The Scandalous League was founded in 1993. The Founding Fathers of the league, as we know it, are Eric Pellerin, Jeff Nassiff, Chris Shea, Mike Wakeley, and Ken Nassiff. Each of these owners had been involved with smaller leagues in previous years. We had decided to expand our league to make it more competitive. A league of 5 or 6 owners meant that our teams consisted primarily of All-Stars and superstars.
Technically we returned all 12 owners, but Tedd Lupien turned over ownership of his team to Brian Farrelly. Brian was not able to make the draft, so Tedd drafted the team and then transitioned it over to him. Scott Ditto was also not able to attend the draft, so he gave Craig DiBella a list of players and rankings to fill out his team. Hopefully this is not a trend for the future. Trade activity in the pre-season was minimal, but Chris Shea was able to make a trade that gave him the #1 overall pick, again. This was the 4th time in 7 years that Chris ended up with the #1 overall pick.
Top 5 Picks of the 2007 Draft (not including protected players)
Albert Pujols (Chris Shea)
Alfonso Soriano (Rick Brereton)
Alex Rodriguez (Mike Wakeley)
David Wright (Scott Ditto)
Carl Crawford (Steve Williams)
Brian Guilmet got off to a hot start in 2007, but by mid-summer he had dropped out of the Top 3. The final 10 weeks of the season was a three team race between Eric Pellerin, Chris Shea, and Scott Ditto. Each of those teams rotated days in first place and were able to keep a 10-15 pt. cushion on the 4th place team.
The 2007 edition of the Winged Buffalo was mostly built on a strong draft. Their keepers coming into 2007 were Johan Santana (a legit 1st rounder), Jake Peavy (who was kept where he would have been drafted), Chris Ray (see ya in 2009), Scott Olsen (time for anger management classes, you bum), and Edwin Encarnacion (who salvaged his season after he left the Winged Buffalo). The Winged Buffalo didn't make many blockbuster trades that impacted the season in a positive way. Kevin Youkilis, Manny Ramirez, Billy Wagner, and Chad Cordero were all busts. Brian Roberts, Felix Hernandez, and Magglio Ordonez all made solid contributions (at the expense of Hunter Pence, Francisco Liriano, and Nick Markakis, who will all be kept thru 2009) The biggest additions may have been free agents Pat Burrell, Jose Guillen, and Jeff Francis. Rickie Weeks made a huge impact as a taxi squader.
We didn't think a race could get any tighter than 2004 and 2005. To give an idea of how close the finish was, consider that Scott Ditto was in first place on Friday, Chris Shea was in first place on Saturday, and Eric Pellerin was in first on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The season literally came down to the final at-bats of the 2007 season. Since there was a tie between the Rockie and the Padres for the Wild Card, they had to play a tiebreaker game. The Colorado/San Diego game was a stressful experience for The Bigg Doggs and the Winged Buffalo. There were 3 categories that hung in the balance on Monday night. After 13 innings, the game was final at 12:15 AM, with the Winged Buffalo maintaining a .00006 pt lead over the Iron Men in batting average. That is exactly a 1 hit difference between finishing in first place by a 1/2 pt, or second place by a 1/2 pt. It's incredible that after 163 games, the season can come down to six one-hundred thousands of a point.
This was Eric's 3rd Fantasy Baseball Title. The Winged Buffalo are the first team to win back-to-back titles in baseball.
We returned all 12 owners, but Tedd Lupien was not able to make the draft, so he communicated via email. There weren't any significant rule changes for the 2006 season. Trade activity was very busy to start the season. There were nearly 20 trades made in the pre-season and on Draft Day. More than half of the completed trades involved the Winged Buffalo and the Sultans of Swat.
Top 5 Picks of the 2006 Draft (not including protected players)
Johan Santana (Chris Shea)
Vladimir Guerrero (Tedd Lupien)
Mark Teixeira (Scott Ditto)
Jake Peavy (Rick Brereton)
David Ortiz (Brian Guilmet)
2006 ended up being a two horse race for the final 4 months of the season, as the Sultans of Swat and the Winged Buffalo were neck-and-neck the whole way. The Sultans of Swat actually led for the majority of the time. Was this going to be a similar scenario as to what had happened in 1995, 2002 and 2004 ? Were the Winged Buffalo going to be the Red Sox to the Sultans of Swat's Yankee dynasty ? Or were the Winged Buffalo ready to conquer their demons in the same way that the 2004 World Championship Boston Red Sox conquered their's ? The last three years were very difficult for the Winged Buffalo franchise. Statistically, the team was dominating, but they just didn't have the Championships to show for it.
