Guest Blog Post: Daryl and the road to the Firebirds

Here is a great post from the owner of the Philadelphia Firebirds, Daryl. He explains his journey through Pursue the Pennant, Dynasty, and joining the MBL. Give it a read. Great job Daryl, can't wait for part 2. 

MBL Guest Blog

Bums To Firebirds Part One
by Daryl P Holloman
Philadelphia Firebirds GM/Manager

While vacationing in the Philippines (late April 2014) I did a Google Search to locate Dynasty Baseball.

Years ago, having played the table top version of Pursue The Pennant, including serving as a commissioner of a play by mail league, I was aware that Mike Cieslinski had sold PTP and developed another [much better] table top baseball simulation game (I had forgotten the name).

I did recall that there was a computer version of Dynasty Baseball, so I was planning on buying the computer version to play solitaire seasons, once I had returned to the States in late May.

However, as I surveyed Dynasty Baseball Online while in the Philippines, I was disappointed that a computer game no longer existed, but was intrigued about the online version and leagues.

Being a current Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Keeper League Commissioner, I was thinking back to the hours of fun that I had when playing Pursue The Pennant, especially with the Hall of Fame Cards and Old Time Historic Ball Parks.

Perhaps if I had gone ahead and made the commitment to begin playing Dynasty Baseball Online while in the Philippines, then I might have discovered the formation of the MBL and have been able to join the MBL before Tiger Stadium was claimed.

However, I decided to wait until I returned to Oklahoma, before making a commitment to play Dynasty Baseball Online and joining a Keeper League.

After returning to Oklahoma, I finally took the time to seriously consider playing Dynasty Baseball Online, including joining the Dynasty Baseball Facebook Group.

Matt was advertising the MBL on the Facebook Page, so I asked him if there was room for another manager who was not necessarily highly competitive?

Matt welcomed me to join the MBL and I discovered that Tiger Stadium was already claimed.

Remembering back to the hours of fun that I had experienced while playing Solitaire Tournaments with the Hall of Fame Player Cards in the PTP Historic Ball Parks, I began checking out the Old Time Stadiums that were available to choose in the MBL.

I settled on playing in Shibe Park and chose the name Philadelphia Phantoms, intending to use an old minor league hockey logo to be posted on the MBL Website that Matt had constructed.

To my dismay, Matt vetoed the team name, because there was already a Milwaukee Phantoms Franchise in the MBL.

So it was back to the drawing board, as I finally decided to claim Ebbetts Field (another of my favorite Historical Stadiums when I used to play Pursue The Pennant) instead of choosing The Polo Grounds.

Living in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma provided a ready-made logo (from the local high school) for the team to be known in the MBL as the Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums.

Brooklyn, having received the Second Overall Pick via the random draft generator for the MBL 2000 Season Snake Draft, was involved in a heated front office discussion about which of 3 players that the Bums would select to build my MBL Roster around.

I was leaning towards Catcher Ivan Rodriguez, because I am a manager who prefers adding players to my fantasy baseball rosters that I enjoy watching.

Having played games in stadiums that I did not like playing in with players I did not particularly enjoy watching play, for the sake of populating a Pitchers Stadium or Hitters Ball Park, had grown stale years earlier when playing PTP, which is why I chose Ebbetts Field when the Phantoms name was unavailable in the newly formed MBL.

So here I was staring at the Band Box known as Ebbetts Field, trying to decide whether to select I-Rod or Barry Bonds or Randy Johnson.

As much as I wanted to select I-Rod to build my team around, my final choice boiled down to either Bonds or Johnson, with the clock ticking during my time to make my first selection.

Would I rather watch Barry Bonds hammering home runs out of Ebbetts Field, or would I prefer the challenge of watching Randy Johnson be the Bums Ace, facing the challenge of pitching in a Band Box during the Steroid Era?

In the final seconds, I chose the challenge of selecting The Big Unit to pitch in a Band Box, where he recorded two complete game shutouts en route to the MBL 2000 Season Cy Young Award, while setting the All Time MBL Strikeout Record (421) while leading the Classic League with 21 Wins.

That decision alone probably cost the Bums a playoff berth by not selecting Barry Bonds, as they faded late in the season and missed a Wild Card Berth with an 80-82 record.

