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TOPIC: State Tournament? |
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| Stu99
July 6, 2007
3:34:21 PM
Entry #: 2248197
| So whats the status of the State Tourney and Parade?
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| Chris
July 10, 2007
4:01:11 PM
Entry #: 2254485
| Latest on the State Tournament, based on information today, Thursday thru Sunday (first weekend) will be at Veterans Field in Minnetonka, Tuesday and Wednesday will be at Midway, and Thursday through Sunday (second weekend) will be possibly at Shakopee or maybe even Seibert. Chaska has said no, Shakopee is excited since they host the "B" tournament next year. Seibert may get priced out since the money will go to the general college fund instead of to just the baseball fund.
Final weekend is still up in the air.
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| hurto
July 10, 2007
7:37:05 PM
Entry #: 2254887
| Veterans field is a joke! 350 ft. to center and 315 down the lines. Can we please play on normal field?
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| files
July 10, 2007
8:16:10 PM
Entry #: 2254938
| Big enough for wood, aint it Mr. Ruth?
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| hurto
July 11, 2007
3:54:27 PM
Entry #: 2256484
| Not big enough for Minnetonka!!!!! They will kill in a small park.
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| rickybergman
July 11, 2007
4:36:48 PM
Entry #: 2256589
| Chris can you explain further about Seibert?
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| Chris
July 12, 2007
9:48:44 AM
Entry #: 2257841
| Hurto, you're thinking of Big Willow. Veterans is (I think) 320' lines 360' alleys 380' center.
It looks like the final weekend will be at Shakopee, they want to do it. Seibert is pretty much out of the running since we would not be working with the baseball program.
Shakopee will be a great place to play despite the drive for many guys. Obviously we are hoping for something closer next year, but this is better than the single elimination tournament proposed initially to cut cost.
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| Stu99
July 12, 2007
10:38:49 PM
Entry #: 2259272
| Why does it matter if the money goes to the baseball team? Siebert is the best field that nobody plays on in the summer. I think it would be great to play there. No team would have home field advantage such as Minnetonka would playing at their home field. If teams took a vote I bet they would all pick Siebert. I've never played at Shakopees' field I'm sure it is a nice field but it's way out of the way for most teams in "A" ball. All teams should contact there commishiner's and tell them to take another look at Siebert.
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| orlandoorlando
July 13, 2007
1:36:16 PM
Entry #: 2260258
| Has Minnetonka already qualified for the state tournament?
What if some 9th seeded teams stud pitcher throws back to back gems on consecutive days to knock them off?
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| Chris
July 13, 2007
2:57:00 PM
Entry #: 2260443
| Minnetonka has not qualified for state no one has from the Riverview. Currently they are tied for first with St. Louis Park, Hopkins will finish third. The rest of the league is up in the air, but the Bulldogs or Eden Prairie will finish 4th the other 5th. Park and Tonka will play Thursday for the #1 seed in the Riverview playoffs. All Riverview teams play in the playoffs there are no automatic qualifiers.
Playing at veterans field does not give Tonka an unfair advantage, it might give Commanding Edge because they are probably the fastest team and have solid defense (i.e.: range).
What matters about the fact that the UofM baseball program is not receiving the money is the the general college fund will charge A LOT more because the pool of money will get divided up amoungst many other things, and financially they are in the business of making money, not supporting baseball. The baseball program will ask for a nominal fee to cover their costs. Seibert may be more expensive than Parade. None of this has been determined as factual but is what is anticipated. Seibert is NOT out of the picture (to my knowledge) just not likely.
Calling your commissioner won't do a damn thing. Not to sound like a complete ass, my facts may not be 100% accurate, but what I know and am being told is the Riverview teams upped their league fee to cover additional costs for the state tournament as did the Park National, but the St. Paul leagues have done nothing to financially support the efforts that mostly Matt Laskota and Shawn Velleck are doing. The Park National and Riverview commissioners respectively.
Feel free to correct me if my statement isn't right. I don't care to drive to Shakopee either but I'd rather do that than not play at all.
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| Stu99
July 13, 2007
3:40:19 PM
Entry #: 2260532
| Anybody try to get some major sponsors for the State Tournament? Seems it would be worth a shot.
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| files
July 14, 2007
12:03:13 AM
Entry #: 2261204
| Let's look to pressure St Paul and Skyline to ante up to split the efforts made to run the tourney. I'm at a loss to understand why 1) the St PaulSkyline commissioner don't ASK about costs, and 2) why the Riverview/Mpls commissioners don't TELL about the costs involved. Act like men and SPLIT it four ways???? Don't these four speak at all during the offseason?
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| Chris
July 16, 2007
3:33:57 PM
Entry #: 2264896
| There have been several proposals looking for additional funds including ones from Ray Noble and Matt Loskota. The Riverview has each team pay more and then there are advertisements sold in the program.
