One of the things I love the most about the BBA is that its foundation as a forum-based community allows us to go back in time. Stealing a bit from Sean on the 7-70, I thought I’d take some time and gather the 7 “best” YS9 bits that all happened pre-me, but rather than post entire segments, I’ll grab a fun part or two to highlight here. If you want the full experience, you can follow the links.
I “quoted” the best in that last paragraph because honestly it’s too hard to pick just seven. I mean, I could probably do a “best” of each of the GMs who came before me. I mean, Stu alone can go on and on, and Nigel and Mike and Tim and … well, let’s just say that reading over these when I first came into the GM seat was fantastic fun, and even more so this time. I mean, there’s history here.
Still, I had to leave a lot out. That’s the thing when you’re trying to pick seven things out of something like 12 pages of posts that span nearly 30 seasons.
Regardless, I pared the best seven down to the seven that made me feel the most, or I guess maybe felt the most like the guys making the post. Which seemed about right.
Without further fanfare
#7: Diversity Day?
You know we had to have something from Avery, right? And it might as well be here right off the bat. Avery Crebel was my direct predecessor, and had a bit of a wild ride. There’s a flavor to his work on the site. Some say it might even remind them of Al Hoot. Who am I to say?
All I know for sure is that reading his stuff is interesting. Hard at times, but there right in the middle of some basic recitation will pop up something that makes you laugh out loud.
Like this one, that actually has a couple of them.
BBA Year: 2022
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There is one coach making $4M a year through 2023 and I can't wait to get him off the payroll. Maybe I'll just fire his ass now, except he highly rated. He is 71. Owners die. Why won't this coach kick the buckett?
#6: Bieschke changing his tune?
Mike Bieschke’s time at the helm of the franchise started with fanfare, and lasted a bit over a decade. Unfortunately it seems to have also resulted in several changes of plans. Mike brought the team to the edge of prosperity, winning 93 games in 2007, and finishing second in the division several times.
What I love about this little snippet is that dry sense of self-awareness it almost has.
BBA Year: 2003
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"To say I'm disappointed by the start is an understatement. When I first arrived, I genuinely felt that this team was ready to take the next step and maybe contend for the Wild Card. After reading Moneyball again, maybe that just isn't the case. Maybe it is time to blow things up. Something has to change".
Never mind.
#5: Shaking up the talentless Talons
There’s this thing when you’re writing—this rule of thumb that says you need to find an opening that brings the reader right into the page …
It’s 2001, and the Nine/Talons are struggling. They reach out to our own indefatigable Nigel Laverick for guidance, and upon his first days he pens this little piece of perfection that captures the essence of stepping into a BBA disaster zone.
BBA Year: 2001
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I could tell as soon as I entered the GM’s office that this franchise had been unloved for some time. Everywhere smelt musty, everywhere was dust and signs of abandonment.
I looked through the organisational charts and the same signs flowed through them. The depth charts were missing and it pretty much looked as if the farm teams had gone their own ways
#4: Return of the Genius
Perhaps you knew that the Genius was in the franchise’s GM seat at the beginning of modern times, or perhaps not. Regardless, he held the seat for a season, then stepped aside for whatever reason (I like to spend time imagining him off in a dystopian romp through the Caribbean). Regardless, though, after a season of respite in which Jason Pope won 80 games, Stu, Jonesing for some fake baseball…or maybe something else, returned in the way that perhaps only the Genius can return…
BBA Year: 1997
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"That's right bitches, I'm back!"
. . .
"When I go to ball games, I look for one thing, and one thing only - sexy bitches."GM Hopkins confirmed,"There is always sexy bitches in the stands, always. Consequently, I miss large parts of the game...look there's one now. Oooh, and there's another. God, I love the desert."
All total he led the Talons/Nine for five seasons and posted a 345-465 record with the franchise. Some groups, it seems, even the Genius can’t kickstart.
#3: The Move
The arrival of Tim Meseck into the GM’s seat for 2013 brought the seismic change of scenery to the franchise as he moved it from Phoenix to cozy little Yellow Springs. I loved this post because it gives a bit of history, as well as feels like Tim’s mission statement toward the league as a whole. I want to be a longtime GM around here, and the sense of place and history here make me happy.
BBA Year: 2013
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Yellow Springs, OH (AP) – The little known town of Yellow Springs is relevant once again in the world of baseball.
Sound familiar?
Sigh.
#2: I am Smelling like a Rose that somebody…
Some things from Stu just have to be experienced. This is one of them.
BBA Year: 1997
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GM Hopkins was less forthcoming on the matter of the Talon's won-loss record, a disappointing 58-78, this from a team who just missed out on the playoffs in the final week, a season ago.
. . .
But he was quite effusive about his plans to commission a bronze statue to be placed outside the main gates of the Chavez Memorial Park next season.
"There are two design finalists,"Hopkins admitted,"The first one shows me benevolently patting a grateful kneeling Schiraldi on the head,as he presents up to me his glove and ball; and the other design depicts me, shoving a dildo, shaped like McKinley Washington's head, far up a squealing lchronister's, (Grenville GM), ass. You can't really go wrong with either design."
#1: Post #1
Could there be any other?
I mean, really.
No list of non-Ron posts would be complete without the first ever non-Ron YS9 TN which, as fate would have it, came from the Genius himself. The club was planted in Phoenix at the time, and Stu was fighting his way to whatever level of respectability he could climb his way to—which, let’s face it, for Stu is not particularly high but always entertaining. Even at this point, though, the level of Stu-ness that was to come was already obvious.
BBA Year: 1995
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GM Hopkins broke his long MBBA silence to announce an earth-shattering trade today...Ace AAA pitcher Mike McGrevey has been sent to the Midwest pennant chasing Des Moines Kernels in return for top outfielding prospect Junior Felix and a fourth round pick in the 1996 draft.
"There's no such thing as a minor deal,"announced Hopkins,"It takes as much guts to pull the trigger on that small deal as it does the big ones."
"I never liked McGrevey anyway...now I gotta get somebody to take freakin' JFK Jr. off of my hands."