| 2005 SHENANGAHELA BASEKETBALL LEAGUE PLAYER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS SHELLEY GOODPASTOR, UNCLE JED'S POCKET WATCH the future sbl hall of famer put up her best season to date in 2005, captaining her pocket watch squad to an 11-9 record and setting career highs in homers (19), batting average (.715), and runs batted in (110). in addition to finishing in the top 5 in all of those categories, shelley also broke her own single-game record for homers (9) in week 5, and did all of this on a squad that started the season by dropping 7 of 10. while she may not put up the defensive numbers that the other p.o.t.y. finalists do, there is just nobody in the sbl who's more dangerous at the plate. TERRY SHERNISKY, RETURN OF THE WEENISES 21 homers, .644 average, 117 rbi, 6 assists, 66 double plays... only 2 players finished in the top five in every major statistical category, and rookie phenom terry shernisky was one of them. he was perhaps the most hyped player ever to set foot in the sbl (he even began shit-talking on the sbl site months before he ever set foot on a court), and backed it up by demolishing nearly every rookie record in the league. while not the captain, he was without a doubt the leader of the 11-9 weenises, and without him the blue and gold would have been lucky to win 6 games. if he's not already, terry should be the best player in the league by the time his girlfriend becomes legal. NATE TOMKO, PJ & THE LADIES after narrowly missing out on his third player of the year award last season, 5-year veteran tomko seemed more determined than ever to complete his trifecta this year. after parting ways with longtime comrade shelley goodpastor, tomko did the unthinkable, joining forces with former rivals (who had often referred to him as the antichrist) pj & the ladies. as a lady, and without much of a supporting cast in terms of offense, tomko made the sbl his bitch once again this season, blowing away his personal season bests (and league bests) in homers (50), and rbi (160), while finishing in the top 2 of every single category. JON BIDDLE, THE FUPALOOTERS in his second consecutive player of the year finalist campaign, biddle helped pull his team from an early-season funk to once again finish atop the sbl in double plays (82). in addition, he also set a career high for assists in a season (7, good for 2nd in the league), batting average (.493) and runs batted in (73). while his offensive numbers may not compare favorably with the rest of those on this list, jon has to be considered a player of the year finalist for the way he dominates inside. as far as defense is concerned, in the shenagahela empire there's biddle, and there's everyone else. BEN SMITH, TRAIN ON TERRY SHERNISKY as was predicted by the sbl's reigning player of the year months ago, ben has lept over matt mcclelland (and just about everyone else in the league) this season to become one of the elite players in the game. as captain of the 10-10 tots, mr. smith finished in second in the league in runs batted in (121) and third in homers (27). his .542 average is also nothing to scoff at, especially considering he often left everything inside the triple line open for his teammates. in addition to his offensive prowess and surprisingly solid defense, ben may also be the most impressive captain in the league, creating an offense which few teams can keep up with to make up for his squad's lack of defensive size. 2005 SHENANGAHELA BASEKETBALL LEAGUE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FINALISTS TERRY SHERNISKY, RETURN OF THE WEENISES yeah, i just hyped him up about 4 paragraphs up. interesting note, though: only once before has a player been nominated for both player of the year and rookie of the year, fred shaffer in 2002. shaffer not only got shut out in the p.o.t.y. voting, but also missed out on the rookie of the year award as well... JEFF KNIGHT, UNCLE JED'S POCKET WATCH had it not been for shernisky, knight would have been the one breaking every single rookie record this season. however, the voters may take into consideration jeff's nomdic first season, as he was never really allowed to get accustomed to any team's offense, having played for three seperate squads. in fact, the team he spent the first 3 weeks on, team koopa troopa, rarely even got him in the lineup. at any rate, 15 homers, a .505 average, 105 rbi, 5 assits and 43 double plays are just plain ridiculous, but imagine what they could have been had jeff been in a more stable position. can jeff do what mark tarkanick did 3 years ago and nab the r.o.t.y. trophy out from under the frontunner? 2005 SBL MOST IMPROVED PLAYER this year, the shenangahela baseketball league will introduce it's newest year-end award, given to the player who had improved most since last season. the trophy will be named "THE CHICKEN LEG TROPHY" after dennis lackey, who is awarded the honor for 2004, making him the orginal winner. JEREMY BATTYANI, THE FUPALOOTERS is it any coincidence fupa was a shithole without him, and went 8-4 with him as a starter? 2004: 2 HR, .315 AVG., 9 RBI, 2 DP, 0 PSYCHE IN 8 GAMES 2005: 2 HR, .404 AVG., 48 RBI, 0 DP, 1 PSYCHE IN 16 GAMES GREG LACKEY, TEAM KOOPA TROOPA from one of the scrubbiest members of pj&l (and that's saying something) to probable all-star in 12 months 2004: 3 HR, .427 AVG., 13 RBI, 0 AST, 7 DP, 0 PSYCHE IN 13 GAMES 2005: 10 HR, .569 AVG, 63 RBI, 1 AST, 14 DP, 1 PSYCHE IN 20 GAMES DANIELLE HENNON, RETURN OF THE WEENISES if she keeps this up, danielle's gonna have to hand her jukebox captainship over to someone who isn't good 2004: .410 AVG., 8 RBI IN 17 GAMES 2005: .516 AVG, 40 RBI IN 30 GAMES BEN ELLIOTT, ANALISA GOODTHING injuries and dickhead captains kept him down briefly, and now he's one of the best inside players in the league 2004: 0 HR, .310 AVG, 5 RBI, 0 AST, 0 DP, 1 PSYCHE IN 8 GAMES 2005: 9 HR, .355 AVG, 66 RBI, 2 AST, 38 DP, 1 PSYCHE IN 23 GAMES PJ NESPOR, PJ & THE LADIES the main reason for the ladies rise to the top has been the stellar hitting of it's namesake 2004: .324 AVG, 14 RBI, 2 AST IN 13 GAMES 2005: .518 AVG, 27 RBI, 4 AST IN 17 GAMES 2005 HOME |