CABL was the brainchild of Michael Koon. Mike wrote the Constitution, recruited owners, and started a player auction. Let's just say that the auction took a really long time and was also beset by delays on Mike's part, and some owners dropped out. I (Jeff) joined the league at a time when the auction was about half over (the team I took had exactly one pitcher). The auction was restarted, and continued for a while, and Mike dropped out of sight again. At that time, Andy McGrath volunteered to take over and finish the auction. We cranked through it, and Mike Koon reappeared. He took over his duties as Commish, finalized everything, then informed the league that he would be heading off to Germany but not to expect any problems. We didn't hear from Mike for about two weeks. About six owners dropped out. The rest of us decided to take control of league operations ourselves, and I volunteered to run the league until Mike Koon reappeared, with John Rentz helping by running the league's games.

By the time the 1998 season approached the All-Star break, we had found new owners for all open teams. During the 1999 preseason we replaced a few disinterested owners, and since that time league ownership has been quite stable. We lost only one owner during the 1999 season.

Probably because I didn't write the Constitution, this league has a very different feel from most other fantasy baseball leagues. We try to run it as a democracy, with all owners having a say in league operations.