The race came right down to the last week of the season, but the Winged Buffalo ended up on top. In fact, the Winged Buffalo ended up winning by 10.5 pts before it was all said and done. Coming into the 2006 season, the Winged Buffalo had an abundance of late round, young talent. Ownership made the decision to trade this young talent for proven players. Pre-season deals for Bobby Abreu, Carlos Beltran, Manny Ramirez, Alfonso Soriano, Roy Oswalt, Randy Johnson, Paul Konerko, and Billy Wagner were completed, and these 8 new players were the foundation for the 2006 squad. At the draft, key additions of Francisco Liriano, Chris Ray, Josh Barfield and Brad Penny made the Winged Buffalo a front-runner for the title. Mid-season trade acquisitions for Ichiro, Johan Santana, Jake Peavy, and Jimmy Rollins helped propel the Winged Buffalo from 2nd place, all the way up to 1st place. In the end, Eric Pellerin was able to fend off his arch nemesis, Paul DiFilippo, to capture the 2006 Scandalous League Title.
This was Eric's 2nd Fantasy Baseball Title.
2004's finish was the tightest finish in history ; and with so many teams in contention during the final 2 months of the 2004 season, I think we all realized that 2005 may be the same. Nearly half the league ended up keeping all their "early" picks and there were very few late round bargains being protected. Things were shaping up to be so competitive that only a half dozen pre-season trades were made. We were fortunate enough to have all 12 owners return for the 2005 campaign. This season marked the first full season for Tedd Lupien. The first two rounds of the draft ended up being the most lackluster two rounds in league history. I don't believe any of the players drafted lived up to full expectations.
Top 5 Picks of the 2005 Draft (not including protected players)
Randy Johnson (Mike Wakeley)
Tim Hudson (Jeff Nassiff)
Mark Prior (Scott Ditto)
Jim Thome (Tedd Lupien)
Eric Gagne (Steve Williams)
2005 ended up being even more competitive than 2004. As of August 1st, there were 8 teams within 10 pts of first place. The race was so tight that there were only 14 trades over the final five weeks leading up to the trade deadline.
The 2005 season came down to the final weekend again to determine the winner. This time, there were three owners in the hunt over the final weekend - Eric, Mike, and Scott. The ERA and WHIP categories were so close that several teams could have potentially leap-frogged each other in the final weekend. In the end it was Scott Ditto that proved to be the best owner in 2005. Scott really didn't have an impressive draft. He had a solid foundation of players and added Roy Halladay and Kevin Millwood to the mix. Scott was able to make adjustments all season long to keep his team in contention. Key trades for Derek Jeter, John Lackey, Brandon Webb, and Armando Benitez to go along with free agent acquisitions like Ryan Howard, Dan Haren, Felipe Lopez, and Shawn Chacon bolstered his team for the title run.
This was Scott's 2nd Fantasy Baseball Title.
We had looked forward to 2004 as a season with anticipated parity. All of our owners had had at least 2 years of Fantasy Baseball ownership under their belts. Only three teams "stacked" early rounders, while the other nine teams were prepared for the early rounds of the draft. This was the first year that we would experiment with a "reserve rule" for healthy players. Unfortunately we were forced to make an ownership change after 10 weeks. We had never needed to replace an owner mid-season before, but we had to seize Dan Stull's team due to his inactivity. Luckily, Tedd Lupien agreed to take over the team in Week 12, and managed to stabilize the team towards a 4th place finish.
Top 5 Picks of the 2004 Draft (not including protected players)
Albert Pujols (Matt George)
Alex Rodriguez (Tim Beale)
Curt Schilling (Rick Brereton)
Alfonso Soriano (Dan Stull)
Carlos Beltran (Eric Pellerin)
This was the most competitive season that the Scandalous League had ever experienced. As late as August 1st, there were eight teams within 15 points of first place.
