated HR totals for lefties by about 70% which is taken into consideration by the game engine. The right field line was just 256 feet away from home plate this year.

Pick #2 – Barry Bonds, 2002 – LF
.370 / .582 / .799, 49 HR, 117 R, 110 RBI, +7 NSB, 1.381 OPS, Av LF
It’s an interesting question – which of Bonds’ seasons is his best. This owner chose to foresake the moster 74 HR year of 2001 but was it the right choice? Let’s see how each season compared to the league average in their slash stats:

2001 2002 2004
AVG 27% 45% 39%
OBP 57% 77% 84%
SLG 114% 105% 100%

These figures depict how much better each is when compared to the league average player at the time. 2001 lags behind both 2002 and 2004, and the choice between the latter two are a matter of preference – what would you rather, a better batting average and slugging or a better on-base percentage?

Pick #3 – Mickey Mantle, 1956 – CF
.353 / .464 / .705, 52 HR, 132 R, 130 RBI, +9 NSB, 1.169 OPS, Vg CF
Mantle likely isn’t as good of an offensive player as Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, or perhaps even Jimmie Foxx, but his combination of high average, power, and Very Good defense is very hard to pass up. ATB is a league that considers many aspects of the game, and defense is key.

Pick #4 – Pedro Martinez, 2000 – SP
18-6, 1.74 ERA, 217 IP, 128 H, 32 BB, 284 K, 5.3 H/9, 11.8 K/9
Hands down, Martinez is easily the best pitcher in the 10 year history of ATB. Year in and year out he performs better than any pitcher, and some believe with two offensive studs in Bonds and Ruth, Pedro is the most unique player in the game and is a #1 overall pick. In 2000, his incredible 0.74 WHIP was 114% better than the league average; the next closest pitcher of all time relative to league average is Greg Maddux, whose figure is ‘only’ 70% better. Further, Martinez had an extremly high strikeout rate and the two combined make him unstoppable.

Pick #5 – Ted Williams, 1941 – LF
.406 / .549 / .735, 37 HR, 135 R, 120 RBI, -2 NSB, 1.284 OPS, Av LF

Pick #6 – Randy Johnson, 1999 – SP
17-9, 2.48 ERA, 271 IP, 207 H, 70 BB, 364 K, 6.9 H/9, 12.1 K/9
Johnson’s selection is our first potential owner error. It’s a matter of preference in roster construction as to which direction you want to go in – best batter, best pitcher, positional scarcity – but Johnson is historically not the second best pitcher in the game. Maddux is “1 B” to Martinez’s” 1 A” and while Johnson is a very good pitcher, his WHIP was 1.02, by no means of historical significance.

Pick #7 – Rogers Hornsby, 1924 – 2B
.424 / .503 / .696, 25 HR, 121 R, 94 RBI, -7 NSB, 1.199 OPS, Av 2B

Pick #8 – Greg Maddux, 1995
19-2, 1.63 ERA, 210 IP, 147 H, 23 BB, 181 K, 6.3 H/9, 7.8 K/9

Pick #9 – Addie Joss, 1904
14-10, 1.59 ERA, 192 IP, 160 H, 30 BB, 83 K, 7.5 H/9, 3.9 K/9
Joss is one of my all-time favorites, a deadball era pitcher that pitched in a ballpark that slightly favored batters in 1904. He didn’t strike out a lot of batters, a common theme during his era, but that doesn’t really matter if one keeps his ERA under 2.00, a feat Joss accomplished an incredible four times.

One quibble with this selection is in the choice of year. In 1908 Joss went 24-11 with a 1.16 ERA and 0.81 WHIP. This year, 1904, he went 14-10 with a 1.59 ERA. Either appear to be great however.

Pick #10 – Honus Wagner, 1908
.354 / .411 / .542, 10 HR, 100 R, 109 RBI, +32 NSB, .954 OPS, Ex SS
Is a batter who hits just 10 HR a stretch for the 10th pick overall? Not when it fills a need at the most scarce offensive position in the game, save catcher. Plus, Wagner is one of the few middle infielders awarded the best defensive rating available and it’s not as if he was weak with the stick.

Roughly speaking, his batting line in 1908 is equivalent to a current line of .385 / .450 / 750. Now imagine Ozzie Smith with this line and you have the Flying Dutchman.

Pick #11 – Jimmie Foxx, 1932
.364 / .466 / .749, 58 HR, 151 R, 169 RBI, -4 NSB, 1.215 OPS, Vg 1B
I am not a fan of counting stats when evaluating players, but my goodness – 58 HR, 151 R, 169 RBI all with Very Good defense .

Pick #12 – Willie McCovey, 1969
.320 / .453 / .656, 45 HR, 101 R, 126 RBI, 0 NSB, 1.108 OPS, Av1B
McCovey is not good enough for the 12th overall pick, but there’s a reason he was selected here. An owner dropped out of the league the day of the draft and didn’t let the commissioner know. We scrambled to find another owner, and did, but he didn’t get a chance to make his first round selection until well into the second round.

The laugh’s on us though, in pre-season exhibition play McCovey’s ‘regular season pace’ was 76 HR and 173 RBI. He’s since been traded to another division.

Pick #13 – Lou Gehrig, 1927
.373 / .471 / .765, 47 HR, 149 R, 175 RBI, +2 NSB, 1.236 OPS, Av1B
Only three players in history have slugged as high as Gehrig, and him dropping outside the Top-10 makes the Yankee first basement a steal. Further, his ATB track record is extremely good making him a low risk pick as well.

Pick # 14 – Ty Cobb, 1909
.377 / .427 / .517, 9 HR, 116 R, 107 RBI, +34 NSB, .944 OPS, VgCF

Pick # 15 – Arky Vaughan, 1935
.385 / .488 / .607, 19 HR, 108 R, 99 RBI, +2 NSB, 1.095 OPS, VgSS

Pick #16 – Walter Johnson, 1913
36-7, 1.14 ERA, 346 IP, 232 H, 38 BB, 243 K, 6.0 H/9, 6.3 K/9
The “Big Train” was awesome in 1913, and he is widely regarded as one of the Top-5 pitchers of all time, many believe he’s the best ever.

Pick #17 – Tip O’Neil, 1887
.435 / .494 / .691, 14 HR, 167 R, 123 RBI, +15 NSB, 1.185 OPS, AvLF
A relative unknown, Tip O’Neill was a star in the American Association during the mid to late 1880s. His batting average is the second best single season mark of all time. While displaying little power, O’Neill is an ideal #2 hitter in a potent lineup, and a #3 batter in a moderate one.

Pick #18 – Christy Mathewson, 1905
31-9, 1.28 ERA, 339 IP, 252 IP, 64 BB, 206 K, 6.7 H/9, 5.5 K/9

Pick #19 – Joe DiMaggio, 1939
.381 / .444 / .671, 30 HR, 108 R, 126 RBI, +17 NSB, 1.115 OPS, ExCF

Pick #20 – Tommy Bond, 1876
31-13, 1.67 ERA, 408 IP, 355 H, 13 BB, 88 K, 7.8 H/9, 1.9 K/9
The last pitcher taken in the first round of the 10th ATB draft is the first “deadball era” hurler we’ve seen. Bond was a work-horse, pitching in over 400 innings and starting 65% of his team’s games. As a testament to the times, be assured his 13 BB in so many innings is not a typo. Bond also has three seasons of 500+ innings to his credit and in 1878 started 59 of 60 games for his Boston Red Caps.

From a virtually unlimited player pool starting in the 1800’s through today,the premise of ATB is to draft the best 30-man sqaud and general manage your team through the regular season and playoffs. See how Ty Cobb fairs against Pedro Martinez, or Walter Johnson vs. Albert Pujols. The possibilities are unlimited. Last season Eric Gagne was named World Series MVP after saving 3 close games, getting through the heart of a lineup that featured Lou Gehrig, Norm Cash, Fred Lynn, and John McGraw.

There is a commitment required for the draft, as it is held over several weeks with selections made via a message board. Each owner is slotted a time to make their pick so you don’t have to spend all day waiting and watching fellow owners steal your picks. The regular season is played (simmed) in 15 game increments on a weekly basis after each owners is through setting lineups, making trades, and pick up free-agents.
One more item to note – the game is “manual” in the sense that lineups and trades all have to happen through the commissioner’s office. I don’t want to give a false impression that you can submit lineups online. However, the league does have a central website were all the results, box scores, and weekly write-ups are posted.
We’re coming into our 10th season and are looking for some new blood. Each year is a complete re-draft, so new owners are not stuck trying to right the ship of a failing franchise.

If you’re interested in “owning” a franchise, drop me a line at alltimebaseball @ yahoo.com. The league is a blast, and it’s free!

“Stars of the 1970’s Who Missed FBHOF Enshrinement Due to 1979 Cutoff”

The 1970s provided fans a different brand of baseball than we’re accustomed too today. In the early part of the decade, the frequency of the stolen base was below what we even see today, but by the latter portion of the decade, stealing increased dramatically and kicked off the a mini-era where were the steal valued highly. This eventually led to the famous 1980’s St. Louis Cardinal teams that stole seemingly at will. In 1985 Willie McGee, Terry Pendleton, Ozzie Smith, Andy Van Slyke each stole at least 30 and Vince Coleman reached 110.

On the other hand, there were relatively more home runs hit in the 1970s than the 1980s. As an example, players hit 40 or more home runs 20 times in the 1970s vs. just 13 in the 1980’s (the 1990s had 72, but that is beside the point). Contrarily, batting averages have risen steadily each decade, after the league average bottomed out at .244 in 1972.

This chart depicts what was just mentioned – the Major League Batting average year by year, as well as the frequency in HR’s and SB’s in the form of “per at bat’ stats:

Let’s take a moment to ground us on the scoring tiers we saw during the Fantasy Era.

• 90+ Points: Only two players have ever amassed 90 or more FBHOF points: Randy Johnson and Barry Bonds
• 80-89 Points: 7 Players are in this grouping, think Roger Clemens
• 70-79 Points: 15 players score in this bucket, the most common. Think of them as the average FBHOF’er – Ryne Sandberg, Jeff Bagwell, and Curt Schilling types.
• 65-69 Points: 12 Players. The low-enders such as Don Mattingly and Jose Canseco
• 52-64 Points: Only pitchers can score as low as 52 and get elected, David Cone is a great example

70 Pointers
78.8 – Jim Rice, OF
73.7 – George Brett, 3B
70.8 – George Foster, OF

Rice is close to being an inner circle, elite FBHOF’er. He finished first among batters in 1978 and 1979, and finished in the Top-5 in 1977 and 1983. He was a monster at the plate reaching 39 or more home runs 4 times and 125+ RBI three times. He also hit for average, topping out at .325 in 1979. His 1978 season is the 3rd best we’ve seen tod date, a wonderful 18.5 point juggernaut campaign. He batted .315 with 121 R, 46 HR, 139 RBI, and 7 SB. He also has a total of seven 11+ FBHOF point seasons, which is tied for 10th all time.

With an excellent 3-year peak of 14 FBHOF points, Brett was an easy choice for ‘induction’. His average line during these three years was .347, 105 R, 26 HR, 112 RBI, 14 SB – great numbers for a third basemen of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. He is however, not nearly as good as Rice was at his peak. Brett does have an incredible twenty fantasy worthy seasons in is career, 4th best from 1970 or later.

Best known for his 1977 season of 52 HR and 149 RBI, Foster also put up great numbers in 1976, 1978, and 1981 giving him a 4 year peak score of 14.7. His 5th year is lacking considerably though, and greatly diminishes his overall FBHOF score. Foster was great three times and better than average three more times.

60 Pointers
69.5 – Nolan Ryan
69.2 – Dave Winfield
68.4 – Cecil Cooper
67.8 – Dwight Evans
67.7 – Reggie Jackson

The Ryan Express ranks as the 8th best starting pitcher in the last 40-odd years. This is likely better than most would rate him for non-fantasy purposes, but Ryan had ten 8+ FBHOF point seasons – 10th best among all players, and 4th best among pitchers. Year in and year out his strike out totals were off the charts, which off-set some of the seasons his WHIP or Win totals were only ordinary. He never had a monster fantasy season, his value was in consistency: 20 seasons of double digit wins; 8 seasons of 15+ wins; 12 seasons with WHP’s better than 1.25; 8 seasons with sub-3.00 ERA’s; and 6 seasons of 300+ strikeouts. He finished as a Top-10 pitcher ten times, but never rated best in any single season

Winfield is much like Evans, but with a longer peak as evidenced by putting their career scores side by side – Winfield kept it up a while longer.

Reggie Jackson is someone we need to spend some time on. Jackson was one of baseball’s premier sluggers, belting 25 or more thirteen times. He was also a solid RBI man, averaging 103 per season during his 5 year peak. What too many people forget was his speed. Mr. October averaged 20 steals a season for the first 8 years of his career, topping out at 28 in 1976. Because of this, his best two fantasy seasons came prior to his famous 41 HR year of 1980:

1973: .293 with 99 R, 32 HR, 117 RBI, 22 SB
1974: .289 with 90 R, 29 HR, 93 RBI, 24

While never the best fantasy player in a given year, he does have four Top-10 finishes among batters, and five Top-5 appearances among outfielders.

Cooper has already gotten quite a bit of press for a non-Hall of Famer, and deservedly so.

50 Pointers
57.8 – Bert Blyleven
56.2 – Ron Guidry
56.1 – Don Sutton

Each were very good though none reached the dominance of Nolan Ryan. Blyleven has five Top-10 finishes to his credit; Guidry four; and Sutton six. Only Guidry reached #1 pitcher status after winning 25 with a 0.95 WHIP, 1.74 ERA, and 248 K’s in 1978. His 18.0 FBHOF Points ranks 6th best to date.

“Other FBHOF Worthy Players”
Fourteen other players would be in the FBHOF had the 1970’s counted. This group wasn’t at the top of their games during any extended portion of the 1980s, and it’s easier to justify their exclusion. However, there are some truly great ones from the 1970s, beginning with Joe Morgan.

Morgan’s 88.1 FBHOF Score is 4th best all time, and his peak score of 80.1 is 3rd best. He was an incredible second basemen hit for average, power, and had great speed. He nabbed the Top-2B award every year from 1971 to 1977, also finished 1st among all batters three times in 1972, and 1975-1976. His peak year was 1976 where he amassed 18.4 FBHOF points, 4th best we’ve seen. He batted .320 with 113 R, 27 HR, 111 RBI, and 60 SB. His 5-year peak average is wonderful: .303, 113 R, 22 HR, 85 RBI, and 62 SB, all from a second basemen.

To put his greatness into perspective, here are his scores during his 7-year run as the best second basemen in comparison to the next best. Not only was Morgan great, he was in a class all to himself.:

Tom Seaver rates as the 6th best fantasy pitcher ever. He was the #1 starter three times and in the Top-10 nine times. Seaver never reached 300 strikeouts as some of his predecessors (such as Steve Carlton and Sandy Koufax) but he was remarkably consistent and first-rate in his rate stats: a sub-3.00 ERA nine times and a sub-1.15 WHIP eight times. And it’s not as if he couldn’t strike people out – he struck out more than 7 _ batters per inning nine times and averaged 252 per season during his 5-year peak.

Here are the rest of the 1970’s players who racked up enough points to be FBHOF worthy:

Lastly, there are two other current FBHOF’ers that saw their final scores rocket into elite stratosphere once the 1970’s counted. Mike Schmidt ended his career with an official tally of 70.5 FBHOF points, good, but nowhere need great. Three monster seasons were omitted from his record though:

These three seasons raised his final FBHOF score from 70.5 to 83.8.

Steve Carlton is in a similar situation. At the tail end of his career, the left-hander pieced together a few good seasons to sneak is as a FBHOF’er. Taking his career in total though, he’s a shoe-in, and one of just four pitchers to record two seasons of 17+ FBHOF points. The season left off his Fantasy record? His best ever, in 1972: 27 W, 0.99 WHIP, 1.97 ERA, 310 K.

The FBHOF will have more on the 1970s in coming weeks.

Year: 2004
First Time All Stars: 7 – Bobby Abreu, Adrian Beltre, Brad Lidge, Mark Loretta, Johan Santana, Ben Sheets, Michael Young
3 Time All Stars: 8 – Carlos Beltran, Eric Gagne, Vladimir Guerrero, Javy Lopez, Albert Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, Ichiro Suzuki
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, Curt Schilling
10 Time All Stars: 3 – Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 – Bonds, Clemens, Guerrero, Johnson, Pujols, Ramirez, Rodriguez, Santana, Schilling
Snubs: 4 – Melvin Mora (11.0), Todd Helton (10.6), Scott Rolen (10.5), Gary Sheffield (10.5)
16 Pt Season: 2 –Johnson (16.1), Santana (16.0)

This was a solid team whose success is built around one of the better pitching staffs that we’ve seen. The starting rotation is ranked 4th behind two wonderful seasons from Randy Johnson and Johan Santana, they each scored over 16 FBHOF points:

The rest of the staff each scored over 10 points each, with Ben Sheets being the best of the rest. While his win total was low at 12, his rate stats and strikeouts were excellent.

The relievers were vital as well. Brad Lidge, Eric Gagne, and Mariano Rivera struck out 337 batters between them and combined for an ERA of 2.01 and a WHIP of 0.97.

Offensively, the 2004 team is well below average, especially in the infield. Mark Loretta makes the team with FBHOF score well below respectability for All Star’s; his 8.9 value is the lowest mark since 1981 for a non-catcher.

After 14 all star appearances, this was Barry Bonds’ last team. He was very good again in 2004, drilling 45 HR and batting .362. Fellow legends Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling enjoyed their last great seasons along side him. Also worth mentioning are several other very good players who would never again make an All-Star team: Eric Gagne, Javy Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Schmidt, and Miguel Tejada

On the other hand Michael Young and more importantly, Johan Santana, made their first All Star teams.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 19th
IF: 24th
OF: 18th
SP: 4th
RP: 6th
Overall: 10th

Year: 2005
First Time All Stars: 10 – Jason Bay, Miguel Cabrera, Chris Carpenter, Chone Figgins, Derrek Lee, Victor Martinez, Joe Nathan, David Ortiz, Jason Varitek, Dontrelle Willis
3 Time All Stars: 5 – Manny Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, Gary Sheffield, Alfonso Soriano, Billy Wagner
5 Time All Stars: 4 – Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez
10 Time All Stars: 2 –
Future FBHOF’ers: 1 – Roger Clemens
Snubs: 4 – Mark Teixeira (13.2), Carl Crawford (10.7), Andruw Jones (10.7), Bobby Abreu (10.5)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Alex Rodriguez (17.1)

The only good thing about the 2005 team was its infield. Every other position was ranked 17th or worse, but Albert Pujols, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Young, Derrek Lee, and Chone Figgins made up the highest scoring infield ever. Rodriguez, Pujols, and Lee averaged 45 home runs between them; Soriano went 30/30; Young batted .331; and Figgins stole 62 bases.

The outfield was particularly poor with a last place ranking. The names were fundamentally sound – Bay, Miguel Cabrera, Vlad, Manny, and Sheff but none had a stellar season, as only Ramirez reached the 13 point plateau.

Pitching was decent by current 2008 standards but gone were the days of the high 200 or 300 strikeout pitchers, and so gone were the days of 15 or more pitching point seasons.

Also of note was the snub of Mark Teixeira. He hit 43 HR and drove in 144 runners but couldn’t crack into the starting lineup.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 25th
IF: 1st
OF: 28th
SP: 17th
RP: 17th
Overall: 18th

Year: 2006
First Time All Stars: 12 – Bronson Arroyo, Garrett Atkins, Jermaine Dye, Matt Holliday, Ryan Howard, Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, JJ Putz, Jose Reyes, Takashi Saito, Chase Utley, Brandon Webb
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Carlos Beltran, Derek Jeter, Johan Santana, Alfonso Soriano
5 Time All Stars: 2 – Vladimir Guerrero, Albert Pujols
10 Time All Stars: 1 –
Future FBHOF’ers: 2 – Guerrero, Pujols, Santana, John Smoltz
Snubs: 2 – Miguel Cabrera (11.4), Carlos Lee (11.3)
16 Pt Season: 1 – None

Unfortunately, the 2006 squad was very similar to the previous year’s version. Infielders were still the highest rated, but they dropped 9 slots in the standings as nobody picked up the slack of Alex Rodriguez and his 17.1 points in ’05.

