Cirillo	Grace	Kent	Mercker	Sanders

TEAM: Fighting Turtles
OWNER: Brian Hintz
ESTABLISHED: 1994
CHAMPI0NSHIPS: 0
YEARLY FINISHES: 11, 11, 3, 5, 2, 4, 12
MANAGER: William "Peek-A-Boo" Veach-OF/P/IF in the late 1880's.

HISTORY: The Fighting Turtles began their expansion year as the Lobs. They went after many longshot players, hoping to cash in during their second year. The strategy worked as expected, at least in their first year as the Lobs finished in a distant 11th place.

However, despite keepers such as Ron Gant, Gary Sheffield, and Barry Bonds (potentially the best outfield in BLOBB history) the Turtles were toast after Sheffield was hurt and his pitchers stunk as bad as Sheffield's and Bonds' attitudes. The Turtles did defy their names in '95, leading the league in steals.

1996 was the year that the third year Turtles finally put it together, leading for parts of the season before finishing a team record third. The Turtles acquired numerous veteran players who blossomed beyond expectations. Bernard Gilkey, Jeff King, Benito Santiago, and Eric Young joined the always dependable Mark Grace to give the Turtles outstanding hitting which provided the impetus for their nice season.

In 1997 the Turtles seemed destined for the second division as Bernard Gilkey and Greg Vaughn single handedly tried to bring the entire team down. However, late season surges from Jon Nunnally and Ken Caminitti to go along with solid seasons from Jeff Kent, Kevin Young, and Todd Hundley nearly brought them back from extinction, stunning the league and finishing just 0.5 points out of the money and in 5th place.

Early season expectations were high in 1998 as the Turtles were pegged as the preseaon favorite. And, while they did not deliver the gold to GM Hintz, the season did not disappoint as the Turtles fought their way to a solid second place finish. The Turtles did not dominate in any particular category, but rather featured a well balanced team which produced in all categories. The surprising threesome of Jeff Kent, Kevin Young, and Greg Vaughn combined for 108 homers and 355 RBIs while Jeff Shaw pitched in 48 saves.

The Fighting Turtles continued their run of upper division finishes with a finish in the money in 1999 as they snuck into 4th place. The 99 Turtles featured the best (acutally tied) pitching in the league allowing them to overcome mediocre at best hitting. John Smoltz, Omar Daal, and a strong group of middle relievers led the Turtles to first place finishes in ERA and RAT.

After four straight upper division finishes, the Turtles fell apart in 2000 and dropped all the way to last place. Their pitching was adequte behind Robb Nen, Scott Sullivan, and Rich Ankiel, but their offense compiled a woeful 5 points. They had only one player with more than 20+ homers and one with more than 80 RBIs, which obviously wasn�t going to cut it in the offensive inflated BLOBB.

BEST TRADE:Marquis Grissom, Mike Lieberthal, and Alex Arias to the Sleepers for Rod Beck and Trey Beamon. Grissom was excess baggage for the fleet Turtles while Rod Beck stabalized the pitching and provided them with the best 3 man pen in recent memory (with Turk Wendell and Ricky Bottalico).

WORST TRADE:In 1999, the Turtles trade Armando Reynoso to the Bums in exchange for Paul Bako. Reynoso is a mildly servicable starter who is eventually peddled by the Bums after a nice run of starts, while Bako hits .235 in 180+ AB with little production.

FRANCHISE MVP: Mark Grace

CAREER LEADERS:

AB			H			HR			RBI
M. Grace	2097	M. Grace	665	G. Vaughn	113	M. Grace	300
E. Young	1784	E. Young	536	E. Karros	65	G. Vaughn	294
G. Vaughn	1484	F. Vina	        385	J. Kent	        60	J  Kent	        249
J. King	        1355	B. Gilkey	370	B. Gilkey	56	J. King	        238
B. Gilkey	1293	G. Vaughn	369	B. Bonds	55	B. Gilkey	234		
		
SB			AVG			IP			W
E. Young	151	T. Gwynn	.338	J. Smoltz	479.3	J. Smoltz	34	
B. Bonds	48	M. Grdzlnk	.326	M. Clark	418.7	M. Clark	23
F. Vina	        37	Kv. Mitchell	.326	W. Williams	368.3	W. Williams	22
B. Butler	34	C. Shipley	.323	T. Stttlmyre	342.3	T. Stottlemyre  21
G. Vaughn	33	J. Cirillo	.321	O. Daal	        310.7	2 tied with 	18
			
SV			RAT			ERA
J. Shaw	       149	R. Nen	        0.85	R. Nen          1.50
R. Bottalico	69	K. Tapani	1.02	G. Swindell	2.50
R. Nen	        41	J. Johnstone	1.12	A. Young	2.56
T. Wendell	16	J. Shaw	        1.13	An. Osuna	2.64
R. Beck	        14	C. Schilling	1.13	T. Mullhllnd	2.78