Better Know An Owner: Ralph Bedwell

Jared asked me to post a brief bio and photo, so here goes.

As some of you know around these parts, I'm Ralph Bedwell, or rbedwell on WIS. To the right you can see me last summer posing with Portland Beavers' slugger Al Mendoza; now that I look at it, I can see why so many other teams have said, "That Mendoza is a monster!" As you can tell by all the gray hair, I'm an old guy. I always tell my students that I'm 112 -- which sadly some of them believe! -- but actually I'm 54. What you'd notice first thing about me is that I'm 6'3" and weigh in at around 250.

When not engrossed in HBDland, I teach tenth grade English at Kennedy High School in Richmond, CA. It's your typical inner city school, with gang violence, poverty, high dropout rate, a busy childcare center, etc. Teaching at JFK is a big challenge, but the kids there need good teachers a lot more than the kids in the 'burbs, which is what keeps me plugging through the day-to-day frustrations.

Family is the biggest thing in my life, though. Despite being a near-Methuselah, my wife and I have three young kids, daughters aged 5 and 9, and an 11-year-old son. My wife just turned 40 herself, so I have to stay young to keep up with all of them! We love going places as a pack -- museums, parks, zoos, aquariums, science centers, libraries, parks, hiking trails, book sales, etc.

Somehow I've managed to become over-educated. I have a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and two M.S. degrees from C.S.U. East Bay. For years, my secret goal has been to become a college instructor, but those jobs are hard to come by in the S.F. Bay Area, so no-go so far.

Sim baseball has been a hobby since I was a kid. I made up a dice game, sort of a crude APBA, that I played for years, then eventually got engrossed in the Bill James Classic Game, which was sort of like WIS sim baseball except it was played by telephone and snail mail (which was delivered by the Pony Express, of course). HBD is the best one yet, slam dunk. See ya'll on the virtual field in season 8!

If you're into Facebook, look me up and add me as a friend.

North Side Optimism

This is the first in a series of previews I'll do this off-season. I'll do them by request with some help. Sitemail me.

The world hasn't even filled and the optimism is overflowing from the North Side of Chicago.

"We feel really good about the upcoming season," Chicago Cubbies, of course owner bkevin wrote in an e-mail. "This is going to be a big year for us.

Not to say that the optimism is not warranted. The Cubbies get back MVP/Rookie of the Year Horacio Pujols and All-Star third baseman Louis Fleming. The rotation has a nice 1-2 punch in Louis Paul and Lou Maduro.

The Dominican sensation Pujols posted terrific numbers in his first full year, batting .294 with 64 home runs and 162 RBI. He walked 97 times and posted a 1.046 OPS. The 23-year-old also proved to be surehanded with the glove, committing only two errors in 1,446 chances. Fleming hit .306 with 41 home runs, providing nice protection to the rookie. Maduro was a 17-game winner a year ago, while Paul had 14 wins when you count his work in Seattle.

"There are high hopes at Wrigley this year," bkevin wrote.

Aren't there always, though?

Same team. Different city.

Admittedly, I know nothing about Fresno. A girl I knew in college was from there. Jerry Tarkanian coached at Fresno State for a while. That's about it. I don't know if cheez791 knows much about there either, but he decided to relocate his Colorado Springs franchise to Fresno. And don't bother asking what a Yokut is. I'm not even going to ask.

What we'll notice is Grizzlies Stadium and it's slightly more friendly pitching dimensions. Colorado Springs was -1 to left and -2 to right. Fresno is now -2 to both. It's not as unforgiving as Burlington's Mustain Stadium (-4 to both fields), but not what one would call a hitter's park.

Better Know An Owner: The Noobs Part II

When we were looking for owners, I reached out kpmclave. I got Kevin to sign on and he recommended a WIS friend of his from another world. That WIS friend is...

AndyT13
Augusta Waves

Andy comes to the Wailing Onion with 14 HBD seasons under his belt. He has two current teams, including the Waves and both are in their first seasons. Andy is 1184-1084 all-time, with six playoff appearances and four division titles. No fun fact about him since, well, I don't know him and his owner card is pretty normal. Allegedly, Andy is a native Central New Yorker, like myself and kpmclave. We don't have a stat on this, but I'm willing to bet that Syracuse leads the league in owner hometowns.

It's in the Books

Season 7 saw a little history being written. Among the record book revisions from last season...

• Vic Prieto (SFE) with the second-highest at-bats total, 704.
• Michael Kondou (BUR) sets the mark for grounding into DPs, with 41. Karim Casto (TEX) follows him in second place with 40.
• Donn Kelly (RIC) gets hit by 21 pitches, tying him for third all time.
• Kip Davis (HOU) with the third longest hit streak ever -- 31 games.
• Sammy Gonzales (NY) with 70 home runs, the second highest total ever. Also, his 167 RBI was good for fourth.
  
