 |
Author |
TOPIC: What is the one thing you'd like to see changed? |
|
| DReid
August 15, 2006
2:36:15 PM
Entry #: 1621445
| For next year, if you had to get one REALISTIC thing changed, what would it be. I'm not talking about "Better umpires" because overall they did a good job this year and we only have so many available.
But one thing, anything about the league, field, etc.. What would you want to change. Please give me an idea as to why, how you would change it and pros and cons of doing so.
I'll try and respond to all of the ideas as to whether or not I think we can do it or if it's something I'm already working on.
Dan
|
|
| Lynx
August 15, 2006
3:20:56 PM
Entry #: 1621579
| Dan,
It would be nice to be able to water the entire infield before games to beat down some of the dust. I know you have discussed moving the fences back and making the base paths longer. Great job by everyone involved this season-officers, umpires, scorekeepers, and teams. You all have put Marion adult softball back on the right track. Thanks.
Chris
|
|
| DReid
August 15, 2006
4:54:35 PM
Entry #: 1621845
| I am personally having an irrigation system put in my front yard at the end of this month. I told the guy I'm gonna learn how to do it from him. I would LOVE to do what they did at Bartelso with the automatic system.
Have it come on at like 10 in the morning and soak the fields before the guys turn it up. Then maybe have it turn on like 3-4 minutes around 5:45 or something. I'm gonna shoot it past the park district this fall and see. If not, I'll get a tap on the bottom field and longer hoses for both of them.
Good idea.
|
|
|
August 15, 2006
5:50:55 PM
Entry #: 1621985
| how about a time limit on the games. There were many nights we would get out of there past 11
|
|
| DReid
August 16, 2006
12:06:12 AM
Entry #: 1622651
| Would that be something that everyone would really want? I was thinking about it but I'd hate for a game to be called because it was 22-21 after 6 innings after an hour and 10 minutes.
|
|
| Dan Frazee
August 16, 2006
9:51:32 AM
Entry #: 1623120
| I would like to see some improvements to the field especially around home plate. As far as the way the league has been ran, I am satisfied.
|
|
|
August 16, 2006
11:55:00 AM
Entry #: 1623468
| The time thing would be very nice. It really wasn't much fun to get home at 1130 or later and then be at work at 8AM on Tues. It would be nice that if the game starts at 6:15 and it is say 7:10, then let the team who is suppose to bat last be able to bat when it is their time, and then that be the game. Make sense??? Let's at least maybe try it and see how it works. I would think that the majority of teams would agree to this. Thanks for a great summer........looking forward to the fall!
|
|
| SOlson
August 16, 2006
2:17:42 PM
Entry #: 1623842
| If a time limit is imposed, no less than an hour and a half per game should be imposed.
|
|
| SOlson
August 16, 2006
2:24:51 PM
Entry #: 1623862
| I would like to see the rule in Co-ed changed about a guy being walked all the way to second if he walks, and then the girl behind him gets a choice to walk if there are two outs. It seems very confusing. Why not just walk a guy to first and then always give the girl behind him the option to walk?
|
|
| CStearns
August 16, 2006
2:31:45 PM
Entry #: 1623890
| I am thinking more like 1 hour and 15 min. Sorry Sam........
|
|
| DReid
August 16, 2006
4:28:42 PM
Entry #: 1624228
| Good stuff guys. The idea that I am looking into for the batter's boxes is to put batters boxes mats there. What we would do is to dig out and then put a thick rubber mat into the dirt that is covered with turf. Then we can rake dirt onto it and it will hold in the turf. This will keep the holes from being dug and will also keep water from puddling in those holes.
If we were to do a time limit, I think it would be an hour and 10 minutes. That way, the last game gets over before 11 at the worst case scenario.
|
|
| carson
August 16, 2006
4:33:04 PM
Entry #: 1624235
| i would like to see longer bases
|
|
|
August 16, 2006
10:19:46 PM
Entry #: 1624820
| would like to play tournament again. don't like new playoff. everything else seems to be going well. maybe drag fields little more. balls & bats are fine.
|
|
| DReid
August 16, 2006
11:42:46 PM
Entry #: 1624934
| The issue with having a tournament is simply one thing. Cost. Last year for instance, the league fee was I think $625. You got 18 games and a double elim tourney at the end of the year. So, you're guaranteed 20 games. This year, the cost was $630 and you got a flat 24 games. The biggest issue I heard was that people wanted to play more games, which is what we got. If we want to play 24 games and add a tournament, I don't care. BUT, you then have to add approximated $90 per team to the league fee.
