MBBA History 1973-1994- The Franchises/GM's, JL Atlantic
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 6:58 pm
Before we get into a year by year look at the MBBA's rich history, let's take a look at the franchises quickly. Starting with the Johnson League Atlantic.
Jacksonville Monarchs/Baltimore Monarchs-
The Baltimore Monarchs were originally the Jacksonville Monarchs (1973-1978). The original GM was Jason Kloes, a long time friend of Matt Rectenwald from their college days at UW-Milwaukee. Jason was a stalwart in the predecessor league to the MBBA, which was called the NACBA (North American Computer Baseball Association). Kloes was only with the MBBA's Monarchs for one season, going 81-81 to finish in second place.
IN 1974, the MBBA added a new GM who would quickly become a legend with his creative, often shocking writing style: Brian "Stunt Bum" Miller. Miller brought more than an outrageous personality to the MBBA, he brought shrewd GM skills. It took MIller eight years to build a powerful team, and then two years of early playoff exits after that, but in 1984 they made the Landis Memorial Series for the first time, losing to the New Orleans Crawdads. In 1985, Miller took the Monarchs to their first LMS victory. Following the LMS win, Miller retired from the MBBA with a career record of 1006-938 over his 12 season MBBA run (1974-1985).
The GM's who would follow Miller would reap the rewards of the superpower he's built. Scott Maynor took over the club in 1986 and made it back to the LMS, losing in seven games to Birmingham in what would be his sole season as GM. In 1987, Andre Girard took over the club and rode the coattails of Miller straight to the Monarchs second Landis trophy! They lost in the Doubleday Series in 1988 and this would be the Monarchs last playoff berth for a while. Girard led the Monarchs to their first losing record in 10 years, 71-91, after which he was removed with a career record of 259-227 with one LMS title. In 1990, Mike Wilkinson (former Chicago Black Sox GM) took over the Monarchs and saw them get even worse, at 66-96, after which he was out as GM. The next GM, John Richardson, was another one year wonder who took the Monarchs to a new low of 57-105.
At this point, there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel as one of the most beloved GM's in league history took the reigns: KIrk Medlin. Medlin began a slow process of building the Monarchs back to respectability over the next three years (1992-1994) with slight improvement each year (62, 69 and 71 wins).
All-Time Best GM: Brian Miller
Best Position Player: Steve Collins, OF (html)
Best Pitcher: Mark "Bobo" Bobovnik (html)
Charlotte Knights/Greenville Moonshiners-
Recently, we saw the Hackensack Bulls packed up and moved to Charlotte. The good people of Charlotte, North Carolina aren't strangers to the MBBA game. They were one of the 24 original cities as the Moonshiners started out as the Charlotte Knights. From 1973-1980 they played as the Knights. During that time they fnished over .500 just once, and never made the playoffs. This franchise is certainly one of the MBBA's worst in history. And who was responsible for this mess? Ron Churches is in the books as their General Manager from 1973-1994, making this team not only one of the historically worst, but also one of the very few that were run by the same person throughout the first 22 years of the MBBA's rich history.
In 1981, Churches moved the team to his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina and named them the Moonshiners, hoping this would change his franchise's fortunes. Finally in 1989, after 16 seasons of ineptitude, the Moonshiners made it to the playoffs for the first time, losing in the first round. Churches would get them to the Landis Memorial Series the next two years, losing both (1990: Birmingham Bandits, 1991: Las Vegas Hustlers). They'd slip to just over .500 in 1992, and then 1993-1994 were once again sub-.400 and in the JLA cellar, fitting for this long suffering franchise.
All-Time Best GM: Ron Churches (1658-1908, .465)
Best Position Player: Long Chamberlain, OF (missing from HTML???)
Best Pitcher: Timothy Regina, SP (html)
Washington Bobwhites-
The Washington Bobwhites are one of the most storied franchises in MBBA History, achieving three LMS titles in five appearances. They had the best player in the history of the MBBA for the majority of his career, more later on that.
