"Get to Know a GM" Volume #2 - blanch13

The first to reply to my query is the current GM of the World Series Champion New York Mets. blanch13 originally joined Kinsella as the GM of the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays back in Season 5. The team had been completely gutted by previous management and he took the team from the depths to be a powerhouse in the AL, but unfortunately our version of the Buffalo Bills as they lost 3 straight WS. He left the Rays at the top of their game for a 7 season sabbatical until returning to take over a hapless Mets team. The Mets fortunes quickly improved and he now sits atop the league as the defending champion.

Kinsella Blog (KB):  Who is blanch13?

blanch13 (b13):  Soon-to-be 60 yo divorced guy, 1 daughter aged 25 in Madison WI. I've lived in Austin for 7 years now. I run a business coaching practice an internet marketing agency.

KB:  Where does your username come from?

b13:  Partly from my last name - Blanchard - and partly from the number I wore in high school sports - 13.

KB:  Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?

b13:  Who are your favorite players of all-time (any sport)?

Basketball - Havlicek
Baseball - The Mick
Football - Joe Willie and Snake Stabler

KB:  Which are your favorite teams?

b13:  The LSU Tigers

KB:  Did you play sports growing up?

b13:  All growing up, baseball and football in HS, a bit of rugby in college.

KB:  What is the top sports related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?

b13:  Hike the Milford Track  (KB:  Had to google this. FYI it is a famous hiking trail in New Zealand.)

KB:  What would you consider your greatest WIFS accomplishment?

b13:  Had some good ones, but improving the Mets for 7 straight years and finally winning the WS right here in Kinsella is probably tops 

KB:  Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?

b13:  The best player I've ever had has been Oscar Young, a power-hitting IF who has won 6 MVP's in 10 seasons in Summer of '49. Unfortunately, he's leaving me for greener pastures after this season.

KB:  What is your favorite aspect of HBD?

b13:  The overall depth and complexity of the sim.

KB:  What is your least favorite aspect of Hardball Dynasty?

b13:  The predictability/linearity of the ratings/development system.

KB:  If you were in HBD, what position would you play? And, what would you be rated?

b13:  I'd be what I was as a high-school baseball player - a power-hitting, strong-armed, bad-fielding SS. Something like con-pwr-vL-vR-eye of 56-99-60-70-90 and range-glv-armS-ArmA of 87-79-99-88

"Get to Know a GM" Volume #1 - overeasy

I am reviving a blog series that I started doing years ago, but unfortunately only went out a few times. Over the course of this season, the plan is to publish these fairly regularly so that very quickly we will know a bit about the folks who have been sharing this obsession with us for a few years now. I couldn't start this up without re-doing it myself, so here you are as the first in the series it is a self interview in our first entry in the "Get to Know a GM" with your league founder and commissioner.

Kinsella Blog (KB):  Tell us a little about yourself

overeasy (OE):  I'm a 40 year old married father of 3 young boys (8, 6, and 4). I've been with my college sweetheart since I was an 18 year old freshman at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. We currently reside in Spokane, WA where I work as an electrical engineer for a small consulting firm.

KB:  Where does your username come from?

OE:  It is how I like my eggs. Every morning (and I mean EVERY morning) I get woken up by the boys by 5:30 am and start cooking breakfast. I make eggs for all 5 of us every morning which is sometimes complimented with oatmeal and/or sausage.

KB:  Besides sports, what are some of your other interests and hobbies?

OE:  Most days it pretty much feels like all I do is work at home to help keep our household going, work at work to make the money, and sleep. When I do try to make time for something else, I like to play tournament style Texas Hold'Em poker. I feel like I am good for a hobbyist player and have a lifetime net positive over $1000, nice since I've never played with a buy-in over $50. 

KB:  Which are your favorite teams?

OE:  Baseball - Despite having grown up in northern CA where almost everyone was a Giants or A's fan, I am an Atlanta Braves fan. It happened because the first two little league teams I was on were both called the Braves and since every Braves game was shown on WTBS I was able to see them even more than the local teams.

Football - It was impossible not to be a 49er fan growing up within walking distance of the park where they had their in-season practice camp and having my first season paying attention to the sport be the year of their first Super Bowl title.

Basketball - Growing up in the 80s, I am fairly certain that everyone in the state of CA was a Laker fan, but after the Magic era ended they pretty much lost all appeal. While I pay attention to the sport, I am not a big fan of the style of play that came into vogue from the Jordan era and like watching March Madness more than the NBA.

