Countdown to the NFBC 2015

[Glenneration X]

Brought back memories thanks. I remember going to a game at the old Forbes Field with my uncle and seeing the Pirates and Giants with Mays, McCovey, Marichal, the Pirates with Clemente, the best fielding 2nd baseman Mazeroski he could reall turn a double play. Forbes field was enormous the batting cage was stored on the field in left center which I believe was like 465 ft. McCovey hit one over the right field roof that day even from where we were sitting he seemed like a giant. Mays with the basket catch when I got home I tried to catch like that. Clemente with the rifle for an arm.

Thanks Don. One of the great things about baseball is its long and deep history that gets passed on from those who got to witness parts of it to those who did not. I may not have seen the great Mays play or some of the other legends of the game you mentioned from your childhood. But I do still get to be there through the memories of you and others.


And Wayne, that 1974 Willie Mays card brings back another memory. One of my first trip to Vegas for the NFBC, where someone I had gotten to know through these boards but was meeting for the first time in person, handed me this gift as I sat down to draft against him in our Main Event league....



I still carry the card to every NFBC Main Event. Thank you Bud.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Masterfully done, Glenn.
It's Heaven seeing those pictures of Mays.
I was lucky enough to see Mays and Mantle a lot. So good.
Pictures always have me reminiscing about just how good they were and your presentation was as good.
Thanks for the memories.

[Navel Lint]

In the matter of just a few weeks, we'll be choosing amongst the greatest players in our game as there's only
24 DAYS left 'til the NFBC....




Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron

Another great write-up as usual Glenn. And I love the pictures you are posting.

I'm fairly certain that the above picture is from the 1970 All-Star game at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
The fourth man in that picture is the great NBC baseball announcer and former NY Yankee, 1957 ROY Tony Kubek.

Mays was playing in his 21st All-Star game that year, he went 0-3 before being replaced in the batting order by Gaylord Perry in the top of the 6th inning with a double-switch that included Cito Gaston.

Aaron was playing in his 20th All-Star game, he went 0-2 before being replaced by Pete Rose in the 5th inning.
It was in this game that Pete Rose crashed into Ray Fosse in the bottom of the 12th to win the game for the NL 5-4

[Glenneration X]

Thanks Doughy, thanks Russ. Means a lot coming from you guys. I'll tell you one of the really fun things about doing this Countdown is that once I decide what I want to write about and whose number I want to use, it's absolutely a blast searching through pictures to find those that fit the story I want to tell.

There's been so many truly GREAT photos throughout the history of this game we love.

When the topic really interests me, I always end up wanting to utilize so many more pictures than I actually end up settling on.

PS... That goes for the ballplayers AND the girls!

[Quahogs]

yeah Lowry baseball blah blah blah... where R the boobs ?

[ALL-IN JD]

yeah Lowry baseball blah blah blah... where R the boobs ?

Boobs?? There is no reason to drag Mike the Mouth into this conversation!!

[Oaktown]

Wow, the Mays post was freaking awesome, thanks for doing this Glenn.

[Glenneration X]

Wow, the Mays post was freaking awesome, thanks for doing this Glenn.

Thanks Scott.

Great stuff you're doing over at Rotowire. Keep up the good work and please keep those Erickson and Liss guys in line.

[Glenneration X]

yeah Lowry baseball blah blah blah... where R the boobs ?

Boobs?? There is no reason to drag Mike the Mouth into this conversation!!

While you do make a valid point Neighbor, I think that our friend Juprinka was referring to FEMALE boobs.

So as to not disappoint he and others who come to this thread for the more eye pleasing parts of these posts, and also in keeping with today's team focus on the Giants, will these giants do? ....


How Juprinka will feel in about month after Lisa Anne gets a hold of him at the MtM.

[Glenneration X]

I know it's hard to stay patient, near impossible to remain calm. It feels like it's taking f%#@ing forever!


Makes you want to hit something....





Throw your drink....





Or scream at the top of your lungs....





But how about we just take it down a notch? Because after all, there's only 23 DAYS left 'til the NFBC....