The rest of the positions were about the same which results in an overall ranking of just 25th. When looking at the ’05 through ’07 period, an incredible total of 36 players made their all-star debuts.

Major League baseball was in the midst of a changing of the guard, from the all time fantasy greats of Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson (and more) over to the new age crew of Chase Utley, Matt Holliday, Ryan Howard, Johan Santana and in 2007 Hanley Ramirez and David Wright. Time will tell if the youngsters will eventually create a new golden age of fantasy baseball. If 2008 is any indication, they likely will.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 20th
IF: 10th
OF: 27th
SP: 26th
RP: 11th
Overall: 25th

Year: 2007
First Time All Stars: 12 – Josh Beckett, Eric Byrnes, Prince Fielder, John Lackey, Carlos Lee, Russell Martin, Jake Peavy, Brandon Phillips, Hanley Ramirez, Jimmy Rollins, CC Sabathia, David Wright
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Joe Nathan, David Ortiz, Johan Santana, Ichiro Suzuki
5 Time All Stars: None
10 Time All Stars: 1 – Alex Rodriguez
Future FBHOF’ers: 2 – Rodriguez, Santana
Snubs: 1 – Chase Utley (10.1)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Alex Rodriguez (18.1)

I wasn’t planning a write-up on 2007 since it’s still considered a current event, but we should note the incredible season of Alex Rodriguez. There have been twenty four 50+ HR seasons during the fantasy era. Rodriguez is:

- One of six to bat .315 or better
- One of three accumulate 150 or more RBI
- One of two to score 140 or more runs
- The only person to get to 24 stolen bases.

It might be the most complete season by a player ever, fantasy or not.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 11th
IF: 4th
OF: 25th
SP: 12th
RP: 12th
Overall: 13th

Year: 2001
First Time All Stars: 8 – Bret Boone, Keith Foulke, Freddy Garcia, Luis Gonzalez, Paul Lo Duca, Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Javier Vazquez
3 Time All Stars: 3 – Robb Nen, Curt Schilling, Larry Walker
5 Time All Stars: 6 – Roberto Alomar, Randy Johnson, Chipper Jones, Mike Piazza, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa
10 Time All Stars: 2 – Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux
Future FBHOF’ers: 14 – Alomar, Bonds, Todd Helton, Johnson, Jones, Maddux, Piazza, Pujols, Rodriguez, Schilling, Sosa, Walker
Snubs: 2 – Vladimir Guerrero (11.6), Bobby Abreu (11.0)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Johnson (17.9)

2001 was the last hurrah for the fantasy all-stars. During the 1980’s no team reached the level of 10 Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famers on its roster. In the early 1990’s, the number FBHOF’ers per team rose steadily until maxing out at 14 in 1997 and 1998, and maintained this approximate level for the next three years. Now, in 2001, we find it’s the last team to take the field with double digit home FBHOF’ers.

Several all time greats made their last All-Star appearance: Roberto Alomar, Kevin Brown, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, and Larry Walker had their last great season and only the addition of Albert Pujols helped off-set their losses.

This isn’t to say 2001 wasn’t a good team as both the infield and outfield were Top-10 material. Going around the diamond Todd Helton, Bret Boone, Alomar, Alex Rodriguez, Jones and Pujols averaged an astounding .330 with 120 R, 39 HR, and 126 RBI. The outfield was even better: .330 AVG, 126 R, 48 HR, 126 RBI, and 17 SB. The best of the lot was Sammy Sosa who batted .328, hit 64 HR, and drove in 160 RBI.

Randy Johnson, with 17.9 FBHOF points, made up for what was otherwise a mediocre starting rotation. He won 21 games and struck out 372 batters, the third highest mark since the beginning of the 20th century.

In a famous 7 game set, the Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. Gonzalez, Johnson, and Schilling represented the victors. Mike Mussina and Mariano Rivera the losers.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 21st
IF: 6th
OF: 7th
SP: 16th
RP: 25th
Overall: 16th

Year: 2002
First Time All Stars: 14 – Carlos Beltran, Lance Berkman, Eric Gagne, Jason Giambi, Byung-Hyun Kim, Billy Koch, Derek Lowe, Magglio Ordonez, Roy Oswalt, Jorge Posada, Alfonso Soriano, Miguel Tejada, Jim Thome, and Barry Zito
3 Time All Stars: 1 – Vladimir Guerrero
5 Time All Stars: 4 – Pedro Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa
10 Time All Stars: 1 – Barry Bonds
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 – Bonds, Guerrero, Johnson, Martinez, Piazza, Albert Pujols, Rodriguez, Schilling, Sosa
Snubs: 2 – Jeff Kent (11.0), Shawn Green (10.7)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Johnson (18.1)

No stars, no problem.

14 first time All-Stars make up a large portion of the 2002 squad, yet this team was among the best of the fantasy era, ranking 6th overall. The key for was their formidable starting rotation, led by another great season from Randy Johnson. He owns the best consecutive two year score all time, compiling 36 FBHOF points in 2001 ad 2002. Fellow starters Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez were excellent as well, combining for 43 W, 555 K, 0.96 WHIP, and a 2.81 ERA.

For the second year in row, the infield was superb. Jason Giambi was near his peak, hitting 41 HR and driving in 122; Albert Pujols batted .314 and drove in 122; Rodriguez enjoyed his 57 HR, 142 RBI year; Miguel Tejada had 131 RBI and 34 HR; and Jim Thome hit 52 out of the park.

Saying goodbye were Mike Piazza and Sammy Sosa. In 2002 the Anaheim Angels edged out the San Francisco Giants 4 games to 3 in the World Series. Barry Bonds was the lone representative for the fantasy all-stars.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 26th
IF: 5th
OF: 17th
SP: 3rd
RP: 16th
Overall: 6th

Year: 2003
First Time All Stars: 9 – Carlos Delgado, Roy Halladay, Tim Hudson, Esteban Loaiza, Javy Lopez, Mark Prior, Scott Rolen, Jason Schmidt, Vernon Wells
3 Time All Stars: 2 – Todd Helton, Albert Pujols
5 Time All Stars: 2 – Pedro Martinez, Alex Rodriguez
10 Time All Stars: 1 – Barry Bonds
Future FBHOF’ers: 13 – Bonds, Helton, Martinez, Pujols, Manny Ramirez, Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield
Snubs: 2 – Nomar Garciaparra (11.5), Edgar Renteria (11.4)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Pujols (17.2)

This was a solid year, with all positions with the exception of starting pitcher, solidly above average. The most impressive aspect of the 2003 team was the relief corps, which ranked 5th. This is the best ranking given to closers since the days of 120 inning seasons from the early 1980’s.

Eric Gagne led all relievers with 9.1 FBHOF points, the highest mark of what we’ll call the modern closing era. He was unhittable posting a 0.69 WHIP and 1.20 ERA in 82 innings. He also struck out 137 and saved 55 games. Joining him in the pen is Keith Foulke (0.89 WHIP, 2.09 ERA, 43 Sv) and Billy Wagner (0.87 WHIP, 1.78 ERA, 44 K). Foulke dazzled fantasy owners with 9 wins as well.

Albert Pujols was rated best on the team. It was his finest fantasy season as he raised his batting average to .359 while maintaining his usual run production numbers, in this case 137 R, 43 HR, and 124 RBI. Gary Sheffield gets little credit when compared to his contemporaries, but he could mash. His .330 AVG with 126 R, 39 HR, 132 RBI, and 18 SB added up to 15.9 FBHOF points, second most on the team.

Also of note was Javy Lopez and his 43 HR and 109 RBI out of the catcher position. It was the 6th best single season for a catcher. Mark Prior teased us all with his only great season – 18 W, 1.10 WHIP, 2.43 ERA, and 245 K.

The Florida Marlins defeated the New York Yankees in six games. Florida had no fantasy All Stars; the Yanks had one, Alfonso Soriano.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 10th
IF: 13th
OF: 10th
SP: 19th
RP: 5th
Overall: 8th

Year: 1998
First Time All Stars: 4 – Vinny Castilla, Derek Jeter, Tom Gordon, Jason Kendall
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Trevor Hoffman, Chipper Jones, Alex Rodriguez, Curt Schilling
5 Time All Stars: 8 – Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Craig Biggio, Roger Clemens, Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mike Piazza
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 14 –Belle, Biggio, Bonds, Kevin Brown, Clemens, Griffey, Johnson, Jones, Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Piazza, Rodriguez, Schilling, Sammy Sosa
Snubs: 2 – Jeff Bagwell (11.1), Vladimir Guerrero (11.0)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Sosa (16.7)

Last week we saw how the 1997 squad ranked best overall among the 28 all star teams. While this is true in a statistical sense, many fans will likely look towards the 1998 team as the one to beat. Their team average FBHOF score is different only by the smallest percentage points – 12.08 vs. 12.07 – and frankly, this means there is no difference as I do not pretend that the math behind the FBHOF scoring system is reliable up to the hundredth decimal point.

Further, and more telling, the starting rotation is entirely made up of Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famers, 5 of 6 of which are likely headed to Cooperstown as well. Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, and Curt Schilling are joined by Kevin Brown, an excellent pitcher in his own right.

On offense, many names remain the same: Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Nomar Garciaparra, Ken Griffey Jr, Chipper Jones, Mike Piazza, and Alex Rodriguez make back to back All Star appearances. But there were a couple of upgrades, in name at least, too. Mark McGwire replaces Andres Galarraga, Albert Belle ditched Tony Gwynn, Juan Gonzalez instead of Raul Mondesi plus Sammy Sosa had his career year in 1998. For the first time ever all batters and staring pitchers reached 10 or more FBHOF points. This team had no weaknesses.

The ‘for fun’ fact that brings it all home? FBHOF’er Jeff Bagwell and Vlad Guerrero weren’t good enough to make this team; in 1997 the snubs were Tino Martinez and Vinny Castilla. There is no comparison.

The World Series featured the 114 Win New York Yankees, represented only by Derek Jeter. They defeated the San Diego Padres 4 games to none. Kevin Brown, the fantasy pitcher of the year, was their #1 starter.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 4th
IF: 3rd
OF: 14th
SP: 5th
RP: 15th
Overall: 2nd

Year: 1999
First Time All Stars: 9 – Shawn Green, Vladimir Guerrero, Mike Hampton, Jose Lima, Kevin Milwood, Manny Ramirez, Mariano Rivera, Billy Wagner, Scott Williamson
3 Time All Stars: 9 – Roberto Alomar, Jeff Bagwell, Kevin Brown, Nomar Garciaparra, Chipper Jones, Pedro Martinez, Mark McGwire, Ivan Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, Mike Piazza
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 –Alomar, Bagwell, Brown, Griffey, Guerrero, Johnson, Jones, Martinez, Piazza, Ramirez
Snubs: 2 – Rafael Palmeiro (11.3), Juan Gonzalez (11.0)
16 Pt Season: 2 – Martinez (18.1), Johnson (17.8)

This year’s version of Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson make up fantasy baseball’s historical best 1-2 punch. Martinez was technically awesome. Only five pitchers in the fantasy era have maintained a WHIP of 0.92 over the course of 200 or more innings, and despite starting just 29 games, he laid claim to 23 wins. On the other hand, Johnson was a workhorse. His WHIP was a full .10 higher and his ERA 0.40 higher, but Johnson was only 3-tenths of a FBHOF point behind Martinez for the #1 ranking of the year. Why? Innings pitched.

Above you can see that Martinez outperformed his NL counterpart in these critical rate statistics, especially in strikeout to walk ratio.  Johnson’s numbers were great in their own right, but no one could conclude that he was the ‘better’ of the two.  However, Johnson made 6 more starts than Martinez and lasted a shade deeper into each.  The question becomes would a fantasy owner rather, for instance, a 2.07 ERA in 213 IP or a 2.48 ERA in 271 innings?

Simple math.  Assume a standard fantasy rotation of 6 starters and 3 relievers, and pretend they each maintained an exact league average ERA of 4.37.  Replace a starter with Martinez and compute the new team ERA.  Then swap out Martinez for Johnson and compute his impact to the team.  Answer – the impacts are exactly the same:

4.022488 – Team ERA w/Martinez
4.022957 – Team ERA w/Johnson

Moral of the story?  Innings pitched matters.  A great deal.

Kevin Millwood and Kevin Brown were very good 3rd and 4th starters but Mike Hampton and Jose Lima (! – 21 W, 1.22 WHIP, 3.58 ERA) were worse than average for All Stars.

On offense, Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez combined to make the best All Star catching tandem in history:  .320 AVG, 216 R, 75 HR, 237 RBI, and 27 SB between them.

Elsewhere, Barry Bonds played in just 102 games (batting .262 in the process) and misses an All-Star nod for the first time since 1989. He would go on to be elected each year from 2000 to 2004, giving him 14 appearances in a 15 year stretch.  Recurring All-Stars Albert Belle, Craig Biggio, Nomar Garciaparra, Ken Griffey Jr, and Mark McGwire made their last team in 1999; Roberto Alomar, Shawn Green, Vlad Guerrero, Manny Ramirez, and Billy Wagner made their first.

In the World Series the New York Yankees won their 3rd title in 4 years, pounding the Atlanta Braves 4-0.  Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera represented the AL Champions while Chipper Jones and Millwood stood for the NL victors.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 1st
IF: 9th
OF: 20th
SP: 2nd
RP: 14th
Overall: 3rd

Year: 2000
First Time All Stars: 6 – Armando Benitez, Johnny Damon, Darin Erstad, Todd Helton, Richard Hidalgo, Jeff Kent.
3 Time All Stars: 7 –Roberto Alomar, Jeff Bagwell, Kevin Brown, Pedro Martinez, Robb Nen, Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa
5 Time All Stars: 5 – Trevor Hoffman, Randy Johnson, Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Mike Piazza
10 Time All Stars: 1 – Barry Bonds
Future FBHOF’ers: 13 – Alomar, Bagwell, Bonds, Brown, Vladimir Guerrero, Helton, Johnson, Jones, Maddux, Martinez, Piazza, Rodriguez, Sosa
Snubs: Troy Glaus (11.6), Andruw Jones (11.1), Frank Thomas (11.1)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Pedro Martinez (18.2)

The freak rosters made up of abnormal amounts of All Time fantasy greats continued in 2000, though the quality of seasons diminished. Dropping 14 slots, the first team of the new century is ranked just 15th, mostly due to an outfield crew that was in the bottom third in All Star history. Darin Erstad, Johnny Damon, and Richard Hidalgo had very good seasons but not even they would argue they were equal to those they replaced: Manny Ramirez, Ken Griffey Jr, and Larry Walker.

Starting pitching continued to be great and 2000 was the 4th consecutive season where the position was in the Top 6. Pedro Martinez became the first player in fantasy history to have back to back 18+ FBHOF point seasons. Take you pick as to which is better:

1999 – 213 IP, 23 W, 0.92 WHIP, 2.07 ERA, 313 K
2000 – 217 IP, 18 W, 0.74 WHIP, 1.74 ERA, 284 K

The first subway series in 44 years transpired in October, with the Yankees winning 4 games to 1. Flushing featured Mike Piazza and Armando Benitez as All Stars while the Bronx Bombers countered with, well no one, not even a snub.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 9th
IF: 11th
OF: 22nd
SP: 6th
RP: 24th
Overall: 15th

Year: 1995
First Time All Stars: 11 – Edgar Martinez, Jose Mesa, Mike Mussina, Hideo Nomo, Tim Salmon, Pete Schourek, Sammy Sosa, Mike Stanley, Jon Valentin, Mo Vaughn, Mark Wohlers
5 Time All Stars: 4 – Barry Bonds, David Cone, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 – Albert Belle, Craig Biggio, Bonds, Cone, Randy Johnson, Maddux, Mike Piazza, Sosa, Thomas,
Snubs: 2 – Chuck Knoblauch (11.9), Reggie Sanders (11.7)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Maddux (17.3)

1995 was the calm before the storm. This team was ranked 14th overall and the All-Stars would soon head into a stretch of four consecutive Top 10 teams, finishing with the best three of all time.

With the exception of relief pitching, all other positions were ranked between 8th and 16th making the team about average in total. For every Mike Piazza (12.6 FBHOF points) there seemed to be a Mike Stanley (5.9 FBHOF points) to counterbalance the team more towards mediocrity. Greg Maddux had an incredible year (17 FBHOF Points, 19 W, 0.81 WHIP, 1.63 ERA) but his All-Star teammate David Cone managed just 9.2 FBHOF points.

One important aspect of 1995 stands out though. Not only was Maddux great, but for the first time in the fantasy era there were two 16 point pitchers in the same year. Joining Maddux is #2 starter Randy Johnson who tossed 214 innings with a 1.05 WHIP and 2.48 ERA, winning 18 and striking out 294.

On offense, Albert Belle and Dante Bichette led the way with 15+ FBHOF point seasons and hitting 90 HR and 254 RBI combined.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 16th
IF: 12th
OF: 11th
SP: 8th
RP: 27th
Overall: 14th

Year: 1996
First Time All Stars: 11 – Kevin Brown, Ellis Burks, Ken Caminiti, Jeff Fassero, Pat Hentgen, Chipper Jones, Chuck Knoblauch, Robb Nen, Alex Rodriguez, Mel Rojas, John Smoltz
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Albert Belle, Dante Bichette, Ken Griffey Jr, Mike Piazza
5 Time All Stars: 2 – Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 – Belle, Bonds, Brown, Griffey Jr, Jones, Maddux, Piazza, Rodriguez, Smoltz
Snubs: 3 – Brady Anderson (11.7), Gary Sheffield (11.6), Frank Thomas (11.5)
16 Pt Season: 2 – John Smoltz (16.8), Ellis Burks (16.2)

Due to the strength of their potent offense, the 1996 All Stars rank 7th overall. The infield was very good (7th) with only the 2nd catcher Ivan Rodriguez failing to score 10 FBHOF points. First Basemen Andres Galarraga hit 47 HR and drove in 150; Second Basemen Chuck Knoblauch batted .341 with 140 R; Third Basemen Ken Caminiti hit 40 HR; and future FBHOF’er Alex Rodriguez made his first All-Star appearance batting .358 with 141 R, 36 HR, 123 RBI, and 15 SB as the starting shortstop. Other FBHOF’ers making their first all star appearances were Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, and Kevin Brown.

Smoltz was the best player on the team with 16.8 FBHOF points after putting up career highs in Wins, WHIP, ERA, and strikeouts. Ellis Burks’ season was the best ever for a non Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famer, he went: .344 AVG, 142 R, 40 HR, 128 RBI, 32 SB for 16.2 FBHOF points.

The outfield, led by Burks, was stellar, finishing 5th overall. Barry Bonds had a 40/40 season and a .300 batting average; Albert Belle hit 48 HR and almost reached 150 RBI; Kenny Lofton stole 75 bases with 132 runs and a batting average well over .300; and Ken Griffey Jr. had one of his best years going 125 / 49 / 140.

Multiple time All Stars Bichette, Lofton, Hideo Nomo, Mo Vaughn made their last All Star appearances in 1996.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 12th
IF: 7th
OF: 5th
SP: 18th
RP: 18th
Overall: 7th

Year: 1997
First Time All Stars: 6 – Nomar Garciaparra, Darryl Kile, Pedro Martinez, Raul Mondesi, Jeff Shaw, Larry Walker
3 Time All Stars: 6 – Craig Biggio, Andres Galarraga, Ken Griffey Jr, Trevor Hoffman, Ivan Rodriguez, Randy Jonson
5 Time All Stars: 5 – Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Mike Piazza, Frank Thomas
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 14 – Jeff Bagwell, Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Griffey, Johnson, Chipper Jones, Maddux, Martinez, Piazza, Alex Rodriguez, Curt Schilling, Thomas, Walker
Snubs: Vinny Castilla (11.2), Tino Martinez (10.2)
16 Pt Season: 2 – Larry Walker (19.4), Roger Clemens (16.2)

Never in the history of fantasy baseball has such a collection of talent been assembled. This team has it all:

.350+ AVG: Tony Gwynn, Mike Piazza, Larry Walker
50+ HR: Ken Griffey Jr
140+ R: Craig Biggio, Walker
140+ RBI: Andres Galarraga, Griffey
20+ W: Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson
Sub-1.00 WHIP: Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez
Sub-2.00 ERA: Martinez
300+ K: Curt Schilling, Martinez
40+ S: Jeff Shaw

The only missing attribute was a preeminent base stealer, though six players did have 25 or more, capped off by Biggio’s 47.

