The next topic discussed will be the rule changes for the upcoming season.  A majority of the players who chose to vote on possible rule changes have spoken and with one exception that a player in the league and the interim commissioner’s ruling, it was almost a unanimous decision on the rule changes. 

The first rule voted on was the fair or foul ball issue that came up in last years playoffs and championship series.  All but one person voted for the following rule.   Any ball which remains on the infield (does not touch the grass or cross the foul line) will be an out – If the ball hits a player and goes foul it will be a foul, if it goes to the grass it will be a hit – The ball does not have to be fielded cleanly but it can not leave the infield in any way to be an out – If it does leave the infield it will either be a hit (in the grass) or it will be a foul.  In other words, if the ball is stopped in the infield without rolling foul it is an out.  If it touched by a defender and goes foul it is foul.  If it is  by a defender and stays fair and rolls to the grass it is a hit.  If it is stopped by a defender and rolls foul, it is a foul ball.  To me this seems like a fair way to call this so it will now be part of our rules for the 2011 season.

The next rule we voted on was who can use jack balls in a game.  A player in the league made a good suggestion regarding jack-balls in blast-offs and this is the rule that he and I will be adding without a vote from the league and you will understand the ruling when all is said and done.  The league once again almost all voted for the first part of this ruling.  That ruling is as follows.  Jack balls can only be used at home plate by anyone who feels like they need it in a game.  Now with that being said, there will be some exceptions to this rule.  If you are someone who averages over 15 home runs per season, you are only permitted to hit one home run per game using a jack ball.  This is my exception, not any players idea.  The reason behind this is if Mark uses a jack ball every time he bats, he will hit between 280 and 360 home runs every season.  As much as I would like to see Mark, Brandon and Jason hit triple figure doubles, triples and home runs, we need the league to be somewhat competitive.  So this is my addition to the league this season.  The other ruling that one player suggested is not allowing everyone to hit jack balls in the blast-offs.  So keeping somewhat in the parameters set in the voting, I suggest that anyone under the age of 10 and over the age of 60 should be permitted to use a jack ball in the blast-off situation.  We want to try to keep the playing level fair in this, knowing I will never hit a blast-off home run, even with a jack ball, I want other players to have a chance to experience what I probably never will. 

The last ruling we need to discuss is batting from the pitcher’s mound.  I for one think that if someone can not hit the ball out of the infield, should be given this opportunity to feel success by hitting from the pitcher’s mound.  However, this was the only item voted on that was completely unanimous.  You all have voted and agreed on the following ruling.  No players will be allowed to hit from pitcher’s mound, everyone will bat from home plate.  So this will be our final rule that will be added to the league for 2011. 

With all these rules being put into place now, I have one more suggestion for those of you who intend on playing this season, especially those who want to have and use jack balls.  I suggested to Craig and Mark to possibly have a bake sale or a car wash to raise some money to not only pay for the jack balls but compensate those who make them.  I as your interim commissioner, do not care if you use my advice regarding this, but either way, if you want to use jack balls, someone will have to make them.  So, it is up to all of you to take care of this situation, and my suggestion is only a suggestion. 

Now, I realize that this is a lot to take in for the upcoming season.  If you have any questions, regarding the new rules, please feel free to e-mail me.  I have posted my sandlot illustrated e-mail on this website in a comment on a previous article, and Mark and Craig have my other e-mail if you want to contact me there.  Otherwise, I ask everyone to respect the decisions made by me and others in the league and prepare for another great season.  I will end this e-mail with something I try to say in any speech I give to prepare a team for a stickball game.  I want you all to go out and have fun, enjoy the time with friends and family, and remember “If you go out and play your best, it doesn’t matter what the scoreboard reads at the end of the game, You will all be winners in my book.” (Thanks to Gene Hackman and the writers in the movie “Hoosiers” for providing the last part to that comment).  Good Luck to every player and every team in both the Bush League and Root Beer League this season.  Have a Great Season Everybody.  Hope to see you there.

Sincerely,

Douglas Sabeh, Interim Commissioner

The Specials will not enter stats onto sandlotillustrated.com until the end of the season and will not compete with other Bush League teams for record, playoffs or championships.  No Specials player will be eligible for any Bush League awards.