...where if we're good enough, we'll do something special that will get us remembered forever as Champion.



I know it seems an impossible feat, but others have done it. One guy (who shall remain nameless) was even able to pull it off twice....





Who you ask? Can't say. But I'll give you one hint. After his second win, he became so rich and famous, he was able to wake up to this cooking him breakfast the next morning on the pig farm....


Bacon anyone?

[Glenneration X]

It's just 22 DAYS 'til the NFBC, where when the clock strikes 10am, draft table after draft table will call out Mike Trout's name with the first pick of their NFBC Main Event drafts....


...or will they?

Well, probably. Still, if there's one player this year that someone may consider over Trout at the number one, it's likely Clayton Kershaw. In 127 NFBC preseason drafts to date, Trout's been taken at the top of the draft 126 of those times. The one time he wasn't, it was the Dodgers ace who topped the board. In many of those other 126 drafts, Kershaw immediately followed Trout as the 2nd player chosen.

This is uncommon in the NFBC, in fantasy baseball in general. Traditionally, pitching's always been considered the red headed stepchild of the hobby, due to injury risk, reliability, etc. However over the past several seasons, Kershaw's proven himself so dominant, and so reliable in his own right, he's helped change the rules in this regard. That and the fact that the NFBC has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to pitching.

Still, even as dominant as Kershaw has been, even as much of an edge as he will give you, is any pitcher worth the number one? Has any pitcher in history been worth that very first choice?


Well, I can think of at least two....





I think I might pass on Trout for this pitcher as well....

[Edwards Kings]

Great post, Glenn and great time in the Mia Draft!

In my mind (a small, dark, lonesome place), there have only been three pitchers truly so head-and-shoulders above the rest as to warrant consideration in the first round. Accepting of course I am not going back that far, I would consider Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Clayton Kershaw to be those three.

In the Mia League, I actually took Kershaw with the #4 pick, literally the first time I have EVER taken a pitcher in the first round. This, to me, just may be the year where a pitcher first strategy is a viable option to an old school drafter.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Well done again, Glenn.
I'm already missing the Mia draft (actually, was missing it before ending). What a great group.
Kershaw is so good that many feel the Dodgers have the best staff in baseball. That is with injury prone hurlers Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson at the back end. Kershaw almost counts as a pitcher and a half.
Keep up the good work, Bud.

[Glenneration X]

Good calls there Wayne. Outside of the two legendary Mets of course , Pedro and the Big Unit were the two names that came to my mind when trying to figure if any pitchers in my past fantasy baseball playing days were worthy of the top pick.

Unfortunately, at the time of Pedro and Johnson's heyday in the late 1990's, early 2000's, I was just starting out in my very first rotisserie baseball league, a local league and my only league at the time, and it was an auction. I do recall Pedro and Johnson going for serious auction dollars every year (not to me as I was still a hitter based drafter at the time), but it's not always apples for apples in seeing how auction dollars correlate to draft spots.

Seaver, Doc, Pedro, Unit, and Kershaw. Maybe Harvey next year. Seems like we've got 'em all.

PS... Doughy, Wayne, my friends, totally agree that the Mia Draft was special, for multiple reasons. But more on that with tomorrow's post.

[Edwards Kings]

Went through all the "Docs" I could think of, but can not think who you might be referring to unless you are referring to Halladay:

Doc Adams (1814-1899), American baseball player and executive
Darrel Baldock (1938-2011), Australian rules football player and coach and politician nicknamed "The Doc"
Doc Baker (died c. early 1920s), African-American football player
Doc Blanchard (1924–2009), American football player and fighter pilot
Doc Casey (1870-1936), American Major League Baseball player and manager
Matthew Clarke (Australian rules footballer) (born 1973), retired
Doc Cook (baseball) (1886-1973), American Major League Baseball player
L. J. Cooke (1868-1943), American college men's basketball coach
Doc Crandall (1887-1951), American Major League Baseball player, the first used consistently as a relief pitcher
Donald Dann (1949-2005), Australian Paralympic athlete
Seán Doherty (Gaelic footballer) (born 1947), Irish former Gaelic football manager and player
Ed Dougherty (born 1947), American golfer
Doc Edwards (born 1936), American Major League Baseball player
Mike Emrick (born 1946), American hockey broadcaster
Doc Gautreau (1901-1970), American Major League Baseball player and manager
Doc Gessler (1880-1924), American Major League Baseball player
Roy Halladay (born 1977), American Major League Baseball pitcher
Dick Hoblitzel (1888-1962), American Major League Baseball player
Arthur Irwin (1858-1921), Canadian-American Major League Baseball player and manager
Jack Kearns (1882-1963), American boxing manager, most notably for Jack Dempsey
Doc Lawson (born 1958), American soccer player
Walter Meanwell (1884-1953), college men's basketball coach
Doc Medich (born 1948), American baseball player
Cary Middlecoff (1921-1998), American golfer and dentist
Donald Minnegan (1902–2002), former coach and athletic director at Towson University
Gil Morgan (born 1946), American golfer
Harold Nicholls (1897-1977), New Zealand rugby football player
Danell Nicholson (born 1967), American former boxer
Donncha O'Callaghan (born 1979), Irish rugby union footballer
Derek Pace (1932-1989), English footballer
Doc Powers (1870-1909), American Major League Baseball player and physician
Doc Prothro (1893-1971), American Major League Baseball player and manager and dentist
Ross Reynolds (1887-1970), American Major League Baseball pitcher
Doc Rivers (born 1961), American National Basketball Association player and coach
Doc Wise (born 1967), American football player
Johnny Rutherford (baseball) (born 1925), Canadian former Major League Baseball pitcher
Harry Sage (1864-1947), American Major League Baseball player
Homer Smoot (1878-1928), American Major League Baseball player
Gary Wiggins (1952-2008), Australian cyclist nicknamed "The Doc"


Nope. No "Doc" and "Met" combo there....

[TOXIC ASSETS]

Good list, but where is Dock Ellis

[Glenneration X]

It's just 21 DAYS until the NFBC, where we all get to make our next attempt at winning the NFBC Main Event, fantasy baseball's greatest individual accomplishment....




Roberto Clemente was one of baseball's greatest players. His individual skills were some of the best that ever played the game. Whether swinging the bat....



Roaming the outfield....



Or showing off that incredible arm....



But what made Clemente truly great, what made him a mythic figure in baseball lore, was not limited to what he did on the ballfield, but what he dedicated himself to accomplishing off of it as well. He was a better man than ballplayer. One who dedicated his life to charity and helping others, to making a difference in his community. One who literally gave his life in doing so.



I often talk or write about community when referring to the NFBC. It's because it's what I feel is truly great about this contest, what separates it from other venues, other ways of playing this hobby of ours. I came to the NFBC and high stakes to challenge myself against the best at a game I loved. However, if that's all that was here, I would have likely been long gone. I stayed because of the nationwide, even international community I found here, at the live events, on these boards. A community of people just as passionate about this game as I am, who many I now consider friends, even if I only see them once a year, some who've I've never even met in person.

And there's nothing in this great community that is more evident of what it makes it special than the Mia Draft.

This year's Mia Draft both started and ended this week. There's so much about it that made it great. A "slow" draft that was completed in less than 4 days. A chat that never stopped being fun and interesting, filled with some of the best and most interesting people in our contest, many whom I consider friends, from Doughy to Wayne to Mikey to Edelman to Andy to Pausma to Cleavenger to Vogel to Mager to Ante to Perlmutter to Little to Van Fleet and Stan, great people one and all. But mostly, what it had was Rog and his little girl, Mia.

Fantasy baseball is by nature an individual game with individual goals. It's about winning. However, for those in the Mia Draft, I don't think individual goals or winning was the reason any of us were there. It was about being part of something greater, something more important than winning, something that represents the best within the NFBC community.