2004 will also go down in history as having the closest race for first place we have ever seen. The whole season literally came down to the performance of players in the very last hour of baseball's regular season. One hit, one more inning pitched, or one less earned run could have changed the fortunes of Paul and Eric's season. When the dust settled, Paul prevailed victorious, adding to his legacy as the winningest owner in Scandalous League history. Boosted by the draft day trade for Randy Johnson, the Sultans of Swat enjoyed solid pitching and a well-rounded hitting attack. Mid season pickups of Lew Ford, Tony Batista, Jeff Suppan, and Bronson Arroyo may have given the Sultans of Swat the edge in the photo finish.
This was Paul's 4th Fantasy Baseball title and 5th title overall.
We were lucky to return the same 12 owners for this season. Overall it was a very competitive season. All of our owners were active, to some degree. The hot stove league talk for the much anticipated season, began in January. By the time draft day came around, a few owners were making key trades that would define their seasons. A pre-season trade between Chris and Matt G. netted Chris a 1st round pick for Derek Lowe. In a very complicated deal, Chris traded that pick to Jeff for the first overall pick in the draft.....
Top 5 Picks of the 2003 Draft (not including protected players)
Vladimir Guerrero (Chris Shea)
Pedro Martinez (Brian Guilmet)
Sammy Sosa (Tim Beale)
Barry Zito (Jeff Nassiff)
Matt Morris (Dan Stull)
Chris Shea's pre-season plan was to keep 8 top players and fill out the rest of his roster from the 8th round on. The Derek Lowe trade, which was made after the protected lists were due, enabled Chris to pick up a 1st round pick, which was spun for Vladimir Guerrero. Chris' team was stacked pitching-wise, so Guerrero was the perfect compliment. Chris' top 8 players were 4 of the top hitters and 4 of the top pitchers in the game. With an eye on fielding a well-rounded team, The Bigg Doggs' greatest strength was the 2003 draft. He was able to fill out his roster with solid players, rather than focusing on the "sexy" names, which has been his style in the past. Realistically only a couple of his picks were clunkers, but those players were promptly released for the best free agents available. For much of the year, Chris battled Brian Guilmet and Jeff Nassiff. Ultimately it was Brian Guilmet that gave Chris the toughest fight, up to the 2nd-to-last week of the season. The Non-Smokers turned out to be no match for the stacked Bigg Doggs. This was Chris Shea's first Fantasy Baseball title.
We decided to return the Scandalous League to a 12 team league. Brian Smith decided to relinquish his ownership. The 11th and 12th slots were filled with two owners, Matt George and Tim Beale. The two new franchises were able to stock their teams with players from Brian Smith's defunct team and any players that were not kept when we narrowed our protected lists from 10 down to 8.
Top 5 Picks of the 2002 Draft (not including protected players)
Randy Johnson (Eric Pellerin)
Mike Mussina (Dan Stull)
Greg Maddux (Chris Shea)
Tim Hudson (Brian Guilmet)
Freddy Garcia (Paul DiFilippo)
Paul DiFilippo was able to jump start his 2002 season with a lopsided pre-season deal with Jeff Nassiff. Paul was able to swindle Albert Pujols and Richie Sexson for Rich Aurilia and Russ Ortiz after the protected lists were due, thereby acquiring his two new players without losing earlier draft positions. Paul also benefited from Barry Bonds dropping into his lap in the 2nd round. A very solid draft proved to be the impetus for the Sultans of Swat. They were dominating right out of the gate and only spent two weeks of the season out of 1st place. Paul was chased all season long by a very good Winged Buffalo team that would have won the league in most years, but the Sultans of Swat proved that this wasn't "most years". Paul DiFilippo now has 3 Fantasy Baseball titles and 1 Fantasy Football title, tying Jeff Nassiff as the winningest owner.
Due to the untimely passing of our beloved Founding Father, Ken Nassiff, we chose to play the season with only 11 teams. The season was definitely not as fun without the Big Guy. I'm sure he was with us the whole way enjoying how the season turned out. Rest in Peace, Kenny. We miss you.