Hockey - ?  I grew up in Northern CA years before the San Jose Sharks came around and hockey was not on the radar. I never learned much about it until my sophomore year of college when the floor of my dorm did a league of NHL '94 on Sega Genesis.

KB:  Who are your favorite players of all-time (any sport)?

OE:  Baseball - Dale Murphy as he was the best player for my team during some very lean years. It is a shame that he is not in the Hall of Fame. So what if his career practically dropped off a cliff in his early thirties, anyone who is ever in the conversation as best player in the game for about a decade deserves to be in. If he had tragically died in an accident in the late 80s, he would have been voted in. So why do his horrid years cancel out the greatness of his first decade?

KB:  Did you play sports growing up?

OE:  I played baseball and basketball growing up. In baseball, my best skill was fielding ground balls as a second baseman. I think my problem at the plate was all mental as I over thought everything. My best ever hitting game was one where our regular SS was missing and they moved me there. I was so freaked out playing SS that I proceeded to make 3 errors in the field while going 4 for 4 at the plate. My baseball playing days ended with Colt league in 9th or 10th grade.
Playing basketball, I had a decent outside shot and did my best to hustle and play as fundamentally sound as I could. My lack of height (5'11") and speed ended my basketball career with the high school freshman team.
Needing something to do athletically, I picked up tennis as a sophomore and earned a varsity letter as a junior and senior. One interesting fact of this is that my doubles partner my senior year was Adam Carson, the drummer for the band A.F.I. (If you haven't heard of them, ask a teenager. They actually appeared on Saturday Night Live and won an MTV VMA.)

KB:  What is the top sports related thing you want to do in life that you have not yet done?

OE:  I have no aspirations for any physical events, but if poker is considered a sport I would someday like to play at the World Series in Vegas.  I would love to visit the Field of Dreams in Iowa and the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

KB:  What would you consider your greatest WIFS accomplishment?

OE:  The individual success has been fun, with my happiest moment being in HD when I led my alma mater, the Pacific Tigers, to the NCAA title game. But my greatest WIFS accomplishment has been starting and maintaining this league as one of the top tier leagues of HBD.

KB:  Do you have any favorite players from any of your HBD teams?

OE:  I'll stay with talking about Kinsella for this one. My favorite player is still Brandon Sutton. The guy was huge for our first run of success. It drives me a bit crazy that his two teammates of that era were able to get elected to the Hall and he is still waiting. He was the guy who kept being league MVP runner-up year after year and was the best of the three. Part of it was my own fault, since most of those seasons we clinched the division and bye very early and I just benched him to make sure he was healthy for the playoffs, being scared of an injury to my most important offensive player. So I probably shorted him close to 150 games for his career, costing him the opportunity for 3000 hits and 500 home runs. At the same time, I also played him at DH to save on fatigue even though he was fine at 1B, better than most of the other current HOF candidates who spent more time there.

KB:  What is your favorite aspect of HBD?

OE:  As a kid who used to use his baseball cards to create fictional seasons, even tracking the statistics of the players, HBD is basically a dream come true. Back then, I many times ignored the real life capability of the players and gave them their attributes based on how they looked in their baseball card picture. Dave Stewart was actually a multiple Cy Young winner in my imaginary world when he looked like a bad ass on his Rangers baseball card and Glenn Bragg was a monster slugger for the Reds.

KB:  What is your least favorite aspect of Hardball Dynasty?

OE:  This used to be coach hiring, but I suppose by now I've grown accustomed to the lameness. My least favorite thing now is when people decide to leave this league as finding good folks to replace them has become more challenging as the popularity of the game has waned.  The whole HBD maintenance activity to change the game to a new server has provided a glimmer of hope that there might be something happening again to renew interest. My stronger belief though is that they changed the server to get things more consolidated and save money on their data center expenses.

KB:  If you were in HBD, what position would you play? And, what would you be rated?

OE:  In my younger days, I would have been a mediocre range and arm, high glove 2nd baseman with a bat made for the tryout camp.

Hall of Fame Polling Results

Season 29 Hall of Fame Official Candidates:
Vic Gonzales - 10
Diego Wilfredo - 9
Damian Brantley - 8
Hiram Abbott - 6
Fred Lewis - 6

Wait Until Next Year:
James Hunter - 5
Bernard Springer - 5
Brandon Sutton - 4
Hersh Taylor - 4
Juan Miro - 3