For those unfamiliar with fantasy baseball, the concept is relatively simple. Prior to Opening Day, league managers gather together to select major leaguers from a pool of all active players. When the season begins, those managers decide which players will count toward the team’s statistics on a daily (or sometimes weekly) basis. They can add, drop, and trade players within the parameters set by the commissioner. In short, how well players perform in real life affects the outcome of your fantasy team’s season. If I played fantasy in the 1950s, the players in the photo above would have been great choices.
Fantasy play is often traced back to the 1980s, when Daniel Okrent and fellow journalists developed their league concept at a New York restaurant named La Rotisserie Française. When I first got into playing fantasy baseball online, my high school computer lab censored the surname of Detroit first baseman Robert Fick and David Ortiz was still playing for the Minnesota Twins. A few years later in 2006, I joined my friend Eric among other leaguemates in a conference room at UC Irvine. It’s still the only time I have ever conducted a player draft in person. I named my team Big Stein’s Calzones in an homage to Seinfeld and my first selection was Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez. It was a homer pick, but a solid one nonetheless. Rodriguez would collect 35 home runs and 121 runs batted in during the campaign while I went on to capture the league title.
Fast forward to 2023 and draftable players include the sons of athletes I used to watch growing up. Fernando Tatis played for the Cardinals in the late ‘90s, while Fernando Tatis Jr. has rejoined the Padres lineup to much fanfare. I was able to grab several Yankees in my league including first baseman Anthony Rizzo, second baseman Gleyber Torres, and pitcher Clay Holmes.
Fantasy football has become incredibly popular thanks in part to the infrequency of NFL games. Managers basically have a full week to plan their football lineups, whereas baseball happens every day and I often have to check my team first thing in the morning to bench anyone getting a day off. Still, I love the challenge and the opportunity to “scout” players when I head to a stadium or watch on MLB TV.
Over the years, I’ve had plenty of interesting experiences while doing my best impression of a general manager. For me, fantasy is a constant topic of conversation with my father and several friends. Adding players who go on a hot streak or get promoted from the minors is always a thrill, although I sometimes wish I put more energy into the trade market. The waiver wire is another interesting element, as all teams get a chance to claim a player dropped by another squad based on a priority list.
My current league uses a head-to-head setup, meaning that I face a new team each week. Statistical categories include home runs, stolen bases, and pitcher wins. At the end of the matchup, the number of categories won determines where each franchise ranks in the league standings. If my roster is struggling with batting average, I’ll often wish that I had the services of vintage Derek Jeter to help my cause.
Fans have obsessed over baseball statistics for decades. The Metropolitan Museum of Art possesses a massive collection of baseball cards known as the Jefferson Burdick Collection. Many of those cards have clusters of numbers on the back. The Jackie Robinson Museum made a point to list Robinson’s major league stats on one of its walls. However, sometimes it’s hard to know when to trust them. I’m still kicking myself for not adding Brent Rooker. Rooker has been a rare bright spot in the outfield for Oakland this year, but I thought he might be a flash in the pan earlt on. Nevertheless, every day is a chance to learn something new about the game and put that knowledge into action. I acquired Christopher Morel when the Cubs promoted him, and he has rewarded me with five home runs in his first 35 at-bats of 2023. The unpredictability of fantasy and baseball itself is certainly one of the reasons I love this sport so much.