1997 Expansion Draft

Following the 1996 season, the CFCL decided that it would be nice to once again try to increase the size of the league from 9 to 10 teams. �We also knew that the National League would be adding an expansion team for the 1998 season, so we thought we could prepare ourselves by adding a team early. �That team was Bowser's Big Dogs (Darren Bowser).

Using our standard expansion draft guidelines, each of the nine exisiting CFCL teams protected 15 players. �The Big Dogs were then allowed to select 2 players from each team's list of unprotected players. �The players they selected retained their existing salary and contract status

Since the Big Dogs were the only team taking part in the Expansion Draft, we did not formally get together. �Rather, the list of unprotected players was submitted to Darren and he returned the list of players he selected on January 31, 1997. The following are the player Darren selected to form the Big Dogs' initial roster:

1997 Draft

The 1997 CFCL Draft was held on Saturday, March 29 at 9:30 AM at David Mahlan's apartment. �During the offseason we had added a new team, Bowser's Big Dogs - owned by Darren Bowser, and for the first time in CFCL history we had 10 teams.

Clockwise, from the lower left: �Ken Welsch (Welsch's FlatFeet), Dave Goetz (ForGoetz Me Nots), Darren Bowser (Bowser's Big Dogs), David Holian(David's Ruffins), David Mahlan (David's Copperfields, Co-Commissioner), Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels, Co-Commissioner), Matt Bentel (DoorMatts), Paul Zeledon�(Da Paul Meisters), Eric Lamb (Eric's Lambchops). �Just outside the frame on the right: Kelly�Barone (Six Packs).

In addition to a new owner, we added a couple new aspects to the 1997 Draft. �The first of these was a Kangaroo Court in which owners were fined for Draft Day gaffes (forgetting who we were bidding on or what the most recent bid was, nominating a player who as already owned, etc). �As Treasurer, Rich Benel reluctantly agreed to act as "Captain Kangaroo" (at one point, trying to avoid a fine, Six Pack owner Kelly Barone appealed to Rich by quoting Whitman ("Oh Captain, My Captain"). �Rich, the old softie, bought it.).

The other new feature in 1997 was a try-out of a new approach for the Draft. �In every year previous, we had conducted our auctions in a very structured manner -- an owner would nominate a player and an opening bid. �The bid would then go clockwise around the table, with each owner either increasing the bid or dropping out when it was his turn. �Once an owner dropped out, he was out for good -- he could not pass and stay in the bidding. �This approach has it's own set of strategies, etc., and had always worked well for us. �We wondered, however, if the Draft might move more quickly if we used an "open auction" approach in which a player and opening bid were announced and then owners could then call out bids as they desired.

Since this was new to us, we didn't want to take any chances with the screwing up the start of the Draft, so we decided to use the open auction format for the 3rd and 4th rounds -- after many of the big name players had already been drafted.

Of course, using this approach meant we had to have an auctioneer -- someone to keep the process moving and to call for final bids once things had slowed down. �As is his habit, David Holian immediately nominated Six Pack owner Kelly Barone for auctioneer. �We decided that we would submit votes for auctioneer as part of the ballots for the Executive Committee election. �Kelly, of course, was elected auctioneer, but not without some competition.

Once we were ready to start the Draft, David Holian, as tradition dictates, nominated the first player for bidding.

X-Rated Elmo?
The CFCL took a walk on the wild side when discussion turned to the Muppets. �Da Paul Meister owner Paul Zeledon had brought a good luck companion to the Draft -- a doll of Bert from Seseme Street. �David Holian remarked that he had assumed Bert belonged to Andy, the son of the Draft's host, David Mahlan. �Mahlan responded that Andy was more of an Elmo fan, which caused Holian to ask if Mahlan had landed himself one of the popular "Tickle Me Elmo" dolls the previous Christmas. �Things quickly went downhill.

Tie Breaker
When we reached the "open auction" rounds, things went fairly smoothly with Kelly at the helm as auctioneer. �The only really rough spot was when two owners would call out the same bid at the same time. �Luckily one of the two was usually willing to up their bid by a penny to break the tie. �However, David Holian, inspired by a comment from Kelly, had other thoughts about how to break these ties.

Kelly Loves Reggie
Six Pack owner Kelly Barone has always had a love/hate relationship with OF Reggie Sanders. �He seems to love him on Draft Day, when Kelly's more than once broken the bank to draft him. �The relationship always turns sour, however, when Sanders injures himself three weeks into the season. �Sanders was once again available in the 1997 Draft. �When he was nominated for bidding, David Mahlan remarked about a massive home run Sanders had hit in an exhibition game the previous day. �Kelly, however, had his own unique view of the event.

As Kelly continued to increase his bid on Sanders, David Holian was moved to comment Kelly's tendancies toward self-punishment.

The Larry Walker Incident
The Draft had reached that point when most of the big names were gone, when everyone who had a decent amount of money left had their sights set on the one player left who was worth more than .15 -- Larry Walker. �Finally his name was brought up and the bidding quickly rose to the .20s when owners started dropping out. �Because most teams could no longer afford to spend a bundle on a single player, there were soon only two owners left, and they were in very different positions. �The ForGoetz Me Nots had .10 more left to spend than the Ruffins did, however, while the Ruffins needed to draft only 4 more players, the ForGoetz Me Nots still had 10 open spots on their roster. �As the bidding reached the mid-30s, we started calculating -- ForGoetz Me Nots owner Dave Goetz couuld go as high as .47 for Walker, but it would leave him with only a penny to spend on each of his nine remaining players. �The Ruffins, meanwhile, could afford to go up to .43 for a single player and would need only 3 more players at a penny apiece.

Everyone kept expecting Goetz to drop out -- certainly he wouldn't paint himself into the corner of having to draft 9 players (almost half his team) for about a penny apiece, we all thought. �With each successive bid by the ForGoetz Me Nots, Ruffin owner Dave Holian could only shake his head in disbelief, raise the bid a penny, and hope that Goetz would realize what he was about to do to his team. �Finally, Holian went as far as he could -- .43 -- and sat by helplessly as the FForGoetz Me Nots drafted Larry Walker for .44.

Draft Summary

First Player Purchased	Trevor Hoffman� David's Copperfields � .39
Highest-Priced Batter	Barry Bonds� Bowser's Big Dogs � .52
Highest-Priced Pitcher	Trevor Hoffman� David's Copperfields � .39 Jeff Brantley � Dem Rebels � .39
First "Penny Player"	Kurt Abbott � DoorMatts � 4th round
Last Player Purchased	Billy Speirs � ForGoetz Me Nots � .01
First Reserve List Pick	Kevin Jordan � Eric'c Lambchops � .15
First Minor League Pick	Paul Konerko � David's Copperfields � .10 � 6th round Rotation Draft