The Good IV League On-Line:
The Archives
With snow already on the ground, the excitement and intrigue
of only a month ago was starting to seem distant history, when
the announcement finally came, and suddenly the thrill of
baseball anticipation was upon us again. No, not the (yawn)
agreement between the players and owners... the Red Sox got Jesus
Tavarez from the Marlins for a player to be named later! Who
is he, you ask? Well, he's a young guy who can hit for average,
has good speed and plays the outfield, sort of like the next Lee
Tinsley. You know, the same Lee Tinsley that the Red Sox just
traded to the Mariners for a player to be named later? Way to go,
Duke!
Anyway, welcome once again to my belated post-season wrap-up. Not
many newsletters this year, but at least you didn't have to read
about my CHAMPIONSHIP team too often! I'll try to give you enough
this time to keep you warm until Spring Training.
The League. I'm sure I've already worn out my welcome
concerning my first-ever GIV championship, so I won't gloat (too
much) more. What I thought might be of interest is a little
retrospective on the Good Ol' IV League. Question: were the
Cities' winning total of 72-1/2 points and winning margin
of 11 points, the highest in league history? The answers:
YES. (For a complete history of past League results, see Winners and Losers, in the Good IV League Archives.)
Not only was the Cities' 1996 point total a full 8.5 points above
the next highest championship level ('95 Skids, '89 Savages), but
the 11 point margin of victory was 2 points better than the
previous best of 9 ('91 Jay Jays). This is in spite of the fact
that, in 4 of the past 7 years, the Lippers' total of 61.5 points
would have been enough to win the league!
These results didn't mean, however, that the last
place team (Mountain Men, 24.5 points) had the worst
record in league history. No, the Cities also hold that
distinction, with 19 points in 1995!
Your next question is, what are the cumulative standings
over all these years? Presumably, the 3-time champion Skids are
the best overall, but are the 4-time last place Cities still the
worst, after this year's turnaround? Who's second, and how close
is it? Let's find out, taking average annual point totals
to account for different tenure in the league (and adjusting the
1990 numbers for a 10-team league):
Oh, by the way, I didn't have to embezzle the Prize money this
year, since I won half of it. The remainder for the #2 Lippers
and #3 Skids is "in the mail".
The Road from Here. I won't go into a long analysis of
where the teams in the Good IV League stand going into next
season. That might make a good night's project sometime in
February. Some of the big names who will certainly be available
in the 1997 draft include Albert Belle, Mo Vaughn, Matt Williams,
Randy Johnson, Jack McDowell, Charles Nagy, Tim Salmon, Carlos
Delgado, John Valentin, Geronimo Berroa, and Jose Canseco. The
champion Cities will be trying to forge a dynasty out of Alex
Rodriguez ($7+how many years long term?), Dave Nilsson ($8), Troy
Percival ($5), and of course Rudy Pemberton ($6). There will
undoubtedly be many challengers to the throne.
Forever more. Oh, yeah. Remember last year how Larry won
the championship and got married all within a month or so? Well,
I pulled the same double play this year. Jennifer and I were
married on October 13, the day the Yankees won the AL pennant,
with representatives of half the Good IV League present. So
whoever would like to win the league next year had better start
looking for a bride soon. And if you're already married, well,
what's more important, anyway?
See you in '97!
Real Baseball. If you're looking for the other parts of this report, the ones on the '96 Season, the Red Sox, and the Hall of Fame, they've moved to the Baseball Journal part of my site. Just a click away!
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Comments? Questions? Choked-up sense of
nostalgia?
Contact me: DNT@DNTownsend.com
Copyright 1997 David N. Townsend