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When I heard Trevor Hoffman picked up his 600th career save earlier this week, it made me smile because he is my favorite closer of all-time.  The reasons are pretty simple and nerdy.  It's not because of his sick change-up or his decade long dominance, it's because of Tony LaRussa II for the computer.  See, I spent a huge portion of my adolescence drafting teams on various computer games and playing multiple seasons with them with Snacks, Bear, and 2P.  And the year I drafted Hoffman happened to be the same year I found out he used Hells Bells as his entrance music.  I love this, and not because I like AC/DC (although I do), but because I find the way the bells start right as he starts walking in to be pitch perfect to get a crowd all riled up.  Much the way Enter Sandman works for Mariano Rivera, or even how that stupid song from that movie with Marky Mark worked so well for Joe Nathan.  I've just always loved Hoffman for that. 

Anyway, to complete the nerdiness cycle I will admit here that I used to keep a boombox next to the computer, and when I would bring Hoffman into the game (yes, the computer game) I would also throw in m AC/DC CD and fire up Hells Bells.  And that's why Trevor Hoffman is my favorite closer of all-time.

And in that vein, and since I feel like I should post and my posting time has been cut considerably thanks to a new baby who is either up all night or in the hospital, I'm going to just go ahead and make a list of my all-time favorites by position.  Please feel free to rip me and/or post your own.

C-  Mickey Tettleton
1B- Kent Hrbek
2B- Wally Backman
3B-  Evan Longoria
SS-  Cal Ripken
LF-  Rickey Henderson
CF - Tim Raines
RF-  Andy Van Slyke
SP - Mike Mussina & Dwight Gooden
RP - Trevor Hoffman

All Time Fantasy Baseball Draft.....NERDS!

A few of DWG’s platinum members recently took a trip. In complete nerd fashion they performed an "All Time" fantasy baseball draft to kill time while driving. We had a few rules for our draft. #1, We could only draft players from our generation (we deemed this to be 1986 to the present). #2, Steroids, Cocaine, Aids, DWI’s, Rape and Locker Room behavior could not be held against a player. We just wanted to assemble the best on field teams. #3, A one season wonder (i.e. Brady Anderson) could be drafted but their entire career is what they would be judged on. #4, The draft had to be completed prior to reaching our destination. After that no moves could be made to the rosters. #5, We drafted one player from each position, 3 starting pitchers, 2 relievers and a bench player. #6, The draft was performed in snake fashion (1st pick in draft gets last pick in 2nd round). The first 4 picks of the draft where #1, B Bonds, #2 Griffey, #3 R. Clemens and #4 R. Henderson.

I now present the results of the 2009 Nerd Fantasy Baseball Draft so DWG readers can vote on which team they believe is the best.

Team #1
C- I. Rodriguez
1B- A. Pujols
2B- M. Young
SS- Ozzie Smith
3B- E. Longoria
OF- Rickey Henderson
OF- Joe Carter
OF- C. Beltran
DH- J. Thome
Bench-David Justice

SP- Doc Gooden
SP- J. Smoltz
SP- Nolan Ryan
RE- T. Hoffman
RE- F. Rodriguez

Team #2
C- J. Mauer
1B- M. McGwire
2B- R. Sandberg
SS- Hanley Ramirez
3B- G. Brett
OF- T. Gwynn
OF- K. Puckett
OF- V. Guerrero
DH- C. Fielder
Bench- R. Yount

SP- R. Clemens
SP- K. Schilling
SP- R. Halladay
RE- L. Smith
RE- J. Papplebon

Team #3
C- Gary Carter
1B- D. Mattingly
2B- C. Utley
SS- C. Ripken
3B- W. Boggs
OF- K. Griffey
OF- Manny Ramirez
OF- S. Sosa
DH- Ryan Howard
Bench- P. Molitar

SP- J. Santana
SP- G. Maddux
SP- Randy Johnson
RE- M. Rivera
RE- G. Gossage

Team #4
C- M. Piazza
1B- T. Helton
2B- R. Alomar
SS- A. Rod
3B- Chipper Jones
OF- J. Gonzalez
OF- T. Raines
OF- B. Bonds
DH- Frank Thomas
Bench- Larry Walker

SP- Pedro Martinez
SP- B. Saberhagen
SP- M. Mussina
RE- D. Eckersley
RE- B. Thigpen