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MIJB#19 · 05-30-2020, 06:13 PM

Maassluis Merchantmen, masters of trading, episode 5.
(non-extended edition)

In quieter times, there's grasping for things to write about, like the Merchantmen and their trading sprees these past 86, no wait, 87 off-seasons in the IHOF. It's still a good idea to count down the top 10 best trades, throw in a handful of bad ones in between and eventually get to that one specific trade that never happened, which could have had major implications on the history of the Merchantmen. Episode 1 through 4 were about trades that brought wide receivers to Maassluis. For today's episode, we go all the way back to the day the Maassluis Merchantmen traded away the 2005 #1 overall pick of the very first amateur draft, before having taken note of the draft class.

The inaugural season of the IHOF had finished with a bit of a blow out in IHOF Bowl I as the Joey Allen lead Fairbanks Northstars crushed the Stillwater Dynamite 23-7. The losers of that game immediately began their first name change, as the then owner (our beloved Buccanneer, rest in peace good friend) had come in late in the season and had to wait his opportunity to move his team to become the Telluride Outlaws. In 2018 that franchise moved to become the Houston Mustangs, a new they still hold. The Fairbanks Northstars are one of just five franchises to be owned by the initial owner, albeit being the only one of that in between changed ownership. The Maassluis Merchantmen back in 2004 were on the other end of the spectrum and finished a somewhat prophetically predicted 1-15 season en route to 'earning' the first pick of the amateur draft in the next off-season. The story of the 2005 #1 overall pick.

As trigger happy as the Merchantmen management was those days, the somewhat hard earned 1.1 pick of the 2015 draft was burning in their hands. There was no doubt that this pick was not meant to be used to select a player, but cash it in for a truckload of picks and players. The list of players that were officially becoming eligible wasn't out yet, but the Merchantmen felt gambling on there being a franchise quarterback was not worth the wait. The Astoria Heroes (in 2008 renamed Williamsburg Colonials after ownership change) were more than welcome to jump in quickly. The Merchantmen came out somewhat on the weaker end, getting 24-year old linebacker Ellsworth Thelen, the Heroes' first and second round picks (12th overall in those rounds) as well as the by the Heroes earlier acquired first and second round picks from the aforementioned just recently renamed Telluride Outlaws.

It would have made things a lot easier had it just stopped there, but this one trade was just the beginning of a chain reaction of other trades involving those picks involved. *see note at the end.

Let's begin with what happened to the picks that moved to the Astoria Heroes. For those that felt the earlier move was a blockbuster, they hadn't seen quite the thing yet. The Georgia Gridlock (in 2036 renamed the Augusta Greenjackets after ownership change) turned out to be welcome trade partners for the Heroes. Both the 1.1 and 2.1 picks went South, while the Heroes also threw in their 4th round pick and a 2006 1st round pick they had recently acquired from the Vicksburg Vipers (these days playing in Atlanta). In return, Georgia was giving up their 2.5 and 3.5 picks in that 2005 draft. Moreover, no less than 6 players changed places, with three of them going from Astoria to Georgia (guard Rex Snyder, defensive end James Bull and defensive tackle Calvin Sylvia) and three going the other way (defensive end Cris Richardson, defensive tackle Albert Simone and safety Marlin McAlister). We're almost there on this end as the Gridlock held on to those two picks and made wide receiver Tyrus Shaye from the Air Force the first ever draft pick in the history of the IHOF. In the second round, offensive tackle Victor Owens from Wake Forest was the Gridlock's selection pick of that draft.

So, the Maassluis Merchantmen got out of the deal having doubled their number of picks in the first and second round and with a new starting linebacker in Elsworth Thelen. The 1.12 and 1.31 picks didn't leaves Maassluis either, as cornerback Tai Wayne and quarterback Leonard Lyon were taking at those slots.

