Friday Morning League

Board Meeting Sept 24, 2026

Call to order: 12:20 pm at Bill Riggle’s house

Attendees: Marty Boozilkee, Randy Matsunami, Bill Riggle, Bob Nash, Ron Franck (Dr appt).

Ron (via texting)/director of fields: 

Ron has all the materials to repair and paint the shed. He just needs a stretch of dry weather.

We still have 3 dozen new balls and a bucket of slightly used balls.

If the picnic occurs on Oct 9^th as planned, we still have the fields available for use on Oct 16^th. We could poll the players for interest in doing a “schoolyard” draft to play pickup games that day.

• Bill suggested a league-wide email call (to be sent out after the Oct 2^nd games) for interested players to immediately sign-up. If more than 40 players respond (4 teams of 10), we’d need to create teams before Oct 16^th to design which teams play at 9am or 10am.

Randy/director of finance: 

Randy confirmed we still need to pay the remainder of the field rental bill due at the end of the season (about $1360). After paying off the cost of the picnic, we’ll have about a $500 balance.

• We have cash set aside to pay Mike Gaughen to umpire field two during the last two remaining weeks ($60 for Sept 25^th’s two games) and $90 for Oct 2^nd’s three games on field 2).
• Ron has purchased (about $400) all of the picnic food out of pocket (needing reimbursement).
• We are expecting a few anonymous donations to help offset the cost of the end-of-season picnic.
• Ron reminded that we normally donate money to the concession ladies for its use.

Bob/director of umpires: 

With only 5 of the 8 teams providing the volunteer umpires needed, it has been difficult to find volunteers that have not already been asked to sub. Now that Gaughen is umpiring field two, finding volunteers for field 3 is tolerable.

Paid umpires for next year- In our end-of-season survey to the players:

• Survey the league as to the continued use of volunteer umpires versus paid.
• Are players willing to pay more in registration to foot the bill of paid umpires?
• If the players vote NO, they better stop whing about calls AND step up as volunteers!
• Both Paul Hamel and Mike Gaughen have said they are available to umpire FML at $30 per game.
• With registration currently $65, the final cost could be $92 ($65 + $27 to cover paid umpires) per player; or, reduced to $80 per player without hats.
• Ron Franck prefers hats that help make the league look more professional.

Rules- We discussed a few rules for next year that may need to be added to the end-of-season survey:

• The current rule says and out each at-bat for a vacant slot in the 11-player lineup.
• Should we change to align with the Tuesday and night leagues that only require an out on the first-at-bat vacancy? Is one out enough or should we make it the first two at-bats?
• The argument is that there should be common ground amongst all senior leagues.
• For simplicity, we should keep it at only the first or every at-bat.
• Courtesy Runners (CR): There is voiced concern within the league that CRs have gotten out of hand. Competition has overtaken “Fun & Fitness”. Some players have said they would like to run for themselves but are always being subbed out. Subbing for injured players is not the issue.
• Should we limit CRs per inning to 2-3?
• Marty says if we do limit, keep it at 2 to align with the night league. Consistency.
• Maybe only allow CRs starting at 2^nd base?
• Jim & Kristina Bacca mentioned their Rhode Island league had managers identify 3 players per team as the only ones who could use CRs.

All/Director of Player Personnel: 

Managers & Subs: We have always struggled to find managers each season. Prior managers (who declined to repeat) complained of the headache of finding subs each week. Bob Nash (Orioles) calculated he has used 60 subs this season.

• Would increasing team rosters to 12 players ease the need for subs as we play 11 and thus could tolerate one player absent? What if we kept the rosters at 11 but only fielded 10?
• The reality is that managers still seek subs for the top half of their roster but are willing to forego replacing a bottom-half absent player. Should that be a concern?
• We are still pursuing ideas that would aid the managers.

Rainouts: There is no scheduling room for makeups for the Sept 25^th or Oct 2^nd games.

Bill/director of communications: 

Sponsors:

• Bill contacted 72 Tables & Taps for sponsorship. They declined for this year but expressed interest in the next year.
• Bill contacted Dan Bouska (The Mittmender) who declined for financial reasons (“I don’t charge enough as it is.”). However, you can find his business info on his picture in the website slideshow.

Survey: Bill will draft an end-of-season survey regarding topics and proposed rule changes for next year. After board approval, he will email out the survey.

• It was suggested he talk with Chuck Grubb (TMSL) for using ‘Mail Chimp’ for the survey platform.

Website:

• Bill will send a league-wide email reminder for players to bring items for the picnic: their own non-alcoholic drinks, and suggested chips/desserts/side dishes. The league will provide the main course (chicken, beans, potato salad, rolls) and water. Players can buy $3 drinks from the concession stand.
• If the picnic goes off as planned Oct 9^th, Bill will send a league-wide email call for players interested in a ‘schoolyard’ draft of players for games on Oct 16^th.

Marty/director of purchasing:

We got a good deal on this year’s hats. Expect next year pricing to go up, unless we forego hats to offset the cost of paid umpires.

End-of-Season Picnic/Fun Games: scheduled for Oct 9^th with a backup date of Oct 16^th. The intent of the picnic and games is to enhance league socialization and fellowship in a fun setting.

Picnic: Ron got a great deal on the prepared food at senior discount! “We will have about the same quantity and quality for less than the last 2 years.”

Per Ron, “For the picnic, remind players to bring their own non-alcoholic beverage along with suggested: chips, favorite side dish, or desserts. The league will provide the main dishes and water. Players can also purchase $3 pop from the concession stand from Monica.”

The plan is to pick up the food around 10am to allow the 9am players to eat after their game. With enough food set aside to feed the 10:30 players at the end of their games.

Fun Games format (TBD)- The games will be positional matches: 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, 7v8. The managers of the paired teams will decide their own format. Here are some options offered, but not limited to:

• Voluntarily swap up to 4 players (like4like) to advance fellowship.
• 6 innings and 60-minutes limit so everyone can get to the food in a timely manner.
• Start each inning with your last out batter (or 11^th batter for the 1^st inning) on 2^nd base.
• Batter has the option to continue batting even if ball four (covers intentional walks).
• No strikeouts nor walks. Play 60 minutes then finish that inning only if required. No open inning.

Meeting ended at 12 pm. Next meeting TBD.