There is one point in the draft that sticks out to me. Doughy let everyone know that he might be gone for awhile as he had to leave to help his daughter with something. When he returned, and let us know that he got to be his daughter's hero yet again, the chat immediately turned not to baseball, not to fantasy baseball, not to this draft, but instead to each of our kids and being a Dad. Everyone in the room at the time joined in and had stories or comments of their own about their own kids and what's really important in life. It struck me then, that's why we were all there. That's why this draft was something we all wanted to be a part of. We were Dads. We related with Rog, we saw in Mia our own kids.

I'm proud of being part of the Mia Draft. I have to feel that anyone who's ever been a part of one of them feels the same way. I may be making it bigger in my own mind than it actually was, but it feels that way to me. It felt special, it felt like the best part of the NFBC, it felt like it represented what makes me proud to be a part of this community.



Clemente. A special legacy that left baseball and the world too soon.

[Edwards Kings]

In the South, we have one word that we seem to use because it seems to fit when someone hits a key sentiment so very well...

Amen, brother, amen...

[Bronx Yankees]

Glenn: Very, very well said. I think you hit the nail on the head. I was honored to be in the Mia draft this year and loved being part of it for all the reasons you mentioned (it certainly wasn't for the drafting "values" to be had, as there were none of those with this bunch ). I would do it again in a heartbeat. What a great bunch of guys and a fantastic drafting experience. The Mia draft selection video is a gem, even if we all know it was fixed to give Mikey the first pick.

Mike

[uky]

Great reading Glenn. I'm still awed by some of the posts on these boards. Connecting Clemente to the "Mia" draft is inspiring. There's more to this game and the NFBC community that a lot of people will ever know. Thanks for your thoughts.

[DOUGHBOYS]

It's funny in life how we start something and from the beginnings of that relationship, it blossoms into so much more.
When Greg had ideas for this contest, he was thinking about rules, monetary entries, and if he could get his idea off the ground.
The family that is here could not have been an inkling.
The NFBC has grown beyond that of yahoo type leagues. Sure, they have zillions of signees, but most of them are faceless competitors playing against other faceless competitors.
The Mia league exemplifies what the NFBC has become. A family of sorts at our fingertips. There were countless times in the Mia Draft where one drafter would say to another, "Hey, if you ever find your way near me, you'll have to stop in and say hi."
Besides trash talk, other venus have little chat in rooms, let alone, invitations to come to our homes

When Roger was told that Mia had to undergo brain surgery during a draft, I saw something miraculous. I saw 14 other avid drafters immediately quit what they had put down $400 for. That money they had put down or could gain at season's end was secondary. A draft, that was on pace to be very short, became very long. Nobody cared. We waited as Roger would update us as much as possible. Rog's mind was a jumble. I would call him asking about Mia and suggest a player I thought would help his team as his next pick. His team became more important than mine. Others wanted to suspend the draft, till Rog was in a better frame of mind, but Rog did not want it that way.
It was 14 drafters, totally unselfish, in a very selfish game.

Mia now, is a fine and fit little girl.
Now, she is a loving pain in Roger and Kathy's ass, and they wouldn't have it any other way.
Since her surgery and a follow up surgery, there has been a Mia Draft every year.
Not only does it remind us of how big hearts can replace big ego's in an instant, but it also reminds us of how the NFBC has blossomed to a family.

Thanks for the posts, Glenn. We are, indeed, lucky to be here.
Each of us arriving with total domination of the fantasy world on our minds.
Yet, brought to our knees by a little girl that brings out the 'Daddy' in all of us.
Can't wait to see you draw the names again next year, Mia!

[Bigperl]

Well said, Glenn and Doughy, as always. The Mia draft is indeed special and will doubtless continue to be a reminder of what is truly important in our lives, even as we enjoy this avid passion that we are fortunate to share. I did not contribute much to the draft room chat, but I read most of it and enjoyed all of it. A great bunch of guys and, needless to say, about as knowledgeable a group about baseball as one could put together as well. And as we finally start to thaw out here in the northeast, the next 21 days (unfortunately a bit more for those of us who will be drafting only in NYC) can't pass quickly enough!

[Glenneration X]

Just 20 DAYS left 'til the NFBC and our chance to roster both players we like, and those we don't, to our NFBC Main Event squads...




