Decade: The Clinton Years (1990-1999)
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Team Decade Pages (Average Win Shares / Points per year in decade):		Top Team Builders In Decade:
AMERICAN LEAGUE:	NATIONAL LEAGUE:	1 - Bobby Cox (GM, Manager), John Schuerholz (GM), Leo Mazzone (Pitching Coach) - Atlanta
New York Yankees - 111	Atlanta Braves - 119	2 - Harding Peterson (GM), Gene Michael (GM), Bob Watson (GM), Joe Torre (Mgr) - Yankees
Cleveland Indians - 107	Houston Astros - 105	3 - Richard Jacobs (Owner), Hank Peters (GM), John Hart (GM) - Cleveland
Boston Red Sox - 106	Cincinnati Reds - 104	4 - Bill Wood (GM), Bob Watson (GM), Gerry Hunsicker (GM) - Houston
Chicago White Sox - 105	Los Angeles Dodgers - 103	5 - Tom Grieve (GM), Doug Melvin (GM) - Texas
Baltimore Orioles - 103	Arizona Diamondbacks - 102	6 - Pat Gillick (GM) - Toronto
Toronto Blue Jays - 103	San Francisco Giants - 101	7 - Woody Woodward (GM), Lou Piniella (Manager) - Seattle
Texas Rangers - 102	Montreal Expos - 101	8 - Dave Dombrowski (GM) - Florida
Oakland A's -  99	Pittsburgh Pirates - 99	9 - Jerry Colangerlo (Owner), Joe Garagiola Jr (GM) Buck Showalter (Manager)- Arizona
Seattle Mariners - 98	New York Mets - 99	10- Larry Himes (GM), Al Goldis (Director Player Development) - Chicago
Milwaukee Brewers - 95	St. Louis Cardinals - 97
Anaheim Angels - 95	San Diego Padres - 97
Kansas City Royals - 94	Colorado Rockies - 96
Minnesota Twins - 92	Chicago Cubs - 95
Detroit Tigers - 90	Philadelphia Phillies - 94
Tampa Bay Rays - 81	Florida Marlins - 89
Decade Highlights
□ 'Roids were the big story of the decade.
Not that anyone was acknowledging steroid use during the decade. In fact, just the opposite. Commissioner Bud Selig was straining his neck holding his head down in the sand while
steroid use was running rampant. Why? Steroids use was fueling a huge resurgence in the popularity of the game. The home run derby between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa was epic
theater. Barry Bonds' unbelievable hitting exploits were can't miss TV. Everybody knew that there something very different going on here, but nobody cared. It was too much fun.
□ The reason that baseball needed a resurgence was because of the damage done by Commissioner Bud Selig and his cohorts like Jerry Reinsdorf in forcing a baseball strike in '94.
Not that fans were that upset about the strike, per se. Been there, done that. It was that baseball had the audacity to cancel the World Series over this.
Selig, in particular, has no grasp on what baseball history and continuity mean to baseball fans. The historical context is what made the Sosa-McGwire home run race so compelling, for example.
The cavalier nature as to what baseball fans hold dear being brushed aside is what turned the fans off in droves. By the end of the strike, baseball was reeling. All of the other factors
that have been eating away at the game's popularity were still there. Now this sacrilege.
The big problem I have with Bud Selig is that, in my estimation, the Commissioner of Baseball has a responsibility, first and foremost, to be a steward of the game.
In other words, he must rise above the short term greedy tendencies of the owners (and the players for that matter) and take the long view of what's good for the game.
Doing this is in the best interest of the owners long term. No one is saying that the Commissioner needs to work against the interest of the owners. What I am saying is that
for the longer term financial viability of the game, the Commissioner's stewardship is crucial. There's no one else in the position to do that. Selig 100% abdicated this role while Commissioner.
Selig and Reinsdorf still hadn't gotten out of the anger, denial phase of the loss of the Reserve Clause from close to twenty years earlier. They were still trying to reverse things for the players.
It was a fool's errand. On top of that, they were blaming small market- big market economics for some sort of perceived competitive imbalance that was occurring. And while there is no doubt
that the amount of $$$ a team has at it's disposal is extremely important, it usually doesn't manifest itself as you might think. The rich teams get sloppy. The poor teams take a razor sharp
pencil to things. The result on the field is that generally, things are much more equal than what pure bucks spent would be thought to dictate. In other words, Selig and Reinsdorf and their
cohorts were full of baloney and overblowing the false issue of parity to obfuscate the real issue of they thought that every dollar that they were paying players was, in their minds, thefts of
dollars out of their pockets. In the end, after the strike, parity was just fine, like before. And continues to be just fine.
