The 2008 Kick-Off Meetings will be remembered as the longest in league history - almost 7 hours for the two days combined! We got started a little late on Saturday, about 1:15PM and the room was still close to full at 5:00PM. On Sunday we started on time and finished at 4:00PM.For more than 50% of the attendees on both days, this was their first ev... read more

See previous news article for full details.I'm looking forward to discussing with you what we have in store for this year. 2008 is shaping up to be another banner year in terms of both program improvements and membership growth.MEMBERSHIP GROWTHThe club reps have done a terrific job getting their club and teams activated for the 2008 season. We alr... read more

Former Yankee Visits Area To Host Coaching Clinic this Saturday at Sand Creek Middle School Gymnasium ...Colonie, NY -- Gary Cathcart- a New York Yankee draft pick in 1984 and the Toronto Blue Jays 2007 Instructor of the Year- will be hosting an instructional baseball coaching clinic on Saturday, January 19th in the gymnasium at Sand Creek Middle ... read more

On January 5, 2008, the Board of Directors of Eastern NY Travel Baseball League (the "League" or “ENYTB”) approved and adopted a statement of priorities and programmatic plan for the upcoming season. 2008 will mark the League's 13th consecutive year of operation. *******************************************************ENYTB - Organizational Structure*******************************************************ENYTB is a NON-PROFIT organization wherein program fees reflect actual costs and do NOT incorporate any profit. The executive duties of Board Members include policy and program development, and league governance. Board Members are NOT compensated for their efforts in this regard. MISSION STATEMENT ...The mission of the League is to increase participation in amateur baseball in the eastern region of upstate New York and adjacent areas, through the offering of a well organized travel league program featuring independent team ownership, ease of entry, flexible scheduling, competitively balanced play and abundant opportunities for participation in sanctioned National Championship Tournament Series (NCTS) play as well as League sponsored tournaments. GOVERNANCE ...The League is governed by a seven person Executive Board according to its Constitution (available online at http://www.enytb.com/const.php). The latter has been approved and adopted by vote of the League's full membership at periodic intervals since 1996 . Returning Board Members:Ed FryeDon RahnJeff PextonBill GibsonNew Board Members:Tim BruculereJoe FranchiniDave GageEmeritus:Bill KeltsLEAGUE ADMINISTRATION ...The Executive Director (Ed Frye) has overall responsibility for the administration of day-to-day league operations and performs the vast majority of those tasks himself. Each Board Member also serves as a League Advisor (Representative), assisting member clubs and teams with their informational needs required to comply with the League's registration and operational requirements. League Advisors also play an important role in administering the approximately 35 tournaments hosted or sponsored by the league each year.CLUB-TEAM-LEAGUE RELATIONSHIPEach member is referred to as a club. Depending on its member status, each club has the right to register various teams in the league. The League assigns a League Advisor to each club. Similarly, each club designates a Club Rep i.e., someone in their organization who will act as the main point of contact between their club and the League. The League Advisor and the Club Rep work together throughout the pre-season, regular season and post-season to ensure that all of its teams' informational needs are satisfied so that each team has the best possible league experience. Team managers and coaches are encouraged to utilize their Club Reps to satisfy their team needs but, when necessary, they are allowed to contact their club's League Advisor as well (more on League Advisors below). MEMBER SERVICES PROVIDED BY ENYTBENYTB provides an extraordinary level of member service. The administrative workload associated with operating a league as large and varied as ENYTB, including the provision of these substantial high-end services is quite substantial. These tasks include: * a website customized to the operations of the league and rich in pre-season, regular season and post-season functionality;* administration of the league's membership rules (who gets in under what restrictions and who has what territorial and/or player rights);* registration for sanctioned tournament play under three different national baseball organizations (website used to complete all required forms);* scheduling that is customized to each team's age, skill level, team and home field availability and other preferences;* oversight and administration of inter-member player restrictions;* oversight and administration of hundreds if not thousands of in-season game re-schedules;* refereeing inter-member disputes on all matters;* satisfying the information requests of all members pertaining to the operation of the website as well as all league operations. This includes maintaining all website content and conducting various informational meetings before the season begins as well as before each the post-season sanctioned tournaments; * and perhaps most importantly, to administer and direct approximately 35 tournaments, 18 of which are sanctioned tournaments hosted by ENYTB, for the benefit of its members. This level of service may be unprecedented by any previous amateur summer baseball league. It is not an exaggeration to say that providing these services consumes thousands of man-hours per year (and that does not include any of the political intrigue). Preparing the schedule alone, including the collection of all team and availability data consumes about 1,000 hours.Up until four years ago, these services were provided at no cost to members. However, the league was much smaller then and hosted only a handful of tournaments. In 2004 the league began paying a modest stipend to those who performed these specialized or "luxury" member services. (That was the same year the league committed to being a regional host center and website development was begun.) As informational needs and the number of tournaments continued to grow, League Advisors/Reps were added in 2007. Each Board member is now required to also serve as League Advisor to several clubs, comprising approximately 25 total teams. In this capacity they share many of the duties listed above, most importantly that of satisfying members' informational needs and assisting the Executive Director with the conduct of all post-season tournaments. League Advisors, like the Executive Director, receive a modest stipend for their efforts. These stipends are included in the league administrative fee that each team pays. The cost of administrative services constituted about 30% of total league revenue in 2007. *******************************FINANCIAL NUMBERS*******************************The League's revenue and costs for 2007 were presented by major category and discussed. Discussion focused on administrative costs and the major discretionary item in the budget, namely, the cost associated with hosting sanctioned tournaments. · It was observed that 30% of budget for administrative services and 10% for administrative overhead was far less than is typical of other non-profit organizations. · In 2004, the League membership unanimously committed to being a regional host center for sanctioned tournaments. The 2008 league program includes hosting as many as 18 sanctioned tournaments, four more than in 2007. Approximately $25,000 was spent in 2007 on hosting sanctioned tournaments and about $30,000 is budgeted for 2008. By hosting these tournaments it is estimated that the League saves its members more than a quarter million dollars in travel expenses. This investment also attracts significant economic activity to our host’s concessions as well as area hotels, restaurants and other businesses.More detailed financial numbers and charts will be presented at the league's annual Kick-Off Meeting later this month.