Yesterday, I attended BHQ's First Pitch in New Jersey for the first time in a couple years. Despite the 3 1/2 hour round trip, I'm glad I did. Besides seeing some old NFBC buds there, Juprinka, Magner, Ice Cream Man, Rich McCormick, and Zola were all in attendance (Zola one of many interesting speakers on the podium), as always I left there with a few interesting nuggets to think about. First Pitch always does a great job leaving me wanting to take a 2nd look at a player I may not have been focused on prior, or thinking through some thought processes I may have overlooked previously.

One of the primary themes of yesterday's conference was to overcome biases while examining the player pool, to examine the numbers, the expectations of a player, while getting past the inherent thoughts, or biases, that may come with a player's actual name, or team. It made me think of how Childs always refers to players as inventory, in a sense taking WHO the player is out of the equation, and boiling him down to WHAT he is in expected numbers.

It also reminded me of a discussion in the chat room of the MIA draft, after I drafted ARoid as a flyer in the 26th round. One of the other drafters said he just couldn't get himself to draft someone he hated as much as ARoid, another called the pick blasphemous. Believe me, I got it. I despise ARoid. Yet I drafted him. But then again, I've never had an issue drafting players that I don't like as a baseball fan.

There's been a number of teams I've hated at one time or another during my sports loving lifetime. The early '80's Islanders come to mind, as they seemed to stop my beloved Rangers from reaching the Stanley Cup finals year after year, allowing my Islanders fan classmates to hold it over me during their entire dynasty run. However, after the Rangers won their Cup in '94 and after more than 3 decades of Islanders incompetence that followed their run along with a move to Brooklyn, I currently feel more pity for them than dislike. I HATE the current Patriots dynasty of Belicheck and Brady, those cheatin' b@st@rds! Yet prior to Belicheck's arrival, they were just another team like my Jets that had trouble getting to and winning a Super Bowl, and my feelings for them were nothing more than ambivalent.

However, there's one team in sports that I've never seemed to like. That always gave me some reason to root against them. The damn Phillies.

With apologies to NFBC Buds and misguided Phillies fans like Andy and Rockit, I hate them. Seriously, they suck. They've always been a pain in my @$$. When I first became a baseball fan and my Mets were steering towards the horrid Joe Torre era of the late '70's, it seemed the Phillies were atop the division year after year. Steve Carlton was always challenging Tom Seaver for Cy Youngs and the title of best pitcher in the game. Mike Schmidt was just beating out Dave Kingman for home run crowns, and then later in the Mets' glory years of the '80's stole an MVP in '86 from more deserving candidates like Gary Carter or Keith Hernandez. I mean seriously, 1986? How does anyone win an MVP from a team other than the Mets?? Later on, the Phillies help dismantle that great team by tricking my Mets into the horrendous Dykstra for Samuel trade. Samuel? Really?? And more recently, these hated players in their pink uniforms helped keep the Wright/Reyes Mets from starting another dynasty by overtaking my Mets in the final days of both 2007 and 2008, and then laughed about it while rubbing it in!! God, I hate the Phillies.

Yet I have no problem drafting them. In my very first NFBC in 2009, Jimmy Rollins was my very first Main Event's 1st round pick. In the years that followed, I've had Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, all of the bums as early round picks on my NFBC Main Event teams. I hate the Phillies, but if they'll help me win the NFBC, I'll welcome them on my team.

Luckily this year, they're so awful, I don't think there's a one of 'em that's deserving of even a 30th round pick. Well, maybe they'll make it on a team if I do another DC. After all, there's 50 rounds there.


Yes, they do all suck. But if they're good enough, welcome aboard.

Seriously, pink uniforms?


One last blast from the past as the Phils go bye-bye...

Outside of cheesesteaks, the only good thing out of Philly this year and definitely the only one worth drafting.

[uky]

damn, those are nice buttons...

[TOXIC ASSETS]

Hey Glenn,

1986 was your team's year - no argument, but it was Mike Schmidt's last hurrah - and he deserved the MVP in that season - as always, check the numbers....

Go Phils