The Merchantmen didn't keep the 2.12 pick of the 2005 draft, they used it to be able to move up in the draft from the 1.14 (yes, they traded a lot that draft) to the 1.6 slot. To get there, they also gave up their 2006 2nd round pick, but in return received the Springfield Isotopes' 2007 3rd and 4th round picks. Springfield used the 2.12 pick on quarterback Mel Atkins.

The 2005 2.31 pick didn't stay in Maassluis very long either, the Merchantmen traded it to the Paris Musketeers, alongside with the 2.18 pick (acquired in another trade), their 5th round pick, a 2006 7th round pick and safety Randall Smith to acquire right tackle Wilson Grimaldo and Paris' 2005 7th round pick. The Musketeers held on to the 2.31 pick and selected left tackle Louis Bell with it.

Maassluis Merchantmen send:
2005 1.1 pick
2005 2.1 pick

Astoria Heroes send:
LB Ellsworth Thelen
2005 1.12 pick
2005 1.31 pick
2005 2.12 pick
2005 2.31 pick

So, the top pick of the 2005 draft became the 6'4" 201 pounds wide receiver Tyrus Shaye. His stint with the Georgia Gridlock was disappointing. He was without a touchdown as a rookie and missed 4 games in his second season. Georgia traded him to Paris, but in 4 seasons there he failed to get a 1,000-yard season as well. In his seventh season, the Tucker Tigers became his third home, agqin through trade. He got to 1,000 yards in 4 of 5 seasons, scoring 17 touchdowns in just 12 games in 2012 (the Tigers lost in the AOC Championship game that season). In 2016 he was traded to the Knoxville Rebels, but after two more mediocre seasons he was traded once more to play his 14th and final season in Georgia. He played and lost with Knoxville in IHOF Bowl XIII in his first season there. He retired with 815 receptions for 11,671 yards and 87 touchdowns in 203 regular games.

In the 2005 draft at 2.1 taken offensive tackle Victor Owens stayed his entire IHOF career with the Georgia Gridlock. In 13 seasons he was more of a run blocker than a pass protector, but nevertheless a reliable starter for the Gridlock. He played in 191 regular season games for them.

After Linebacker Ellsworth Thelen's first season in the IHOF with the Astoria Heroes, he played for the Merchantmen for 5 seasons. His first two seasons in Maassluis he was a full time starter, but the next three he was stuck in a loaded group as his position. Eventually it lead to trade in the 2010 off-season to the North Plainfield Plague, where he was used more often. He played 139 games in the IHOF (76 for the Merchantmen) in which he made 649 tackles and 29.5 sacks. In 2007 he was on the losing end of the AOC Championship game with the Merchantmen, in 2010 he was with the North Plainfield Plague.

As the 1.12 pick of the 2005 draft, cornerback Tai Wayne came into Maassluis with high expectations. The Merchantmen claimed they had their shutdown corner in him. He was with interceptions in his rookie season and went out for the season after just 13 plays into the 2006 campaign. But in 2007 he came back strong and was a factor in the Merchantmen's run to the (lost) AOC Championship game. It turned out to be the highlight of most of his teammates and that applied to Wayne as well. He retired after 11 seasons in Maassluis, having played in 147 regular season games (probably 6 playoffs games) in which he made 12 interceptions and defended 135 passes, peaking in 2011 with 24 defended passes.

Unlike Wayne, 2005 1.31 pick quarterback Leonard Lyon's stint in Maassluis ended after just one season. He won the starting role in Maassluis due to injury to his rival, but got traded in the 2006 off-season shortly before the draft as the Merchantmen had already decided to select a new quarterback. Lyon was traded to the Springfield Isotopes for quarterback Mel Atkins (and a bunch of draft picks ), where he was the starter in his first and third season, but in 2009 got traded to the Williamsburg Colonials after just 2 games. At Williamsburg he was playing a backup role, but still ended up starting in 13 games for them. He missed the 2015 season due to a suspension and in the 2016 off-season signed with the Vicksburg Vipers the season after as a free agent. He had his finest hour there, going 9-1 in 10 starts, but despite that in 2017 remained on the bench all season. On roster cut day 2018 the Vipers released Lyon, to never been seen active in the IHOF again. He still managed to record 131 games of activity (15 in Maassluis), 69 as a starter (9 in Maassluis) and throwing for 13,115 yards and 76 touchdowns versus 69 interceptions.

