kenbradford@comcast.net, Ken Bradford

sporinsky.1@nd.edu, Steve Sporinsky

debmarkwit@comcast.net, Mark Witkowski

akroemer@sbcsc.k12.in.us, Adam Kroemer

stevenlatzke@gmail.com, Steve Latzke

New Facebook page

We’ve established a new Facebook page – South Bend/Michiana Senior Softball. We’re just starting to fill it with content of interest to newcomers. Eventually, we’ll be using it to provide quick updates or reminders on league events.

We know that a lot of players don’t use Facebook. It’s just one of the tools we use to keep folks informed. If you get a chance, check it out and tell us how to improve it.

Three new sponsors

We’re fortunate this spring to have added three sponsors to our league. All three bring with them a reputation for helping make our community a better place.

Bowlers Country Club will join the junior division, replacing Access Sportswear. Bowlers has a nine-hole golf course, 14-lane bowling center, full-service bar and banquet center at Pine and Fillmore roads. Open since 1963, it is a nonprofit member-operated club that strives to be affordable for area families. Membership starts with a $160 first-year fee with an annual renewal of $50. Daily rates for golf start at $8 for nine holes on weekdays. During open bowling, games are $2.50 apiece. Ideally, members of our league can look at this club as a place we can get together when the softball season is over. In a day where people are looking for places to find family-friendly activities without breaking the budget, Bowlers is a place well worth your consideration. www.bowlerscountryclub.org.

Unity Gardens will have a team in the senior division, where three openings existed. Unity Gardens is a nonprofit that has brought national acclaim to our area. Founded in 2008 by public health nurse Sara Stewart, this organization is dedicated to improving this area’s nutrition by making good food available at no cost. Sara began by planting a small garden of greens on South Bend’s impoverished south side. Years later, Unity Gardens has dozens of small gardens throughout the county as well as a seven-acre main garden near the Beacon Heights neighborhood on the west side. She and her crew also offer classes on how to plant your own garden or how to prepare some of the unusual foods you can grow. We can help Sara feed the poorly nourished by volunteering at the gardens, donating money or buying vegetables, honey and other products at the Unity Gardens booth at Farmers Market. www.theunitygardens.org

South Bend Brew Werks, also a new senior sponsor, is a small brew pub making a big name for itself in our community. It began a decade ago as a hole-in-the-wall pub attached to the old State Theater but has grown into a busy spot in the Hibberd Building, 321 S. Main St. Steve Lowe, co-owner with his wife Michele, played softball for years at the Byer Complex and should be on MSSL managers’ radar sometime in the 2030s. The Werks has 16 rotating taps that provide beers appealing to an array of tastes (consider the Colonel Eddy stout or the Amistad Cream Ale) as well as a kitchen specializing in grilled cheeses, pastas and flatbreads. Its outdoor patio is a gathering space especially during the minor league season, with Four Winds Field just a couple of cutoff throws away. This is a business that has donated more than $100,000 to area nonprofits through its Beer4Good program. www.southbendbrewwerks.com

Our most recent newsletter highlighted three returning sponsors – Palmer Funeral Homes in the junior division, and OC Hardware and Wesolowski Insurance in the seniors. We’ll feature three more returning sponsors in the next newsletter, and we’ll have another new sponsor ready. That gives us the 10 we’re likely to need this season.

We need to express gratitude to four sponsors from last year that are not returning – Access Sportswear, Barnaby’s of Mishawaka, Builders Store and Truck Accessories Group (TAG). Great sponsors help make us a great league.

March 16 and April 11

We have two key dates for players and managers.

On March 16, the commissioners will decide on the number of teams we’ll have in each division. Our goal is to have 14 to 16 reliable players on every roster. With that number, each team should be able to adjust when they lose players during the season to injuries, changes in work schedules and family vacations. We have had forfeits or teams playing short-handed nearly every season, and we want to avoid that.

We’re on target to have five teams in each division with the possibility of adding a sixth if we get a late surge of players. If you know someone who is wavering about joining us, please ask him or her to decide by March 16.

Also, we want to hear from you if you are a senior and want to join the junior division, or if you’re a junior old enough to play in the seniors, or if you’re currently on a team but want to move to another. The main goal is to make sure players end up where they want and where they’re needed. After the decisions we make March 16, we’ll have less flexibility afterward.

April 11 is the target date for our new player practice/tryout/draft. Some years we use a tryout-type event to give managers a chance to see who is available for the draft. In other years, everyone seems to know the new players, so we just speed ahead to the draft.

The senior division will not need a draft/tryout. Steve Sporinsky has been working closely with managers to review each team’s status. Two teams are returning almost intact, he says, and the other teams’ gaps are addressable thanks in no small part to those of you who have recruited a friend or two. We’ve also had some newcomers contact us directly. He says a few more players would be icing on the cake, so if you have someone still thinking it over, give them a call. Remind them that playing softball is more fun than mowing the lawn!

In the junior division, Adam Kroemer is in charge of rosters. He’s looking at four teams returning most of their players and two – TAG and Palmer – with significant losses. If we end up with five teams, the TAG/Palmer group will need the most attention.