The St. Paul/Skyline commissioners do know the cost and are in constant discussion with the Riverview/Park National comissioners. This may seem like a slapped together tournament, but preparation begins nearly immediately after the season begins and formal discussion start in January. I know I have been to several of them. ANY and ALL help to raise money by groups or individual contributors will be received with open arms.
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| Chris
July 17, 2007
2:02:42 PM
Entry #: 2266757
| Looks like McGuire might be in the mix now for a day or two. I'll keep you posted.
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| rickybergman
July 17, 2007
2:32:13 PM
Entry #: 2266832
| as someone who has been lucky enough to be on a few state tournaments in class B, and has also made a class A tourney...I must say that they are worlds apart--however, I will contend the best teams in the state can be found in class A every year.
Class A = good teams and great ball. deeper field of competition. no dumb draft rule.
Class B = great production (emaculant fields, starting lineups introduced, national anthems, beer gardens). great ballparks. great crowd. good teams and good ball. lacks deeper field of competition. dumb draft rule.
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| Chris
July 17, 2007
3:07:02 PM
Entry #: 2266901
| The big difference is in organization of the cities hosting the tournament. Minneaoplis could care less about hosting and this year charged us a $hit load to play. For Class B & C their are formal presentations yeas in advance.
In my opinion the best place to play a baseball game is a night game at Parade Stadium, no comparision. Not the best playing surface but easily the best backdrop.
Also as far as attendence goes Class A draws the equivalent or more than Class B if the host team is eliminated early. Class C draws considerably more than A & B combined. That's why there is discussion by the State Board of bring the A & B tournaments together again, because the draw for B has been falling off for years. Jordans host year was outstanding, but the next solid year of Class B attendence was Chaska's runner-up year.
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| Chris
July 17, 2007
3:21:04 PM
Entry #: 2266938
| Here's a question for everyone. Does anyone know someone who works for Johnson Bros. or some other liquor distributor who might be willing to sponsor the tourmanemt at Parade Stadium? We need about $2,000.
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| ClassA
July 17, 2007
10:26:59 PM
Entry #: 2267699
| Chris-
You sure know a lot about the state tournament. Is there a bracket out yet? Like what riverview seed plays what st. paul league seed. Vice versa.
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| bleacher_bum
July 18, 2007
10:57:10 AM
Entry #: 2268424
| Hit up the Mauer family for some $$$.
The Baby Jesus donated a bunch of money for football uniforms for a recnt high school All-Star Game.
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| rickybergman
July 18, 2007
1:36:21 PM
Entry #: 2268789
| the biggest problem with parade is that no one benefits from it being used. no doubt of the great background, but where does the money go for the tournament? my guess is biggest % goes to mpls city.
the reason people volunteer and pitch in time at the class B tourney's is because its basically a HUGE fundraiser for them. I don't know where you get the attendance numbers, and they could be correct, but just from a quick eye glance from being at both last year-- those numbers could not have been close. not to mention with beer gardens and general concessions these B hosts make out great. I would be shocked to see if those numbers are the same. from what i've seen, the profits go right back into the fields and improve minnesota baseball. That is why so many teams/towns apply to host.
perhaps class A ball would benefit from moving the first round or two of the state tournament to different venues each year (with teams running the operations) and having only the final four or just championship game at parade. This way the money goes back to atleast one team/field per year instead of the city of Mpls making out like bandits.
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| Chris
July 18, 2007
2:03:34 PM
Entry #: 2268853
| MPLS get's almost all of it.
It goes to my argument that Red Wing a host team made the final weekend which is huge and Rochester Royals won class A with Rochester Blues finishing second in Class C. Those drives are not that far for a community that will follow it's team. The tournament probably would have been better if Roch could have held on as the host site too.
The state board uses the entire tourament (B & C) for their numbers and majority go to C, most seasons. This is one of the reasons they reduced the number of games played (2 weekends instead of 3) and have sited attendance reductions in their meeting minutes. I believe they are going to single elimition the first round down from 16 to 8 teams this year and next and single elimination for the entire tournament in 2009. This make no sense to me, but a way to save on cost.
Your statement about hosting the tournament is 100% accurate but who's gonna run it in the cities there's to much going on, that's Class A's problem.
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| SharkBite
July 18, 2007
2:03:34 PM
Entry #: 2268854
| Although it would be a shame to have several sites for the state tournament, I think Ricky makes a great point.
Having the "final 4 games" or however many at Parade might be a good solution.
This solution would sacrifice the opportunity of teams to experience the great atmosphere, backdrop and centrally located field of parade.
Attendance would suffer because no one wants to drive around town to different venues to watch games.
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| Chris
July 18, 2007
2:15:48 PM
Entry #: 2268881
| From what I understand there would be liquor license issues with only one weekend.
FYI - from the Board Meeting minutes:
They discussed the possibility of a change in the format for the tournament and being that these three sites have already been awarded a two site tournament, they would like their viewpoint, should any changes be made.