For instance, if you have 8 teams in a division and have a double elim tourney, that gives you 15 games. 15 games x 2 teams per game = 30 team games. 30 team games divided by 8 teams = 3.75 games per team in a tournament. Now, you will have 2 teams that only play 2 games and 2 that will play 3, while the other 4 all play over the average.
So, a tournament is cost effective for the better teams in each division, but not for the weaker teams as they won't get as many games. That was a major issue coming into this year.
If people want something different for next year, please make sure to come to the meetings. There was probably on average 1 person for every 3 teams at the meetings before the year started.
Carson, some of the bases are 62 feet, some are 63.5 feet, etc... I'm going to find out what ASA is, which I think is 65 feet this weekend, and I'm going to have the Park District get all of them equal.
|
|
| KBeal
August 17, 2006
1:47:06 AM
Entry #: 1625005
| Well if you want to lower the cost and possibly add a league tournament at the end of the year, why dont each team supply there own core 44/375 balls next year. That way if give each team the choice of what price they want to pay for softballs. As far as score keepers goes, why not next year have teams supply the score keepers. What I mean is if you place at 615 & 715 then you have to have a score keeper stay for the 815 and 915 games. If you play the 815 and 915 games you have to have a player show up to keep score for the 615 and 715 games. I know that it might seem difficult to get people to show up, but leave it up to the managers of each team to get there score keepers there.
|
|
| Kbeal
August 17, 2006
1:48:35 AM
Entry #: 1625007
| Sorry guys I forgot I really cant type that well. Regardless I am sure that everyone got the idea of what I was trying to say.
|
|
| Ohney
August 18, 2006
10:50:44 AM
Entry #: 1627896
| our infields are terrible. They need to be capped with alot of limestone. First base and the pitcher mounds could be redone on both fields. Exellent League this year. Good job Dan and Co. Congrats Bud
|
| Cutsinger
August 21, 2006
3:40:47 PM
Entry #: 1632586
| I like the Idea of an hour and ten minute time limit. we really have to look at this because the late games are hard to keep players there that work the next morning early. I do like the idea of maybe having the team managers possibly getting scorekeepers. I think you did a great job this year Dan. We at Third Baptist were very pleased with everything. Looking forward to next year.
Brett
|
|
| DReid
August 21, 2006
7:24:00 PM
Entry #: 1633114
| The infield is one thing that we'll definately try to get changed. I'd like to get rid of the top 6 inches and bring in crushed clay and limestone, but we'll see.
Scorekeepers will stay. People would need access to put the stats in for the games which we couldn't do plus leaving this up to managers to do would be a HUGE headache for the people running the league.
|
|
| TClark
August 22, 2006
11:35:22 AM
Entry #: 1634307
| How about allowing stealing bases when the pitch crosses home plate? We enjoyed that part of the game in Champaign this year.
|
|
|
August 22, 2006
3:58:13 PM
Entry #: 1634939
| if we are thinking of setting a time limit.... then i dunno if stealing bases would help... just my opinion of course
|
|
| ernstein
August 23, 2006
12:24:31 PM
Entry #: 1636727
| a couple of things need implemented. teams get shuffled around from a to b to c division to easily. do like the european soccer leagues and if you finish in the basement two years in a row you get bumped down or if you win the division two years in a row you get bumped up. moving teams around on a year by year basis is not the answer. for instance. aisin men have always finished in the basement every year, they should be a c team. illinois state police got moved to c division but beat aisin all the time in years past, so how can aisin be a b team. in co-ed aisin won b division last year but only won a total of 3 games in the years past and got moved to a divison. the team that beat them in the city tournamet last year twice got moved down from a to b and killed everyone. this is just a few examples but there are many more on teams changing divisions to soon. just because you were good one year doesn't mean you are going to be good the next. oh buy the way how about that red and or yellow tube top of donna bakers, is that a size small.
|
|
| DReid
August 23, 2006
3:22:46 PM
Entry #: 1637335
| We will be doing things like that, but like I said at the beginning, we were starting over again. Plus, if teams forfeit and can't be there, it doesn't matter what division they are in. Aisin forfeited 4 games this year and still won 5 games.
Ill State police lost 7 games. You are going to have teams that win more than they lose and vice versa.
The only team that really stood out as being out of place was Baker Insurance. I didn't know much about Co-Ed at all and they said that they lost players and weren't going to be strong. They of course, will be in the upper division next year.
