TO: Returning and New MembersThe ENYTB website is now open (NOV 11) and we are accepting club/team activations for the 2010 summer baseball season, the 15th consecutive year of travel baseball ENYTB-style!!! NOTE: ENYTB's Annual Kick-Off Meeting will be held on the last weekend of January, and the individual age division meetings will follow soon thereafter. Exact dates, times and places will be announced in early January.CLUB/TEAM ACTIVATION IS WHAT GETS THE BALL ROLLING!!!Activation is akin to pre-registration, it is a statement of intent that your club is planning on registering teams with ENYTB for the upcoming spring/summer travel baseball season. It costs noting and it obligates you to nothing. All information is changeable right up to when registration closes (earlier this year - March 1). Only club owners or club reps can activate their club and teams. And it must be done by phone, not email.NOTE: All passwords from 2009 are now inactive. When you activate your club/teams, your passwords from last year will be activated and everyone in your organization will have full access to the website once again. All team ads for players and try-outs are suspended while your team is inactive.Another benefit of activation is that it preserves your roster protection rights from 2009. NOTE: All returning clubs must ACTIVATE their club and teams by no later than January 10 to preserve their roster protection rights from 2009. To do this, each club rep must contact me by phone (Ed Frye at (518) 356-9089). Thus, the later you activate, you have nothing to gain and much to lose.INFORMATION NEEDED TO ACTIVATE YOUR CLUB/TEAMSEXISTING MEMBERS.....Review/confirmation of the name of owner of record for your club, type of membership and club rep. In addition, activation of specific teams returning from last year and the name/age and skill level of each new team you plan to enter, as well as the name, address, phone numbers and email address of each new manager. Once activated, your team will be listed on the ENYTB website and your passwords from last year will once again be operational, giving you full access to your team rosters, team registration etc. NEW MEMBERS......ENYTB is also accepting qualified applicants for new club/team memberships. New clubs/teams need to activate as well. They, however, will need to provide some additional information than is listed above e.g home fields and local newspapers, but the above will suffice to get you started.-------------------------------WHAT'S NEW IN 2010?......As our veteran members well know, this league does not stay the same for long. Not only does the mix of clubs and teams change every year, along with individual player movement, but the league itself usually makes significant programmatic and operational improvements. During each off-season we conduct a careful review and analysis of the past year, including feedback from our membership. This year is no exception.There was a significant turnover on the Executive Board during 2009. Board members Dave Gage, Jason Curcio, Bill Gibson and Don Rahn have all elected not to return for another year. We thank them for their service. In addition, ENYTB has incorporated as a non-profit organization. The high turnover combined with the incorporation provided an excellent opportunity to restructure the league in a more effective and efficient manner. All corporate matters will now be decided by a three person corporate board. There will be a two person admin staff to handle all administrative work and a seven member Member's Council will handle all non-administrative issues that arise from the membership. There are a few major operational changes planned for 2010. A couple include the reversal of changes instituted last year. First, ala carte sanctioning is back i.e., sanctioning for AABC, NABF and PONY will not be mandatory. Second, the umpire fees for ALL ENYTB hosted tournaments will be borne by the league in 2010. Last year we shifted the umpiring cost of the many tournaments we host to the actual tournament participants. While this change accomplished its objectives, of lowering upfront registration fees for all and discouraging teams from treating these tournaments as "free" games and reneging on advancement when they win, it caused much grumbling and ultimately bad will, by those teams who didn't plan ahead and budget accordingly. 2010 TOURNAMENT BONUS: All first and second place teams in all ENYTB hosted sanctioned tournaments will receive 20 tournament tee-shirts each. This is in addition to handsome trophies for both teams. ENYTB will host one sanctioned tournament at each age level in 2009. Each sanctioned tournament will be limited to a maximum of five teams, including the host. Many of these tournaments will offer advancement in more than one sanctioning body. For example, in some cases, as many a three of the five participating teams will win advancement to the next level in the tournament series for a given sanctioning body. Thus, not as many teams will qualify for sanctioned tournament play this year but those that do will be able to draft from more teams, the tournaments should be more competitive than ever and the chances of advancing will be greater for all qualifying teams. ENYTB will continue its tradition of offering and hosting up to two Last Man Standing Tournaments in every age division (entry fees will be higher because ump fees will be included). The league is discontinuing its League Championship tournaments altogether. These tournaments were a great hit in 2008 but not as much in 2009. Way too many teams signed up only to drop out as the start date approached (25 to 50% drop out rate). Some even dropped out after the tournaments started. CHANGES INTRODUCED IN 2009 THAT WE ARE KEEPING........ENYPONY, ENYTB's PONY HOUSE LEAGUEPerhaps the biggest programmatic change in 2009 was the introduction of PONY House Leagues. We hope to build on a successful first year in 2010. Seven house leagues joined ENYPONY in its inaugural season and registered approximately 75 recreation level teams. Many of the members had small house leagues and many of their teams participated in inter-member supplemental travel play during the regular season. In addition, about a dozen of these teams qualified for and participated in post-season tournament play. PONY Rec Leagues are now available to any ENYTB franchise member operating a house recreational program. It includes full PONY sanctioning, supplemental travel play during the regular season (optional) and multiple guaranteed post-season tournament opportunities. ENYPONY is available at every age level from 9U through 19U (a limit of three 19 yos per team). SCHEDULING and STANDINGSFlex scheduling with strength-of-schedule adjusted standings was introduced in 2009 and will return in 2010. Teams within the same division are no longer required to play identical schedules. In addition, if those divisions includes teams from more than one skill level, the strength-of-schedule adjustment accounts for the difference in schedules. The 2010 ENYTB program seeks to continue the tradition of what ENYTB has come to be known for, providing an independent and flexible travel (and now supplemental travel) baseball program, customized to each participating team's needs and wants. We offer a highly differentiated service because we understand every team wants their league participation shaped to their particular circumstance. We try our best to satisfy everyone's particular baseball wants. REGISTRATION and SCHEDULING.....Registration will close March 15 (ages 12U and under) and April 1 (ages 13U and up). The league schedule will be completed by April 1 (ages 12U and under) and May 1 (ages 13U and up). This will give all teams a couple of weeks before the season begins (Grace Period as defined in Section 9.6 of Constitution) to make all necessary schedule changes and to have their schedules fully locked in before they play their first game. The goal is to eliminate (or drastically reduce) non-weather postponement requests once the season is underway. *************************************************2009 IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES***************************************************** Jan 15 - All teams from 2009 that have not pre-registered with the league for 2010 will be deleted from the system and lose their roster protection based on 2009 participation. * Late January - Annual Kick-Off Meeting - 2009 Review, Awards, Discussion of Organizational and Program Changes for 2010. Open Floor.Note: In addition to the January Kick-Off meeting, the league schedules one meeting for each age division beginning early February. Registration options are discussed as is the likely organization/structure of each age division. ALL teams are given the opportunity to provide input to how division will be organized. * March 15 - Registration closes for 9U-12U. All scheduling info is due as well. * April 1 - Schedules released for ages 9U - 12U* April 1 - All rosters at age 9U-12U must include complete info on at least 9 players.* April 1 - Registration closes for 13U-UNL. All scheduling info is due as well. * May 1 - Last date for players to apply for non-discretionary releases i.e., restricted free agents = first time league participants age 15 or younger. * May 1 - Schedules released for ages 13U and up.NOTE: Grace Period For Non-Weather Postponements and Reschedules continues for two weeks after official release of league schedule. * May 15 - All rosters at age 13U and up must include complete info on at least 9 players. * Various Deadlines for Player Adds ==> June 15 - All AABC registered teams 14U and younger must submit signed final AABC rosters to the league. ==> June 25 - 18U PONY berth winner must submit signed PONY roster to the league.==> July 1 - All AABC registered teams 15U and older must submit signed AABC rosters to the league. ==> July 1 - Deadline for adding players to NABF rosters at ALL Age Divisions Except College and UNL.==> July 1 - Deadline for adding players to PONY rosters for All Age Divisions.==> July 15 - Deadline for adding players to NABF rosters for All teams at 22U and UNL. ==> Various - Tournament Eligibility Rosters for AABC, NABF and PONY must be presented by team at tournament registration meeting prior to beginning of national championship tournament series.* ENYTB Last Man Standing Tournaments - Usually Last Two Weekends In July but can vary one week either direction for given age divisions.