• Brandon Rhodes (CHI) struck out 189 times, which is fourth on the list.
• Gene Koehlert (TEX) is second on the triples list, with 14. Fausto Valdivia (ARI) hit 12 three-baggers, for fourth.
• Davey Torres (NY) posted a 1.64 ERA for a new WO record. Julian Santana (POR) had a 2.03 ERA for fourth. He had the fifth-best mark in season six (2.06).
• Torress also posted the fifth-lowest single-season WHIP at 1.01.
  
• Kyle Merritt (CHA) now has the first, second, fourth and fifth highest innings pitched totals. He slid into second last season with 277.3.
• Merritt also set the single-season pitch mark -- 4,224.
• Merritt also has the fourth-highest strikeout number with 244.

Better Know an Owner: Me

My intention is to keep the blog updated all season long. One of the ways I want to do this is with some new content. Many of us (well over half) have been here since day one, yet we only know each other by our aliases and team names. So, I offer myself up in the first profile in our new series, Better Know an Owner.

If you haven't figured it out already, my name is Jared Paventi. I'm 32 years old, married and I live in my hometown of Syracuse, NY. That's me, off to the right, at a friend's wedding. Thanks to many of those green bottles of Yuengling, I don't remember much about that evening.

I have mentioned all of my jobs in the past as reason for the blog getting neglected. Let me explain. I'm the director of communications and information technology for the Alzheimer's Association, Central New York Chapter, which is my primary job. I'm also an adjunct professor at Bryant & Stratton College's Syracuse campus, where I teach graphic design. And, just because I like to keep things interesting, I'm a contract writer for Demand Media. I'm a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, a small Catholic college in Upstate New York that is best known for producing NBA hall of famer Bob Lanier and for a NCAA basketball scandal in 2003 or 2004. I have a master's from Syracuse University.

When I'm not working or tinkering with my HBD squad, I read, cook, drink overpriced beer and watch a lot of college basketball. I had the opportunity to have a career in sports communications. I worked extensively at both colleges in their athletic departments, with Syracuse University paying for my master's. In the end, I chose to have a stable relationship where I didn't have to move every few years for a new job. And, I have most of my weekends off. So, no regrets there.

I started out by playing Hoops and Grid dynasty. I tried one season of Hardball and walked away. I wanted to get back in and was inline to be part of a first-time owners league. The league's plans fell apart and mark was there to pick us all up with the WO. I had a team Wrigleyville, another mark creation, but gave it up due to time.

If you are on Facebook or Twitter, go ahead and friend me.

Off-Season Trannies

Get it? Off-season TRANNY? Never mind...

The off-season brings two types of notable transactions -- retirements and declined mutual options. No one of note retired, but let's take a look at who is on the market this year:


Chief Webster stunk like cheese for Texas last season. Admittedly, I would have bought him out. Nonetheless, he is still an innings-eater at age 35, chewing 179 for me with an almost 3:1 K:BB in season seven. Of course, there was that matter of a 6.08 ERA.

Mel Petersen A two-time Cy Young winer, Petersen is coming off a his second season as Charlotte's closer. He wasn't all that reassuring as the closer last season, blowing eight saves with a .290 OAV and 4.86 ERA. Yet, he still seems serviceable.

Al Ward Corner outfielder Al Ward lost a little pop after his peak 31 HR year in season four. Last year, he hit .329 with a .906 OPS.

Ryan Witt Witt saved 33-of-39 for me last season and I'm disappointed to see him go. He posted a 3.78 ERA and was quite good out of the pen, considering what I'm used to having as a closer.

Mikey Hall Then there is the stange case of Mikey Hall. A 34yo lefty who was a stud for Milwaukee/Chicago for the past few years. He fell out of the Chicago rotation, starting only 13 of his past 89 appearances. Last season, he was 14-4 with two saves, 106 strikeouts and a 2.86 ERA in 126 innings pitched.

Better Know an Owner: The Noobs P.1

A new season brings new faces. In the first installment of our new series, Better Know an Owner, we'll spotlight our new owners who have joined the Wailing Onion.

In the American League

Little Rock Outlaws
sandshark21
A welcome to the world of Hardball Dynasty to the shark. This is his first entry to the game.

Memphis Where My Pitches At?
andersaa
anders takes Tampa Bay and moves to my old digs in Memphis. Enjoy that zero rated park! Anyhow, anders is a member of seven worlds, with five seasons under his belt. He has one division title and two playoff appearances. anders led teams are 414-396. Fun fact...anders is also the owner of the Seattle Beer Farts.

Norfolk Subs
caseroc
caseroc moves the New Britain franchise to warmer climates. He has two seasons and one playoff appearance to his record. His owner record is 170-154. Fun fact...caseroc is the owner of the Indy 500s.

In the National League

Jacksonville Panhandlers
kpmclave
Austin moves to Northeast Florida for season eight under kpmclave's management. The most experienced owner of the new class at 2944-2564, mclave has played 34 seasons of HBD, with 19 playoff appearances. In the post-season, he has 15 division titles and three World Series titles. He's a member of five different worlds. Fun fact...kpmclave is a Bruce Springsteen fan but seemingly hates everything released after The Rising album. It's a sore spot with him.