-Joe Sanchez reporting
DIVISION FOUR SUMMER ’14 REPORT
(April 16, 2914)
FROM PHIL MATHIAS (re: DENNIS JEFFREY)
Suzanne Jeffrey informs me that she is having a memorial service for Dennis at the
new Eisenhower center this Friday 18 April from 4pm to 7pm.
It is going to be in the paper Wednesday, but she asked if we had a way to get
message out to all the ball players.
I will be there for sure.
Phil Mathias
—————————————————————————————————-
MANAGERS RATE MIKE RATAJCZAK, STEVE LEFEBVRE AT THE TOP
A review of the last nine drafts held in Division Four shows that managers view Mike Ratajczak and Steve Lefebvre as the top players in the division, well ahead of the third rated player Jerry Saltness.
Either Mike or Steve has been the top pick in every one of those drafts. Ratajczak has been #1 six times and Lefebvre three. The combined rating for Mike is 1.9 and 2.3 for Steve.
Mike Ratajczak connects for three run homer in yesterday’s Championship Final.
Jerry Saltness averages 8.5 only because he dropped to 28th in fall ‘12 when he was expected to miss several games. In other drafts, Jerry has been second, fourth (twice), fifth and eighth.
This summer, the Warriors (Cole and Humphries) and Suns (Oar and Reese) are the only teams with two players from this list. The Cavaliers, Celtics, Mavericks, Sixers and Wizards have one and nine teams have none.
The top 13 players are:
|
Player |
Drafts |
Rating |
|
Mike Ratajczak |
8 |
1.9 |
|
Steve Lefebvre |
7 |
2.3 |
|
Jerry Saltness |
6 |
8.5 |
|
Tom Zelent |
8 |
10.2 |
|
Bill Oar |
6 |
10.2 |
|
Jim McLaughlin |
5 |
11.0 |
|
Terry Cole* |
9 |
11.4 |
|
Ed Humphries |
9 |
13.7 |
|
Kenny Rogers |
9 |
15.3 |
|
Brad Reese |
9 |
20.7 |
|
Tom Oberle |
8 |
21.0 |
|
Tom Kankainen |
9 |
25.6 |
|
Denny Reed |
7 |
35.3 |
* As a manager, Cole had to choose himself in the past two drafts
The breakdown by season from fall ‘11 to summer ‘14 (NA indicates that the player was not in that particular draft):
|
Player |
F11 |
W12 |
S12 |
F12 |
W13 |
S13 |
F13 |
W14 |
S14 |
Average |
|
Mike Ratajczak |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
NA |
6 |
1 |
8-15=1.9 |
|
Steve Lefebvre |
NA |
5 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
NA |
1 |
1 |
2 |
7-16=2.3 |
|
Jerry Saltness |
2 |
4 |
NA |
28 |
4 |
NA |
5 |
8 |
NA |
6-51=8.5 |
|
Bill Oar |
NA |
NA |
NA |
19 |
11 |
13 |
6 |
7 |
5 |
6-61=10.2 |
|
Tom Zelent |
6 |
10 |
4 |
5 |
18 |
19 |
9 |
11 |
NA |
8-82=10.2 |
|
Jim McLaughlin |
9 |
27 |
NA |
2 |
9 |
NA |
8 |
10 |
NA |
6-65=10.8 |
|
Terry Cole |
8 |
15 |
8 |
10 |
5 |
6 |
14 |
24* |
13* |
9-103=11.4 |
|
Ed Humphries |
16 |
2 |
7 |
12 |
8 |
5 |
24 |
29 |
20 |
9-123=13.7 |
|
Kenny Rogers |
4 |
16 |
13 |
14 |
7 |
18 |
19 |
30 |
17 |
9-138=15.3 |
|
Brad Reese |
3 |
6 |
2 |
8 |
30 |
16 |
23 |
70 |
28 |
9-186=20.7 |
|
Tom Oberle |
35 |
48 |
14 |
18 |
12 |
10 |
11 |
20 |
NA |
8-168=21.0 |
|
Tom Kankainen |
70 |
44 |
11 |
20 |
32 |
11 |
16 |
17 |
9 |
9-230=25.6 |
|
Denny Reed |
28 |
22 |
12 |
30 |
13 |
NA |
63 |
79 |
NA |
7-247=35.3 |
Do teams that get the first pick in the draft usually win the division championship?
It has only happened once in the last eleven seasons. The Grizzlies did it in the fall of ‘10 and the Pacers came close (second in Winter ‘13). Nobody else has finished higher than fourth. On the other hand, no team with the first pick has been in the lower half of the standings.
|
Season |
Team With #1 Pick |
Finish |
|
Summer ‘14 |
Cavaliers |
?????? |
|
Winter ‘14 |
Rockets |
Seventh of 24 |
|
Fall ‘13 |
Magic |
Ninth of 22 |
|
Summer ‘13 |
Celtics |
Fifth of 14 |
|
Winter ‘13 |
Pacers |
Second of 22 |
|
Fall ‘12 |
Magic |
Ninth of 18 |
|
Summer ‘12 |
Cavaliers |
Fourth of 12 |
|
Winter ‘12 |
Lakers |
Ninth of 20 |
|
Fall ‘11 |
Heat |
Fourth of 18 |
|
Summer ‘11 |
Pacers |
Fifth of 12 |
|
Winter ‘11 |
Celtics |
Third of 20 |
|
Fall ‘10 |
Grizzlies |
First of 16 |
THE PIONEERS:
Division Four came into existence in Winter ‘04 and it is now starting its 32nd season.
