The Ian Rintel Award for Front
Office Executive of the Year recognizes the league's most improved
team
from one season to the next. The award is named after
former owner Ian Rintel, whose
Waikiki Keys bounced back from a 33-129 record in 1993
to a 76-86 record in 1994. The 43-win jump stood for 14 years as the
best turn-around in DMBL
history; it was finally eclipsed last year by Eric
Wickstrom, who improved his Las Vegas Rat Pack by 54 wins.
And the award
goes to....
David Landsman,
Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta
Landsman won his second Rintel Award by
following the same blueprints as last year's winner -- ripping a
playoff team apart brick-by-brick and starting over from scratch! The
vicious tear-down and rebuild sent the team on a stomach-turning
rollercoaster ride -- from 93 wins in '07 to 61 in '08 to 96 in '09.
How thorough was Landsman's demolition?
Just seven players on the '09 team were on the '07 squad, and that
includes three (Milton Bradley, Brian Giles,
and Mike Mussina) who left but were brought
back, one (Josh Hamilton) who was an ineligible
rookie '07, and another (Francisco Liriano) who
missed all of last year with an injury. That leaves just Derek Jeter and Mariano
Rivera as the only continuous players from the team that went to
Game 6 of the 2007 World Series.
But the clean slate strategy paid off as
the Mighty Men
roared back into the post-season with 96 wins in '09, a 35-win
turn-around. It's also a jump of 10-1/2 places in the standings, from a
12th place tie last year to second-best this year. The 35-win jump is
good for fifth-best in league history, tied with the Arkansas Golden Falcons in 2002. This is
Landsman's second Rintel Award, the first coming after a similar
tear-down and rebuild strategy that culminated in a 24-win improvement
from 2002 to 2003.
Marietta's quick turn-around just beat out Chris Pucci and the Carolina Mudcats, who settle
for second-best after a 32-win jump, improving from 62 wins and the
11th-best record last year to 94 and the 3rd-best this year. But Pucci
gets the last laugh as his 94 wins were good enough for a Morris
Division title and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, while Landsman had
to settle for the top wildcard spot... The next biggest jump, believe
it or not, was just 6 wins, a tie between Brent
Campbell's Hillsborough Hired Hitmen and Mike
"Stump" Matiash's Arkansas Golden Falcons. The 6-win gain was good
enough to get the 93-win, 4th-place Hitmen into the big dance for the
second straight year, but did nothing for the Golden Falcons, who
finished in 8th place, same as they did last year... Next best is
another tie, between Mark Hrywna's Hoboken
Cutters and Tom Zagenczyk's Blue Ridge
Bombers. Each team improved by 2 wins from last year, but it wasn't
good enough to get them to the playoffs; the Cutters finished 10th, the
Bombers 12th.
It was a decline for everyone else. The
biggest loser was Commish Yaro Zajac and the
Vancouver Iron Fist. The Fisters, a 104-win team last year, could only
manage 85 this year -- but the 19-game drop was still good enough for
6th place and the final playoff berth... The news wasn't as good for Anthony "Bocce" Pucci's Philadelphia Endzone
Animals, who dropped 14 games from last year's 96-win performance.
Their 82 wins left them in the worst position in the standings -- 7th
place... Tied with Philly with a 14-game decline was last year's Rintel
Award winner, Eric Wickstrom and the Las Vegas
Rat Pack. Coming off a 106-win season last year, even the 14-game
decline was good enough for a 92-win 5th place finish... Jamie Landsman's D.C. O-Bombers had 88 wins last
year and a 5th place finish, but dropped 12 wins to 76 and 9th this
year... Nick Pucci took over the Tampa Bay
Plunkers, who won 79 games last year and finished 7th; as the
Amityville Ant Slayers, they took 11th place with 71 wins... Coming off
a season in which they won 69 games and finished 10th, Greg and Chris Calvosa had high hopes for the
Sardine City Straphangers as they entered the 2009 season with two
first round picks and a young squad full of talent, but it was another
step backward as they fell to 13th place with just 62 wins... Tied with
Sardine City with a 7-win decline were Butch
Garretson's Newark Sugar Bears. It's the second straight year of
decline for the Sugar Bears -- from 119 in '07 to 114 to '08 to 107 in
'09 -- but it was still enough for another Commissioner's Cup...
Speaking of trends, Mike
Hornick's New Jersey Team Buddah keeps finding ways to get even
worse -- 68 wins in '07, 60 in '08, and now just 58 in '09. It's the
second straight year they've finished dead last.
