2004: Bret Jenkins (Neck Snap) made the first ever draft selection in what I like to call the modern era of PicketLine baseball. His pick: Alex Rodriguez. It was ARod's first year in New York, and he put up somewhat disappointing numbers, for ARod. Bret finished the season without ARod on his roster, likely trading him at some point, and finished 6th in the overall standings.
2005: In year two, Sean Comerford (Kingman's Killers) received the first pick, selecting Albert Pujols. Pujols continued his incredible career by posting monster numbers (.430 ob%, 41hrs, 117rbi, 129r, 16sb, 65k). For the second year in a row, the #1 pick was traded during the season, and Sean finished a disappointing 10th overall.2006: Amazingly, Sean Comerford (Red Hook Rosin Bags), was randomly generated the #1 pick for a second consecutive season. And for the second year in a row, Sean selected Albert Pujols. Pujols responded by pounding 49 homeruns while striking out only 50 times. This time Sean held onto Pujols all season, but it didn't matter as he finished in 15th place.
2007: For the third consecutive year, Albert Pujols was the first selection in the PLPFBL. This time it was fantasy virgin Eric Rosin (Mangini's Mutts) who took Pujols. However, Pujols finally had an "off" year, hitting only 32 homeruns and scoring less than 100 runs the only time in his career. Eric traded Pujols for a package that included Matt Holliday and a pitcher I believe. It was a trade that caused some controversy, but Holliday ended up having a much better season than Pujols. Eric struggled in his first ever season of fantasy baseball, and finished a brutal 19th overall.
2008: Rob Moran (Mount Gay Rum) won the lottery for first pick, and surprized most of the league, to a degree, by selecting shortstop Jose Reyes. Reyes had his fourth straight monster season (.358 ob%, 327 tb, 56 sb, 113 runs), proving that he deserved the top honor. Owner Rob was a first-time PicketLiner, but he battled all year, making trades and staying on top of the waiver wire. His team finally faded out of contention in the final months and he finished in 9th place.So who's it going to be in 2009? Pujols again? He seems like the logical and safe choice. Or Jose Reyes for the second year in a row? He fills up our stat sheets with total bases and stolen bases. Hanley Ramirez? A similar player to Reyes, with less speed and a bit more power. Grady Sizemore? All around superstar. David Wright? Mets' rbi machine. Or is it "The Natural", Josh Hamilton. Or it could easily be someone else. The game seems to be filled with all-around superstars these days, giving an owner tons of options with the #1 selection.
**** Other Notes on top draft picks ****
[ Besides being selected #1 overall on three seperate occasions, Pujols has been selected #2 (2004) and #3 (2008) ][ Alex Rodriguez has had a career of being drafted highly as well. After being selected with the first ever pick in PLPFBL, he was been selected 5th in 2005 and 2nd overall the last three years ]
[ The first pitcher ever selected in PLPFBL was Eric Gagne, who was picked 7th overall in 2004 by John Treadwell (Trish Giglio is hot) ][ Johan Santana, the best pitcher over the history of our league, has been one of the top five picks each of the last four drafts ]
