Minutes of March 29, 1999 League Meeting |
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Meeting held 03/29/99 at 6:30 pm at Calvary Community Church Board members present: Randy Nunn, President Mark Brassard, Vice President David Futcher, Treasurer Opened with prayer. FINANCIAL REPORT / LEAGUE FEES The league's financial report for the 1997 and 1998 seasons was distributed to all attendees. (This report is available online.) Because the league turned only a marginal profit, and the cost of umpiring (the league's largest expense) is expected to increase this year, David Futcher made a motion that league fees be increased from $350 to $375 per team. It was pointed out that these fees had not increased in the past several years. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. STRIKE ZONE MATS Mark Brassard then discussed the use of rubber mats laid behind the plate to assist in the determination of balls and strikes. The mats fit the point of the plate, and extend backwards about 18-24 inches and to each side of the plate by about 3 inches. Any pitch hitting the mat is a strike. The umpire's role is to judge the legality of the pitcher's arc instead of the depth or placement of each pitch. Mark moved that the league purchase mats for each team, and each team would be responsible for providing a mat for their game. Mark's motion was amended to provide that the league purchase 4-6 mats instead (one for each field, plus spares), since this is a trial step. Teams that wish to have these mats for practice can order them through the league for a cost of $11. This amended motion was seconded and passed unanimously. ALL-DOUBLEHEADER FORMAT A motion was made to require that all teams play doubleheaders on scheduled nights with both games played against the same opponent. The point of this motion was to ease scheduling, prevent teams from having to change fields between doubleheaders, and to generally speed up play by eliminating teams from having to wait for a prior game to finish before they start their second game. Hopefully, this change will help some of the early-season games be completed before darkness becomes a factor. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously. 1-1 COUNT David Futcher made a motion that all batters begin their at-bat with a 1-1 count. This change would be made in an effort to speed up the games by forcing batters to be more agressive and by reducing the number of balls necessary to draw walks. In the discussion that followed, concerns were raised about the players that could not even make contact with the ball, and how this measure would reduce the number of chances they have to hit. It was pointed out that those batters would be the only ones affected, as a foul-tip with two strikes would only count as a "half strike", and the batter would not be out without fouling another pitch off. Because the league has implemented the double-header format, it was generally felt that we would see how well that speeds up games before taking other steps to speed play. The motion was seconded, but failed, receiving four votes for, and the rest against. OTHER ITEMS The league will begin play the week of May 10th. It was pointed out that the Pool field had been modified over the winter, and that it now had a pitcher's mound at 60 feet, and that basepaths had been cleared at 90 feet. It was generally agreed that these factors would make the Pool field less desirable to use regularly. Randy said that he would look into using the Miller Field by the dike as an alternative. Since we are moving to a double-header format, the distance from the Miller field to the others should not be a big problem. More will be presented on this issue at the next meeting. Discussion about the league's roster policies followed, with league officers pointing out that there are a maximum of 25 people allowed on each roster, and that once a player is on a roster, their spot cannot be replaced with another player unless the first player completely moves out of the area. Players are not allowed to be removed from the roster because of injuries. Randy asked if anyone wanted to amend the league's policy regarding that point, but there was no interest. The issue was tabled. Nominations were made for league offices. Nominations will also be accepted for all positions except treasurer at the next meeting, when the positions will be voted on. (A motion was made and passed that the nominations for treasurer be closed immediately.) All nominees listed accepted their nominations at the meeting, except for Sandee Van Hook. The nominees are as follow: President - Mark Brassard Vice-President - David McLaughlin Treasurer - David Futcher Secretary - Tammie Schill Rules Advisors - Gary Enbody and Sandee Van Hook The next league meeting will be April 12 at 6:30 at Calvary Community Church on 38th Avenue. Coaches sheets and roster forms will be handed out, and elections of officers will be held. League fees and completed rosters will be due on April 26th. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 pm. Minutes taken by David Futcher. |
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