□ All that being said, another reason that baseball recovered so well from the '94 strike by the end of the decade was the resurgence of the Yankees. Baseball always thrives when the
Yankees do well. TV ratings skyrocket. Media coverage goes thru the roof. Fans from everywhere are passionate, they either hate the Yankees or love them. Either way, they watch the
games riveted when the Yankees have something at stake. Prior commissioner Fay Vincent did a great thing for baseball at the top of the decade. He suspended Yankee owner George
Steinbrenner from the game indefinitely. George had complete gone off the rails in the Eighties and needed a break from the game. Vincent gave it to him. With George out of the picture
physically, but with his money still in play, Yankee General Mangers Gene Michael and Bob Watson no longer had to impulsively trade every young prospect who had a pulse for some
mediocre old dude. Thus with a great organization in place, and George out of the picture, you got the core four (Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Derek Jeter) plus some
other guys like Bernie Williams still with the organization when you knew George would have impulsively traded them all away. George was let back into baseball in '95 when these guys
were no longer tradable (in George's eyes) and the Yankees went on to be dominant over thru the end of the decade. This was good for baseball.
Note that it was Vincent and not Selig responsible for this. In fact, Selig, by his words, recoiled in horror at the thought of Yankee domination. Selig was not good for baseball.
□   Yet another huge factor in the rising of baseball from the ashes following the player's strike was retro ballparks.
Retro ballparks have brought an all around fun experience to the ballpark, not just die hard baseball fans watching games, altho' you can still do that.
□  1989 Toronto Rogers Centre - Not a retro ballpark, but a beautiful one with a much needed retractable roof. Also is a multi-sport facility, but they did it well.
□  1991 Chicago Commiskey Park II - Last of the non-retro parks to be built. That being said, they did try to include some of the original Commiskey Park features
□   It started in 1992 with Baltimore's Camden Yards, a retro, baseball only park that oozed with charm. It was everything that folks love about going to a ball game. It changed everything.
□  1994 Cleveland Jacobs Field - Another beauty. Fans flocked to it. It was fun again going to a ballgame. The Indians being a great club didn't hurt. They sold out 455 games in a row. Not bad.
□  1994 Arlington Stadium - Beautiful ball park, but could have used a retractable roof in the Texas heat.
□  1995 - Denver Coors Field
□  1997 Anaheim Big A  - Renovated to baseball only by taking out seats that had been put in to accommodate the Rams. They made the Big A great again.
□  1998  Phoenix Bank One Ball Park - retro with a retractable roof
□  1998 Tampa Tropicana Field - The exception to the rule. This place is awful. At least it has a roof, but it really is an indoor venue. Feels like you're sitting in your living room, sort of.
□  1999 Seattle Safeco Field -  retro with a retractable roof, has it all.
□  2000 San Francisco Pac Bell Park
□  2000 Detroit Comerica Park
□  2000 Houston Minute Maid Park - retro with a retractable roof, has it all including a train
□  2001 Milwaukee Miller Park - retro with a retractable roof
□  2001 Pittsburgh PNC Park
□  2003 Cincinnati Great American Ball Park
□  2004 Philadelphia Citizens Bank Park
□  2006 St. Louis Busch Stadium
□  2008 Washington Nationals Park
□  2009 New York Mets Citi Field
□  2009 Yankee Stadium
□  2012 Miami Marlins Park - not retro - futuristic, has a retractable roof
□  2018 Atlanta Sun Trust Park
□   Interleague baseball was introduced for the first time in 1997. It made a big splash initially due to the novelty. The novelty has worn off. There are several natural local rivalries where
interleague play makes sense, but, for the most part, most folks wouldn't miss it if it went away. Personally, I think the charm of having a rivalry between the two separate leagues trumped
the few natural rivals playing each other. That being said, it's not like the old days where stars didn't switch leagues much. With the advent of interleague play and free agency, the juice has
been taken out of things like the All Star game. The 1998 expansion should have created an uneven number of teams in both leagues which was presumably why interleague play was
introduced in '97. However, in a bizarre, cockamamie move that could have only been instigated by Selig, the Milwaukee Brewers were moved to the National League, thus creating an
unwieldy 6-6-4 Divisional setup in the NL and an unequally unwieldy 6-4-4 in the American League. A team switching leagues was sacrilege to baseball purists, but who cared as long as
Selig's beloved Brewers were now in their rightful place, the National League. This wrong was partially righted in 2013, when, with Selig safely gone, the Astros were moved to the AL West.
Of course, it should have been the Brewers who were moved back to the AL, but let's not expect sanity.
