Our pre season Rep meeting at the end of April has resulted in some significant new policies.
1 We are now using a 14 week schedule where every team plays every other team twice. The season will have 3 Scheduled rain-out weeks where games will be made up in the order they have been cancelled. The updates to the schedule will be made wherever possible but teams will also relay on the reps to keep them updated on rescheduled games.
2 We are no longer allowing a pinch runner from home plate.
3 The option to only play a defensive position has also been removed. If a team choses to use a player that cannot run from home they would have an out recorded automatically when it is their turn up to bat.
4 With town approval we will be moving bases back from 60' to 65' to conform with SPN rules.
During 2024 preseason meeting we decided to adopt the 4 pinch runner rule for the regular season. League reps got to gather April 26 2023 for annual preseason meeting. The following were discussed and voted on. All teams except Rocky Island Tire were present.
1 Team fees will be $1000 for the season.
2 We have added an 8th team Rich Hill Candles Fireballs
3 We will be adapting a wood home plate so that the umpires are assisted in making strike calls and can focus on watching lead-offs.
4 We clarified a rule or lack of a rule about just fielding or just hitting during a game and the consensus was in order to bat one has to play 3 innings on defense . This should be monitored by your own team but could be challenged by the opposition if they notice someone batting but not taking the field. However it was also decided a player could choose to not bat if they were unable and just play a field position for example pitch or catch. This is also left to an honor system to not be used as a offensive strategy but is intended to allow a player to stay active in the league through an injury.
5 Allowing a 25-29 year old in the league was proposed but was voted down by a majority present.
6 The slide rule was clarified to add any attempt to get back to the bag has to be done in a vertical position so that no part of your body other than your feet are in contact with the ground.
7 In a 4-3 vote the league has decided to go back to a crossover format involving all teams during our playoff weekend instead of the top half bottom half format used the last several years. Teams finishing 1458 and 2367 during the season will be grouped together. All games will be played to completion but for tie breaking purposes the maximum run difference will be capped at ten so scores do not need to be run up unnecessarily.
8 The schedule represented by 1-8 was prepared prior to the meeting and teams drew lots to determine which number they would replace.
2019-2020 Off Season Meetings
The reps gathered on three occasions since the end of the season. In early December they met and resolved to add a president and vise president as well as secretary and treasurer to the league executive. Leroy Collins became President , Jeff Buie VP , Jeff Mitchell Secretary and Stefan Meinecke Treasurer , all by acclamation It was proposed we officially join SPN and use their insurance which we put over for further discussion.
A second meeting was added in late December to decide on the continued sponsorship of Mike MacDonald whose position was challenged by Leroy Collins. In that meeting by a 7-0 margin the remaining reps voted to support Mikes bid to continue to field and sponsor a team.
On January 22 the reps met again and discussed and resolved the following.
1 We voted to eliminate the VP role and unanimously voted to elect Jeff Buie as President after the resignation of Leroy Collins. The secretary position was renamed to be communications manager.
2 We voted to continue to use OASA insurance which has more comprehensive coverage and was approx $300 cheaper than SPN insurance.
3 We agreed to institute an official code of conduct which gives teams an avenue to enforce penalties against individuals who violate the code of conduct. This code will be posted to the web site once completed.
4 With a late labor day weekend this year we decided to have a 19 week schedule starting the first full week in May. We also decided to leave our games at their regular times on Canada day which falls on Wednesday this year after some discussion to play earlier that day or play both games at 7.
5 We agreed to change our standing rule, that all 4-4 votes on a proposal meant the status quo would remain, be replaced by giving the league President a deciding vote as long as his vote was not part of the 4-4 vote but was cast by a teammate acting as team rep.
6 We agreed to come up with a complete list of local rules that clearly define where we differentiate from official SPN rules which we will likely use as our starting point. This will also be posted on the site once completed.
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2021
We are operating a 2021 season with 6 teams confirming participation. The rules will be essentially unchanged since we are operating in stage 3 so tag plays are allowed. 6 foot spacing should be followed whenever possible so the catcher playes back from hitter and fielders won't stand next to occupied bases. All participants will need to go through a screening process at the pavilion prior to entering the fields. Spectators arriving with players will also have to go through screening. The 1st and 3rd base bleachers are designated for the teams participating and spectators are asked to bring their own seating.