This team was also second to none in terms of elite seasons. A record five players recorded FBHOF scores of 15 or better:

The crown jewel of the ’97 All Stars is Walker, who amassed more FBHOF points in a single season than any other batter in fantasy history. Walker was good enough to lead the league in On Base percentage, Slugging Percentage, OPS, Total Bases, Home Runs, Runs Created, Extra Base Hits and several other Sabermetric minded stats like Offensive Winning Percentage and Adjusted Batting Runs. He was also Top-Three in Runs, Hits, Doubles, and RBI. It was an all around masterful season and I for one can’t wait to see how it stacks up against the greats of earlier decades (hint hint about future FBHOF developments).

Frank Thomas and Galarraga appeared on their last All Star roster and welcomed newcomers Nomar Garciaparra, Darryl Kile, Martinez, and Walker.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 2nd
IF: 14th
OF: 4th
SP: 1st
RP: 22nd
Overall: 1st

Year: 1992
First Time All Stars: 10 – Roberto Alomar, Carlos Baerga, Brady Anderson, Darren Daulton, Travis Fryman, Marquis Grissom, Doug Jones, Dennis Martinez, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield
3 Time All Stars: 6 – Barry Bonds, Joe Carter, David Cone, Dennis Eckersley, Greg Maddux, Mickey Tettleton, Kirby Puckett
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Roger Clemens, Paul Molitor, Ryne Sandberg
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 11 – Alomar, Bonds, Clemens, Cone, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas
Snubs: 2 – Terry Pendleton (11.4), Ray Lankford (11.2)
16 Pt Season: None

The finest All-Star teams were assembled in the late 1990’s, coinciding exactly with the period of off the charts offensive levels and thanks to the ability a handful of great pitchers who were able to maintain their own production levels despite this increase. While the early 1990’s featured some of the worst all star squads, several key greats made their first appearances in this timeframe. Roberto Alomar, Albert Belle, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Curt Schilling, Gary Sheffield, and Frank Thomas each made their first all star team between 1990-1993.

This wasn’t much of a help in 1992. In only a few rare cases in baseball history do players have their best season the first time they’re considered great, rather, they start good, become great, level off to good again and then retire. So while the 1992 team may be riddled with all-star names, they hadn’t quite reached superstar status yet. In fact, the 1992 team is the second worst on record.

Their two defining qualities were the catchers and relief corps – which happen to be the two least important aspects of any fantasy team. Darren Daulton and Mickey Tettleton were power hitting backstops, averaging 29 HR, 96 RBI, and 81 R between them. Daulton even threw in 11 stolen bases for good measure. The two were good enough to be ranked 2nd best among all star teams that didn’t feature Mike Piazza.

No closer had an ERA above 2.00 and Doug Jones, Dennis Eckersley, and Duane Ward combined to strike out nearly 300 batters.

The Toronto Blue Jays, led by fantasy All Stars Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, and Ward bested the Atlanta Braves 4 games to 2 in the World Series.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 6th
IF: 26th
OF: 19th
SP: 28th
RP: 9th
Overall: 27th

Year: 1993
First Time All Stars: 11 – Kevin Appier, Rod Beck, Albert Belle, Juan Gonzalez, Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Johnson, Jeff Montgomery, Rafael Palmeiro, Mike Piazza, Billy Swift, John Wetteland
3 Time All Stars: 4 –Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux, Ron Gant, Frank Thomas
5 Time All Stars: 1 – Paul Molitor
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 – Roberto Alomar, Belle, Bonds, Griffey, Johnson, Maddux, Molitor, Piazza, Thomas
Snubs: Marquis Grissom (11.7), Lenny Dykstra (11.7)
16 Pt Season: Bonds (17.0)

After a long hiatus of ten consecutive well below average teams, the All-Stars of 1993 finally cracked the Top 15. This was not a great team, but after finishing 27th the year before, their 11th place finish was quite remarkable.

The key areas of improvement were in the outfield and starting pitcher positions. Barry Bonds was the best player in fantasy baseball, amassing 17.0 FBHOF points, the first exceptional fantasy season since 1988 when Jose Canseco recorded 18.3 points. Bonds combined power, speed, and a high average as only a select few have done before – .336 AVG, 129 R, 46 HR, 123 RBI, 29 SB. Joining him in the outfield were Ken Griffey Jr, Juan Gonzalez, Albert Belle, and Ron Gant who between them averaged 106 R, 41 HR, 118 RBI, and 18 SB.

While the outfield improved considerably, it was nothing compared to how much better the 1993 pitchers were over their predecessors. They rank 11th, a 17 slot improvement, due to the fact five pitchers scored 11 or more FBHOF Points. Compare this to 1992 when just 2 accomplished the feat. Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famer’s Greg Maddux (20 W, 2.36 ERA) and Randy Johnson (19 W, 308 K) led the charge with 14.5 and 13.9 FBHOF points respectively. While not great names, Jose Rijo, Kevin Appier, and Bill Swift all had great seasons with a combined average 18 W, 1.09 WHIP, 2.62 ERA.

FBHOF’er catcher Mike Piazza made his first in a string of ten consecutive All-Star appearances in 1993, beginning a stretch of greatness unparalleled in fantasy baseball. No player has dominated his position like Piazza. The only catcher elected to the FBHOF, Piazza has the best three year positional score in the history of fantasy baseball. The official FBHOF score is comprised of two data points – scoring against the peers at a player’s position, and a scoring against all players. Looking solely at the positional component:

Piazza ranks first in 3-year peak and second in 5 and 10 year peak scores.

The 1993 World Series featured the famous Joe Carter walk-off home run to lead the Blue Jays past the Phillies in 6 games.  Roberto Alomar and Paul Molitor represented Toronto, and Darren Daulton Philadelphia.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 14th
IF: 20th
OF: 13th
SP: 11th
RP: 7th
Overall: 11th

Year: 1994
First Time All Stars: 6 – Jeff Bagwell, Dante Bichette, Jeff Brantley, Trevor Hoffman, Kenny Lofton, Ivan Rodriguez
3 Time All Stars: 7 – Carlos Baerga, David Cone, Doug Drabek, Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Bret Saberhagen, Matt Williams
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Cal Ripken
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: 13 – Bagwell, Craig Biggio, Bonds, Albert Belle, Clemens, Cone, Ken Griffey Jr, Randy Jonson, Maddux, Mike Piazza, Saberhagen, Thomas, Ripken,
Snubs: Jose Canseco (11.3, 2nd Snub), Paul Molitor (11.2), Kirby Puckett (11.1, 2nd Snub)
16 Pt Season: Maddux (18.8), Bagwell (17.6)

Two aspects of the 1994 team stand out – no other season featured two players to reach 17+ FBHOF points, and this was one hell of an outfield. The outfielders collectively rank second, behind only the 1981 team which featured four players with 14 or more points. Three players reached 14 this year – Albert Belle (36 HR, .357 AVG, 101 RBI), Ken Griffey Jr (40 HR), and Barry Bonds (37 HR, 29 SB). Keeping in mind that nearly 30% of the season was lost due to the strike, these numbers are impressive.

The best offensive player of the season was Jeff Bagwell. He batted .368 with 104 R, 39 HR, 116 RBI, and 15 SB en route to 17.6 FBHOF points – 5th best all time and tops among first basemen. It was his first year as an all star and he would eventually be elected to three more All-Star squads.

The premier player of 1994, regardless of position, was Greg Maddux who turned in the best season in fantasy history, recording 18.8 points. Using funny math and adding back the missing 30% of the season due to the strike, we arrive at a line of 21 W, 0.90 WHIP, 1.56 ERA, and 203 K. Complete domination.

Unlike the great seasons of Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson that would soon be upon the fantasy community, Maddux was the only pitcher of his time to be 50% better than his closest competition. This is reflected in the FBHOF scoring system. The table below depicts the elite pitching seasons of the fantasy era along with the scoring of the next best pitcher of the year:

Maddux had no equals.  Later in the 1990s, it was a constant battle between Maddux, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez.  In 1994 Maddux stood alone atop the pitching community.

Several new All-Stars of 1994 would go on to have great careers: Ivan Rodriguez (6 ASP), Trevor Hoffman (5 ASP), Craig Biggio (4 ASP), and Dante Bichette (3 ASP).  Three 3-time all stars made their last appearance this year as well – Carlos Baerga, Doug Drabek, and Matt Williams.

In one of the biggest mistakes in baseball history, the 1994 World Series was canceled due to labor strife.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 15th
IF: 25th
OF: 2nd
SP: 10th
RP: 28th
Overall: 17th

Year: 1989
First Time All Stars: 11 – Craig Biggio, Bobby Bonilla, Will Clark, Jose DeLeon, Bo Jackson, Fred McGriff, Kevin Mitchell, Mike Moore, Ruben Sierra, Mickey Tettleton
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Eric Davis, Orel Hershiser, Mike Scott, Ryne Sandberg
5 Time All Stars: 2 – Rickey Henderson, Robin Yount
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 5 – Biggio, Henderson, Bret Saberhagen, Sandberg, Young
Snubs: 3 – Lonnie Smith (10.6), Julio Franco (10.5), Don Mattingly (10.3)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Saberhagen (16.5)

All Star teams suffered through their worst stretch of the fantasy era between the 1986 and 1992 seasons. No team ranked higher than 19th and four of the six lowest ranked teams came from this period. There were few endearing qualities with the 1989 team since catchers, outfielders, and starting pitchers each ranked in the in the lower quartile when compared with their peers from other years. Even middle infielders were below average, ranking 17th, while relievers at least held their own at 10th.

1989 was the first year several future recurring all stars made their first. Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famer Craig Biggio had his first great year, as a catcher, and Bobby Bonilla, Fred McGriff, Ruben Sierra, and Mickey Tettleton also made their first appearances. Alternatively, the fantasy Baseball All Star squads said goodbye FBHOF’er Robin Yount and other greats such as Orel Hershiser, Mike Scott, and Eric Davis who would make their final All Star appearances this season.

Several popular players of the day enjoyed their best seasons. Will Clark batted .333 and drove in 111 runners; Bo Jackson hit 32 HR, stole 26 bases, and had 105 RBI; and Kevin Mitchell went off with 47 bombs and 127 RBI.

Nobody was better than Howard Johnson though. Johnson is a borderline Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famer who enjoyed the best year of his career this year. He missed the 40/40 club by 4 home runs, had over 100 runs and RBI, and recorded enough hits to bat .287. His 15.9 FBHOF points was the best among batters.

Bret Saberhagen was the leading fantasy pitcher, besting all starters in Wins, WHIP, and ERA.

The Oakland Athletics, led by All Stars Rickey Henderson and Mike Moore, swept the San Francisco Giants in the earthquake interrupted “Bay Bridge” World Series.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 22nd
IF: 17th
OF: 21st
SP: 22nd
RP: 10th
Overall: 24th

Year: 1990
First Time All Stars: 10 – Barry Bonds, Rob Dibble, Doug Drabek, Cecil Fielder, Ron Gant, Kelly Gruber, Ramon Martinez, Dave Stewart, Bobby Thigpen, Matt Williams
3 Time All Stars: 6 – Roger Clemens, Carlton Fisk, Howard Johnson, Lance Parrish, Darryl Strawberry, Frank Viola
5 Time All Stars: 2 – Eddie Murray, Ryne Sandberg,
10 Time All Stars: 1 – Rickey Henderson
Future FBHOF’ers: 5 – Bonds, Clemens, Henderson, Murray, Sandberg,
Snubs: 4 – Jose Canseco (10.7), Lenny Dykstra (10.3), Andre Dawson (10.3), Fred McGriff (10.2)
16 Pt Season: Sandberg (16.4)

In 1990 improvements to the outfield and relief corps were offset by declining scores to catchers, middle infielders, and starting pitchers. In all, the 1990 squad was ranked a lowly 23rd. On a positive note, the 1990 All-Stars introduced the fantasy world to Barry Bonds. He batted .301 with 104 R, 33 HR, 114 RBI, and 52 stolen bases in the first of his fourteen All Star appearances. Additionally, the All Star careers of several other fantasy greats were launched – Doug Drabek, Cecil Fielder, Ron Gant, Matt Williams. Of the four, Gant had the best career (56.8 FBHOF points) and Fielder had the best year – 51 HR and 132 RBI.

This season also marked the end to several great All Star careers. Two excellent catchers, Lance Parrish and Carlton Fisk, had their last all-star quality seasons and ended their careers with 6 All Star appearances between them. This was also the last appearances for three timers Darryl Strawberry and Frank Viola.

The biggest losses however, were Rickey Henderson and Eddie Murray, both of whom are members of the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame. Murray was good enough for long enough to make 7 All Star appearances and Henderson was a step above him still, with 1990 being the last of an incredible 10 appearances. Henderson in particular ended on high note batting .325 with 119 R, 28 HR, 61 RBI, and 65 SB.

Roger Clemens was the pitcher of the year winning 21 games and striking out 209 batters in 228 innings. His ERA was under 2.00. 1990 was also the year of Dennis Eckersley (0.61 ERA, 0.61 WHIP) and Bobby Thigpen’s 57 saves. Rob Dibble was the third closer selected (98 IP, 136 K, 1.74 WHIP) making the closers the lone standout on the team.

After sweeping the year before, the A’s were themselves swept at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds in one of the biggest upsets in memory. Dibble represented the Reds while the A’s countered with 3 – Dave Stewart, Bob Welch, and Eckersley.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 27th
IF: 23rd
OF: 8th
SP: 23rd
RP: 8th
Overall: 23rd

Year: 1991
First Time All Stars: 7 – Tom Glavine, Bryan Harvey, Mark Langston, Jose Rijo, Frank Thomas, Duane Ward, Mitch Williams
3 Time All Stars: 2 – Julio Franco, Paul Molitor
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Roger Clemens, Cal Ripken, Ryne Sandberg
10 Time All Stars: None
Future FBHOF’ers: Barry Bonds, Clemens, David Cone, Greg Maddux, Molitor, Ripken, Sandberg, Thomas,
Snubs: Rafael Palmeiro (11.5), Chris Sabo (11.1)
16 Pt Season: None

The key aspect of the 1991 Fantasy All Star team is the middle infielders. Julio Franco, Cal Ripken, and Ryne Sandberg were the best grouping since 1985 and averaged 13.6 FBHOF points, almost as many points as the outfielders. Together they hit 75 HR, scored 311 times, drove in 292 runners, stole 64 bases, and had a combined batting average of .315. The middle infielders wouldn’t be this good again until Alex Rodriguez burst onto the scene five years later.

The catchers, Mickey Tettleton and Benito Santiago, were both multiple time All-Stars who delivered about average productions for All Stars. They had power hitting 48 home runs and producing 176 RBI. Their weak batting averages (.263 and .267) prevented higher scoring.

Jose Canseco led the offense with 14.8 FBHOF points – he hit 44 HR, with 115 R, 122 RBI, and 26 SB. Fellow outfielders Ruben Sierra, Ron Gant, and Joe Carter were all multi year all stars and Barry Bonds had not yet reached superstar status. Together, they were roughly average when compared to other All Star outfields.

Pitching is a glaring weakness on the 1991 team. Roger Clemens was having another fine year (18 W, 1.05 WHIP, 2.62 ERA, 241 K) and Tom Glavine was very good (12.5 FBHOF Points) but no other starter cracked 10 points. That leaves 4 starters with an average score of just 8.9. David Cone was the worst of the lot thanks to a mediocre 14 Wins and a 3.29 ERA.

The 1991 World Series was one of the best ever, a 7 game duel decided by a 10th inning single by pinch hitter Gene Larkin in a scoreless game. The Twins won despite no fantasy All Stars on their roster.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 17th
IF: 8th
OF: 16th
SP: 25th
RP: 19th
Overall: 28th

Year: 1986
First Time All Stars: 15(!) – Jesse Barfield, George Bell, Joe Carter, Roger Clemens, Eric Davis, Jody Davis, Gary Gaetti, Mike Krukow, Roger McDowell, Kirby Puckett
, Dave Righetti, Steve Sax, Mike Scott, Mike Witt, Todd Worrell
3 Time All Stars: 3 – Don Mattingly, Mike Schmidt, Fernando Valenzuela
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Gary Carter, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 7 – Clemens, Henderson, Mattingly, Puckett, Ripken, Schmidt, Fernando Valenzuela
Snubs: Tim Raines (11.4), Von Hayes (11.3), Jim Rice (11.0), Tony Gwynn (10.9)
16 Pt Season: Mike Scott (17.3)

An incredible 15 first time all stars made the 1986 team. The vacuum was in part created by several greats that made their last All Star appearance on the 1985 team. While still productive, both Tim Raines and Dwight Gooden were never considered elite again. Eddie Murray, who would improbably make the 1990 All Stars, started a 4-year period of less than spectacular play and new blood in the likes of Don Mattingly emerged as the best first basemen.

1986 was also the final year of Gary Carter’s seven year reign as the best fantasy catcher in game. Between 1987 and 1992 following Carter’s departure, nine different catchers would make All-Star appearances.

This churn resulted in a less than spectacular team, one that finished just 19th of the 28 teams we are to investigate. But it was the first year future Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famer’s Kirby Puckett and Roger Clemens made the all-stars. Fan admired Eric Davis would also make this team, stealing 80 bases and hitting 27 home runs. Clemens was the key All Star rookie however, as he would go on to become an inner circle FBHOF’er and record more FBHOF points than any other pitcher in fantasy history. While not considered a true rookie, 1986 was the first year Clemens made 30 or more starts. He won 24 games with a 0.97 WHIP, 2.48 ERA, and 238 K’s for a sweet 15.5 FBHOF points.
He wasn’t the best player of the year however, that distinction goes to Mike Scott who recorded 17.3 FBHOF points, 9th highest of the fantasy era, and the best mark for a non-hall of famer. The rest of the starting rotation was made up of one time all stars Mike Witt and Mike Krukow, three time all star Jack Morris, and one of the last good seasons of FBHOF’er Fernando Valenzuela. Starters were the lone bright spot, finishing 7th in the rankings.

The principal concern with the 1986 All Stars is a poor showing from the catchers and middle infielders. Jody Davis, back up catcher to Carter, is elected with the 2nd worst All Star score for catchers ever. The middle infielders had a different problem – Cal Ripken, Steve Sax, and Alan Trammell each had good years, averaging 10.2 FBHOF points, but 1986 marked the first time no middle infielder reached the 12 point plateau, the cut-off used for “great” seasons. This results in a raking of just 27th.

Outfielders performed close to the average with Kirby Puckett (.328, 119 R, 31 HR, 96 RBI, 20 SB) and Rickey Henderson (130 R, 28 HR, 87 SB) leading the charge. Closers were now fully into the period of less innings pitched, which reduced their fantasy value considerably:

Clemens’ Red Sox lost to Carter’s Mets in one of the more memorable World Series.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 24th
IF: 27th
OF: 12th
SP: 7th
RP: 21st
Overall: 19th

Year: 1987
First Time All Stars: 11 – Tim Burke, Tony Gwynn, Tom Henke, Howard Johnson, Jimmy Key, Mark McGwire, Matt Nokes, Benito Santiago, Darryl Strawberry, Frank Viola, Bob Welch
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Andre Dawson, Dwight Evans, Jack Morris, Alan Trammell
5 Time All Stars: 1 – Dale Murphy
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 4 – Clemens, Dawson, Paul Molitor, Murphy
Snubs: Tim Raines (11.9), Vince Coleman (11.2), Kirby Puckett (11.1)
16 Pt Season: None

The late 1980’s into the early 1990’s was a period of few standouts. The number of 12 Point, 16 Point, and 18 Point seasons was all down from levels established in the early and mid 1980’s, and well off the pace of the late 90’s into early 2000’s. Only until recently as parity gripped teams and players alike, have the numbers returned to a level near the late 1980’s.

