Hot Dogs, Apple Pie, Mom and Fantasy Baseball?
By Barry J. Hicks
Capital Times Staff Writer
For two straight years, Mark
McGwire and Sammy Sosa capti
vated a nation in pursuit of a
seemingly unreachable single
season home run record.
While most baseball fans were
excited to see these players make
a run at a 37-year-old record,
owners of teams with names like
Hudock’s Hustlers and Franchise
Pierce were downright ecstatic for
other reasons.
It wasn’t the race for 61 or 70
home runs that had these guys
jumping up and down in front of
their television sets, it was the fact
that they were winning the home
run category in their respective
fantasy baseball leagues week in
and week out.
Fantasy baseball, or rotisserie
baseball as it is sometimes called,
has been around for years.
Until recently, leagues usually
formed between groups of friends
or co-workers who were interest
ed in putting their baseball knowl
edge to the test.
But, with the growth in popu
larity of the Internet, involvement
in fantasy baseball is at an all-time
high.
In a July 27, 1998 article in
Business Week, Ronald Grover
estimates that over 400,000 peo
ple are involved in Internet fanta
sy baseball leagues.
This fact, combined with the
thousands of fantasy baseball
leagues outside of the Internet,
shows that fantasy baseball has
found a home in American sports
society.
Fantasy baseball is a game in
which the owners/competitors
form teams by picking Major
League Baseball players, and
compete against each other using
the players’ actual statistics.
The 2000 pre-season edition of
Tuff Stuff’s Fantasy Baseball
Guide gives a summary of what
most fantasy baseball leagues’
rules look like.
A league is usually made up of
10 to 14 teams. Each team has an
owner who will draft actual Major
League Baseball players to their
team. Team owners must use the
players in their real-life positions.
The draft is set up like an actu
al Major League Baseball draft.
The order each team will pick in
respective rounds is decided by a
random drawing of numbers.
For example, Bill Hudock,
owner of Hudock’s Hustlers, might
get the fifth pick in round one and
the seventh pick in round two.
There are 24 rounds in the
draft. Each team drafts twenty
four players: five starting pitchers,
three relief pitchers, and two play
ers for each of the remaining posi
tions. Each team has three starting
pitchers, two relief pitchers, and
one player at each of the other
positions.
A designated hitter also starts
but can be any player at any posi
tion. The rest of the team spends
the week on the bench. The rank
ings of each player are given in a
different section of Tuff Stuff’s
Fantasy Baseball Guide based on
previous years-’ statistics and pre
season predictions.
Scoring is done like this: There
are five hitting categories and five
pitching categories: batting aver
age, runs scored, home runs, runs
batted in, stolen bases, wins,
strikeouts, earned run average,
saves, and WHIP (walks +
hits/innings pitched.)
Every week, each team plays
against the rest of the league.
For example, if there are 12
teams in a league, and Hudocks
Hustlers finish first in runs
scored, they will get 14 points
for that category.
If Franchise Pierce finishes
second in that category, they will
get 11 points. The third place team
will get 10 points, and it goes
down the line.
Since scoring is done for each
category, a balanced team of
speed, power, and pitching is very
important. A score of 95 usually
wins the week.
With two weeks left in a long
baseball season, the teams with
the four highest scores earn play
off spots.
The fourth team plays the first
and the second team plays the
third. The winners of those match
ups compete for the league cham
pionship and a money prize,
depending on the league’s rules.
So what is it about fantasy
baseball that makes it so popular?
Jeffrey Kamys, president of Dr.
Stats Fantasy Sports, has been in
the Internet fantasy baseball busi
ness for the last four years and has
thousands of users.
“With players’ salaries sky
rocketing, fans still look for a
way that they can associate
themselves with the game and
the players. Fantasy Sports
allows fans to feel like they are
part of the game. The strategic
elements of picking and choos
ing players provides fantasy
team owners a level of involve
ment and competitiveness that
takes the game to a new level,”
Kamys said.
Owners are not forced to stick
to the player rankings in their fan
tasy guides. Gut instinct and base
ball knowledge go a long way on
draft day and throughout the long
baseball season as well.
Timely ffee-agent pickups and
smart trades can take a last place
team to a first place team by the
end of the year.
James Pierce, a non-Internet
fantasy commissioner and a team
owner, has been running a league
for the past three years. There are
12 teams in his league and he
keeps track of every team’s statis
tics at no charge.
