1963 Fantasy Astrology Recap
View the 1963 FABL Lineups Here!
In 1963, for the fourth time in the last five reverse-chronological years, Leo was the Fantasy Astrology team to beat. No other squad could compete with an outfield of Positive Polarity MVP runner-up Vada Pinson (2,495 / 15.4), and Gold Glovers Carl Yastrzemski (2,031 / 13.5) and Roberto Clemente (1,906 / 12.5). Plus there’s Rocky Colavito (1,954 / 12.2) for the DH spot, and PP Rookie of the Year Pete Ward (1,961 / 12.5) at third base. On the mound, Don Drysdale (3,158 / 75.2) led a starting trio that also included Joe Nuxhall (2,362 / 67.5) and Bill Monbouquette (2,342 / 63.3), with Hoyt Wilhelm (1,958 / 35.6) around to close games.
But as for the runner-up sign, and the leader in the Negative Polarity, that comes down to a battle between the Taurus Bulls of MVP Willie Mays (2,596 / 16.5) and the Capricorn Goats of CYA winner Sandy Koufax (4,253 / 106.3). Using my preferred lineup-buliding method, which plays fast and loose with positional eligibility, Taurus comes out on top. But following the rules to the letter sees Capricorn in the top spot. So what happened?
The problem was that Taurus didn’t have a single player with as many as 10 games at first base or second base. There were plenty of players with the ability to play in those spots: right fielder Felipe Alou (1,813 / 11.5) would become a primary first baseman upon his trade from the Giants to the Braves the following season. Not to mention one of three third basemen – Ken Boyer (2,074 / 13.0), Ed Charles (1,859 / 11.1), and Brooks Robinson (1,363 / 8.5) – who could easily shift across the diamond. As for the keystone, outfielder Chuck Hinton (1,784 / 11.9) would play more than 50 games at second base in his career. In the bullpen, the top Bulls reliever Al McBean (1,687 / 30.7) would be disqualified because of his seven starts.
Meanwhile, the Capricorn offensive attack was somewhat lackluster, outside of Willie McCovey (2,250 / 14.8), Curt Flood (1,927 / 12.2), and catcher Earl Battey (1,695 / 11.5) – but at least they had a player who qualified at every position on the diamond. But the real strength of the Goats was the pitching staff led by Koufax, the only player since 1963 with multiple 4,000-point seasons. Their second-best starter – the Cuban Camilo Pascual (2,716 / 87.6) of the Twins – was on par with the top Taurus pitcher: Rookie of the Year Gary Peters (2,762 / 67.4). And as far as relievers, Stu Miller (1,857 / 26.2) outscored anyone in the Taurus bullpen, without the added fantasy points from racking up innings as a starter.
The other two divisions were not nearly as close. Libra survived an injury-shortened season from Mickey Mantle (895 / 13.8) thanks to a stellar pitching staff. Juan Marichal (3,734 / 91.1) had the most points among Positive Polarity pitchers. Mantle’s real-life Yankees teammate Whitey Ford (2,952 / 77.7) came painfully close to the 3,000-point threshold. Robin Roberts (2,087 / 59.6) will only get better as we continue reverse-chronologically into the past. And the Scales bullpen had four members with more than 1,200 points, an oddity in a time before Saves were measured as an official statistic.
Pisces was in the middle of the pack, in terms of total fantasy points, but they had no trouble putting away a weak Water Division. Another Yankee, Jim Bouton (2,649 / 66.2) and Baltimore Oriole Steve Barber (2,310 / 59.2) form a good righty/lefty pairing in the rotation. Negative Reliable Reliever Bill Dailey (1,876 / 28.4) anchored the back of the bullpen. Outfielder Johnny Callison (2,096 / 13.4) and third baseman Ron Santo (2,036 / 12.6) joined real-life AL MVP Elston Howard (1,775 / 13.1) behind the plate, in a good-enough lineup.
Believe it or not, there are only two major award winners that we haven’t covered, but one of them had one of the best seasons of the decade. Aquarian Henry Aaron (3,100 / 19.3) led the real-life National League in homers, RBI, runs, and slugging percentage, finishing just 7 batting average points away from a triple crown. His sign-mate Bill White (2,364 / 14.6) finished just behind Pinson, meaning Water Bearers came in one and three in PP MVP voting. Both the winner and the runner-up of the Reliable Reliever in the Positive Polarity pitched for the Aries Rams: Dick Radatz (2,506 / 38.0) of the Red Sox, and Ron Perranoski (2,210 / 32.0) of the real-life World Series champion Dodgers. Aries also had the PP CYA runner-up Dick Ellsworth (3,255 / 88.0) of the Cubs.