The 2005 2.12 pick Mel Atkins had a somewhat similar faith as Leonard Lyon. After a dreadful rookie campaign, he was traded by the Springfield Isotopes to Maassluis in exchange for Lyon. After two seasons on the bench behind rookie Louie Flannery and watching him guide the team to the lost 2007 AOC Championship game, he was released in 2008 and signed with the San Luis Obispo Burn. In 2012 he returned to the Isotopes and started in their last 4 games in the regular season for them. In 2013 he signed with the Tucker Tigers, but was released before training camp there and then had a failed tryout with the Gothenburg Giants late in the season. In 2014 he signed with the Conyers Condors, stayed there for 2 season, but in 2016 didn't survive the 53-men roster cut day. His career ended there, eventually being active in 124 regular season games, mostly as a kick holder, earning just 14 starts. With just 2,015 passing yards, 6 touchdowns and 23 interceptions.

2.31 pick of the 2005 draft left tackle Louis Bell remained with the Paris Musketeers for 4 season, after which he got traded to the Maassluis Merchantmen for a couple of third round picks. In that 2009 campaign he started in a reserve role, but was forced into action to replace injury prone guard Butch White (one of 4 first round picks for the Merchantmen in the 2005 draft). But aside from the 2011 season, he was just a backup in Maassluis throughout the 2013 season and left for the San Luis Obispo Burn in the 2014 off-season as a free agent. He rode the bench for 2 more seasons and retired in the 2016 off-season. His IHOF career ended after 151 regular season games, playing the most with the Merchantmen (65).

It's hard to say who got the better end of this deal, as that would require an extensive research on how the trade between Astoria and Georgia evolved. Tyrus Shaye was a disappointment, so the 1.1 pick himself wasn't much of a success and turned into the gift that kept getting given along. Maassluis got three starters out of it and the second round picks that they threw away, those players still ended up in Maassluis for some part of their careers. Astoria didn't keep the pick for very long, they probably felt they got the pick cheap, but by lack of a true gamechanger in the 2005 draft class (although one player did make the Solecismic Hall of Fame: Chesapeake 's #18 overall pick quarterback Ron Lyle, which as a result makes nemesis Astoria by default a loser in this story). It makes it hard to call Georgia the third dog here either. But perhaps all were winners, the general managers/owners for having so much fun tossing around all the draft picks and players in the early days of a young football league. The fans for getting so much drama and news stories during the off-seasons.

* Note: As I was writing this, I actually had no idea how many there are, I hoped it was doable, so far it's been fun to track down, but shockingly, I'm not even close to having found all loose ends. As a result, this is the short version, in the same style as the previous "masters of trading" episodes. I've tried to track down all the draft picks that have exchanged hands in the following chain of events, but this trade has unleashed a gigantic spread of trades, so far too large to have finished research on.

To give you some pointers, the chain has already reached the 2016 draft, for which Maassluis held a 4th round pick from Georgia, and all that is still from the trail of the picks that went from Astoria to Georgia. Another end sees Georgia sending Maassluis' 2nd round pick in 2011 to Ann Arbor for cornerback John Q Ballhawker.

Yet another side story involved a 4th round pick from Springfield the 2007 draft that Maassluis for a short while held, but eventually ended up in Tucker, which the Tigers used on running back R.J. Ellard, who ran for 4 touchdowns and still holds the all-time record for carries in a playoffs game, set in a the 2012 conference semifinals against the Merchantmen. The rushing touchdowns got tied for the first time in 2057 and eventually broken in 2060.

Just to name a few.

