NFBC Message Boards

Ben Grieve was the second overall pick by the Oakland A's in the June 1994 draft. By March of 1998 he was Baseball America's number 1 rated prospect. That season he won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Grieve had good seasons in '99 and 2000, but it was downhill after that. Grieve played his final M...

Steve Stone might be best remembered for his 1980 Cy Young Award winning season when he won 25 games with Baltimore. Or for his post-player career as one of the best baseball analyst on tv. http://www.thesportsbank.net/core/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/stonecubbies.jpg But from 1974 to 1976, Stone was...

http://assets.bwbx.io/images/ikIXpDIMEq5g/v1/750x-1.jpg After several years with a minor league team in Chicago, Greg Maddux found heaven in Atlanta. Always one of my favorites as he looks like an accountant who put on a uniform and just slipped onto the field. It's tough to choose when you have tw...

It appears that 36 players for the Braves wore #36. Every team needs a a player who could be their bedrock. http://www.mainlineautographs.com/images/product_pics/EPSON283_20130824713.jpg As well as a player who could be their drill sergeant. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/e8/da/78/e8da78...

A baseball jersey for every number from 1 through 47 has been retired by one team or another except one. That one number is 38. Here's Carlos Zambrano explaining to the home plate umpire why the Cubs should make his 38 the first to be retired..... https://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Globe_Pho...

Ahhh...the Mad Hungarian. Led the league in obnoxious facial hair and crowd pleasing mound antics. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/6b/db/49/6bdb490661d9848075fd73b23bc5dd99.jpg The Cubs never had Al Hrabosky, but they did have Moe Drabowsky. http://www.justonebadcentury.com/wp-content/upl...

Kevin Joseph "Chuck" Connors http://1952toppsbaseballcards.com/Chuck%20Connors%20Chicago%20Cubs%20Pic%202.jpg Chuck wore number 40 during his only season with the Cubs. In 214 plate appearances, Connors hit .239 with 2HR's 18 RBI and 4SB's As for the other "baseball" pictures I've seen the past coup...

One of my favorite "dirt" players. http://z.lee28.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/eddie_mathews1.jpg The Brookfield Bomber played for the Braves in Boston, Milwaukee,and Atlanta. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6146P2rShFL._SY355_.jpg Dick "Dirt" Tidrow Eddie Mathews was a g...

Everyone knows who #42 is. But for change of pace, here is a former Brave, Rick Mahler, who may have been known more for being pretty ugly (had a couple of good years pitching too in the day with 90+ heat was not required as his career K/9 was 4.4). Led the league in Hits Allowed FOUR times. Two of...

http://www.teamspiritextras.com/braves/Braves-Carty.gif Beeg Boy https://securethumbs.ebay.com/d/l800/pict/310918505575_1.jpg Most fans remember 214 game winner Rick Reuschel, but Rick's older brother Paul also pitched in the big leagues. Paul won 16 games during his career, including 12 with the C...

http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/155717/aaron715cover2.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5251/5544907898_69053bc217_z.jpg Burt "Happy" Hooten. Hooten was drafted in the 1st RD by the Cubs in the June 1971 supplemental draft; he made his Major League Debut just days later on June 17, 1971 ag...

I played my first league using the original Rotisserie rules in 1985. One thing about the way the Founding Father's laid it out, it was so much more about the pretending to own a team. They had logos for their teams and backstories. They had a history and an alternative universe. It's why LABR is t...

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yzg5KjKtKkI/UkhivOeUq8I/AAAAAAAAWkU/n0WqRwcFctU/s1600/shark_prank.jpg (Vander and Pausma) I feel real good about this season. My early draft prep has gone well. I did ok last year, but I made some mistakes that I've hopefully learned from. I'm looking forward to a very ex...

I'm not sure how many people saw this announcement, but the Chicago White Sox have hired a new play-by-play announcer. His name is Jason Benetti and he will be working in the tv booth with Steve Stone for Chicago's home games (Hawk Harrelson will continue doing road games) this season. http://m.whit...

We here in the NFBC family are not only united by the love of the game that you provide us, but now by our mutual sympathy at the loss you suffer.

You have my deepest condolences.

One more, and this is more of a personal note. The NFBC has allowed multiple entries into the Main Event for a few years now. Until lately though, it seems they never invited the watering down of the Main Event. They opened up competition to two weekends, which invited two entries. Then, online whi...

I have used the Stars and Duds method in many auction drafts over the past 25 years, with varying degrees of success. It's very difficult to do for many reasons. You don't know the price of the players ahead of time. You can set a personal price, something like $20 for Votto ( or better yet, a range...

I believe interest in the Hall of Fame is at an all-time low. Folks and some baseball fans just plain don't care as they did earlier. The Hall did a good thing by excising some dead weight writers. That's a start. To combat the 'elitism' that suffocates and squeezes players like Tim Raines off ball...

Thus, one could argue - convincingly, I think - that an elite SB guy today is more valuable than an elite SB guy from just four years ago. Stolen bases are down across baseball. A guy like Hamilton could be worth many roto points in the SB category. Of course, depending on where you draft him, you ...

Ok. You've reiterated the fact that these contracts are win-win for the player. Something that I've already stipulated to in my previous post. In fact almost every true free-agent contract is a win for the player. It's a rare case when the player out-plays his free agent deal. But as you say, a lot ...

Dan there IS a benefit to the team because in almost every case the opt out clause is going to kick in after two or three years, the money paid in the years BEFORE the opt out is LESS than the later years. This is why I mentioned the Cueto contract which is front loaded. A bad precedent. Front "loa...

Given the FAAB resistance, it seems to me there are two options for this league. (1) a 35-rd draft with 2 FAABs (after Wk1 and once deeper into the season) (2) a 45-rd draft with no FAAB I think either could work, but I want the want one that gets the most signups thus ensuring we have a successful...

FYI...we may be delayed until mid January. When I tried to create this auction on rtsports I got a message saying "Cannot create baseball auctions until January 15, 2016" I will keep you posted. If we are delayed...we will run as many as we can from Jan 15-end of March I'm not really interested in ...

I'm looking forward to the start of this contest.

We know why KJ doesn't like it........ his scoring system wasn't picked and so everything else is sub-standard. That's fine. Not true. I don't like it because I REALLY REALLY don't like it. Greg and I have discussed this scoring issues multiple times in the last few years when the game was being fo...