1996 Play-by-Play
January
January 1st, Truck Savage and rookie Deadnecks scored one each on Admiral Arleigh Burke, hero of WWII. This was the third consecutive year that Truck Savage had scored on January 1st, an extraordinary signature move... Jan. 8th, the fray began in earnest as 63 gamesters doffed their berets for French leader François Mitterand. Same day, the Dada Sisters soloed for three on Red Thunder Cloud, the last living speaker of the Catawba language... Jan. 9th, 14 political observers tallied six on former Rep. Mike Synar. Moving to the lead as they added six to trois were Doom Patrol, Dr. Doux, Flatliners, Mellow Gnomas, Passing Fancy, the Sick Puppies, Styx & Stones, Terminally Inconvenienced, Teen Angel, Tomb Essence and We "Be" Gone... Jan. 12th, Sir Stiff and Toe Tag scored one on J.J. Cohn, the last surviving founder of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences... Jan. 16th, deejay C. Stanley slid an ultra-cool platter onto the Game stereo, a three-point solo on Les Baxter, the godfather of exotic music a.k.a. lounge music a.k.a. space age bachelor pop... Jan. 17th, seven Constitutional scholars led by Blunt Instrument and Moorebids scored five on Barbara Jordan... Jan. 18th, Dr. Doux chalked his cue and Wild Carded Minnesota Fats in the side pocket, while 16 more scored two. And at 14 & 3, Dr. Doux suddenly found himself in sole possession of the lead... Jan. 26th, there were three hits, but no Daily Doubles. Binky Brown soloed for one on William P. Tolley, author and chancellor of Syracuse University. It was solo #11 for Bink, tying the mark of his fellow Game co-founder Dr. Death just 22 years after Doc's retirement. Same day, sports buffs Chapter E and Pontius score two each on Clemson coach Frank Howard. And finally, Dr. Doux led 22 readers with four points on author Harold Brodkey whose reputation grew with every book he failed to publish.
In the lead at 18 & 4, Dr. Doux had five days left to break D. Perriman Sr.'s all-time Silver Bobcat record of five hits by February 1st, a mark untouched since 1981. The very next day, Jan. 27th, Dr. Doux joined Silver Tapps in a one-point duet on Sen. Ralph Yarborough and set a sizzling new world's record for the fastest Silver Bobcat. Moving to 19 & 5, Dr. Doux led the pack in every category.
Almost overlooked on the 27th, The Great Beyond soloed for three on chemist W.E. Hanford, co-inventor of polyurethane... Jan. 28th, more style as The Last Roundup swung in on a vine with a solo two on artist Burne Hogarth who drew the first Tarzan comic strips... Jan. 30th, five Game super heroes took another page from the comics and scored two on Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman.
February '96
February 2nd, 47 dancers from the Game chorus, led by the Sick Puppies and Tomb Essence, linked arms with Gene Kelly and tapped two points closer to Dr. Doux. But Willie's Will made the grandest jeté of all with his Wild Card... Feb. 3rd, two gamesters scored on actress Audrey Meadows. Her age was given variously as 69 and 71; following Game precedent, we awarded four points to Cedar Coffins and, yes, Dr. Doux now at 23 & 6, really stretching out and giddy with success... Feb. 4th, Fire Ants had a stellar solo, #18 in her career, an ace on Russell Colley, designer of suits for air and space travel, whose clients ranged from Wiley Post to John Glenn. A-OK!... Feb. 6th, two cowboy hats came off for actor Guy Madison, whose speed on horseback prompted Andy Devine to cry, "Hey Wild Bill, wait for me!" Riding with abandon were Game vacationer M. Hamilton and, unbelievably, Dr. Doux, galloping to 26 & 7, 11 points ahead of the nearest pursuer. One of many stunned observers, the King of Pain noted, "All I can say about Dr. Doux's streak is that it proves miracles do happen, that patzers can upset grandmasters, and that I could win the lottery. It gives a fella faith, if you know what I mean."