05-30-2020, 06:13 PM	#289
MIJB#19 Coordinator Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands	Maassluis Merchantmen, masters of trading, episode 5. (non-extended edition) In quieter times, there's grasping for things to write about, like the Merchantmen and their trading sprees these past 86, no wait, 87 off-seasons in the IHOF. It's still a good idea to count down the top 10 best trades, throw in a handful of bad ones in between and eventually get to that one specific trade that never happened, which could have had major implications on the history of the Merchantmen. Episode 1 through 4 were about trades that brought wide receivers to Maassluis. For today's episode, we go all the way back to the day the Maassluis Merchantmen traded away the 2005 #1 overall pick of the very first amateur draft, before having taken note of the draft class. The inaugural season of the IHOF had finished with a bit of a blow out in IHOF Bowl I as the Joey Allen lead Fairbanks Northstars crushed the Stillwater Dynamite 23-7. The losers of that game immediately began their first name change, as the then owner (our beloved Buccanneer, rest in peace good friend) had come in late in the season and had to wait his opportunity to move his team to become the Telluride Outlaws. In 2018 that franchise moved to become the Houston Mustangs, a new they still hold. The Fairbanks Northstars are one of just five franchises to be owned by the initial owner, albeit being the only one of that in between changed ownership. The Maassluis Merchantmen back in 2004 were on the other end of the spectrum and finished a somewhat prophetically predicted 1-15 season en route to 'earning' the first pick of the amateur draft in the next off-season. The story of the 2005 #1 overall pick. As trigger happy as the Merchantmen management was those days, the somewhat hard earned 1.1 pick of the 2015 draft was burning in their hands. There was no doubt that this pick was not meant to be used to select a player, but cash it in for a truckload of picks and players. The list of players that were officially becoming eligible wasn't out yet, but the Merchantmen felt gambling on there being a franchise quarterback was not worth the wait. The Astoria Heroes (in 2008 renamed Williamsburg Colonials after ownership change) were more than welcome to jump in quickly. The Merchantmen came out somewhat on the weaker end, getting 24-year old linebacker Ellsworth Thelen, the Heroes' first and second round picks (12th overall in those rounds) as well as the by the Heroes earlier acquired first and second round picks from the aforementioned just recently renamed Telluride Outlaws. It would have made things a lot easier had it just stopped there, but this one trade was just the beginning of a chain reaction of other trades involving those picks involved. *see note at the end. Let's begin with what happened to the picks that moved to the Astoria Heroes. For those that felt the earlier move was a blockbuster, they hadn't seen quite the thing yet. The Georgia Gridlock (in 2036 renamed the Augusta Greenjackets after ownership change) turned out to be welcome trade partners for the Heroes. Both the 1.1 and 2.1 picks went South, while the Heroes also threw in their 4th round pick and a 2006 1st round pick they had recently acquired from the Vicksburg Vipers (these days playing in Atlanta). In return, Georgia was giving up their 2.5 and 3.5 picks in that 2005 draft. Moreover, no less than 6 players changed places, with three of them going from Astoria to Georgia (guard Rex Snyder, defensive end James Bull and defensive tackle Calvin Sylvia) and three going the other way (defensive end Cris Richardson, defensive tackle Albert Simone and safety Marlin McAlister). We're almost there on this end as the Gridlock held on to those two picks and made wide receiver Tyrus Shaye from the Air Force the first ever draft pick in the history of the IHOF. In the second round, offensive tackle Victor Owens from Wake Forest was the Gridlock's selection pick of that draft. So, the Maassluis Merchantmen got out of the deal having doubled their number of picks in the first and second round and with a new starting linebacker in Elsworth Thelen. The 1.12 and 1.31 picks didn't leaves Maassluis either, as cornerback Tai Wayne and quarterback Leonard Lyon were taking at those slots. The Merchantmen didn't keep the 2.12 pick