55 + Ruling for players up to 3 years under age !!!!!

eppy · Guru

55 + Ruling for players up to 3 years under age !!!!!

mgirard11 · Hall of Famer

My only suggestion Mike, is that you take things like this up with John himself before blurting it out here.
You may find out that your interpretation of John's intention for making any decision might be different from what you think.
Anyways, I suggest picking up a phone and having the conversation with John first, then if you are not satisfied with the answer, post here.
Just sayin.

The_Hurricane · Grand Poobah

He does make an interesting point in all of that:

"If you want to, why don't you add a 50+ League..."

The national MSBL organization tournaments are mostly 18+, 30+, 40+ and 50+ right? Shouldn't we as a member league try to mirror those?

eppy · Guru

Mike, you don't go make rulings and then inform managers after the fact.

pkw1217 · Three Star Guru

Mike,
relax brother.it doesn't matter if they bring up the whole league and let them play in the 55 division. Let's not lose sight of the fact we are all here because we love to play baseball.I think it was Truman who said "if you can't stand the heat----"Besides I plan on coming back and pitch .I look forward to facing the great players we have in the division.in my opinion,if you are in this div., you have probably been around this league for awhile,and hopefully can get to the point where all the drama becomes unnecessary.
P.S.-- I also am hoping to play with the darn yanks. Last time I checked , there wasn't a team in that div. that can beat me.
P.SS.- It ain't braggin' when you can do it.

crowbait · Three Star Guru

I like and respect John Reel. He's a great guy who has done so much to make CDMSBL possible. I do not know what, if anything, is going on regarding allowing players younger than 55 to play in the 55 and older program. However, I do have some thoughts on the issue and am certainly not in favor of it. There are leagues available to those who are under 55. Players who are under 55 can play in any or all of the several leagues in CDMSBL offered to those who have not yet reached age 55.That's fair enough. If the idea to allow players under age 55 to play in the 55+ league is to help make a team more competitive, I am against it. Everybody wants to play. There are teams that are a lot weaker than others. We saw the same thing in high school and college. It happens all the time. But, if a strong team does not want to play a weak team, then let them not play the weak team and accept a forfeit. Everybody who is in the league wants to play. At this point, we are doing it more for fun and not because we have something to prove. I would think by now we have figured that out. How many of our friends are already in the ground ? I am happy to still be able to run down a fly ball. Happy to fall down and be able to get up again. Happy to savor every game now. Happy to spend a couple of hours with great teammates. There will be enough competitive games in the course of the season of all of the stronger teams to be seriously challenged. This is still a kids game and we have come full circle fellows.

Don Ball · Three Star Guru

As a former "waiver" player and current "age appropriate" member of the 55+ division, I wanted to chime in. I joined the Peppers two years ago as a 54 year old. During that season the Peppers and Hawks were allowed waiver players. I recall that this was allowed a) to make these teams a bit more competitive and b) because these teams were having trouble fielding a full team. John Reel was very involved with the decision to issue waivers back in 2013. I also had personal conversations with John regarding some managers' concerns over allowing underage players in the 55+ division.

I share my experience primarily to point out that John has not introduced the issuing waivers solely for the benefit of his Marlins team. The policy was followed for the benefit of other teams in our division. While it seems strange to think of the Marlins as a team that needs this type of help, I support their use of waiver players if it helps them to field a competitive team.

And if discussions about playing baseball means that we are almost done with sub-zero windchills, then I support that as well!

Don Ball

pkw1217 · Three Star Guru

Here here jim

wanewcomb · Veteran Member

The only way around it is to have two leagues, one for those whose ability is greater and one for those whose isn't. In Palm Springs they have a softball league where they have an A division and a B division, the A having more skilled players. Age is not a factor, ability is. You can say you can have a lot of fun and not be competitive and that's true to a point, but there is nothing like competing in games that mean something against players of your own caliber. That is what most of us that love the game live for.

The_Hurricane · Grand Poobah

wanewcomb wrote:

The only way around it is to have two leagues, one for those whose ability is greater and one for those whose isn't. In Palm Springs they have a softball league where they have an A division and a B division, the A having more skilled players. Age is not a factor, ability is. You can say you can have a lot of fun and not be competitive and that's true to a point, but there is nothing like competing in games that mean something against players of your own caliber. That is what most of us that love the game live for.

QFT

mhart · Three Star Guru

a couple quick thoughts on the 55s:

don ball's right: the three waivers the peppers got last year helped us stay competitive but they didn't get us a championship. jim porter made much the same
point about his whiz team. so waivers helped improve two teams, they helped avoid blowouts, which means they made the whole league better.

the waivers john granted to the hawks also kept that team afloat. in part because of them, the team is coming back this year, apparently as the twins.

john could have granted waivers to his own marlins team last year. the team could have used them, but he didn't. he didn't want to look like he was playing
favorites. but from last year's play, it's clear that the marlins deserve waivers this year.

we're not talking about adding 45-year-olds here. i think mainly we're talking adding healthy bodies - getting enough players to fill out rosters. in some cases, that might mean adding one 53-year-old. but, so far, it's been done judiciously; it doesn't mean adding five 52-year-olds. virtually every manager (and logic) will tell you that it's really hard to find guys over 55 who can still play ball; in fact, who can still run and chew gum.

for the record, the peppers have asked for one waiver this year and it's for that reason, to add one player. we have 15 players now, and i'd prefer to enter the season with 16 - principally to avoid forfeits. rosters below 16 frighten me. so we've heard we may have one waiver. don mccann, who turns 54 this summer, is our hoped-for player.

i understand mike epilite's uneasiness. but i echo mike girard: john reel has been as fair- and broad-minded person as i've met in this league, and i'm sure that
if mike epilite, or anybody else, has concerns about any issue, that john will hear them out and discuss things fairly. give him a try. or two, if the first talk
didn't settle the issue.

let's be patient. let's see how the waivers work this summer. if they don't, if there are issues, then next fall, let's consider wayne's idea and any others.
the 55 division is still, in a way, new, and, given pressures of players rising from the 45s, it's still growing.

if we need minor adjustments now, ok, fine, tighten a few screws. but mainly let's go easy, one step at a time. let's trust each other. we can do it.

-mike

-- Edited by mhart on Friday 27th of February 2015 03:14:18 PM

crowbait · Three Star Guru

And if the 55+ is not competitive or challenging enough for some, there is the option to play in the 45's, or even younger. Why not ?

One more thought---- If some 55+ teams are falling short on attracting enough players, then another option could be to allow a 55+ player to roster on two teams, and if he is a pitcher, have a limitation on the number of innings he can throw per week. The other details such as playoffs can be worked out.

-- Edited by crowbait on Friday 27th of February 2015 07:41:25 PM

-- Edited by crowbait on Saturday 28th of February 2015 08:02:18 AM

clarybird · Senior Member

I recently infiltrated a Platinum Marlins pre-season workout and was able to get a look at "Reel's Ringers":

Reel's Ringers.png

-- Edited by clarybird on Friday 6th of March 2015 02:39:07 PM