Robert Wuhl loves baseball. He also loves Rotisserie Baseball. And he knows the difference between the two, a kind of knowledge that helps him win his league. Wuhl is a serious fan. How serious? He attends every game of every World Series. He loves to see the best players performing at the highest level in the most serious competition. And he follows every pitch and every bouncing ball with a discerning eye.

At other times during the season, Wuhl can enjoy both the game on the field and the statistical results that affect his own team, the Goldie Bears. During spring training, Wuhl can typically be found sitting in the dugout with a manager before the game, engaged in animated conversation. While discussing Luis Terrero's throwing arm or Alexis Rios' base running skill, he might occasionally get a tip that helps the Goldie Bears. Wuhl is especially eager to get tips on pitchers.

"I ask my friends in baseball about young pitchers, who's coming up from the minors, who's coming back from injuries and how they're doing, and stuff like that," explained Wuhl. "One year at our draft, everybody was wary of Robb Nen. They thought he was hurt worse than he was. We lucked out on that. He was a huge bargain. You don't have to be the ultimate authority to win a Rotisserie league. My first year doing this thing, I didn't know much about baseball, and I came within the last day of winning. You've got to be lucky. A lot of dumb managers have won a World Series."

A combination of modesty and enthusiasm makes Wuhl an enjoyable competitor, even when he wins. But "dumb" is one word that doesn't apply. Whether it's real baseball on the field, or a Rotisserie team on paper, Wuhl knows his stuff.

Wuhl began his baseball-related career with a part-time job when he was a student at the University of Houston. "I used to sell beer at the Astrodome. I could really follow the game more closely, and from that point on, in the early seventies, I really enjoyed baseball. I loved college. I crammed four years into seven."

Baseball figured prominently in Wuhl's upward career moves through comedy, acting, producing, and directing. After portraying the cult hero Newbomb Turk in "Hollywood Knights," he reached a broader audience in "Bull Durham" as the fast-talking coach who suggested, "Candlesticks always make a nice gift." That was opposite Kevin Costner. Tommy Lee Jones starred with Wuhl in "Cobb" the biographical film about baseball's all-time greatest hitter. And baseball figured prominently in "Arli$$," the critically acclaimed series Wuhl starred in and produced for HBO for a long, multi-season run of success.

One episode of Arli$$ brought Rotisserie baseball's crazy passion to the television audience. Sports agent Arliss Michaels (Wuhl), competing in a National League Rotisserie competition, sabotaged his arch-enemy's pitching stats, by getting his rival's $40 pitcher (who happened to be an Arliss client) traded to the American League, where the stats don't count. Arliss thus won his Rotisserie league Championship. While helping his 34-year old client secure a four-year, $20 million contract - all in the "Client's Best Interest," as the episode was titled.

"Sports fans tend to reduce their games and players to statistics. This impulse reached its peak with the rise of the religion known as Rotisserie baseball," said Wuhl in the introduction to "Client's Best Interest." Truer words were never spoken. Wuhl's incredible knowledge of sports combines well with his absurdist wit. "Arli$$" in this case drew on Wuhl's extensive knowledge of Rotisserie baseball.

Wuhl got the idea for "Client's Best Interest" from a real sports agent who plays in a standard (NL-only) Rotisserie league. This prominent agent joked about the premise of trading a real client to win a Rotisserie league. Wuhl decided to write it and film it. The filming of a real, live Rotisserie auction took more time and effort than most viewers could have guessed. "We had a lot of different people there, everybody from Steve Garvey to the late Brandon Tartikoff, to Robert Shapiro. We had two cameras going all the time. That scene took a day to shoot. It was an incredible amount of editing. Our draft, the first segment, was seven minutes long. Seven minutes is an incredible amount of screen time. In that scene we had the premise to tell the people, who never knew what Rotisserie baseball was, and even people who don't know anything about sports. They had to learn about Rotisserie."

"My partner Mike Tollins is in a Rotisserie league," explained Wuhl. "So he also knew the rules and how to get the points across: what the draft looked like, what the show was, and the personalities involved, and also how obsessive it is." It was a realist

ic draft, complete with books, papers, laptop computers, draft software, contentious competitors and argumentative partners, even a voice on a speakerphone. "We had one guy who wasn't even there, Jonathan Silverman, because I knew a guy who used to phone it in. We had one guy on long distance the whole draft," recalled Wuhl. "So people understood how the game was played. Of course, we didn't get into the intricacies, because we didn't need to. But we had to get a certain level of knowledge, and at the same time we had to establish a fictional character, the great pitcher Ned Bastille, a client I represented. There were story points we had to get across. That was first and foremost."

The reality of the story was enhanced with in-context appearances from Jim Fregosi, Peter Gammons, Garvey, Pete Incaviglia, Gregg Jefferies, Barry Larkin, Tommy LaSorda, Leo Mazzone, Gary Sheffield, and others including Mayor Rendell explaining why Philadelphia would want to keep it's star pitcher in the city.

