1994 Expansion Draft

Following the 1993 season, we put plans in place to finally increase the size of our league to 10.  To do so, we needed to add two teams, the DoorMatts (Matt Bentel) and the ForGoetz Me Nots (Dave Goetz).  The ForGoetz Me Nots, of course, were one of the six original CFCL teams in 1984, and our very first League Champions.  They had withdrawn from the league following a 5th place finish in the the 1985 season.

Using guidelines similar to those we had used for the 1993 Expansion Draft, each of the eight existing CFCL teams protected 15 players.  The ForGoetz Me Nots and DoorMatt were then allowed to select players from those that were left unprotected, with no single team losing more than six players (because the Copperfields and Kents only had 20 players each, they only lost five players apiece.

The Expansion Draft was held at David Mahlan's apartment on October 10, 1993, using a straight draft of unprotected players.  Players who were selected retained their existing salary and contract status.  The record of the order in which the players were selected has been lost, however the post-Draft rosters of each expansion team were as follows:

POSTSCRIPT:  Our plans to have a 10-team league were foiled when Pat McGuire, owner of the Twin Picks, decided to withdraw before Draft Day 1994.

1994 Draft

The 1994 CFCL Draft was held on Saturday, April 2 at 10:00 AM in David Holian's basement.  The first order of business was to elect the Executive Committee for the coming season.  There was never much excitement about the annual election, as the same three owners had been elected (almost unanimously) for several years running.  1994 was different, however, as one of the three, David Holian, had removed himself from the ballot because he was moving out of state.  This opened the door for either Kelly Barone or Eric Lamb to sneak in.  Things got off to a rocky start, though, when ballots for the Executive Committee were distributed and Eric twice delayed the proceedings.  First, as the ballots were passed around, Eric neglected to pass the pile to the owner sitting next to him, so only half the owners at the table received ballots.  Then, when everyone finally did get a ballot and the tabulation of the votes began, it was discovered that Eric had been confused about how to complete his ballot.  Once things got straightened out, the vote counting continued, and the ensuing election was one of the more exciting moments of the Draft.

With the Executive Committee election out of the way, we were set to start Drafting.  As always, the Draft started off with Dave Holian nominating the first player for bidding.  This time, everyone knew who was coming.

Clockwise, from the lower left:  David Holian (David's Ruffins), Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels, Co-Commissioner), Matt Bentel (DoorMatts), Paul Zeledon (Da Paul Meisters), Eric Lamb (Eric's Lambchops), Kelly Barone (Six Packs), David Goetz (ForGoetz Me Nots), Tom Clark (Clark's Kents).  Just outside the frame on the right: David Mahlan (David's Copperfields, Co-Commissioner).

The Year of the Pitcher
During the offseason before the 1994 season, the CFCL had serious discussions about changing the statistical categories we use.  Among others, one of the changes we considered was replacing the Ratio category with Strikeouts, with the intent being to increase the value (and salaries) of pitchers, specifically starting pitchers.

We ended up sticking with the standard Rotisserie categories, but you'd never know it based on some of the prices starting pitchers went for in the 1994 Draft:  Greg Maddux - .39, Steve Avery - .36, Jose Rijo - .39, Tom Glavine - .29, Doug Drabek - .24, Pete Harnischh - .33, John Smiley - .19, Mark Portugal - .18.  Even Erik Hanson went for .11.  All in all, there was probably more overspending on starting pitchers in 1994 than in any other year.  All the wild spending led Dave Holian to reminisce about the first pitcher he ever drafted, way back in the 1986 CFCL Expansion Draft.

Copperfield Research
Copperfield owner David Mahlan has something of a reputation in the CFCL for excessive draft preparation and research. He was the first owner to bring a laptop to the Draft (1995), but before that it was binders. In 1992 Mahlan brought two large binders filled with lists and player evaluations. He did it again in 1993, when he had a huge binder that contained an entire page of notes for each player and a smaller binder filled with lists of players sorted by value and projected stats.

As much as anything, the binders provided a huge "intimidation factor" for the other owners. There was always much speculation about what the binders contained – in particular, Dave Holian’s guesses, while usually incorrect, were very entertaining.

"Hey, Sailor"

During a lull late in the Draft, David Holian plays "Who Am I?" with Kelly Barone, across the table.  Kelly can't identify the mystery person, but the answer is sufficient to get the CFCL off on another television-related tangent (see the 1993 Draft History for more CFCL TV memories).  At least this time, Kelly's great memory can steer the conversation back to Fantasy Baseball.  Well, sort of.

Draft Summary

First Player Purchased	Barry Bonds  Eric's Lambchops   .54
Highest-Priced Batter	Barry Bonds  Eric's Lambchops   .54
Highest-Priced Pitcher	Greg Maddux   ForGoetz Me Nots   .39 Jose Rijo   Six Packs   .39
First "Penny Player"	Geronimo Pena   Eric's Lambchops   7th round
Last Player Purchased	Todd Worrell   David's Copperfields   .01
First Minor League Pick	Brooks Kieschnick   Dem Rebels   .05   2nd round Rotation Draft