My opinion

Good game today Roger!

Opinions always matter if for no other reason to bring things up for discussion. I can say that the All-Star Game was, in a sense, me and Josh's fault because we were talking about it for weeks before we actually brought it up to Bill and Beau and we should have mentioned it sooner.

I hope to see you this next week at the game and I didn't know the left field fence was further back than right. If I had known that I could have talked trash to my lefty teammate all season reminding him that he had not only an advantage against every pitcher being a righty, pretty much, but we had to hit the ball to Death Valley in the old Yankee Stadium. Then again, I gave up a deep fly ball that my teammate Holly caught over the fence in deep left saving a homerun against the Pink Flamingos. If I had given up that homer, I may actually have been mentally scarred for the entire season so maybe it equals out in the end.

Seriously, though, great games today you guys had and I would also agree with you about the great job on the website Bill and Beau put together, as well as all the stat work that goes into it. If you can't make it next week, have a good rest of the year and I will see you next year.

Thanks for the feedback, Roger. I'll post a long reply to all of your suggestions later in the week, but I have playoff summaries and a column to get working on.

I will say, though, that you are incorrect about the field dimensions. The field is nearly symmetrical. "Nearly" because Beau and I messed up just a little.

Left Field Line: 103
Left Center: 112
Dead Center: 109
Right Center: 113
Right Field Line: 103

If anybody would like to question these, I'm willing to come to the field to measure with you, and I'll drop a twenty dollar bill into your hand if any measurement is off by more than one foot. If they're accurate, I get a cheese and mushroom frittata and coffee at Junie G's.

All,
I completely agree that Beau and Bill have done a fantastic job with overseeing the league and website. The level of competition by season's end was fair and most of all, FUN! I would have no issue if the rules stayed exactly as they are.

Here is one thing that I would suggest a change to, ball scuffing. I have no issue that pitchers can scuff the ball. It helps with the overall quality and control of pitching. But if the same ball is used for multiple games/weeks in a row, with pitchers consistently hitting the wood strike zone at 65+ mph, the ball gets soft and deteriorates. Not to the point that it will crack and obviously be no longer usable, but to the point where when solid contact is made by the batter, a home run dies into a fly ball, or a possible double flutters to become a single.

My suggestion would be that each pitcher that week would be issued a new ball prior to their double header, at which time they can scuff/ modify within the rules before gameplay, and given ample time to practice. This would be more costly I realize, but in my opinion would be worth it.

I would even propose a slightly larger strike zone to go along with this so it evens it out, in terms of batter/pitcher advantage.

Also, maybe a 2nd strike zone can be made and put beyond the outfield fence as a bullpen; it could help speed up time inbetween games.

Hank, does that mean that if you didn't win you would have been a sore loser?

Sorry. I never met a stupid pun I didn't like.

Roger,

I’ll try to address your concerns in the order you brought them up:

First off, if we didn’t care about people’s opinion, we wouldn’t be asking people to post their thoughts on this forum. I am thrilled by this sudden burst of forum activity. Even if only 10% of suggestions ever lead to anything, that still makes the SRL better.

There are some areas where Beau and I will never change. We’ve invested too much into the league to allow it to become something we don’t enjoy. For example, base running (many leagues do not run the bases) and fast pitch are areas we will not consider altering.

But there are areas where we can be convinced of change. Hank and Josh proposed that starting pitchers should be allowed to leave and reenter the game. We disagreed initially, but their reasoning was solid—give another pitcher experience without fear of blowing the game. We are working on the language to avoid the possibility for exploitation of the rule, but this is something we will be altering for next season.

People in the SRL are not going to find you funny as long as you play on the Jabronis where you are forced to live in the shadow of Ryan Carr. Sorry, but he steals the show. If you want to be funny, reform the Pink Flamingos and you could be a riot. If you want to win a championship, remain with the Jabronis and play second fiddle to Ryan in the chuckles department.

I don’t expect the Washout to dominate next year either. I think both matchups from round one of the playoffs are a better indication of what next year will be like. I addressed it in my last column and my reply to Josh; we had far more experience than any other team and it was going to take time for the rest of the league to catch up. That has now happened.

You have to trust me on this—umpiring creates arguments. There have been virtually no arguments on close calls this year. They always resolve themselves peacefully, and the correct call is usually made. I have only noticed one player who is always biased towards calls for his own team, but that’s an issue for another day.

It is going to be impossible for the ump(s) to get a clear angle on every play. Many will get the call wrong or guess. If we then discuss it, then there was no point of having them in the first place. Also, umps actually take away the responsibility of being honest. As is, if I dive for a ball in the outfield and trap it, I’m going to say I trapped it. If there’s an umpire, I’m going to jump up making like I caught it. If you think you’re out at second on a close play and you’re called safe, are you really going to argue the call?

When we’re not in the game, Beau and I usually let the players decide. If they’re at an impasse and we feel we have the angle, then we (or another responsible spectator) will make the call.

