DOORMATTS reserve S Spencer, activate J Lane.

DEM REBELS trade J Pierre and S Linebrink to RUFFINS for B Wilkerson, R Dempster, and their 2005 15^th round Rotation Draft pick.

HOT SLUDGE SUNDAE trade M Piazza, R King, S Kazmir, B Harris, B Nelson, and their 2005 1^st round Rotation Draft Pick to RUFFINS for J Reyes, J Cruz, and their 2005 14^th round Rotation Draft pick.

DEM REBELS activate B Meadows.

HOT SLUDGE SUNDAE reserve J Cruz, activate J Beckett.

RUFFINS reserve J Pierre and S Kline, activate To Perez, release J Buck, waive T Redding and V Pascucci.

COPPERFIELDS reserve F Rodriguez, activate R Wolf.

STONES reserve Z Day, activate M Herges.

STONES reserve G Jenkins, activate D Bautista.

LAMBCHOPS reserve K Ginter, activate J Hernandez.

LAMBCHOPS reserve T Wellemeyer, activate M Morris.

RUFFINS reserve C Everett, activate J Pierre.

RUFFINS reserve J Thomson, activate O Perez.

BY KENNEN reserve K Pellow, activate D Ross.

BY KENNEN reserve L Gonzalez, activate J Castillo.

BY KENNEN reserve R Madson, activate C Harville.

HOT SLUDGE SUNDAE reserve M Ginter, activate J Kennedy.

DA PAUL MEISTERS reserve B Wagner, activate R Aurilia.

DA PAUL MEISTERS reserve B Myers, activate J Lima.

DEM REBELS sign free agent M DeJean for .06, waive P Abbott.

DEM REBELS sign free agent P Munro for .05, reserve B Tomko, waive M Kinney.

TEDDY’S SPLENDID SPLINTERS claim M Mantei on waivers, reserve him, waive M Corey.

TEDDY’S SPLENDID SPLINTERS sign free agent R Branyan for .08, waive J Carroll.

TEDDY’S SPLENDID SPLINTERS sign free agent G Acquino for .08, reserve O Moreno, waive J Thurston.

TEDDY’S SPLENDID SPLINTERS sign free agent E Gonzalez for .05, reserve him, waive J Ficak.

TEDDY’S SPLENDID SPLINTERS sign free agent J VanderWal for .05, reserve him, waive S Service.

A look at the standings on Friday morning showed the Meisters, Stones, and Copperfields separated by just two points in the top three spots. The trades that happened later Friday morning had the Ruffins bidding to make that leading trio a quartet. Of course, things have been tight at the top for quite a while, but I’ve had four different owners ask me recently if there was ever a season that had three teams so tightly packed this late in the season.

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: The CFCL has seen quite a few pennant races in its 21 years. Once (1999) we even had to go to two tie breakers before the Six Packs were declared the winner over the second-place Copperfields. Close finishes between two teams are one thing, but now we’re talking about 3 teams locked in a battle for the top spot. There have been a few examples of three-team races in our past.

With a week left to play, things hadn’t loosened up a bit. The Bald Eagles had pulled into the lead with 67.5 points. They were followed by the Six Packs at 67 and the Lambchops at 66.5.

The suspense was even worse than it might seem. These were the pre-Internet, pre-stat service days of the CFCL when I did the weekly stats by hand. 1991 was also the year I got married. On September 28. Here’s what I had to say in the weekly report for prior to the season’s last week:

That’s it. I left town with the best pennant race in CFCL history unresolved. Of course, while I was in San Francisco on my honeymoon I made sure to pick up a USA Today so I had the final stats, but I left the Lambchops, Eagles, and Six Packs in suspense – I didn’t get the chance to compute the final standings until I got back home in mid-October, and didn’t announce the results until the Awards Banquet late that month.

And how did things end up? The three teams finished separated by a single point. The Eagles won their first and only Championship, finishing with 68 points. The Six Packs and Lambchops both finished with 67 points, the Packs winning the tie breaker for second place, 5 categories to 3.

There’s more to the story of the 1991 season, though. Back in those days, when a minor leaguer owned by a CFCL team was called up to the majors, his CFCL team had to activate him within 2 weeks or waive him. That year, the Six Packs owned Dodger shortstop prospect Jose Offerman. So when the Dodgers called Offerman up in early August, the Six Packs were faced with a dilemma. They were sitting in first place, leading by over 5 points. Even so, sticking a rookie in the middle of their infield for two and a half months was a risky proposition (this was also the days before free movement between active and reserve rosters). On the other hand, the Six Packs didn’t want to give up a Future Fountain of Stolen Bases. In the end, they decided their 5+ point lead was solid enough, activated Offerman, and waived seldom-used middle infielder Chico Walker.

CFCL oldtimers know the rest of this story. Offerman was basically a bust that first half season, and while Chico Walker didn’t set the world afire, he did produce enough HR and RBI that the Six Packs would have finished in first had they kept him active. Things were that close. Kelly’s fatal decision has gone down in CFCL lore as The Chico Incident. Several years later at the Draft, Kelly recounted the whole thing, and you can hear it in his own words by visiting the 1995 Draft in the Draft Histories section of the CFCL website.

With the way the 2004 race is shaping up, chances are good that we’ll come out of it with a whole new set of tales to tell.

Record Book

Week Ending 7/31:  No new records were set this week.