2019 Playoffs
A weekend of potential rain held off and the season ended with someone old and someone new crowned once our A and B champions were decided. The A division round robin ended with a exciting game between Chimney and Zylstra. Four runs in the 4th by Mike's men tied the game at 6. Chimney went into the 7th with a 9-8 lead and ended up winning by 1 run after both teams traded 2 runs each in the last with Bill Saunders hitting a clutch 2 out double to drive in the winning run. In the semi final chimney managed a 14-5 win over furniture to reach the finals. The other semi saw Nissan on the cusp of victory but a late rally scoring 4 runs with 2 outs in the 7th saw the Masons earn their way back to the championship game 10-9. The final was just as interesting as the game earlier in the day between Chimney and Masonry. Jelle's pitching was getting the best of the chimney chap's bats who couldn't get much going through 3 innings as they only had 2 base runners with nobody getting past 2nd. A couple home runs by Gabe Zylstra had their opponents out to an early 7-0 lead. Chimney finally broke out with some offence in the 4th by getting 4 runners home. Jelle added singles in both the 6th and 7th to take a 9-4 lead into the bottom of the inning after chimney was once again shut down in the previous 2 home halves. With a man on Darren Lupton was robbed of a home run by Gabe leaping at full stretch to snare the ball that was destined to leave the park. 4 consecutive hits got the score a little tighter but with the second out coming Chimney still trailed by 2. A clutch hit by Wayne Forth loaded the bases and Roger Schandlen followed with a single that brought in 2 to tie the game. Stefan missed his chance to be written into the history books when his dribbler back to Jelle gave them the 3rd out with the winning run on second. Some confusion about the score had a few players from Zlystra celebrating but they soon discovered we were in for extra innings. The extra inning started with a quick second out after starting with tie breaker rules in place. Zylstra managed to score 2 runs before recording the 3rd out by for the 3rd time in the game hitting a home run for an out. A first batter fly ball got Jelle within an out of victory quickly and they didn't have to wait much longer to celebrate for real as a 3rd strike foul tip ended the game.
The B division round robin was decided by the run difference as 3 teams ended up with a 2+1 record. Rocky Island came out on top with the best run differential followed by Dimensions and Knowles. The tire traders earned a berth in the finals with a 18-11 win over JSW while Knowles managed to once again get the best of perennial consolation champions Dimensions by holding on for a close 4-3 victory. The plumbers continued to surprise as they won the final game by 14-7 after having fallen to the same team by 22-4 earlier in the day. It was a well received victory by all present, for a team, that has always represented the best of sportsmanship with their senior statesman Wayne Scott securing the final out at first. Their 4 victories over the weekend were 1 more than they had during the entire season.
The team rep meeting for the 2019 season took place in early April and the following items were discussed by the 7 teams that were present.
1 The idea to credit teams involved in rain-outs with the costs saved by the missed games allotted towards the following years dues was rejected by a clear majority.
2 The team fees were kept the same as last year and a due date of June 5th was set before a late fee of $100 will be added for teams that still haven't paid.
3 The idea to penalize teams which don't attempt to field a team if they are going to default the win due to being short players was discussed. Financial penalty or loss of points in the standings was suggested but in the end the reps agreed to take no action this year. All teams are expected to make a reasonable effort to field a team with borrowed players if need be to be fair to other teams who have shown up to play a game.
4 Alternate playoff formats were suggested including a top 3 bottom 3 2 game round robin with 4 and 5 playing a 2 game series against each other reducing the total weekend games to 14 from 18. Also a slight alternate to last years format where the winner of the bottom four round robin moves up to the championship cross over games and the loser of top four moves down and lastly a 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7 etc first round followed by a round robin made up of the winners and losers to determine winners in the top and bottom. A majority of reps voted to continue with last years format where the top 4 compete for the championship title and the bottom four compete for the consolation title.
5 There was some discussion about adding a new team due to an inquiry from an interested party which was put off for further discussion since the change was not possible for this year.
6 The position of league rep was offered to interested individuals with nobody stepping up so Leroy and Stefan will remain in their current roles for the upcoming year. Jamie Vanderveer and Leroy agreed to be the official field inspectors and will make the call as to whether games are playable or need to be called.
7 With games actually falling on Canada it was asked if games should be played that day and the reps voted that they saw no reason to cancel games as they felt they would have their players available.
