The snow has fallen,the temperature turned and bats and balls have been stored away for some time. Burby may or may not be in the fore front of the players minds at the moment, but some fine tuning is in order before another great TBL season is upon us.

 

Being only 3 season's old, the league always encounters new situations that either has no rules or has not been clarified. Case in point a playoff phone call from Derek Young of the Rockets asking about a ball that initially hits fair into the tree's but lands foul. It was deemed fair but having this clarification on paper would have helped. Or the question asked by Jason Darby of the Bears about possible 3 way ties in the standings and how to break them. Or the many times I get calls about rules and regulations that ARE in place but were not referred to on the website. Having a nicely laminated rule sheet will be a must for managers next season.

 

These and many more situations will be discussed at the upcoming Winter meetings. As always the meetings are not meant to totally reshape the face of the league but rather smooth it out.

Below are some of the topics to be discussed.

 

- making a play on a ball in foul territory

 

-tie breaking standing solutions

 

-lengthening playoff games

 

-re clarifying the tree rules for individual parks

 

-designating the same boundaries for each park

 

-managers deeds and duties

 

-award voting etiquette

 

-a forfeit and it's impact

 

A Clarifying of the Tree rule is in order....yet again.

 

 

In the past years all TBL members have chimed in on rules and regulations over a bevy of beers. This year will present a more structured process that mirrors the MLB.

On the day of, only the managers of each team will be voting and discussing operations. This should take a couple of hours.

 

Directly after the rest of the league will participate in 2013 kick off celebrations at a location to be announced. Here we will meet new members and reconnect with old Burby colleagues. We will drink from large goblets and remember battles of Burby past. We will laugh out loud and have strange women in our laps. Or something like that. Either way it should be a fun day all around.

So get your bats polished and your balls shined and when she's done, head over to the 3rd annual Winter meetings on Saturday March 9th.

 

Commish