************************************************************Major New Initiative: Non-Member Fund-Raising************************************************************Member fees are currently the sole source of funds for League operations. In an effort to reduce or eliminate some of the current member fees, the Board has unanimously agreed to a major new initiative to develop non-member sources of fund-raising. The objective is to raise additional funds from outside sources to help defray much, if not all the costs associated with hosting sanctioned tournaments. The Board discussed and committed to several important actions in this regard:1. To follow up on previous efforts to incorporate as a 501(c)-3 non-profit under federal tax law. This would qualify the league for NYS government grants and any donations to the league would qualify as a tax write-off for the donor.2. To prepare letters soliciting government grants from elected representatives.3. To design a survey instrument to ascertain the vendors that our members purchase products and services from for their teams and leagues. Such vendors represent a potential pool of sponsors.4. To assist in these efforts, the League shall make a conscious effort to increase its VISIBILITY within the community: i. Tim Bruculere will serve as the League’s Press Agent and will prepare and distribute periodic press releases re: major upcoming ENYTB events. ii. The league plans to host a luncheon for the news media in late Feb to formerly introduce itself to area news media. Guest speakers will be invited and a brief presentation of ENYTB’s history and media friendly website features will be given. All club owners will be invited to attend. If you know of a restaurant or sports bar with food that would serve as an ideal host site for this event, please pass it along. iii. The website is the central source for all regular and post-season activity inside our league. It was designed to make ALL of the information necessary to follow our league available to the news media as well as the public at large. The area news media are yet to take advantage of this feature. We need to change that. Also, for the 2008 season, the website will include a new, easy to use, but powerful Game Reporting capability, fully integrated with the Player Stats and new Lineup Card feature. Game Report will make preparing high quality game reports a snap, and it will include an automatic email function linked to the email addresses of each club's local print media. The luncheon will be a great opportunity for us to let them know who we are and what we are about BEFORE they begin receiving thousands of game emails from us. 5. Increased visibility will help ENYTB recruit local business sponsorship. ENYTB membership is an excellent target audience for area vendors.6. ALL monies collected from outside sources, less any associated collection costs, would be set aside for the sole purpose of offsetting tournament hosting costs and reducing or eliminating member fees associated with tournament hosting (umpires and baseballs). It is our goal that within two to three years ENYTB hosted sanctioned tournaments will be 100% funded from non-member money. *****************************2008 League Advisors/Reps*****************************The role and duties of League Advisors was discussed, including planned changes from last year. These changes will be outlined to the membership at the upcoming Annual Kick-Off Meeting. League Advisors were assigned to individual clubs for 2008 and are available on each club's home page (Main > Owner Home > Home).*****************************2008 Fee Structure*****************************The 2008 fee structure was also presented, discussed and adopted, along with the rebates for large clubs and UABA clubs that double register in ENYTB. A spreadsheet model was constructed to simulate costs and revenues based on historical registration levels and patterns. The fees were designed to be sufficient to recoup all program costs within each age division. Because of this, fees can vary by age division as well as by skill classification (the latter accounts for the higher berth ratios in the Gold divisions). Hosting costs are recouped through two separate charges: a mandatory team fee that varies by age level, and eligibility fees for individual sanctioned tournaments selected by each team. Eligibility fees are applicable only to those tournaments hosted by ENYTB. These monies are used to pay the umps and provide baseballs for all hosted tournaments.The individual fees for your teams can be seen by bringing up your team's customized online registration page. A summary of ENYTB's fee structure also is provided online at League Info > Program Info > Fees.********************************************************************Areas Of League Operations That Need Significant Improvement********************************************************************§ No. 1 PRIORITY - IMPROVING SCHEDULE RELIABILITYThis seems to go in cycles but 2007 was a large step backward. The League has addressed this problem in a comprehensive manner for 2008.LEAGUE ACTIONS:a. Revise Online Rescheduling Tools/Protocolsb. Enforce Forfeit Penalties For ALL League Scheduled Gamesc. Increase # of Tournament Qualifying Gamesd. Encourage Teams To Schedule More Of Their Own Non-Tournament Qualifying Games as non-league games (non-League games are exempt from forfeit penalties).More specific information will be made available at the upcoming Kick-Off Meeting.§ No. 2 PRIORITY – IMPROVING TOURNAMENT ADMINISTRATION AND COVERAGE.2007 was a large step forward but we still need to do better and we will. The combination of additional manpower, along with the experience gained from last year, better planning and additional online admin capabilities should be sufficient to bring us to the level that we aspire to. a. Sanctioned Tournaments: i. More Coverage from League Reps with better pre-scheduling ii. Expand website capability for capturing information from outside teams and providing pre-tournament info online.b. League Sponsored Tournaments i. More Coverage from League Reps with better pre-scheduling ii. Expand Website Capability To Allow Teams To Self Register Online Through Early July iii. Reduce Fees By Making Tournament Tees Optional iv. Give LCS Championship Division Teams a Break Between End Of Sanctioned Tournaments and Beginning of LCS******************************************************PROGRAM "TWEAKS" i.e., What's New in 2008******************************************************Sanctioned Tournament Hosts – Increase from 14 to 18.New Hosted Events in 2008:Regional at PONY12 (not yet confirmed (in addition to Sectional))Regional at NABF13Association at AABC14 (not yet confirmed)Sectional at PONY16Regional at PONY18Also Introducing “Combo” Sanctioned Tournaments - Twice the Fun For Half The Cost - For Age Divisions and Sanctioning Bodies Where Applicable (10U, 12U, 13U and 14U)....Look into affiliating with AABA ==> 20U TournamentsCompetition Levels...Increase From 3 to 4 - Separate Silver Division Into Hi Silver and Lo Silver....League Will Classify Returning Teams By Skill Level All new program elements will be discussed at the upcoming Kick-Off Meeting.*********************************************************Website Upgrades - Another Big Year!*********************************************************· Team Availability - Improved and Expanded· Player Administration – Player Releases Initiated Online (Through ADD PLAYER)· Game Administration – ALL Reschedule Protocols Greatly Improved, incl Automatic Enforcement of Forfeit Penalties and Schedule Updates· Game Reporting – Addition of Lineup Cards and Game Reports, including Full Integration with Rosters and Player Stats· Tournament Administration – Tournament Manager Capabilities Greatly Expanded For Both Sanctioned Tournaments And League Tournaments· Auto-Scheduler – Coming in 2009!All major website upgrades will be discussed at the upcoming Kick-Off Meeting.

