1999 WBC SPORTS ILLUSTRATED BASEBALL RESULTS
The 1999 event is over. I'll have a much more detailed page here soon, with box scores and all that, but since people want to know, here's how it turned out.
We had 18 players running all-star teams. Of those, 15 had pre-selected their team, leaving 3 walk-ups. One of those walk-ups took over the helm of a pre-registered team owned by a player who called to say he wouldn't be able to make it to the con. That was an unprecedented action on the part of a tournament participant, and it was most appreciated. So, all 16 pre-built teams were in the hunt, along with two randomly selected extras (Ace Rotation and The Moderns).
The festivities began with a tutorial session at 11:00 am on Thursday, July 28. This didn't take all that long, as the game is really simple. The new rules concerning Tiring, Second Wind, and pitchers' Gopher Balls didn't even pose any problems. So, at the designated time of 11:45, we held the draw for league placement. With 18 teams, two leagues would have only 3 teams and the others would have 4. Then, the winners of these leagues would advance to a single-elimination showdown along with three Wild Cards (more on that later).
League 1 W L R OR League 2 W L R OR
----------------------------------- - - -- -- ---------------------------------- - - -- --
1C Harry Flawd III (Hairmen) 2 0 9 2 2A Henry Richardson (Eagles) 2 0 14 2
1A Graham Benson (Raleigh Spartans) 1 1 4 3 2C Robert Destro (Nameless) 1 1 6 7
1B Randy Cox (Clemson Vagrants) 0 2 0 8 2B Adam Gugliemini(Wildcats) 0 2 1 12
Hairmen 6, Vagrants 0; Spartans 2, Vagrants 0; Nameless 5, Wildcats 0; Eagles 7, Nameless 1;
Hairmen 3, Spartans 2 Eagles 7, Wildcats 1
League 3 W L R OR League 4 W L R OR
----------------------------------- - - -- -- ---------------------------------- - - -- --
3D Bill Cleary (Billy Balls) 2 1 18 12 4B Roger Cox (Inman Eels) 2 1 17 10
3A Chris Palermo (New York Rippers) 2 1 15 12 4C John Ellsworth(Morris Polecats) 2 1 18 11
3B Bobby LaBoon(LaBoonsboro Bandits)2 1 15 12 4A Nick Smith (Moderns) 2 1 11 12
3C Jon Diminnie(Spirit of St. Louis)0 3 10 22 4D Devin Flawd (Thunderbolts) 0 3 13 26
Bandits 5, Rippers 4; Balls 4, Bandits 3; Moderns 4, Eels 3; Eels 12, Thunderbolts 5;
Balls 10, Spirit 3; Bandits 7, Spirit 4; Polecats 10, T'bolts 6; Eels 2, Polecats 1;
Bandits 5, Spirit 3; Rippers 6, Balls 4 Polecats 7, Moderns 3; Moderns 4, Thunderbolts 2
League 5 W L R OR
---------------------------------------- - - -- --
5C Terry Coleman (Lanterns) 3 0 13 4
5B David Robinson (Minneapolis Monarchs) 1 2 8 12
5A Jared Scarborough (Fairs) 1 2 8 13
5D Ben Goldstein (Ace Rotation) 1 2 16 16
Monarchs 2, Fairs 0; Ace 9, Monarchs 4; Lanterns 5, Ace 1;
Fairs 7, Ace 6; Lanterns 5, Fairs 1; Lanterns 3, Monarchs 2.
The tiebreaking formula had to be used for Leagues 3 and 4, meaning that least runs allowed would decide the champion. This was enough to put the Inman Eels in just ahead of the Polecats, but in League 3, we still had a three-way tie, meaning that most runs scored would be consulted, and the Billy Ball powerhouse took that category, making it into the playoffs.
Then, it was a simple matter of drawing teams out of a bag to determine the three Wild Card teams. Each team had one slip of paper in the bag plus an additional one for each victory they had during the first three games. So, who was the first team drawn out of the bag (I did not do the drawing)? Well, it was the 0-2, twice shut out, Clemson Vagrants. I will admit that I was mighty embarrassed to be advancing after such a pitiful performance, though I did consider my team to be of a higher caliber than being shut out in all games. The second team selected was the Ace Rotation of Ben Goldstein, and then Chris Palermo's Rippers rounded out the loser-goes-home portion of the event.
In the quarterfinals, the results were as follows:
Ace Rotation 3, Billy Balls 2 Rippers 3, Eels 1 Lanterns 6, Hairmen 1 Vagrants 7, Eagles 0
Now, I must admit that my victory came as a result of overconfidence on Henry's part. He started Glavine so as "to save his good starters for later games." This meant that all three Wild Cards had reached the semi-finals. And there, the results were:
Ace Rotation 7, Rippers 4 Vagrants 6, Lanterns 1
Leaving us with a Wild Card showdown between teams which were 2-2 and 3-2. And this turned out to be one of the better games of the playoff (possibly second to the Ace/Billy Balls game). It went down to the wire with the Vagrant's Hal Newhouser facing the Aces Sandy Koufax. In fact, the Aces scored in the top of the ninth and threatened another run, but fell by the score of:
Vagrants 6, Ace Rotation 5
Needless to say, I received a bit of flak for winning my own tournament. And even more flak due to the way I even reached the quarter-finals. Mind you, there was no hanky-panky, but I do feel bad that the format led to such a showdown. It's Murphy's Law in practice again. It has already been suggested that, next year, we put two slips of paper in the bag for each victory. And I'd even suggest we put an extra slip in if the victory is via shutout.
Anyway, the whole shebang took just under six hours and 31 games were played. I believe that everyone had a good time and was happy to take home their goodies (charts, etc). The format next year will likely be the same (with modifications for Wild Card chits, possibly), and many players exited figuring the best way to build a team for 2000. The consensus seemed to be that pitching is overpriced, so don't waste money on it. That'd be a tough call, given that Ace Rotation has three pitchers with salaries of 16+, and they reached the finals. I am considering revising the salaries (for the WBC only) to factor in pitching duration (so that Eckersly would come down) and to factor in fielding for batters. I just don't know yet.