MetroWest ABL 2009 Grapevine

February 15, 2009
Thanks to everyone who made it out to Malzone's Baseball Facility in Medfield to attend our 2009 League meeting on Sunday 2/15.

We have a balance of $10.51 in our account.

It is hard to calculate the amount each team will owe since we don't know how many teams we will have this season. However, here are the breakdowns of our 2009 total costs. This of course does not include the cost of baseballs which were $50 per dozen last year. The fees break down like this:

Insurance	$1893
Emergency Fund	$150
Winner's Share	$300
Web Hosting	$60
Domain Name	$75
Web Master	$500
Umpire Stipend	$200
March Tryout	$300
All-Star game	$500

The $200 deposit will be due by 3/1. The total dues (including cost of baseballs) will be due by 4/15.

We agreed to budget for the All-Star game umps and lights at Ashland High this year, so we will be adding $500 to the dues.

The White Sox decided to return to the Worcester league, so we currently only have 11 teams in the league. Obviously this is a huge issue. We agreed to set a deadline of 3/15 on trying to get a new team into the league. If by 3/15 we have not found a team, then we will have an 11 team league for 2009. We will try to form a 12th team from recruits and existing players who would like to play for a new team.

Jerry will submit a press release to see if we can generate interest in a new team joining our league.

Rich S will be calling recruits with Lionel's help to see how much interest we have on our current recruit list.

We will hold the tryout for new players on 3/8 at the Sudbury facility. Rich will call to see if the date is available at Sudbury.

If we get 12 teams, our schedule will remain the same with 14 weeks of games. The first game will be on 4/19 and the last one will be on 8/9. We will be off on Mother's Day, Memorial Day and July 4th weekends. Playoffs will start on 8/23. We decided to leave all rounds of the playoffs as best 2 out of 3. We decided to defer a decision on whether or not to have 4 double headers or 2 double headers until we know if we are a 12 or 11 team league.

Steve will contact Ashland to see if the field is available for the All-Star game on either 7/1 or 7/7.

Rich S will contact Tim Hays to see what the umpiring situation is for 2009.

Rich S will contact other baseball sales companies to see if we can get a cheaper rate on baseballs. We talked about calling TriValley, 508-533-5080 and the place Paul Harrington sent us the E-mail about. We changed last year to use Anaconda since Tim Shaver had a contact there. I don;t expect we'll be able to beat the rate we had last year.

Rich S will send out a liability waiver form that all players must sign in order for our insurance policy to be valid.

Rich Moran will try to complete the league rules document before the season starts.

We need to have all teams pay the $200 deposit on the season before 3/1. More than half the teams have paid already which is great, but we all to pay the deposit so we have money for the insurance policy.

Make check payable to:
MetroWest ABL

Mail to:
Rich Schwarz
28 Warren St
Westborough, MA 01581

The only rule change we voted to implement was around rainout makeups. Here is my interpretation of what we voted to accept as the rainout makeup rule.

The league decides how to use the rainout makeup weekend, it always is a week earlier in the season where all games were rained out. We push those games to the rainout makeup weekend. The president sends a note out and updates the schedule.

The rule change is for games that are rained out and are not going to be played on the rainout makeup weekend. The home team has 4 weeks to propose at least 2 makeup dates/locations. The makeup game dates must be on or before the last regular season game. If the home team fails to propose makeup dates within the 4 week period, the visiting team is awarded a win for the game and the home team is awarded a loss for the game. If the visiting team refuses to play on any of the dates provided by the home team, then the visiting team is awarded a loss for the game and the home team is awarded a win for the game.

If the home team is unable to find a field to play the makeup game after three weeks, the home team should ask the league to help find a field and date to play the game. If the league can't come up with a field to play the game on in the one remaining week, then the game is not played and is effectively removed from the schedule. Once the league sets a date and a field, the game must be played. Any team that can't field a team for the league generated field and date is awarded a loss for the game, be that one team or both teams.

This rule does not apply to rainouts in the last 2 weeks of the regular season.


View the 2008 Grapevine.
View the 2007 Grapevine.
View the 2006 Grapevine.
View the 2005 Grapevine.
View the 2004 Grapevine.
View the 2003 Grapevine.
View the 2002 Grapevine.
View the 2001 Grapevine.
View the 2000 Grapevine.
View the 1999 Grapevine.

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Last updated: 2/16/2009