Each Opening Day, players and fans yearn for the familiar—the smell of hotdogs, vendors offering peanuts, and the renewed hope that maybe THIS will be our year. When new players join the home team, they are a continuation of a legacy, an extension of the family. We miss the players who retire dearly and thank them for the memories.  

Today, I’m sad and happy to officially announce the retirement of two league managers and the introduction of two new ones (three, technically).  

Daniel Lyons and Matt Sullivan are retiring today. Daniel is an OG, one of the league’s founding managers, and its first commissioner. Matt is also a long-time manager, having played in Baldelli’s Modern Life for the last seven seasons. I invite you both to write something to the group to be memorialized in our blog. Guys, we are all clapping you off the field. 

Hunter Mattingly Altman and Rich Hardwick join the league as managers. My job as Commissioner is not to scrounge up any ol’ replacement manager — it’s to recruit the best. Huntie, a man described by his friends as “Mr. Movies and Baseball,” is named after two major leaguers. Rich played in my first-ever fantasy baseball league, mostly comprised of my classmates at Georgia College (Sam, you were there, man) plus an imaginary person from Cincinnati that our cheating Commissioner made up. It’s tough to find two bigger baseball fans than Huntie and Rich. Guys, I invite you to introduce yourselfs to the leagued. 

Nester has a Co-Manager this year named Matt Wagner, but I don’t have his email address yet. Hey Nester, get him on this thread! 

Baseball is a game of tradition, but it’s also a game of change. Much like the Tomahawk chop, giant ump chest protectors, and my Boston accent that only comes out when I yell, “Nomah!!!” it’s ok to cherish a past memory while looking forward to the next one.