Most people who want to catch a thrill from playing fantasy sports will enter a $50 or $100 league. In that type of fantasy league, prizes can vary from $400 to $1,000 depending on the amount of players and system of payouts. For pig farmer Lindy Hinkelman, the stakes have to be higher. When you have won over $300,000 in prize money over the last three seasons by participating in high-stakes fantasy baseball, you’d be wise to join the most lucrative leagues you can find.
The New York Times shared the awesome story of Hinkelman with us on Monday. A 59-year-old pig farmer from Idaho, Hinkelman somehow has a knack for fantasy baseball and participates in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship annually. The contest pays a top prize of $100,000 each year and has an entry fee of $1,400 per team (you’re allowed to have more than one). Hinkelman is the contest’s only two-time champion.
“Raising pigs and this baseball thing really go together,” he explained. “There are certain things in farming: keeping track of productivity, indexes for your sows, the genetic lines there. To do well, you’ve got to be pretty proficient in numbers. Math has always been my strong suit. I can see things with the numbers.”
He’s not joking. Considering he is facing some of the most elite fantasy baseball players in the nation, winning two championships is obviously no fluke. This season, Hinkelman took his usual “Moneyball” approach and volunteered to select 14th in the draft in his 15-team league. He rode Matt Kemp, Justin Verlander, and Curtis Granderson along with grade A late-round picks Asdrubal Cabrera and Kyle Farnsworth all the way to the championship.
This year’s contest consisted of 26 leagues of 15 teams each. Hinkelman came in first out of all of them for the second time in three years. In 2009, he took home $241,300 in prize money after winning the $100,000 contest and another $40,000 contest. By winning both, he earned a $75,000 bonus from the N.F.B.C. This year, Hinkelman took home $116,750 in winnings.
What’s even more shocking is that Hinkelman barely uses technology to create a winning formula. He said he uses the internet sparingly and has the MLB package through DirecTV. However, while many stroll in carrying their laptops at the annual draft in Las Vegas, Lindy simply brings three pieces of paper that have his personal rankings on them.
“I’m not proficient at computers,” he said. “I don’t have a smartphone where you can look up stats or anything like that. I just have a cellphone for calls. A lot of people have smartphones so they can look up box scores instantaneously. I’m not at that stage yet. I don’t know if I want to be. You can get married to that stuff.”
Despite his obvious knack for assembling winning teams, Hinkelman says he has no desire to work for a Major League team even if the opportunity presented itself. He’s just a pig farmer who makes a fortune by dominating fantasy baseball, and it seems like that’s more than enough to keep him happy.
Thanks to LBS reader A. Liu and Deadspin for the story.