Top 5 Picks of the 2001 Draft (not including protected players)
Alex Rodriguez (Chris Shea)
Todd Helton (Brian Smith)
Carlos Delgado (Dan Stull)
Manny Ramirez (Jeff Nassiff)
Bartolo Colon (Scott Ditto)
Jeff Nassiff decided to play the 2001 season in memory of his father, Ken. Boy did he ever ! Jeff put together a nearly unstoppable squad to cruise to the Championship. Jeff was wise enough not to draft Mark McGwire and traded his rights for Derek Jeter, he drafted Ichiro, made shrewd pickup moves with Bret Boone, Mark Mulder, and Mark Buerhle, managed to shore up potential weaknesses with a few trade deadline deals, and most importantly: Had a great pitching staff for the first time in a very long time. Jeff only spent 5 weeks out of 1st Place and never dropped below 75 points. I'm sure Kenny is very proud. The Nassiffs were able to claim their first baseball championship. Jeff now has 4 Fantasy Titles between baseball and football - thats the best out of anyone.
We replaced Matt Fillmore with Dan Stull as an expansion team. Dan was able to build his team's core by picking a maximum of 4 players from Matt's team and an additional 4 players that weren't kept when we narrowed our protected lists from 10 down to 8.
Top 5 Picks of the 2000 Draft (not including protected players)
Pedro Martinez (Ken Nassiff)
Nomar Garciaparra (Brian Smith)
Sammy Sosa (Rick Brereton)
Vladimir Guerrero (Chris Shea)
Chipper Jones (Steve Williams)
What a year for Brian Guilmet ! After taking the 1999 Scandalous League Fantasy Football championship, he also manages to win the fantasy baseball championship. Like usual, his wild ride was accompanied by a leprechaun and a lucky horseshoe. He made a shrewd trade with Shea to kick off the 2000 campaign (traded Reynolds/Everett/Kendall for Randy Johnson/Bagwell). Brian also made several other key free agent acquisitions and a few other trades to strengthen his team. He went for the "names" for once, and it worked.
It was the first year in a long while that we returned all owners and didn't need to worry about expansion. The season was kicked of with Brian Guilmet's shining of the lucky horseshoe - he won the # 1 in the lottery for the third straight season. He then turned around and and traded it to Jeff Nassiff, who selected.......
Top 5 Picks of the 1999 Draft (not including protected players)
Ken Griffey Jr. (Jeff Nassiff)
Mark McGwire (Steve Williams)
Albert Belle (Ken Nassiff)
Mike Piazza (Brian Smith)
Juan Gonzalez (Paul DiFilippo)
Who would have thunk it ? Scott Ditto is beginning to prove his mettle as a fantasy baseball powerhouse. He assembled a very well rounded team with some key pre-season additions (Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, and Chipper Jones, too name a few) Those players, along with Sammy Sosa made him a contender. What put Scott over the top was his astute free agent rookie pickups of Carlos Beltran and Scott Williamson. Those two Rookie of the Year winners added the missing ingredients to his excellent team.
The Winged Buffalo were ready and willing to defend their title. We replaced Jay Moran's team with Brian Smith. Brian made Rusty Greer his first expansion pick. Brian was also lucky enough to have the last pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds.
Top 5 Picks of the 1998 Draft (not including protected players)
Alex Rodriguez (Brian Guilmet)
Larry Walker (Steve Williams)
Tino Martinez (Rick Brereton)
Vinny Castilla (Jeff Nassiff)
Ken Caminiti (Brian Smith)
Is it possible for an expansion team from 1 year ago to rise to the top and win our league ? We didn't think so, but Steve Williams proved us wrong. Steve's inspirational leader was Big Mac himself, and he rode his 70 HR all the way to a Championship. (Steve made one of the shrewdest trades ever at the end of the 1997 season - he traded Raul Mondesi, Shawn Estes, and Ramon Martinez to Matt Fillmore for Matt Stairs, Mel Rojas, and Mark McGwire)
A magical season. The Scandalous League made an ownership change for the 4th straight season. Jeff Whitman was replaced by Steve Williams. Steve's 1st pick of the expansion draft was Todd Stottlemyre. Like usual, he was awarded the last pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds. 1997 was also the first year that we started to draft minor league players. Each team was able to pick 2 players to keep in their "Farm system" for the season.
