CFBL 1992, Year #3

Rookie Young Guns Upset Defending Champs

Year #3 started too soon after the end of the fractious 2nd year: The Murderers bowed out, and the eager to get started YOUNG GUNS (who inexplicitly started their existence as the "Aurora All-Stars") were more than happy to take their place.

But a week prior to the season, the Scum Sucking Dogs unexpectedly dropped out of the league, forcing a frantic search for an 8th team.  Again, the league lucked out, and a more-than-adequate replacement team, The Casuals, came into being.  The team's slogan, "we don't take our game as seriously as others," took a beating from the get-go, as The Casuals proved to be one of the league's more aggressive and competitive members.  Little would the league realize that the two new expansion teams would make their marks early, winning the next two CFBL championships.

In 1992, it was the YOUNG GUNS' turn.  In spite of a so-so regular season record (10-10), the GUNS took advantage of the weaker division to qualify for the playoffs.  Then they got hot, eventually upsetting the defending champion Homeboys who had pulled off a similar upset a year before. 


team (owners) (bonus pick)

     Clubbers:  John Franco

     Trig's Tricks:  Clemens

     YOUNG GUNS (Bruce & Jeremy Young):  Griffey

     Homeboys:  Carter (Griffey)

     Cactus Scouts (nee ReBeat Battson):  Sierra

     River Rats:  Canseco

     The Casuals (John Fairbank & Paul Kinney):  Mitchell

     Foul Polls:  Howard Johnson

New Rules: In response to the problems of the year before, trades were modified to not allow players to be sold for salary cap "credits"; an "auction block" (which has been unsuccessful) was established to be able to sell players.  There was a Sunday-to-Monday night change for pick-ups.  Tie-breakers were altered.  The ante was upped to $250, with a $200 pick-up cap.

Season: The year's fate may have been decided at the draft, as the YOUNG GUNS not only got Griffey in the bonus round, but Bonds still was available when the GUNS picked in the 3rd place draft slot in the next round.  The Clubbers, although doubling their win total from their rookie year, never recovered from their strange Franco-Franco draft picks (bonus pick, then 1st pick in the next round).

Beyond their top two draft picks, the YOUNG GUNS had an excellent draft, getting 1B Palmeiro (#3), 3B Williams (#4), C Tettleton (#6), SP Maddux (#11) and, further down the draft, 3B Sheffield (#15) and 3B Baerga (#16), two of the hotter players of 1992.  The GUNS took advantage of two trades with The Casuals, getting OF Tartabull, RP Henneman & RP Dibble, and a key 15th week pick-up: SP Wakefield.  The GUNS, except for week #25, the last week, made at least one roster change every week of the season; of the 33 shortstops that played in FBL in 1992, the GUNS had 14 on their roster at one time or another during the season.

1st Half:  The defending champ Homeboys got off to a hot start in the Piersall Division, but were caught by Trig's Tricks (who did not make a pick-up until week #14!)  in week #9; in the 10th and deciding week, however, the Homeboys demolish the Tricks by 54 points.  The expansion YOUNG GUNS and the surprising Clubbers, who had defined ineptitude their first two years, battled for the 1st half title in the decidedly weaker Stengel Division; the YOUNG GUNS ultimately backed into the title in week #10 with a Clubber loss.

2nd Half:  The Foul Polls got off to a hot start and wrapped up the 2nd half Piersall crown in week #19, one game ahead of the Cactus Scouts -- the Scouts having missed the playoffs for the first time in spite of having a better overall record than the two teams that made the playoffs from the Stengel Division.  The Rats needed a 36-point, week #20 win over the YOUNG GUNS to clinch the 2nd half Stengel title and keep the GUNS from being the first team to win both playoff halves.

The Playoffs:

Division:  Based on their week #20 win over the YOUNG GUNS, the Rats went in as the Stengel favorites, but a rejuvenated GUN team demolished the meltdown Rats twice -- by 46 and 27 points -- to head to the finals in their maiden season.  The Foul Polls beat the Homeboys in week #1 of the playoffs by 15 points, but the Homeboys used a 38-point win in week #2 to win by 23 in their 2-week, total score, playoff series.

Championship: Both the Homeboys and YOUNG GUNS were the first teams to have won the 1st half titles, then advance to the finals, but it was the Homeboys who went into the finals as clear favorites, having beaten the GUNS by 68 and 91 (!) points during the regular season.  The Homeboys beat the GUNS by 10 in their first playoff game, but the YOUNG GUNS took their revenge in game #2 by 35.  The final game between the GUNS and Homeboys wasn't even close; the YOUNG GUNS dominated all week to win going away by 61; a sweet payback for their regular season drubbings.

The Foul Polls, meanwhile, polished off the Rats in two straight for 3rd place.

Forbes Field Home Plate on the Univeristy of Pittsburgh campus