January 5, 2009 
New manager in the fold 
FRANKFORT, IN - All SPB V Managers, At the end of the 1992 season, both Bill Lanke & Mike See resigned from SPB V, leaving the Wabash Rivers and Phoenix Phantoms as available teams for the coming 1993 year. My thanks goes out to Bill and Mike for their time spent in SPB V. They both will remain in other SPB Leagues.

I am happy to announce that we have found a new manager to take over the Wabash franchise in plenty of time to participate in all preparation for the '93 year. Jeff Snell, of Washington state will be taking over the Rivers team. He has decided to rename the team as the Grays Harbor Rivers and will be leaving Atlanta's County Stadium as well. His new home park is Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium. Jeff is retired from the education field, and is looking forward to a successful run as an SPB manager. Welcome aboard Jeff! If you would like to contact him and welcome him to SPB; he can be reached at jeff_snell@comcast.net. John Turnbull will soon be posting Jeff's info to the managers page. In the meantime, I am still working on finding one more manager to take over the Phoenix reigns. 

January 5, 2009 
1993 Draft order ruling 
BOWLING GREEN, OH - In calculating the draft order for 1993, I noticed that the one perma-penalty team, the Pandora Boxers, was also far and away the worst team in the 1992 season. On close inspection, it became clear that their overusage was inevitable given their team’s upper limitations in at bats and pitching. I could not find a way to forgive enough penalty wins to get them under 20, in order to avoid a permanent penalty. They are also an aging team. Thus, I also think it would be damaging to the team’s future to deny them a first round pick. They do suffer the perma-penalty in all rounds from the 3rd round, however. In Phase II they will also be allowed to pick at #7. This is an extraordinary clemency, but one undertaken, as stated, because of the sorry state of a team that clearly achieved little benefit from the overusage. 

With a 3-game playoff tacked on in the AL East and several teams suffering minor penalties, I also figured that the draft order would be most accurate if it were calculated on winning percentage rather than absolute wins. The constitution in fact does not firmly specify whether winning percentage or wins should be used. As a consequence, only two teams (Carolina and Wabash) have tied records. As Carolina dropped 3 of 4 versus Wabash in head-to-head, they get the privilege of picking first.

As a consequence of the above calculations, the heavily-penalized Boxers select in the #7 position. 

If you have any questions or concerns about my decisions, please let me know ASAP so that I can send John any changes that need to be made in the posted order.

The expansion teams pick after the last under-.500 team, with order reversed from the expansion draft. Thus, Indianapolis picks first, after .500 Lafayette (I thought it also best to divide the pool in half, with 12 teams picking before the expansion teams and 12 teams picking after.

The entire draft order will be posted shortly.

January 2, 2009 
1992 World Series matchups set 
DAYTON, OH - Congratulations to John Dewan’s Quigley Q's and Greg Grover’s Frisco SkySox for advancing to the World Series. It is Greg’s first trip. Pursuant to my email about draft order, this leaves the Cyclones picking #3 in Round 2 and the Redbirds #4.  Since the NL champions had home field advantage in 1991, the Qs start out at home in 1992.  Good luck to both combatants!
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January 2, 2009 
1992 End of Season reports 
DAYTON, OH - As is customary with each SPB league, we present to you the 1992 Use or Lose and overusage report for the past season.  

December 16, 2008 
1993-1999 Usage reports 
DAYTON, OH - Thanks to SPB-5 beat writer Greg Henning, he has published a new set of usage reports that you can use to map the career usage of all your players.  This current report also includes the expansion teams from the most recent draft. Thanks Greg!

December 16, 2008 
1993 Expansion draft results 
BOWLING GREEN, OH - Last Wednesday, Dec. 10, the SPB V 1993 Expansion draft was held. The ground rules were that players had to have played on the 1993 Marlins or Rockies (if they played with either team only AFTER 1993, their inaugural year, it did not count). Each team took 35 players, and rookies were eligible. Since there were a few other players who played for these teams, not every player was selected. In fact, Nigel Wilson, the first pick of the Marlins in real life, was not picked at all (for obvious reasons).

Both teams will participate fully in the drafting process, and will be seeded after the teams with records worse than .500, except in Rounds 2 and 3 of the Phase I draft, where they will pick after the LCS teams (in Round 2), and will be randomly seeded in Round 3.

The LCS playoffs are still in progress. An official 1993 disk will be released after the 1992 post-season has been brought to a close. 

In the player draft, Vin Onstott and his Michigan Red Bulls won the toss to draft first. As a consequence, Rick Ryan’s Indianapolis Arrows had first choice of available stadiums and went with Riverfront. Vin took the Astrodome. 

