1998 Expansion�Draft

The CFCL added two teams for the 1998 season, raising our total to 11. �Bowser's Big Dogs had been unceremoniously booted from the league following the 1997 season, so the expansion was really just a net increase of one team.

The entire remaining roster of the Dogs was made available to the two new teams, Brian's Ball Busters (Brian Urban) and Steve's Slackers (Steve Donaldson). �In addition, each existing CFCL team protected 12 of the players on their Winter Roster and the rest were made available in the Expansion Draft. �Brian and Steve could choose as many ex-Dogs as they wished, but were limited to a total of two players from the rosters of existing teams.

The Expansion Draft was held on December 13, 1997 in a conference room at Rich's office. �The Slackers won a coin toss and elected to take the second and third picks in the Draft.

There was much shock and bewilderment when, with the first pick overall, the Ball Busters selected Brant Brown from Dem Rebels. �The Slackers followed up by jumping on Craig Biggio (Big Dogs) and Shane Reynolds (Copperfields).

When the dust had settled, the initial rosters for the two new teams looked like this (players are listed in the order selected):

POSTSCRIPT: �Despite our best intentions, we never offically made it to 11 teams in 1998. �Brian decided six weeks before Draft Day that he didn't have the time to commit to the CFCL, so he withdrew his franchise from the league.

1998 Draft

The 1998 CFCL Draft was held on Sunday, March 29 in a conference room at Rich Bentel's office. �We started at 9:30, figuring that'd be plenty early enough to be finished by late afternoon. Boy were we off. �You'd think after some 14 Drafts we'd be able to accurately predict how long they'd last. �

1998 was the year we were going to expand to an all-time high 11 teams, having removed Bowser's Big Dogs and adding Steve's Slackers and Brian's Ball Busters during the previous offseason. �Our plans were thwarted, though, when the Ball Busters withdrew six weeks before Draft Day. �Rather than scramble to find a replacement, we decided to go with just 10 teams again. �We did decided to expand rosters from 23 to 27 in order to handle the increase in the size of the player pool, which resulted from the Milwaukee Brewers joining the National League.

Online Executive Committee
As always, we started the official proceedings off with the election of the Executive Committee for the coming season. �During the previous year, 1997, the Executive Committee had been worked harder than any other season -- the threat of possible radical realiignment in the major leagues had us concerned about the effect it would have on our rosters. �Since we use only National League players, we were concerned that some teams would be crippled by the loss of players to the AL. �In order to be prepared, the Executive Committee traded emails at the rate of a dozen a day developing numerous proposals on how to handle realignment (including a plan to use Toppers as compensation for players lost to the AL). �The discussion got so intense, even non-EC members who had e-mail access, David Holian and Kelly Barone, were involved. �Before the 1998 election, Kelly discussed the impact the discussions had on other areas of his life.

Once the election got underway, the voting was more disparate than ever before -- after the first two ballots, no one had more than a single vote, with each of the co-commissioners being left off a ballot. �In the end, we had another CFCL first -- a tie for the third spot on the Committee.

From left to right: �Ken Welsch (FlatFeet), Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels, Co-Commissioner), Matt Bentel (DoorMatts), Eric Lamb (Eric's Lambchops), Dave Goetz (ForGoetz Me Nots), Steve Donaldson (Steve's Slackers), Paul Zeledon (Da Paul Meisters), Kelly Barone (Six Packs), David Mahlan (David's Copperfields, Co-Commissioner), David Holian (David's Ruffins).

With the formalities out of the way, as tradition dictates, David Holian had the honor of nominating the first player.

Solo Copperfields
Early in the Draft, Six Pack owner Kelly Barone questioned why a certain player on the Draft List was not noted as being on the DL, even though he had been injured during Spring Training. �After League Secretary David Mahlan explained the reasoning behind it, David Holian chastised Kelly for questioning a system he clearly didn't understand. �Kelly agreed with Holian's criticism, remarking that he really shouldn't be there, but Holian pointed out that Kelly wasn't the only one in that situation.

How'd That Get In There?
The threatened radical realignment of the major leagues never happened (at least not in 1998), but the Milwaukee Brewers did come over to the NL from the AL. �As a National League-only league, most CFCL owners were unfamiliar with the Brewers' roster. �When Steve Donaldson nominated Jeff Cirillo for bidding, Copperfield owner David Mahlan (who had his Draft lists sorted by position) wondered out loud where Cirillo qualified. �Of course, Mahlan's fellow owners weren't buying into his ignorance, and Kelly Barone suggested that Mahlan had additional research hidden somewhere about his person.

Slo-Mo Jones
The nomination of 73-year-old junk baller Doug Jones caused Six Pack owner Kelly Barone to fondly recall the time Jones was his secret weapon while playing Big Hurt Baseball on the Sony Playstation.

Recycled Rebels
After Dem Rebel owner Rich Bentel drafted Mickey Morandini for .11 (whom he had previously owned for .01), Bentel suddenly realized why his 1998 draftees were looking so familiar.

"Now Playing Centerfield .... Jerry DiPoto???"
Kelly Barone had a little trouble with names when it was his turn to nominate a player. When announcing Rockies' pitcher Jerry DiPoto, Kelly pronounced the name "Di-PAH-toe" rather than the customary "Di-POE-toe". �This cause all kinds of confusion for Copperfield owner David Mahlan, who thought Kelly was nominating a different player altogether.

Hate Mongering Rebels
Newly-engaged owner, Kelly Barone, spent much of the Draft expounding on the glories of Love and how finding his True Soulmate had made him a changed man. �As evidenced when he mistakenly bid out of turn, Kelly's new attitude had given him powers of telepathy, making him able to "feel" when other owners were going to drop out of the bidding. �Kelly explained that some owners would never be so in touch with their feelings.

Draft Summary

First Player Purchased	Sammy Sosa� Eric's Lambchops � .39
Highest-Priced Batter	Raul Mondesi� Six Packs � .48
Highest-Priced Pitcher	Mark Wohlers� Eric Lambchops � .43
First "Penny Player"	Greg Zaun � Eric's Lambchops � 9th round
Last Player Purchased	Cliff Politte� David's Ruffins � .01
First Minor League Pick	Aramis Ramirez � David's Ruffins � .10 � 2nd round Rotation Draft