[Alsfastball] Respone to Master's Leagues

[Al Doran]

From: "Rick Boyd" <rdboyd at rogers.com>
To: "Al" <fastball at pmihrm.com>
Subject: Respone to Master's Leagues
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 20:44:35 -0400


I would like to throw in my two cents in regards to Dave Bernie's post on 
Master's Fastball in North America.

Age Limit:
I believe the 35 age limit for position players was the thing to do a few 
years ago to get this great division off the ground in Ontario .But I think 
it has served it's purpose, and it is now time to have it become 40 across 
the board. It seems from the teams I have seen that most in Ontario are 
becoming a little longer in the tooth, and some players are loosing their 
spots to the younger old guys in the 35- 39 age bracket...I agree with the 
comment that 35 -39 year olds are still in the their prime and should still 
be playing Intermediate....If for one reason or another the powers to be do 
decided to allow the younger guys to play, then I think two divisions would 
and should be necessary.

Pitchers:

If we don't want to spoil the master's division in the very near future, we 
need to keep ISC type pitchers in the ISC type leagues where they belong. 
They are gifted athlete's and should play in their own caliber, and keep 
the master's division what it was formed to be, Fun, Competitive, 
Challenging, but not overwhelming, and not have pitchers striking out 15 - 
17 batters a game..What fun is that for the opposing team. I'm a believer 
that masters age players want to get a hit or two a game, field some balls, 
catch some fly's, and have a beer after the game with not only their own 
team, but the other teams as well, and maybe even brag a bit about the hit 
they got......One suggestion I would have is that pitchers need to make a 
decision on what caliber ball they play...Either  ISC or Master's ...one or 
the other , not both.  and to take it a step further, perhaps even have  a 
rule that an ISC pitcher has to sit out a year after pitching ISC before he 
is eligible to pitch in the Master's leagues. (lots of  Intermediate 
leagues even had that rule years back).

And my biggest concern is that one day ( and I can see it coming already) 
is that people out there are going to start "paying" pitchers and or 
players to play for their MASTERS teams...putting all star type teams 
together etc etc....Let's not do this people...everybody has seen what it 
has done to the Senior ISC loop...and it is now becoming increasingly 
evident it is starting to happen in the ISC II level, which is a real 
shame!..Let's watch and learn what happens in the worlds in Edmonton next 
summer in regards to this..and if it doesn't..I'll be happy to bite my 
tongue...but although I'm speculating, that is the reason I'm not putting a 
team together to go to Edmonton.

If there was one fine example of competitiveness, and camaraderie, it was 
when our team played in the AMG (Australian Master's Games) last October, 
well run, no super stars that shouldn't have been there. I know it is easy 
to say that when we came away with a gold medal ( with not one so called 
super star or ISC player on our team, just a bunch of 40 year olds and 
older, that still enjoy the game, and like to play against teams our 
caliber) I would have made that comment had we finished last!  And above 
all, everybody PAID THEIR OWN WAY...For one simple reason...THE LOVE OF THE 
GAME!

Having said that we are making plans to go to the Vintage games in Hawaii, 
hoping and keeping our fingers crossed that it is the caliber of Australia, 
and they don't allow ISC type players and pitchers.

Just my opinion..and food for thought

Rick Boyd

  From: "Rick Boyd" <rdboyd at rogers.com>





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