of the 2005 draft, they used it to be able to move up in the draft from the 1.14 (yes, they traded a lot that draft) to the 1.6 slot. To get there, they also gave up their 2006 2nd round pick, but in return received the Springfield Isotopes' 2007 3rd and 4th round picks. Springfield used the 2.12 pick on quarterback Mel Atkins. The 2005 2.31 pick didn't stay in Maassluis very long either, the Merchantmen traded it to the Paris Musketeers, alongside with the 2.18 pick (acquired in another trade), their 5th round pick, a 2006 7th round pick and safety Randall Smith to acquire right tackle Wilson Grimaldo and Paris' 2005 7th round pick. The Musketeers held on to the 2.31 pick and selected left tackle Louis Bell with it. Maassluis Merchantmen send: 2005 1.1 pick 2005 2.1 pick Astoria Heroes send: LB Ellsworth Thelen 2005 1.12 pick 2005 1.31 pick 2005 2.12 pick 2005 2.31 pick So, the top pick of the 2005 draft became the 6'4" 201 pounds wide receiver Tyrus Shaye. His stint with the Georgia Gridlock was disappointing. He was without a touchdown as a rookie and missed 4 games in his second season. Georgia traded him to Paris, but in 4 seasons there he failed to get a 1,000-yard season as well. In his seventh season, the Tucker Tigers became his third home, agqin through trade. He got to 1,000 yards in 4 of 5 seasons, scoring 17 touchdowns in just 12 games in 2012 (the Tigers lost in the AOC Championship game that season). In 2016 he was traded to the Knoxville Rebels, but after two more mediocre seasons he was traded once more to play his 14th and final season in Georgia. He played and lost with Knoxville in IHOF Bowl XIII in his first season there. He retired with 815 receptions for 11,671 yards and 87 touchdowns in 203 regular games. In the 2005 draft at 2.1 taken offensive tackle Victor Owens stayed his entire IHOF career with the Georgia Gridlock. In 13 seasons he was more of a run blocker than a pass protector, but nevertheless a reliable starter for the Gridlock. He played in 191 regular season games for them. After Linebacker Ellsworth Thelen's first season in the IHOF with the Astoria Heroes, he played for the Merchantmen for 5 seasons. His first two seasons in Maassluis he was a full time starter, but the next three he was stuck in a loaded group as his position. Eventually it lead to trade in the 2010 off-season to the North Plainfield Plague, where he was used more often. He played 139 games in the IHOF (76 for the Merchantmen) in which he made 649 tackles and 29.5 sacks. In 2007 he was on the losing end of the AOC Championship game with the Merchantmen, in 2010 he was with the North Plainfield Plague. As the 1.12 pick of the 2005 draft, cornerback Tai Wayne came into Maassluis with high expectations. The Merchantmen claimed they had their shutdown corner in him. He was with interceptions in his rookie season and went out for the season after just 13 plays into the 2006 campaign. But in 2007 he came back strong and was a factor in the Merchantmen's run to the (lost) AOC Championship game. It turned out to be the highlight of most of his teammates and that applied to Wayne as well. He retired after 11 seasons in Maassluis, having played in 147 regular season games (probably 6 playoffs games) in which he made 12 interceptions and defended 135 passes, peaking in 2011 with 24 defended passes. Unlike Wayne, 2005 1.31 pick quarterback Leonard Lyon's stint in Maassluis ended after just one season. He won the starting role in Maassluis due to injury to his rival, but got traded in the 2006 off-season shortly before the draft as the Merchantmen had already decided to select a new quarterback. Lyon was traded to the Springfield Isotopes for quarterback Mel Atkins (and a bunch of draft picks ), where he was the starter in his first and third season, but in 2009 got traded to the Williamsburg Colonials after just 2 games. At Williamsburg he was playing a backup role, but still ended up starting in 13 games for them. He missed the 2015 season due to a suspension and in the 2016 off-season signed with the Vicksburg Vipers the season after as a free agent. He had his finest hour there, going 9-1 in 10 starts, but despite that in 2017 remained on the bench all season. On roster cut day 2018 the Vipers released Lyon, to never been seen active in the IHOF again. He still managed to record 131 games of activity (15 in Maassluis), 69 as