CHAMPION REVEALED

October 4, 2021

As dramatic as a website updating once a day can be, Patrick Gillespie (yours truly) pulled off a last-day comeback to win the 2021 Home Run Pool over Troy Eich. Leading most of the season, the early July ACL injury to Ronald Acuna looked like it would derail the list. With 24 home runs at that point, Acuna was one of the leaders of the B list. By the end of the season, big boppers like Matt Olson, Giancarlo Stanton, and Joey Gallo easily passed him.

A 9-home run lead at the All Star Break increased to around 15 by late July, but then began to slowly dwindle. Fifteen turned to 10, back below 9, to 5 and by September, Troy had taken over the lead with a consistent 2-3 home run cushion for the last few weeks. Every time Teoscar Hernandez hit a home run during the 7 p.m. game, inevitably, Max Muncy and Matt Olson would hit a bomb in the late game. He was fending me off every day.

This past Friday, Troy got a few more and held a 5-home run lead going into Saturday. In a turn that I never would have predicted, Brandon Lowe hit three home runs and both Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Teoscar Hernandez each had one to force a tie going into the last game of the season. On Sunday, Guerrero hit his league co-leading No. 48 home run, which gave me the lead and eventually the win.

For Troy to have submitted one list and finish second is quite the accomplishment. From the All Star Break on there was some shuffling at the top of the list, particularly once Mike Trout never returned. Sixty two people chose Trout as their A list selection. Another 42 people suffered at the hands of Cody Bellinger and Marcell Ozuna. The Home Run Pool taketh and giveth away.

Congratulations to all the winners and enjoy the off-season!

The final leaderboard:

Patrick Gillespie 253
Troy Eich 252
Pike Bishop 236
Fritz McFritz 235
Mark Graettinger 232
Craig Seidell 231
Steve Mathews 228
Tim Cassiday 227
Quad City Boys 226
Nathan Rochelle 226

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

February 27, 2024

Congratulations on a great season, everyone.

As is always the case with this competition, it comes down to injuries. In 2023, that meant withstanding Aaron Judge’s time off in the middle of the season or Shohei Ohtani’s sad ending to the year.

Or maybe you had to withstanding picking C.J. Cron, Dalton Varsho, Hunter Renfroe, Byron Buxton or one of the other disappointments.

Len Nuzback, our mid-season leader, suffered both of those dilemmas, as Ohtani got shut down early with his elbow injury and Cron, in Colorado most of the year, had a measly 12 bombs. The good news for Len is he still finished fourth.

That was good news for Evan Bean and Ryan Duncan, our Co-Champions with 249 home runs each. With only two players in common (Matt Olson and Julio Rodriguez), it required precision to get to a tie. When it comes down to the last weekend with big sluggers and playoff pictures still shifting, you never know how things will finish. This year was a tight one. Congratulations to all our winners.

Evan Bean: $1,500 (half the $3,000 for first and second combined)
Ryan Duncan: $1,500 (half the $3,000 for first and second combined)
Carl Bleich: $775
Len Nuzback: $500
Nick Bradick: $300
Sam Co/ok: $100
David Michnovicz: $100
Larry Bestwick: $100
Bill Drish: $100
Cory Tilley/Matt Sarver: $50/$50 (half each of the $100 10th place money)

2021 Payout Numbers

August 29, 2021

There’s still some baseball left, so we don’t know where everyone will fall, but we at least know how much the winners will rake. We’re up from 2019, which is great news.

1st Place: $1,500
2nd Place: $800
3rd Place: $600
4th Place: $400
5th Place: $200
6th-10th: $100 each

Weird Season Finally Comes to a Close

March 4, 2021

Obviously, there’s a postseason, but for HR Pool purposes, it’s over, done, finished. Congratulations to those who fended off COVID deactivations, random injuries, and players who forgot how to hit the ball to total top collective home run numbers.