The chart below depicts the number of each season type (12, 16, or 18 points) by year. The Y-Axis is represents the number of season types per team, on average. For instance, in 1998 every other team, 50%, would expect to have a 12 point player. This is twice as much as the all time low of 1994, when 1 in 4 teams would have a 12 point player.

With no 16 point seasons, or 15 point seasons for that matter, there are few standouts in 1987 – every non catcher recorded somewhere between 10.8 and 14.3 points.  The best of the bunch was George Bell and his 47 home runs.  Mark McGwire belted 49 homers, but scored lower than Bell in every other category, especially RBI where he fell short 134 to 118.    Darryl Strawberry (39 HR, 36 SSB), Eric Davis (37 HR, 50 SB), Andre Dawson (49 HR, 137 RBI), and Dale Murphy (44 HR, 115 R) all had memorable seasons but none scored particularly highly.

1987 is famous for its offensive explosion.  In the 5 year period after the 1981strike, baseball averaged less than 13 players with 30 or more home runs.  In 1987 the figure spiked to 28.  Baseball also averaged less than 1 player per season hitting 40 home runs prior to 1987.  Then the number more than quadrupled to four (Bell, Dawson, McGwire, Murphy).  Even the number players who hit 10 and 20 or more home runs increased considerably, 20% and 55% respectively.  Because of this, it was difficult to stand out, which reduces a players FBHOF score.  Simple supply and demand – if more players are hitting 30+ homers, the less an owner has to fight for there services, reducing each players overall value.

The pitchers were no better off than the batters.  Starters rank 20th overall and relievers 13th, though the impact of closers is already small as we have seen.   Roger Clemens (20 W, 1.18 WHIP, 2.97 ERA, 256 K) was pitcher of the year, though his stats add up to just 13.7 points.  He’s followed in the rotation by Jimmy Key (just 161 K), Mike Scott (16 W, 3.23 ERA), Frank Viola, Jack Morris, and Bob Welch.  This was also the first time no All Star relievers reached 100 innings pitched.

The 1987 World Series featured FBHOF’ers Kirby Puckett and Frank Viola.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 5th
IF: 15th
OF: 26th
SP: 27th
RP: 2nd
Overall: 22nd

Year: 1988
First Time All Stars: 11 – Jose Canseco, David Cone, Mark Davis, Dennis Eckersley, John Franco, Julio Franco, Andres Galarraga¸ Mike Greenwell, Teddy Higuera, Danny Jackson, Barry Larkin, Ernie Whitt
3 Time All Stars: 4 – Roger Clemens, George Brett, Rickey Henderson, Paul Molitor, Ryne Sandberg, Dave Winfield
5 Time All Stars: 1 – Henderson
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 7 – Canseco, Clemens, Cone, Henderson, Molitor, Kirby Puckett, Sandberg
Snubs: Andy Van Slyke (12.0), Will Clark (11.4), Kirk Gibson (11.0), Kevin McReynolds (10.4), Joe Carter (10.2)
16 Pt Season: Canseco (18.3)

The 1988 All-Stars are our worst ranked team in fantasy history. The Catchers and infielders are ranked last, the relievers 3rd to last, and the starting pitchers were barely average. If it weren’t for featuring the 3rd best offensive season of the Fantasy Era, this team would have been dreadful.

Starting with the positives – future Fantasy Baseball Hall of Famer Jose Canseco was awesome. He hit 42 home runs and stole 40 bases to be baseball first “40/40’ man. He hit over .300 and accumulated 120+ Runs and RBI. His 18.3 FBHOF points is just 1 of 4 such seasons in fantasy history. Fellow outfielder Kirby Puckett was also enjoying the best fantasy season of his career, adding 15.8 FBHOF points after batting .356 with 109 R, 24 HR, 121 RBI and 6 stolen bases. This gave the outfielders a 3rd place ranking.

Starting pitcher Orel Hershiser narrowly missed enshrinement into the FBHOF, falling short by just one-tenth of a point. His 1988 FBHOF score of 13.4 was the best of his career too, winning 23 games with a 1.05 WHIP and 2.26 ERA. This was also the season of his famous 59 consecutive scoreless innings streak. Joining Hershiser were FBHOF’ers Roger Clemens and David Cone, both of who were very good but not great. The 1988 starting pitching ranks 14th, exactly average.

The main problem with this squad is the entire infield; because of their deficiencies a record 54.9 FBHOF points were left off the team as Andy Van Slyke, Will Clark, Kirk Gibson, Kevin McReynolds, and Joe Carter were omitted. Van Slyke’s 12.0 FBHOF points is the second worst snub of all time. He had 101 R, 100 RBI, 25 HR, and 30 SB and was ranked as the 7th best batter and finished 4th in the NL-MVP voting.

Instead of the likes of Van Slyke and Clark, the 1988 team was saddled with catchers Ernie Whitt and Tony Pena. Whitt at least had 16 HR and 70 RBI, respectable for a catcher, but Pena was bad for an All Star by any standard – .263 AVG, 55 R, 10 HR, 51 RBI. Much of the rest of the infield was of poor quality too. Julio Franco, Barr Larkin, and Ryne Sandberg all failed to reach 10 FBHOF points and only one of the six infielders, George Brett, reached the 100 RBI plateau.

Along with past great Dave Winfield, 1988 would be Brett’s last All Star appearance. However, the career’s of David Cone (5 All Star appearances), Andres Galarraga (3), Julio Franco (3), Dennis Eckersley (3), and Canseco were just emerging.

The 1988 World Series featured the famous Kirk Gibson home run off of Dennis Eckersley, catapulting the Dodgers to a relatively easy 5 game victory. The Dodgers featured FBHOF’er Fernando Valenzuela, while the Athletics countered with Canseco.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 28th
IF: 28th
OF: 3rd
SP: 14th
RP: 26th
Overall: 28th

Year: 1983
First Time All Stars: 11 – John Denny, Carlton Fisk, Pedro Guerrero, La Marr Hoyt, Jack Morris, Jesse Orosco, Jim Rice, Dave Stieb, Lou Whitaker
3 Time All Stars: 5 – Cecil Cooper, Andre Dawson, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray, Robin Yount
5 Time All Stars: N/A
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 8 – Steve Carlton, Dawson, Henderson, Dale Murphy, Murray, Tim Raines, Cal Ripken, Yount.
Snubs: Ron Guidry (8.5), Lloyd Moseby (10.9), Mike Schmidt (11.1), Willie Upshaw (11.2)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Murphy (16.6)

By 1983 several players had emerged as recurring fantasy greats. Steve Carlton, Cecil Cooper, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray, and Robin Yount each were elected to their 4th consecutive All-Star team, and all but Cooper would eventually be inducted into Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooper falls just short of FBHOF requirements only since his 5th best season came one year before the 1980 cutoff.

On offense, Dale Murphy was king, enjoying his best season as a professional – .302, 131 R, 36 HR, 121 RBI, and 30 SB for the #1 batter ranking that year. His 16.6 FBHOF points rank 16th in the fantasy era. The rest of his outfield peers were solid themselves, finishing 9th in the positional rankings from 1980-2007. Two other stars of the 1970’s – Jim Rice and Dave Winfield – joined FBHOF’ers Tim Raines and Andre Dawson to give the outfielders an average of 13.5 points between them.

The 1983 bullpen ranks #1 all time. The names do not conjure up memories of the best seasons ever, but from a fantasy standpoint Dan Quisenberry, Jesse Orosco, and Al Holland delivered over 340 innings of 0.99 WHIP, 1.88 ERA baseball, along with 26 wins and 87 saves.

Starting pitching was relatively weak as Mario Soto, the #1 starter, had just 13.5 FBHOF points, the 5th worst mark for the #1 pitcher in a given year. He’s joined by first time All Stars Jack Morris, La Marr Hoyt, John Denny, and Dave Stieb. FBHOF’er Steve Carlton is the 6th starter, though this was his last great year.

Joe Altobelli’s Baltimore Orioles would win the World Series in 1983, topping the Philadelphia Phillies in just 5 games. Murray and Ripken are their representatives.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 7th
IF: 21st
OF: 9th
SP: 21st
RP: 1st
Overall: 9th

Year: 1984
First Time All Stars: 8 – Tony Armas, Bert Blyleven, Mike Boddicker, Dwight Gooden, Willie Hernandez, Don Mattingly, Tony Pena, Juan Samuel
3 Time All Stars: 5 – Dale Murphy, Cal Ripken, Mike Schmidt, Mario Soto, Tim Raines
5 Time All Stars: 2 – Eddie Murray, Rickey Henderson
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 9 –Gooden, Henderson, Mattingly, Murphy, Murray, Raines, Ripken, Ryne Sandberg, Schmidt
Snubs: Bud Black, Jim Rice
16 Pt Season: None

1984 wasn’t a prime year for great baseball lines and it shows when constructing the fantasy All Star squad. Instead of an all time great Mike Schmidt leading the league in home runs like he did in 1983, it was Tony Armas. Instead of Jim Rice and the RBI crown, it was Armas again. Dale Murphy was a stud in 1983, amassing 16.6 FBHOF points after batting .302 with 131 R, 36 HR, 121 RBI, and 30 SB. One year later the best line in fantasy was just 13.6 FBHOF points when Ryne Sandberg batted .314 with 114 R, 19 HR, 84 RBI, and 32 SB.

Two young players from New York did have a major impact on the game however, and would eventually become greats, if just for a short period of time. In the National League, Dwight Gooden threw his first major league pitch in April, becoming one of the finest pitchers in baseball over the next 3 or 4 years. The same is true for the Yankees first basemen, Don Mattingly, who won a batting title and drove in 100 runners in his first full time season.

Overall though, the Infielders, Outfielders, and Staring Pitching all rank in the lower half of FBHOF scoring, with the latter two positions coming in with some of the worst scores on record.

A positive about 1983, and of the period between 1982 and 1985, was the quality of the catching crew. The only better 4 year period of the fantasy era was 1997 to 2000 thanks to the likes of Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez. In the early 80’s it was six time All Star Gary Carter (and he’s not in the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame?) along with Lance Parrish and Carlton Fisk, both three time all stars.

In the World Series the Detroit Tigers cemented their place in history as one of the great single season teams, winning 104 games and easily dispatching the San Diego Padres 4 games to 1. Not one regular Tiger is on this team, though closer Willie Hernandez was spectacular, reaching 10.5 FBHOF points thanks to a line of 140 IP, 9 W, 0.94 WHIP, 1.92 ERA, and 32 saves. Those were the days for relief pitching.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 5th
IF: 15th
OF: 26th
SP: 27th
RP: 2nd
Overall: 22nd

Year: 1985
First Time All Stars: 9 – Kirk Gibson, Tommy Herr, Orel Hershiser, Bob James, Willie McGee, Donnie Moore, Dave Parker, Bret Saberhagen, John Tudor
3 Time All Stars: 3 – Dale Murphy, Cal Ripken, Fernando Valenzuela
5 Time All Stars: 3 – Gary Carter, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: Dwight Gooden, Henderson, Don Mattingly, Murphy, Murray, Cal Ripken, Saberhagen, Ryne Sandberg, Valenzuela
Snubs: Tim Raines (11.5)
16 Pt Season: Henderson (16.6), Gooden (18.3)

This was a fun team to explore, one riddled with great seasons. Only 1997 saw more 15-point campaigns, and 1985 is also ranked 4th in 10-point seasons. Rickey Henderson, Dwight Gooden and Don Mattingly were each at the height of their successes while Orel Hershiser, Eddie Murray, and Dale Murphy were in the midst of their second best seasons of the Fantasy Era. Additionally, Gary Carter joins Henderson and Murray to create our first team with three 5-time all stars.

The standouts of 1985 were the infielders who combined to average 13.6 FBHOF points. In the 18 year period between 1877 and 1996, Don Mattingly was the only major leaguer to drive in 145 runners; Sandberg stole 54 while contributing 26 HR and 113; George Brett went .335 / 108 / 30 / 112; Ripken hit 26 HR and had 100+ R & RBI; and finally, Murray drove in 124 and hit 31 HR. Only middle infielder Tommy Herr had less than 12 FBHOF points and he was very good regardless – .302 AVG, 97 R, 110 RBI, 31 SB. Only one infield of the fantasy era ranked better, the 2005 squad of Albert Pujols, Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Young, Derek Lee, and Chone Figgins.

The outfield was great too, ranking 6th overall. Again, only one player scored less than 12 FBHOF points and their collective average stats were 110 R, 28 HR, 100 RBI, and 32 SB.

While not exactly week, starting pitching was an area where the 1985 team did not rank well above average. Gooden was amazing – 277 IP, 24 W, 0.97 WHIP, 1.53 ERA, 268 K and John Tudor and Hershiser made a formidable 1-2-3, but at the tail end Bret Saberhagen and Bert Blyleven couldn’t match Gooden’s FBHOF score between them. And for the first time not a single closer reached 6.5 points, ranking 23rd of 28 teams.

The Kansas City Royals, thanks in large part to All Stars Brett and Saberhagen, bested the St. Louis Cardinals in a hard fought 7 game series. Cardinal All-Star and starting pitcher Tudor, was shelled after two great performances in games 1 & 4.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 3rd
IF: 2nd
OF: 6th
SP: 13th
RP: 23rd
Overall: 4th

At the end of each year FBHOF.com will scour through the latest batch of stats to see if any others deserve to be remembered in this manner as well.  However, one may view the actual inductions as a relatively minor part of what FBHOF is all about.  Anything ‘great’ is eligible for discussion and if there is anything you would like to see, please drop me a line.

In this vein, the next topic to explore is the Fantasy All Stars from each season.  In the coming weeks we’ll construct the best 23 players from each season and elect them to an “All Star” team – keeping track of trends, snubs, and eyeing the great seasons of each year.  When we through with each of the 28 teams I hope to crown a champion based upon the results of an extremely popular online historical baseball simulation.  More on this later as the details are ironed out.

All Star roster construction will be determined by FBHOF Score with a keen eye towards positional requirements.  The standard Fantasy team requires:

2 Catchers,
1 First Basemen,
1 Second Basemen,
1 Third Basemen
1 Shortstop
5 Outfielders
1 Middle Infielder
1 Corner Infielder
1 Utility
6 Starting Pitchers
3 Closers

Our All-Star squads will strictly adhere to the above.  This means each year several players, batters mostly, will be in among the top scorers but not elected due to positional requirements.   Interestingly, one player has been snubbed more than any other and his FBHOF situation parallels his real life career where he may find himself on the outside looking to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.

Year: 1980
First Time All Stars: All
3 Time All Stars: N/A
5 Time All Stars: N/A
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 5 – Steve Carlton, Rickey Henderson, Eddie Murray, Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount
Snubs: Tony Armas Jr. (10.4), Al Bumbry (10.2), Andre Dawson (10.4), Keith Hernandez (11.2)
16 Pt Seasons: 1 – Carlton (17.5)

The inaugural season of the Fantasy Era wasn’t exactly a banner year for the few die hard Rotisserie players of the day.  Sure, with Mike Schmidt, Robin Yount, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, George Brett, Eddie Murray, and Steve Carlton on the roster there was plenty of superstar talent to spread around, but what was lacking in 1980 was superstar statistics.

I tabulated team points for each season based upon the All Star’s FBHOF Score, and further delineated each team into Catchers, Infielders, Outfielders, Starting Pitchers, and Relief Pitchers.   For the 1980 team only catchers scored above average, and just barely, with a ranking of 13th out of 28 teams.  The balance ranked between 18th and 24th, with an overall ranking of just 26th.

Among batters, first basemen Cecil Cooper scored the most points (14.5) by batting .352 with 96 R, 25 HR, 122 RBI, and 17 SB.  This was good, but by no means great even when considering the low offensive era of the early 1980’s.  Schmidt and Brett scored over 14 themselves but infielders Willie Randolph and Alan Trammel were black holes totaling just 16 points between them.

Perhaps the lone bright spot was a gem of season by Steve Carlton who won 24 games, struck out 286 batters, and held his ERA under 2.50.  #2 starter Mike Norris had his career year as well (22 W, 1.05 WHIP, 2.53 ERA, 180 K) scoring 13.2 points.

The Philadelphia Phillies took home the World Series title in 1980, besting the Kansas City Royals in 6 games.  FBHOF’ers Schmidt and Carlton were the Phillies representatives to this All Star team.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 13th
IF: 18th
OF: 24th
SP: 24th
RP: 20th
Overall: 26th

Year: 1981
First Time All Stars: 11.  It is just the second year where there was an all star game, so we’ll not list all 11.
3 Time All Stars: N/A
5 Time All Stars: N/A
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: 7 – Carlton, Andre Dawson, Henderson, Murray, Tim Raines, Schmidt, Yount, Fernando Valenzuela
Snubs: Tony Armas (2nd time, 10.7), George Hendrick (11.1), Carney Lansford (11.2), Gary Mathews (10.7), Mario Soto (8.8)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Schmidt (18.8)

This was a great team, though a caveat needs to be made since it was a strike season.  Is it likely that Schmidt would have finished with 18.8 FBHOF Points given another 60 games to work with?  No probably not, and the same can be said for any player enjoying a great 1st half – the odds of a hot start continuing diminish each day as season progresses.  At the same time though, I am sure many a great 2nd half never saw the light of day which could be argued held scoring down, at least in some instances.

The key to the 1981 squad was its outfield, a truly superb group of starting five, three of which were future FBHOF’ers.  In addition, Dwight Evans, George Foster, and Tom Paciorek were all excellent and provided enough points to rank this outfield first overall thanks to an average score of 14.3, best of all time among not just outfielders, but any positional grouping.

In the infield, Schmidt’s historic season made up for mediocre (by All Star standards) years from middle infielders Robin Yount and Dave Concepcion.  Starting pitching was a bit top heavy though Fernando Valenzuela and Carlton made a formidable #1 and #2.

Rollie Fingers led a dominant relief corps, enjoying one of the few double digit seasons recorded by a reliever.  The 1981 team ranks 5th overall, a vast improvement from their predecessors.

Only 1 player, future FBHOF’er Fernando Venezuela, came from the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.  Valenzuela, a 20 year old rookie won 13 of 25 starts and led the league in strikeouts, Innings, Shutouts, and Complete Games.  For fantasy purposes, his 1.05 WHIP was 2nd in the league.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 23rd
IF: 16th
OF: 1st
SP: 15th
RP: 3rd
Overall: 5th

Year: 1982
First Time All Stars: 10 – Joaquin Andujar, Bill Caudill, Damaso Garcia, Hal McRae, Greg Minton, Joe Niekro, Lance Parrish, Dan Quisenberry, Cal Ripken, Lonnie Smith, Mario Soto,
3 Time All Stars: 6 – Carlton, Cooper, Gary Carter, Henderson, Murray, Yount.
5 Time All Stars: N/A
10 Time All Stars: N/A
Future FBHOF’ers: Carlton, Dawson, Henderson, Paul Molitor, Dale Murphy, Murray, Cal Ripken, Yount, Valenzuela.
Snubs: Bill Buckner (10.9), Pedro Guerrero (11.8) Al Oliver (11.9)
16 Pt Season: 1 – Yount

Two aspects of this team stand out – the starting pitching was very strong and the outfield was deep, perhaps too deep.  Here we find the first instance where all 6 starting pitchers scored 10 or more points, a feat matched only 5 other times.  They rank just 9th since Steve Carlton was the only elite pitcher during the year, but Rogers and Soto more then held their own, combining for a 33 wins and an ERA of 2.63.

Al Oliver and Guerrero combined for 23.7 points giving them the dubious record for the best jilted players in a single season.  Very little separated these two from most of the other outfield crew – Lonnie Smith, Andre Dawson, Dwight Evans, and Hal McRae averaged 12.2 points to the snubs 11.9.  This wasn’t a positive though, collectively the All Star outfielders rank 23rd mostly due to a lack of a dominant season.

