UCSSL MEETING MINUTES FOR JANUARY 3, 2018
The following is a summary of our league meeting of January 3, 2018.
40 were in attendance, with all 21 (now 22) teams represented.
League officers for 2018 are again:
Pete Osborn Commissioner/Treasurer
Rich Grossberg Director of Operations
Paul Brody Commissioner of 50s Division
Marty Marks Coordinator of 60s Division
John Malone Advisor
Jeff
Friedlander is the new team manager of JoeMax Telecom. Gary Schaller is now manager of Cranford VFW #2. Garwood Metal is the new sponsor for Top Line.
Phenomenal
Boyz, represented by Kariem Draper and Roy Melvin, have formed our 14th team in
the 50+ Division. The team submitted a
non-refundable $100 fee at the meeting as a condition of their acceptance into
the league, just as LLG did as a new 60+ team last year.
The final
2017 financial report was distributed and reviewed. Although we operated at a deficit of $945.33
for the year, officers decided at their annual meeting in November that, rather
than increasing fees, the following actions would be taken in an effort to
reduce expenditures instead:
* Advise managers to purchase only that number
of shirts that are needed for players that don't already have two or more
of the current team color.
* The league experienced the unusually high
number of 15 forfeitures last season,
four of them at the field at game time. Because the league paid $180 to umpires
that were present for these games that were forfeited at the field due to insufficient players, each team will be
required to put up $45 in addition to
their sponsor's fee. This will be kept
by the league only if the team forfeits a game at any time after 3 PM on game
day, but will be returned at the end of the season to those teams that have no
such forfeits.
Player fees
will remain at $80 ($65 for playing in both 50+ and 60+) and sponsor fees will
remain at $525 in 2018. If we again have
greater expenditures than income this year, one or both will likely increase in
2019.
Further
discussion at the meeting resulted in a consensus that managers should only
order hats for players who will wear them, rather than over ordering. Also, it was suggested that the cost of
admission for the league banquet could be increased if there is a known
financial shortfall at the end of the season.
Registration/waiver
forms were emailed in late November.
Players are requested return them to team manager so you can
check them for accuracy, legibility, and completeness, as well as updating team
roster information where there are changes in address, etc. As usual,
they should be submitted at our remaining league meetings. Players should
be encouraged to include their email addresses if they are interested in
receiving regular league updates and announcements.
Sponsor
letters will be emailed to managers this week.
Sponsor fees are due by the beginning of the season.
At the
November meeting of league officers, the following decisions were made:
* To avoid potential roster problems,
* Officers agreed that we should have a
deadline for completion of regular season makeups that gives us the likelihood
of completing the playoffs prior to Labor Day.
It was decided to schedule/play all regular season games no later than
Thursday, August 9, 2018.
Managers were
reminded that any player who expects to transfer from one team to another
league team this season must inform both the league commissioner and their 2017
team manager by January 31.
The annual
league banquet/awards night, held Friday, October 13, was reviewed. There were 88 paid attendees. Everyone agreed that holding the event
upstairs was an improvement.
Managers seeking new players should let the
commissioner know so he can direct inquiries to those teams most in need.
Weekly
highlights and standings, league schedules and rules, and other UCSSL (as well
as other county's) information is available on the NJSSA website: http://njseniorsoftball.com/
, which is updated regularly.
Team leaders
are also encouraged to follow the league at the UCSSL Facebook page, Union
County Senior Softball League, and to provide photos and short videos from
league games. Marty can be contacted at
MartinMarks62@msn.com with submissions.
Shirt order
forms are to be returned by the March league meeting. As per past practice, Norm Stumpf will be
honored with the placement of his initials on all 2018 league jerseys. Teams in need of equipment should let Gary
Wiese know. Pitchers are strongly
encouraged to wear a protective mask, the cost of which will be reimbursed by
the league.
Officers
again strongly recommend using a 52/300 softball based on safety due to a
higher COR, lower compression. After
much discussion, a decision on which ball we will use this season was tabled
until the next league meeting in four weeks.
Bat testing will
be done at fields as was done last year.
Bats with 2017 stickers can be used until a cutoff date TBD in late
April or very early May, after testing has taken place at the field for every
team. We are seeking a volunteer from the 50+ Division to help test bats in the
60+ Division.