... Feb. 7th, Lives in Jeopardy soloed for one on Isabel Kambert, opera singer and designer of cashmere sweaters... Feb. 8th, Harris Tweed slipped into a sequined evening gown, warmed up her trademark throaty whisper and soloed with band leader Mercer Ellington for three points and a nice round of applause... And then, a thing of beauty. In an act of daring, Morituri te Salutamus completely revamped their list for 1996, calling it "My Favorite Martin" and listing picks whose first or last name was Martin. Feb. 13th, they soloed for three on actor Martin Balsam, found dead in his hotel room in Rome. A purely inspirational hit. Same day, eight gamesters went deep and gathered in three points on Ole Miss and NY Giant QB Charley Conerly. Leading the way upfield were the Sick Puppies, moving to 18 & 5, closing to within eight points of Dr. Doux... Feb. 15th, Danse Macabre showed everyone how it's done with a striking solo on Lassie's first TV master, actor Tommy Rettig, for five unanswered points... Feb. 16th, 11 voters led by Frank Merriwell pulled the lever for former California governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. Same day, Cassandra Bob and Tim Ormortis got down to boogie with Brownie McGhee for two points, exiting Club Nula on a blues note... Feb. 19th, Chapter E rolled up his sleeves and scored the first solo of his career with a night-game DH smash to deep left center for three runs off the Oakland A's Charles O. Finley, prompting a Wave from the pumped-up crowd at Game Central... Feb. 21st, a musical duet lightened the mood as Dead Ernest and J. Eby vamped for two beats on composer and conductor Morton Gould... Feb. 27th, Tim Ormortis donned whites, leapt over the net and soloed for two on tennis champ Sarah Palfrey Danzig who collected 18 Grand Slam titles, 63 national titles, and played tennis into her 70's.
March '96
March 2nd, five lit up on anti-smoking crusader Victor Crawford... Mar. 3rd, Wilde & Shaw soloed for two on Cardinal John Krol and became just the third list to score five hits in '96... Mar. 4th, Dead Ernest soloed for one on character actor Lyle Talbot, who appeared in more than 150 films and played Ozzie Nelson's neighbor Joe Randolph for 10 years... Mar. 5th, 47 gamesters adjusted the price tags on their hats and two-stepped to the footlights with Minnie Pearl. Leading the way in an awfully nice cowboy shirt was Tomb Essence. Same day, Bag o' Dust and Dee Ceased scored two each on character actor Whit Bissell. That same night, Razor soloed for five on Colombian drug lord José Santacruz Londoño, mowed down in a police roadblock. It was career solo #10 for Razor.
March 9th, except for the crackling of the campfire and the lonesome wail of a harmonica, all was quiet under the stars. But suddenly, lightening struck the herd in the person of George Burns and the air was filled with shrieks of "Stampede!" Taking to their hooves, 120 crazed gamesters trampled Rose Kennedy's Top Pop Pick record. Sixty longhorns headed for Wild Card Pass, and sixty more took the fork to Ace Gulch. At the head of the herd, with clenched jaws trailing loco weed, Doom Patrol steered into second place at 20 & 5. Among the 60 scoring five, D. Beach and SLY became the first ever to score seven Wild Cards in a career. Club Nula shrank and the earth wobbled on its axis.
Mar. 11th, the Sick Puppies and the Depopulators combined for an eight-point Daily Double. Hit #1: actor Vince Edwards, four points for 14 gamesters including the gale force Merry Little Breezes rising to 18 & 6. Hit #2: former Solicitor General and BYU prexy Rex Lee, four points for the Pups, Depops and Yo! Rick! The Double moved the Sick Puppies into the lead with Dr. Doux at 26 & 7... But Doux was not done. Mar. 14th, Dr. Doux struck back with a three-point solo on cartoonist Jack Berrill of "Gil Thorp" fame, and moved back into sole possession of the lead at 29 & 8... Mar. 26th, Vega Ring hit the first solo of her career, a deuce on presidential candidate Edmund Muskie. Same day, Cassandra Bob, Gomez and Of Corpse tallied two points on David Packard of Hewlett-Packard fame... Mar. 28th, Japan's 9-Jack-9 tagged his first solo on Shin Kanemaru, legendary deal-maker and bribe-taker whose neat cupboards were stuffed with gold bars and bearer bonds... Mar. 29th, 16 rink rats led by the Sick Puppies body-checked NHL star Bill Goldsworthy and iced five points. The Pups skated back into the lead at 31 & 8, two up on Dr. Doux.