Allen Rainey was a young wonderkind who ran the Bobwhites for the first 13 years of their existense. The Bobwhites won the JL Atlantic for the first seven years of MBBA history. Wow. They went to and won the LMS in 1975 and 1978. In 1980, Washington finished "just" 87-75 and missed the playoffs for the first time. They'd bounce back in 1991, not only making the playoffs but sweeping the LMS for their third title. In 1982, they won the Wild Card but lost in the Doubleday Series. 1983 saw the Bobbies return to the LMS for a fourth time, only to fall to the Buffalo Bisons this time. In 1984, they finished 83-79 and missed the playoffs for just the second time in their history. 1985 marked a first for Washington and for Rainey- a losing record. This snapped an amazing 12 straight seasons to start the MBBA for Washington and Rainey having a winning record. The 75-87 record proved too much for Rainey to bear, and he resigned following his first losing season.
Anthony Puhl took over in 1986, and lead the club to two losing records before leaving the club at the end of the 1987 season.
For 1988, the club turned to a familiar face: Rainey. 50-112 was probably not what he had in mind. It got better in 1989, as Rainey used whatever voodoo he used to improve his club by 34 games to 84-78. Not good enough for the playoffs, but nonetheless amazing. The club regressed in 1990, with a 68-94 record, and again Rainey stepped down.
1991 brought a MBBA rookie into the hot seat, Jimmy Shah. He led a three season massive improvement that took them from 62-100 in 1991 to losing the LMS in five games in the final season of the first run (1993).
All-Time Best GM: Allen Rainey (1445-1147, .557, 3 LMS titles)
Best Position Player: Miles Dalrymple, RF (html)
Best Pitcher: Steve Nebraska, SP (html)
Louisville Sluggers-
Those poor Louisville Sluggers. They were one of the MBBA's great teams, but for the first decade plus they weren't quite good enough to beat the Washington Bobwhites.
Bill Luciani was the original GM of the Louisville Sluggers. He led them to a 78-84 season and a third place finish in 1973, before stepping down.
The next GM would remain with the club through the 1994 season. Martin Lee is one of the all-time greats. He led the club to one LMS title (in four visits), to go along with 12 playoff visits in 21 seasons (7 division titles, 5 wild-cards). Lee was the All-Time Wins Leader among GM's in the first run of the MBBA, edging out Matt Rectenwald with 1899 wins. He was hallowed as a shrewd evaluator of talent and a masterful communicator.
All Time Best GM: Martin Lee (1899-1503, .558)
Best Position Player: Henry Jones, 3B (html)
Best Pitcher: Floyd Bannister, SP (html)
Jacksonville Monarchs/Baltimore Monarchs-
The Baltimore Monarchs were originally the Jacksonville Monarchs (1973-1978). The original GM was Jason Kloes, a long time friend of Matt Rectenwald from their college days at UW-Milwaukee. Jason was a stalwart in the predecessor league to the MBBA, which was called the NACBA (North American Computer Baseball Association). Kloes was only with the MBBA's Monarchs for one season, going 81-81 to finish in second place.
IN 1974, the MBBA added a new GM who would quickly become a legend with his creative, often shocking writing style: Brian "Stunt Bum" Miller. Miller brought more than an outrageous personality to the MBBA, he brought shrewd GM skills. It took MIller eight years to build a powerful team, and then two years of early playoff exits after that, but in 1984 they made the Landis Memorial Series for the first time, losing to the New Orleans Crawdads. In 1985, Miller took the Monarchs to their first LMS victory. Following the LMS win, Miller retired from the MBBA with a career record of 1006-938 over his 12 season MBBA run (1974-1985).
The GM's who would follow Miller would reap the rewards of the superpower he's built. Scott Maynor took over the club in 1986 and made it back to the LMS, losing in seven games to Birmingham in what would be his sole season as GM. In 1987, Andre Girard took over the club and rode the coattails of Miller straight to the Monarchs second Landis trophy! They lost in the Doubleday Series in 1988 and this would be the Monarchs last playoff berth for a while. Girard led the Monarchs to their first losing record in 10 years, 71-91, after which he was removed with a career record of 259-227 with one LMS title. In 1990, Mike Wilkinson (former Chicago Black Sox GM) took over the Monarchs and saw them get even worse, at 66-96, after which he was out as GM. The next GM, John Richardson, was another one year wonder who took the Monarchs to a new low of 57-105.
At this point, there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel as one of the most beloved GM's in league history took the reigns: KIrk Medlin. Medlin began a slow process of building the Monarchs back to respectability over the next three years (1992-1994) with slight improvement each year (62, 69 and 71 wins).
