TEAM

WON  

LOST  

G/B  

PCT  

1

WOOD COUNTY GAMBLERS

91

71

~~~

.562

2

CORBYS' CREW

90

72

1

.556

3

OMAHA ASSASSINS

89

73

2

.549

4

SPRINGFIELD SCHNOOKS

82

80

9

.506

5

D.M. COLT 45'S

82

80

9

.506

6

AMAZIN' WOMBATS

82

80

9

.506

7

BRADS' BAD ASSES

80

82

11

.494

8

SOUTHSIDE EXCALIBUR

77

85

14

.475

9

ST JOE RIVER RATS

72

90

19

.444

10

TEAM TIMBO

65

97

26

.401

1998 Season:

   The 1998 season, the 2nd for the Green Diamonds League, saw Brads' Bad Asses take the crown and the previous seasons champs falling to 7th place. The league expanded to 12 teams adding the Kansas City Non-Athletics and the Crimson Warslugs. The Non-Athletics fared well while the Warslugs experienced the fate of being an expansion team. The D.M. Colt 45's changed their name to the D.M.Z. Colt 45's due to adding a new son to the family. The St Joe River Rats changed to just the River Rats 

1999 Season:

   The leagues 3rd season, 1999, saw yet a 3rd team take the league crown. The Omaha Assassins took the crown winning the most games in league history...to that point. The league also experienced some growing pains. The Kansas City Non-Athletics folded and were taken over by the Grimes Bombers and Team Timbo was bought out by the Balfors. Brads' Bad Asses seemed to suffer the fate of league champions trying to repeat by taking 11th place. The River Rats changed their name yet again becoming the Buttuglies and the Springfield Schnooks became the Springfield Stogies. The D.M.Z. Colt 45's also changed their name again and became Dougs' Destroyers.  

2000 Season:

   The 2000 season saw the Green Diamonds League change format a little bit. The teams divided into 2 divisions and now had division winners face off in a Championship Week. During the season the teams played the majority of the games against their own division with only 6 games being played against each team in the other division. Dougs' Destroyers defeated the Grimes Bombers 4 games to 3 games in the Championship Week. The Destroyers had also won the most regular season games in league history with 106. The 24 games in the standings that they beat the Omaha Assassins by was the most in league history also. The Springfield Stogies had the poor luck of losing the most games in league history.

2001 Season:

   The 2001 season made history in a way no other season had. Dougs' Destroyers won their second League Championship becoming the first franchise in league history to win 2 championships. The Destroyers made it Back-to-Back championships at that. This is the first time that a League Champion has even been in the running for a title the year following the championship. The Destroyers made it the 5th straight season of collecting some sort of post-season hardware in the form of the Flamethrower Award, LumberKing Award or a championship trophy. Owner B Estes is the only other owner that has acquired a trophy in more than 1 season.  The 2001 season was stopped for a short time due to the tragedy of September 11th. The Green Diamonds League mourned with the rest of the nation at the terrorist activities that devastated our country. 

UNITED WE STAND!

2002 Season:

   The 2002 season was a very heartwarming yet very sad season for baseball and the Green Diamonds League. We saw Owner Boyd Butler and the Springfield Stogies rise from the ashes and win the Slammer Division. We had Owner Ron Sauer and the Grimes Bombers take the Slugger Division for the second time in their history and win the league championship. Owner Doug Cronk took home an award for the sixth consecutive season when Randy Johnson won another FlameThrower Award. Owner Boyd Butler made it 2 years in a row taking home the LumberKing Award, thanks to one Barry Bonds. We had both of the division champions from 2001 have off seasons and both ending up 5th in their respective divisions. New team owner Rich Thompson guided his Swell Guys to a 3rd place finish in the Slugger Division. The brothers Estes both took their teams to second place finishes in their divisions. Overall a fun year in the league. On a sad note, the baseball world lost a favorite son when Darryl Kile passed away in Chicago. Owner Sauer, in memory, kept the pitcher on his roster for the rest of the season. 

2003 Season:

   The 2003 season saw a lot of amazing things. We had a LumberKing Award winner in Barry Bonds left unprotected in the draft and taken with the very first pick. The team that did not keep Bonds, the Stogies, dropped to last place in their division finishing with the most losses in league history to this point. Both division champions failed to repeat as the Bombers finished at .500 and in 4th place. The Stogies saga has already been noted. Dougs' Destroyers returned as division champion after a sub par 2002 season. The Buttuglies took the Slugger Division crown and defeated the Destroyers for the league championship. The Buttuglies also ended the Destroyers run of post season awards when E Gagne took the FlameThrower award which had belonged to R Johnson of the Destroyers. The Destroyers still collected some hardware with their division championship. The 2003 season had no major world events to distract from baseball. 

