Alou	Lee	Gant	Rueter	Bell

TEAM: Pistols
OWNER: Jeff Garton
ESTABLISHED: 1987
CHAMPI0NSHIPS: *2
YEARLY FINISHES: 6, 6, 4, 4, 6, 2, *1, 3, 1, 8, 3, 7, 6
MANAGER: Grover "Pistol Pete" Alexander-Hall of Fame pitcher
HISTORY: : The Pistols, long known for their speed and starting pitching began as the Gartons, a charter member of BLOBB.

The Gartons finished a distant sixth in a seven team league in their opening year. Ironically, the Gartons finished last in the league in steals.

In 1988, the Gartons, beginning their evolution into a speed team, finished sixth, this time out of nine teams.

By 1989, the Gartons were up to fourth and in the money for the first time.

This finish was repeated in 1991 as well.

After 1991, Jeff and the Pinsitters decided to join forces and thus was created the Pistols, named after the punk band the Sex Pistols (at least I hope that's where they got the name). The year of transition plus Pat's drafting of Hector Villanueva, much to Jeff's dismay, doomed the Pistols to a sixth place finish in 1992.

1993 proved to be an astounding success with a second place finish. Led by record setting performances from Randy Myers and Andres Galarraga, the Pistols rock and rolled.

However, 1994 was THE year for the Pistols (and not only for their decision to dump their Hector Villanueva drafting partner). Career years by journeymen such as Bruce Ruffin and Mike Kingery and some shrewd reserve list drafting led the Pistols to the promised land. The season was cut short just in time due to the player strike (therefore the asterisk) , further establishing 1994 as the year of the Guns.

1995 looked to be a rebuilding year for the Pistols at draft day, as they stockpiled young unproven personnel. But, due to the rapid development of rookie of the year candidates Hideo Nomo and Chipper Jones, the Pistols surged to a third place finish, just one point out of first.

1996 brought the first undisputed crown for the Pistols as an established core of players, bolstered by a career year out of Henry Rodriguez and the acquisitions of Kevin Brown and Luis Castillo spelled victory. The Pistols pulled away from the pack in the final month, posting an impressive overall point total of 81.

The 1997 Pistols had the makings of a future power house with a bevy of young cheap OF�s in Bobby Abreu, Jermaine Allensworth, and Jose Guillen to go along with his Pistol regulars such as Chipper Jones. The guns seemed to be a lock for the money when they picked up Robb Nen in a mid-season trade, at which time GM Jeff Garton proclaimed the race all but over. However, the Pistols collapsed down the stretch and limped home with an 8th place finish, their worst season ever.

Back in the money in �98 for the Pistols, as they featured a powerful club led by Jeff Bagwell, Chipper Jones, Ray Lankford, Moises Alou among others as well as the exciting pitching of rookie Kerry Wood.

The 1999 Pistols were again a solid offensive club thanks to surprise breakout years from Luis Gonzalez and Jay Bell. However, dreadful pitching from the starters in particular negated the hitting output and kept the team in the middle division, finishing the year in 7th place.

It was another year in the middle division for the Pistols in 2000. They never truly contended for most of the year, but hung around quietly in the middle of the pack. Unlike the previous year, the Pistols had a solid pitching staff (30 points) behind Livan Hernandez and Al Leiter, but it was the Pistols hitters who could not pull their weight as the Pistols finished 7th.

BEST TRADE: In 1996, the Pistols capitalize on expansion inexperience to TAKE Kevin Brown and Gary Gaetti from the Sleepers in return for Carlos Garcia, Rico Brogna, and Kirk Rueter. I�ll spare you the numbers but you can imagine considering that Brogna was out for the year at the time of the trade, Rueter was shipped to the minors within weeks and Garcia went down with a bad leg while Gaetti was a solid power source and Brown was perhaps the most dominating pitcher down the stretch that the league has ever seen. This trade, more than anything else, secured the Pistols second title.

WORST TRADE: The then Gartons trade Met ace David Cone along with Dion James to the Pauly Ticks for an aging and ailing Rick Sutcliffe and flash in the pan Lloyd McClendon.

FRANCHISE MVP: Dante Bichette

CAREER LEADERS:

AB			H			HR				RBI				
Chp. Jones	2320	D. Bichette	702	D. Bichette	117		D. Bichette	447		
D. Bichette	2203	Chp. Jones	688	Chp. Jones	108		Chp. Jones	414	
G. Davis	1720	M. Grissom	466	G. Davis 	91		G. Davis	281	
M. Grissoom	1686	G. Davis	453	J. Bell		69		J. Bell		251	
J. Bell		1681	J. Bell		453	H. Rodriguez	69		M. Alou	        239		

SB			AVG			IP				W			
M. Grissom	190	T. Gwynn	.400	M. Scott	657.7		M. Scott	47
O. Nixon	174	J. Bagwell	.368	O. Hershiser 	458.7		K. Rueter	32
D. Bichette	78	M. Kingery	.354	T. Belcher	437		H. Nomo		29
J. Samuel	70	A. Galarraga	.348	S. Rawley	427.7		S. Avery	26
R. Sanders	66	M. Aldrete	.325	I. Valdes       421.7		O. Hershiser	26	

SV			RAT			ERA
To. Worrell	79	R. Nen   	0.90	R. Nen	        0.90
Ra. Myers	78	K. Brown	1.05	L. McCullers	1.85
Do. Jones	62	Dw. Henry	1.07	D. Cone	        2.45
B. Wickman	62	M. Scott	1.07	K. Brown	2.52
G. McMichael	42	B. Saberhgn	1.09	S. Radinsky	2.63