April '96
April 6th, 18 movie fans bade a long farewell to Greer Garson for one point. Same day, Ghostwriter and Lives in Jeopardy scored five on Latino soap star Ilka Tanya Payan... Apr. 8th, Necromancers soloed for three on cowboy actor Ben Johnson, not to be confused with Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson or English poet Ben Jonson ("Drink to me only with thine eyes") who died in 1637. Same day, D. Perriman Jr. showed why he's a legend with a WILD CARD SOLO Rush Limbaugh Sr., the nation's oldest practicing attorney at 104. The hit was Perriman's seventh Wild Card, seventeenth solo and first-ever Wild Card Solo... On April 13th, Frozen Stiff provided an obit for author Mev Puleo, a seven-point solo... Apr. 21st, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder hit the finish line and five led by Boneyard Dog cashed in at the three-point window. Same day, archy and mehitabel and Sweeney Todd shared bucket seats and scored two points each on engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov who made the Chevy Corvette an American icon. Same day, Chechen rebel leader Dzhokar Dudayev was blown to bits by Russian missiles riding his cellular phone signal and six gamesters made the connection... Apr. 22nd, 25 led by the Sick Puppies tallied four on humorist Erma Bombeck. The Pups rose to 35 & 9... Apr. 23rd, the Merry Little Breezes rode an open umbrella over London, leading five with one point on P.L. Travers, creator of Mary Poppins.
May '96
May 1st, rookie Humorbid and Japan's La Petite Morte scored one each on Herbert Brownell, the first Attorney General of the Eisenhower administration. Same day, 40 Whacks, Frozen Stiff and Winterkill scored six points on actor Lee Mathis... Then, on May 3rd, the Merry Little Breezes blew the shutters off the Sick Puppies' dog house scoring 14 points in one day. Twelve gamesters scored eight on high-wire artist Angel Wallenda. Thirty-one scored six on tennis player and coach Tim Gullickson. Six had the Daily Double, 14 points in one day, eclipsing L. Smith's 12-point day of Nov. 16, 1981. Setting the new mark were the Merry Little Breezes vaulting into first place at 42 & 11. The Sick Puppies salvaged six points to hang onto second place. Same day, Alibi showed style with a two-point solo on country singer Patsy Montana; it was the first solo for this talented protégé of Game legend SLY... May 19th, Women with Spurs soloed for three on actor John Beradino, who portrayed Dr. Steve Hardy on "General Hospital" for 33 years... May 24th, Sweeney Todd soloed for two on author Joseph Mitchell, career singleton #10 for the Sweenster... May 31st, 77 gamesters led by the Merry Little Breezes scored three as Timothy Leary dropped out for good. Eighteen of the top 20 had the hit, and the Breezes still led the Pups by one point and one hit at 45 & 12.
June '96
June 5th, Bambi soloed for six on author Jan Kerouac... June 6th, Deadnecks and Humorbid scored one on Nobel winner George Snell... June 7th, Necromancers, Passing Fancy and Tomb Essence scored six on "Seinfeld" producer Marjorie Gross... June 15th, the Merry Little Breezes stretched her lead to four points over the Pups as she led 65 gamesters in a three-point score on jazz great Ella Fitzgerald, moving to 48 & 13... June 16th, Terminally Inconvenienced soloed for two on baseball voice Mel Allen... June 22nd, 10 gamesters came as close as you can to a Daily Double without actually scoring it. Former Greek PM Andreas Papandreou died at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 23rd, in Greece, while Rep. Bill Emerson died at about the same time, or even later, but it was still Saturday, June 22nd, in Washington D.C. Oh, those pesky time zones. Fourteen scored five on Emerson; more than 70 scored three on Papandreou. L. Smith led five in going Wild on Papandreou, and scored the seventh WC of his career to tie the record. Leading after the scoring burst was the Merry Little Breezes at 56 & 15, followed closely by the Sick Puppies at 52 & 12. Frozen Stiff advanced to within three of the Pups at 49 & 11, and early leader Dr. Doux held on in fourth place at 40 & 11... June 28th, Chapter E and Mac tallied two each on Cubby Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films, and the same day, Demented Debutante, Flatliners and Styx & Stones scored six each on Mollie Beattie, first woman to head the U.S. Wildlife Service. The hit lifted the Flatliners to 40 & 11, into a tie with Dr. Doux.
