2003 Front Office Baseball League
-------- FINAL ARCHIVE ----------
 |
As spoiled "real" Major League Baseball players kicked back, cracked a beer, and took it easy the FOBL owner/GM's diligently kept at what they always do: kicking back, cracking beers, and taking it easy. It was the "real" baseball off season so while FOBL owners might have talked about football and hockey a little more than usual, the league continued to move forward with fewer bumps than ever before. Ownership had solidified to such an extent that the co-producer of Out Of The Park Baseball could not crack the waiting list and rumors were rampant of sexual favors being provided by the ever growing legion of FOBL vultures (basically fake baseball groupies).
The league moved to a new & faster server and switched to a new type of forum software (iKonBoard) for the 2003 season - this would mark the 4th server for the league and 3rd type of message board (previous boards were ezboard and Yabb). The Instant Messaging system of choice gradually shifted towards Yahoo's YIM (from AOL's AIM software) as the season went on, culminating in the FOBL's first ever audio play-by-play, as Simms called game during the 2003 Playoffs. The league introduced two major administrative initiatives, a completely re-written FOBL Constitution by Hollywood GM Shaw (one of the leagues legal eagles) with help from omnipresent Commish Simms, and a long-awaited Player Position Rule Constitutional Amendment under the tutelage of Virginia Owner Subby. These were not the first major FOBL changes initiated by Owners outside of the league's Board Of Governors (BOG), but they were a sign of things to come as the BOG gradually became more an overseeing body, while debate on changes would be done in the public forum. The new constitution took the greater part of 2 months real time to re-write, while the Player Position Amendment was wrapped up aggressively within an intense month of discussion and compromise.
On the fake field Albany's Robert Hipp threw his 2nd career FOBL no-hitter on April 2nd (Arden Krueger has the only other FOBL no-no), and that set the tone for a 2003 season impacted by the Park Effects rules added at the end of 2002. The "Year Of The Pitcher" was less a year of the pitcher than a "Year Of Reduced Park Effects", but the fobble fans still had plenty of offensive stars to cheer. Columbus' Carlos Gatton had another stellar year at the dish, leading both leagues with 63 HR's and 180 RBI (both new Vaughan League records), and Indianapolis 1B Matthew Hammond set a new FOBL mark with 166 free passes. To get an idea of the enormity of the park effects changes for 2003 - Seminoles team batting average for 2001 and 2002 combined was .346 (4316-12466), while Albany's Carlo Lawler led the FOBL in 2003 with a paltry .340 mark (lowest FOBL batting crown average ever). The Park Effects ruling mostly effected the Gindin League, and no offensive records were set there, but their pitchers made an impact on the record books, with Wichita's David Meany shattering the old FOBL mark for strikeouts with 307 and Meany's teammate John Gonzalez setting the new Gindin save mark with 47. Davenport's Lester Olson set the new Gindin record for wins with 24, and he also became the first FOBL pitcher to notch 2 20-win seasons (2002-2003). Other FOBL record setting years were by Green Bays pitcher Paul Pastore, who started 42 games, and Dakota's Jeremy Kellner, who achieved the dubious distinction of becoming the FOBL's first 23 game loser.
The unlikely victors of the 2003 Solecismic Series were Buddy Grant's Misfit Capital City Mets, with Commissioner Simms' Wichita Tumbleweeds bowing out in 4 straight games. The series was probably the closest 4 game sweeps in fake baseball history, with all 4 games being decided in the final inning, and twice with game winning, come from behind home runs.
Current FOBL Date: Tuesday, 11/10/2003 Real Date: 01/31/2002
Vaughan League Standings :
(Name W L PCT GB AVG ERA)
Nor'Easter Division
Philadelphia 89 73 .549 -- .269 5.07
Orono 86 76 .531 3 .261 4.52
Poughkeepsie 85 77 .525 4 .256 4.57
Albany 84 78 .519 5 .272 4.50
Annawan 68 94 .420 21 .257 5.31
Trenton 59 103 .364 30 .234 5.21
Calzone Division
Columbus 100 62 .617 -- .277 4.06
Indianapolis 92 70 .568 8 .264 4.57
Rockville 87 75 .537 13 .248 4.02
Springfield 85 77 .525 15 .258 4.81
Greenbelt 79 83 .488 21 .284 4.84
Pasadena 61 101 .377 39 .252 5.31
Darn Tootin' Division
Montana 100 62 .617 -- .279 3.97
Capital City 96 66 .593 4 .255 3.83
Green Bay 91 71 .562 9 .257 3.79
Milwaukee 78 84 .481 22 .261 4.92
Essex 76 86 .469 24 .270 5.04
Dakota 42 120 .259 58 .245 6.92
Gindin League Standings :
(Name W L PCT GB AVG ERA)
Prairie Division
Wichita 101 61 .623 -- .277 4.01
Davenport 100 63 .613 1.5 .253 3.38
Atlantic City 85 77 .525 16 .264 4.37
Des Moines 73 89 .451 28 .267 5.28
Norwich 69 93 .426 32 .278 6.02
Richmond 65 97 .401 36 .262 5.40
Wilderness Division
Seminole 109 53 .673 -- .259 4.11
Durham 101 62 .620 8.5 .254 4.31
Norfolk 99 63 .611 10 .263 4.16
Virginia 87 75 .537 22 .254 4.08
Orlando 65 97 .401 44 .246 5.21
Shreveport 41 121 .253 68 .228 6.22
Dola Division
Las Vegas 91 71 .562 -- .279 4.31
Utah 89 73 .549 2 .271 5.00
Long Beach 84 78 .519 7 .260 4.75
Hollywood 82 80 .506 9 .278 4.94
Santa Cruz 62 100 .383 29 .257 5.34
Portland 56 106 .346 35 .252 5.92
Playoffs :
Divisional Series :
Philadelphia (0) against Montana (3)
Capital City (3) against Columbus (1)
Las Vegas (1) against Seminole (3)
Durham (2) against Wichita (3)
League Championship :
Capital City (4) against Montana (2)
Wichita (4) against Seminole (3)
Solecismic Series :
Wichita (0) against Capital City (4)
AVAILABLE REPORTS :
League Batting
League Pitching
League Fielding
League Financial Report
League Standings Report
Free Agents
Possible Free Agents
PLAYOFF BOX SCORES
LEAGUE NEWS :
Vaughan League League Leaders
Gindin League League Leaders
Breaking News
General News
Injury News
Transactions News
LEAGUE HISTORY :
General History
3+ HR's in a Game
6+ Hits in a Game
15+ K's in a Game
No-Hitters
50+ HR's in a Season
20+ Wins in a Season
Career Leaders
Record Book