There are only nine active players who were in the division at the very beginning.
They are: Emilio Cippolone, Rich Franzwa, Ed John, Jerry May, Roger Mott, Bob Shuman,
George Stanley, Denny Wilson and David Zuehlke. Shuman is the only one to have played in all 32 seasons.
BEST ONE-TWO HITTERS ON SAME TEAM
The winter ‘13 Pacers are the only team in the 31-season history of Division Four to have two of its hitters finish 1-2 in the batting race.
That season, Jim Stancil won the batting title at .819 and teammate Mike Ratajczak was behind him at .798. Their combined average
of 1.617 is also the best for any two players.
Ranking behind the Stancil-Ratajczak duo are Jerry Saltness and Jerry Wood of the winter ‘11 Cavaliers: Saltness was the top hitter
(with the highest average ever) and Wood ranked ninth.
A compilation of the best 1-2 combinations for each season shows the Magic, Hawks and Pistons as the only franchises to have made
the list three times. The Bucks, Bulls, Knicks, Lakers, 76ers, and Wizards did it twice.
In the recently completed winter ‘14 season, the champion Raptors had the best 1-2 punch with Steve Schlachter at .789 and
Kenny Rogers at .742. Their combined total places them seventh out of 31 teams in the history of the division.
The list for all 31 seasons:
|
Season |
Top two hitters and rank |
Team |
Combined average |
|
W13 |
Jim Stancil .819 1st Mike Ratajczak .798 2nd |
Pacers |
1.617 (3) |
|
W11 |
Jerry Saltness .857 1st Jerry Wood .754 9th |
Cavaliers |
1.611 (10) |
|
F10 |
Bill Morgan .815 1st Bill Taylor .754 3rd |
T-Wolves |
1.569 (4) |
|
F08 |
Doug Berry .776 3rd Tom Zelent .768 4th |
Magic |
1.544 (7) |
|
F12 |
Mike Ratajczak .812 1st Doug Berry .722 4th |
Magic |
1.534 (5) |
|
W14 |
Stv. Schlachter,.789 2nd Kenny Rogers, .742 4th |
Raptors |
1.531 (6) |
|
W09 |
Bill Morgan .794 1st Marty Berger .729 3rd |
Bucks |
1.523 (4) |
|
W08 |
Art Pelzer .785 2nd Larry Conway .735 3rd |
Wizards |
1.520 (5) |
|
S08 |
Art Pelzer .791 1st Kenny Rogers .708 5th |
76ers |
1.500 (6) |
|
W10 |
Jim Stanek .765 1st Bob Thurston .701 13th |
Mavericks |
1.466 (14) |
|
W12 |
Jim Boland .739 9th Joe Bloyd. 725 13th |
Pistons |
1.464 (22) |
|
W07 |
Gene Llafet .761 2nd Ron Schauer .701 11th |
Nuggets |
1.462 (13) |
|
F06 |
Doug Berry .766 2nd Larry Rothkugel .689 7th |
Bulls |
1.455 (9) |
|
S11 |
Bill Begley .733 2nd Greg Kuzbida .722 3rd |
76ers |
1.455 (5) |
|
F09 |
Mike Ratajcak .730 3rd Don Barry .703 5th |
Wizards |
1.433 (8) |
|
F13 |
David Williams .718 1st Terry Cole .706 4th |
Pistons |
1.424 (5) |
|
S10 |
Mike Ratajczak .750 1st Stan Dippel .672 3rd |
Knicks |
1.422 (4) |
|
S07 |
Gene Llafet .763 1st Bob DeLillo .652 12th |
Bobcats |
1.415 (13) |
|
F07 |
David Zuehlke .707 5th Tom Zelent .705 6th |
Bulls |
1.412 (11) |
|
S13 |
Jim Stancil .742 1st Randy Pawlowski .663 10th |
Pistons |
1.405 (11) |
|
S12 |
Mark Johnson .703 3rd David Thorpe .700 4th |
Kings |
1.403 (7) |
|
F11 |
John Zrinski .711 6th Joe Bloyd .681 13th |
Knicks |
1.392 (19) |
|
W06 |
Mark Johnson .789 1st Roger Mott .594 30th |
Hawks |
1.383 (31) |
|
S09 |
Doug Berry .729 1st Tom Zelent .642 7th |
Magic |
1.371 (8) |
|
S06 |
Jim Kipp .746 1st David Thorpe .617 10th |
Hawks |
1,363 (11) |
|
S04 |
Ed Richey .720 1st Jack Skelley .579 4th |
Hawks |
1.299 (5) |
|
W05 |
MartyLasczewski .653 3rd Jack Rogers .641 4th |
Lakers |
1.299 (7) |
|
F05 |
David Thorpe .688 3rd Gene Brooke .605 9th |
Celtics |
1.293 (12) |
|
F04 |
Joe Demo .658 1st Dan Stone .611 4th |
Bucks |
1.269 (5) |
|
W04 |
Ron Walsh .630 2nd Gene Brooke .608 6th |
Pirates |
1.238 (8) |
|
S05 |
Jack Hubbard .659 1st Mark Johnson .562 5th |