The best part of April 11 is that it marks just four weeks until the season starts. We’re all looking forward to May 9 – Opening Night.

Seventy-eight days until the first pitch.

Treasurer update

Bob Gorny says he will open a new league bank account when he returns from his Florida vacation early next month. Eventually, Bob will be able to give us a line-by-line, day-by-day accounting of our receipts and expenses.

Sincere thanks to Bob, who worked with the former treasurer for an equitable split for carry-over revenues.

We project having enough money that we can maintain our sponsor fees at $400 per team. Players will pay $60 to play in one division or $100 for both.

Our latest headcount

We are adding new recruits for both of our divisions, and we will continue our efforts until our rosters are filled in mid-April. An example of our outreach is in February edition of Senior Life. Mark Witkowski is featured, and he helps guide people to our league website.

Adam Kroemer is tracking our junior division recruits and hopes to have enough players for six teams again this season. Steve Sporinsky is doing the same for the senior group. He projects that we’ll have five teams but we could have six. Our headcounts rely a lot on communication with team managers, and we appreciate the help they’re providing. It is essential.

Our guidepost is that we would rather go with five strong teams of 14 or more players apiece than have six teams at constant risk of playing short-handed or forfeiting. Websites are a nice recruiting tool, but the most effective way is personal contact. If you know people age 52 or older from your workplace, your church, your neighborhood or elsewhere, tell them about us.

Bat reminders

Just a reminder here. Both divisions will abide by last season’s bat eligibility rules. For the senior division, the longstanding rule has been that any player can use any bat approved by the USSSA, NSA, ISA or ASA. For juniors, players 64 and younger should use single- or double-wall bats, while those 65 and older may use composites. No bat should exceed the 1.21 bpf (bat performance rating).

A thought to consider: There are a lot of ways to cheat the system, and we know them. Please remember that there are no million-dollar contracts in adult slow-pitch softball, and it is a felony in many states if a ball hit by your illegal bat injures another player. Also, if you’re a guy who thinks Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa should be banned from the baseball hall of fame because they used steroids, you also should be a guy who doesn’t cheat on bats. Please don’t cheat.

Infield shifts

Emery Hirschler has an interesting suggestion. Now that Major League Baseball has changed its infield rules, softball leagues might do the same. For example, there could be a requirement that at least two infielders be positioned on each side of second base. Infielders also could be limited to the infield skin until the ball is batted.

The idea has merit, especially in the senior division. We want to encourage our slower friends to continue playing. If deeper positioning turns every hard-hit grounder into an easy out, it can get discouraging. We won’t be doing it this season, but it’s something we should watch.

Facebook page

For the past few months, we’ve been concerned that the Michiana Senior Softball League page on Facebook has been promoting the Mid-America league. That was because the page administrator was one of the Mid-America organizers.

There already had been a lot of confusion among new and returning players about which league was which. If you type Michiana Senior Softball into google, our league page comes up under michianaseniorsoftball.com and theirs is under michianaseniorsoftball.org.

Confusion doesn’t benefit anybody. We want players who choose us, not players who are making a mistake. Fortunately, Mid-America agrees and has renamed its Facebook page. That clears the way for us to create a new one for ourselves, using our own name. We hope to do that soon.

Sponsor update

It’s early, but we already have checks in from three returning sponsors.

OC Hardware will be back in the senior division. The store actually is known as Hardware Plus, at 611 Lincolnway W., Osceola. You’ll find almost everything that the big box stores have but spend a lot less time looking for it. One bonus about having this sponsor back is that the owner’s dad, Bobby Hughes, is a fan favorite in the OC team’s outfield.

Wesolowski Insurance — the Erie Insurance office run by Don Wesolowski at 216 S. Taylor St., South Bend — also returns in the senior division. Don has played a little softball himself over the years, and we’re hoping he’ll give it a try again someday. He’s been promised a hot dog and beer whenever he shows up at Byers.

Palmer Funeral Homes will sponsor a junior division team again this season. Palmer is in its second year as a sponsor, continuing the legacy of the former Bubb Funeral Chapel. Bubb still serves the community under the Palmer umbrella, which also includes five locations in South Bend, and one each in North Liberty and Lakeville. This is a solid, growing company that believes in supporting our community.

We’ll have three more sponsors expected to return, and two newcomers have committed. We’ll announce those in the next few weeks. We are grateful that these folks help us build our league. Depending on how many teams we end up with, we’re likely to need two or more new sponsors before the middle of April. If you have any businesses or organizations in mind, let us know.

Last call for umpires

The Byers staff is willing to have a workshop for those of us who are interested in becoming umpires for the 2023 season. Presumably, we would be working games at the Byers Complex but not on our league nights.

The city pays umpires $30 a game, so this is a chance to earn a little extra cash during the summer. It also could give the Byers folks some flexibility in their planning, because there is an areawide shortage of umpires.

We’ve had three candidates step up. If anyone else is interested in the training, please contact kenbradford@comcast.net by noon Friday, Feb. 2.

A midseason break

The schedule approved by commissioners in both divisions includes a full week off for the July 4 holiday. Independence Day is on a Tuesday. We will be taking off on Thursday, July 6, as well.

Sponsor your own team?