July '96
July 9th, 11 legatees led by SLY received two points each from the estate of Melvin Belli, the King of Torts... July 12th, the Merry Little Breezes hit 60 & 16 as she led 25 gamesters on TV newsman John Chancellor; close behind, the Sick Puppies at 56 & 14... July 13th, Dr. Doux, The Great Beyond and Syd Lexic scored one on producer Pandro S. Berman... July 14th, Alibi mushroomed his score with a solo ace on Kenneth Bainbridge, the first man to detonate an atomic bomb... July 17th, P. & E. Hepner, Dr. Tom(b) and Worm Feast shouted "J'accuse!" as they scored two on the only Frenchman convicted of war crimes, Paul Touvier... July 21st, Humorbid put in his bid for Rookie of the Year with his first solo and tenth hit of the year, an ace on acid-penned Claudia Cassidy who ruled the Chicago art scene and made or broke numerous conductors, composers, performers and playwrights... July 23rd, the Sick Puppies led nine in scoring three on Hamilton Fish Jr., the fourth generation Ham Fish to serve in the U.S. Congress. The hit lifted the Pups to 59 & 15, within one point of the Merry Little Breezes... July 28th, bird-watchers Death Wish Two, Deus ex Machina, Fire Ants and Sir Stiff spotted Roger Tory Peterson for two points... July 30th, Flatliners led 29 with an ace on actress Claudette Colbert.
August '96
August 1st, five led by Club Dead collected four on Somali warlord and misery meister Mohamed Farah Aidid, who took a slug in the liver in late July and left the world a better place for his departure eight days later... Aug. 6th, the Dada Sisters tallied four solo points on Loret Ruppe, longest serving director of the Peace Corps... Aug. 8th, Frank Merriwell, the Dada Sisters and England's Virtual Sexton scored two each on Herbert Huncke, charismatic hustler, thief and drug addict who provided a name for the Beat Generation and great material for William S. Burroughs, Jack Keroauc and Allen Ginsberg. Same day, style kings Sweeney Todd and Tim Ormortis scored two each on Sir Frank Whittle, the inventor of the jet engine... Aug. 18th, 9-Jack-9 soloed for one on Japan's oldest Geisha, Haru Kato... Aug. 27th, Frozen Stiff moved to 53 & 12 as he led 19 with four points on actor Greg Morris of TV's "Mission Impossible."... Aug. 30th, El Chileno soloed for two on Admiral Jose Toribo Merino, a member of the junta that took out Salvador Allende in the '73 coup.
Also in August, Mr. Science of the ACME Undertakers began posting full standings for the Game on the World Wide Web.
September '96
September 2nd, the Fire Ants soloed for one on philanthropist Alexander Brest who said he was put on earth to give away money. It was career solo #19 for Fire Ants, and lowered her QPA to 1.33, tying Clete's Cup leader Sir Stiff. Same day, Ghostwriter scored seven points with career solo #13 on composer Lee Gannon, dying after a car crash. This lifted Ghostie to 31 & 5 and a 6.2 QPA, the highest the Game had ever seen... Sept. 7th, the Gamesters of Triskelion tapped Arthur Flemming, of the Eisenhower administration, for a one-point solo. Same day, Pontius booted an extra point through the uprights on Arda S. Bowser, the last surviving member of the NFL's first championship team, the Canton Bulldogs, and the originator of the kicking tee. It was career solo #34 for the leather-helmeted terror of the Game gridiron... Sept. 9th, the Merry Little Breezes led 13 good pickin' gamesters on Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and added two points and one hit to her lead over the Sick Puppies, rising to 62 & 17, just two hits short of Scorpio's Perriman Pennant record... Friday the 13th, 16 gamesters scored eight on singer and actor Tupac Shakur, dying after a drive-by. Lincoln's Brain logged in with a phat 6.0 QPA, shocking the overly complacent Ghostwriter, but the day's real style king was Clean Underwear, who also carried the driver of Tupac's car and almost scored two hits in one rub-out... Sept. 14th, the leggy Flatliners led nine in a five-point tribute to dancer Juliet Prowse and swirled to 50 points... Sept. 17th, 11 gamesters snuck into a former VP's office for milk money and came away with three points on Spiro T. Agnew; leading the way was that nattering nabob, Gratefully Dead... Sept. 22nd, ACME Undertakers, Breathless, Hanuman and King of Pain went on the road with Dorothy Lamour for two... Sept. 27th, Dr. Doornail and Sal Monella reaped the rewards of patience and scored six as former Afghan president Najibullah was flushed out of the abandoned UN compound ("I need security here!") and into the hereafter... Sept. 28th, the National Health hit career solo #40, for four points, on British TV star Leslie Crowther... Sept. 30th, Cedar Coffins tallied the first solo of their career, a trey on author and publisher Frances Lear.