The Specials will, however, continue to compete in the follow ways in the Root Beer League:

1.  Play the Nines and get paid to do it when ever they want, because it’s for fun.

2.  Bat from the pitchers mound or second base or home plate or wherever, because it’s for fun.

3.  Count batted balls that are fielded in fair territory and then go foul as outs, because it’s for fun.

4.  Hit the jackball or any other ball whenever they want, because it’s for fun.

5.  Drink as much root beer as possible and have root beer drinking contest, because it’s for fun.

6.  Wear their jerseys to every game, because it’s for fun.

7.  Play wiffle ball games, because it’s for fun.

8.  Travel the country playing stickball, because it’s for fun.

9.  And hit .901 if they want to, because IT’S FOR FUN!

Specials players can still play in any Bush League games, and Bush League players are all welcomed to come play with the Specials against the Nines.  The Specials are confident this move, while significant, will result in more fun for them which is why they play stickball.

The Specials wish all the best of luck to each Bush League team in 2011.

FEED THE BEAR,

The SPECIALS

So this is how the playoffs will shape up this season.  The two teams that will have byes and wait in the on deck circle will be number one seeded Arizona Rays and the number 2 seeded Sacramento Stix.  The Lordsburg Lions will be joined with the Rays per the ruling in a previous article leaving four teams to battle for the two remaining semi-final games.  The number three seeded Utah Ice will host the sixth place Gila Valley Robins and the number four seeded Safford Yard Dogs will have home field advantage against the fifth ranked Specials.  These games are scheduled to occur over the Thanksgiving Holiday. 

If members of teams are not able to participate themselves, they can manage their teams from wherever they may be during this holiday season.  There are probably only one or two players that will face this situation.  The Specials Manager will probably e-mail a speech for his players, because he will not be there in person.  The league has not informed us if Clifton will be in Safford for the playoffs, so he may choose his team via the phone against his opponent’s manager of the Gila Valley Robins.  This is how it has been done in the past, and we will continue to do under the present interim commissioner’s term. 

Now that things are in place, you all probably wondering who are the favorites in the opening rounds of the playoffs and who is going to win in all.  Well, if we based the game on statistics and wins during the regular season, then the Arizona Rays would be the champions.  However, we do not base the playoffs on regular season wins and statistics, so we must play the games and find out which team is playing their best stickball presently and who will ultimately wind up as this year’s league champion.  However, since a lot of you like to speculate on who will will the first round games and possibly win the championship let us take a look at the match-ups.

In the game between the Utah Ice and the Gila Valley Robins, looking at the final season standings, one would think that this game will probably be a blow out with the Ice cruising to the semi-finals.  Stealing a line from “ESPN”s” “Lee Corso,” “Not so Fast My friend.”  Although, some of Robin Smith’s statistics are down this year, he is still batting .500 with 12 extra base hits and 16 RBIs.  He also has an ERA of 9.46 which is his third highest total in his career.  He has proven time and time again that pitching along with defense wins championships.  So don’t count out the Gila Valley Robins.  In Clifton’s defense though, he has a better batting average at .593, with 32 hits and 25 runs scored along with three home runs this season while Robin Smith has not hit any home runs this season.  Plus, Clifton’s ERA of 10.80 is second in the league and his defense this year could be good enough to earn him an infield gold glove as it is his best year ever in the field.  So, this game should be very close and possibly one of the best first round match-ups in a long time.

The other opening round game will pit the home standing Safford Yard Dogs versus the Specials.  If you have to give an advantage to one of these teams, it would have to be the Yard Dogs.  The Yard Dogs even with a new player and rookie of the year candidate, Markus Marshall, still have the undisputed best player in the league meaning Mark Smith.  As far as this writer is concerned Mark’s .796 batting average doesn’t do him justice.  He has surpassed his career high in ground outs and has made over 100 defensive outs this season.  Although Mark has struggled on the Pitcher’s mound, his offensive numbers are staggering.  In 206 at-bats mark has 164 hits, 33 doubles, 10 triples and not even a career high 75 home runs.  His 165 RBIs is not even a career high either.  Looking at those numbers you have to give the Yard Dogs the advantage to win this game, plus his team also gets home field advantage as well.  So, there is definite pressure for the Yard Dogs to win this game.