The board pointed out that attendance has been declining the past few years, reasons we don’t know, but consensus around the state is, to eliminate Thursday and Sunday evening games and to do this you would have to use a third site, and in some cases, a fourth site.
Another way would be to eliminate the number of games played. This wouldn’t solve all the problems but it would cut back some.
There were six proposals presented; tournament sites left the room to discuss these proposals. When they returned they told the board they would like to stay with the two-site tournament as they felt they have too much invested in their parks to make any changes.
After a lengthy discussion a motion by Forsman, seconded Rademacher, that we adopt proposal “D” in 2007, “D” in 2008 and “F” in 2009. (Proposal “D” would leave the tournament at two sites: Class “B” - 16 teams, double elimination after eight teams; Class “C” - 32 teams, double elimination after four teams, total games - 56)
(Proposal “F” - would leave the tournament at two sites: Class “B” - 16 teams, single elimination; Class “C” - 32 teams, single elimination, total games - 46).
Voting for the motion-Richter, Wegscheid, Rademacher, Brennan, Forsman, Zollmann. Voting against Hartmann, Roufs, Barry. Motion carried 6-3.
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| Chris
July 19, 2007
1:24:56 PM
Entry #: 2270975
| Final weekend (Thur - Sun) will be at Shakopee.
First weekend Sunday split at Veterans and McGuire.
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| splitter
July 19, 2007
2:54:21 PM
Entry #: 2271208
| The crap about the St. Paul teams not putting up extra $$$$ for the state tourny is crap. We already have a site, Midway, that doesn't rape teams for playing games there. Midway is there for the using every year without problems. I understand the Parade situation with all the liberals who would rather see a painting by Picasso than a good ball game, but thats the way it is. Why go to Shakopee or Minnetonka in the far west of the metro? You can't even drink @ Tonka because it's a high school and that's 50% of the fun of playing amatuer baseball. Tonka has won 8 of the last 10-12 state tourny's....so lets give them more of an advantage by letting them play at thier home field? I know for a fact if the state tourny were being considered for Stillwater, Woodbury, Forest Lake(eastern metro area), etc. teams in the west that control everthing (SLP, Tonka, etc) would have a cow. This whole process is a joke. We are amatuer baseball. lets accept the fact that we are not going to raise any money off the state tourny because people other than the players and thier families are the only ones who cares about the results of our games. Lets use our heads and find a couple of sites that are FAIR to every league involved. The class A amatuer baseball world does not revolve around a couple of teams that feel they are superior to everyone else.
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| rickybergman
July 19, 2007
3:51:56 PM
Entry #: 2271367
| Don't hate on us because we win and have a field to offer...thats some pretty ridiculous arguments.
"whah, whah, whah....I have to travel all the way to Minnetonka"
In class B or C, you could travel 2-3 times that distance easily depending on the site of the tourney. Stop whining! If you want to play at Parade, then step up and pay for it.
I believe there is a conflict with Midway on the dates of the state tournament final weekend if I'm not mistaken. Kinda hard to ask the Saints to let us play over them.
If you go back to a previous post of mine, IMO we really should rotate the first weekend at one or two local fields (so money can go to those fields/programs), and have the final weekend at a more premier nuetral field such as Midway or Parade.
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| Chris
July 19, 2007
4:03:09 PM
Entry #: 2271395
| You're certainly entitled to the wrong opinion. But the St. Paul league brings Midway for two days this year and the Skyline is now providing some money and McGuire Field. Splitter you have no idea how much time and effort guys put into this for the teams that are fortunate enough to make the tournament.
I'm not sure how Veterans Field helps Minnetonka or us (SLP) and we certainly don't believe we're superior to anyone. I'm not sure who the hell you are, but you definitely don't know me or us.
It's easy to sit on a website and spout off about this, that, and the other thing, but until your willing to lend a hand a simple "thank you for your time" would be appreciated. Had you secured anyone of your fields from Stillwater west if we qualified we'd be happy to make the commute. Don't make unfounded accusations.
It would have cost nearly $10,000 dollars to play at Parade up front ($4,000 for the umpires, $4,800 for the field alone, plus concessions which need to be bought from the city of Mpls, plus balls, plus up front costs for shirts and programs). Certainly there would have been some profit from concessions and the gate (20% back to the city), but no where near $10,000.
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| orlandoorlando
July 19, 2007
9:23:58 PM
Entry #: 2272035
| Chris and RickyB are right on point here. Whoever said that "we need to remember this is amateur baseball and the only people who care are us and our families..." is Waaaay off base. While it is true that this is amateur baseball and we all pay too much money to play, it is still an honor to battle through the playoffs and secure a spot in a potentially gruelling state tournament. There is great baseball played at the state tournament. If the people who take time away from their families to make class A baseball and the tournament run in an organized fashion all hail from "the west..." so be it. Step up and contribute before you jaw jack and whine about it in a public forum.
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