i just traded for roger clemens in my fantasy baseball league. it was a knee jerk reaction since i just lost roy halladay to appendicitis. so i swapped halladay for clemens figuring i'd have rocket for 3 weeks before halladay gets back. plus who knows how strong halladay will be upon his return & the blue jays are in disarray right now. honestly i can't say i'm rooting for clemens so i might have just given up on my fantasy season.
i want to finish the 1-year wonders team. i have 5 outfielders & can't seem to whittle it down to 3. plus i feel like i'm missing someone obvious. the first 2 guys are shoe-ins. brady anderson: we all know his ridiculous story by now 50 homers and 110 RBI from a guy who never appraoched those numbers again. he was a nice player, but this is a true 1-year wonder. most of us would bet our house that he was on something illegal that season. second outfielder is big joe charboneau who in 1980 won not only the AL ROY for the indians but also won over the hearts of all cleveland fans. he his .289 with 23 homers and 87 RBI. he was out of baseball 2 years later with a total of 29 dingers. apparently he was quite a character; opening beer bottles with his eyelids and, rumor has it, once pulling out one of his own teeth with a pair of pliers in the indians locker room. i have room for 1 more outfielder & its between darin erstad, cito gaston and jim hickman. erstad is tough because he is a solid player who has appeared in multiple all star games. but his 2000 season with 121 runs scored, 240 hits, 100 RBI & .352 batting average is crazy. he doesn't come anywhere close to those numbers in any other season. that season is one for the ages; something you'd see by greats like pujols, williams, boggs etc. not darin erstad. my only hesitation is the fact that he is a solid player so pooling him with dropo, anderson, fidrych etal seems a bit unfair. cito gaston deserves mention because a lot of people didn't even realize he played, knowing him only as manager of the blue jays. but in 1970 while gaston played with the padres he had a .318 batting average with 29 homers and 93 RBI. he also had 186 hits. this from a guy who hit 91 career homers and had a career BA of .256. he eclipsed his HR career best by 12 and RBI career best by 32. last OF is jim hickman who was with the cubs in 1970 when he went for 32-115-.315, beating his season highs by 13 HR's & 51 RBI. also his career BA is .252.
i'm sure there are other outfielders like hickman and gaston, but for various reasons (including ending this 1-year wonder saga) i am putting them on my squad. for 1 year these guys owned it, holding up and often bettering seasons by legitimate hall of famers and baseball greats. these statistical anomolies are what makes baseball great. you don't get numbers like these in football or basketball.
so once more:
C: todd hundley, 1B:Walt Dropo, 2B:Davey Johnson, SS:Pat Listach, 3B: fernando Tatis, OF: Charboneau, anderson, gaston, erstad, hickman, SP: Mark Fidrych, RP: Mark Davis
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