It is Memorial Day Weekend and we are having a rash of non-weather-postponements right out of the gate that have nothing to do with Sectional conflicts.Teams were provided a fully customized league schedule just a few weeks ago. By the completion of the first full week of the regular season, approximately 75% of all games scheduled to be played in the first week were canceled for non-weather reasons. It amazes me that this is occurring a week after giving everyone a schedule customized to the dates and times that teams and fields are available. If you weren't going to be available on a weekend day in early June, shouldn't you know that by early May? Guess not, or people just don't care about their fellow members and the predicament they leave them in. Just as astonishing, in almost all of those canceled games, the non-offending team did not require the offending team to forfeit the games. In terms of enforcement, that ties the league's hands behind its back. For the well being of yourselves, and the league as a whole, I STRONGLY recommend that all teams adopt the stance of "play me as scheduled or forfeit to me". New rules (presented below) re: the elimination of financial penalties for forfeits until the 4th forfeit are designed to encourage members to hold each other accountable.75% cancellations is simply grossly unacceptable. As is no forfeits for any of these cancellations.Because nothing is more disruptive to the league than teams constantly moving games due to their failure to carefully look ahead and plan their schedules, the league routinely monitors all forfeit situations and enforces its forfeit penalties. However, we can't do it alone. We need your help. It begins by you not granting other teams non-weather postponements except in extraordinary circumstances. Otherwise, teams will continue to bail on weekend DH and leave you sitting home not playing baseball simply because there is no consequence to their irresponsible behavior. So, it's up to each of you to self-police schedule reliability. You can't force somebody to play but you can force a forfeit if they don't and the league will impose fines and other penalties. Before too long, unreliable teams will get the message and either shape up or ship out. Either way is far better than allowing them to wreck havoc on everyone else's carefully planned seasons.The fact that members refuse to hold their fellow member's feet to the fire on forfeits prevents the current system from working the way it should. And it threatens to destroy the credibility of this league (more on that below).NOTE: When a team requires a canceling opponent to forfeit the game it can't play, it doesn't mean you can't add another game with that team to your schedule. You can if both teams want to. This can be done using the ADD Game function. The game thus added will count in the STANDINGS the same as the original game that was forfeited. The only difference will be that one team is also given a forfeit win (counts same as any other win) and the other is given a forfeit loss. It's not the end of the world to get a forfeit loss. In fact, every team is allowed two forfeit losses w/o ANY penalty (more on that below). A majority of the Membership Council, having thoroughly discussed the twin problems of alarmingly high non-weather postponements, combined with no forfeits, have recommended limited changes for the current season and have suggested much stronger possible changes for next year if necessary. The ENYTB, Inc., Corporate Board agrees with these recommendations and enacts them as follows effective immediately:(1) Teams are no longer eligible to request a non-weather postponement on the website unless their request is made a minimum of five (5) days before the scheduled date of the game.NOTE: The old rule was three (3) days. NOTE: Next year this rule will be made even more stringent and changed to seven (7) days. Also, previously the website asked both teams if the offending team had provided a three day notice. As a result, teams could "fudge". Now the notification time will be computed by the website based onthe time the request is first entered online. If < 5 days, no postponement will be allowed. Thus, effective immediately, teams shall lose the option of requesting a non-weather postponement within five (5) days of a scheduled game even if their opponent were to agree to their request. Within 5 days of a game, the only options are:Play the game as scheduled;Forfeit; or,Request a No Harm/No Foul Cancellation(2) Furthermore, to encourage members to impose forfeits on those who cancel unexpectedly, regardless of length of notification, FINES will be ELIMINATED for the first THREE forfeits.Forfeit penalties are changed as follows:(A) Forfeit #1 ........Warning/No Fine(B) Forfeit #2 ........Warning/No Fine(C) Forfeit #3 ........Loss Of Post-Season Eligibility/No FineThus, a member can have up to three forfeits w/o suffering any financial penalty. However, a 3rd forfeit will disqualify a team from eligibility for a berth to post-season play from the league. NOTE: Since it is proving so difficult for a team to saddle its opponent with a forfeit, the number of forfeits for loss of post-season eligibility has been lowered from five to three. (However, this is the same as it was prior to this year. It was previously raised from three to five for the 2010 season.) Forfeits of both games of a doubleheaders count as two forfeits.==================REVISED FINES FOR FORFEITS============================================================================================(D) Forfeit #4 ........Suspension from league for remainder of season or a .......................$100 fine (72 hours to pay).(E) Forfeit #5 ........Suspension from league for remainder of season or a .......................$200 fine (72 hours to pay). (F) Forfeit #6 ........Suspension from league for remainder of season or a .......................$300 fine (72 hours to pay). (G) Forfeit #7 ........Suspension from league for remainder of season or a .......................$400 fine (72 hours to pay). It is doubtful anyone will want to pay more than $1,000 in fines in order to continue playing in the league. Thus, unreliable teams will price themselves out of the league. Once suspended, a team would be required to pay a $200 re-entry fee before being allowed back in the league in a future year.Where will this money go?All fines collected shall be shared among those teams advancing from this league out of this area in a sanctioned national championship series where the berth was gained through on-field competition i.e., not direct buy-in berth (host teams are eligible). To be eligible for this money, the advancing team can not have any forfeit losses. The money would stay in the same age division as collected e.g., the 18U tournament winner would be given all money collected through forfeits in its age division only.(3) The Members Council and Corporate Board will closely monitor non-weather postponements and forfeits the rest of this season before acting further. Other possibilities under consideration if these changes are not sufficient:(A) Fines for non-weather postponements e.g., a $10 to $20rescheduling fee. Again, the proceeds would be given to our tournament champions for travel money, as described above. These fines are not intended to make money for the league. They are intended to keep the league strong by keeping intact its hard earned reputation for being a league where schedule reliability and good competition are its hallmarks. (B) ELIMINATION of customized scheduling altogether i.e., ALL members would be required to schedule themselves via the website (Pick-Up Games). League fees would be reduced but would it be worth it?! On the other hand, what's the point of my custom scheduling the league if 75% of all games are being rescheduled anyway?!Elimination of customized scheduling would be the nuclear option. It would send the message that the situation has become impossible for the league to police/regulate. Obviously, under such a system, teams from out-of-town would have difficulty getting home games; teams with rental facilities could not be guaranteed home games on dates/times they have rented a field (use or lose); clubs with multiple teams sharing the same home field would have to ensure that multiple teams did not schedule home games at the same time or when the home field wasn't otherwise available; and, for AABC registered teams, each team would have to ensure that it scheduled itself with at least six other ENYTB teams AABC registered in the same age division.The nuclear option should be avoided it at all possible. Since many teams are still having problems with the basic website operations e.g., logging in, what's the likelihood that these teams will be able to enter their own game requests online in April and contact those teams that are matches on particular dates to arrange games? Slim and none and slim is leaving town. Thus, we would do this if and only if, non-weather postponements continue at the current level.Another possibility is to allow reliable teams to self-schedule games with unreliable teams on a voluntary basis i.e., after I have scheduled the reliable teams, those that want more games to fill gaps in their schedule could go to the Pick-Up Games board and decide for themselves which of the unreliable teams they wished to schedule games with. This may be a better option than punishing everyone but to do this, we still would need members to require their opponents this year to forfeit games in order to sort out the reliable from the unreliable.We have a good thing going here but the actions of more than a few is posing a major threat to the league and the UNWILLINGNESS of the many to impose forfeits is preventing league regulations from working to discourage it. I remember back 15 years ago when this league was forming. We had 8 teams and 100 players who were looking for something better than Babe Ruth rec ball but nothing else existed in this area. Had a league like this existed back then I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven. And many are putting it at risk by acting like every game can be postponed. And why shouldn't they, nobody is holding them accountable for their actions.Instead, teams with player commitment problems should do as I always did, tell your players and their families, if it's not raining, there are only two options, if we have nine, we play as scheduled, if not, we forfeit. And if we forfeit three times there will be no post-season and beyond that, escalating fines will make continued league participation unaffordable. 15 years ago, there were about 24 travel teams in this area. Today there are several hundred. Travel teams in any sport require great commitment and sacrifice. Players who don't have a strong enough commitment to play a league schedule, shouldn't be in a travel league, at least not this one. Travel baseball is not something you do when there is nothing better to do. It is something that you have to sacrifice doing other things for e.g., going to concerts.Managers in this league get the chance to customize their team schedule. That plus two forfeits w/o penalty should be sufficient for any REAL travel team. We have teams with 10 or more non-weather reschedule requests already. That's not only ridiculous but it is disrespectful of the scheduling process and your fellow members. It will prove impossible to reschedule that many games because teams are already fully scheduled through season's end. You are asking your opponent to play six or seven games in a week later in the season in order to accommodate your team going to a concert today. Why should they? They are foolish if they do because they are hurting their own team and the league.