I am convinced that the Big Bat of Barry Bonds would have carried the Bums to both a Winning Record and a Playoff Berth.

Had I chosen Bonds, instead of Johnson, my draft choices would have probably varied from those I chose after Randy Johnson.

Bonds would also have potentially hit more than 51 Homers during the MBL 2000 Season, playing half his games in the Band Box at Ebbetts Field, thriving on God only knows how many Deep Drive Rolls, thus probably claiming sole possession of the MBL 2000 Season Home Run Title.

The challenge of watching Randy Johnson pitch in that Band Box, en route to the MBL 2000 Season Strike Out Title, won out at the last minute when it was my turn to make the Bums first selection.

So when it came time for my second and third picks (Snake Draft) I claimed Closer Keith Foulke and then Defensive Catcher Brad Ausmus (who was the newly anointed Detroit Tigers Manager).

Picks 4 and 5 were made to provide defense up the middle, as -5 double play arms were added to the Bums roster with 2B Pokey Reese and SS Neifi Perez.

Then I needed some good defensive outfielders, so I chose Kenny Lofton to patrol LF (also serving as my leadoff hitter) and Alex Ochoa anchoring CF with picks 6 and 7.

By the time my pick 8 came around, I became alarmed that all the Quality First Basemen had been drafted, so I chose JT Snow to provide some pop in the Bums batting order, followed by Paul O’Neill to provide a RF having some pop in his bat with pick 9.

My 10 and 11 picks were spent acquiring a CF for the Future in Juan Encarnacion, plus the only 3B left over, after the other quality 3B options had disappeared during the first 10 Rounds: Robin Ventura.

Now it was time to cobble together some kind of Pitching Staff, after drafting a mainly Defensive Team.

So with picks 12 and 13 I chose Short Reliever Kelly Wunsch and Long Reliever Tim Worrell; followed by Omar Daal 25/Long and Mark Redman 25/Long with picks 14 and 15.

I had to let Matt know that I would be unable to draft my picks 16 and 17 due to an appointment that I had to keep during my draft time slot, so I asked him to select a couple of starting pitchers for that day.

The result was two F Durability Starting Pitchers with Shane Reynolds 25 and Stan Spencer 20 [Spot 8], so I made it three F Durability Starting Pitchers in a row when I used my pick 18 on Darren Oliver 25, before adding John Halama 25 with pick 19.

The Bums Bull Pen needed some more arms, so I added Short Reliever Buddy Groom with pick 20, Short Reliever Mark Guthrie with pick 21, followed by Ruben Quevedo 25/Long with pick 22 and Short Reliever Danny Patterson with pick 23.

Pick 24 was used to claim Backup Catcher Josh Paul, followed by Backup Outfielder Peter Bergeron and his -2 Arm with pick 25.

Now the Bums were in need of some Backup Infielders, so I chose Wilson Delgado 2B/SS/3B with pick 26 and Luis Ordaz SS/2B with pick 27, before claiming another Backup Outfielder having a -1 Arm: Corey DeHaan with pick 28 and a third Backup Catcher Todd Greene with pick 29.

My Final Pick 30 in the MBL 2000 Season Draft was Jose Lima 25, just because I figured that ‘Lima Time’ would be entertaining at Ebbetts Field.

I wanted to see how well these drafted Bums would do over the course of a full season, so I refused to make any trades during the 2000 MBL Season, while a majority of other managers were trading their drafted players right and left all season long.

As previously mentioned, the Bums wilted down the stretch, missing the Playoffs with an 80-82 record.

Then prior to the MBL 2001 Season Draft, the manager of the New York Rippers kept asking me to trade The Big Unit, but I did not want to move him.

Finally, to get Trader Billy to quit pestering me to trade Johnson, I told him that it would take a few of his Future Draft Picks and CF Torii Hunter to pry Randy Johnson away from the Bums.

Billy bit and the rest is MBL History, which caused quite an uproar in the MBL Managerial Ranks, resulting with an Amendment to the MBL Constitution in regards to Trading Future Draft Picks.