The best season of the year belonged to the shortstop, Robin Yount, who was appearing on his 3rd consecutive All-Star team.  Yount was an all around stud in 1982 – .331 AVG, 129 R, 29 HR, 114 RBI, 14 SB.  Damaso Garcia and future FBHOF’er Cal Ripken made their All-Star debuts with relatively low scores to round out he middle infielders.  FBHOF’ers Paul Molitor and Dale Murphy also made their first All Star appearances in 1982.

Joaquin Andujar (15 W, 2.47 ERA) and Smith were the two elections from the St. Louis Cardinals, who bested the American League’s Milwaukee Brewers 4 games to 3 in the World Classic.

Positional Ranking Among the 28 Teams
C: 8th
IF: 19th
OF: 23rd
SP: 9th
RP: 4th
Overall: 12th

Let the roasting begin!  By my calculations not one closer in the history of baseball, let alone the fantasy era, is worthy of induction to the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame.

…..Pausing to avoid the onslaught of flying rotten fruits and vegetables…..

I know, you mock only because you care.  Closers simply don’t bring enough to the table due to their limited number of innings pitched.  Consider the point totals of the top 25:

Those are ugly.  The batters get elected with 65 points, and the starting pitchers have to reach 52.  Not one closer has ever reach 36.  The #1 ranked closer, Dennis Eckersley, ranks just 212th among all positions.  The most impressive peak score belongs to Dan Quisenberry, but this is just 243rd best.  Quite simply, Closers only contribute significantly in a single category and therefore do not have a huge impact on a fantasy team since their low innings pitched totals hinder scoring in WHIP, ERA, Wins, and Strikeouts.

I previously argued that starting pitchers should be cut a break since they are not allowed to contribute in five categories since as saves reserved only for relievers.  I stand by this thought process, and argue the difference with closers is fundamental – they are allowed to contribute in all categories, but pitch too few innings to make an impact in all five.  It’s an argument between “incapable” and “not enough playing time”.

Further, consider the following:

- Our own Razzball ‘perts routinely preach the practice of trading away the best closers.
- Most owners consider them a necessary evil.  You land A-Rod at a good price, or in the 1st round, and rejoice.  Or Peavy falls to round 2 and you feel your staff is well on its way.  But when you grab Joe Nathan in Round 3 all you can think about is scrounging around for 2 more decent closers to round out your relief corp.  Without 2 more good ones, you might as well have not drafted any.
- Punting a category is a fairly common practice where an owner decides to save money (or early draft picks) by avoiding high priced closers, and spending the savings elsewhere to create a powerhouse offense or starting rotation.  97% of the time, I looked it up, owners punt saves.  How critical can they be?

Finally, and I openly admit it may be a blind spot to this old greenhorn’s way of thinking, but real Fantasy Baseball is Rotisserie style and not this fly by night, get lucky one week and unlucky the next, head-to-head junk that is so damn popular nowadays.  (Can you hear my next line …When I was a kid we used to have to wait for the Sunday paper in order to get all of the weekly box scores from around the league so the commissioner could compile scores manually using an abacus.)  I say this because a closer’s value does change a bit depending upon league style, and one can truly take advantage of an extra $45 dollars in a roto-league, but less so in head-to-head versions.

Having said all this, in recognition that necessary evils are still necessary, Closers do have a place at the FBHOF, just one without plaques.  Some shine for the Top 5 all time:

1) Dennis Eckersley
In 1990 “Eck” posted an identical ERA and WHIP of 0.61, one of the more remarkable feats over the course of baseball history.  In 73 innings his K/BB ratio was a mind blowing 73:4 and one could argue it was the most dominant stretch of innings ever.  I got to thinking how rare it is to have identical ERA/WHIP scores and did some investigation.

Using 50 innings pitched as the barometer, only 7 pitchers have been able to record an ERA equal to or lower than their WHIP:

Bob Veale was lucky more than anything else.  Giving up 59 hits and 40 walks over the course of 78 or so innings is not exactly impressive as his 1.27 WHIP indicates.  We can safely assume Eckersley had a better season than him.  Up next are Earl Hamilton and Chris Hammond, both of whom are the same boat as Veale, though to a lesser extent.  A 1.11 WHIP is good of course, but not remarkable, and they too overshot their expected ERA’s.

This brings us to Dennys Reyes, Rob Murphy, and Nick Maddox who all kept their WHIP scores under 1.00, a mark of a great season.  The first item to note is Eckersley pitched in approximately 35% more innings than each of them and should be rewarded for his continued greatness over a larger body of work.  Second, you’ll notice Reyes, Murphy, and Maddox combined to record 1 save versus Eckersley’s 48.  I don’t have the means to calculate win expectancy tables, but I can safely say Eckersley also pitched in more difficult and stressful game situations, another mark in his favor.

Finally, and the most obvious, there is an ocean of difference between a 0.61 ERA/WHIP and a 0.83 WHIP/ERA.  Again using the 50 IP barometer, there have been two instances in baseball history where a pitcher recorded a WHIP under 0.65 (Eckersley’s done it twice of course).  In contrast, there has been a whopping 52 instances of 0.85 or better proving he’s in a class all unto himself.  I declare, as many before me done as well, that nobody has ever been as dominant as 1990 Dennis Eckersley.

Oh, his 5 year peak Fantasy Line was 81 IP, 5 W, 0.84 WHIP, 2.14 ERA, 84 K, with 38 saves.  He also had six seasons with 5+ FBHOF points.

2) Dan Quisenberry
Quiz holds the 3rd best single season FBHOF score among closers with 9.8 FBHOF points in 1983.  He’s also the only person to record two seasons of 8 or more points which gives him the best two year run in closer history (17.8 points between 82’ and 83).  His peak score is slightly better than Eckersley (33.3 to 32.4) but is ranked below him due to his relatively short career.  Eckersley benefits from his years as a starter and comes in with 15 total Fantasy Worthy seasons, a considerable 9 more than Quisenberry.  Even when narrowing down to only loser eligible seasons, Eck comes out on top 10 to 6 which pushes him into the overall lead in FBHOF points.

Quisenberry’s peak average line:  132 IP, 8 W, 1.08 ERA, 2.51 WHIP, 45 K, 39 Saves.  His high number of innings causes his ERA and WHIP have a relatively large impact when compared to today’s closers who frequently fail to reach 80.

3) Trevor Hoffman
Hoffman is the only one of our closers to finish in the Top-3 five times.  His best was an 8.2 point season in 1996:  88 IP, 9 W, 0.92 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, 111 K, 42 Saves.  He’s had nine seasons of at least 40 saves and has never recorded fewer than 20 (or fewer than 30 if you prefer take out the 1994 strike year).

4) Mariano Rivera
Rivera is widely considered the best closer in baseball history so why does he ‘only’ rank 4th in fantasy history?  First, no one would really argue he was better than Eckersley when only looking at their best 5 years, but just as important, Rivera was not a dominant strike out pitcher like Hoffman who averaged an 11.2 K/9 ratio to Rivera’s 8.3; nor did Rivera pitch as many innings as the closers of the early 1980’s, only 57% of Quisenberry’s for instance.

Rivera does have an extremely high number of saves though, his peak average:  47 Saves, 0.98 WHIP, 1.88 ERA, 76 IP, 70 K.

5) Goose Gossage
Had we considered the 1970s Gossage may have ranked as high as #2 on this list.  He lost eight seasons to the decade, 4 of which were great, and two of these elite (212 and 245 ERA+ scores in 1975 and 1977).  Still, Gossage had 5 excellent seasons to start the 1980’s before ultimately hitting a wall in 1986.

His highest scoring season was 1983:  87 IP, 13 W, 1.23 WHIP, 2.27 ERA, 90 K, 22 Saves but his most dominant season was 1981:  47 IP, 3 W, 0.77 WHIP, 0.77 ERA, 48 K, 20 Saves

Where does this leave the Eric Gagne’s and Joe Nathan’s of the world?  And why no Lee Smith or Robb Nen?

Gagne was awesome and no closer has recorded more points over a three year span, but that’s as far as his greatness lasted.  He was the best of the best from 2002 to 2004 but for the rest of his career has injured or merely average.

With just a four season body of work as a closer Nathan is out of the Top-5 for now, though that may change a the end of this year.  Robb Nen was elite for 1 year, very good in another, but not a true standout in his 3rd through 5th best seasons and thus falls just short.  Finally, Lee Smith is the epitome of the “compiler” label when used in a derogatory context.  His ERA and WHIP scores were routinely above 1.20 and 3.00 respectively, but if you want consistent saves (and only consistent saves) he was your man – ten seasons of 30+, though just 3 of 40+.

In a continuation from last week, Part II of the starting pitcher class is enshrined today.

I have a confession to make – chick’s may dig the long ball, but I dig a sub-2.00 ERA.  I have always been a sucker for starting pitching and would take 1994 Greg Maddux over 2001 Barry Bonds every day of the week.  I weep openly when reviewing the 1906 Chicago Cubs rotation and pine for the next Walter Johnson.  An elite starter is the most potent weapon a team can field as he alone has the singular ability to render every other player at the park virtually meaningless.  It didn’t matter who Bob Gibson or Randy Johnson faced when they were at their best because making contact was a fruitless exercise.

Five starting pitchers are to be enshrined today, four of which are immortals that separated themselves from the rest of baseball like no quartet has done before.  Randy Johnson, Gregg Maddux, Roger Clemens, and Pedro Martinez are all first ballot Hall of Famers when considering skill and skill alone.  They are elite Fantasy Hall of Famers as well.  No players, at any position, improved their team’s chances at winning more than these four.

But first we pay our respects to #5 all time, Curt Schilling, a starter who battled himself and injuries for 9 years before becoming a fantasy star.  Schilling’s best season came as a 35 year old with the Diamondbacks in 2002.  He won 23 games, held his WHIP down to 0.97, and struck out a whopping 316 batters.  The year before he won 22 with a 1.08 WHIP and had 293 strikeouts.  In 1997 and 1998 he also struck out an extreme number of batters, giving him three 300+ strikeout seasons.  Since 1990 Schilling is one of just three pitchers to strike out this many; has the second most such season seasons since 1980; and third most since the deadball era ended.  Yet, Schilling never finished any season as the best fantasy pitcher, with good reason though – his competition was fierce.

The Top 25-Fantasy Pitchers:

Schilling was superb, scoring over 72 points while contributing in just 4 categories, but had no where near the impact of the “Big Four”.  Martinez, ranked 4th, scores full 17% better than Schilling, who himself scores 15% better than Kevin Brown.

Holding fantasy value aside for the moment, one can make a convincing argument that no pitcher in the history of the game was more dominant over a two year stretch than Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000, the latter year being the single greatest pitching performance in the history of the sport in my opinion.

I think we are all now familiar with Baseball-Reference.com at this point, and likely all familiar with ERA+, but in case you are not, ERA+ is a statistic that shows how much better than average a pitchers ERA is, when considering ballparks (it is more difficult to pitch at the Ballpark in Arlington than it is at Shea).  Holding aside the 1800’s where the game was vastly different than it is today (9 balls, batters get to call their own pitch, etc) here is the Top 10 list of best seasonal ERA+ scores:

291 – Pedro Martinez, 2000
279 – Dutch Leonard, 1914
271 – Greg Maddux, 1994
262 – Greg Maddux, 1995
259 – Walter Johnson, 1913
258 – Bob Gibson, 1968
253 – 3-Finger Brown, 1906
243 – Pedro Martinez, 1999
242 – Walter Johnson, 1912

As impressive as it is to have an era 191% better than league average, it is probably more impressive to be this much better than the next best.  Further, in 2000, Martinez had an unheard of WHIP of 0.74.  That figure is so good it’s unjust, perhaps even Wiffle Ball good, and is best mark all time 1800’s be damned.

Martinez had more to his career than 2000 of course.  He also finished first among pitchers in 1999 and recorded 4 other Top-5 seasons, giving him a stellar record of performance during his peak:  19 W, 0.92 WHIP, 2.18 ERA, 278 K during his best 5 years.

It’s odd thinking about this now, and it isn’t just a reaction to the recent criticism Roger Clemens has brought upon himself, but somehow the greatest pitcher likely since the 1930’s has gone underrated.  Make no mistake, Clemens was awesome over a period of almost 20 years.  In 1986, his third year in the bigs, and in his first season as a full time starter, the Rocket won 24 games, struck out 238 batters (in 254 innings), recorded a WHIP of 0.97 and an ERA of 2.48.  In his 22nd season as a major league starter, Clemens came through a 1.87 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in just over 211 innings of work.  In between he won 17+ games eleven times; had ERA’s well below league average thirteen times; and struck out 185+ batters 14 times.

As a fantasy player Clemens was at his best in 1997 when tossing for the Blue Jays:  21 W, 1.03 WHIP, 2.05 ERA, 292 K’s and the #1 pitcher ranking in the game, a feat he achieved on three earlier occasions as well in 1987, 1990 and 1991.  His 5 year peak average looks like this:  21 W, 1.06 WHIP, 2.56 ERA, 260K with finishes of 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

What separates Clemens from Greg Maddux for fantasy purposes is an utterly dominant season.  At his best, Clemens scored 16.2 FBHOF points.  Maddux finished both his 1994 and 1995 seasons with more points, and more points by far.  In 1994, a strike year of course, Maddux won 16 games mostly because of his off the chart rate stats – 0.90 WHIP and 1.56 ERA.  He also struck out 156 batters, which seems low, but is quite good when considering he lost as many as 10 starts, perhaps 60-65 total K’s.  This line of thinking is instructive – prorating for the whole season his stat line becomes:  22 W, 0.90 WHIP, 1.56 ERA, 221 K which just happens to be the single most dominating performance in fantasy history – 18.8 FBHOF points.

The following year he bested Clemens top performance again, this time with 17 points due to a 0.81 WHIP and 1.63 ERA.  In all Maddux has four #1 finishes to his name and his peak 5 year average is masterful:  18 W, 0.96 WHIP, 2.03 ERA, 183 K.

Finally, we end with Randy Johnson, of whom it can be argued, for fantasy anyway, was Clemens and Maddux rolled into one.  Clemens was amazing for his longevity – 12 seasons of 8+ FBHOF points.  Maddux scored so high due to his tantalizing rate stats – eight seasons with a WHIP under 1.10 and seven with ERA’s under 2.65.  Johnson himself is just shy of Clemens with eleven “Hall of Fame” worthy seasons and does indeed match Maddux for incredible ERA’s and falls just one short on WHIP side of the ledger.

Remembering that pitchers can score in just four categories we also need to bring up Johnson’s record of six seasons scoring 16+ FBHOF points.  How good is this?  In 2000 Johnson had 19 W, 347 K, 1.12 WHIP, a 2.64 ERA and it basically doesn’t count towards his Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame credentials since it wasn’t good enough to count as part of his 5 year peak.

Further, Johnson struck out 300 or more batters twice as much Schilling and all told bested the 290 mark another nine times. Nine! What do you get when you combine the power of Schilling with the finesse of Maddux, and then mix in the sustained greatness of Clemens?  You get the best Fantasy Baseball player in history.

A chart of some key metrics for our last five inductees, because, yes, I love great pitchers:

Only five pitchers of the fantasy era have attained the 65 point bogey the FBHOF uses as the baseline for batter inductions.  The reason for this is simple – the best pitchers contribute in just four categories while the best batters contribute in five.  The question then becomes – is it fair to hold this against those players who make their living 60 ft 6 inches from the batter?

I don’t have a great answer.  One on hand I routinely thought back to the class of Catchers while formulating the pitcher induction process.  This class as you will recall enshrined just one lone inductee, Mike Piazza.  I tried to justify this way of thinking for use on the pitchers, if it’s acceptable to have one catcher, is it not also acceptable to have a relative few pitchers?  On the other hand, a catcher has the potential to contribute in each of five categories but usually do not since the position is so specialized and demanding.  A starting pitcher however, can not accumulate saves due to the manner in which he used by the team – it’s not for a lack of ability on his part, they simply aren’t used in that fashion.

As a result, I decided the 65 point mark needs to be reduced and basic math skills make this a straightforward matter.  A batter must accumulate, on average, 13 points in each of the 5 offensive categories to reach 65.  A pitcher therefore, should need to accumulate 52 points (13 x 4 = 52) to be considered for the FBHOF.

Still, some issues arise for which I have no great answer.  For example, the best pitcher of the fantasy era, Randy Johnson, easily has the best FBHOF score and best Peak Score ever, even when adding batters to the mix.  While contributing in just 4 categories, Johnson outperforms Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, etc.  That is impressive.  Almost as impressive is that three of the top four peak scores belong to pitchers as well, with Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux coming in at 3rd and 4th.  Is it then fair to reduce the pitching overall requirements if pitchers have the 3 of the best 4 peak scores of all time?

In the end I think Johnson, Martinez, and Maddux were the exceptions that proved the rule.  Only a handful of starting pitchers over the past 28 years have been good enough hang with the batters and we therefore need to adjust.  By moving the minimum score down to 52, eight more starters are enshrined to give us a total of 13.

Since there are so many pitchers we’ll break the inductions out into two articles.  Today we’ll look at the 13th through 6th best fantasy pitchers of all time, saving the elite five for next week.

David Cone
One thing we are to find is only the rarest of pitchers don’t have significant flaws when looking at the five year peak.  Take our ‘worst’ pitching Fantasy baseball Hall of Famer as an example. Cone was very good for a long time, but never great.  He was never the best overall pitcher in any one season, nor was he ever the 2nd best.  He did achieve 3rd twice, but on average, his rank was 4.8 in his five year peak.

What Cone has over his peers is the fact that he was very good for a long time (by pitcher standards anyways) as only 5 other pitchers have more “7 point FBHOF” seasons than Cone does.  Yet Cone’s best season is ranked just 69th best of the Fantasy Era.

Bret Saberhagen
Without his hallmark season of 1989 Saberhagen likely falls just short of FBHOF requirements.  “Sabe’s” easily won the Cy Young award this year garnering 27 of 28 possible first place votes.  It was warranted too.  With a line of 23 W, 0.96 WHIP, 2.16 ERA, and 193 K’s he led the league in all but strikeouts.  He was also great in 1994 (2.74 ERA, 1.03 WHIP) but, like Cone before him, never had the 3rd elite fantasy season, even ranking a fairly low  20th best in his 5th best season.  And if 20th doesn’t sound that bad, realize that it’s also 89th overall when considering all positions.

Fernando Valenzuela
Raise your hand if you remembered Valenzuela’s fantasy worthy season in 1996.  Mine is down, and I surmise most of yours are too.  We all know how good the man was in 1981 and 1982 (2.65 ERA, 1.10 WHIP if you forgot) but what strikes me the most interesting was his ‘96 season of 172 IP and 3.62 ERA.  It only fractionally helps his FBHOF case, but I had thought he was done in the late 1980’s.  Overall, Valenzuela has four Top-5 seasons to his credit with a fifth season ranked 12th before he faded into mediocrity.

Dwight Gooden
Gooden’s rookie campaign in 1984 (17 W, 1.07 WHIP, 2.60 ERA, 276 K) promised one of the brightest futures in memory.  One year later the assurance of greatness was all but guaranteed as the 20-year old New York Met pitched through the second most excellent fantasy season of all time.  “Doc” led all starters in Wins, ERA, and Strikeouts and placed a close second in WHIP behind John Tudor, who was having a career year of his own.  This gave Gooden back to back titles for fantasy pitcher of the year and a two year FBHOF point total of 32, a mark bested by only a select few.

Gooden was still Top-10 Quality the following year when 17 Wins, a 2.84 ERA, and 200 K’s placed him 8th among pitchers.  His dominance was diminishing though.  The graph below charts Gooden’s K/9 rate throughout his career and while it was perennially very good, there was also a world of difference between his rate of 11.4 in 1984 and 7.2 two years later.

Still among the better class of pitchers for the remainder of his 5 year peak, Gooden turned in 3 more Top-25 quality seasons, amassing 61 wins and 647 K’s between 1987 and 1990.