Upstate Thoroughbreds 12U - A premier travel baseball team consisting of the top players from Ballston Spa and surrounding communities is holding its first public tryout for the upcoming 2010 season on:DATE: Sunday, November 1stTIME: 1 to 4pm.PLACE:Doubleday Fields in Ballston Spa(Go to Inside The League > Field Directory for directions http://www.... read more

But I have been sick since I got back so I haven't gotten back to my baseball chores as yet. There are lots of emails re: fall ball but I have only received a few completed registration forms (see article here re: fall ball registration). I hope to get everything organized next week and begin scheduling immediately thereafter. Soooo, if you want to... read more

->ENYTB Fall team E-Z Registration Form CLICK HERE.->Answer ALL questions on form. ->Mail me your completed form along with your check (fees shown on EZ Form and below). ->When your information and check arrives, I will enter your info to the website and you will be notified of your new password by email.->I will contact you if I have any question... read more

And Packering.....Til Aug 15See all you fall ballers when I get back.....and the rest of you, have a great rest of the summer and year and I'll see you the next time around....

Except for the AABC14 Association tournament, won by the Greenfield Yellowjackets (reported in a previous article) and the AABC tournaments at 9U, 10U, 11U and 12U, all hosted by and won by ENYTB teams, I received no written reports on the tournament results at the older ages but I will report on the things I've been told, both good and bad.13U - T... read more

The Rotterdam Rangers 15U team, managed by Mike Saccocio and assisted by Bill Welch, Mark Little and Jason Curcio have accomplished what no other ENYTB team ever has - it has won a ZONE Championship in the PONY National Championship Series. The ZONE is the last level before the World Series. However, since the 15U tournament series was brand new th... read more

At 4-0, Spring was rolling over teams by big scores, including the eventual tournament winner 17-4. However, the flaw in most pool play tournaments is that pool play is followed by single elimination, meaning one loss and you are on your way home. Teams that make it to the final four of a World Series deserve better i.e., double elimination in the ... read more

AUG 03Northville, MIThe DevilCats organization made a great run at a 2nd World Series title in three years, before losing by a single run to the top team from the opposite pool in the first round of the championship phase of the NABF 16U World Series in Northville, MI.After returning home with his DevilCats 16 team, Manager Matt Terry expressed his... read more

I just received this great email from team manager, Mike Saccocio and I wanted to share it with all of you, unedited, because it states clearly and simply his belief of how participation in ENYTB has helped his team achieve great success beyond ENYTB and it echos many of the notes I've been getting from team managers this month on their return from... read more