For the sake of brevity, I do remember selecting Catcher Brandon Inge during the 2001 MBL Draft, for the following two reasons:

First, Matt approached me about trading my Defensive Catcher Brad Ausmus and I got caught up in the MBL Trade Fever (not sure who I got in return).

Secondly, I drafted Inge to fill in at Catcher until Robin Ventura retired, at which time Inge would be carded as a better Defensive 3B replacement for the departed Ventura.

I also recall trading my First Round 2001 MBL Draft Pick for Closer Jason Isringhausen.

By obtaining Izzy, another manager approached me about trading my Closer Keith Faulke (do not recall who or what player was dealt to the Bums in exchange for my First Closer).

An Interesting Note is that Kelly Wunsch was on my Keepers List, but I did not realize that he was not carded in 2001, so I lost him and ended up adding Jose Lima to my Keepers for the MBL 2001 Season, anointing ‘Lima Time’ to be the Bums Ace after trading away Randy Johnson to the Rippers.

Another Interesting Note is that had I not traded my First Round Pick in 2001 for Izzy, the Bums would have drafted SP Ben Sheets to become the Bums Ace, but Sheets ended up being drafted by the Beaneaters later in the First Round, after the manager who had received my First Round Pick chose a Batter, rather than a Pitcher.

As the 2001 MBL Season progressed, I really enjoyed that the Bums were now playing in Shibe Park, rather than Ebbetts Field, but the Bums were progressively heading South in the  MBL Draft Standings.

Unexpectedly and Reluctantly, in April of 2015, I had to inform Matt that I would have to immediately step down as the GM/Manager of the Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums.

I had been paying my Dynasty Baseball Online account every 6 months, but I had some unexpected bills that would not allow me to pay another 6 month fee.

My account was running out in May and although I might be able to make arrangements with Dynasty to transfer my payments to a monthly fee, my wife and her sister were asking me to move to the Philippines to help protect their mother, because the Helpers had quit and a man was needed to live at the house to help dissuade intruders from breaking and entering the compound of a widow woman.

So in the light of moving overseas to the Philippines and not knowing if any Internet Service was adequate enough to continue playing Dynasty Baseball Online, I reluctantly decided to inform Matt that I would have to leave the MBL.

As it turned out, when my wife and her sister came to the States in June to spend their vacation from their jobs in the Middle East, they decided after a brief discussion that they would pay one of their male cousins to serve as a Helper and provide protection for their widowed mother, instead of sending me.

A few days later, Matt contacted me and asked if I would be interested in taking over the abandoned Pittsburgh Franchise before the MBL 2002 Season Draft took place in August.

Although the Bums were available, Matt explained that no one was willing to rebuild the Pittsburgh Franchise, because the former manager had mortgaged the farm so to speak in a failed effort to make the MBL 2001 Season Playoffs.

Having traded away Draft Picks in his failed quest to qualify for the 2001 Season Playoffs, the Pittsburgh Franchise would not begin drafting until Round Five.

No One wanted to take over a team that did not have any draft picks in Rounds One through Four.

I agreed to take over the Abandoned and Draft Pick Gutted Franchise on the condition that I could Move the Team from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, play in Shibe Park and Rename the Team.

Matt agreed to my conditions, mentioning that some of the original managers missed both my good sportsmanship and the newsletters that I had been writing (Shibe Star Scoop).

As for the Bums, the manager who took over Brooklyn after I was forced by personal circumstances to leave the MBL in April, had made some trades that I would have Never Made, including trading away the Bums Round One 2002 Draft Pick.

Had I finished out the MBL 2001 Season and kept the Bums, I would have drafted Catcher Victor Martinez, as V-Mart was available in the Draft Pool when it was the Bums turn to pick in the First Round of the MBL 2002 Draft.

V-Mart would have replaced Inge at Catcher when Ventura retired and Inge moved to 3B.

As of this writing, the MBL is on the Eve of our 2003 Season Draft, so I will conclude this Guest Blog so I can turn my attention to any final preparations before the MBL 2003 Draft begins.

I will take a closer look in Part Two of this Guest Blog at the Philadelphia Firebirds 2002 Season and 2003 Draft.

See You at Shibe Park!

Daryl
Philadelphia Firebirds @ Shibe Park