Lindy's Baseball Magazine reportedly has a story on Artie's successful season as well, although I haven't seen that issue yet. We're working on other national publications to feature Artie as well and I'll post them here once we get them.
Here is a story in the local New Jersey newspaper, written by Dave Hoffman, on Artie's successful season:
Any big shot trivia buff knows that it's been 159 years since the Knickerbockers beat the New York Nine by a score of 23-1 in the world's first organized baseball game in Hoboken.
But here's a question, hot shot: Where does the winner of last season's Kraus Publication's National Fantasy Baseball Championship live?
That's right, 28-year-old Artie Rastelli, the $100,000 winner, is a Hoboken resident.
Rastelli has been playing fantasy baseball since the age of 10, originally helping his father out and eventually bringing the game to his friends from school.
"Over the past couple of years, [fantasy baseball] is starting to get really big, and they're doing it on a national scale," said Rastelli. "The two sports they do nationally are football and baseball."
What are fantasy sports?
A fantasy sports game is a strategic game based on player selection. The team owner selects actual players from the major league to create a team, and after each game, the statistics from the players contribute to the total score. The National Fantasy Baseball Championship consists of 20 leagues or so of 15 teams (players) each. This league follows the season from opening day to the end of the regular season.
The leagues are popular, and Rastelli's competition was fierce, going up against many industry experts
Rastelli plays the gamut of fantasy sports leagues, including hockey, basketball, football and baseball. In addition to playing national tournaments, he runs leagues for friends.
"You have to be lucky and stay healthy. If a guy gets hurt, there's nothing you can do," Rastelli said. Avoiding injury is a key component to Rastelli's strategy, as well as looking beneath the starting lineup. "I like to keep the age under 30 because those players don't get hurt as much," said Rastelli. "I don't believe in drafting top closers, but some people do. My philosophy is that you can get saves from the lesser guys on worse teams because a lot of the closers lose their jobs throughout the year, so it's easy to find a next-in-line closer. I focus on offense more than pitching because it's more reliable. Pitchers get hurt a lot, and a lot of times, they're out for the season. If a batter goes on the DL, he's back in more quickly."
Some of his key picks from last year included Adrian Beltre, Dodgers Third Baseman, Paul Konerko, White Sox First Baseman, and Paul Pavano, Marlins pitcher (Pavano just signed with the Yankees.)
Playing fantasy baseball gives the game a vested interest, and changes the nature of fandom.
"I root for the Yankees, but playing fantasy makes you lose your rooting interest because you're rooting for the guy to do good for you, and there's money involved," Rastelli said.
Drafting for next season kicks off at the New York Hilton on Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19. There are $1,250 and $650 leagues. Visit www.nationalfantasybaseballchampionship.com.