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Sunday, MAR, 07, 2010Meeting came to order at 2:00PM and was adjourned at 3:45PMLeague Officers Presiding:Ed Frye, President, Admin DirectorAnother very good age division meeting. All major aspects of 2010 college program were discussed and decided. Attendance percentage was highest of any age division. I thank those of you who took the time to att... read more

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Sunday, Feb, 28, 2010Meeting came to order at 2:15PM and was adjourned at 4:30PMLeague Officers Presiding:Ed Frye, President, Admin DirectorMatt George, Vice-PresidentMatt Terry, Members' CouncilPaula Casey, Assistant Admin DirectorOnce again, attendance was less than what we hoped for but those who attended were extremely interactive and that is a... read more

Sunday, Feb, 21, 2010Meeting came to order at 2:00PM and was adjourned at 4:00PMLeague Officers Presiding:Ed Frye, President, Admin DirectorMatt George, Vice-PresidentJohn Barna, Members' CouncilMatt Terry, Members' CouncilPaula Casey, Assistant Admin DirectorFirst order of business - 2009 Playing Rules were adopted w/o change.NOTE: Wood bat rule w... read more

If there is membership support for this effort, we will do it. This will be discussed/decided at the upcoming age division meetings. One factor is cost. It will cost the league an extra $1,500 at each age division just to buy the extra berths. However, in a way, that money comes back, as each winner will receive $2,000 from NABF to advance to the W... read more

Meeting came to order at 2:05PM and was adjourned at 4:00PMLeague Officers Presiding:Ed Frye, PresidentMatt George, Vice-PresidentBill Kelts - Members' CouncilRick Miller - Members' CouncilPaula Casey, Assistant Admin DirectorTurnout was light compared to last year but the audience was attentive and interactive. We thank those of you who came out.F... read more

On the occasion of ENYTB's 15th Anniversary it seemed fitting to start a new tradition of recognizing those of you who contribute w/o limit to the success of your individual organizations and in the process to the success of ENYTB. The Man-Of-The Year awards from here on out will be given out annually. In addition, we plan on naming a Man-Of-The-Ha... read more

For CHART ONE, Click here.For CHART TWO, Click here.For CHART THREE, Click here.For CHART FOUR, Click here.For CHART FIVE, Click here.For CHART SIX, Click here.For CHART SEVEN, Click here.For CHART EIGHT, Click here.For CHART NINE, Click here.For CHART TEN, Click here.For CHART 11, Click here.For CHART 12, Click here.For CHART 13, Click here.