Hey
guys,
I want to first thank everyone who came out Saturday night. Secondly,
I want to say nice job to Cody on the DVD. I am looking forward to seeing the
bonus footage on the final copy! Next, I think that we made the right decisions
to make a better system for the voting this year. All that and more is
covered in the recap.
The night started with the usual Pizza, Drinks and conversations. After a little bit of that we sat down to
get into the discussions for this upcoming season. That would be followed by
the DVD and then 2010 end of season Awards. (Finally)
The
highlighted areas are the topics that were discussed at the winter meeting portion of the night.
Recap
of the schedule for the 2011 season:
Clean up day will be Sunday April 10th. The time is TBA. It will be great to have as many players as possible
to help get the field ready. If we are able to get everything done that needs to be done then we will have opening day on
the 16th. If the field is still to muddy or not completely ready we will push it back 1 week until the 23rd. If we push it back to the 23rd there will be another
day of Clean-up on Sunday the 17th.
All-Star night will be Friday night June 24th at 6 PM. The skills
competition will stay this year. There will be a HR derby, Pitching accuracy
challenge and the new fielding challenge. You will have 5 shots at hitting the
zone from each base and the mound. There will be a 90 second time limit. The
base running challenge was not eliminated we are just undecided at this point if it will stay or not. Saturday June 25th is still undecided as well. There
is talk of either going back to the HRL Open (Golf) or an HRL Poker tourney.
The Season will run until Labor Day. The last weekend of the regular
season will be Saturday, Sunday and Monday again like this past year was. Sunday
Ball will be select Sundays throughout the year. It will mainly be an option on Holiday weekends. The week to week schedule will stay the same. It will be Monday and Thursday at 5PM and Saturday at 11AM.
Playoffs:
The playoffs will be an extra team more this year. We decided to go back to the 10 team playoff system. The
format will be a Wild Card round will be #7 VS #10 and #8 VS #9. The winners
will move on to play the #1 and #2 seeds. It will be best of 1 in the wild card and quarter finals. The semi-finals will be
a best of 3 and the finals will be a best of 3 as well. In order to qualify for the playoffs you will still need to have at
least 8 starts. Lastly, if there is a tie for the last playoff spot you will
play to see who gets in. If there are more than 2 tied for the last spot then
a "Mini Playoff" will occur. If there is a 3 way tie it will come down to next
common opponent to see who will earn the free pass and wait for the winner.
Stats:
This year we will be adding Doubles and Triples to the stat sheet. Stats
will now be kept as the following: (Single- 1b), (Double 2b), (Triple- 3b) instead
of the traditional "H". Up next was the ageless vote, should saves be allowed this year? The vote was yes with concessions. There will be a "New" stat for those who allow anyone to save a game. You will be issued 1 VAG for every time you bring someone in to save you game. This was the happy medium of getting rid of saves or keeping them.
You may also be issued a Vag in other situations as well. I don’t
think I need to explain what that means.
Rule
Changes:
There was not much in terms of rules that needed to be addressed. One rule that was not really changed but was
added to was the ghost runner rule. It will stay the same except in 3 man team
or fewer situations. You will be allowed to move 1 guy to any open base without
penalty at any time during the game. This way you will not be penalized in a
“Pinch Run” situation when a guy needs to bat and a scoring opportunity is there for your team.
Next was the question should 2 on 2 Games will be allowed as a last, last resort. It was voted that it can be
allowed after every attempt to find an automatic fielder has been made. Then
both pitchers must agree to pitch that game. Lastly, any one player will only
be allowed to play in 1 per day. Example: If 4 players play a 2 on 2 at any point
during any given game day they will not be allowed to participate in any more that day.
Recap
Voting:
All ends of season awards voting will now occur from the last day of the regular season and run two weeks from
that point. If you do not vote in the time, you will not have a vote. Next is
that, rookies will not be allowed to vote for Most Improved players. We will
continue to have finalists for individual awards. (MVP,
CY, Golden, Silver slugger and now Most improved) Lastly, you
must have a complete ballot (Votes for all 5 allowed places) in order for you
ballot to be cast. This should help make sure that the best player for each category wins the award!
Field
changes:
The top concern for the league is the 1st base line. With clean-up day on its way
we will need everyone to help get the field ready. The small dip going
up the line needs to be addressed. The second thing is the center field fence. Lastly, we will be getting a new zone to fix the old one. The players have decided
that every year the champion of the previous year will have the zone painted his team colors.
Next was the DVD, which was great! If you want to purchase a copy please let Cody know As soon as possible.
The plan is to have copies available on opening day. I won’t spoil it so you’ll have to get your copy.
Lastly were the awards.
Recap:
Wiffle Warrior- The Steve won the award for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Rookie of the year- Anthony R. beat out Chris by 3 points to earn the honor.
Comeback player of the year- Harry edged out Mike C. and Spleen by 4 points to win the distinct
honor. Boom finished in 4th rounding out the category.
Most improved player- Cody edged out 2009 winner Mink by 2 points to earn the award
for the 2nd time in 3 years.
Golden Josie Award- Elliot was named the winner for the 3rd consecutive year. Elliot
now has won the 2nd most Golden Josie’s All-time.
Silver Slugger Award- Elliot won his 1st silver slugger by a narrow 1 point margin.
He became just the 3rd player to win the award. (The Award was added
in 2006)
Cy
Wiffle Award- Elliot was named the CY Wiffle for the second year in row. Elliot
tied Dave with his 2nd CY Wiffle. Pops is the only player who has won the award more. (3)
MVP
(Most Valuable Player) –The Steve was awarded his 3rd straight MVP award.
Sultan
of Suck- Zack was Named Sultan of Suck for the 4th time in the last 5 years. It was second back
to back winning of the award. It was a struggle to pick him after a 6-2 start but, a 2-10 finish helped the decision.
And
to all a good night! Thanks to everyone who came to the festivities. Congrats to all the award winners. Lets all
work to make 2011 even better than 2010!
The
Steve