We’re just beginning our effort to find sponsors for the 2023 season. Our first step will be to contact last year’s sponsors to see if they’re still with us. We know this much already: We will need some replacements.

Of our 12 sponsors from last year, four were there because of players who have left our league. Those include Access and TAG in the junior division and Christman and AIM in the seniors. We hope to have the other eight return. If they do, and if we have 10 total teams, we still will need two new sponsors. If they don’t, we may have room for even more.

We will be talking with friends who own businesses or lead other organizations, and we ask that you do the same. The sponsor fee is $400 per team, and we can help with details on that. Our preference is that we give league members a chance to become sponsors before we go outside.

One extra bit of information: If you pay a team sponsor fee, that covers your annual player dues. In effect, it would cost you $400 for the sponsorship but save you $100 if you’re playing in both divisions, or $60 if you play in just one. The net cost to you would be $300, or $340.

The way it looks now

We’re expecting to hear from new recruits throughout February and March. But if the season were to start today, we would have five solid teams in both our divisions.

A five-team junior division would be great for several reasons. For one, we would be able to use just two diamonds instead of three. We would be putting up and taking down fewer home run fences. We also would be needing fewer umpires.

Another advantage is that we could have a 24-game season on just 20 dates. That’s because one team every night would be scheduled for a doubleheader. Four teams would play at 6:30 – 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4, for example. Then Team 5 would play at 7:30 against one of those four teams from the earlier game. We’ve constructed a tentative schedule that would give every team an equal number of later starts and the same number of double-headers.

Another advantage would be that no team should ever have to play short-handed or forfeit. There always would be substitutes available – at 6:30, from the team waiting to play the late game, and at 7:30 from the three teams who completed the early games.

The senior division would have the same benefit of players being available to avoid forfeits. With five teams, one always would have a 5 p.m. bye. The downside is that the seniors don’t have the option of playing a late game, so a 20-date regular season would give each team just 16 games, plus a minimum of two in a double-elimination tournament.

The commissioners will need your input on this. Some seniors like the bye as a night off. Others want as many games as possible. If we want to turn our 16-game schedule into 20, we could add some extra games, once or twice per month on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday. If we want to spice it up, we might be able to play those games away from the complex, at other city parks.

Or, if we get permission from Byers, we could stick with the 20 dates and add an early game, at 4 p.m., for four senior doubleheaders per season. One game would be at 4, followed by two at 5. All ideas should be on the table. Think it over and talk with your manager or your commissioners.

Our preference would be to have six teams in each league. It would be consistent with our steady progress during the past quarter-century. But this is an unusual year. We believe it will be better to have five solid teams this season than six shaky ones. We’ll have fun either way.

First spaghetti dinner

The league collected $120 from its fundraiser with the Knights of Columbus on Jan. 20. Tickets were $14 apiece with $4 going to the league. Thanks to all who attended. If we end up paying $8 or so per shirt, we just found enough money for uniforms for an entire team.

We ended up selling 30 tickets, about half of which were used for carry-outs. The dinner also served as a chance for a dozen or so league members to socialize during the off-season.

If there is interest, we could have one more chance for a spaghetti dinner before Lent. The date would be Feb. 17. Let us know if you would attend, at kenbradford@comcast.net.

Only if you’re interested

Most of us would rather just know when to show up with a glove and a bat once the season starts. Others want to know how decisions were made on everything from the preseason player draft to the menu at the season awards program. Reports on the annual league meetings are posted on this site, and so are these newsletters. If you have questions, let us know. Otherwise, we’ll look forward to seeing you at the Complex on May 9.

If you have questions or want to join the league, contact kenbradford@comcast.net.

Attending were commissioners Steve Sporinsky, Mark Witkowski and Ken Bradford; and managers Snookie Ferency, Ron Betzer and Rich Sparks. Unable to attend were managers Ron Wilson and Gary Marcus.

The main topics included preliminary player head counts and the post-season tournament.

The early head count shows three teams with 14 or more players with three others ranging from nine down to three or four. Based on those numbers and expectations of recruiting newcomers, we will plan for a five-team division with the flexibility to add a sixth. The league alignment will be decided closer to March when we know better about our recruitment efforts.

A five-team league would have several advantages. We would be using two diamonds and requiring just two umpires on game nights. That also means we would be putting up two sets of fences before games instead of three. The team with the bye would have players available to substitute, so we should be able to avoid playing short-handed or forfeiting.

The main disadvantage is that a 20-date schedule would give each team four byes, for a total of 16 actual games per team. We could stretch the season to two more weeks, if we don’t lose games because of wet or hot weather. If so, including the double-elimination tournament, all senior players should have a chance for 20 or more games.

The managers prefer a double-elimination tournament that likely would begin Aug. 8. The winner’s bracket final would be Aug. 15 with the “if necessary” game on Aug. 17. We hope to have the senior and junior championships on the same night.

The managers decided to continue with last season’s bat rules, with all nationally approved bats allowed as long as they don’t exceed a 1.21 bpf (bat performance rating).