October '96
October 1st, the Sick Puppies topped the bidding with a fiver on Robert Woolley, celebrity auctioneer and author, and took the lead at 64 & 16, displacing the Merry Little Breezes who had led since May 3rd. Also scoring five were Bambi, the Depopulators, and Ghostwriter who saw his 6.2 QPA drop to a 6.0 and into a tie with Lincoln's Brain in the run for the Reaper Ribbon... Oct. 2nd, 14 scored four on former Quebec premier Robert Bourassa and Canada's own Fade to Black expressed shock at his fellow gamesters' sudden interest in Canadian politics... Oct. 12th, five aced tennis great René Lacoste. The point lowered Fire Ants' QPA to 1.30 and put her into the lead for Clete's Cup... Oct. 14th, rookie sensation Humorbid soloed again, this time on star of the silent screen Laura La Plante for one point, rising to 30 and building his lead over determined Rookie of the Year challengers Dinner with Jack Klugman and Clean Underwear... Oct. 23rd, SLY soloed for one on critic Diana Trilling... Oct. 24th, surprised and blushing Gomez and Pontius answered the doorbell to be greeted by one point on George Oslin, inventor of the singing telegram... Oct. 28th, 22 fun-seekers tallied two on comic Morey Amsterdam... Oct. 30th, U 2 Brutus became the 200th gamester since the Game's beginnings in 1970 to hit a solo. It was a one-pointer on Eleanor Dulles who had famous brothers but became famous in her own right as a State Department mainstay. In honor of the accomplishment, Game Central sent U 2 Brutus a new car... Oct. 31st, Japan's La Petite Morte cried "Action!" and tallied a one-point solo on French film director Marcel Carné.
Also in October, the official Game Web site went up, including a Top Ten updated with each hit, the Game Glossary, the Game's Greatest Hits and single-season and career records.
November '96
November 1st, Montressor soloed for one on the former president of Sri Lanka, J. R. Jayewardene... Nov. 3rd, Montressor was back, this time with Anubis and We 'B' Gone, for a three-point hit on madcap African dictator, emperor and street person Jean-Bedel Bokassa who fathered 54 children but murdered another 100 when they complained about school uniforms... Nov. 14th, 36 gamesters scored four on Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. Leading the way, the Sick Puppies at 68 & 17. Missing the hit and finally dropping out of the Top Ten was Dr. Doux, who had exhausted himself in the early furlongs... Nov. 15th, Flatliners led 15 in scoring one on McCarthy-era personality Alger Hiss. Same day, Club Dead soloed for five on Darlene May, the winningest coach in NCAA II women's basketball... Nov. 22nd, 9-Jack-9 and La Petite Morte tallied four each on actor Mark Lenard, best known as Sarek of Vulcan, father of Star Trek's Mr. Spock... Nov. 26th, career solo king The National Health tallied #41, a three-pointer on Michael Bentine, one of the four original members of the BBC's famed "Goon Show"... Nov. 30th, Arkansas rookie Brass Monads scored his first solo, a beauty for four points on singer Tiny Tim, who was once backed on piano by none other than our own Cassandra Bob. Same day, the Sick Puppies showed why they are the most feared team in gamedom with their slam dunk six-point coffin nail on basketball star Super John Williamson. It shot them up to 74 & 18. Also scoring, the great, great Morbo Chucks.
