Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting

January 15, 2020

6:30 p.m. – Biba’s Restaurant

 

In Attendance – Floyd Dembo, President; Bob Morrison, Past President; Doris Warpole, Secretary; Ron Petre, American League Commissioner; Rick Rhodes, National League Commissioner; Gary Mastrodonato, Team Sponsorship/Past President; Harvey Schulman, AL Member at Large; Eurskine Lyons, NL Member at Large

 

Final 2019 Financial Statement - Mike did not attend the meeting.  Floyd asked about getting copies of the last 3 years financial statements.  Doris will send 2017-2019 income statements that she has from the annual meetings and ask Mike about sending the 2017-2019 balance sheets to Floyd.

 

Online Payment Option for First Half –  Doris restated to John and Mike that members would be paying the online payment fee.  This was told to members at the 2018 and 2019 Annual Meetings.  John updated the online registration form to include an option to pay online with the processing fee included.  For example, a member signing up for the first half for $128 would choose the online option and pay $132.13. 

 

Board members wanted verification that the league is getting the full payment from online payment vendor (PayPal $128 for First Half) for a member.  Floyd said he would follow up with Mike about getting a statement (whether it would be from PayPal and/or league bank statement) showing we are getting the full payment. 

 

Insurance ($1,095 in 2017, 2018 and 2019) – Floyd will follow up with SSUSA about getting insurance for 13 teams again.  He will ask to get the insurance certificates by end of January so Doris can send copies to Gwinnett County. 

• SSUSA Team Insurance: $40/team - $520 (2016-2020 for 13 teams)
• Directors and Officers Liability Insurance (Mike) – 2017 - 2020 $575; 2016 - $558 – Mike will bgetting the D&O liability insurance and sending confirmation to Floyd and Doris confirming the cost for 2020. 

Application Form / League Fees

• No change in League Fees ($30 member fee, $98 per season fee)
• Add deadline for first half for February 21 and second half for June 18
• Add Online Payment Registration available (Some players will still use league form and mail in league fees via check)

First Half Season - Start date March 16 (AL) / 24 (NL)

• Deadline to sign up Feb 21
• Draft – AL Tues (March 3)
• Draft – NL Wed (March 4)
• American League – March 16 thru June (Memorial Day – Monday May 25) -- Managers for 2020 – Chuck Williams, Sergio Sencion, Clif Parker, Chris Bolden, Craig Pippin and Ed McVeigh.
• National League – March 24 to June -- NL Spring Training tournament March 17 and 19 -- Managers for 2020 – Bert Sosnine, Wesley Medford, Nate Henry, Don Buckner, Jim Hannah, and Tommy Wiggins
• Ron said his managers asked if they could have a list of members (names, phone numbers, email addresses) from the last 2 years showing who played/not played so they could contact players to encourage them to sign up for First and/Second Half.

Softballs (Ron/Eurskine)

• Ron and Eurskine are looking at purchasing softballs through 80 Star (depending on the ball covers - composite or synthetic - the cost per dozen would range $36 to $45).
• National league - 52/300; American league - 44/375
• Change rule 3.5 Softballs to: Only MASSL approved softballs shall be used.  League Commissioners would be the approving authority on which softballs will be used.
• Decision was made not to purchase softballs for the year – no place to store them. 
• Per Eurskine/Ron, 80 Star will allow us to purchase a partial shipment and when needed re-order the remaining dozens.

New Equipment

• 4 New Pitcher Masks already purchased thru Mizuno and in Concession Room
• Per Ken Packman and Jim Hannah - New pitching machine is not needed at this time
• Wind Screens for both fields – Doris will follow up with Ed Davis to find out where he purchased the last wind screen for the baseball field.  Eurskine will also follow up with his vendors to get a quote for 2 wind screens.  Gwinnett County will install when they come in.

Suggestions / Rule Changes discussed at Annual Meeting – Board had already reviewed and approved changes suggested by Rick and Eurskine at November Board meeting.  No new rules were approved to be added from the Annual Meeting.

 

All players will be contacted via Calling Post on game day about cancellation due to rain or adverse weather conditions (heat index, etc).  NOTE: League website will be updated with change from rain out to adverse weather conditions.

 

Both Leagues

• 4.1 Extra Player – Current rule - Each player must play one complete game on defense, defined as half the total number of defensive innings played, minus one if the total number of defensive innings is odd. Add Players may not elect to only bat and not play the equivalent of one game on defense.

National League

• 7.2 Courtesy Runners - Change - No runner allowed from home plate for batter.

Any SSUSA Rule Changes / Disapproved Bats (Eurskine) – No changes – All bats must be BPF of 1.21 or less.

 

One Pitch Annual Players Memorial Tournament

• Schedule for the third week in September 21

American League Playoff Tournament between Seasons or end of Season - top 3 teams and bottom 3 teams

• Ron’s call – depends on the rainouts during the year.

End of Year Party at Best Friend Park (BBQ by Danny Gershwin, etc)

• Managers can ask players during second half if they would be interested.  If yes, it can be set up later.

Meeting with Gwinnett County – January 10^th

• No increase in out of county or light fees for 2020. (per Stacy Fowler)

Team Sponsors (Gary)  

• Doris has received checks from DigiPrint and VFW.
• Gary has enough returning sponsors for 12 teams with 2 new sponsors in the wings
• Try to keep Sponsors on the team they sponsor to be discussed at draft

Annual Meeting Feedback

• 70 Members Attended – 33% of Active Paying Membership
• This was the lowest number of members attending in that last 5 years.
• There was not any feedback from members about the meeting.

Annual Bert McDade Gwinnett Stripers Night Out (Gary)  

• Set up for Saturday, June 6 (give away night)
• $11 per ticket – same section as last 3 years.
• $100 deposit will need to be paid by League

Hats, shirts, water bottles, etc for championship teams

• Bob said that the majority of players didn’t seem to care if they got anything. Only a few players asked about second half championship shirts.  Clif Parker bought his team shirts.
• Hats purchased for second half winners were not well received.
• Board decided not to do anything for championship teams unless players said anything.

2020 Nights of Play and Field Specs

• Permits requested and received from Terra Branch, Best Friend Park Representative.
• Meeting to be set up with Park Foreman in early February to go over field specs.

Other Organizations Using Best Friend Fields

• Baseball field – Korean baseball league - Sunday afternoons and Friday nights for rain outs
• Softball field – Cricket league - Sunday morning