Four additional issues will be voted on by all players, if possible, at a summer meeting:

1. By-laws that would qualify our league as a nonprofit organization.
2. Will we continue to play at the Byers Complex for the 2024 season and beyond?
3. Will we continue to use the temporary home run fences at the 250-foot mark?
4. Will the senior division games begin in 2024 at 5:30 with junior games beginning at 7?

Other decisions and discussions of note include:

No games will be played during the July 4 week. Everyone gets a week off.

We are exploring the concept of an all-star game as a season finale. One idea is to play that game as part of an outdoor banquet-style event. We’re looking for ideas on that.

The managers also heard a summary of our treasurer’s report. With current fees ($60 for one division and $100 for both) and sponsorships ($400 per team), we’ll easily meet required league expenses. Any money left over could be used for uniform shirts, a banquet, league awards and/or sponsor plaques. If money isn’t available for all these items, the commissioners may have to decide which expenses have the highest priority.

There is an areawide shortage of umpires. One way we can help is to get training to umpire on our off-nights. Presumably, by working a Monday or Wednesday we may free up an umpire for our league nights.

We are attempting in several ways to attract more players, both at the junior and senior level. Anyone with a friend or acquaintance interested in joining the league can contact one of the commissioners or their manager.

Jerry AuFrance hosted the meeting at Holy Smokes Pizza, just as he did for the juniors on Tuesday. The commissioners are grateful for that.

Attending were commissioners Ken Bradford, Steve Latzke and Adam Kroemer; treasurer Bob Gorny; managers Jerry AuFrance, Snookie Ferency, Jim Nace and John Rice; and Ron Betzer, representing TAG, and Steve Sporinsky, representing Palmer’s.

The important topics included preliminary player head counts, post-season tournaments and bats.

The early head count shows four teams close to full strength, with Palmer’s at half-strength and TAG’s numbers uncertain. If the season were to begin based on current numbers, we would reduce the number of teams to five. The logical way would be to merge Palmer’s and TAG. Additional players are expected to join in the next few weeks, which may allow us to have a sixth team. We have a target date of March 1 to make that decision.

The managers are leaning toward a double-elimination tournament that would begin during the first week of August. Dates will be determined after we decide how many teams will compete – Aug. 8 for five teams, Aug. 3 for six. The winner’s bracket final would be Aug. 15 with the “if necessary” game on Aug. 17. These dates depend on the senior division tournament schedule because we hope to have both division finals on the same night.

The managers decided to continue with last season’s bat rules – single- or double-walls for ages 64 and younger, composites for ages 65 and older. No bat should exceed a 1.21 bpf (bat performance rating). We will come up with a method of tagging bats for easy recognition.

Four additional issues will be voted on by all players, if possible, at a summer meeting:

1. By-laws that would qualify our league as a nonprofit organization.
2. Will we continue to play at the Byers Complex for the 2024 season and beyond?
3. Will we continue to use the temporary home run fences at the 250-foot mark?
4. Will the senior division games begin in 2024 at 5:30 with junior games beginning at 7?

Other decisions and discussions of note include:

No games will be played during the July 4 week. Everyone gets a week off.

If we have a five-team league, and if the Byers schedule allows, we will be able to fit 24 games into a 10-week period by playing some doubleheaders. A proposed schedule has games scheduled on two diamonds, e.g. 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4 in the early game with 5 vs. 1 in a late game. This would allow each team to play four double-headers during the summer.

Also, if we have a five-team league, any short-handed team will be able to borrow players from an idle team. We’ll create parameters for that.

We are exploring the concept of an all-star game as a season finale. One idea is to play that game as part of an outdoor banquet-style event. We’re looking for ideas on that.

Commissioner Adam Kroemer has proposed an end to the “player of choice” tradition that allowed managers to recruit a new player directly to their teams. All newcomers, and free agents, will go through a draft on April 11. If we have enough newcomers to justify it, we’ll have a tryout/practice that night at the complex. Any player from last season will be allowed to declare free agency to join a new team with a March 1 deadline. Declare by contacting kenbradford@comcast.net.

Treasurer Bob Gorny presented projections that, with current fees ($60 for one division and $100 for both) and sponsorships ($400 per team), we’ll easily meet required league expenses. Any money left over could be used for uniform shirts, a banquet, league awards and sponsor plaques. The league is looking at fundraising ideas that could help pay for additional items.

Bob also is working with the former treasurer to get money out of our old bank account. Ideally, this gives us a final break with that group.

There is an areawide shortage of umpires. One way we can help is to get training to umpire on our off-nights. Presumably, by working a Monday or Wednesday we may free up an umpire for our league nights.

We are attempting in several ways to attract more players, both at the junior and senior level. Anyone with a friend or acquaintance interested in joining the league can contact one of the commissioners or their manager.

Jerry AuFrance hosted the meeting at Holy Smokes Pizza. The commissioners are grateful for that.

Play with us, learn with them

Have you heard about the Forever Learning Institute? FLI has been offering a wide range of classes for people in our age group for 45 years. It’s a chance to develop new interests and skills – from Hawaiian dance, to juggling, to speaking French, to understanding obscure Biblical prophets. Most classes are at the Little Flower parish center, 54191 Ironwood Road, South Bend.