We tried to make things as even as we could, but it is NEVER going to work perfectly. But, I think things came pretty close to all being ok except for 1 or 2 teams.
|
|
|
August 23, 2006
5:19:04 PM
Entry #: 1637579
| I think a time limti would be bad. also i think the three divisions went very well this summer.
|
|
|
August 23, 2006
11:03:28 PM
Entry #: 1638190
| Time limit for sure some of these games got absolutely horrible with people looking for walks in slow pitch softball and games lasting till 11:30 at night, something has to be done.
|
|
| MIKE CROWE
August 24, 2006
11:55:36 PM
Entry #: 1640244
| .47 CORE 375 COMPRESSION BALLS ARE LEGAL IN ASA SO WHY CANT WE USE THEM. CAN WE REALLY MAKE AN ARGUMENT THAT WE SHOULDN'T USE THEM
|
|
| MIKE CROWE
August 25, 2006
12:01:50 AM
Entry #: 1640252
| OH I JUST REALIZED 47 CORE IS THE FEMALE BALL, MY MISTAKE. BUT, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO USE ANY ASA STAMPED SOFTBALL LIKE THE TRUMP GURU IT IS A MUCH BETTER BALL.
|
|
| DReid
August 25, 2006
9:34:38 AM
Entry #: 1640640
| If I'm not mistaken, the Guru is a USSSA ball. That balls cover is looser and is pulled much tighter than anything we've played with. That ball would just be ridiculously hot.
Here is my honest opinion about the balls, this doesn't come from what I'd like to hit, but it comes from what I feel softball is about.
The fields that we play on are not even 275'. Most of the parks now are 300-310. The top field measures 274' all the way around.
The balls shouldn't be changed so everyone can hit a homerun, that's not what softball is about. If people want to be able to hit more of them, then they have to work on their mechanics to learn how to hit the ball harder. But going to a harder ball just so people can have more hr's is not a good idea. Going to a harder ball will have much greater effects on ball distance and safety then by going to the NSA/USSSA bat list. There's not even any comparison.
Buy a video that teaches greater power. Look in the A league stats and try to get ahold of some of the guys with more HR's. Put a post up on here looking for people to hit with. There are a lot of things you can do to help yourself gain more homerun power and get the proper mechanics.
|
|
| DReid
August 25, 2006
9:42:45 AM
Entry #: 1640663
| Plus, you are looking at almost $30 more a dozen for those type softballs as you are for what we currently get.
|
|
| cw
August 25, 2006
12:19:36 PM
Entry #: 1641027
| that is true homeruns is not what softball is about. but, make sure that defense is factored in when choosing league mvps. not only should guys that don't hit homeruns buy instructional tapes on hitting, the HOMERUN GUYS should buy instructional tapes on defense. then we could really even out the playing field.
|
|
| DReid
August 26, 2006
12:58:37 AM
Entry #: 1642130
| 1) None of those guys stick out as being a defensive liability according to where they play.
2) There will not be any league MVP's this year.
|
|
|
August 28, 2006
10:14:59 AM
Entry #: 1644968
| why in your summer tournaments do you play bring your own ball or allow other federations bats. if you are so worried about someone getting hurt or because of short fences why do you hold tournaments that are open to better balls and bats. also, the skill level of the players that come to these tournaments is at a high level, so better chance of someone getting hurt. i don't get it league play cant use certain asa sanctioned balls but money tournament can use what ever 44 core ball they want and bat. doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
|
|
| DReid
August 28, 2006
12:35:13 PM
Entry #: 1645348
| The reason that I did that was to not limit teams that wanted to come. Believe it or not, most leagues/tournaments are not ASA anymore. ASA, this is just my opinion which seems to be shared by the majority of the softball world, is ran by a group of old guys who are completely out of touch with slowpitch softball now. They are MUCH more focused on things like girls fastpitch. The majority of tournaments that you will play in if you play weekend tournament ball are hit your own 44 cor ball and they use the NSA/USSSA bat list. If I would have said that it was only ASA bats and only 44/375 balls, then I would have probably have had 5-6 less teams in the tournament.
I, personally, held the tournament. The tournament was not associated with the league so league rules did not apply. Only the rules that I set as tournament rules.
I personally am not that worried about people (pitchers) getting hurt. Most of the pitchers who played in the tournament are guys who can field the middle and know that if they throw a pitch outside that they had better start backing up.
Hopefully this helps it make sense to you.
|
