New Baseball Selected

Willmar, Bird Island and Spicer representatives appeared before the Board and asked for approval of the State Tournament baseball they have selected.  The ball is manufactured by Fitzgeralds Sports.

Mark Juberian, who is working with Fitzgeralds, showed samples of the baseball to the board and said that the Diamond D1-Pro is 90% white wool and the Fitzgeralds ball is 95% white wool.  He explained that white wool is the best and tightest baseball wrap and he thought that the Fitzgeralds ball would be a cut above the Diamond D1-Pro. 

Juberian said that the Sunbelt League currently uses the ball and that he is confidant that the Fitzgeralds is an excellent baseball.  The ball would be the Fitzgeralds and would be marked FITZ-PRO-COL.  The cost would be $44.95 for one to ten dozen, $43.95 for 11 to 49 dozen, and $42.95 for over 50 dozen.  There would be a free imprint (team or league) for orders over 50 dozen with a $40 charge for orders under 50 dozen wanting an imprint.  Juberian said that shipping costs would be $2.50 per dozen.  As of now, Juberian is the only representative in Minnesota handling the baseball.  His number is 218-252-7172. 

The Board approved the Fitzgeralds baseball for the 2010 State Tournament.  They asked that Juberian attend the March meeting and bring order forms so teams may order the baseball if they wish to use them during the regular season and region and section tournaments.

Other Business  

Representatives from Rosemount, Ada, and Fairmont appeared before the board and asked that their teams be reinstated for the 2010 season.  They were all approved for reinstatement. 

There was a discussion about pre-sold State Tournament tickets.  Willmar and Bird Island have committed to buy $10,000 worth of pre-sold tickets and they checked to see if they could include some student tickets along with the adult tickets they are purchasing.  The Board said that would be alright.  (Pre-sold adult tickets are sold to the host teams for $5.00 each and they may set the price that they want to sell them at.  Usually there are coupons added to the ticket to make it more attractive to purchase them before the tournament starts.  Regular adult ticket price at the State Tournament is $6.00). 

The Board will have a booth at "Twins Fest" which is January 29, 30 and 31, 2010.  The booth will be manned by the 2010 State Tournament host sites and there will also be at least one Board member in attendance at each session. 

The Board approved all rule changes that were made at the November, 2009 meeting.

The Board wants to point out the High School rule that says there is to be no contact between player and coach from July 1 to July 7 is still in effect.  That rule says that if you are a High School baseball coach you may not coach or play with any baseball athlete that is on your High School team from July 1 to July 7.  The High School Baseball Coaches are working to change this rule but it has not been changed as of the start of 2010. 

Umpires

There was a discussion about umpires that will be working the State tournament.  The Board understands that the trip to Willmar and Bird Island is longer than most trips.  The general feeling was that umpire applications to work the State Tournament would be down.   There was talk about using umpire pairs for a night session and the next morning session and providing a room.  After considerable discussion, the Board voted to raise the umpire fee to $100.00 per game per umpire for the next two years (2011 tournament will be at Brownton and Glencoe).   

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