The voters have it ! The plurality selected our theme for KOD9 to be the best .500 team ever. To be more inclusive we allowed for +/- 2 games of .500. This KOD has expanded from 16 teams to 20 teams, which should add a lot of interest.We've got some new folks joining us:
Ron Leone will be managing the 1975 SF Giants in his first season in KOD. The Giants franchise won the KOD8 World Championship with Tom "Crash" Davis at the helm.
Joe Mach will be piloting the 1971 Bronx Bombers. Joe will be the "Evil Empire's" 3rd manager ever in KOD. Ed Mikhli piloted the franchise for 6 seasons.
We've got some returnees to the KOD fold and I couldn't be happier.
Steve Tate will be managing the Reds after a 3 season absence. Steve piloted the 1948 Indians to the KOD4 Championship, so look out Junior Circuit
Jim Walden, who will be the 1979 Cubs skipper, was with us for 2 or 3 season. Back in those days he piloted the Giants to the playoffs, longing for a shot at his dream job managing the Cubbies.
Jesse Elicker will be re-joining us in the latter part of February or early March. Tom D will be keeping Jesse's seat warm while he tries to get a young Bonds and Bonilla to perform. Personally I'm looking forward to Jesse's return, so we can renew our Expo/Pirate rivalry. I'm going to lobby schedulemaker Douglas Zaner to make sure I don't play the Bucs until later in the season.
Mr. Padre himself, Joey Scigliano, will be back after a 1 season hiatus. Nobody is more dedicated to the Friar franchise than Joey. He came so close to the post season in KOD7.
Bill Keller is back managing the Tribe after taking last season off to dominate the SAT Football world.
Dan Holm is also returning after a 1 season break and he'll be piloting his Pale Hose.
I can't tell you how excited I am to see KOD back from our Holiday Hiatus. I love play testing and our Holiday Festival tournament has been outstanding, but nothing is better than KOD.
Expect to see a pre-season file out in about a week or two. I suggest as always, that you all play test your teams to get used to them as well as alert me to any possible errors.
Anticipated 1st pitch will be around week #2 in February. This will coincide with the ending of the regular season in my football league. It's a lot easier to deal with the startup of baseball once I know football is not top of mind.
Let the "hot stove" festivities and trash talk begin !