The obsession with Rotisserie baseball is fundamental to the humor in the story. "When my partner traded our best pitcher to the enemy, for Gary Gaetti, I went after him with a bat. We had to establish the obsession," said Wuhl. "The obsessive aspect really appealed to the people who saw the show. Just recently I was with Meatloaf and his wife, and Meatloaf plays in at least three Rotisserie leagues. And his wife said her favorite scene in the whole thing was when a cab driver said to my partner, and me "Hey are you guys into Rotisserie baseball? I have a tip for you: get a life!"

The "get a life" attitude about Rotisserie baseball is widespread - among those who don't understand the game. In the case of a wife who feels her husband is obsessed with his hobby, there may be a valid complaint (although golf surely takes a worse toll on couples' togetherness). Obsession over Rotisserie baseball is genuine. It can be humorous at times, and it can irritate bystanders who can't comprehend what's happening.

When displeasure with the "religion" of Rotisserie baseball surfaces within the baseball world itself, especially in the broadcast booth or in print, Wuhl believes that contemptuous feelings are misplaced. The question of what he would say to any writers or commentators who don't appreciate Rotisserie baseball elicits a long and serious answer:

"For baseball reporters and broadcasters, I say Rotisserie baseball is what keeps food in their mouths. I think Rotisserie is one of the big positives that has kept baseball interest alive and growing. If anyone believes Rotisserie leagues are bad for baseball, I couldn't disagree more!

"Can anyone say Rotisserie is causing LESS interest in baseball? That's ridiculous. Every new show like Baseball Tonight, every statistic, it's all geared towards Rotisserie baseball. There's no question in my mind about that. To compete well in Rotisserie, you've got to know who's playing and understand why, so people want news, lots of it. Look at the interest in the game, look at the quality of books that are published, look how a guy named John Benson made a career out of it. This huge demand for information creates a lot of jobs in the media. They should all be grateful. There is no question there is a geeky nature to it, because it is statistically oriented. But this comes with a higher level of interest, and it brings more knowledge to the people who watch baseball. Look at the difference in box scores now. The new stuff is all Rotisserie-oriented, and it tells us more about who these players are.

"Pick up a newspaper and see what the boxscores look like, as opposed to what they looked like ten years ago. Sometimes when you go to a small town and you read the boxscores in the local paper, they still have only the four categories: at-bats, runs, hits and runs batted in. In most papers now you see runners left in scoring position, caught stealing, how many pitches a guy threw, everything.

"And look at what's on the internet now, like STATS. STATS on Line is great. They have the daily logs, and you can put your own team up there, and look at how they're doing, every day. Who do you think is reading all this? It's all geared toward Rotisserie people following their players. The late, lamented "The National" printed those box-scores and USA TODAY started printing them, and now they are the standard for baseball information on a daily basis.

"If someone in the baseball media says that Rotisserie people don't know baseball, they're wrong. And if they say that all this attention to statistics is bad for baseball, they need to re-think who's watching the games, who's reading all the newspapers and books. I can talk to anybody who plays in Rotisserie leagues, anywhere. They all have an appreciation for baseball, for every player. I would never know who the catcher for Milwaukee is, without Rotisserie. And look at Rafael Furcal. Understand the value of this guy, at his age. How many people would appreciate the value of Furcal, without Rotisserie baseball?

"Good knowledge for Rotisserie doesn't mean a lack of knowledge about baseball. I know Mark Lemke was an integral part of the Braves' success during the 1990's. If you ask anyone in baseball, Lemke was a big-time clutch hitter and he did all the little things. Bucky Dent was like that, too. These guys are championship caliber ballplayers but not necessarily championship Rotisserie guys. We all know that. We don't need to change Rotisserie to make a guy like Mark Lemke or Bucky Dent look good. Players of this type are already good, and worthy of appreciation - in another game of baseball, which I love."

Wuhl's love of baseball came early in life. "My dad got me into baseball," explains Wuhl. "He was a good athlete, good enough to get a tryout for the Newark Bears, the great minor league team of the Yankees in their heyday. I remember going to my first baseball game at Yankee Stadium in 1960. It was the Maris-Mantle team. There were six home runs, and Yogi Berra hit two of them. I was a huge Roger Maris fan, and grew up a Yankee fan. But then I liked the Dodgers with Koufax and Drysdale. I enjoyed the game, the pitcher versus the batter, the whole thing."

Pitching remains the aspect of baseball that Wuhl follows most closely, both as a fan and as a Rotisserie league competitor. For his Rotisserie team, pitching is paramount. "Generally my teams are light on power. I'm very pitching-oriented." In addition to asking his baseball friends about young pitching talent, Wuhl does his own scouting and his own homework. He studies the numbers. "I have two criteria for starting pitchers. First, I want a two-to-one strikeout/walk ratio. Then I look in STATS, to see which pitchers do better with men on base. They have that statistic, all the statistics - batting average, on-base average, and slugging - with no one on, and with runners in scoring position.