We’re not exactly joining forces, but we’ve asked FLI to include information about us in their newsletter and course calendar. They serve ages 50 and older, so it’s possible that their students can become our ballplayers – and vice versa. We may need an influx of newcomers, especially in the senior division, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

As for FLI, the spring semester begins in March. Keep an eye on the website – foreverlearninginstitute.org – for class offerings, schedules and registration deadlines.

We all share the same mission – helping people find ways to stay active as they get older. If you have other ideas for outreach, please let us know.

Thinking about spaghetti?

Our first 2023 fundraiser is a spaghetti dinner Jan. 20 at the Francis Club at the Knights of Columbus lodge, 61533 S. Ironwood Road, South Bend.

Tickets are $14 apiece, with $4 going to our softball league. The menu includes spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and ice cream. The club has a cash bar for those who want wine, beer or other adult beverages.

The club has set aside 50 seats for our league members, from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Family members and friends are welcome.

If you want to reserve seats, contact kenbradford@comcast.net before Monday, Jan. 16. We’ll put your name on our reservation list, and you can pay at the door. Carry-outs are available for those who prefer to grab and go.

Issues for seniors

As we prepare for the January manager meetings, we’re looking at some policies related to the senior division. Some of these discussions are coming up now because, in past years, managers didn’t have much of a voice in how the division was run.

Mark Witkowski has two issues he would like to bring to the attention of players and managers.

Rosters: If a senior manager lists new players on his preliminary roster, the league commissioners will review those requested additions in light of overall team composition. One consideration will be whether all teams are able to field a reasonable number of players, that being approximately 14. A second consideration is to insure a fair and competitive balance between teams. If a player requests participation in the league without any team affiliation, the league commissioners may add them to any roster short of players. For newcomers to our league, the team assignment may be made after the April tryouts.

Bats: As far asthe senior division goes, any unaltered ASA, USSSA, NSA and ISA bats are legal. Miken Ultra II’s and similar bats meet this standard. If your bat exceeds 1.21 BPF, it will not be legal in Senior Softball.  A senior bat is any bat which complies with the 1.21 bpf standard.

Send comments to debmarkwit@comcast.net.

The junior division managers tend to change from year to year, but there is a proposal in place that the juniors follow the national standard. That rule gives players age 60 and older the right to use the higher-rated bats, which include composites. If you play in both divisions, the best advice would be to wait until after the January meetings before spending a lot of money on a bat.

Who’s in first?

It seems like a simple thing to keep track of wins and losses. But somehow, there always seems to be confusion about league standings at the end of every season.

We’re solving that problem this year, with the help of the Byers staff.

For their other summer leagues, the Byers crew has kept up-to-date records on a web site. Beginning this year, they’ll do it for us, too.

The site has a complicated address, but you can find it by searching for Byers Softball Complex – SBVPA, entering the Phil St. Clair Park site and clicking on Byers Softball Complex.

For now, because we’re in the off-season, most of the site is empty. But if you click on the Schedules/Standings tab, you’ll find the shell of last year’s South Bend summer leagues. Click on Summer Tues 2022, for example, and you’ll see options for Game Schedule, Player Stats, Team Stats and Standings.

Click on Standings, and you’ll see the Fire Breathing Llamas were 17-1, Imagineering was 14-4, SB Fire Local 362 was 9-3, etc. The standings also show runs scored and runs allowed.

We’re still refining what we’ll want to use on our page. We probably won’t want to run Player Stats or Team Stats. That could get really embarrassing.

But I’m guessing we’ll want a schedule page, a scores page and standings, and maybe home runs. My recommendation is that we post the rosters there. The way it could work is that you go to the standings page, click on any team name and the roster would pop up.

I think it will make us a better league if we know the names of our teammates and opponents. That’s especially true for people new to our league. When I was a rookie, I knew my teammates only as Woody, Coach, The Rev and Topper. We all knew Snookie but had no idea what his actual name was.

I would ask about someone and would be told, “He’s the short guy with white hair” or “the heavy guy who plays first base.” It didn’t narrow things down much.

We’re also hoping the Byers page will help us connect with potential players who don’t know that this league exists. We will have separate registration procedures and fee collections, but it will benefit them and us if we can trade inquiries back and forth.

By the way, the South Bend parks web site was posting an outdated statement that Byers was offering a senior league for ages 50 and older on Wednesdays. We’re getting that fixed.

We’ll be working with the Byers IT guy, Mike Sniadecki, on creating our page, probably as soon as we figure out our rosters in April. If you have ideas on what you would like to see there, please let me know.

The plan is to continue having newsletters throughout the season. Eventually, they’ll be less about league politics and more about cookouts, special events and roster additions. Eventually, we’ll be able to communicate about some league-wide votes we’ll have later in the summer. But, for now, it’s good to know that we won’t be wondering who’s in first place. You’ll be able to find out on our web page.

Send comments to kenbradford@comcast.net.

Out or safe?

John Walczewski, the Byers softball director, says there is a chronic shortage of slow-pitch umpires in our area.

Several of the guys in our league serve as umpires on other nights. They get $30 a game, which translates to about $30 an hour. If you work three games a night, once a week during a 14-week season, it adds up to over $1,000.

