Dear ENYTB Members,Last night the existing MM16 and CM18 Leagues voted to renege on their previous vote to merge with us and instead proposed that all our (ENYTB) teams simply register in their Leagues with them. This was Joe and Brian Henkel's original suggestion at our March 8th meeting with Al Roy. When that failed to get traction with me they s... read more

Following a heartfelt exchange of views by those who were in attendance as to what this League stands for and means to them, as well as a thorough discussion of the potential risks inherent in a merger, the League passed a motion to merge with the Capital District AAU League (13-14-15), the Eastern New York Mickey Mantle League (16U) and the Easter... read more

Recent Email to ENYTB General Membership.....The general terms of the merger proposal can be viewed in the news posts immediately below. Please familiarize yourself with its terms prior to the meeting. The meeting will be held at the Waterford Town Hall in the Village of Waterford, this Sunday, April 3, at 6:00PM. Our Executive Board has guided us well in our first 10 years, making many good recommendations in the face of uncertainty, that have resulted in the great League we have today. Perhaps no recommendation we have made will have a greater impact than this one. Some may argue if it ain't broke why fix it, but that's not the kind of thinking that got us to this point. This League has always embraced changed for the better. We have always been proactive, always preparing for the next stage of development. Our story is one of evolution and growth. I view this merger as the next logical step in that progression. Bill and I and the Executive Board, comprised mostly of independents, think the time is right and the terms are right. If this merger comes to pass, the new "Federation" will consist of more than 200 teams and we will have largely saturated the local travel baseball market. There will be house leagues for rec ball, and an increasing number of those leagues, particularly the smaller ones, prefer to play in a Bronze travel play division, and there will be travel ball, where the better baseball will be played. The only competition for players from outside our League will be American Legion and to a lesser extent, Senior Babe Ruth. The various perceived benefits of this merger are enumerated in a separate news post below. Like any othe merger, many of the benefits would derive from the synergistic effects of size. With 30 to 40 teams in every age division we will have the "critical mass" to achieve optimal scheduling. At 13-14-15 we already capture most of that size benefit but at 16 and 18 this merger would make those divisions similar to the younger ones in terms of the size and distribution of teams. With this merger, it is likely we will have two divisions at every age and color level, each populated according to geography. Your games will be concentrated in competitively balanced divisions and your opponents will also be as geographically proximate as possible. Beginning this year at 16 and 18, all games would count towards AABC and NABF berths. This would be true in 2006 for the 13-14-15 divisions. The Federation would preserve the right of teams to enter the League and not register with AABC/NABF as well. Many bronze teams are in the League for regular season play only, knowing that even if they win a berth in the bronze division to one of these tournaments it is unlikely they can compete. We do not want to price those teams out of our League. Closer proximity is particularly important for weekday scheduling and overall it is important as we enter the era of $3.00 per gallon gas. The increase in size will give us econonies-of-scale in costs as well. We will be able to spread our overhead costs for hosting tournaments and League administration over a greater number of teams, reducing your team registration costs. We estimate that under this proposal we can reduce the price for combined AABC/NABF registration by about $50/team next year. Another significant benefit of a merger, is full roster protection. Currently we compete with these Leagues for players. They can sign our players off our rosters and we can do the same to them. That will end. In addition, almost all of the "incoming" members would bring with them high quality facilities. In many ways, this merger is a win-win.But it can't all be good can it? What are the potential downsides? Player procurement is the lifeblood for anyone in the baseball business. Let's look at how player procurement would be affected by this merger. The total player pool is fixed with or without the merger. There are so many blue chip players, so many red chip, etc. The merger has no effect on the total number of teams playing travel baseball, all existing teams come under the same umbrella. Thus, overall, the same number of teams are chasing the same number of players. What changes is that the "incoming" teams are strongly motivated by player protection. These teams are for the most part sponsored by Babe Ruth organizations who, like many of our existing members, view their programs as a "business". A not-for-profit business but a business nonetheless. Like any business, they would prefer not to have competition for their lifeblood, the players. Independents tend to be more accepting of a player's right to select for himself the program he would like to play for. Thus, it is more likely that releases will be denied than in the past. Thus, those Leagues had a choice, to continue as is, with unregulated competition between the Leagues and all the animosity that it breeds or come together and regulate this competition in a fair manner. They have chosen the latter. By doing so they have accepted the fact that Independents are here to stay and that some competition for players is a fact of life in the modern era. At the same time we all recognize that once a player agrees to go on a team's roster, the competition for his services should end unless that player seeks to leave of his own free will. But even in these situations, the team with the player's roster right shall be the final arbiter as to whether that player is released. Our Constitution is the centerpiece of this proposal and it ensures numerous avenues of player availability for independents. (1) Any player who did not play in the League in the previous year is tantamount to a Free Agent, this includes ALL 13 year olds, provided he follows a couple of simple steps. More precisely, those players aged 15 and younger are "restricted" free agents i.e., they must request a release in writing from their home franchise area prior to May 1 (2005) and April 15 in future years AND they must make themselves available to listen to a sales pitch from their home area as to why they would be better off playing for them. At the end of 15 days, the player makes his choice, to stay or to go. If the player resides in a co-franchise area, he must be release by both members.(2) Any player age 16 or older, who did not participate in the League in the prior year is a Free Agent.(3) Any roster player can leave to play for the team of their choice provided he/she has obtained a release.(4) Any player denied a release can sit out a year to gain his automatic release. (5) Any player on a member team last year that fails to continue in the current year, is a Free Agent.(6) Any member who does not establish an active team in any age division in the current year has no rights to any players in that age division unless they are rostered with them in an older age division. In the latter situation, they may have primary rights to that player in the older age division but the player remains a Free Agent in his natural age division.(7) The various exemptions in our Constitution related to (3) remain.(8) The player eligibility clock for "outside" players restarts at 13. If you have a 12U team from, say Rotterdam, and you have players from, say, Guilderland, those players, when they turn 13, are restricted free agents and must obtain a release from Guilderland per (1) above to play outside of Guilderland. (9) There is no limit on the number of outside players a team can have so long as they are all obtained legally under this proposal.(10) There is no limit on new entrants to the League provided their rosters consist of players legally obtained under this proposal i.e., free agents only.I believe the benefits of this merger would significantly outweigh any possible disadvantage in player procurement but that is for you to ultimately decide. The Presidents of all the Leagues have negotiated and agreed to the terms of the merger with the caveat that many small details remain to be worked out and provisions are in place for instituting procedures to address all concerns that arise during the initial implementation phase. The other three parties to the agreement, The Capital District AAU League (13-14-15), The Eastern New York Mickey Mantle League (16U) and the Eastern New York Connie Mack League (18U) have all ratified this proposal. Our Executive Board has recommended this proposal to you for adoption. In order to ratify this proposal, we need approval by 2/3 of the voting membership. We will need a quorum for the vote to be valid (2/3 of eligible votes). Attached is a list of all members and the number of votes they are entitled to based on this year's team registrations. Note: Our Adult Division would be unaffected by the terms of this merger proposal so they are not required to participate in the vote. If you are in favor of the proposal you have the option of voting by email or at the meeting Sunday night, your choice. If you think you are opposed to the merger proposal you must come to the meeting Sunday night and listen to the discussion before voting against it, should you remained opposed. Thank you for your time in considering this major issue. Whether you support this merger proposal or not, is your free choice. Please vote.Ed Frye, PresidentEastern New York Travel Baseball/ENYTB5227 Bridle PathwaySchenectady, NY 12303518/356-9089 H/W/Faxhttp://www.enytb.com