a starter (9 in Maassluis) and throwing for 13,115 yards and 76 touchdowns versus 69 interceptions. The 2005 2.12 pick Mel Atkins had a somewhat similar faith as Leonard Lyon. After a dreadful rookie campaign, he was traded by the Springfield Isotopes to Maassluis in exchange for Lyon. After two seasons on the bench behind rookie Louie Flannery and watching him guide the team to the lost 2007 AOC Championship game, he was released in 2008 and signed with the San Luis Obispo Burn. In 2012 he returned to the Isotopes and started in their last 4 games in the regular season for them. In 2013 he signed with the Tucker Tigers, but was released before training camp there and then had a failed tryout with the Gothenburg Giants late in the season. In 2014 he signed with the Conyers Condors, stayed there for 2 season, but in 2016 didn't survive the 53-men roster cut day. His career ended there, eventually being active in 124 regular season games, mostly as a kick holder, earning just 14 starts. With just 2,015 passing yards, 6 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. 2.31 pick of the 2005 draft left tackle Louis Bell remained with the Paris Musketeers for 4 season, after which he got traded to the Maassluis Merchantmen for a couple of third round picks. In that 2009 campaign he started in a reserve role, but was forced into action to replace injury prone guard Butch White (one of 4 first round picks for the Merchantmen in the 2005 draft). But aside from the 2011 season, he was just a backup in Maassluis throughout the 2013 season and left for the San Luis Obispo Burn in the 2014 off-season as a free agent. He rode the bench for 2 more seasons and retired in the 2016 off-season. His IHOF career ended after 151 regular season games, playing the most with the Merchantmen (65). It's hard to say who got the better end of this deal, as that would require an extensive research on how the trade between Astoria and Georgia evolved. Tyrus Shaye was a disappointment, so the 1.1 pick himself wasn't much of a success and turned into the gift that kept getting given along. Maassluis got three starters out of it and the second round picks that they threw away, those players still ended up in Maassluis for some part of their careers. Astoria didn't keep the pick for very long, they probably felt they got the pick cheap, but by lack of a true gamechanger in the 2005 draft class (although one player did make the Solecismic Hall of Fame: Chesapeake 's #18 overall pick quarterback Ron Lyle, which as a result makes nemesis Astoria by default a loser in this story). It makes it hard to call Georgia the third dog here either. But perhaps all were winners, the general managers/owners for having so much fun tossing around all the draft picks and players in the early days of a young football league. The fans for getting so much drama and news stories during the off-seasons. * Note: As I was writing this, I actually had no idea how many there are, I hoped it was doable, so far it's been fun to track down, but shockingly, I'm not even close to having found all loose ends. As a result, this is the short version, in the same style as the previous "masters of trading" episodes. I've tried to track down all the draft picks that have exchanged hands in the following chain of events, but this trade has unleashed a gigantic spread of trades, so far too large to have finished research on. To give you some pointers, the chain has already reached the 2016 draft, for which Maassluis held a 4th round pick from Georgia, and all that is still from the trail of the picks that went from Astoria to Georgia. Another end sees Georgia sending Maassluis' 2nd round pick in 2011 to Ann Arbor for cornerback John Q Ballhawker. Yet another side story involved a 4th round pick from Springfield the 2007 draft that Maassluis for a short while held, but eventually ended up in Tucker, which the Tigers used on running back R.J. Ellard, who ran for 4 touchdowns and still holds the all-time record for carries in a playoffs game, set in a the 2012 conference semifinals against the Merchantmen. The rushing touchdowns got tied for the first time in 2057 and eventually broken in 2060. Just to name a few. __________________ * 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen * Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail Last edited by MIJB#19 : 05-30-2020 at 06:14 PM.