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Fantasy Baseball 2016 > Fantasy Baseball History

Fantasy Baseball History

We're such a bunch of baseball nerds that we've been doing Fantasy Baseball since 1992. When I say, "we," I mean most of us. We started out with a rotisserie-style 5-team league that kept 10 offensive categories and 6 pitching categories in 1992, way back before the days of the internet. That's right: we know how to calculate ERA, WHIP, K/9, Batting Average and On-Base Percentage. But we're not nerds, of course.

In order to do our fantasy baseball stats every week, we had to make sure we got to a place called a "News Stand" (take that, Barnes and Noble!) every Wednesday to pick up the freshly-printed Baseball Weekly so we could do the stats by hand. It was awesome. And by "awesome" I mean "a total pain in the ass" but it was somehow worth it to us because we're a bunch of dorks.

Historical Fantasy Baseball Season:
1992 Fantasy Draft

Check this out, Fantasy Baseball geeks: this is the original draft of our inaugural fantasy baseball season in 1992. We had a 5-team, modified rotisserie-style scoring system (our scoring system was so secret - and awesome - that we'd have to kill you if we told you how we did it), and we kept 16 stats by hand.
1st Pick
Napa Criminally Insane (2nd Place)
1. Howard Johnson SS
2. Julio Franco 2b
3. Will Clark 1b
4. Barry Bonds OF
5. Matt Williams 3b
6. Jose Canseco OF
7. Bret Saberhagen SP
8. Mickey Tettleton C
9. Rob Dibble RP
10. Andre Dawson OF
11. Eric Davis OF
12. Mike Greenwell OF
13. David Cone SP
14. Rickey Henderson OF
15. Nolan Ryan SP
16. Tom Henke RP
17. Kelly Gruber 3b
18. Terry Steinbach C
19. Alan Trammell SS
20. Glenn Davis 1b
21. Gary Gaetti 3b
22. Paul O'Neill OF
23. Willie McGee OF
24. Orel Hershiser SP
25. Steve Sax 2b
2nd Pick
Stimpy's Sluggers (5th Place)
1. Ryne Sandberg 2b
2. Craig Biggio C
3. Cecil Fielder 1b
4. Bobby Bonilla OF
5. Chris Sabo 3b
6. Travis Fryman SS
7. Steve Avery SP
8. Ron Gant 2b
9. Juan Gonzalez OF
10. Rick Aguilera RP
11. Mark Langston SP
12. Todd Zeile 3b
13. Alejandro Pena RP
14. Scott Erickson SP
15. Vince Coleman OF
16. Ozzie Guillen SS
17. John Kruk OF
18. Mike Moore SP
19. Marquis Grisson OF
20. Chili Davis OF
21. Roberto Kelly OF
22. Jeff Bagwell 1b
23. Delino DeShields 2b
24. John Smiley SP
25. Jeff Brantley RP
3rd Pick
Troll (1st Place)
1. Frank Thomas 1b
2. Barry Larkin SS
3. Roberto Alomar 2b
4. Robin Ventura 3b
5. Andy Van Slyke OF
6. Tony Gwynn OF
7. Benito Santiago C
8. Albert Belle OF
9. Mitch Williams RP
10. Frank Viola SP
11. Fred McGriff 1b
12. Steve Buechele 3b
13. Greg Swindell SP
14. Jim Abbott SP
15. Darren Daulton C
16. Jack McDowell SP
17. Joe Carter OF
18. Stan Belinda RP
19. Jay Bell 2b
20. Jay Buhner OF
21. Carlos Baerga 3b
22. Otis Nixon OF
23. Kevin Maas 1b
24. Shane Mack OF
25. Trevor Wilson SP
4th Pick
Bakersfield Barracudas (3rd place)
1. Ken Griffey, Jr. OF
2. Ruben Sierra OF
3. Kirby Puckett OF
4. Wade Boggs 3b
5. Tom Glavine SP
6. Gregg Jeffries 3b
7. Wally Joyner 1b
8. Matt Nokes C
9. Bobby Thigpen RP
10. John Olerud 1b
11. Chuck Finley SP
12. Jose Rijo SP
13. Duane Ward RP
14. Dennis Martinez SP
15. Bill Spiers SS
16. Phil Plantier OF
17. Darryl Hamilton OF
18. Tony Fernandez SS
19. Tim Raines OF
20. Jody Reed 2b
21. Mike MacFarlane C
22. Ellis Burks OF
23. Edgar Martinez 3b
24. Paul Molitor DH
25. Ray Lankford OF
5th Pick
S.M.S.O.A.F.G.W.B.A.C.E.S.J. (4TH Place)
1. Cal Ripken, Jr. SS
2. Kevin Mitchell OF
3. Rafael Palmeiro 1b
4. Danny Tartabull OF
5. Roger Clemens SP
6. Terry Pendleton 3b
7. Chuck Knoblauch 2b
8. Pete Harnisch SP
9. Darryl Strawberry OF
10. Dennis Eckersley RP
11. Sandy Alomar, Jr. C
12. Hal Morris 1b
13. Ramon Martinez SP
14. Doug Drabek SP
15. Lee Smith RP
16. David Justice OF
17. BJ Surhoff C
18. George Bell OF
19. Lenny Dykstra OF
20. Jesse Barfield OF
21. Royce Clayton SS
22. Robby Thompson 2b
23. Bernie Williams OF
24. Andy Benes SP
25. Mel Hall OF