2004 Season:

   The 2004 saw the roller coaster ride called the Springfield Stogies go back up. After a worst-to-first 2001 - 2002 seasons the Stogies again fell to last place in 2003. In 2004 the Stogies overtook the Balfors in the final weeks to win the Slammer Division title and a second worst-to-first jump. As in the 2--2 season, the Stogies ran into the Grimes Bombers in the Championships. The Bombers have their own verson of richer, poorer going on. They have won division title every other season since the 200 season. They won the league championship in 2002 over the Stogies and did the same in 2004. If history repeats itself the Stogies will be looking at a high draft pick in 2006 and the Bombers will be in the middle of the pack. There were no major events during the 2004 season. 

2005 Season:

   The Balfors and owner John Keady have been in the running for division titles for the last four seasons either ending up in second or third place. The Swell Guys have also been in the running for a division title since owner Rich Thompson took over the defunct Corbys' Crew. Each of these teams hit the pinnacle in 2005 and took their respective division crowns. In a tight Championship Week the Balfors outlasted the Swell Guys for their first Green Diamonds League Championship. Steroids were front and center in the majors as players were being suspended for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. R Palmeiro was suspended and still denied use of any drugs. Players such as Palmeiro, S Sosa and C Schilling were joined by former players M McGwire and J Canseco in front of a senate committee. Canseco was the only player to admit to steroid use and even released a book on the subject. The images of the others were tainted as they took the fifth or denied participation. 

The season was the ninth for the Green Diamonds League. Of the 12 owners 8 have been in the league since day one. Quite an amazing stat in itself.  

2006 Season:

   The 2006 season was an exciting one, especially for the Slammer Division where there were 4 teams in the running for a division crown heading down to the wire. The Crimson Warslugs ended up on top for their 2nd division crown. The Warslugs took on the Slugger Division champion Swell Guys. This was the Swell Guys 2nd consecutive division title. The elusive championship was taken by the Warslugs in a tight series leaving the Swell Guys as bridesmaids again. 

This was the 10th season for the Green Diamond League. A wonderful achievement. There were no major issues in the world of baseball during the 2006 season.  

2007 Season:

   The 2007 season looked a lot like the 2006 season. The Swell Guys three-peated as Slugger Division champs as the Warslugs repeated as the Slammer Division Champs. The 102 wins by they Warslugs was the 2nd highest total of wins in the history of the league behind the mark of 106 set by the Destroyers in 2000. 

   The Warslugs again took home the Championship hardware defeating the Swell Guys 4-3 in the series. Owner Thompson is getting really tired of being the 2nd best team in the league each season. Maybe the 2008 season will bring about that Championship. 

   The Championship for the Warslugs matched them with the Destroyers & Bombers as 2 time GDL Champions. Owner S Bowlin and his Warslugs will try for their own three-peat in '08 trying to win 3 straight championships and becoming the 1st team in GDL history with 3 of them.

2008 Season:

   The 2008 GDL season had some change. The 2 time defending champion Warslugs disbanded and new Owner Matt Papoccia took over the franchise rights. The new Rockford Mafia held their own finishing in 2nd place in the Slammer Division and 5th overall. The Assassins and Gamblers ended the season tied and the Assassins took the Slugger Division crown with a 1 game playoff win. The first in GDL history. The Assassins also were the first franchise to record 1000 wins. With the Warslugs gone the Balfors took advantage and claimed the Slammer Division championship. This set up the Omaha Taxi Series between the Assassins and Balfors. The Balfors had no mercy as they swept the Assassins on the way to their 2nd league title. The 2008 season saw 4 franchises hit the 1000 loss category with the Bad Asses (1018), Excalibur (1009), Stogies (1004) and Wombats (1024) hitting that mark.