1989 Expansion Draft

Following the 1988 season, the Aces to Win and Davies' Crocketts both decided to pack up and go home.  Their players were put into a pool and made available in an auction for two new teams:  Eric's Lambchops (Eric Lamb) and the Scotland Wiseguys (Scott Somebody).  Each player selected retained his previous contract status.  In addition, the minor league players from the Aces and Crocketts were made available in a 3-round straight draft following the auction.

The Lambchops jumped right out ahead in the Expansion Draft, picking up Kevin Mitchell, Tony Gwynn, and three other players before the Wiseguys purchased their first.

When all the bidding was done, Eric and Scott had the following initial rosters (players are listed in the order selected):

POSTSCRIPT:  The Wiseguys were not long for the CFCL -- see the 1989 Draft History below to read about how they became the Headless Horsemen on D-Day.

1989 Draft

The 1989 Draft was held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, April 8th.  The Draft took place at Mount Olympus (long story), the apartment shared by Co-Commissioners David Mahlan and Rich Bentel.

1989 was the first year someone thought to bring a camera to the Draft, resulting in these delightful snapshots.

From left to right:  Bob Monroe (Bald Eagles), Kelly Barone (Six Packs), and Dave Holian (David's Ruffins).

Clockwise, starting at the lower left:  Pat McGuire (McGuire's Picks), Eric Lamb (Eric's Lambchops), Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels, Co-Commissioner), David Mahlan (David's Copperfields, Co-Commissioner), Bob Monroe (Bald Eagles).

The nervous fun and frivolity that is common before every Draft.

The "Snookie" Incident
We were all sitting around the draft table waiting for the last owner to show up when the doorbell rang.  It was not, as we suspected, the owner of the Wiseguys, but a flower delivery man.  The flowers were for David Mahlan from his fiancee Michelle.  David tried to read the card in private, but with Bob Monroe around, there's not such thing as privacy.  Bob snagged the card and read it out loud to the rest of the owners:  "Good luck!  I love you, Snookie!  Michelle."  Well, it was a long time before David lived that one down.  In fact, Bob was kind enough to re-name David's team from the Copperfields to the Snookies on the Draft board.

The Copperfields undergo a name change for the 1989 Draft.

The Wiseguys/Horsemen Incident
Once the dust from the "Snookie" Incident had settled, we resumed our wait for our new owner.  It soon became apparent that we would be waiting a long time.  A quick phone call to his home quickly confirmed that we would be minus one owner in 1989.  It turns out that Scott had spent the morning at a semi-pro baseball tryout camp and had actually gotten signed.  He planned on leaving town that week.

We quickly called around to some of our former owners to see if they wanted to return to the league, or at the very least fill in for an absent owner.  They all declined, most citing lack of preparation.

It's a mystery how we came to the decision we did, but it was determined that rather than throwing all the Wiseguys' players into the Free Agent Pool, the team should remain intact.  Not only that, but the league as a whole should draft for the Wiseguys.  The way we figured it, once an owner dropped out of the bidding on a player he could step in and bid for the Wiseguys.  He'd then be joined on a "bidding committee" by other owners as they dropped out.

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?" you may well demand.  And to this day, no one present can explain the decision.

This decision seems even more bizzare when you realize that we knew full well that we had Bob Monroe in our midst, and we had had several years of experience with The Bald One's ways.  Nevertheless that's what we decided.  The Wiseguys were re-christened the Headless Horsemen and we began the Draft.

The Mitch Williams Incident (or the Headless Eagle Conspiracy)
As could probably be predicted, the Horsemen got on the board right away, drafting Steve Bedrosian, one of the two top closers available, for .29.  There weren't any protests about it, though; nor when they ended up with Shawon Dunston (.20), Darren Daulton (.08), Tim Wallach (.19), or Ed Whitson (.10).

The roof caved in, though, in the 5th round of the Draft, when someone nominated Mitch Williams.  The draft was almost half over by this point, and Dem Rebels were really the only team that didn't have their closer spot covered by that point.  It was clear that the Rebels were the only team that really NEEDED Williams, and this was borne out when most teams dropped out of the bidding in the early-teens.  When the bidding reached the mid-teens, only the Rebels and the Horsemen remained and the owner holding the Horsemen reigns dropped out, seemingly making Mitch Williams a Rebel.  Here's how Rebel owner Rich Bentel describes what happened next:  "I bid a price, and everyone passed including the Horseman's bidder (not Bob at the time). When Bob realized that I was going to get Williams for a price in the teens he said 'Wait a minute. The Horseman would bid more than that.' So the bidding was allowed to be reopened."

Bob was somehow able to convince the other owners (or at least the majority of them) that this fictional, non-existent owner really wanted Mitch Williams.  Bob was further able to successfully cajole the other owners into driving Williams' price higher and higher, arguing that even though the Horsemen may not necessarily need Williams, Rich's current bid wasn't "fair value" for a closer.  Such was the hypnotic effect The Bald One could have.

Bob finally drove Williams' price to .20, which was too much for the Rebels to afford.  The Horsemen entered the 1989 season with Steve Bedrosian and Mitch Williams in the bullpen, while the Rebels had to get along with Jay Howell.

POSTSCRIPT:  The Rebels survived the Mitch Williams Incident and went on to claim the 1989 CFCL Championship despite The Bald One's machinations.  The Horsemen went ownerless all year and finished in last place with 34.5 points -- 35.5 points behind the first place Rebels and 7.5 points behind the next-to-last Bald Eagles.

The Crayon Incident
Obviously, Rich wasn't in the greatest of moods after the bidding on Mitch Williams.  His spirits were temporarily lifted however, by the broadcast of the Cub game that was playing in the background while we drafted.  

Rich had just stood up, crayon in hand, to mark a purchase on the Draft Board when Harry Carey went into his home run call.  The last anyone remembered, Cub cleanup hitter and Dem Rebel Andre Dawson had been batting, so Rich went into a celebration.  When it was discovered that it was not Dawson, but Cub 5th-hole hitter and Six Pack Luis Sanchez who had hit the dinger, Rich flung the crayon upward, which left a nasty mark on the ceiling and nearly decapitated Rich's Co-Commissioner and roommate David Mahlan on the rebound.

Mahlan survived the incident, and the crayon mark remained on the Mount Olympus ceiling until the Co-Commissioners moved out.

Draft Summary

First Player Purchased	Steve Bedrosian   Headless Horsemen   .29
Highest-Priced Batter	Darryl Strawberry   Bald Eagles   .46
Highest-Priced Pitcher	Steve Bedrosian  Headless Horsemen   .29
First "Penny Player"	Ken Howell   David's Copperfields   4th round
Last Player Purchased	Franklin Stubbs   Dem Rebels  .01
First Minor League Pick	Ty Griffin   David's Copperfields