20 years ago today, January 18, 1993, five kids met in a basement to try out this thing called fantasy baseball. Of course, I, and some of you, were those kids. The league didn’t even have a name yet, but with the kick-off of the inaugural league draft that day, the Dream Team Baseball League was officially launched. Two decades later, here we are still taking part in what has to be one of the longest running fantasy baseball leagues to have been started by a bunch of junior high kids.
Sometime soon, I need to put all of the early history of the DTBL in writing before it completely escapes my memory. But for today, I’ll just write about some of what I recall from that inaugural draft. It will be a quick trip down memory lane for some of you, and for the rest, you may learn a little bit about how this whole thing got started. That first draft was extremely significant not just because it was the beginning of the league, but because one team used it to build the league’s first dynasty.
It was Martin Luther King Day 1993. Current DTBL members Kelly, Charlie, Greg and myself, along with former member Peter, gathered in my family’s basement. It was the last day of a three day weekend. Four of us were in seventh grade and one in sixth at the time. My youngest sister, who is currently a sophomore in college, was born three weeks after the draft. Obviously, we all had a keen interest in baseball, but I don’t think any of us knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into. We had certainly never played fantasy baseball before, and I think only I had even heard of it. But I explained to the others what I had learned from reading about the game, established some rules, and organized the draft.
In preparation for the draft, I attempted to set up the basement to mimic the NFL draft rooms I had seen on TV. Each person had a table/desk with a team placard to mark their spot. There was a makeshift podium from which the teams announced their selections. When picks were made, the selected player’s baseball card was taped onto the wall next to a team pennant: a draft board, of sorts. I had printed out “newsletters” for each owner, containing the list of eligible players and stats. As I type this, I’m staring at my old copy of that original newsletter. Reading through it, some of it is quite embarrassing, until I remind myself I was 13 years old when I wrote these things.
Although I don’t remember how long the draft ran, it could not have been short. It lasted 28 rounds, allowing each team to fill their entire roster. Our naivety towards fantasy baseball was evident right from the start. The first round was filled with picks of personal favorites (Choppers: Greg Maddux, Kings: Frank Thomas) and past-their-prime stars (Gators: Kirby Puckett, Cougars: Joe Carter). We drew numbers to determine the draft order, but wisely used a serpentine draft order for the only time in league history. Greg selected Puckett with the first pick, effectively making him the league’s first official player. Maddux went second, Ken Griffey Jr. third (to the Panthers), Thomas fourth and Carter fifth.
Joe Carter may have been a questionable choice by the Cougars in the first round (although he was the World Series hero that year), but the totality of their 1993 draft was the best dynasty building event this league has ever seen. They heisted Barry Bonds in the fourth (!!!) round. Yes, this was pre-steroids Bonds, but he was already well established as one of the best players in baseball, and especially in fantasy baseball, coming off a 34 HR, 39 SB ’92 season. Their next pick after Bonds was quite a steal as well: Albert Belle. Then came Barry Larkin in round six. But they weren’t done drafting potential future Hall of Famers. In round 18 it was Craig Biggio, Ivan Rodriguez in 19 and Kenny Lofton in the 22nd round. Though Kelly was the youngest one in the group, she certainly outsmarted the rest of us that day. The end result of that super draft class? Three titles in the league’s first four years. This season will also be the 20th anniversary of the Cougars’ 1993 title.
As we progress through 2013, I may have some more 20th anniversary features, but I figured it would be nice to take a quick stroll down memory lane on this milestone date. Looking ahead to our 2013 season, roster cuts will be due soon. I will send details in an email.
Happy Anniversary!