In the other corner of this match-up, The Specials are coming off their best season ever.  A blast off win away from having an above .500 winning percentage this season.  Plus their interim manager and owner, Craig Smith, is having one of his best seasons yet with more than half his at-bats coming from the left side of the plate.  Craig is batting .729 with 97 hits, 23 doubles, 2 triples and 25 home runs with 70 RBIs to go with it.  Kimball Smith is having a better season than last year with a .741 batting average, 100 hits, 26 doubles, 17 home runs and 54 RBIs.  Lane Smith is having a pretty good year also with his average at .588, 57 hits 23 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs and 37 RBIs.  Also with Lane adding pitching to his game and Kimball playing well in the field, this team may surprise some people in the league during their first ever playoff game. 

So there you have it, the set up for this week’s playoff games.  I know that the Rays and Stix will be watching these games closely, because they will be playing one of the winners of these two games.  The Ice are ready.  the Robins are ready.  The Yard Dogs are ready.  The Specials are Ready.  Who will come out on top and advance to the semi-final round of the playoffs.  We will not have to wait long.  Good Luck to all the teams.  May the Special Yard Dog Help the Robin escape the Ice, or it could be that the Ice freezes the Robin without the help of the Yard Dog Special.  Anyway you slice it, this years playoffs are going to be spectacular.  “Let’s Play (Stick) Ball!”

This season there will be six teams that will qualify for the playoffs.  The top two teams will get an automatic bye into the semi-finals.  The remaining four teams will play a one round playoff game and the winners advance to the semi-finals.  The third place team will face off against the sixth place team and the fourth place will play the fifth place team.  The higher seed will have first choice when picking teams and will also choose whether they want first or last at-bats for the game (meaning choose to be the home or away team).  These games will be played over the Thanksgiving Holiday.  The winners of those games will then face off against the first and second place teams in the semi-finals. 

The semifinals will be sinilar to the first round of the playoffs with a one game playoff format.  The first place team will face off against the lowest remaining seed in the playoffs and the second place team will play against the other team that qualifies for the semi-finals.  Once again the higher seeded team will have first choice when picking teams and the option of being the home or away team for this game.  The winners of these two games will go on to face each other in the championship.  These games can either be played over the Thanksgiving Holiday or the Christmas Holiday depending upon players schedules.

The championship will either be a three or five game series depending upon the players schedules during the Christmas Holiday.  The two remaining team’s captains will agree before the series starts whether they will play a three game series or a five game series.  Then the series will have the higher seeded team get first pick and choice of home or away in games one and three (and five if it is a five game series).  The lower seeded team will get first choice of players and home or away in game two (and four if it is a five game series).  The winner of this series will be crowned the champion of our league this year. 

So there you have it, our new playoff format for this season.  If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to either e-mail me or write a comment to this article on the website.  Just so you are all aware, I asked Craig to ask everyone in the league to vote on this format or the old format.  If you didn’t vote or chose not to vote, and voice your opinion now, there will be a fine imposed.  So, choose your words carefully if you decide to criticise this format and you didn’t vote on it.  Thanks for your time.  May the 2010 playoffs be remembered for giving just about every team a chance to make the playoffs and for giving every team a fair chance to win a championship.  Have a great rest of the season everybody.

Sincerely,

Your Interim Commissioner

Craig just posted the video of him hitting a stickball into the Grand Canyon on youtube.com.  Check it out help make it go viral or something like that.  It’s pretty hilarious.  You should be able to find it under the title, “Stickball hit into Grand Canyon”.  Even if it doesn’t go viral just enjoy it.  The Great Wall of China is next his list.

The home page now serves as a leader board so that the top players in each stat category are given recognition. There is also a game scheduler that allows you to pick a date, time, and place for the next game, and everyone in the league will get an email notification. The ticker is now referred to as the “Press Box” and there are 9 available slots for league updates. All stat and standing changes are done right from the home page after you have logged in.

The platform on which we write articles has been changed to a new system. I trust that you will find it just as easy to use. If you have any questions, please let me know.

I will be sending out an email with instructions on how to log in to the site to update the press box as well as the blog system. The Photos and Awards sections are in the works.

Welcome to the new site and may 2010 be our best year yet!

The SPECIALS are coming off a historic inaugural season and enter their second campaign with greater enthusiasm and a little higher expectations.  Bush League Manager of the Year, Doug Sabeh, resumes his place at the helm and will try to guide the relatively young SPECIALS to further success and hopefully avoid the sophmore slump.  However, there are questions marks surrounding the team:  Can the Specials win more than 14 games and approach a .500 season?  How will they fare against Non-Nines Teams?  And the real question, how much root beer can these guys really drink?