□   There were no franchise moves during the decade, but there were four expansion clubs:
□  1993 Colorado Rockies - This club has a unique fatal problem, they play in a high elevation and generally players who are successful there aren't successful elsewhere and vice versa
□  1993 Florida Marlins - Stacked the team for a 1997 World Series title run and then quickly dismantled it
□  1998 Arizona Diamondbacks - Stacked the team with free agents and won the NL West title in 1999.
□  1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays- Joined the stacked AL East and didn't have a chance for a decade. Not only that, they were playing in an awful ballpark
□  In the American League, the Yankees reinstated their dynasty winning the Pennant and World Series in '96, '98 and '99.
Cleveland was one of the best hitting teams ever but only won one pennant. Seattle was outstanding with a bunch of young Hall of Famers on the roster.
The Red Sox were always in the mix but didn't win anything. Early on in the decade, Toronto was dominant winning two World Series and making it to the ALCS.
Texas, the White Sox and the Orioles also had a number of quality seasons and all had a bunch of good hitters.
□  The Braves dominated the regular season and were the best regular season team of all time, winning 15 Division titles in a row. With their pitching, one would think they would have been
dominant in the post season, but they faltered badly. Houston had quality teams while the Dodgers were always good but not great. Arizona and Florida were one year wonders.
□  Outside of baseball  Y2K was looming altho' it turned out to be a tempest in a teapot. The PC revolution was happening with PC's and MACs cropping up everywhere. The internet was
starting to become relevant. Dot Com was starting to bubble as everyone wanted to ride the internet app craze. Tech was in. Silicon Valley was where it was at.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, led by Bill Clinton, decided to abandon it's base and go after the same political donors as the Republicans. This instigated an ugly all out war between the
two Political Parties that rages to this day. While both parties will lie to their voters and say that the divide is due to social and economic issues. Those issues have nothing to do with it.
Particularly the economic issues where both parties are on the same page. No, the reason for the incredible rancor is that they both are trying to feed out of the same trough.
Top Players In Decade (Win Shares / Points and WAR (in parentheses) for Decade):
All Positions -  Top 50	Top Starting Pitchers	Top Catchers	Top Outfielders
1 - Barry Bonds Giants (80.16) - 186	2 - Greg Maddux Cubs (65.4) - 133	14 - Ivan Rodriguez Texas  (37.61) - 104	1 - Barry Bonds Giants (80.16) - 186
2 - Greg Maddux Cubs (65.4) - 133	6 - Tom Glavine Braves (45.05) - 118	16 - Mike Piazza Dodgers (41.59) - 103	4 - Ken Griffey Seattle (67.46)  - 121
3 - Barry Larkin Reds (52.59) - 127	8 - Roger Clemens Boston (68.3) - 109	Terry Steinbach Twins (21.17) - 74	5 - Rickey Henderson A's  (39.21) - 119
4 - Ken Griffey Seattle (67.46)  - 121	9 - Randy Johnson Seattle (52.21) - 109		7 - Kenny Lofton Cleveland (47.5) - 113
5 - Rickey Henderson A's  (39.21) - 119	10 - Chuck Finley Anaheim (44.72) - 108	Top First Basemen	11 - Larry Walker Colorado  (47.83) - 107
6 - Tom Glavine Braves (45.05) - 118	15 - Kevin Brown Dodgers (48.17) - 104	17 - Jeff Bagwell Houston (56.9) - 103	12 - Ray Lankford Cards  (36.12)  - 105
7 - Kenny Lofton Cleveland (47.5) - 113	20 - Mike Mussina Baltimore (42.09) - 100	18 - Rafael Palmiero Texas (49.66)  - 103	19 - Marquis Grissom Montreal (28.33) - 102
8 - Roger Clemens Boston (68.3) - 109	27 - John Smoltz Braves (39.91) - 88	26 - John Olerud Toronto (39.81)  - 90	21 - Sammy Sosa Cubs (34.15) - 98