Steve Carlton
Carlton’s FBHOF case is likely the most interesting one we’re to come across.  His career started in 1965, eliminating a full 15 years of his career due to the 1980 cutoff.  During these 15 years, the real life HOF’er racked up 225 wins and over 2600 strikeouts, all of which have no bearing on enshrinement here.  Further, his fantasy career was effectively over in just his 6th year and worse, Carlton’s career as a top-40 pitcher lasted only 4 seasons.  He makes the grade because he made the most of these four seasons between 1980 and 1984.

In ‘80 and ‘82 he was the best fantasy pitcher on the planet – averaging 24 Wins, 286 K, with a 1.12 WHIP and 2.72 ERA.  In 1981 he finished 2nd among pitchers and his three year peak score totaled 45.7 points, 5th highest on record.

Carlton was still very good in 1983 – 7th best thanks to 15 Wins and 275 K’s, but was woefully close to average in 1984, which is all to understandable given the fact he was 39 years of age.  His career was over 3 years later and was a non-fantasy impact from 1985-1987, but for the early part of the 1980’s Carlton left his mark on fantasy baseball as one of the inner circle elite.

John Smoltz
The lifetime Atlanta Brave has had two careers with the organization.  The first was as a starter from 1988 through early June of 2001 and then again between the years of 2005 and 2007.  During this time Smoltz pitched like a Hall of Famer, frequently finishing among the best pitchers in the game (he has ten Top-15 seasons) and ended 1996 as the best pitcher in fantasy baseball.  Between these periods he became one of the best closers in the game as well, compiling 154 saves, with a 2.65 ERA and 1.10 WHIP.

The saves end up not mattering all that much however, as his value to fantasy owners was almost entirely as a starting pitcher.  His best year as a closer came in 2002 when he reached the 55 save mark, yet this resulted in just 4.7 FBHOF points, just the 12th best season of his career.

This brings us to his FBHOF achievements.  Smoltz’s five year peak score of 52.4 hails from a lone stellar season (1996) and 4 other very good ones (1992, 1997, 2006, and 2007).  Incredibly, this gives Smoltz quite a long tenure as a high end fantasy pitcher, with 15 years between his ‘great’ seasons.

Johan Santana
Santana hasn’t had five full seasons in the majors yet is already ranked in the top half of the best pitchers of the fantasy era.  Sooner, rather than later, he will no doubt eventually move up to claim a top-5 position all to himself.

Interestingly enough, despite three great seasons from 2004-2006, Santana attained the #1 pitcher ranking just once in 2006.  During the three years, he averaged 18 Wins, 249 K’s, a 0.96 WHIP, and 2.75 ERA but in 2004 was out shown by Rand Johnson and the following season, Chris Carpenter bested him too.  This is by no means a fault of Santana’s, as after all, he was pitching in the Hitters League at the time.

Kevin Brown
Kevin Brown had some fantastic seasons that slipped my mind (likely after his dismal ALCS appearance with the Yankees in 2004) and frankly his name rarely enters a discussion when naming the great pitchers we’ve been blessed with over the past 15 years.  In truth, only Pedro Martinez was a better fantasy pitcher during Browns peak years of 1996-2000, and Martinez is a 1st ballot Hall of Famer most often compared to the immortal Sandy Koufax.

1988 was Brown’s best season.  He struck out 257 batters in the same number of innings, won 18 games, and recorded a 2.38 ERA.  This provided him with 13.9 FBHOF points, 29th best all time.  In 1996 his rate stats were off the charts (0.94 WHIP, 1.89 ERA) but struck out just 159 batters in 233 innings, holding down his fantasy value considerably.  Most important to his FBHOF resume are his two other seasons where he achieved the oft sought 10 point season:  1999 (18 W, 1.07 WHIP, 221 K) and 2000 (0.99 WHIP,  2.58 ERA).  This is important because it marks Brown as is the first pitcher we have seen with four double digit FBHOF seasons plus a very good 5th best.

Next week we finish the starting pitchers with the Elite Five, the few that could have been inducted even if we left the requirements at 65 points.  For now, a summary of the peak scoring of today’s honorees:

The catchers are enshrined today, a position that is the weakest in the history of fantasy baseball.

I have dreaded writing this article for about six weeks now.  By my methodology only one catcher since 1980 deserves induction into the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame and I haven’t been able to convince myself I am being too harsh.  If we went position by position we find the following number of inductees:

15 – Outfield
6 – First Base
3 – Second Base
3 – Third Base
2 – Shortstop
1 – Catcher

This actually makes a bit of sense.  Outfielders take 5 of 14 offensive roster slots in standard leagues, and as we have seen first basemen have perennially been the power house position.  Further, if only two shortstops are worthy of enshrinement, maybe one catcher is too.

And isn’t this what fantasy baseball is mostly about?  The debate on positional scarcity is still around, and for those not familiar with it, it basically states that owners should put a premium on good players at weak positions.  I agree to a degree, but still would never draft a catcher first, no matter how much better he is than his peers.  In truth, whenever there are weak positions drafted first (See Hanley Ramirez, circa 2008) it’s almost entirely because their statistics back it up.  Ramirez could hit 35 HR and steal 60 bases while batting .300.  That’s elite for a shortstop, first basemen, or outfielder.

This same phenomenon was seen with catchers.  A few years ago the trend seemed to move towards drafting catchers early – Joe Mauer and Brian McCann were sometimes taken in Round 2. While this may have worked for a single season, in terms of career value, it’s a bust. McCann was ranked 89th last year, Mauer 107th.  Catcher is a demanding position, and while there have certainly been instances of greatness over the course of a single season, and perhaps greatness enough to demand a spot high draft pick – the excellence required for FBHOF induction just hasn’t proved sustainable at the catcher position.

To be clear on my methodology, I do take positional scarcity into consideration.  Each FBHOF score is calculated by first looking at the player among the entire batting pool (or pitcher pool) and then only against a player peers who were eligible at the same position.  The two scores are then weighted – 60% for the straight score and the remaining a product of the positional score.  This is nothing to sneeze at, as 40% of the players score is solely a function of how good he is at a position.

With this out of the way, we are still left searching for recurring brilliance.  You likely already realize that Mike Piazza is the lone inductee.  And why is this?  Because his batting line reads like that of any other inducted player.  His FBHOF points by year are 15.2, 12.6, 11.5, 11.4, 10.8 giving him 61.4 peak score.  This is 27th best among batters and ahead of three fellow Hall of Famer’s – Cal Ripken, Craig Biggio, and Frank Thomas.

We’ll get back to Piazza’s accomplishments in a moment. First, I wanted to finish the answer as to why only one catcher.  Before I answer, ask yourself the following question – does a player have to have five great seasons to be considered for the Hall of Fame?  My answer is a resounding yes.  Five years in awfully short period of time, and no Baseball Hall of Famer is ever inducted based upon such a short career.  If we are focusing on such a short time at the FBHOF, those years had better be great.  From what we have seen since we started inductions in late April, not one inductee has had less than five great seasons.  With that said, here are the 5th best seasons for each of the Top 5 Catchers (as determined by FBHOF score):

This illustrates two things to me.  First, Piazza was really, really good if that was his 5th best season.  Second, the rest of those scores don’t impress me all that much (though keep in mind 1981 was a shortened season).  Over the past 20 years there most certainly have been numerous ‘Hall of Fame seasons’, but not careers:

In 1985 Carlton Fisk hit 37 home runs, driving in 107 runners and scoring 85 himself.  He even stole 17 bases.  But he batted .238 and averaged just 74 R and 71 RBI in his next three best years.

We all have love Darren Daulton’s 1992 season right?  .270 AVG, 80 R, 27 HR, 109 RBI, and 11 SB in low offense year, marks good enough for 7th overall.  But you could hardly consider the rest of his career fantasy worthy – an average of 63 R, 70 RB, and a .265 BA over his remaining 4 best years.

Javy Lopez sure was impressive in 1998 and 2003-2004, hitting 100 HR and 301 RBI while maintaining a .310 batting average.  But he was ranked just 84th and 85th in years four and five.

One more for you – Jorge Posada.  He’s likely going to the Baseball Hall of Fame at this rate but outside of last season his average for his “next best 4 years” is .275 / 80 / 25 / 94 / 2, with a rank 52nd overall and 4th among catchers.  Do I want him on my fantasy team?  Yes, of course.  Is he going to make or break my season?  No, and he therefore passes the red face test as to whether or not he’s HOF worthy.

Finally, the case of Piazza proves that it is possible to make the FBHOF as a catcher.  Love him or loathe him, he could hit with the best of them.   His 5 best years:

What truly separates Piazza from his catcher brethren, and every other baseball player of the fantasy era for that matter, is the fact he had more seasons ranked number 1 at his position than any other.   From 1993 to 2002 he finished 1st at catcher nine times – more than Alex Rodriguez (8), Albert Pujols (6), Paul Molitor (5), Ryne Sandberg (5), Cal Ripken (4), or Barry Bonds (3).  This is an incredible accomplishment.

Note:  Earlier I mentioned positional scarcity score.  Thought it might be interesting to list the top 5 seasons at each position based solely on positional scarcity:

Six first basemen are enshrined today, a position that is arguably the strongest in the history of fantasy baseball.

First base is the power position of fantasy baseball.  Each spot around the diamond has had their fair share of power hitting players, but year in and year out, fantasy owners rely on first basemen more than any other for their main source of home runs. In fact, since the fantasy era, first basemen have the led fantasy leagues in the long ball each year except 1982 and 1983, when Mike Schmidt skewed the numbers enough to vault third basemen into first overall.

A few weeks ago, I ran a chart in the shortstop induction article, showing the number of times each position finished, on average, first overall.  I found a flaw however, by counting all the players at a position, and not just the ones who would have been “fantasy worthy”, I overestimated the impact of certain positions.  Re-running the data it is clear there is no argument as to which positions have been the best since 1980 – it’s either first base or outfield.    The chart below depicts the average score for “fantasy worthy” players who were eligible at these two positions:

In the first half of the 1980s both positions were relatively equal, with one season, 1981, easily going to the outfielders.  In the period of 1986 through 1991 however, the first base crew easily outpaced their counterparts in four of the five years.  Through 1995 the two positions were either equal or first base was winning handily.  This gives them a 10 year stretch were first basemen were the class of fantasy baseball.  Since 1995 the positions have been relatively equivalent, with 5 years going to the outfield, 4 to the first basemen, and three with finishes close enough to call a tie.

Finally, below is the average score of ‘fantasy worthy’ players by position, broken down by decade:

Just further proof that first base gets it done.  On to the inductees.

Albert Pujols
In his current trend, Pujols will be the only player of the fantasy era to never go below the 10 FBHOF point threshold until the downturn of his career.  Think about this for a minute.  At the end of his 2007 season, Pujols was ranked 4th among batters in overall FBHOF Score and 3rd in Peak score.  The players ahead of him are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Rickey Henderson in terms of overall score, and just Rodriguez and Bonds in peak score.  The three of these are inner circle Hall of Famers and none of them has accomplished what Pujols has done so far, in fantasy baseball terms anyway.

Since his rookie season, Pujols has put up FBHOF worthy statistics each year.  It took Bonds five years to reach 10 FBHOF points and both Henderson and Rodriguez reached the mark in their second eligible years.  While most of this is academic in the long run (does it really matter that Rodriguez appeared in just 65 games his first two years?), it is still an amazing accomplishment.

Pujols’ best year was in 2003 when he batted .359 with 137 R, 43 HR, 124 RBI, and 5 SB.  This scored him 17.2 FBHOF Points, 6th best all time for a batter.  “King Albert” has been eligible at First Base, Third Base, and in the Outfield; and is the only player to finish as the best overall at more than two positions.

Jeff Bagwell
In 1994 Bagwell was the best player on the planet.  In 110 games (strike season) he hit 39 HR, 116 RBI, 104 R, and 15 SB.  Prorated over 162 games the numbers look like something Lou Gehrig might have put up – .368 AVG, 153 R, 57 HR, 170 RBI, 22 SB.  His 17.6 FBHOF points is 5th all time.

He also had 3 more seasons of 40+ HR, 125+ RBI, and a .300+ batting average.  Between 1999 and 2000 he scored almost 300 runs.  He was fast too – stealing at least 30 bases in 1997 & 1999.

Eddie Murray
I almost scratched my scoring system when I saw Murray come out as the 3rd best fantasy first basemen.  After all, he was a ‘compiler’ right?  How could a compiler score so high in a system that rewards peak 5 year value over everything else?

While he was a compiler, he was extraordinarily good at it.  We aren’t talking about a compiler who is routinely 20th best in the league, we’re talking about one was routinely Top 5 at their position.

Murray was fantasy worthy in 17 seasons which brings his overall score up from a solid 21st to a very good 16th.  But, he also hit a ton between 1980 and 1985, routinely finishing among the leaders each year in all fantasy categories except stolen bases.  In his peak years of 1980 and 1983-1985 Murray finished in the Top 10 fifteen times:  twice in AVG, four times in Runs, and five times in both Home runs and RBI.

Finally, let’s take a look at the number of times in their 5-year peak that each of our first basemen finished 1st or 2nd at their position:

5 – Pujols
5 – Bagwell
5 – Murray
4 – Helton
4 – Mattingly
4 – Thomas

Murray also did it twice more, besting all but Pujols who has seven right along with him.

Todd Helton
Don Mattingly
Alright, I have to be palms up about something.  I idolized Don Mattingly growing up, still do in fact.  That said, no funky business was needed to elect him to this Hall of Fame, as he is most certainly deserving.

As with all of the 1980’s players, we have to put Mattingly’s accomplishments in context of the lower offensive era.  One way to do that is to stack him up against an eerily similar player of today’s era – Todd Helton.

The scores are almost identical – Mattingly has a higher peak (he’s one of just 8 batters to have multiple 15+ point seasons), but Helton’s 3rd through 5th best seasons were slightly better thus evening out the scores.  The 7 year view is close as well, and after that, Mattingly suffered a rather quick fall to irrelevancy.

Getting back to era’s, remembering how close the scoring was, take a gander at their actual 5 year peak stats:

Helton    – .349 AVG, 125 R, 37 HR, 123 RBI, 4 SB
Mattingly – .330 AVG,  97 R, 28 HR, 119 RBI, 1 SB

Times sure have changed if these two are on the same footing.

Frank Thomas
Thomas is another case that really challenges the FBHOF scoring system.  Thomas is regarded, within some circles anyway, as the best hitter of his time.  Here is a player that hit .340 or better three times; reached 125 RBI’s four times; and had 7 seasons of 35 or more home runs.  He was simply a monster at the plate.

If this is true, how can he be rated below both Mattingly and Helton?  Two reasons – peak vs. longevity, and the late 90’s.  Whether you like it or not, Thomas simply did not have the peak that either Mattingly or Helton enjoyed.  He was markedly better over a longer period of time, but Mattingly’s two best years were better than any of Thomas’, and Helton had three better years.  If you look at an 8 year stretch instead of a peak-5 year though, Thomas easily bests the two:  94.6 Pts for Thomas vs. 86.0 for Helton and 83.8 for Mattingly.

Fantasy baseball has a “what have you done for me lately” mentality.  Even looking at the best 5 years of player is stretching the limits of how far in advance a fantasy owner thinks.  Even in the most robust of keeper leagues, rarely would a player remain on a single team for 3 years, let alone 5, and this is reflected in how the FBHOF scores.

The late 1990’s also hurt Thomas.  Looking at his statistics subjectively, one might come to the conclusion that 2000 was his best year:  .328 AVG, 115 R, 43 HR, and 143 RBI.  After all, those figures are all career highs with the exception of his batting average, which was great nonetheless.  But in 2000, this wasn’t even good enough to be the best first basemen, let alone the best overall batter.  He finished 3rd among first basemen behind Helton and Bagwell and 14th overall.  His batting average was 19th in the league, Runs were 15th, HR’s were 7th, and RBI 4th.  Of course, his 1 stolen base was also quite low, even for a first basemen.  It was 25th among his peers, and 283rd overall.

As a result of all the above, 2000 isn’t even considered part of his 5 year peak score.  Which brings us back to the first point – he was great for so many years, but never was ‘the best’.  In fact, he and Murray are the only two First Base inductees to never finish a season #1 overall among batters.

This has been a long post, and I’ll spare you some time by just mentioning a few of the near misses:

- Cecil Cooper was closest with 63 FBHOF Points.  Really an underrated player.
- Andres Galarraga had great years in 1988, 1996, and 1997 but was just ‘very good’ the rest of the time.
- Rafael Palmeiro, aka., Eddie Murray Lite.
- Which brings us to Mark McGwire.  Before complaining he’s not in the FBHOF please remember the following:  He hit .300 once.  Scored 100 runs just thrice.  And of course was possibly the slowest player in the game, amassing less than 15 stolen bases throughout his career.  Those facts aren’t kind to fantasy batters.

1 – Barry Bonds
Where to start with the best baseball has seen this side of George Herman?   Maybe a list will suffice:

- Bonds has more 10 FBHOF Point seasons that any other.
- If 10 Points is the mark of “goodness”, the mark of greatness is 13.  Bonds has more of these than any other as well.
- He has taken longevity to the extreme.  Bonds is the only player to be Fantasy Worthy in 20 or more seasons and never have a single year in his career where an eligible season was deemed not worthy.
- He has had fourteen finishes as a Top-15 ranked batter, a mark 40% better than any other.
- His 5 year peak average is off the charts:  .317, 112 R, 45 HR, 112 RBI, 32 SB
- During various times in his career, Bonds has batted .370, hit 73 HR, scored 129 times, had 137 RBI, and stole 52 bases – there is nothing else he could have accomplished on the field of fantasy baseball.
- And if you were in On-Base leagues, well, he singled handedly carried many a team.

Bonds mark of 90.0 FBHOF points is best all time among hitters.  He’s first in any position in Career total, and his peak score of 77.6 is second only to Alex Rodriguez.  He’ll have a special write up for in commemoration of being one of a handful to accumulate 85 or more FBHOF points.

2 – Rickey Henderson
Henderson is another all time great that had an ability to combine power and speed like few others.  In his case, few others in the history of all baseball, and not just within the fantasy era.

Henderson owns the record for most career stolen bases, and given how precious these can be in fantasy baseball, we’ll start there.  He appeared in 90 or more games 21 times in his fantasy career, missing the mark in 1996 and 2002.  Of those 21 seasons, he stole 30 or more bases all but once.  He stole 40+ sixteen times, 60+ ten times, and 100+ three times, topping out at 130 in 1982.  Some whole fantasy teams don’t steal 130 bases today.

While not a great average hitter (.279 fantasy career, though he did reach .300 on seven occasions) he did walk a great deal (2190 career), which led to a prolific amount of run scoring.  He reached the 100 runs scored mark thirteen times and averaged 126 during his 5-year peak.

What truly set him above others of his ilk was the fact he could hit for some power.  He hit between 20 and 30 home runs four times, in 1985, 1986, 1990, and 1993, and on several occasions finished in the Top 20.

His best fantasy season was the first year he was with the Yankees.  In 1985 he hit .314 with 24 HR, 72 RBI, 80 SB and the # 1 rank in batters.  This was also good enough for 3rd in the MVP ballot behind teammate Don Mattingly and George Brett.  Mattingly also finished as the second best batter in fantasy baseball.

3 – Ken Griffey Jr.
4 – Sammy Sosa
The careers of the next two outfielders overlap almost perfectly, and given the fact they have almost identical FBHOF scores we’ll chart them in tandem.  First, a graph of their point totals by year.

Both started their careers in 1989 but with much different pedigrees.  Sosa signed for $3,500 as an amateur free agent in 1985 by the Texas Rangers.  He made the majors in 1989, but started slowly and did not become a major fantasy force until 1993 when he hit 33 HR and stole 36 bases.