All-Time Best GM: Brian Miller
Best Position Player: Steve Collins, OF (html)
Best Pitcher: Mark "Bobo" Bobovnik (html)
Charlotte Knights/Greenville Moonshiners-
Recently, we saw the Hackensack Bulls packed up and moved to Charlotte. The good people of Charlotte, North Carolina aren't strangers to the MBBA game. They were one of the 24 original cities as the Moonshiners started out as the Charlotte Knights. From 1973-1980 they played as the Knights. During that time they fnished over .500 just once, and never made the playoffs. This franchise is certainly one of the MBBA's worst in history. And who was responsible for this mess? Ron Churches is in the books as their General Manager from 1973-1994, making this team not only one of the historically worst, but also one of the very few that were run by the same person throughout the first 22 years of the MBBA's rich history.
In 1981, Churches moved the team to his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina and named them the Moonshiners, hoping this would change his franchise's fortunes. Finally in 1989, after 16 seasons of ineptitude, the Moonshiners made it to the playoffs for the first time, losing in the first round. Churches would get them to the Landis Memorial Series the next two years, losing both (1990: Birmingham Bandits, 1991: Las Vegas Hustlers). They'd slip to just over .500 in 1992, and then 1993-1994 were once again sub-.400 and in the JLA cellar, fitting for this long suffering franchise.
All-Time Best GM: Ron Churches (1658-1908, .465)
Best Position Player: Long Chamberlain, OF (missing from HTML???)
Best Pitcher: Timothy Regina, SP (html)
Washington Bobwhites-
The Washington Bobwhites are one of the most storied franchises in MBBA History, achieving three LMS titles in five appearances. They had the best player in the history of the MBBA for the majority of his career, more later on that.
Allen Rainey was a young wonderkind who ran the Bobwhites for the first 13 years of their existense. The Bobwhites won the JL Atlantic for the first seven years of MBBA history. Wow. They went to and won the LMS in 1975 and 1978. In 1980, Washington finished "just" 87-75 and missed the playoffs for the first time. They'd bounce back in 1991, not only making the playoffs but sweeping the LMS for their third title. In 1982, they won the Wild Card but lost in the Doubleday Series. 1983 saw the Bobbies return to the LMS for a fourth time, only to fall to the Buffalo Bisons this time. In 1984, they finished 83-79 and missed the playoffs for just the second time in their history. 1985 marked a first for Washington and for Rainey- a losing record. This snapped an amazing 12 straight seasons to start the MBBA for Washington and Rainey having a winning record. The 75-87 record proved too much for Rainey to bear, and he resigned following his first losing season.
Anthony Puhl took over in 1986, and lead the club to two losing records before leaving the club at the end of the 1987 season.
For 1988, the club turned to a familiar face: Rainey. 50-112 was probably not what he had in mind. It got better in 1989, as Rainey used whatever voodoo he used to improve his club by 34 games to 84-78. Not good enough for the playoffs, but nonetheless amazing. The club regressed in 1990, with a 68-94 record, and again Rainey stepped down.
1991 brought a MBBA rookie into the hot seat, Jimmy Shah. He led a three season massive improvement that took them from 62-100 in 1991 to losing the LMS in five games in the final season of the first run (1993).
All-Time Best GM: Allen Rainey (1445-1147, .557, 3 LMS titles)
Best Position Player: Miles Dalrymple, RF (html)
Best Pitcher: Steve Nebraska, SP (html)
Louisville Sluggers-
Those poor Louisville Sluggers. They were one of the MBBA's great teams, but for the first decade plus they weren't quite good enough to beat the Washington Bobwhites.
Bill Luciani was the original GM of the Louisville Sluggers. He led them to a 78-84 season and a third place finish in 1973, before stepping down.
The next GM would remain with the club through the 1994 season. Martin Lee is one of the all-time greats. He led the club to one LMS title (in four visits), to go along with 12 playoff visits in 21 seasons (7 division titles, 5 wild-cards). Lee was the All-Time Wins Leader among GM's in the first run of the MBBA, edging out Matt Rectenwald with 1899 wins. He was hallowed as a shrewd evaluator of talent and a masterful communicator.
All Time Best GM: Martin Lee (1899-1503, .558)
Best Position Player: Henry Jones, 3B (html)
Best Pitcher: Floyd Bannister, SP (html)