Case in point: With one out and two strikes with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth in our playoff game, Beau fouled back a ball that we thought might or might not have hit the backstop for a strikeout. The situation doesn’t get much bigger than this. An umpire, no matter where he might be positioned, would have had a poor angle. Most umps are going to make a call based on how they see it. If you hesitate or ask for help, then why are you there? Adam Klomchok, who was keeping the scorebook, had by far the best angle on that play. He called Beau out, and everyone was satisfied with that.

I would also not want people put in the position where their integrity could be called into question. It is possible that the game you’re umpiring could have a direct impact on the standing of your own team. You might have to make a close call that benefits your own team.

As far as a longer season and longer games go, I would love to play more, but the calendar just does not allow for it. The season begins around the time college ends and ends when people head off to college. Starting sooner and ending later would make the league unattractive for college students. As it is, you will miss the All-Star game and Dan Rish will miss the World Series because of college.

Think of the season as a finite number of timeslots. Beau assigns a number to each slot and knows exactly how many games can be played. It allows for a couple of games cancelled because of harsh weather. It also considers byes because it is too much to expect every team to be there every week. Plus, with an odd number of teams, there must be a bye every week.

Nine is the optimum number of teams for a balanced twenty game schedule in the number of time slots we have. Even if a few slots existed, if we added a game or two for each team, the schedule would no longer be balanced and a team could gain an advantage by having a weaker schedule. What if the Jabronis lost the Mountain Division because the Purple Cobras played an extra series against the Pink Flamingos while you had to face the Washout again?

If you want to go nine innings, the only viable option is to begin at 8:00. I know some people were not fans of beginning at 10:00, but it is the only way to play the required number of games. I don’t think starting two hours earlier would go over too well. My advice for people who want to play more is to join the Modrovsky Park League which is what a group of us did this year.

I’m not sure what you mean by the “pinch hitter” rule, but if you mean that a hitter can move around the lineup within a game, we would be 100% against this. If you mean that a player currently not in the lineup can enter at any time to bat, this is something we can consider.

As Hank already pointed out, he and Josh gave us that idea for the All-Star game well past the mid-point of the season. The problem with having it at mid-season, though, goes back to that timeslot problem. We would have to sacrifice games at an optimal time in the season to do it, making it difficult to fit in our ninety regular season games. On World Series day, there are only three games scheduled and the timeslots are there. We’ll see how it goes Sunday, but making a day of it with the home run derby, All-Star game, World Series, and awards ceremony sounds like it’s going to make for a fun day. If we were only playing the World Series, I don’t think as many people would be excited about the day.

I think having teams in the SRL and Modrovsky competing is a good idea, and I think Luke would like it too. The only issue is that there are some people, like myself, who play in both leagues.
We REALLY WANT TO send a team to Ohio next year. I hope you are on board with us on that one.

So, here is your 1,200+ word reply. Thanks for your opinions and your compliments.

Bill,

Josh simply bought one of the cheap pitching, bounce-back nets from Walmart. He taped the zone with red tape and that is what we use when we play now. All he does is hammer stakes with hooks into the ground and prop the net up onto them. It takes him about 5 minutes to set up, which gives us ample time to ask him why he is taking so long.

Ask him about it Sunday and I am sure he will be happy to show you. He could even bring it down to let people warm up for the All-Star Game if you like. Just have Beau text me if your interested and we will drop it off before we walk down Sunday.

I also love the idea of playing more, but I don't believe that the schedule could be expanded upon without it being a detrement to the quality of the league. This season, we started on May 19th and ended on August 18th. I don't really see how we can expand the season anymore without losing out on a major portion of a target demographic. It would be impossible to expand the season without making major changes to the manner in which the schedule is set up.

As it stands, we have fourteen Sundays in which to play games. Reserving the final two Sundays for the postseason gives us twelve days in which to play ninety regular season games. Scheduling from 10:00AM to 8PM with 2 and 1/2 hours per doubleheader (a length that I would feel uncomfortable shortening) gives us 96 total time slots in which to play 90 games. To expand the season, we would have to do one of the following:

1) Start earlier in the day.
2) Start the season earlier and/or end later.
3) Add non-Sunday games.

I do not believe that any of these things can be attained without having a negative impact on the level of competition and the reliability of teams.

As for having the All-Star game midseason, time is a concern, but it is not the only one that I have. If the All-Star selections are only based upon half of the season (before all teams have had the chance to play a full balanced schedule), then I would not feel comfortable considering it a career award. Since it is based upon an entire season of play, the All-Star selections are, in the league's opinion, the eighteen best players of the 2013 season and I feel that that is something for those who were selected to take pride in.

Bill,
If you were thinking of a mobile secondary strike zone to use to warm up, I do have the zone that my team uses for practices. It's lightweight and although it isn't the exact size of the official strike zone, I feel as though it could be useful in warming a pitcher up.