Olde Tymers Softball of Delmarva

Minutes of the January 14 meeting of the OTS Board The meeting was held in the Ocean View Town Hall on January 14, 2004. League President Gary Meredith presiding. All 2003 Teams were represented along with the officers and a few players. Plans for the fund raising spaghetti dinner were discussed. Tickets have been sent with the 2004 registration materials. Each is asked to sell four tickets. 450 are the planning number. We will request the use of the lower level, if the need arises. There will be two seatings. One at 4:30 and the other at 6:00pm. All OTS players attending are asked to help either in the setup early dinner phase or the late dinner clean up phase. Sal Corrallo will be collecting names over the next few months. Be prepared to sign up at the February 18 General meeting to be held in the Bethany Beach Town Hall at 7:00 PM. Gary will collect fees for both events. There will also be two 50-50 drawings. One drawing will be held for the early seating and another for the late seating. Posters will be distributed at the February 18 meeting. Treasurer Bill Neyen will draw up an operating budget for 2004. It will not include one-time capital expenses such as the Millsboro field improvement work. He will also order extra home scoring plates and strike plate extensions. Gary reported that the insurance for 2004 season has been paid. However OTS teams have not been registered with the Amateur Softball Association as yet. The league will follow ASA rules for 2004. A .44 yellow optic ball will be used on a trial bases for 2004. Bats banned by ASA will not be allowed. Sponsors for teams are still being solicited. Three teams currently have a sponsor. (VFW 7234, one of our longest and biggest supporters, is one of them) Five more sponsors are being solicited. Archie Alexander showed the plaque presented to sponsors. It includes a Jersey, a Senior Olympic Medal, and a certificate. Sponsors are also to be listed on the OTS web page with additional information on their business. A link to their web page, if any, will also be included in the $300.00 contribution. Contact Archie at 302 226 8381, if you have any hot leads. Archie also discussed publicity plans for 2004, including leaflets to be distributed through churches, Mediacom and Comcast announcements, newspaper articles and TV station spots. The Board spent a considerable amount of time going over and amending the league by laws. A Revised Version will be posted within a week (by January 21) on the web site under Handouts. The by-laws may be downloaded and printed. Hard copies will be available for those without an Internet connection and will be available at the Feb 18 meeting. The league will again play on Tuesday and Friday. It is uncertain where games will be played at this time. Spring training will be a problem as all players come together. However it was suggested that we use the new Sports at the Beach on Route 9 south of Georgetown for April 6 opening of spring training since Millsboro is the only place available but is too small for that month. Arrangements are being made to use three fields so that all players may come at the same time. No work has been done on the Millsboro Field. The contract calls for work to be completed by the end of February. Practice continues on Tuesday and Friday when the temperature and/or wind chill is 45 degrees or more. League play will begin on May 4. The next meeting of the Board will be in Feburary to consider team makeup and playing fields to be used.