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MINNESOTA BASEBALL ASSOCIATION, INC. MINUTES OF THE BOARD MEETING SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 4-5, 2006 HOLIDAY INN, ST. CLOUD Meeting called to order Saturday, March 4 by President Richter at 1 p.m. Roll call showed all board members present. Motion Brennan, seconded Wegscheid, carried, to approve the minutes from the previous meeting as mailed. There were 18 people in attendance. Motion Roufs, seconded Rademacher, carried, to reinstate the Ortonville Rox for the 2006 season. They are members of the Land o’ Ducks leagues. Motion Forsman, seconded Hartmann, carried, to approve the Anoka County League as a Class A league. In 2005, they played as an independent league, and were put on probation for one year. There were members of the Class A Skyline and Minneapolis Park leagues in attendance, who committed to work with the Anoka League to see if they could work them into their post season tournament. If this cannot be worked out, they will remain an independent league for the 2006 season. Motion Wegscheid, seconded Barry, carried, to approve Keith Oerther, who lives in Shakopee, to play for the Stockmen’s Irish, who are members of the Class A Skyline League. To be eligible, Oerther must get a release from Shakopee, and along with a signed contract, must send both copies to the state secretary after the March 15 signing date, and before he plays in his first game. Motion Roufs, seconded Brennan, carried, to approve Ben Breisacher, who lives in New Market, to play for the Stockmen’s Irish, a Class A team in the Skyline League. To be eligible, Breisacher must be released from New Market, and along with a signed contract, send both copies to the state secretary after the March 15 signing date and before he plays in his first game. Motion Rademacher, seconded Wegscheid, carried, to approve Russel Jiskra, who lives in Hudson, Wis., and is within the radius to play for the Stockmen’s Irish. Motion Hartmann, seconded Barry, carried, to approve Ben Breisacher, Sean Tommey, and Russel Jiskra to play on an 18-and-under team in a tournament in Atlanta, Ga. July 5-10. The board next met with Allen Breidenbach and Matt Loskota, who will be the new acting commissioners of the Minneapolis Park Board League. The meeting was quite informative, with a number of questions and concerns being addressed by both sides. The board is planning to set up a meeting with all the Class A commissioners in the near furture. Meeting called to order Sunday, March 5 by President Richter at 1 p.m. President Richter greeted the assembly, and league supplies were distributed with roll call. There were 50 dedicated people in attendance, representing 54 leagues. Vice President Roufs reviewed the 2006 MBA Handbook, and pointed out changes that were made. Some of the changes are: • Residence: a player must physically live in residence full-time to qualify for establishing residency. • College rule: Full-time college students may use either their parents’ home and 25-mile radius, or their college address and 25-mile radius. • Any personnel that a team wishes to have in their dugout will be allowed. • In the event of assault, verbal or physical, upon any umpire by players, manager, coaches or any person directly connected with the baseball club, the penalty for such action shall be suspension for at least three consecutive games (league or tournament), plus any other penalty the state board may see fit to impose. Motion Wegscheid, seconded Forsman, carried, to approve the player radius for the Stearns County leagues at six miles, and no 10-run rule. President Richter presented a new state tournament format which was brought to the board’s attention. With the tournament in Rochester this year, and with 54 leagues represented at today’s meeting, timing could not be better to propose this new format. We would like the league officers to take this proposal back to their league to see how their teams feel. We would like all leagues to respond to this proposal with a yes or no by March 31 or before. You can contact any state board director. You can also find this format on our website. 1st weekend: Only Class C plays 1st round – Thursday, Friday, Saturday 2nd round – Sunday 2nd weekend: 1st round – Class B – Thursday, Friday 2nd round – Class B – Saturday 2nd weekend: 3rd round – Class C – Sunday The third weekend is not worked out at this time, please respond to this notice. Motion Zellmann, seconded Wegscheid, carried, to approve Dan Powell to play in the Roy Hobbs World Series in Las Vegas Feb. 10-12. Motion Rademacher, seconded Forsman, carried, to approve a 10- mile extension for the Land o’ Ducks leagues. Motion Forsman, seconded Hartmann, carried, to approve the tournament sanction for the Austin Greyhounds. It also includes approval for all MBA teams to play non-MBA teams from New York, Illinois, North Dakota, and Missouri, June 30 - July 3. Motion Barry, seconded Wegscheid, carried, to approve tournament sanctions for Litchfield, June 9-10; Stockmenn’s Irish, June 22-25; Dundas, June 2-4. The Dundas 35-and-over will play in their tournament, with approval of all MBA teams to play them. Also, all MBA players that are currently on team rosters will play for their team. Motion Forsman, seconded Rademacher, to play non-MBA teams. Motion Forsman, seconded Wegscheid, carried, to approve a 15- mile player radius for the North Star leagues. They also will use all three leagues for player eligibility. A letter was read from the North Star leagues and was duly noted. A letter was read from the Northwest Umpires Association and was duly noted. Motion Roufs, seconded Hartmann, carried, to approve Andover and Coon Rapids Lagaters to join the Metro Minny League; they will be classified as C teams. Secretaries: league registration will be due April 1. Please comply to this notice as we need to know the number of teams in our sections and regions for our April 8 meeting. The next meeting of the MBA will be April 8 at O’Hara Bros. Pub, St. Cloud at 10 a.m. We will break for lunch at 11:30 a.m. All commissioners are invited. Material for your section and region will be handed out; we urge all commissioners to be there. Commissioners, please return your meeting card, if you plan to attend or not, by March 31. We need to know how many dinners to plan for. No further business to come before the board, motion Barry, seconded Hartmann, carried, to adjourn; adjournment at 4:40 p.m. Bob Zellmann, MBA Secretary Treasurer |