The issue of
ADA accommodations was reviewed by officers in November. The ASA/USA Softball rule allows such a
person to play offense only or defense only.
Our UCSSL rule protects such a player from being thrown out at first
base by an outfielder. A
"rabbit" from home plate is NOT allowed under either set of
rules. After discussion at the meeting,
it was agreed that players must submit a valid ADA card or a copy of their
driver's license indicating "Person With Disability" to qualify for
ADA accommodations. Any such players
will be identified to team leaders, just as 70+ players are currently
identified as eligible "senior bat" users.
Officers
emphasize that rules (whether they be ASA or UCSSL) are rules, and they should
not and cannot be waived by managers and/or umpires. This would include,
but not be limited to, wearing uniform shirts, start/forfeit times of games,
late arriving player rule, rabbit rule, etc.
We
have had difficulty finding a suitable 4th field for the 60s, and we will need
an additional, 7th field in the 50s this year.
Discussion by
officers in November as to how we might get more time on better fields led us
to conclude that it would be ideal if we were able to schedule a second, later
time slot for two different teams (not a doubleheader) if Linden lighted fields
are available to us. This second time
slot could also be used to schedule late season makeup doubleheaders if that
would enable us to conclude our regular season schedule sooner.
Several suggestions
of potential new fields at locations in the county were made. Rich will follow up to determine suitability
and availability.
Linden field
cost will increase to $75 per team in 2018, county field cost will increase to
$15 per game.
Teams/Divisions in 2018
By league
rule, the following would be the divisional alignment if we had the same teams
returning this year:
50’s:
A B
C
Deegan Roofing Contact Lens Nat'l
Energy
Linwood Inn Riverside Inn Bad Brains
JoeMax Telecom Top Line Appl. 10th St Live Bar
Roselle Legion Cranford VFW A J Jersey
Linda #2
With a 12th
team, the recommended best divisional structure is 4-6-4 with a 24 game
schedule:
A and C play each team in division 4 times,
all others once, with 2 bumpers
B teams play 3 games against teams in
division, 1 against other 8 teams, with 1
bumper
(With no
byes, the season would conclude after 24 playing dates rather than the current
27)
According to UCSSL Rule 1.2.: A 50's team will enter the league as an 'A' team unless
the league grants a waiver. Thus
the new team would join A, with Roselle Legion staying in B. Also, National
Energy Network has requested to remain in the B Division and Linda's has
requested to remain in the C Division due to the loss of several of their best
players to the newly formed team.
60’s:
A B
Kilkenny House Awnings II
Liberty Lighting
DeBellis Associates
Creative 1 Cranford VFW 2
American Legion Avengers
Creative Too
Discussion of
where Awnings should be placed to be most competitive and advantageous to the
league seemed to reach a consensus that a 5A, 4B structure would be best in
2018.
In both the
50+ and 60+ divisions, multiple managers expressed a concern that our 2017
schedules consisted of an imbalance in which some opponents play each other too
many times. There was also a concern
that less strong teams should not play the strongest teams too many times. After much discussion, it was agreed that
officers would consider how we might schedule several suggested
possibilities. Each of these
alternatives will be examined, and the schedules that they would necessitate
will be presented to managers, prior to the next league meeting so that final
decisions can be made at that time regarding the league schedules for 2018.
For the 50s, the following alternatives will be considered --
4-6-4, 6-4-4, 5-5-4, play all opponents twice.
For the 60s, the following alternatives will be considered --
5-4 inverting the 2017 schedule, 5-4 with two levels of difficulty rather than the 4
levels of 2017, play all opponents three times.
2018 UCSSL season begins on Monday, April 16.
Anyone with input regarding the structure of the 2018 NJSSA tournaments 50+, 60+ or 70+ should contact Pete or Marty prior to the first NJSSA winter meeting on January 13.
Remaining 2018 meetings (Wednesdays):
January 31--
Deadline for determining softball, number of
teams, schedules.
March 7 -- Discussion and possible revision of rules. Please review current league
rules and begin preparing wording for proposals for change. Shirt orders
due. Field selection, if possible.
April 4 -- Distribution of balls, rule books, scorebooks, umpire checks.