9 - Randy Johnson Seattle (52.21) - 109	35 - David Cone Mets (53.02) - 86	31 - Fred McGriff Tampa Bay (32.69) - 87	23 - Bernie Williams Yankees (34.67) - 95
10 - Chuck Finley Anaheim (44.72) - 108	36 - Charles Nagy Cleveland (27.27) - 86	32 - Mark Grace Cubs (36.11) - 87	24 - Steve Finley Arizona (30.1) - 94
11 - Larry Walker Colorado  (47.83) - 107	37 - Kevin Appier KC (47.7) - 85	38 - Frank Thomas Chicago (52.82) - 85	25 - Lance Johnson Chicago (30.06) - 93
12 - Ray Lankford Cards  (36.12)  - 105	39 - Andy Benes Arizona (30.38) - 84	43 - Mark McGwire A's (46.42)  - 81	28 - Albert Belle Cleveland (39.46) - 88
13 - Roberto Alomar Cleveland (45.59) - 105	40 - Scott Erickson Baltimore (27.93) - 84	Will Clark Giants (30.82) - 75	29 - Devon White Toronto (32.84) - 88
14 - Ivan Rodriguez Texas  (37.61) - 104	45 - Pedro Martinez Montreal (40.53) -  82		34 - Brady Anderson Baltimore (33.06) - 86
15 - Kevin Brown Dodgers (48.17) - 104	48 - Ramon Martinez Dodgers (25.25) - 78	Top Second Basemen	41 - Otis Nixon Braves (14.72)- 82
16 - Mike Piazza Dodgers (41.59) - 103	Jack McDowell Chicago (25.91) - 75	13 - Roberto Alomar Cleveland (45.59) - 105	42 - Juan Gonzalez Texas (30.32) - 81
17 - Jeff Bagwell Houston (56.9) - 103	Tim Belcher Dodgers (19.13) - 74	22 - Craig Biggio Houston (53.23) - 95	44 - Paul O'Neill Yankees (31.74) - 81
18 - Rafael Palmiero Texas (49.66)  - 103	David Wells Toronto (31.58) - 74	Chuck Knoblauch Yankees (44.24) - 76	49 - David Justice Cleveland (33.3) - 78
19 - Marquis Grissom Montreal (28.33) - 102	Doug Drabek Pirates (17.94) - 73	Tony Phillips Detroit (36.95) -   73	50 - Ellis Burks Boston (25.69) - 77
20 - Mike Mussina Baltimore (42.09) - 100	Curt Schilling Phillies (35.25) - 73	Ryan Sandberg Cubs (30.25) - 60	Brett Butler Dodgers (21.25) -    75
21 - Sammy Sosa Cubs (34.15) - 98	Pat Hentgen Toronto (28.06) -    71		Tony Gwynn San Diego (32.65) - 73
22 - Craig Biggio Houston (53.23) - 95	Jimmy Key Toronto (29.13) -    69	Top Shortstops	Gary Sheffield (27.32) -   73
23 - Bernie Williams Yankees (34.67) - 95	Mark Langston Anaheim (25.96) -    67	3 - Barry Larkin Reds (52.59) - 127	Jose Canseco A's (26.09) - 70
24 - Steve Finley Arizona (30.1) - 94		33 - Jay Bell Arizona (37.36) - 86
25 - Lance Johnson Chicago (30.06) - 93	Top Relief Pitchers	Cal Ripken Baltimore (44.92) - 74
26 - John Olerud Toronto (39.81)  - 90	30 - John Wetteland Montreal (17.88) - 88
27 - John Smoltz Braves (39.91) - 88	46 - Dennis Eckersley Cards (9) - 79	Top Third Basemen
28 - Albert Belle Cleveland (39.46) - 88	47 - John Franco Mets (9.38)  - 79	50 - Bobby Bonilla Pirates (19.51) - 77
29 - Devon White Toronto (32.84) - 88	50 - Rick Aguilera Twins (15.44)  - 77	50 - Matt Williams Giants (41.23)  - 77
30 - John Wetteland Montreal (17.88) - 88	Jeff Montgomery KC (15.27) - 75	Ken Caminiti Houston (28.77) - 76
31 - Fred McGriff Tampa Bay (32.69) - 87		Edgar Martinez Seattle (51.67) - 70
32 - Mark Grace Cubs (36.11) - 87		Travis Fryman Detroit (30.86) - 66
33 - Jay Bell Arizona (37.36) - 86		Robin Ventura Chicago (46.05) - 63
34 - Brady Anderson Baltimore (33.06) - 86		Wade Boggs Boston (31.22) - 51
35 - David Cone Mets (53.02) - 86
36 - Charles Nagy Cleveland (27.27) - 86
37 - Kevin Appier KC (47.7) - 85
38 - Frank Thomas Chicago (52.82) - 85
39 - Andy Benes Arizona (30.38) - 84
40 - Scott Erickson Baltimore (27.93) - 84
41 - Otis Nixon Braves (14.72)- 82
42 - Juan Gonzalez Texas (30.32) - 81
43 - Mark McGwire A's (46.42)  - 81
44 - Paul O'Neill Yankees (31.74) - 81
45 - Pedro Martinez Montreal (40.53) -  80
46 - Dennis Eckersley Cards (9) - 79
47 - John Franco Mets (9.38)  - 79
48 - Ramon Martinez Dodgers (25.25) - 78
49 - David Justice Cleveland (33.3) - 78
50 - Ellis Burks Boston (25.69) - 77
50 - Bobby Bonilla Pirates (19.51) - 77
50 - Matt Williams Giants (41.23)  - 77
50 - Rick Aguilera Twins (15.44) - 77