Welcome to the new era! Tuesday night, after a four hour joint meeting of their memberships, all three of our local "rival" Leagues - the Capital District AAU (13-14-15); the Eastern New York Mickey Mantle League (16U); and the Eastern New York Connie Mack voted unanimously (a couple of abstensions or "with reservation" votes) to merge with us to f... read more

* Ends the 10 year war between the Leagues.* Ends the unregulated competition for players among teams - it creates one League from top to bottom that provides all members with full roster protection all the way up* Offers wider opportunities for regular season play - more diversified set of opponents, competitively balanced schedules and more proxi... read more

* Umbrella is a federation of existing Leagues, under a single governing body. A new name shall be adopted. The Eastern New York Baseball Federation has been proposed.* Existing AABC Leagues are unique to each age division and shall therefore maintain their current names under the federation. Eastern New York Connie Mack League Eastern New York M... read more

Exciting news for ENYTB teams in the 16U and 18u Divisions - more sanctioned tournament opportunities! UNYSABA (AABC) will permit ENYTB to include its teams in the Mickey Mantle and Connie Mack Divisions in the upcoming 2005 season, subject to various provisions. With this announcement, ENYTB now offers its members uninterrupted AABC sanctioned pla... read more

ENYTB has 5 berths, including host, in this 9-10 team tournament. Play begins July 28. Is Joe Bruno a possibility? RPI?NABF Tournaments Hosted By ENYTB In 200514U - JUN 3016U - JUL 2118U - JUL 2122U - JUL 28

Meeting came to order approximately 3:10 pm. Board Members Present: Ed Frye and Bill Kelts ABSENT: Vermont Lakers Albany Senators (down south playing ball)MamasLansingburgh RoyalsClifton Park Yankees (excused) (1) Adult Division Coordinator Tom Kennedy is no longer serving in that capacity. Bill and I will continue to share those responsibilities f... read more

Meeting came to order at 6:10 pm. Attendance: Meeting was well attended as there was SRO. Due to the size of these age divisions, next year we will try to have this meeting in the same place as our Kick-Off meeting (WFD Town Hall). TOPIC #1 - AABC Association Meeting Report Earlier in the day, our AABC Association, the UNYSABA held its semi-annua... read more