1990 Astrology Awards Recap
View the 1990 FABL Lineups Here!
Some people might look at the year 1990 and see the culmination of a decade starting in 1981. For us here in the Fantasy Astrology Baseball space, however, we see it as the start of the decade ending in 1999. Unlike the following two decades, no sign distinguished themselves as the clear leader – as you can see in the Gallery section, Leo won four points titles between 2001 and 2005, while Aries took home the crown five times between 2013 and 2018. By contrast, no sign won a points total more than three times in the 1990’s, even if you use the more traditional method of counting decades. Scorpio led the league in 1998-2000, Sagittarius got the honors in 1994 and 1997, while Capricorn won two years in a row from 1991-92.
Virgo is the outlier here, as far as the decade break is concerned: they won titles in 1995-96 and also in 1990, the year in question. What’s curious is that despite Virgo’s overall excellence, they did not have any major award winners in 1990. It was pretty close: second baseman Ryne Sandberg (2,654 / 17.1) and first baseman Cecil Fielder (2,544 / 16.0) were the runners-up in the Negative Polarity Most Valuable Player award. That trophy went to Capricorn left fielder Rickey Henderson (2,811 / 20.7), who helped propel his sign to a second place overall finish in points. Virgo also sported Randy Myers (1,869 / 28.3), the #2 runner-up in the NP Reliable Reliever voting behind two Cancer Crabs: Bobby Thigpen (2,640 / 34.3), who set a then-record with 57 saves on the season, and Doug Jones (2,115 / 32.0) in his first season as a full-time closer.
The big sign in terms of awards hardware was somewhat surprisingly Leo, given that the sign finished sixth in overall points. Barry Bonds (2,843 / 18.8) took home the Positive Polarity MVP award to go along with his real-life National League version of the award. (Incidentally, the FABL MVP’s mirrored the real-life winners, as Henderson won the American League award in ’90). Bonds would go on to win the PP MVP four years in a row, from 1990 to ’93, and then again two more times from ’95 to ’96. Add those to his steroid-era wins in 2001, ’02, and ’04, and you have one of the most productive players of his generation. Bonds’s fellow Leo Roger Clemens (2,867 / 92.5) won the PP Cy Young Award, despite finishing second in the real-life AL balloting. Clemens had a two year run starting in ’90, and he would win twice more in his career: 1997 and 2005.
The Negative Polarity Cy Young Award winner was Pisces Dave Stewart (2,693 / 74.8), who helped get his real-life Oakland Athletics to the World Series, where they lost in a stunning upset to the Reds. Stewart outpitched his A’s teammate Bob Welch (2,436 / 69.6), although the Scorpio ended up winning the real-life AL CYA thanks to his eye-popping 27 wins. Their real-life A’s teammate Dennis Eckersley (2,574 / 40.9) took home the PP Reliable Reliever trophy for the second time in three years, in a season that was arguably just as good as his Cy Young and MVP-winning 1992.
Before moving to the Rookies of the Year, I’d like to run through the runners-up for the Positive Polarity awards. Behind Bonds in MVP voting were a pair of Air Division center fielders: Lenny Dykstra (2,256 / 15.1) from Aquarius and Brett Butler (2,148 / 13.4) of Gemini. The PP CYA race was much closer, with Aries Ramon Martinez (2,644 / 80.1) finishing just over 200 points behind Clemens. Fellow Aries Frank Viola (2,536 / 72.5) finished third, in front of yet another Leo Doug Drabek (2,493 / 75.5). In the relief pitching department, no other PP closer reached the 2,000 point plateau: the closest were Eckersley’s Libra sign-mate Gregg Olson (1,912 / 29.9) and Sagittarius Lee Smith (1,821 / 28.5).
Speaking of Sagittarius, they had the top three rookies in the Positive Polarity. Kevin Appier (1,671 / 52.2) took home the crown, but John Burkett (1,589 / 48.2) joined him in the rotation, and Larry Walker (1,352 / 10.2) didn’t quite make the starting squad. In the NP, Capricorn second baseman Delino DeShields (1,607 / 12.5) won the award, in front of a couple of much lesser-known talents: Scorpio starting pitcher Mike Harkey (1,467 / 54.3), and Pisces utility player Eric Yelding (1,409 / 9.9).
Next time, the Fantasy Astrology Baseball League finals will be in full swing! But before I indulge in a position-by-position breakdown of the two teams fighting for the title, I’m obligated to talk about the connection between the current sign (Virgo) and the Tarot.