Top 5 Picks of the 1997 Draft (not including protected players)
Gary Sheffield (Scott Ditto)
Sammy Sosa (Rick Brereton)
Dante Bichette (Jay Moran)
Chipper Jones (Ken Nassiff)
Jon Smoltz (Brian Guilmet)
It was no surprise to anyone that Eric Pellerin won the 1997 Scandalous League Championship. He battled back and forth with Jeff Nassiff all season long. It was only a matter of time before Eric's storied Winged Buffalo team won their first trophy. (Just to prove that history repeats itself, Jeff Nassiff lost by a 1/2 point - he needed 1win and 1 save to win it all)
The Scandalous League has now developed into a very competitive league. As many as 8 teams had potential to grab the 1996 Championship. We diluted the talent pool and added an additional team to our league, Jay Moran. Jay's 1st pick of the expansion draft was Sandy Alomar (15th rounder). We also awarded Jay with the last pick in the 1st and 2nd rounds.
Top 5 Picks of the 1996 Draft (not including protected players)
Ken Griffey Jr. (Paul DiFilippo)
Frank Thomas (Jeff Whitman)
Barry Bonds (Scott Ditto)
Jeff Bagwell (Rick Brereton)
Greg Maddux (Matt Fillmore)
The season did not finish in a disappointing fashion. Matt Fillmore and Scott Ditto had led for the majority of the season, but Mike Wakeley finished victorious. Mike's team was solid all year and then got hot when he needed it to, as he only led the final 2 weeks of the season. Mike was also the lucky guy that got to keep the brand new traveling trophy throughout the following season.
The 1995 season also was effected by the players' strike. The season started a month late. The Scandalous League made some important changes in 1995 that made our league more competitive and fun. Jay Beal dropped out of the league. We replaced his team with 2 additional teams to bring our league total to 11 teams. Matt Fillmore and Rick Brereton were added to our league. They initially stocked their teams from our first ever "expansion draft". Rick made the first pick and selected Juan Gonzalez (a 1st rounder). Matt had the second pick and took Kent Mercker ( a 13th rounder). These two teams were also awarded the last 2 picks of the 1st and 2nd rounds.
Top 5 Picks of the 1995 Draft (not including protected players)
Kirby Puckett (Jeff Whitman)
Larry Walker (Paul DiFilippo)
Jimmy Key (Ken Nassiff)
Tim Salmon (Brian Guilmet)
Will Clark (Matt Fillmore)
The 1995 Scandalous League champion was again, Paul DiFilippo. Paul was able to back up his endless taunting during the season. This was Paul's 2nd title in 3 years. He fended off a late season comeback by Eric Pellerin (The Bridesmaid).
The Scandalous League replaced Elliott + Alex's team with Scott Ditto. Elliott and Alex had finished in last place the year before, so we awarded Scott the # 1 pick of the 1994 draft. Scott selected Rickey Henderson.
Top 5 Picks of the 1994 Draft (not including protected players)
Rickey Henderson (Scott Ditto)
Cecil Fielder (Jeff Whitman)
Darren Daulton (Jay Beal)
Lee Smith (Ken Nassiff)
Kirby Puckett (Paul DiFilippo)
The 1994 season will be forever remembered as a strike shortened season that ended in August. Brian Guilmet, even though his team was on the edge of destruction, was declared the winner in this shortened campaign. (* Strike shortened season winner)
The Scandalous League expanded to 10 teams in 1993. The teams were stocked with players from both the American and National Leagues. In addition to the Founding Fathers, Paul DiFilippo, Jeff Whitman, Jay Beal, Brian Guilmet, and Elliot Pena + Alex Valdez were added to our league.
The 1st pick of the 1993 Draft was made by Jay Beal, who selected Barry Bonds (and promptly traded him away to Jeff Nassiff for Greg Vaughn, Reggie Sanders, and Dennis Martinez).
Top 5 Picks of the 1993 Draft
Barry Bonds (Jay Beal)
Frank Thomas (Mike Wakeley)
Kirby Puckett (Ken Nassiff)
Fred McGriff (Brian Guilmet)
Ken Griffey Jr. (Eric Pellerin) What a pick !
Paul DiFilippo was the inaugural winner after going wire to wire in 1st Place (Jeff Nassiff was runner up - by a 1/2 point - he needed 1 steal and 1 win to finish in first place)