At the same time, Griffey was the first pick of the draft in 1987, and had an impact immediately, and almost attaining the 10 FBHOF point mark in the second year of his career.  Griffey ultimately outpaced Sosa in each year through the 1994 season.  At the end of these first 6 years Griffey accumulated 63.8 FBHOF points to Sosa’s 19.2.  With exception of Griffey’s injury riddled 1995 seasons, this trend would continue through 1997, with the gap widening to 93.1 vs. 46.3

1998 and 1999 were banner years for both players with Sosa’s ‘98 campaign going down as one of the best seasons ever (and better than any of Griffey’s):  .308 AVG, 134 R, 66 HR, 158 RBI, 18 SB.  Griffey declined steadily from this point forward, routinely succumbing to injuries, though he did have a decent 8 FBHOF point season in 2005.

Sosa lasted a few more years, putting up 5 consecutive seasons of 10 or more FBHOF points.  His other great season was 2001 when he batted .328 with 146 R, 64 HR, 160 RBI, but no stolen bases.  Still, Sosa hung on at the tail end of his career until he hit rock bottom in 2005.

Let’s compare their years in point order instead of chronological:

Sosa’s best two years are better than Griffey’s best two, but Griffey picks up the slack topping Sosa by a fairly wide margin in the remaining 3 year peak period gives him the edge.  Further, though this does not specifically count in the induction criteria, Griffey’s best 6th through 9th seasons are better than the corresponding seasons for Sosa.  And if we simply add up the best 9 seasons for each, Griffey leads comfortably 113.8 to 107.0.

One last comment before moving on to the next player.  While both of these greats played in virtually the same exact years, Griffey’s stardom came a bit earlier than Sosa’s.  The offensive levels from 1991-1999 were lower than the same nine year period from 1993 -2002.  Sosa’s great years came during a time when many a player were having great years – proof of which can be seen in a 2 line table:

Top 10 Finishes Among Batters
Griffey – 6
Sosa – 4

5 – Dale Murphy
The two time Most Value Player was one of the premier outfielders of 1980’s.  His 16.6 FBHOF points in 1983 is 11th best of the fantasy era and his 5-year peak score is 10th best.

Murphy was a power hitter with the ability to steal a fair amount bases.  His 5 year peak average stat line was superb:  .294 Avg, 114 R, 38 HR, 109 RBI, 20 SB.  This was good enough for five Top-6 finishes among batters, two of which were the best of the outfielders in 1982 and 1983.

His career total of 109.7 FBHOF points is just 31st of all time since his peak was relatively short.  Thirty-four players have accumulated a score of 65 or better, the bogey used for induction (though special circumstances can aid one’s case as well).  However, only five retired players have less career points.

6 – Albert Belle
Belle was his generation’s version of a disgruntled Dale Murphy.  During his prime, few could hit a ball any harder.  His peak average of .318 AVG, 108 R, 44 HR, 131 RBI, and 11 SB is 9th best among batters.  But his career lasted just eleven seasons before an arthritic hip forced an early end to his career.

He was fantasy baseball’s best batter in 1995 and had seven total top-25 finishes.

7 – Andre Dawson
“The Hawk” is the first outfielder we’ve come across to require additional seasons beyond the peak 5 years in order to meet FBHOF requirements.  His peak score of 64.7 is very good, but just a hair shy of the magical 65.  Dawson did have 10 additional fantasy worthy seasons though, bringing his score up to a more than respectable 71.2.

His best run was in the early 80’s when on average he finished seasons ranked, on average, 7th.  This does not mean there were 6 better batters – over the four year stretch of 1980-1983 only Cecil Cooper was ranked higher.  The strike shortened 1981 season receives the most FBHOF points – in just 103 games he batted .302 with 71 R, 24 HR, 64 RBI, and 26 SB.  This was second best behind an extraordinary season from fellow FB Hall of Famer, Mike Schmidt.

The season most remembered was in 1987 after he hit 49 HR and drove in 137 runners.  1987 was an abnormal year for power hitters though, and this was good enough for ‘just’ 5th best.

Just Missed the Cut
The complete list of the Top 25 outfielders is as follows:

Quite a list for sure, but two names below the red line require additional commentary.

Dwight Evans was great, but had only two seasons where he was a top 5 outfielder.  He falls just short of the 65 FBHOF point mark and with a field as crowded as this, he doesn’t warrant induction.   Additionally, there appears to be a clear line separating Evans and those ranked above him.

Tony Gwynn certainly deserves his spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame, but he didn’t do quite enough at the plate to impact Fantasy Baseball like he did for the Padres.  FB Hall of Famers can sometimes get by being great in four of five categories, but only a relative few can do so in three.  In his peak 5-year period, Gwynn averaged just 9 HR and 73 RBI. For sake of comparison, Tim Raines averaged 11 HR and 55 RBI, but he also bested Gwynn by averaging 71 stolen bases during his peak, almost twice as many.

This week, in the first of two installments, we begin identifying and electing the best outfielders.

Due to the nature of roster requirements for a typical fantasy league, more outfielders are required to take part in our glorious game and as a result, more outfielders need to be elected into the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame.  Fifteen have been good enough to deserve enshrinement in html, and today we look at those ranked 8th to 15th.  Don’t fret about having to wait a week for the number one ranked outfielder, unlike our last two positions, outfield has perennially been a power position which makes for some deep and fascinating seasons.

#8 – Larry Walker
In 1997 Walker enjoyed the greatest fantasy season of all time, better than Barry Bonds, Mike Schmidt, and Jose Canseco.   Better than any of the pitchers – Dwight Gooden, Pedro Martinez, or Randy Johnson.  Much of his Hall of Fame value is staked on this MVP campaign, and an argument can be made that without this outlier of a season he wouldn’t have the credentials for enshrinement.

The numbers were mind boggling though – .366 AVG, 143 R, 49 HR, 130 RBI, 33 SB.

His .366 batting average was second only to the slap hitting Tony Gwynn; he led the league in On Base percentage, Slugging Percentage, OPS, Total Bases, Home Runs, Runs Created, Extra Base Hits and several other Sabermetric minded stats like Offensive Winning Percentage and Adjusted Batting Runs.  He was also Top-Three in Runs, Hits, Doubles, and RBI.

While many cringe at the thought of Coors field and how it artificially inflates batting lines, we must keep in mind two important facts:  1) In Fantasy Baseball we aren’t evaluating player skill, we are evaluating the bottom line numbers no matter how the player came by them and 2) in the specific case of Walker, he was just as good if not better on the road:

#9 – Kirby Puckett
This Bridesmaid already has a special write-up on the FBHOF Blog, but suffice to say he was really good.  His peak score is 16th best all time and 11th best among batters.

#10 – Vladimir Guerrero
The free swinging slugger has been a fantasy stalwart since 1998, finishing as a Top 25 batter each year save 2003 when he battled injuries and appeared in just 112 games.  His best season was a narrow miss of the 40-40 club when, in 2002, he hit 39 homers and stole 40 bases.  Always a high average hitter, this season he batted .336 scoring 106 runs and driving in 112 batters.

His 5 year peak average screams all around player:  .331 AVG, 106 R, 38 HR, 117 RBI, 23 SB.

#11 – Tim Raines
Rock was a significantly improved version of Lou Brock, one that brought a bit more power and a heck of a lot more walks.  During his peak, Raines stole on average more than 70 bases per season.  Coupled with a high batting average (from .298 to .330) and a plethora of runs scored, Raines finished as a Top-25 batter six times and if not for Dale Murphy, would have finished as the top overall batter in 1983.  His achievement this year was impressive:  .298, 133 R, 11 HR, 71 RBI, 90 SB.  Raines also receives a large bonus for longevity since he was “fantasy worthy” in 16 seasons, the 13th best mark on record.

#12 – Jose Canseco
The Oakland outfielder debuted in 1985 as a free swinging 20 year old getting his first September call up.  He didn’t disappoint, hitting 5 HR in 29 games and batting just over .300.  During the next two years showed power (64 HR) and became a run producer, driving in 230 runners.  This was all very good but he broke out in ’88.  Still young at 23 years old, Canseco batted .307 and showed improved plate discipline – drawing 78 walks to give him a .391 OBP.  The patience paid off in spades, and swinging at better pitches he smacked 42 home runs.  Additionally, he scored 120 times and drove in 124 while stealing 40 bases at a decent 71% clip.

Canseco is much like the aforementioned Larry Walker in the sense his elite seasons carry him to the hall of fame.  Keeping in mind the generic minimum ‘eyeball’ FBHOF score of 10 per year, Canseco falls well short – his 5th best season in 1986 received only 9.0 points.  Fortunately for Canseco, his 1988 campaign brought home 18.3 FBHOF points, 3rd best among batters since 1980.

#13 – Robin Yount
Yount might be the least appreciated (real) Hall of Famer of the Fantasy Era.  Like seemingly so many players from the mid-70’s to early 90’s, Yount specialized in everything.  Batting Average?  Check, 6 seasons over .300.  Home Runs?  Check, 8 seasons of 15 or more (remember, this was the 80’s, not the homer happy 90’s).  Runs and RBI?  Check and Check – 1600 runs scored and 1400 RBI.  Stolen Bases?  For sure, double digits 16 times.  He started as a shortstop and moved to the outfield at the age of 29 and had great years at both positions:

1982 @SS: .331 AVG, 129 R, 29 HR, 114 RBI, 14 SB, #1 Bat Rk
1989 @OF: .318 AVG, 101 R, 21 HR, 103 RBI, 19 SB, #5 Bat Rk

Yount also lost six seasons in the 1970’s, though none were very good as he didn’t find his power stroke until 1980.  Interestingly, Yount is one of the few players that were good enough to be deemed “fantasy worthy” in every season he played.

#14 – Garry Sheffield
Sheffield’s low ranking (relatively, 14th is Hall of Fame quality after all) caught me by surprise.  Perhaps I believed his own talk about how good he was, but in reviewing his final stat lines he never had that truly elite season.  Sheffield never finished #1 overall and had six places in the Top 25 batters, a number that is good but not remarkable.    His best season was 2003 when he really was great, but not Albert Pujols elite:  .330, 126 R, 39 HR, 132 RBI, 18 SB.  Another observation, and while it might not seem like much, Sheffield routinely missed ten to twenty, if not more, games per season.  This adds up in fantasy baseball were counting stats are critical

Lest I come across as too negative for an inductee, I feel the need to point out that Sheffield did have eleven seasons of 25+ home runs, eight 100 RBI seasons, and seven 100 Runs Scored seasons.  His consistency, and high end consistency, was remarkable.

#15 – Manny Ramirez
You may have noticed that all of our outfielders have had at least some semblance of speed; even Sheffield averaged 11 stolen bases per season in his peak years.  Ramirez is the first pure slugging outfielder to be inducted, and only the second player we’ve seen never to reach double digit steals in a season (the other was Cal Ripken).  This is just to say you really do need to slug at an elite level to be honored in the FBHOF if you aren’t somewhat fleet of foot.  Manny fits the bill nicely:

- Eleven seasons of 30 or more home runs, reaching 40 five times
- Six seasons of 120 or more RBI, reaching 140 three times, and topping out at 165 in 1999
- Scored 90 or more runs 9 times.
- His career batting average for eligible seasons was .314

His peak line brings tears of joy, almost literally:  .310 AVG, 115 R, 43 HR, 138 RBI, 3 SB

Coming next week we’ll round out the class of the outfielders by inducting seven more into the FBHOF.  Some names on the list?  A hawk, a kid, and Hannah Storm’s least favorite player.

This week, the best shortstops are identified and elected.

The third installment for the inaugural list of inductees into the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame looks at shortstops, a position which has undergone much churn since 1980.  Previously a non-hitting position, shortstops are now arguably the strongest in fantasy baseball and this is reflected in the inductee selections.  Aside from Catchers, the shortstops have historically been one of the two weakest positions and their representation in the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame is minimal – only two made the cut.

Below is a chart the bears some explanation.  To figure out which positions have historically outperformed the others, I combed through the scores of each fantasy worthy player, determined the player’s position, and then derived the average score for each position, each year.

To make sure we are all on the same page, I:
- Took all “fantasy worthy” shortstops in 1980 and figured their group average score.
- Repeated the process for the 1980 crew of 1B, 2B, 3B, and OF.
- Then derived a similar set of scores for every other season.
- Almost done.  Next I determined the ranking of each position for each year when compared to other positions.  For example, in 1980 going across the diamond (1B, 2B, 3B, SS, OF) the average scores were 5.6, 3.7, 4.9, 4.2, 5.0.  This gives a ranking (across the diamond again) of 1st, 5th, 3rd, 4th, 2nd.
- Finally, I summed the number of instances for each ranking for each position.  The result:

Please note that I excluded Catchers since they are easily the worst position and there is no need to spend any time confirming this.  I also only looked at the period of 1980 through 2002 since we don’t need to look at the most recent 5 years because any player who came to the majors just 5 years ago will not be in the hall of fame.  (Please note however that in the last 5 years the shortstops have had the best ranking three times).

What I found is not surprising.  First basemen followed by outfielders are the strongest positions historically.  Middle infielders take up the rear while the third basemen lie somewhere in between.  The point?  Shortstops rarely help your fantasy team to a great extent.  If they rarely help it stands to reason that there won’t be many elite players, especially when only looking at players who are great for at least five year stretches.   Many shortstops have had very good seasons, but not so many have done it at least five times.

Need further evidence?  After looking at this data for quite some time it has become apparent that a HOF worthy seasonal score is about 10 FBHOF points.  This is the minimum.  Here is list of the number of 10 point seasons for each position from 1980-2002:

214:  OF
81:  1B
50:  3B
37:  2B
30:  SS
19:  C
5:  DH

Shortstops just don’t help you win as much as other positions and as a result, only two make it in today.

Starting things off is arguably the best fantasy player of all time, Alex Rodriguez.  It seems it has been a lifetime since Rodriguez has had shortstop eligibility, but in his career just 31% of his seasons have been at third base.  The rules therefore require that he goes in as a shortstop and so he will.

Rodriguez’s FBHOF score is a whopping 86.9, second only to Barry Bonds for offensive positions and fourth overall.  His Peak Score of 81.2 is the best ever for a batter and his career total is third.  All told, Rodriguez has been the most dominant fantasy player of the era.  It’s worth looking at his stats season by season, here are his 5 best:

He has been so good that his 2002 season where he smacked 57 home runs doesn’t make the cut into his peak score, the core metric used for induction.  Additionally, every season in which he was a full time player Rodriguez has recorded a FBHOF score of at least 10, something no other player has even come close to duplicating.

As one of handful of players to accumulate 85 or more points, the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame will have more on A-Rod’s prowess in a special write-up in the coming weeks.

The second Hall of Fame shortstop is no stranger to greatness either.  Cal Ripken is said to have revolutionized the position and while I am not so sure about that (see Banks, Ernie) I do agree he was really, really good for a long time.

Ripken had two great seasons, 8 years apart no less.  In 1983 he batted .318 with 121 R, 27 HR, and 102 RBI.  In 1991 he was even better attaining a .323 average, with 99 R, 34 HR, 114 RBI, and 6 SB. Both of these seasons scored in high 13’s for FBHOF points and both were of Top-5 overall quality.  In between these years he churned out three other very good to great seasons which makes his peak score 61.0, second to only Rodriguez.  Ripken also joins Howard Johnson and Robin Yount as the only shortstops prior to Rodriguez to finish more than one season rated in the Top 5 overall.

His peak 5-year average batting line is .302 AVG, 107 R, 28 HR, 99 RBI, 3 SB and for those that look at this and see Miguel Tejada keep in mind the context of Ripken’s achievements.  The average league minimum during Ripken’s peak was just .247 AVG, 47 R, 7 HR, 42 RBI, and 6 SB.  This shows how suppressed offenses were while Ripken was one of the greats.

There are several shortstops who could have arguably been elected, but in the end their core FBHOF wasn’t close enough to the magical 65 points to bend the rules.  The Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame is for great contributors, not just the very good.

Derek Jeter – Cap’n Jete’s was the closest to election with a solid 60.2 FBHOF score.  In the end however, he’s about a half a season away from enshrinement, and is certainly hurt by the high offensive era he has played through.  Jeter has 3 great seasons (FBHOF scores of 12.6, 12.3), one very good (10.3), and another just below the cut (9.7).  Comparing Jeter to Ripken, we find Ripken’s best was indeed superior to Jeter’s – the Oriole has two seasonal scores above 13.5 which is the difference maker between the two.

Can Jeter make it in?  With a great season, yes, of course.  He also has a chance based upon the longevity bonus that can be awarded (1% for every Fantasy Worthy Season).  Assuming he doesn’t increase his peak score, he’ll need a total of 12 non-peak fantasy worthy seasons to be inducted.  He currently stands at 7.  He’s 34 years old this year, so if he plays at league minimum standards until he’s 38, he’ll make it.  Seems likely to me.

Howard Johnson – Players like Johnson likely deserve their own section at FBHOF.  Johnson was elite for two years, finishing as the #1 and #2 ranked batter in 1989 and 1991.  During these two seasons he averaged 106 R, 37 HR, 109 RBI, 35 SB, and a .273 AVG.  He also finished first or second at his position 4 times.  However, that key 5th season isn’t close to greatness as he finished 43rd overall and this wipes out any chance he had for election.

Nomar Garciaparra – Garciaparra is in almost the same boat as Jeter, he had many very good seasons and not enough great ones.  During his peak he averaged a final ranking of 13th among batters; Ripken averaged 9th and Jeter 12th.

Alan Trammell – The Detroit Tiger isn’t all that close to election and his real baseball skills are much superior to his Fantasy Baseball skills.  He’s also hurt because he perennially seemed to miss 20 or more games so his counting stats don’t quite measure up.  In his 3rd and 4th best years he averaged 67 RBI which simply isn’t Hall of Fame material.

Barry Larkin – The National League version of Trammell:

Miguel Tejada – It surprised me how far away Tejada is from legitimate consideration.  His 2002 and 2004 seasons were great, finishing among the Top 10 batters and either 1st or 2nd at his position.  But his 2005 and 2006 campaigns fall just short as both result in less than 10 FBHOF points, and his 5th best is well off the mark.  He finished 41st among batters in 2003.  He’s off to a great start in 2008 though, so we can’t quite count him out forever.

This week, the best third basemen are identified and elected.

Despite having well over 1,000 of his games ineligible since they came prior to the ‘fantasy era’, Mike Schmidt is inducted as the games premier third basemen amassing a final FBHOF score of 70.5 and a Peak Score of 67.7, both tops at his position.

The strike shortened 1981 season was his trademark campaign, one in which he scored 18.8 FBHOF points, the second best total for any batter of all time.  In just 102 games Schmidt batted .316, 78 R, 31 HR, 91 RBI en route to the number one overall ranking, far ahead of the second place finisher, Andre Dawson.  In his previous season the lifetime Philly finished 1st at his position (2nd overall), a feat he duplicated again in 1984.

He recorded two other great seasons in 1986 (35 HR, 108 R) and 1983 (36 HR, 106 RBI), which gives him a 5-year peak ranking of 1.4 at his position.  This simply means that on average, he finished between the best and second best at his position when analyzing his 5 best seasons.  He averaged .280, 108 R, 38 HR, 103 RBI, 10 SB during the span.

In the eight seasons between 1980 and 1987, Schmidt reached the 30-HR milestone each year, topping out at 48 in 1981.  He also drove in at least 85 runners each year, and scored the same in seven of those eight seasons.  Early in the decade Schmidt also stole double digit bases which increased his value considerably.  In these prime years he ranked 1st overall in home runs (295, second best was Dale Murphy at 264) and RBI (839), and 5th in Runs Scored.  All in all, he was the best fantasy batter of the period, and not just the best fantasy third basemen.

As good as Schmidt was, our next inductee Paul Molitor was more valuable over the long-haul, out distancing Schmidt by almost 50% in career score, 140.6 to 94.8.  Of course, a lot of this has to do with Schmidt’s 1970’s seasons not counting, but plenty had to do with Molitor himself.  He too lost seasons to the 70s’ (one very good, one not) but more importantly, Molitor finished 1st at his position 5 times, an accomplishment only bettered by Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez.

