Sluggers Vie for Homer Throne

The eleventh season of 23Mattingly23 will feature two aging sluggers chasing a power benchmark reached by only one other in league history. Cleveland’s Mac Hogan and Rochester’s Ken Sullivan look to join Bombers’ masher Albert O’Neill as the only players with 500 career homeruns, and each man should gain entrance into the prestigious club by the end of the season’s first month.

Hogan, 34, has amassed 491 homers in nine major league seasons for the Dobys; including 56 homers during his Rookie of the Year campaign in season one, and a career-best 60 homers enroute to winning his first MVP award in season four. Even though the venerable Hogan has seen a decline in his power output over the past three seasons, surpassing 40 homeruns only once, yet he could vie for the all-time homerun crown by the end of his illustrious career.

At 33-years-old, Sullivan looks like the heir-apparent to O’Neill’s homerun king crown and holds a slight advantage over Hogan with 495 career homers. In his first season in Rochester Sullivan saw a sharp decline in his homerun total, posting a career-low 35 homeruns and failing to drive in 100 runs since his rookie year. Entering his 11th pro season and coming off of a season in which he played in only 130 games, Sullivan needs to stay on the field if he has any hope of retiring as long ball king.

News and Notes

23Mattingly23 has rolled to season 11 with only three openings, our lowest total in several seasons. I have also taken some time to update the career leaders on the blog and hope to post a couple of player profiles and a recap of season 10 award winners this week.

Get out there and recruit so we can get going on season 11.

Durham Captures First Crown

The Durham Bombers, long the model of success in 23Mattingly23, entered the hall of champions after nine seasons of playoff futility. The Bombers easily dispatched defending champion Atlanta with a four-game sweep.