Friday, October 13, 2006
I'd like to thank Howard Bloom's Sports Business News for alerting me to the following article, which needs to be filed under "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong -- Fantasy Sports Special Edition"
Candiotti comes clean on fantasy baseball
By Scott Ostler
The SF Gate
October 13, 2006
You gotta admire a ballplayer who will do anything, even risk injury, to help his team win. Unless it's his fantasy-league team, and the injury he's risking is to someone else.
This, then, is a cautionary tale of a guy who took the rotisserie stuff waaaay too seriously.
His name is Tom Candiotti. Remember Candy? Walnut Creek kid, star pitcher at St. Mary's, became a knuckleballer and pitched 16 seasons in the major leagues, '98 and '99 for the A's.
Candiotti, now a radio-TV color man for the Diamondbacks, told me his story, cringing with remorse more than a decade later.
"It's '92 or '93," Candiotti says. "I'm playing for the Dodgers, Jeff Kent is with the Mets. I'm in a fantasy baseball league. I don't have Kent on my team and he's off to a torrid start and he's killing me."
The Dodgers are in New York to play the Mets. Ramon Martinez is warming up in the Dodgers' bullpen to pitch the series opener. Candiotti strolls to the pen and, within earshot of Martinez, tells pitching coach Ron Perranoski, "Perry, I just talked to Bret Saberhagen, and Sabes told me that if Kent gets drilled his first time up, he's mush for the rest of the series."
First inning, Kent steps to the plate.
"Ramon just absolutely buries one in Kent's ribs," Candiotti says. "It was so bad that he went down on one knee, and he had to come out of the game. I sat there thinking, 'What did you just do? You told a complete lie, you got this guy drilled!'
"After that, it was funny. Pedro Martinez (Ramon's brother) started drilling Kent, and so did all the other Dominican pitchers. For years, Ramon drilled Kent every time. ... That winter I'm at a charity golf tournament, I wind up in Kent's group. We sit together at dinner. He's the nicest guy in the world. I didn't tell him."
How did Candiotti's fantasy team do?
"When I saw Kent get hit by Ramon, that was the end of my fantasy days. It was out of control."
I ran the story by Kent. He shrugged.
"Gettin' hit's part of the game," he said. "I've been hit for many reasons, so a rotisserie league (is no big deal)..."
Then Kent said, "Candiotti, eh? Heh-heh-heh. (Pause) He walks around with a little dog."
My god, what have I done? Candy, hide the dog.
--
Can you imagine going through a few years of this?
(Middle innings, Dominican pitcher on the mound, KENT is 0-for-1 with a first-inning HBP and a K. He turns to a TEAMMATE.)
Kent: Hey man, you ever get the feeling the Dominicans are out to get you?
Teammate: Uhm, what?
Kent: I mean, I know Latin players pitch inside more, but these guys, man ... I feel like they always come at me early. Right in the ribs. Like right there. (points)
Teammate: I dunno, man. Never really looked for it. ... You were kinda crowding the plate.
Kent: Yeah, guess I must have been ... (looks wistfully into the distance, single tear)