Molitor also has 4 additional seasons where he was ranked in the top 5, giving him nine total, one more than Schmidt has to his credit.  So, why isn’t Molitor rated higher?  Peak value.  Molitor best season was 1982, take a look:  .302 AVG, 136 R, 19 HR, 71 RBI, 41 SB.  This was good enough for 13.1 FBHOF points, which is well off the pace of Schmidt’s best season.  The same for their second best seasons, Schmidt outpaces him by a healthy margin, 14.5 to 13.0.  Lining them up best to worst:

    Molitor    Schmidt

1st   13.1      18.8

2nd   13.0      14.5

3rd   12.6      11.7

4th   11.8      11.6

5th   11.8      11.1

It’s clear that Schmidt was more valuable during this 5 year period, significantly outdistancing Molitor twice.

Positional eligibility impacts the scoring as well.  Three of Molitor’s top five scores happen to be seasons where Molitor was playing First Base (from 1992 -1993).  In fact, aside from 3B/1B, Molitor also had two seasons where he was eligible at second base and five where he was eligible only as a DH.  In all though, he had more seasons at third than any other and therefore is considered a third basemen for induction purposes.

At his best, Molitor delivered his fantasy owners a brilliant combination of speed, power, and high averages.  Remembering the relatively low run scoring environment he was active in, his average peak year batting line was:  .325, 119 R, 17 HR, 84 RBI, 32 SB.

Our last inductee for the hot corner helps speak to how baseball has changed through the years.   In 1999 Chipper Jones had the following line:  .319 AVG, 116 R, 45 HR, 110 RBI, 25 SB.  Despite these monstrous numbers he wasn’t the most valuable fantasy batter during year, as that distinction went to Larry Walker.  Nor was he the 2nd or 3rd most valuable thanks to superb seasons from Jeff Bagwell and Manny Ramirez.  Jones had to ‘settle’ for 4th because the era in which he played in favored hitters to a extensive degree, so much so that in 1999 the NL average OPS was .771, which at the time was the 3rd highest on record since 1900.

This has been the story of Jones career.  In ’98 he went .313, 123 R, 34 HR, 107 RBI, 16 SB but was only ranked 8th overall.  In 2000 he had virtually the same season, but dropped to 10th.  Jones has never been ranked better than 4th overall in any one season, a fact that reduces his value when comparing him to Schmidt and Molitor.  In his favor however, is that among his peers he had no equal in his prime years of 1996-2001.  During this six-year stretch Jones is ranked, on average, more than four and a half times better as the next best third basemen.  There were 33 players eligible at third base in this time frame, below are the average rankings for the top 5:

1.5 – Chipper Jones
7.0 – Jeff Cirillo (!)
8.6 – Dean Palmer
10.5 – Todd Zeile
13.8 – Scott Rolen

No player bested him twice in the years he wasn’t ranked number at the position.  He truly was in a class all by himself.  His 61.2 FBHOF point total and 61.2 Peak Score is 3rd best of his peers, while his Career Score is 2nd best.

A few players missed the cut:
- George Brett – The Kansas City Hall of Famer is one great season away from election.  His top 5 seasons listed by rank among third basemen are 1, 2, 2, 4, 5 with the last two also being outside of the top 20-overall.  Can we elect a player who didn’t have 5 top 20 seasons when his FBHOF peers all have?  It’s a shame, but he doesn’t quite make the cut.  (Brett also lost 6 seasons to the 70’s and would have easily been elected had these years been considered).  One possible way to induct him is to give the guy a 3 point bonus for his anger management issues.

- Wade Boggs – Another Hall of Famer misses the cut as well, which in all likelihood will be a common theme at FBHOF.  Boggs isn’t all that close to warranting a vote in, and while I don’t want to call any immortal one dimensional, that’s just what Boggs was for most of his career.  He reached the 80 RBI mark just once, had double digit home runs just twice, and never stole more than 3 bases in a season.  Even his hallmark 1987 campaign (.363, 108/24/89) came in a huge offensive season, making it just 20th best among batters.

- Pedro Guerrero – Surprisingly, to me anyway, Guerrero is in the same exact boat as Brett, just 1 season away from serious consideration.

- Matt Williams – Has more 10 point seasons than either Brett or Guerrero, but never had a truly elite season.

- Scott Rolen/Bobby Bonilla/Vinny Castilla – Each had two or three great years; five are required unless one of those years happens to be an all time great.

First up are the second basemen inductees.

Enshrining the correct second basemen into the Fantasy Baseball Hall of Fame is perhaps the most difficult set of selections we’ll have to make. As a general rule of thumb, any player that accumulates 65 or more FBHOF points is virtually guaranteed to be inducted. Think of it this way – any player who averages 13 points during their peak fives seasons is elected. Alternatively, if the peak score averages is less, the player can still be elected if they accumulate a large number of “fantasy worthy” seasons, each of which provides a 1% bonus to the core score.

Only two second basemen have accumulated the magical 65 since 1980 – Ryne Sandberg and Roberto Alomar. Craig Biggio comes awfully close at 64.6, followed by Alfonso Soriano at 61.2 before it drops off precipitously after that. Is that it? Can that be all of the great second basemen over the past 27 years?

Jeff Kent comes to mind, but he only finished as the best second bagger once, in 2000 when he hit 33 HR, drove in 125, and batted .334. He recorded three other Top-2 finishes but one of those years was 2004 when he batted .289, with 27 HR, 96 R, and 107 RBI. Good numbers for sure, but is that worthy of hall induction as a 4th best year? I decided that it did not and his FBHOF score of 8.7 that year back this up. He was good for a middle infielder, but the middle infield crop was weak as a whole, lessening the accomplishment.

Julio Franco scores relatively high as well, almost entirely due to his 1988 and 1991 campaigns where he finished 1st among his peers. His peak value is ruined though, since as his 5th best season was 1997 when he had an unspectacular finish of 18th at second, and worse yet, 167th overall.

Last one before getting back to the Hall of Famers. Chuck Knoblauch is also on the bubble, finishing as a top-4 second basemen four times, and placed 6th an additional two. That is a solid 6 season stretch, one in which he averaged 9.3 FBHOF per season, which is within the range of possibility’s for election when considered longevity. But Knoblauch was finished in 2001 and out of baseball after the 2002 season, before he turned 34.

Sandberg was the no-brainer choice for induction. His FBHOF score is best of any second basement, and best of any middle infielder not nicknamed A-Rod. Ditto his Peak Score, and his Career Total tops all second basemen as well. “Ryno” is simply the best fantasy second basemen we’ve seen. The life-long Cub batted 2nd or 3rd throughout most of his career, recording power and speed numbers not common for any infield position, let alone second base. He has six seasons of 25+ home runs under his belt and seven seasons of 25+ stolen bases. Additionally, Sandberg scored 100 or more runs seven times and reached the 80 RBI milestone six times, achieving 100 on the nose twice.

1985 and 1990 where his top two seasons, with the latter being the best ever for a second basemen; ’85 was great as well, registering as the 3rd best ever:

1990 – .306 AVG, 116 R, 40 HR, 100 RBI, 25 SB
1985 – .305 AVG, 113 R, 26 HR, 83 RBI, 54 SB

Finally, it also needs to be pointed out that he finished best at his position 5 times and in the top-5 and additional seven times, giving him 12 very good seasons. In fact, in only the strike shortened 1994 season did he fail to be considered a fantasy worthy second basemen.

Next up is Alomar who was an all around great player for many, many years. Getting the specifics out of the way – among second basemen, he’s second to Sandberg in FBHOF Points, Peak Score, and Career Score. He does top Sandberg in one area though – his seven seasons of scoring at least 10.0 FBHOF points is best in class. Additionally, he’s recorded the 4th and 5th best seasons ever at the position.

What kind of a fantasy player was Alomar? He is the prototype for owners looking for it all: 11 seasons of batting .295 or higher, 9 seasons of double digit home runs, he scored 100 or more runs 6 times (and reached 80 another 5), had five 90+ RBI campaigns, and stole at least 20 bases in 10 different seasons (swiping 49+ on three occasions).

This certainly sounds as if Alomar was perhaps a bit better than Sandberg, but we need to adjust for context. Sandberg’s numbers made him 1st overall (not just for second base) two times (1984, 1990) and he also ranked 3rd overall in 1985. Alomar never finished first and has only one top-5 finish in his career, a truly wonderful 1993 season that saw him place 2nd overall (.326 AVG, 109 R, 17 HR, 93 RBI, 55 SB).

Our last inductee is Biggio, who also recorded several good seasons as a catcher, which counts towards his totals listed here. Consider second base his primary position, but players are elected on their overall value. Biggio finished the best at his position three times (more than Alomar, less than Sandberg). He also has two seconds – one of them behind the plate.

The problem, if you can call it a problem and have him still enshrined, is that he is one season short of a clear cut induction. His top FBHOF scores: 13.2, 13.1, 13.1, 10.2, 8.1. That last is short of almost all other inductees and is dragged down by the fact it was when he was catching. His 1989 season was great for a catcher of the time (12.9 FBHOF points when looking solely among catchers) but overall that equated to under 5 straight-up points, which hurts.

Still, when the core metric is peak 5-year value it is hard not to elect someone whose top finishes look like this:

1st
1st
1st
2nd
2nd
3rd
3rd

Though his FBHOF score was 64.6, I felt the finishes listed above were enough to justify inclusion. He’s in.

Leaving in Biggio means of course, that Soriano is on the outside looking in. This was a difficult decision, one exacerbated by the fact it leaves us with just three hall of fame second basemen – still hard to fathom in a 27 year period.

In all likelihood Soriano will be elected in years to come as he increases his eligible seasons beyond the eight he currently sits with. Granted, once he plays more games as an outfielder his competition becomes much greater, but his core years of 2002 (15.4 pts), 2003 (13.4 points), and 2006 (12.5 points) are a great stepping stone. As soon as his 5th best year (35th overall finish, 8.6 pts in 2007) is pushed down the ladder, replaced by a more prolific one, he’ll likely be enshrined immediately after the season.

Let’s look back on the situation in order to get into the mind of Martin at the time:

- The Yankees and Kansas City Royals were two of the biggest rivals in sports in the early 1980’s, and each had been at or near the top of their divisions for the previous few years.

- The Yanks knocked the Royals out of the playoffs in 1976, 1977, and 1978.

- The Royals returned the favor in 1980.

- These teams hated each other, and the fans of each felt exactly the same way.

Now fast forward to the summer 1983 with both squads fighting for a playoff spot, each just 2 games behind the division leaders. The Royals have lost the first two games of a three game set and are down by a run heading into the last inning. Journeyman Dale Murray is cruising along in relief, holding the Royal bats at bay for 3-plus innings. Of course, every last person in the park knows that the most feared reliever in the history of the sport is waiting to get into the game at a moments notice, ready to quash any life left in the visiting Royals.

It takes just two pitches for Murray to retire the first two batters of the inning, removing virtually all hope of a Royals victory. Funny thing about baseball though. There is no clock; the only way to end the game is to get beat, on the field, after a thrown pitch. Sure enough, UL Washington, he of the .233 batting average, finds a way to get on base with a well placed single to center field.

This stroke of luck allows one of the most famous batter-pitcher match-ups of all time to take place. The 2-out base hit brought George Brett to the plate – a first ballot Hall of Famer for his on the field skills, and no doubt a would be first ballot inductee to the hall of wearing your heart on your sleeve. This was the epitome of a ‘classic confrontation’ taking place in front of 35,000 fans on what was a perfect Sunday afternoon for baseball. (Trying to calculate the odds of it being 71 degrees, in the Bronx, during the heart of the dog-days of summer, makes one believe that a higher power exists).

Sure enough Brett drilled the first pitch, a 98 mile per hour fastball, deep towards the left field stands for what would give the Royals a 5-4 lead. But it’s foul. All of Yankeeland breathes a huge sigh of relief. The next pitch was identical, but Brett was ready for it and pulled the bullet high and far well beyond the right field fence for what could be the game winning home run. Before Brett could even make it around to home plate, out of the dugout strode Billy Martin. Martin of course, was probably a lunatic, but that didn’t prevent him from triumphing this day, if only temporarily. As I mentioned, before reaching the top step, Martin turned toward the crowd behind the 1st base dugout and smiled, a grin that eliminates all doubt, and then proceeds to saunter out to the Home Plate umpire.

Nobody in attendance had a clue what Martin was doing – it was a completely clean play with no apparent breaking of the rules in question. Brett stood in the dugout watching and wondering what home plate umpire Tim McLelland and Martin could be discussing. Martin then requested that Brett’s bat be examined, and, after laying the bat across home plate, McLelland took a few steps towards the Royal dugout and signaled that Brett was now out.

Pandemonium.

If you are not familiar with the rule: the bat handle, for not more than 18 inches from the end, may be covered or treated with any material or substance to improve the grip. Any such material or substance, which extends past the 18-inch limitation, shall cause the bat to be removed from the game. Of course, this had no bearing on Brett’s home run as pine tar19 inches up the bat handle has absolutely no effect at free swinging batter, it was originally in the rules for bunting purposes.

Now, ask yourself the following question – could this scenario have played out in any other sport?

- No other sport could ever see a manager, who had just lost the game for all intents and purposes, slowly and confidently walk to the umpiring crew and turn the game upside down.

- No other sport has its fans so close to the action, so much so that they could feel like the coach looked directly at their own eyes and smiled.

- No other sport allows the game to be suspended in time, like the few minutes Martin and McClelland conversed, with everyone present watching, just those two, waiting for the outcome to mystery.

- Martin had known of the pine tar problem with Brett’s bat for at least several weeks, but was saving that information for a ‘special occasion’. This is just not plausible for the likes of the NFL, NBA, or NHL.

- Finally, no other sport allows a conversation between his father and sons to take place so often, but never grow stale or tiresome.

Baseball bridges the gap between generations. It has existed in basically the form we see today since the late 1800s. Forget sports, what other aspect of American life can this be said to be true? A great quote from Ken Burns “Baseball” says all you need to know:

It is played everywhere. In parks and playgrounds and prison yards. In back alleys and farmers’ fields. By small children and old men. Raw amateurs and millionaire professionals. It is a leisurely game that demands blinding speed. The only game in which the defense has the ball. It follows the seasons, beginning each year with the fond expectancy of springtime, and ending with the hard facts of autumn. It is a haunted game, in which every player is measured against the ghosts of all who have gone before. Most of all, it is about time and timelessness. Speed and grace. Failure and loss. Imperishable hope. And coming home.

Here’s the audio for the fantastic call of the Brett at bat made by the late, great, Phil Rizzuto. Part 1 and Part 2. (Complete with the word huckleberry, a 10ft leap by Don Mattingly, and more than one Holy Cow.)

The key to any draft – whether it is auction style, scratch, or keeper – is to find value where your competitors don’t see it. Each year owners scour the web and other print publications for information on sleepers, injuries, and any type of data they can get their hands on to help weed through the hundreds of available players to discover who’ll breakout in the coming year.

This is at best a painstaking exercise at the worst a fruitless one. Each publication has their own ideas and frankly they don’t always do a great job of backing up their beliefs. Sometimes they even contradict each other.

An alternative way to look for value is through gauging your competitor’s belief in certain players, and anticipate where they will fall in the draft. A common bias in all leagues is to put too much emphasis in how a player faired in the previous season, instead of looking at a player’s career path as a whole. Statistics fluctuate annually (sometimes through luck, other times due to legitimate reasons such as injuries) and for established players most of it is just noise. A player may simply have a good or bad luck year.

A quick way to get at this data is to compare the Fantasy Rank of the previous year to their projected rank to the upcoming season. Large differences often signify where an owner may over or undervalue a player, and knowing this allows better planning for your draft. I’ve identified some batters who are likely to be valued incorrectly.

Overvalued – These players are likely to be drafted earlier than they should be. They still may be good players, even great, but don’t plan your draft strategy on obtaining their services.

Aaron Rowand – At 29 years of age, Rowand had his career year in 2007, setting career highs in R, 2B, HR, RBI, and OBP. A great rule of thumb is to never pay a premium for players coming off a career year as they are almost always going to disappoint. Rowand is no different. If you need more reasons to avoid him, remember he’s leaving his bandbox of a park (Citizens Bank) for San Francisco which is average at best. Plus, and more importantly, he’ll be surrounded by one of the worst everyday lineups in baseball.

Magglio Ordonez – I like Ordonez, he’ll certainly be a good player this year, but too much of his value in 2007 was in due high batting average (.363). He is a career .312 hitter with a previous high of .320 and in 2008 projects to a line of .308, 85 R, 20 HR, 94 RBI which is more in line with a top-20 Outfielder than the Top-3 version he was in 2007.

Mike Lowell – I admit I dislike Lowell and usually avoid him at all costs. This didn’t work out so well for me last year, but it will work out fine for me in ’08:

2007: .324 AVG, 79 R, 21 HR, 120 RBI, 3 SB, 8th Ranked 3B
2008: .283 AVG, 68 R, 15 HR, 77 RBI, 3 SB, 18th Ranked 3B

Other Mentions
For each player below, the difference between his 2007 Rank and 2008 Projected Rank is displayed. All Rankings are “within the position” as opposed to overall.

-20: Ichiro Suzuki, OF (17, 37)
-20: Randy Winn, OF (40, 60)
-19: Eric Byrnes, OF (2, 21)
-11: Shane Victorino, OF (29, 40)
-10: Placido Polanco, 2B (9, 19)
-10: Casey Blake, 3B (12, 22)
-6: JJ Hardy, SS (9, 15)
-5: Khalil Green, SS (6, 11)

Undervalued – the heart of every winning season is finding the draft day steal.

Nick Swisher – The new Chicago White Sox center fielder had a down year in 2007, batting just .265 while achieving close the bear minimum of counting stats required for a fantasy outfielder – 78 R, 84 RBI, 22 HR. With no speed, Swisher ranked the 38th best in the OF in 2007.

2008 looks to be a bit different. Why? Swisher is better than what he showed last year and is moving from an extreme pitchers park to an above average hitters park. His projected stats are improved almost across the board t0 91 R, 94 RBI, 30 HR. His batting average still figures to be low (.264) but this projection makes him a top 20 outfielder.

Alfonso Soriano – Many, including myself, had Soriano ranked 1st coming into last season and he never did live up to expectations, even when on the field. He missed almost a month of playing time, but even projected over 160 games his 2007 stats don’t electrify – 39 HR, 114 R, 83 RBI, 23 SB. Very good of course, but not worthy of a 1st overall pick.

Fast forward to 2008. Owners still have sour tastes in their mouths having spent $40+ on him last year, and are likely ready to stay away this draft day. His projections are still great though – 35 HR, 97 RBI, 91 R, 22 SB. Watch him fall a bit and grab him early in the second round.

Miguel Tejada – We can all agree Tejada is no longer the elite shortstop that he was a few years ago. Coming off an injury plagued and disappointing 2007, Tejada finds himself with a new team and ready to start anew. He is 32 years old and not likely to completely self destruct. For fantasy owners, the better news is that his counting stats were held down last year due to his missed playing time. He hit 18 HR, with 72 R and 81 RBI making him a lower tier option at shortstop.

His projections are solid – .297 AVG, 76 R, 19 HR, 85 RBI, 4 SB and perhaps more importantly his competition will not be as good. Khalil Greene, Orlando Cabrera, JJ Hardy, Julio Lugo, Jhonny Peralta, and Edgar Renteria were all ranked higher than him last year but project to be ranked worse than him this year. Let your fellow owners draft this crew before Tejada, and a few rounds later get the same value for less cost.

Other Mentions
For each player below, the difference between his 2007 Rank and 2008 Projected Rank is displayed. All Rankings are “within the position” as opposed to overall.

+19: Andruw Jones, OF (31, 12)
+16: Vernon Wells, OF (42, 26)
+9: Rafael Furcal, SS (15, 6)
+7: Troy Glaus, 3B (22, 15)
+5: Miguel Tejada, SS (14, 9)
+5: Tad Iguchi, 2B (19, 14)
+5: Aramis Ramirez, 3B (10, 5)
+5: Josh Fields, 3B (16, 11)
+4: Alex Gordon, 3B (17, 14)

Final Note: Earlier I said, “A common bias in all leagues is to put too much emphasis in how a player faired in the previous season, instead of looking at a player’s career path as a whole.” This only works for established players and you should of course pay specific attention to players at the very beginning or very end of their careers.