1999 Astrology Awards Recap
View the 1999 FABL Lineups Here!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a yearly recap, since my All-2000’s project has taken precedent over the last several weeks. But with all 12 signs now in the books (and the 2021 season moving into its official second half) I’m ready to move back to the decade known as the 1990’s. 1999 was a seminal year for many reasons: MLB broke the record for most home runs in a season that was set in 1998 (and which would be broken again in 2000). The Cleveland ballclub scored 1,000 runs, the first time that feat had been accomplished in nearly 50 years. But most importantly from a personal standpoint, the stats from 1999 formed the baseline of my second-favorite baseball video game of all time: All-Star Baseball 2001.
In the 1999 Fantasy Astrology Baseball League, Scorpio scored the most points in the league, a feat the Stingers would repeat in the first year of the new decade (remember, I count decades as 0-9). But while the runner-up in 2000 was Leo – as the Lions entered into a period where they would outscore the league in four of the next five seasons – 1999 saw second place go to a different fire sign: Sagittarius. However, the Archers had no players win any of the end-of-year awards; instead it was the third place Libra Scales and the bottom-dwelling Taurus Bulls who ended up with two apiece (with Scorpio having one outright winner and one who shared an award… as we’ll explore right now).
The league’s two best pitchers in terms of fantasy points, Randy Johnson (3,407 / 97.3) and Pedro Martinez (3,294 / 106.3), won the real-life Cy Young Awards in their respective Major Leagues. Unfortunately, they both played for Negative Polarity signs, so I see no alternative but to name them co-NP CYA winners. The Big Unit reached career highs with 12 (twelve!) complete games and 271.2 innings in a season that would be the first of four NL CYA-winning campaigns in a row. Meanwhile Pedro set his own career highs with 23 wins and 313 strikeouts, winning his second of three (non-consecutive) AL CYA’s. We don’t see a Positive Polarity starter until Jose Lima (2,256 / 64.5), the 57th highest-scoring player overall. (For reference, Randy and Pedro were numbers 1 and 2, with fellow NP hurlers Kevin Brown (2,668 / 76.2), Kevin Millwood (2,655 / 80.5), and Mike Hampton (2,411 / 70.9) coming next.)
The top-scoring batter in the league in 1999 is Gemini first baseman Jeff Bagwell (3,179 / 19.6), who finished second in real-life NL MVP voting after leading the league in runs and walks. He leads a group of three PP 3,000 point-scorers, the others being Libra Mark McGwire (3,022 / 19.8) and fellow Gemini Manny Ramirez (3,019 / 20.5). The real-life NL MVP is the clear choice for Negative Polarity MVP, as Chipper Jones (3,058 / 19.5) is the only NP batter to break the 3,000-point barrier, although Scorpio center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. (2,967 / 18.5) came painfully close. Incidentally, Griffey was part of an all-2,900 point-scoring Scorpio outfield, joining Shawn Green (2,912) and Sammy Sosa (2,908).
Remember when Carlos Beltran was almost hired as the Mets manager? And he would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for that meddling sign-stealing whistleblower Mike Fiers. Either way, the Taurus center fielder was a rookie in 1999, putting up an impressive line of 2,381 points / 15.3 points-per-game, and easily winning the Negative Polarity Rookie of the Year award. The winner of the Positive Polarity RoY ran into controversy for a completely different reason, as the racist and homophobic comments of Libra reliever John Rocker (1,962 / 26.5) – in a Sports Illustrated interview, no less – sent him to sensitivity training, and later an early exit from baseball.
Rocker was actually just the fifth-highest scoring Positive Polarity relief pitcher, behind Leo Reliable Reliever award winner Billy Wagner (2,347 / 35.6), Sagittarius legend Mariano Rivera (2,171 / 32.9), Aquarius closer Ugueth Urbina (1,970 / 27.7), and fellow Libra Trevor Hoffman (1,969 / 30.8). The top Negative Polarity reliever is Scorpio veteran Roberto Hernandez (1,857 / 25.8), which means that the sign that led the league in fantasy points has both pitching award winners.
Next time, I’ll examine the connection between the Tarot and my home sign of Cancer, before returning to my yearly recaps, reverse-chronologically through FABL history.