Notable Free Agent Pickups: 1992
Tony Phillips 2b
Jeff Kent 3b
John Smoltz SP
Randy Johnson SP
Sid Fernandez SP
Mark McGwire 1b
Melido Perez SP
Dean Palmer 3b
Brady Anderson OF
Lou Whitaker 2b
Ivan Rodriguez C
Chris Hoiles C
Don Mattingly 1b
Gary Sheffield 3b
Kevin Brown SP
Dave Winfield OF
Rich "Goose" Gossage RP
Deion Sanders OF
Larry Walker OF
Rob Deer OF
Charles Nagy SP
Kevin Appier SP
Jeff Reardon RP
Mike Mussina SP
Kent Hrbek 1b


Parlaying Fantasy Baseball Knowledge Into a Real Job

ESPN Studio.
The set didn't look like this then.
Sure, maintaining a fantasy baseball website is a job unto itself, although I hasten to call it "work." I still see it as a hobby since I don't have Producers and bosses barking commands at me for 12-16 hours every day, six days a week.

In 1998, I was a struggling n00b right out of college, trying to find a job in the TV and film business in LA. I sent resumes out like a madman and got almost no interviews. I did land an interview to be a Production Assistant for an upcoming show on the Warner Brothers lot, called, "Two of a Kind." It was starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen - the Olsen twins. They were 12 years old at the time, and, had I got the job, I probably would have never been the same. I take direction well from those who merit authority, but taking Starbucks orders from a couple of uber-rich teenagers with their own TV show... I shudder to think what my life would be like now. Fortunately, the head honchos in charge of the show called me and told me they liked me a lot, but I didn't get the gig. I remember justifying it at the time by saying, "Ah, it's probably for the best. That show will be off the air in a matter of weeks."

Turns out I was right - the show was canceled after the first season. Shocking, I know!

Shortly thereafter, I got a letter from ESPN. They got my resume and cover letter, they actually looked at it, let alone read it, they liked it, and they wanted to interview me out in Bristol, CT. I couldn't believe it! Of course, after a year of not getting production jobs, I thought the chances of me being an ESPN employee were slim and none.

When I got to ESPN's campus in Bristol to interview for a job as a "Production Assistant," I had images in my head of being slapped by Chris Berman because his Latte was too hot. Al Jaffe, the guy who interviewed me at ESPN, was quick to tell me that Production Assistants at ESPN weren't like other PAs in the entertainment industry. PAs at ESPN actually did a ton of real work. PAs at ESPN are the ones who make the highlights you see on SportsCenter every night.

In the interview, Al Jaffe quizzed me on my sports knowledge. The first thing he asked me was to explain what I knew and what I thought about the freakin' Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals?! But I totally nailed it. Not because I studied the night before, but because I was such a Fantasy Baseball, Football and Basketball nerd that I knew everything about the Bengals already. He could have asked me about any baseball, football or basketball team on Earth and I would have known the answer (I think I even impressed him with a clever World League of American Football reference during the interview). He then went on to ask me about Hockey and College Football (I remember telling him that Ricky Williams was a no-brainer to win the Heisman Trophy that year - I was right... then again, it really was a no-brainer).

At Last, My Fantasy Sports Knowledge
Had Paid Off

When Al Jaffe was done interviewing me, he offered me a job on the spot (he probably did that either because he offers a job to everyone who interviews for a PA position, or because he knew I flew my poor-ass 3,000 miles for this chance). Naturally, I took it. It didn't pay well, and I had to prove my worth over the first 6 months of working there or else I'd be out on my ass looking for a job 3,000 miles away from home. But, no matter what it paid, I took the job if for nothing else than to have it on my resume forever.

As it turned out, I worked my ASS off for the first 6+ months, got kept, got a raise, and I worked 60-65 hours on average every week. I loved the work I did, but I was doing too much of it. I didn't have time to do anything but work, eat and sleep, and after a year, I burned out. Like I said, I loved the work I did, making SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight highlights for all you nerds to see every day, but I don't care if you're a porn star: working that many hours on anything is too much. After leaving ESPN, it took me a few years to really get back into sports like I used to be, but I've still almost felt obligated to keep doing fantasy baseball and fantasy football every year.

So here I am... here we are... still geeking out on fantasy baseball and spreading the knowledge to you, our fellow fantasy baseball geeks.

What? Oh, yeah. All the anchors at ESPN are actually really cool. Seriously. Chris Berman, Stuart Scott and Linda Cohn are the nicest people on Earth. More importantly, the Baseball Tonight guys were (are) all awesome. I worked with Karl Ravech, Peter Gammons, Harold Reynolds and Dave "Soup" Campbell a lot and they're all awesome, down-to-Earth guys. I know you were asking that in your head because that's all anyone ever asks me.
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Photo used under Creative Commons from Rob Poetsch