“The biggest reason I run the
league is to keep me involved in
baseball. When I was younger, I
looked forward to the baseball
Ice Hockey Gaining In
Popularity
North American Precis Syndicate
Ice hockey, and the National
Hockey League in particular, is
scoring with the public.
The NHL expanded once
again this season, adding a fran
chise in Atlanta and two more
teams are scheduled to join the
league next year. In addition,
NHL games have returned to
network television and major
advertisers have come on board.
For example, the former
player hockey fans know as "the
great one"-Wayne Gretzky-has
announced he will become act
ing commissioner of the Bud
Light Bubble Boys Hockey
League.
Bubble Boys are fictional
three-inch characters based on
the classic table hockey game
and are seen in a series of com
mercials for Anheuser-Busch's
Bud Light beer.
Throughout the 1999 season
the Bubble Boys tried to join the
National Hockey League but
have been rejected because of
their stature.
Out of frustration, the Bubble
Boys have created their own
league to challenge the NHL. In
their first major coup, they have
signed Gretzky as the league's
commissioner.
Gretzky-his tongue planted
firmly in his cheek-said, "When
the Bubble Boys approached me
to be commissioner I though it
would be disloyal to the NHL.
But they convinced me since
season so much, but in recent
years I’ve found myself losing
interest. By running a league,
you’re on top of everything,”
Pierce stated.
Pierce charges each owner a
$5O entry fee and $1 for each
free-agent pickup or trade. By
the end of the season, the
league’s pot is usually around
$650.
The winner of the league col
lects half of that money. The
runner-up receives one fourth
and the other two playoff teams
receive one-eighth each.
“It seems like a lot of time and
money to spend on fantasy base
ball, but the money isn’t even the
reason for joining a league. I
would say that bragging rights
and money are equally important.
I also think that fantasy is a way
I'm out of a job, the position of
commissioner would look good
on my resume. Besides my wife
Janet likes the idea of getting
me out of the house."
Bud Light is sponsoring
Bubble Boy table top hockey
tournaments during the period
leading up to the NHL Stanley
Cup Play-Offs. Local finalists in
each market will advance to the
Stanley Cup Finals to compete
for the National Bubble Boys
Championship trophy and an
opportunity to play against
Wayne Gretzky.
The Bubble Boy campaign
was created by Fusion Idea Lab,
Chicago, 111. Bud Light also
sponsors the Bud Light NHL
ALI-star Most Valuable Player
Award.
Anheuser-Busch, Inc. is the
world's largest brewer with
more than 47 percent of the U.S.
beer market.
The Bud Light Bubble Boys
table-top hockey figures-are
challenging the NHL with a
league of their own.
for athletes to get back into the
game. Any good athlete lives for
that adrenaline rush and for the
competition. It’s a part of them.
This is another way to focus on
that need for competition, since
we all don’t get out there and play
sports as much as we used to,”
Pierce commented.
Whether it be a way for ath
letes to get back into the game, or
just a way for fans to test their
baseball knowledge, fantasy
baseball is making a huge impact
in America.
So the next time you see a guy
hitting himself in the head and
complaining about a guy named
Omar Daal or Dave Burba getting
rocked the night before, and you
are thinking, “Who cares?”
maybe now you’ll understand
why he’s so upset.
Oopsters
Win
Championship
The Oopsters, representing
Penn State Harrisburg defeated
DYG, representing Penn State
Schuylkill 70 to 61 to win the
Capital College Intramural
Basketball championship.
The game was played at Penn
State Schuylkill on Thursday,
March 23 with a near capacity
crowd in attendance.
Following the game, PSSL
hosted PSH with a pizza party
and a time of fellowship.
Bud Smitley, Coordinator of
Recreation/Athletics at PSH,
said, "everyone had a great time,
and the score of the game didn't
really seem to matter. But, I still
am glad we won."
Members of the Oopsters
were Mike Bordon, Allen Wolfe,
Mike Pohronecny, Amodon
Balde, Adam Valcano, Adam
LeVan, Todd Davis, Dennis
Femendez, John Flickinger, Paul
Uhl, and Travis Eckert.
This concludes the 1999-2000
Capital College Intramural
Championship games, with Penn
State Harrisburg winning the
softball and basketball titles and
Penn State Schuylkill winning
the Touch Football title.
The games will continue in
2000-2001.