December '96
December 1st, the Game's leading internationalist Dr. Doornail soloed for four on former Afghan president and Russian puppet Babrak Karmal, installed to replace Najibullah, who Dr. Doornail had hammered in September. An Afghan sweep, and career solo #9 for the Good Doctor... Dec. 6th, the Sick Puppies drilled a field goal on the NFL's Pete Rozelle, tying Scorpio's hits record, shattering their own points record and moving 11 ahead of the Merry Little Breezes at 77 & 19. Joining the Pups for three were C. Stanley and Johnny B. Dead... Dec. 7th, El Chileno soloed for three on José Donoso, author of the darkly surreal... Dec. 8th, T. & J. James led five in scoring six on actor Howard Rollins... Dec. 9th, Death's Doorstep hit the first solo of her career with a deuce on fossil queen Dr. Mary Leakey... Dec. 12th, El Chileno and Willie's Will tallied two each on author Vance Packard... Dec. 19th, Daisy Pusher scored her first solo ever on actor Marcello Mastroianni... Dec. 20th, the Sick Puppies re-wrote the record books as they led 34 in a big bang on Carl Sagan. Rising to 81 & 20, both records, the Pups were shadowed by the Merry Little Breezes moving to 70 & 19. But the real mayhem was farther back as Body Parts cross-body blocked Dr. Tom(b), the Hepners and Pontius out of the Top Ten with just 11 days to go in 1996... Dec. 21st, Body Parts continued their surge with a one-point solo on Margaret Rey, author of the Curious George books... And what a critical solo it was, because on Dec. 30th, two gamesters scored five on coach Pokey Allen: Depopulators moving to 51 points and tie for fourth place and BOOM Boneyard Dog vaulting over 11 gamesters into the Top Ten and a tie with Body Parts who would have been flushed out of the Diamond Decade at the last moment were it not for that one-point solo! Same day, seven rounded out the year with two points on actor Lew Ayres, and Necrophiliac Pimp was credited with one point on Judge Elbert Tuttle, when an obituary clipped in June arrived with his 1997 list. And here's how it looked at year's end:
Sick Puppies 81 & 20 Merry Little Breezes 70 & 19 Frozen Stiff 61 & 14 Depopulators 51 & 12 Flatliners 51 & 15 Morbo Chucks 51 & 13 OPEC 50 & 13 The Moorebids 47 & 11 D. Perriman Jr. 47 & 13 Body Parts 45 & 14 Boneyard Dog 45 & 13The Gran Prix: The Sick Puppies walked like giants in 1996, shattering the old most-points mark and setting a huge new record, 81 points, for the Gran Prix.
The Perriman Pennant: The first ever to break the 20-hit barrier, the Sick Puppies did it with 20 right on their little cold noses. With their 20-hit triumph, the Pups also set a new record for the most Perriman Pennants in a career: five.
Rookie of the Year: Humorbid led the freshman class of '96 in scoring with 34 points, and had two very nice solos to boot. And what challengers he faced; not far back, Clean Underwear came so close, carrying both Tupac Shaker and Marion "Suge" Knight, the man at the wheel the night of Tupac's fatal shooting. The big man came out grazed but unfazed, but it was such a stylish pick. Kudos too to Dinner with Jack Klugman, who tied Clean Underwear at 29 points, and Brass Monads who had that beautiful solo on Tiny Tim.
Doc's Diploma for Class List: Morituri te Salutamus. In a year where 120 gamesters picked George Burns, and high-point homework abounded, there were precious few contenders. Something had to give, and when we dropped power from the equation, the puzzle fell into place and the choice became obvious. For their remarkable "My Favorite Martin" list, we honor Morituri te Salutamus with this year's Doc's Diploma. They had just one hit, but it was a solo on actor Martin Balsam, who simply dropped dead in a hotel room in Rome. Here was a list remarkably free from geezers, drugs and disease, and artfully tied together by a unifying theme that carried through scores of Martins, both first names and last, all the way to their Wild Card selection of Ray Walston, co-star of "My Favorite Martian" and their National Disaster: Volcano/Martinique. Morituri, we salute you.
The Silver Bobcat: Dr. Doux scored his fifth hit on January 27, 1996, and set a new world's record for the fastest Silver Bobcat. His remarkable surge included his Wild Card. On the day he clinched, the closest gamesters to him had just three hits.
The Reaper Ribbon for High QPA: Ghostwriter and Lincoln's Brain (6.0). This was Ghostwriter's third 6.0 QPA, again tying his record mark, but he unexpectedly shared the prize, and the record, with Lincoln's Brain, who tallied two eight-pointers to beef up his Quality Point Average and then willed all his one-pointers to live until January 1st to hold on.
Clete's Cup for Low QPA: Fire Ants (1.30). In spite of a spirited challenge from surprising newcomer Sir Stiff (1.33), the Fire Ants collared the Clete's Cup once again, managing just 13 points on 10 hits.
Let's look at the Top Ten for 1996.
Take me on to 1997.
Take me back to Play-by-Play.