If you’re interested in giving it a try, let me know at kenbradford@comcast.net. If we get a group together, I’ll see if John can put together a training session for us.

Choose what’s best for you

Contact ssporins@nd.edu

Happy Holidays! We wish everyone safe travel and germ-free times with family and friends.  

Wow! The past few weeks have seen a flurry of phone calls, emails and texts about summer softball. With two leagues now available, players must choose one or the other for 2023 since both plan to play on the same weekdays. To that end, we hope you will find the following information helpful.

Factors to consider include location, teammates, field quality, park amenities and the level of play — the latter being more applicable to those of us with a fair number of candles on our birthday cakes.

Locations: The Michiana Senior Softball League (MSS) will play again at Byers Complex on Mayflower Road for 2023. Play was moved there a year ago when indications arose that Mishawaka had plans to repurpose Normain and Henry Frank parks.

The Mid-America Senior Softball League (the new league) will play at Normain Park in Mishawaka for 2023, and possibly at Henry Frank (other city plans have been suspended, at least for summer 2023)

Level of Play: The Michiana Senior Softball League offers two divisions. (You can play in one or both based on your age as of your 2023 birthday.

The 62+ Division (aka “seniors”) offers an age-appropriate level of play by tweaking a few rules to keep things enjoyable — a nice way of saying it’s for those of us whose reflexes aren’t what they used to be <wink>). Any bat permitted.

The 52+ Division (aka “juniors”) is for those looking for more competitive play. Bats are based on a player’s age (single wall, double wall or composite).

The Mid-America Senior Softball League announced plans for one division for 2023. It will be 52+ in general while allowing some players at age 50.

Amenities: This perhaps is more important to some than others. Byers is a dedicated softball complex with tournament-caliber fields, plenty of parking, shaded bleachers for spectatators, restrooms with running water and a concession stand. Normain presents a family atmosphere typical of most city parks … decent fields, plenty of space for pets and swing sets for the grandkids. For more information, here are some websites. 

Byers Complex: https://sbvpa.org/places/phil-st-clair-park/byers-softball-complex/

Normain Park: https://mishawaka.recdesk.com/Community/Facility/Detail?facilityId=47

How can we help?

If you have questions, ideas or rule suggestions, let us hear from you!  If you have questions about the new Mid-America League, we will be happy to get you in touch with one of their representatives. We were friends last year and we hope that continues.

We hope that everyone stays safe and healthy for the snowy months ahead.

Steve Sporinksy, senior commissioner, ssporins@nd.edu.

Mark Witkowski, senior commissioner, debmarkwit@comcast.net

Ken Bradford, lead league commissioner, kenbradford@comcast.net

How about more umpires?

Contact kenbradford@comcast.net

Yes, it would. But it likely won’t happen during the regular season this year.

Here’s a question that came up. It’s impossible for even the best umpires to get a clear view of the home run fences 250 feet from home plate. Wouldn’t it be better to have a second umpire who could watch the fences as well as trapped balls in the outfield and close plays at second base?

It’s hard to find umpires for the six games we play each Tuesday and Thursday at Byers. And, at this point, we couldn’t afford them anyway.

The Byers Complex pays our umpires $30 per game. Last season, we had 12 teams playing a 25-game schedule. Our goal is to have the same number this season. The math figures out to 150 games needing an extra umpire, so the additional cost would be $4,500 a year.

If this becomes a priority, we could handle it with two actions. First, we could find additional sponsors and donors to bring in that extra $4,500. Second, we could find players who would get training so they could serve as base umpires. A senior player might help umpire a junior game, and a junior player might umpire a senior game.

Dinner with 49 friends

Straightening out our finances is a major priority this summer. Once we get our steady on our feet, we can start looking at improvements like this.

The Francis Club is inviting our league to a spaghetti dinner on Friday, Jan. 20, at the Knights of Columbus lodge, 61533 S. Ironwood Road, South Bend.

It’s part of the club’s mission to help raise money for local groups. Dinners are $14 apiece, with $4 going to our softball league. The menu includes spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and ice cream. The club has a cash bar for those who want wine, beer or other adult beverages.

The club can set aside 50 seats for our league members, from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Family members and friends are welcome.

This is the first in an attempt to bring fundraising and fellowship into our off-season. If you want to reserve seats, contact kenbradford@comcast.net. This is a ticketed event.

Bob Torok says the spaghetti sauce is a special recipe and is the best in the area. Bob is well-known for his truthfulness. Please come enjoy the evening with your friends and teammates.

How is it looking now?

Contact kenbradford@comcast.net

This isn’t a normal off-season for our league. We’re busier than usual, positioning ourselves for the long-term future by formalizing our structure. That means having a transparent system where every member will know our budgeting, our bylaws and our rules. This will pay off ultimately in that we will be able seek donations and grants as a registered nonprofit organization.

In the shorter term, we have some opportunities for league members to step up.

In past years, our league would replace about 10 players, one manager and one team sponsor. This year, in part because of the creation of the Mid-American Senior Softball League, our challenge will be to do more than that.

