2001 Draft History

The 2001 CFCL Draft was held at the Oakbrook office of Rich Bentel's company on Sunday, April. We began at 8:00 AM.

Following the 2000 season, Dave Goetz, owner of the ForGoetz Me Nots, retired for the second time (he had previously "retired" following the 1985 season, only to return in 1994). The ForGoetz Me Nots roster was taken over by Tim Leen, who renamed them Tim's Maulers. Tim had served as a substitute for Matt Grage for several rounds of the 1999 Draft, so he came in with a little experience at the Drafting Table.

A completely new face at the Draft in 2001 was Harry Witzke, co-owner of the 2nd year Bruce's Witzke a Go-Go. Harry had been unable to attend the Go-Go's inaugural Draft in 2000, so the duties were handled by co-owner Bruce Ellman. This year, it was Ellman who was unavailable, so the CFCL got to meet the Go-Go's other half.

Back row, from left to right: Harry Witzke (Go-Go), Eric Lamb (Lambchops), Steve Olson (Stones), Tim Leen (Maulers), Matt Grage (Hard Hats), Paul Zeledon (Meisters), Nick Hansen (Picts).

Front row, from left to right: David Mahlan (Copperfields, Co-Commissioner), Kelly Barone (Six Packs), Rich Bentel (Dem Rebels, Co-Commissioner), Matt Bentel (DoorMatts).

Happy as we were to have Tim and Harry with us, a key ingredient in every CFCL Draft since 1986 was missing. Dave Holian, owner of David's Ruffins, had moved to Greensboro, North Carolina the previous summer, and for the first time in CFCL history, an owner was not able to be present at the Draft. Dave was unable to travel to Chicago for the Draft, but since he had been in the CFCL longer than anyone other than the co-founders, we wanted to do all we could to keep him in the league.

It was unlikely that we'd find a suitable substitute, and a 10-hour long distance phone call didn't seem fiscally responsible, and in the end we settled on a solution that combined a speakerphone, the Internet, AOL Instant Messenger, Microsoft NetMeeting, and an Excel spreadsheet.

The system allowed Dave to make his bids via Instant Messages to Co-Commissioner and Dem Rebel owner Rich Bentel. In addition to announcing each of Dave's bids, Rich also entered the bids of every other owner into an Excel spreadsheet. Using NetMeeting to "share" the spreadsheet, Dave was able to view all of the bids, plus see which teams were still in on the bidding and which had dropped out. Though there were periodic technical difficulties and Rich was kept very busy tracking all the bids, the system proved very effective. Once the auction was completed, Dave called in on a speakerphone to participate in the 17-round Reserve Draft.

One of the nice side benefits of the bid tracking spreadsheet was that if kept a running record of all the players acquired in the Auction. Click here to view the 2001 Auction Draft Record.

As always, we began the Draft Day proceedings with the election of the Executive Committee. Ballots were distributed around the table, each owner checked three names, and the completed ballots were collected. David Mahlan read off the votes from each ballot, and Rich Bentel dutifully tabulated the results. After Mahlan had worked his way through the pile of ballots, he and Steve Olson joked about possible recounts and the ballots being available for viewing by various media sources. They thought they were innocently poking fun at the Florida Fiasco from the 2000 Presidential Election ... until Bentel pointed out that only 7 of 12 possible votes had been cast.

Once we had a true official count completed, David Mahlan (12 votes), Rich Bentel (11), and Kelly Barone (11) were elected to the 2000 Executive Committee. Nick Hansen (1) and Eric Lamb (1) also received votes.

As CFCL tradition (and the Constitution) dictates, David Holian of the Ruffins is responsible for nominating the first player for bidding in each Draft. 2001 was a little different, though, as Holian nominated the first player over a speakerphone from Greensboro, NC.

David's Copperfields came into the Draft with only .25 total to spend on 10 players, possibly the lowest ratio in CFCL history. That meant that the highest the Copperfields could bid on any one player was .16. For the first several players nominated during the Draft, Mahlan's first (and only) bid on each player was the full .16. It became something of a running joke -- when it was Mahlan's turn to bid, no matter what the previous bid had been Mahlan immediately jumped the bid to .16. This lasted for several players, until Ruffin owner, David Holian, caught on.

When Rich Bentel nominated Edgardo Alfonzo at a penny, Holian (who was bidding just prior to Mahlan) made a pre-emptive strike with his bid.

The bidding on Ugueth Urbina had escalated into the mid-twenties, and Steve Olson, owner of the Stones was willing to go no higher. Olson dropped out of the bidding, but with a very shocking anatomical announcement.

Every once in a while, the CFCL Draft will take a bi-lingual turn (see the Orestes Destrade Incident from the 1993 Draft), usually with entertaining results. When Rich Bentel of Dem Rebels acquired infielder Pedro Feliz, Nick Hansen sparked another anatomical discussion by providing the English translation of Feliz's Spanish name.

Draft Summary

First Player Purchased	Sean Casey Six Packs .36
Highest-Priced Batter	Ken Griffey, Jr. Steve's Stones .47
Highest-Priced Pitcher	Randy Johnson Tim's Maulers .46
First "Penny Player"	Mike Mordecai Tim's Maulers 5th round
Last Player Purchased	Roosevelt Brown David's Copperfields .01
First Minor League Pick	Bud Smith Matt's Hard Hats .10