I dont recall the exact conversation regarding the foundations of the league or who thought of it. You should ask Keith or Greg on that. I do know that Keith and I had played seasons including the 1990, 1991 and 1992 season on the Baseball for Windows and that league had included drafting and such. That may have been the template for our the Summer League or the motivating factor. Ultimately, the games were to be played on my computer and i was the boss so fortunately they let me participate.
Of course, my Franchise did not experience the same level of current success as my teams prior to 2001. The early league success was all Greg and Chris. (Keith won something, too) However my Franchise has turned it around and since 2001 I have managed to win the Spit Cup during the 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2010 & 2012 seasons. I will acknowledge that both 2001 & 2012 were not great teams or the best team during that individual season yet somehow they managed to make it to the top.
Favorite teams: Hmmmm. I have quite a few. Do i really have to stop at one?
2013 --- Recent memory helps. This team had everything except for a Spit Cup. They led in runs scored (by a wide margin +118 above 2nd place & +153 above the league average), pitching and fielding percentage. They also stole over 200 bases which can be fun --- plus, they seemed to have limitless depth, one guy sits and the replacement has no drop in ability. We managed to set a record 106 regular season victories and the team had the MVP & Cy Young award winner.
2010 --- this team got the ring. It was fun to have MVP Albert Pujols and record tying stolen base leader Ellsbury while the team stole quite a few (285). Derek Lee also supplemented Albert adding to the offensive threats.
2008 --- this team had the MVP ARod and also had tons of steals (234) and got the ring. There was a great finish to the Summer League season this year. In addition to ARod this team had Victor Martinez and Carlos Beltran.
2007 --- The 2nd half of this season they were an unstoppable dominance! They had an 11 game sweep of Chris which launched them into the juggernaut they became. Carlos Beltran and Nick Johnson were the big guns while there were plenty of other names.
2002 --- I stole a ton of bases (261) while experiencing the final season of the silly ball era. Essentially everyone could steal except Luiz Gonzalez. They took the cup in what was arguably the most exciting world series. Larry Walker and Luiz Gonzalez led this team. Quite a few other good hitters on this team such as Ryan Klesko, Mike Sweeney, Jose Cruz Jr and Eric Chavez.
FRANCHISE INDIVIDUAL ACCOLADES:
My MVP's have been
04 Pujols .328 .401 .637 123r 139rbi
08 ARod .285 .411 .552 122r 101rbi
09 Chipper .318 .415 .560 93r 81rbi
10 Pujols .322 .419 .652 122r 130rbi
13 Cabrera .295 .356 .547 112r 129rbi
Cy's
97 Brown 22-10 2.21
11 Hernandez 22-8 2.62
13 Price 20-10 2.51
Three guys have had monster memorable post seasons:
2001 Manny Ramirez 6 HRs, 12 RBIs
2007 Olmedo Saenz 8-15 2 HRs 14 RBIs
2012 Mike Napoli 7 HRs 16 RBIs
4 different seasons my team has scored over 100 runs vs the league average
2013 +153
2009 +113
2004 +109
2008 +101
Franchise Favorites:
Drafted often:
Jimmy Rollins 03 07 09 11 13
Carlos Beltran 03 07 08 13
A Rod 98 00 05 08
Favorite non superstar players:
08 McLouth 89 runs in 111 games
04 Bradley 94 runs in 101 games
02 McLemore 89 runs in 125 games
All were high on base guys with speed/steals hitting in front of MVPs or MVP candidates
The fun continues. The competitive juices always are churning once that disk comes out!