8 We agreed to provide all teams with a score book for the season.
One March 1 we had our annual off season team rep meeting to go over the issues for the upcoming season. Seven of the teams were represented and voted on the following issues after being discussed.
1 Leroy Collins stepped up to be the second league rep and endorsed by the reps after last year's transition to Lou never materialized.
2 The season will be 18 games this year Starting May 7th
3 It was proposed to shorten the round robin portion of our playoffs to 5 inning shortened games capped at 1 hour to eliminate the 6PM start time on Friday. This suggestion was rejected.
4 It was proposed to change the playoff structure to have have A and B division made up of top 4 and bottom 4 based on the season standings. This was endorsed by all present but not formally adopted until reps had time to get team input.
5 It was proposed to change the default rule to allow up to 2 borrowed players to field a team but not allow a team that does not have 10 of their own players to play with more than nine. A default would still occur if 6 or less players from one team showed up. This was defeated and the standing rule of one borrowed player who must catch, with a team default if less than 8 players show, will continue.
6 It was agreed to change the home run rule to be based on a cap of allowed HRs that could exceed what the opposition has hit before being declared an out. This was endorsed with a HR differential of 2 being voted as the preferred number by 5 reps. This replaces one HR per player as we have used since the HR rule was introduced.
7 It was agreed that the peel off rule should be better called by the umpires so any interference with a throw to first by a runner going to second after they are clearly already out would result in the runner to first also being called out.
8 The pitching within 2 feet of the pitcher's rubber was reaffirmed .The pitcher has the choice to not throw from the regulated distance if they so choose but would result in a guaranteed ball count. A batter can choose to be walked or still attempt to put the ball in play.
9 The standing age rules was reaffirmed so all teams are expected to have a maximum of 2 players that are between 30 and 34. No player who will not turn 30 during the calendar year is eligible to be on a team roster. A player turning 35 during the year does not count towards your 2 underage players.
10 The league has 2 new sponsors as JSW has taken over for Simcoe Building center and Muskoka Dimensions is replacing Lens Carpet.
During the last team rep meeting the teams voted on and passed some changes for the coming year. It was brought up that some teams find it unfair that they show up every week with a full roster only to play against teams that are borrowing 2 or more frequently strong players to field a 10 man team. Therefore by a large majority it was decided that a team will default a win if they have less than 8 of their own players. This rule has the following conditions.
1 If a team has 8 or 9 players they are allowed one substitute player who will play catcher that was either recruited from another team or was provided by the opposition.
2 If the substitute is not provided by the opposition they would bat in the line-up .
3 If a team has late additions in the game that give them 10 or more they can no longer use the substitute player.
4 If both teams have 7 or less players the game will have no winner and can be played however they chose.
5 If both teams have either 8 or 9 players they will play even numbers 9 on 9 or 10 on 10 by loaning each other a catcher or using a player they picked up from another team.
6 The reps gave no clear direction how to proceed if one team has 8 and the other 9. We usually tried to play even numbers in our old format of unlimited pick-ups but with a one pick-up rule and if both teams find a sub they'd play 10 on 9. Also if a team with 9 loans a catcher they should expect one in return even if that also creates uneven numbers otherwise the team could chose to play 9 on 8 by neither loaning or borrowing a catcher.
7 Teams that are short but expect some late arrivals to make the game will have the official default held for 15 minutes from game start. They will play on with what they have and the catcher until then . This could mean a defensive inning with 8 or less fielders.
8 The game should carry on in some form with unlimited pick-ups as in the past if there is a default, it just means playing for a win for the fun of it not for improving your position in the standings.
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The second item was that we want to enforce a rule for the playoffs that you are only eligible to play if you made 5 games during the year. This number was supported by 4 reps and was therefore chosen for a trial season. This will be policed by your team rep who shouldn't allow unqualified players in the tournament.
The tournament will have a Sunday rain date and will not be changed mid season as happened last year. The playoffs will be completed in full using the next 2 weeks of Mondays and Wednesdays if needed.
The pitcher must throw the ball while having one foot within a 2 foot radius of the pitchers rubber.
Teams fees went up $100 to $900 per team and should hold there for 2 possibly 3 years based on current cost projections .
Team fees have a deadline of June 15th and will increase $100 after that date and a further $100 every 15th of each coming month.
After a substantial pay increase I ( Stefan )was convinced to stay on as league rep as treasurer but am now joined by Lou Morris of Simcoe Block who will be taking over for Jay Bernstein.