TEAM |
2008
W |
2009
W |
CHANGE |
Marietta |
61 (12-T)
|
96 (2nd)
|
+35 |
Carolina |
62 (11th)
|
94 (3rd)
|
+32 |
Hillsborough
|
87 (6th)
|
93 (4th)
|
+6
|
Arkansas
|
75 (8th)
|
81 (8th)
|
+6 |
Hoboken |
72 (9th)
|
74 (10th)
|
+2 |
Blue Ridge
|
61 (12-T)
|
63 (12th)
|
+2 |
New Jersey
|
60 (14th)
|
58 (14th)
|
-2 |
Newark |
114
(1st)
|
107
(1st)
|
-7 |
Sardine City
|
69 (10th)
|
62 (13th)
|
-7
|
Amityville (Tampa Bay)
|
79 (7th)
|
71 (11th)
|
-8 |
D.C. |
88 (5th)
|
76 (9th)
|
-12 |
Las Vegas
|
106 (2nd)
|
92 (5th)
|
-14 |
Philadelphia |
96 (4th)
|
82 (7th)
|
-14 |
Vancouver
|
104 (3rd)
|
85 (6th)
|
-19 |
Let's take a look at the previous
award winners:
PREVIOUS
IAN RINTEL AWARD WINNERS |
YEAR |
TEAM |
OWNER |
YEAR
1 W |
YEAR
2 W |
CHANGE |
2008-2009 |
Marietta
Mighty Men
|
David Landsman
|
61 |
96 |
+35 |
2007-2008 |
Las Vegas Rat
Pack
|
Eric Wickstrom
|
52 |
106 |
+54 |
2006-2007 |
Honolulu
Sharks
|
Adam Kozubal
|
58 |
86 |
+28 |
2005-2006 |
Hillsborough
Hired Hitmen |
Brent Campbell |
63 |
84 |
+21 |
2004-2005 |
Vancouver
Iron Fist
Philly Endzone Animals
|
Yaro Z.
Zajac
Anthony Pucci
|
77
76
|
93
92
|
+16 |
2003-2004 |
Tijuana
Banditos |
Paul
Barbosa |
66 |
80 |
+14 |
2002-2003 |
Stanhope
Mighty Men |
David
Landsman |
70 |
94 |
+24 |
2001-2002 |
Arkansas
Golden Falcons |
Stump
Matiash |
85 |
120 |
+35 |
2000-2001 |
Hillsborough-Vatican
City |
Jeremy
Berger |
51 |
89 |
+38 |
1999-2000 |
Hawaii
Volcanoes |
Mike Day |
49 |
80 |
+31 |
1998-1999 |
Carolina
Mudcats |
Chris
Pucci |
80 |
94 |
+14 |
1997-1998 |
Phoenix
Dragons |
Mike
Chan |
44 |
64 |
+20 |
1996-1997 |
Toledo
Mutthens |
Jon
Knowsley |
58 |
81 |
+23 |
1994-1996 |
Louisiana
Lightning |
Brent
Campbell |
66 |
89 |
+23 |
1993-1994 |
Waikiki
Keys |
Ian
Rintel |
33 |
76 |
+43 |
1992-1993 |
Scranton
Sparrows |
Brent
Campbell |
59 |
90 |
+31 |
1991-1992 |
Maine-San
Antonio |
Ryan
DeRonde |
54 |
91 |
+37 |
Top
10 biggest improvements in DMBL history: |
1 |
2007-2008 |
Las Vegas Rat Pack
|
Eric Wickstrom |
52 |
106 |
+54 |
2 |
1993-1994 |
Waikiki
Keys |
Ian
Rintel |
33 |
76 |
+43 |
3 |
2000-2001 |
Hillsborough-Vatican
City |
Jeremy
Berger |
51 |
89 |
+38 |
4 |
1991-1992 |
Maine-San
Antonio |
Ryan
DeRonde |
54 |
91 |
+37 |
5T |
2001-2002 |
Arkansas
Golden Falcons |
Stump
Matiash |
85 |
120 |
+35 |
5T |
2008-2009 |
Marietta Mighty Men
|
David
Landsman |
61 |
96 |
+35 |
7T |
1992-1993 |
Scranton
Sparrows |
Brent
Campbell |
59 |
90 |
+31 |
7T |
1999-2000 |
Hawaii
Volcanoes |
Mike Day |
49 |
80 |
+31 |
9 |
2006-2007 |
Honolulu
Sharks
|
Adam Kozubal |
58 |
86 |
+28 |
10 |
2007-2008 |
Vancouver Iron Fist
|
Yaro Zajac
|
79 |
104 |
+25 |
|