Our goal is to have six teams again in both divisions in 2023. We’ll know better after our January manager meetings, but the preliminary expectations are these:

SPONSORS: We are expecting to replace two in each division. The sponsors we don’t expect to return are TAG and Access in the juniors and Christman and AIM in the seniors.

MANAGERS: It’s likely we’ll be replacing two in the juniors – with managers from Palmer and TAG not returning. In the seniors, we will be replacing one, for the former AIM team. Update: Jerry Aufrance says he’ll appoint a manager for Holy Smokes when he is absent.

PLAYERS: We won’t have headcounts until after our manager meetings, but we expect four of our junior teams to return almost completely intact. We’ll need to replace about half the players in the other two. On the senior side, it’s likely we’ll need to replace half or more of one team as well as two or three players on a few of the others.

It isn’t that hard to replace sponsors. The fee is relatively low at $400 per season. If you have a connection with a business or club that wants to support us, let us know. Otherwise, we’ll start knocking on doors in February.

It shouldn’t be hard to replace managers, either. At the league level, we just need someone to represent each team when we’re discussing rosters and rules. At the team level, most teams settle into a routine where the fielding spots and batting orders are close to the same for every game. If you’ve been on one of the teams that needs a manager, please consider stepping up. We can appoint someone else from another team, but if you like the vibe you have, it’s best to keep it within the team’s hands.

As for players, the early estimate is that we’ll need about two dozen if we want to continue with 12 teams. We have some strategies to help reach folks who haven’t heard of our league. The best method, though, is for those of us already on teams to spread the word to friends and neighbors. Keep in mind that our age divisions have some flexibility. If your friend isn’t age 62 yet but has mobility issues and hasn’t played softball for decades, we can give him or her a trial run in the senior division. That is part of the point of the April practice/tryout. One of our league’s goals is to make sure there’s a spot for anyone who can safely play. Let us know how we can help.

Questions? Contact kenbradford@comcast.net.

New leaders for the seniors

Steve Sporinsky and Mark Witkowski have agreed to serve as interim commissioners for the senior division for the 2023 season.

Steve plays with Wesolowski  in the seniors and Palmer’s in the juniors. Mark plays with OC Hardware and Holy Smokes Pizza. Both are highly respected for their enthusiasm and good sportsmanship, and they are committed to making the division even better.

Their immediate goal is to get in touch with as many senior players as we can in advance of a January managers meeting. If players have suggestions that would help us, we want to hear them.

We call these positions “interim” because they are appointed, rather than elected. When we prepare for the 2024 season, we will make these elected positions, just as they are in the junior division.

We need to thank Steve and Mark for stepping up, and we hope for good times ahead.

Road trip to Crown Point

Bob Fonseca has a group of senior players who rent the Sparta Dome in Crown Point for softball practices on Wednesdays.

He says the group includes some guys in their 50s but the majority are 60-plus. It costs $20 to join plus $5 for any practices you attend. The practices go from noon to about 2:30 p.m., Central time. It’s about an 80-minute drive from South Bend to Crown Point, so it might be wise to set up a carpool.

If you want to join, call Bob at (219) 210-0120.

A single-wall for Christmas?

A lot of us do some bat shopping during the off-season. If this is part of your Christmas list, you might want to ask Santa for a gift certificate instead, especially if you’re still in your 50s.

Every January at the junior managers meeting, some discussion occurs about bats. It’s no fun having commissioners serve as bat police, but the goal usually is to make things simpler while keeping the games safe and fair.

Composite bats are legal for all batters in the senior division. Almost certainly, they’ll stay that way.

The main reason we bring it up now is that good bats are expensive. The wise thing for juniors to do is to wait until after the January meeting to plunk down money for a bat you may not be able to use.

Play with us, learn with them

Have you heard about the Forever Learning Institute? FLI has been offering a wide range of classes for people in our age group for 45 years. It’s a chance to develop new interests and skills – from Hawaiian dance, to juggling, to speaking French, to understanding obscure Biblical prophets. Most classes are at the Little Flower parish center, 54191 Ironwood Road, South Bend.

We’re not exactly joining forces, but we’ve asked FLI to include information about us in their newsletter and course calendar. They serve ages 50 and older, so it’s possible that their students can become our ballplayers – and vice versa. We may need an influx of newcomers, especially in the senior division, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

As for FLI, the spring semester begins in March. Keep an eye on the website – foreverlearninginstitute.org – for class offerings, schedules and registration deadlines.

We’ve sent a similar inquiry to Mishawaka’s Battell Community Center and hope we get the same response. We all share the same mission – helping people find ways to stay active as they get older. If you have other ideas for outreach, please let us know.

Another look in the rulebook

In our fourth newsletter, we listed five rules that come from our league book. We’re including four more here.

In years past, our managers spent time at their winter meeting trying to rewrite our rulebook. Sometimes, the discussions would be about small issues that would apply to only one or two players, and we were trying to solve problems that could be handled with a simple discussion with the people involved.

Most of us learned about baseball by playing with neighborhood kids in a vacant lot or at a schoolyard diamond. We kept the game simple and resolved disputes among ourselves. The basic principle was this: Is the rule fair, and does it help us keep the game fun?