"If a pitcher gives up a .253 batting average with no one on, and when there are runners in scoring position it's a .249, that's not that much of a difference. But when you see a difference of 20 points, that can tell you something. Greg Maddux has a difference of 50 points. He can bear down.

"If you read George Will's book, 'Men At Work,' Tony LaRussa talks about the role of the closer. He says he doesn't need a guy who pitches well when nothing is happening. He needs a guy who can come in when there's trouble, men on base, and get out of it. I want guys like that to be my pitchers.

"Not many starting pitchers match those two keys for pitchers, the two-to-one strikeout/walk ratio, and runners on versus runners off. There are only about 20 of them. It's a short list. If it's close enough I'll go with someone I like, and if the guy had just one bad year, then I will usually go with him.

The mention of a guy having just one bad year leads to another theory, which Wuhl calls the Disney Method. "Walt Disney had this philosophy that worked so well for getting good actors at low prices. They would go for proven talent, good actors, who just had a couple of flops in a row. The actor would be eager to get back into a leading role and get his career going again, so he would work for a lower price. Disney would get these people, and it served them very well. They made good films without spending too much.

"I think it's a good strategy: proven guys coming off bad years. We got Paul Molitor that way one year, and Kevin Brown right after he had his bad year. I had watched him pitch when he was in Baltimore, and said, "Gee, this guy is good," then he hurt his hand. But I thought that this guy can pitch better than that, so I got him. If you just watch Kevin Brown on the mound, he really is impressive."

"Roger Clemens was another one like that. If you are a Rotisserie fan, you know that in Clemens' bad year in 1996, he was only bad in wins. His ball club didn't help him. Then he went to a bigger ballpark, and we all know what happened. "No method works all the time. On the other hand, I picked Steve Trachsel and got killed. He will not be a Goldie Bear again."

"You can usually pick up a good pitcher during the season, but the guys you draft are the key. You live and die with the draft. If you have a bad draft you're in deep trouble. I have a friend who said, you've got to be good, and you've got to be lucky, but basically you've got to be good. And I think he's right, one hundred percent right.

"My draft strategy is simple. First, you have to get some guys you want, but then you have to hold on to your money and wait for the low prices. And - always - have John Benson's Draft Software; we have done very well with that. In ten years, we may have finished out of the money two times. We won a few times, and finished second and third every other year. We finished fifth last year because every trade I made went wrong. Everybody is pretty serious in our league."

Unlike some Rotisserie owners who don't like having partners, Wuhl finds partnership to be enjoyable and helpful. "I have two partners; one is Jimmy Miller, an old friend of mine. And the other is my cousin, Ray Pappalardo. He is a huge baseball fan. We've been together since day one. And it's great fun, because we argue all the time during the draft. I love having partners." And of course there is no chance that any of Wuhl's real-life partners would ever trade their best pitcher for an old player like a fading Gary Gaetti.

Robert Wuhl's Bio

The compelling impact of "Arli$$" will long be admired and remembered. While described as a satire of the world of professional sports, the show adeptly crosses the fine line between comedy and dramatic social commentary, truly reflecting Robert's enormous creativity as a writer and director. His sensitivity to the feelings of others and to the issues of our times enabled him to freely tackle many serious contemporary topics including domestic abuse, steroid abuse, alcoholism, ageism, racism, and gay/lesbian issues. Indeed, through "Arli$$," Robert opened our eyes and caused us to think.

After cramming four years into seven to graduate from the University of Houston, and returned to the East Coast and began performing stand-up comedy in New York Clubs, where he preformed at The Improv. His next break came when his routines were so well received that Rodney Dangerfield hired Robert to write for him.

In 1979, Robert headed to Hollywood where he won the role of 'Newbomb Turk' in the cult classic comedy The Hollywood Knights, and also became a writer for the critically acclaimed television comedy, "Police Squad." His other big screen acting credits include Bull Durham, Batman, Good Morning Viet Nam, Mistress, Blaze, and Cobb. In 1996 he directed, wrote, and starred in the independent feature, Open Season, a biting satire of the TV ratings system.

The recipient of two CableAce Best Actor nods in both the drama category for "Tales from the Crypt" and in comedy for "Arli$$," Robert has been honored with two Emmy Awards in both 1991 and 1992 for writing the Academy Awards telecasts hosted by Billy Crystal. Always true to his roots in stand-up comedy, he enjoys the connection with a live audience and continues to delight audiences with live performances. Additionally, he starred in his own HBO Comedy Hour titled, "Robert Wuhl's World Tour," and is a frequent performer on Comic Relief.

In all his work, whether on stage, screen, or behind the camera, Robert is humbled by his influences, Preston Sturges, Woody Allen, and most notably, Jack Benny, thought by many as the ultimate storyteller. In fact, the Jack Benny classic, To Be or Not To Be, is still Robert's favorite movie of all time. Also like Jack Benny, Robert has lent himself to a myriad of charitable causes including the Alzheimer's Association of Los Angeles, the National Breast Cancer Coalition, St. Jude's Hospital, Save the Music, Children Uniting Nations, Heal the Bay and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.