Last year, after the season began, we received an unusual amount of member feedback about the League's playing rules. A number of folks were clamoring for a mercy rule and for adoption of the NCAA force play slide rule. The League's Executive Board voted unanimously to adopt both rules.It also was time to enumerate specific penalties for ejections... read more

Congratulations to Mark Sidoti, son of Doug Sidoti, manager of the Waterford team in our College Division for winning an NABF Scholarship for the 2007 academic year. ENYTB contributes to the NABF Scholarship fund each year and Mark is our first ever winner.I met up with Mark over the Thanksgiving holiday, along with his dad and a special friend, to... read more

This is a brand new World Series site for NABF 17U and I had the opportunity to sit with the people that made the successful bid at the recent national NABF meeting in Louisville, KY. Trust me on this one, this promises to be one of the finest events ever held for this age division and a memorable experience for all.The playing sites will be City S... read more

After a one year hiatus, the NABF College Division (22U) World Series returns to Toledo, OH, sponsored by the City Of Toledo and the Toledo Amateur Baseball Federation. This 16 team event includes various Regional Champions, direct teams, and host teams and, is planned to take place at various local college facilities, including: University of Tol... read more

Official dates for the NABF National Championship Tournament Series (Regionals and World Series) have been announced and can be found on our Tournaments menu as well as on each team's online registration page.As usual, ENYTB will be hosting four NABF Regionals this year:NABF 14U beginning July 10;NABF 16U beginning July 17;NABF 18U beginning July 1... read more

LINEUP CARDS - The website will include a new feature in 2008 that will allow teams to quickly prepare and print their team lineup cards online. Teams will select their starting players from a list that includes all players on their active ENYTB roster. Teams also will be asked to indicate each player's fielding position and where they will appear ... read more