Hi everyone.

Oh where, oh where has the NEVBBL gone? I am not sure what is
happening, but want to thank all of you for a fun season of vintage
baseball. I hope the offseason treats you well.

Not sure what is going to happen next season. Perhaps the league
will
fold and be replaced with something else. There are lots of
discussions going on now regarding new league and new associations.
As
I follow these discussions, one thing becomes apparent: What we did
with the NEVBBL was truly unique. Despite the annual bickering over
rules, authenticity and other assorted issues what we have done is
pretty special. Running a competitive vintage league, with agreed
upon
interpretations, with organized scheduling and decision making,
simply
has not been done anywhere else. We did it for 5 (6?) seasons -
HUZZAH!

I think we did some things really well and we should all be pretty
proud of sticking together for this long.

If no alternate associations are agreed upon I suggest the following
as
an alternative, and easy way for the NEVBBL to live on:

1. We agree upon a firm set of rules, one with no confusing
provisions
regarding stealing / leading / sliding. Since we have already
established that a majority of the teams use the no lead
rule, we simply use that as our basic rule. Sorry if this means some
teams will drop out, but maybe that is OK - I am just trying to go
after EASE of use here.

2. We schedule games the old fashioned way, without a schedule
maker.
Maybe we meet sometime in February just as a way to get together,
share
a beer, and schedule some games. We entirely eliminate the need to
play a set number of "league" games. You can play against whomever
you want - when and wherever you want, and how ever many "league"
games you want. We can invite ANY team into this type of league,
without formality.

3. At the end of the year, each team votes for the team they thought
was the "best" team of the season. "Best" can be based on a mixture
of things - historical presentation, gentlemanly play, number of
league games played, season record, and general contribution to the
vintage game. The team with the most votes gets the Cherry Bat - or
some other trophy, perhaps it being time to retire the Cherry Bat.

4. We keep this Yahoo group going as our means of communication.


Anything more complex than this wont work for me personally. I know
ti takes some of the competition out of things, but I think that is a
good thing. I am in a real
mood to go back to basics (if anything at all).

By the way, if the NEVBBL does fold, or we start a new tradition, i
would very much like to get the
Cherry Bat back in my hands so I can share it with Jim Regan. With
all
due respect, I think Jim and I feel some attachment to the bat that
is
unique to us and would like to keep it as a keepsake. Would anyone
object to this?

Thanks,
John