We should keep to that standard. No rule should favor one team or player over another. We’re here to have fun. Try not to argue. If you find yourself arguing, you’re missing the point.

Having said that, we need to have as few rules as possible. Most of what we need is in the national USA Softball handbook USA Softball – Features, Events, Results | Team USA or the USA Softball Indiana handbook USA Softball of Indiana (usasoftballindiana.org). In addition, the Byers Complex has rules Park Rules (sportsengine-prelive.com) and Safe Equipment Rule (sportsengine-prelive.com).

In most cases, you don’t have to know all this. Play ball. Stay safe. Be kind.

The order of determination starts with the umpire, whose decision is paramount. He or she enforces, first, our league rules, then the park rules, then the state rules and finally the national rules.

Our managers will look at league rules again in January. We’ll keep them together on the web page archives.

ROSTERS AND PLAYER ELIGIBILITY: Teams are limited to 18 players on their permanent roster. If new players join the league after the season begins, they may be assigned to a waiting list and can serve as substitutes until a roster spot opens.

Players in the junior division must be age 52 or older during the calendar year. The senior division’s age minimum is 62. Exceptions can be made by the commissioners based on a player’s physical abilities.

NEW PLAYERS: Prior to every season, the commissioners will decide on a format for adding newcomers to teams. A primary goal is to achieve competitive parity among the teams. Depending on the talent pool, players may be assigned to teams based on tryouts, an open draft or other means.

Players typically will stay on the same teams from year to year. However, all players have the option of declaring themselves free agents after a season is completed, and they would re-enter the new player pool. The deadline for declaring free agency will be determined annually by the commissioners.

EXTRA INNINGS AND MERCY RULE: If a team is leading by 15 or more runs after five innings or by 10 runs or more after the sixth inning, the game is declared over. Unless the game is running late, the losing team has the option of taking its final at-bat before the rule is enforced.

If the game is tied at the end of seven innings, play will begin in the eighth and any subsequent innings with a runner placed on second base.

FEES: The commissioners, with consultation from the managers, will establish player fees annually. Managers are required to collect fees, by cash or check, and submit them to the league treasurer. Any player who has not submitted a fee payment by the end of the second league game will be declared ineligible until full payment is made.

Dinner isn’t quite ready yet

We’re looking at a possible spaghetti dinner fundraiser sometime in January. If the plans come off as they should, details should be available in the next newsletter.

Ken Bradford

Most of us don’t care about specifics of the agreement made in 2021 to move our league to the Byers complex. We’re happy at Byers. We had our best season ever here, expanding from 11 to 12 teams. We had the usual old-age injuries — pulled muscles, in particular. But the outfields didn’t have puddles or ruts and the infields gave more predictable bounces than we normally had at Normain and Henry Frank parks. Outfielders weren’t looking into the lights of McKinley or the headlights of cars leaving the lots during night games. We weren’t fighting briars or poison ivy to retrieve balls after home runs or fouls. For most of us, Byers clearly is a safer place to play.

At Byers, we had plenty of parking and behind-the-screen seating for families and friends. The restrooms were clean. The concession stands provided better food than we would get in a sack at drive-thrus. We had room to set up chairs and coolers after our games. We were all in the same place at the same time, so we didn’t have to run over to a park a mile away to socialize with friends on other teams. Mosquitos? Few, if any. Byers is a more comfortable place to enjoy our time together.

If the league grows, Byers has room for us. We’re at 12 teams now. If we work together to bring more friends in, we could accommodate 20 teams on the five diamonds every Tuesday and Thursday night without playing past 8 o’clock. If, someday, the junior division expands beyond that, we could have 30 teams playing at 5, 6:30 and 8. Do we want to bring in travel teams from 100 miles away for three-day tournaments? How about a state or regional championship? Byers is big enough for any dreams we have.

Still, some of us want to know about the shorter term. Did our league commit to a two-year get-acquainted period with Byers? The answer is yes, positively. Would there be consequences if we renege on that agreement? Again, yes, positively. We have an outstanding relationship with the Byers staff. It’s a pain in the neck for them, but they put up our home run fences at 250 feet twice a week. We’re the only league that asks them to do that. Our fee of $800 per team covers the costs of umpires, softballs, insurance and other stuff. That’s a discount from what they charge other leagues. The complex takes care of a lot of the league’s headaches. We can just show up and play because we have a great deal.

I have good friends who are planning on leaving our group to join an upstart league in Mishawaka. I wish they wouldn’t. As we get older, a lot of us try to turn back the clock. If we played better while we were in Mishawaka in 2011 or 2021, it doesn’t mean we’ll find some sort of magic back there somehow in 2023. I’ll be 69 years old next summer, whether I play at Byers, Normain or some pickleball court. I’ll run as hard but not as fast. It won’t be Byers’ fault. Our league is big enough that it has a place for me, even if I’m not quite as good as I was last year.

I’ll choose Byers because it’s safer, it’s more comfortable for my wife if she attends games, and it’s where the majority of my softball friends are. I can count on our league being there for many years to come.

I hope to see you all in 2023.

For those who want to see it, I’m attaching a copy of the notes taken for our two-year agreement. I’m willing to answer any question you have about our league at kenbradford@comcast.net.