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 Eastern New York Connie Mack League (18U) by a 3-1 margin (65-10-11). A quorum was exceeded by approximately 10 votes. The percentage in favor was 75%, which exceeded the 2/3 required under our Constitution. The meeting lasted more than 3 and 1/2 hours. Our debate showed me how much many of you care about this League. I understand the competition between us and the other parties to this agreement has been so intense and at times personal, that it is difficult for many on either side to let it go and move on. Many believe a merger will prevent players in the future who want to play for them from doing so because the teams from the other Leagues would be less likely than existing members to release players. To some extent this will no doubt be true. However, we should not view the other parties to this merger as a monolith. Many are already members in our Leagues and have no desire keep players who don't weant to play for them. Also as new teams under the merger sign up, I ask them their attitude about releases and they are indicating they are willing to consider releases on a case by case basis. I am sure there will be some who will not. But there are some in our own membership that preserve that right as well and have exercised it. Many also believe that our existing members that are "co-franchised" under this agreement will be losing an important competitive advantage when recruiting players in their home areas because this gives their local competitor the opportunity to claim he is selling the same product. It is up to these members to differentiate their product. A gold team playing 40 games, going to post-season sanctioned tournaments should they win a berth, going to outside pay tournaments, playing at a quality facility is a different product than a 12 game bronze schedule, going to a sanctioned tournament if it wins a berth only if it doesn't interfere with BR All-Stars, with no outside pay tournaments and playing on the local Babe Ruth field. Markets exist for both products. In some cases, the co-franchise may even try to compete with very similar products. The bigger school districts should be able to support two co-franchises. I do have some concern in the medium and smaller markets. Still others thought a merger would result in a dilution of the talent in the League. With or without the merger, the same number of teams are chasing the same number of players. Thus, I'm not sure this is a valid concern. What probably is true however, is that more blue chip players will be locked in and even red chip players. It will be more difficult for Gold and high Silver teams to form, especially first time teams at the older age divisions. Everyone has a shot at everyone at age 13. Once these players sign with a team, they are largely at the mercy of that team for a release. Should this merger be implemented, the logical strategy is to have fall tryouts of 12s and aggressively build your 13 yo rosters. There also was widespread concern that the merged teams would attempt a hostile takeover from within and change our Constitution to write independents out of the game. There was considerable discussion about power sharing (discussed below) and even a proposal that I be made President for life! Thanks guys, it feels very good to be appreciated. To some extent all your concerns are valid. Yet the optimist in me tells me that the new people will respond to the League just like the existing members once they have experienced it from the inside. There are no politics here. We have one set of rules, applicable to all equally, designed to allow every member to prosper regardless of their reason for being in the League. Our membership rules are designed to include teams, not exclude them and to give first time League players the freedom to choose what League team they will play for. Once in the League, players are restricted to the team they started with unless that team chooses to release them (or any of several exemptions apply). We enourage every member to release players that have a strong desire to play elsewhere but we don't require it. Players denied releases can sit out of League play for one year in order to qualify for an automatic release. This allows a player to escape a bad situation. Importantly, we also don't discriminate against member teams because of where their players reside i.e., tag them as "elite" and restrict them from tournament entry. All that matters is that each team is legally constituted under our League's agreed upon rules. If Guilderland decides to release six players and they all choose to play for Rotterdam, the latter is a legally constituted team, end of story. If our local AABC can not accept that then it is a deal breaker. We all know the GHVL is hailed by our local AABC czar as a shining example of "community-based" baseball when in fact they all have SDs the size of Clifton Park or greater exclusively to themselves AND, in addition, are allowed 4 "outside" players from similar sized Class AA SDs. Theoretically they can have the fiver best players from 5 different Class AA SDs and be hailed as community based, and one of our teams, with a single SD, competing for home grown talent with an aggressive Babe Ruth linked to its school program, is branded an "elite" team (synonym for leper in local AABC parlance). That is nonsense and will be a deal breaker if our local AABC seeks to impose that definition on this agreement. Joe Henkel, President of ENYCML, ENYTB member and one of the chief negotiators for the othe rparties to this merger, was at this meeting and told us that he accepted the fact that all teams legally constituted under the same player procurement rules would be classified the same i.e., not as elite, regardless of how many outside players they had or how good those players were. Joe is from a small population area and his own teams in Mickey Mantle and Connie Mack have had numerous "outside" players year after year. He's not tagged as "elite" and punished, because his teams are legally constituted under his League's rules. We demand nothing less under this merger. Even AABC national rules provide for releases and do not limit them. We are in full compliance with AABC national. Our local AABC seeks to tie our hands behind our backs by looking the other way for some teams but not all. If you are successful and have outside players and are from ENYTB you are tagged as "elite". Yet they have teams in other local Leagues doing the same thing and they look the other way. Joe's teams have been in 17 consecutive MM tournaments with all his outside players and nobody is squawking about that. Erie County Leagues with teams that pull form a population of millions, yet they are considered community based and we are not? Who's buying such nonsense? The above principles are what I have built this League for. As long as we remain true to these principles I trust this League will remain fundamentally the same. None of these principles are compromised by this merger agreement. Two or three years down the road I am hopeful that all parties to this agreement will feel the same about the League as we do now. Nonetheless, it is natural to expect a divergence of interests on some major issues. Our Constitution has been carefully crafted over 10 years to balance the interests of existing members, players and future members and players. I would not want to see a new group with their own agenda tear that balance apart simply because they had the votes to do so.I have proposed a 9 member board that balances the interests of these natural factions forever. The ENYTB independents would be given four Board seats and the CDAAU/ENYMM/ENYCM, along with our existing Babe Ruth members, would be given four Board seats. This reflects their current aprroximate equivalence. Each Board member would be elected by the entire membership. Each "group" would elect its own Vice President. The President would be elected by the entire membership. This balance, combined with our Constitutional requirement of a 2/3 majority vote by the Board and the membership for passage of any constitutional amendment should be sufficient to ensure that neither group can use the democratic process to take advantage of the other group.I was a victim, as were many of you, of the democratic process written into the By Laws of the Mickey Mantle League and the Connie Mack Leagues. No one needs to tell me about their Constitutions of 37 years. I was Secretary of the Mickey Mantle League for two years and I knew their Constitution as well or better than anyone. In many ways our Constitution was designed as a reaction to theirs. I am prepared to move forward with the merger. I will send the heads of the other Leagues a plan for how to immediately proceed. To make this merger work this year, those Leagues must get all their teams fully registered with me in the next 7 days. If this does not happen, those Leagues can not be merged with us. Further tweaking of this agreement, that Joe os so concerned with, will have to be done after the season is underway. This was envisioned in our negotiations from the start. If the other Leagues balk at this stage and fail to register their teams in the next 7 days. it would not be humanly possible for me to plan and schedule the regular season on time, and those Leagues will not be merged with us this year. Thus, while the Leagues have agreed to merge under a set of general principles, as enunciated in our Constitution, if the Presidents of those Leagues do not put forth full cooperation to making it happen, it will not happen.

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 ... read more

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