Here are the complete results, with real life and SPB team:

November 30, 2008 
September stats and power rankings posted 
DAYTON, OH - The stats and power rankings for the final month of the 1992 season is now posted.  Congratulations to John Dewan and his Qs, who swept a best-of-three playoff to solidify the Salamanders’ place as a perpetual also-ran (the teams finished the season 7-7 against one another). Dave Stewart and Ron Darling both turned in masterful pitching performances, but the Salamanders squandered too many opportunities, and Jose DeLeon and Jose RIjo were unstoppable. Bobby Bonilla drove in all three of the Qs runs in the 1st game, including a 2-run home run. Game 2 was scoreless until the 7th.

So, I have attached the database with the final regular season stats and LCS playoff matchups. The Western Division teams host this year, as the Eastern Division teams hosted last year.

Good luck to the Qs and Redbirds, and the SkySox and Cyclones in the LCS.

October 29, 2008 
1992 Season update by Greg Henning 
DAYTON, OH - Thanks goes out to SPB-5 beat writer Greg Henning in capsulizing the 1992 season to date.  Thanks Greg!

September 4, 2008 
1992 Halftime report 
DAYTON, OH - Greg Henning has put together a great article handicapping the first half of the 1992 season.  Great work as always Greg! 

May 30, 2008
Team city name change 
BOWLING GREEN, OH - The Philadelphia Phantoms, fed up with all the good will, have “deserted” the City of Brotherly Love for Phoenix, where they will be a ghost of their former selves..  

May 18, 20088 
Team Previews beginning from SPB-5 Beat writer 
DAYTON, OH - SPB-5 beat writer Greg Henning has released three of his first four installment for 1992 season, with the 1992 Preview.  

May 15, 2008 
New manager in the fold 
DAYTON, OH - In conjunction with Co-Commish Chris Williams it is my pleasure to announce that we have a new manager for the coming 1992 season. Tom Kackley will step in as new manager for the old Lake Superior Whitecaps, replacing former manager Greg Stillwagon who has left the league. Tom is renaming the team as the Beach City Dukes and switching ballparks too. Tom is currently a manager in SPB NOW. He is abandoning Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and will play his home games in Milwaukee's County Stadium. So the current available parks for SPB V become Cincinnati (Riverfront Stadium) and Houston's Astrodome. Please welcome Tom to SPB V! 

May 11, 2008 
New SPB-5 President named 
DAYTON, OH - Please welcome Marc Hollingsworth as he has accepted the Presidency of SPB-5.  As a league officer, he will be included in all decisions made on behalf of the league.   The website has been updated accordingly.

April 20, 2008 
Expansion update 
BOWLING GREEN, OH - As a reminder, we have 2 expansion managers lined up for 1993. Expansion WILL be taking place. This means, in accordance with established SPB practice, than any player who played for the Rockies or Marlins in real life during the 1993 season is subject to drafting by the expansion teams, which means that if you draft them, it is with a view ONLY to their 1992 performance. Because of the big trade between the Marlins and Padres that season (Sheffield, Hoffman), there are some big names who are taken off the table (though, of course, Hoffman is a rookie in 1993). 

April 17, 2008 ...Updated
Protected list numbers 
DAYTON, OH - With the draft coming up a week from today, beginning at 11am Eastern Daylight Time, it is time to call for your Phase II protected lists.

The following 6 teams protect 20 players each: Cedar Rapids Cyclones, Rockbridge Rebels (now Philadelphia Phantoms), Lake Superior Whitecaps, Atlantic City Vultures, Pandora Boxers, and Cleveland Buckeyes. 

The following 6 teams protect 18 players each: Quigley Qs, Brooklyn Bridegrooms, Baltimore Redbirds, Black Swamp Salamanders, Red Bluff Rough Riders, and Kitsilano Hedgehogs.

The remaining 12 teams protect 19 players each.

Please send in your lists as soon as possible, and by Tuesday night at the latest. After the disk with Phase II protecteds is released, the only trades that may take place until the end of the draft are trades involving draft picks and/or equal numbers of players on both sides of the coin. Such trades may be made but will not be announced until between Phases I and II. Players exposed in Phase II may not be traded until after the conclusion of the Phase II draft.

Of course, trading remains free and open until Tuesday night when the protected lists are due. 

April 7, 2008 
1992 Mock Draft 
DAYTON, OH - SPB-5 beat writer Greg Henning has put together his Mel Kiper-ish mock draft for the 1992 season. Good stuff Greg! 

March 15, 2008 
1992 Draft date set 
BOWLING GREEN, OH - After much consultation, it has been determined that the draft will take place on April 19, beginning at 11:00am EDT. The Phase I portion of the draft, and as much as possible of Phase II will take place in the draft room. This was by far the date most favored by the membership. There were a couple people who indicated they could not attend on this date, but there was a slightly larger number who could ONLY attend on this date, so it wound up being a difficult, yet clear decision.

I will be running things from the auditorium. It is not clear at this point whether I will be able to host visitors at my home in NW Ohio. It comes at a difficult time in the semester, with only two weeks remaining after that weekend. Plus, I am involved in rehearsals for a musical performance the next day.