I was inducted into the North American Strat-O-Matic Baseball League (NASBL) hall of fame back in 2008. Here is the keynote speech that I was asked to deliver for the opening of the NASBL hall of fame.
I was first introduced to Strat-O-Matic in 1995 by my college roommate. I was asked to take over a team full of veterans including Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, and Paul Molitor. I learned many valuable lessons about Strat the hard way (bad trades, awful draft picks, ethics, etc.) and quickly ran that team into the ground. I remember my first ever draft pick (Brant Brown, second round) and was upset when the guy before me drafted Bill Mueller.
I left that league after two long seasons and my roommate graduating, and was left without a Strat-O-Matic home. During the 1997 season, I had searched for Strat leagues on the Internet and found a league called the North American Strat-O-Matic league run by Mark Hildebrant. I contacted him via email and inquired about any league openings. I was impressed with the amount of information Mark had made available on his league Web site. NASBL was a league that was rich in tradition and had many dedicated, intellegent, and Strat-savvy owners.
Mark informed me that a manager had left mid-season, and that I could take over a club for the last two blocks. After the conclusion of the 97 season, I renamed the team the Canyon Country Cannons, gutted the roster, and looked towards the draft to start rebuilding my team. My first few picks Scott Rolen, Neifi Perez, and Damion Easley gave me some hope that I could at least be competitive during the 98 season, and establish a young player base from which I could rebuild. Little did I know that I would end the following year with the worst record in the league!
After another tough Strat-O-Matic season, and honing my programming skills while in college, I had approached Mark about taking over some Web site duties for the league. Mark and I had communicated frequently and over time, and asked if I would take over the league as commissioner while he would remain a manager and focus more of his time with his family. I was happy he asked and vowed that I would keep NASBL moving forward and making it a league that everyone could be proud of.
I converted most Mark's information over to NASBL.com and introduced more interactive items on the site, including a newsletter posting where managers could post updates about their team. Other annual items were introduced over time such as the Draft pages, the All-Star game, and NASBL awards voting. This was a great experience for me because I could use the site to develop my Web programming skills and use the NASBL managers as my guinea pigs... I mean quality assurance specialists. I got to know my fellow managers quickly and even worked with Frank Pennylegion to develop a Web site for his business, Seattle Tickets. After I graduated from college, I used the sites I built for NASBL and Seattle Tickets on my resume and discussed the sites in interviews. I found a job in Los Angeles as a Web developer after specifically talking to a company about how I kept statistics from my Strat-O-Matic Baseball league in a database.
NASBL.com began to attract some attention from other managers who were interested in joining our league. After speaking with other NASBL veterans, expansion became a reality and we added two new franchises to the league. We also reorganized the conferences, creating 4 divisions while keeping the Tastes Great and Less Filling conferences in-tact. I was also contacted by author Bob Temple, who was writing a book about fantasy Baseball on the Internet. He asked permission to use a screen shot of the site and include a reference to it in his upcoming book, "Teach Yourself e-Baseball Today." The book was published in 2000, and there was NASBL.com featured in a short section about fantasy Baseball leagues online.
After a three-year rebuilding plan, I enjoyed my first success during the 2000 season. Prior to the season, I made several trades including a deal with the Georgia Roadkill that brought Jason Giambi to Canyon Country. The Cannons ended up tied for first place in the Less Filling West with the Eagle River Ptarmigans. I won the playoff game, taking my first division title. The steroid era was good for the Cannons, as several players became the faces of the franchise, including Giambi, Rafael Palmeiro, and Javy Lopez.
Success continued to follow CCC, as we made a wild card appearance in 2001, an eight-games-over-five-hundred last place finish in 2002, and our second division title in 2003. The 2003 NASBL World Series featured the powerhouse New Jersey Trash Heap and their league-best 111 wins. Alex Rodriguez's 53 home runs and 150 RBI and Randy Johnson's 27 wins created a lopsided matchup on paper. New Jersey quickly ran out in front three games to none and the Cannons were demoralized. At that point, the team took a "one game at a time" approach, and were loose after realizing how fortunate enough they were to just be in the series. The relaxed mentality proved to be the difference as the Cannons came back to win the series 4-3, bringing the NASBL title to Canyon Country for the first time.
Two more division title banners were hung in The Battlefield in Canyon Country after the 2004 and 2006 seasons. However, life took a turn in 2005 when my son was born. NASBL could no longer be one of my top prirorities and, during the 2006 season, I felt that if I couldn't give my all to NASBL and it's fantastic group of managers, then it was time to step down. We are now preparing for the birth of our second child, another boy, in March of this year. I'll be sure to dig up my Cannons infant onesie for the little guy.
I still look back at many fond memories (and heated Baseball and league discussions) during my ten years in the league and do miss it. I enjoyed just about every aspect of the league, from trading, researching prospects and players for our drafts (I still have my old NASBL draft prep spreadsheets somewhere), playing the games, writing code for the site, and anxiously awaiting the arrival of the new version of the game in the mail. Above all else, what I miss most is the interactions with the NASBL managers. While I didn't get to know everyone as much as I could have, the relationships I did have were something I'll cherish forever. The league was fun for me because NASBL has the most knowlegeable and competitive Strat players, and the league is deep in tradition and fair play.
I'm honored that you all chose me as part of the inaugural NASBL Hall of Fame class, but more honored that you all allowed me to serve as your league commissioner and as a fellow Strat-O-Matic player.
Thanks!
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