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 ... 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-annual meeting in Clifton Park. Bill Kelts attended on our behalf and gave us an excellent report. Information pertaining to this year's AABC tournaments was disseminated per usual but the meeting focused on Al Roy's recent decision to grant ENYTB entry into the Mickey Mantle 16 and Connie Mack 18 Divisions of AABC. The existing CML18 came out in force to voice its opposition to Al's edict. No. Colonie, for example, with 1,776 student enrollment, and a total of two AABC teams, tried to argue that they needed AABC to protect their "District" from us. Al Roy pointed out that he had not desire to harm house rec leagues but his job was to promote AABC baseball without harming existing AABC Leagues. From all accounts, Bill did an excellent job pointing out not only the fallacy of No. Colonie's argument, but that No. Colonie (and other members of the old CML18) would actually gain full AABC roster protection vis a vis our MM16 and CM18 teams, something they did not previously have. Bill and I plan to follow-up with the Presidents of both those Leagues regarding possible further actions that could benefit both sides. Their Presidents think an agreement could be hammered out for this season that would result in an umbrella - their Leagues and ours under the same roof - set of rules etc. This is an ambitious agenda but Bill and I have made ourselves available to negotiate with them. Note: AABC moved its 11U and 13U Tournaments to 7/21. TOPIC #2 - Discussion Of Member's Rights To Players Articles XVI and XVII of our Constitution and By-Laws was discussed. It is every member's responsibility to read those two Articles and understand them. Failure to observe your fellow member's rights to his players is tampering and is treated very seriously by the League. We have a special League and it is special because for 10 years, we have all cooperated with each other on this issue. The key is that when the rules are followed, our members almost always release a player that really wants a release. On the other hand, when immediate full disclosure and other protocols are not followed, the expectation of cooperation begins to fade away. Thus, it is in your interest to come clean re: "outside" players whose rights are held by another member PRIOR TO INITIATING FIRST CONTACT or IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE PLAYER HAVING INITIATED FIRST CONTACT. Enuff said. After the meeting, we held an informal meeting with several members involved in player eligibility issues and we are working our way through them and everyone is being fully cooperative. After Sunday's meeting we will hold another such meeting with 16 teams that are involved in similar matters. TOPIC #3 - OPENING WEEKEND SIGN-UPS Teams pay umps and balls. Host order the umps, provide the fields, keep them maintained, and run their concessions for their own benefit. We have a place on the website to sign-up for members interested. SCHDY (2 fields) - any ageWFD (2 fields) - any age, prefer 14sCohoes - 13sUtica Falcons - 14sBrunswick - 15sCambridge - 15sNiskayuna (2 or 3 fields) - may be interested. While the above may seem like plenty of fields, we will need all of them plus more. So if you have interested in hosting that weekend - some go on SAT/SUN only, some go all 3 days - it's your choice, contact me ASAP. Topic #4 - Sanctioned Tournament Host Sign-Ups AABC 15U - 7/21 - WFD (two fields) was the only member to indicate interest. We will need another field or two for the first couple of days (THUR-FRI) NABF 14U - 6/30 - No interest was indicated by anyone. This is a highly prestigious event and will have a 12 team field most likely. We will need 4 fields. DeLutis Fields in Rome have called me to express an interest. If nobody from this side of the League is interested, we will put this tournament in Rome, NY. PONY 13 Regional - 7/14 - (80' diamond required) Phil Beck of Utica Falcons expressed a possible interest. He needs to let me know ASAP. If Phil can do it great, otherwise we will be sending it back to PONY. TOPIC #5 - REGISTRATION HANDOUT Registration ChecklistCall to tell us you're in (activation)Call to tell us what you want (ala carte registration - paperless on the web)Call to tell us when you can play and when your field is available to be scheduled - otherwise we can't schedule you.Tell us who your players are - FILL OUT YOUR ROSTERS ONLINE.Registration Options - Table (also doubles as a registration form) shows all options, dates, sites and fees.Many of you handed in registration forms with your choices circled. Some gave me checks and some even handed in their availability info for scheduling that night or since. All information I have received is now posted on the website. Notice your team name is in green on the activation board if you are fully paid. Tournament Berths - fully discussed - earmarked to regular divisions classified by team ability level and wildcards. Division Set-Ups - Based on current activations and thinking, we showed what the final divisional structure for berth competitions might look like.It was decided that when both Gold/Silver and Silver/Bronze wildcards are offered in the same division, Silver teams must select one or the other, not both. TOPIC #6 - Division Directors It was announced that we will schedule a computer lab for division directors to demonstrate all the glories (capabilities) of the website so they can be a resource for other members in how to get things done on the website. I still maintain that the website is quite simple to operate if you just try it. There is an enormous of content there now as well as tremendous amount of functionality both prior to the season and during the season. It is truly fully interactive. 13U - Nobody came forward.14U - Don Rahn (NISKY14) will continue on.15U - Craig (WFD15) and Fran (LATHAM15) will continue on. We like to have two DDs per age division - if you are interested in helping please let me know ASAP. Benefits - quality website training and higher website access privileges. TOPIC #7 - Sportsmanship Rules In general, you guys conduct yourselves great at games and keep your players, coaches, parents etc. under control. But every year we have a problem or two. We do not take pleasure in kicking anybody out of the League for any reason but we do if we have to and this is one of the 4 requirements of a good member:Give us all info we need to register your team Do not violate a fellow member's player rights Be reliable in playing your schedule with an absolute minimum number of reschedules and give timely notice in all cases (more than 7 days) Don't lose control at games or create a hostile atmosphere at your games. TOPIC #8 - Regular Season Playing Rules We reviewed them and all were accepted for 2005 regular season play. Everyone was told to have a copy with them at all games (will be available on website by next week). If you are told the rule is one thing and you know it's another, use your copy of the rules to point it out. If the umpires or other team persists, simply protest the game, have the ump sign your scorebook at the point of the protest (with his phobe #) and file with League within 24 hours. NOTE - CORRECTION - Metal spikes are permitted at 13-14-15. President's Summary: It was another good age division meeting, well attended, with lots of new faces in the audience. We had hoped to get a little more particpation with opening weekend hosts and divisional directors but otherwise, these age groups are doing a good job getting me the information I need in a timely manner and we are proceeding well and I thank you all for that. I believe the idea of a Kick-off meeting followed by one registration meeting for each age division is a winner. I feel all the information is out there and we are not burdening you with excessive meetings. REGISTRATION FOR THE 13-14-15 AGE GROUPS WILL CLOSE APRIL 1. Please be fully registered and paid by then. In early April I will set-up the final divisional structure and populate them with teams based on your choices. I will schedule opening weekend in late April and hit the regular season in early May. ed