Here are your winners:

Brett Degen 87: $650
Al Milner  86: $300
Mike Olney 84: $175
Ed Morales 84: $175
Brett Degen 82: $81.25
Bill Grotti 82: $81.25
Chris Kramer 82: $81.25
Gayle Cook 82: $81.25
Joel Wille 81: $18.75
Al Milner 81: $18.75
Al Milner 81: $18.75
Kathy Milner 81: $18.75

2019 Final Standings

February 19, 2020

2019 Final Payouts are Here!

Congratulations to all our winners for a great season. And for the moment 10 of us have been waiting for:

Bob Gredzieleski: $1,500
Riverfront 2: $700
Karole Meese: $500
Ward Babcock: $400
Jon Johnson: $225
C.H. Loot (great bank robber name): $225
Jon Johnson: $150
Brett Degen: $75
Gayle Cook: $75
Craig Seidell: $37.50
Ed Morales: $37.50

Bob pulled away after an MVP season out of Alex Bregman and a surge by Kyle Schwarber. Having possibly the other MVP as well in Cody Bellinger certainly didn’t hurt. Gayle Cook was one of two people to pick Pete Alonso and his 53 home runs, which propelled her into 9th place. 47 entries were pretty disappointed from Khris Davis’ paltry 23 home runs, but perhaps not as disappointed as the 33 entries with Giancarlo Stanton’s 3 home runs. Quite the year. And congrats to everyone. If you have suggestions for next year, please leave a reply to this post.

2018’s HR Pool Champion Is…

October 7, 2017

October 10, 2018

Jim Berger of Maine. Jim led for a good portion of the second half and never let up, totaling 231 home runs to coast to a win.

Jim may have been sweating that first six weeks with Paul Goldschmidt looking like a bust, but Goldy made a strong comeback to finish with typical Goldy numbers. Lindor’s 38 home runs was a huge boost, as were Travis Shaw’s 32 and Jose Abreu’s 22.

Only 11 people picked Lindor, 14 picked Shaw and 52 had Abreu.

2018 HR Pool fun facts from Steve Diemer:

  • We had entries from 13 states
  • Winners came from 4 states
  • Winners used 4 different List A players, 2 from List B (Trout, Khris Davis), 5 from List C and 2 from List D
  • There were 10 players who hit 30 or more home runs who didn’t appear on any lists (Max Muncy, anyone?)

Your 2018 HR Pool Winners:

Jim Berger (231)
Jayne Kelly (225)
Riverfront 3 (222)
Steve Mathews (221)
Chris Colmone (218)
Ray Halfen (218)
Kyle Mathews (214)
Phalen Vancil (212)
John McGlasson (212)
Lindell Martie (211)

                                                                                                                                                                   

October 7, 2017

Congratulations, Champion Gayle Cook

Gayle Cook is your 2017 Home Run Pool Champion, with a home run total of 257.

Gayle is one of nine Home Run Poolers who wisely chose J.D. Martinez, who had a prolific finish to the season after starting the year injured. He did play a game until May 12, was traded at the deadline and then had 31 second-half home runs, including 16 in September and October to finish with 45. Martinez is what drove Gayle to the top of the leaderboard late in the year.

Along with Martinez, Gayle’s wildcard pick of Rougned Odor, the power-hitting second baseman with a killer right hook, got her 30 home runs. Hot-starting Freddie Freeman had 28 and she hung on despite Miguel Sano (28) missing time at the end of the year to injury.

Giancarlo Stanton (59), Kris Bryant (29) and Edwin Encarnacion (38) wrapped up her squad.

The rest of the money winners:

Jon Johnson: 251
Kevin Corrigan: 246
Len Nuzback: 244
Craig Seidell: 243
Cassidy Voss: 242
Tom Segal: 241
Cory Tilley: 241
Dick Dalton: 240
Jon Johnson: 237

Home Run Pool Czar Steve Diemer will be in touch with the winners. I hope you found the website helpful and engaging. Please work to spread the word next year so we can boost participation again next year.