This season promises to be a special one for the SPECIALS as they have agreed to a one year contract with rookie Kelli-Marie Smith.  Terms of the deal were not released, but sources close to the situation speaking on conditions of anonymity believe the contract to be somewhere in the neighborhood of two dollars a game and all the root beer she can drink.  Kelli-Marie will wear number 19 this season.  You go girl!

The SPECIALS will continue to play locally and across the country against their arch nemesis, the NINES, but with a couple of added rules that place greater emphasis on defense.  First, any game in which no defensive out is recorded by the SPECIALS will result in the NINES being awarded an addition run giving them 10 runs for the game.  And second, an inning in which two defensive outs are recorded by the SPECIALS will take three runs off of the NINES run total (i.e. 9 runs down to 6).  Craig Smith has also announced that as a personal challenge he will only bat left handed against the NINES this season.  The young guys, Kimball “Special K” Smith and Lane “the L-Train” Smith, had better have their gloves and bats ready in 2010.

In regular season Bush League games where teams are “chosen up” the SPECIALS will be allowed to play on any team to which they are chosen; however, only games in which they play together on the same team will count toward wins and loses for the SPECIALS’ record.  And this just in, if Clifton is unable to play any games for the JACKS this season and the SPECIALS somehow make the playoffs; the SPECIALS will give their playoff bid to the Clifton and the JACKS on account of Craig’s historic choke last year in the playoffs which cost the JACKS a trip to the Bush League Championship.

In other news the SPECIALS are still looking for Bush League players interested in playing for 3-game or 9-game contracts for the 2010 seasons.  The SPECIALS will  don alternate black and white jerseys this season to go along with their traditional gray jerseys.  Other nicknames that have surfaced for the SPECIALS to go along with the BEARS include the Bad News Bears (especially when they are not playing well) and the Grays in honor of the Negro League team the Homestead (near Pittsburgh) Grays.

Last season the SPECIALS instituted a soft ban on the use of sunglasses and batting gloves for its players, but this season the ban will be lifted on an individual basis if players petition the owner and state they “want to wear sunglasses and/or batting gloves for fun”.  If however, they say they want to wear sunglasses to keep the sun out of their eyes or they want to use batting gloves to improve their grip on the bat the ban will be kept in place.  Sunglasses and batting gloves will only be used by SPECIALS players for the sake of fun, period!

The SPECIALS hope to play games in Lake Jackson and Dallas, TX; Woods Cross, UT and possibly Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama for 2010 season.  They expect to return to play at Pioneer Park in Mesa and Randolph Park in Tucson.

And one final announcement, the SPECIALS will host the First Annual ROOT BEER BOWL in March to help kick off the season.  All sons and daughters of Bush League players are invited to play in the ROOT BEER BOWL.  Come for the root beer and stay for the fun.  Time and place of the ROOT BEER BOWL is yet to be announced.  Stay tuned to sandlotillustrated.com for more information.

Good luck to all the Bush League this during this “special” 2010 season and GO SPECIALS!

The first award is the Extra-Special Player Award and goes to the player who was not actually on the Specials, but played several games with the team and provided that something ‘extra’ the Specials needed during the season.  The winner of this award will be offered a contract to play with the Specials during the 2010 season for 3 games, 9 games or the entire season.  And the winner of the Extra-Special Player Award is . . . Jason Smith!  Jason traveled all the way to Pittsburgh and helped Doug win three games with the Specials and for that he deserves this award for being extra special.

The next award is the Rookie of the Year Award and goes to . . . Lane Smith! Lane hit a whopping 38 doubles (2nd in the Bush League) and 10 homeruns, the most ever by a rookie!  The ‘L-Train’ showed no fear in winning the Swing Hard Award in the Bush League as well.  Congratulations ‘Shoeless Lane’ on a special rookie season.

The Clutch Player of the Year and Golden Glove Award goes to . . . Kimball Smith! ‘Special K’ hit more homeruns in 2009 than all of his other seasons combined.  Four of those round-trippers came in the final game of the regular season.  He stole 9 bases and made several amazing plays in the field including the defensive play of the year, a driving stop against Papa Robin on the infield.  ‘Kimball Slice’ isn’t the future of the Bush League anymore.  He is the now!

The Pitcher of the Year goes to . . . Craig Smith who had his best season on the mound since he won the Bush Leauge Pitcher of the Year Award in 2004.

The Specials Team Most Valuable Player goes to a guy who had very special season and was a leader on and off the field.  Please put your hands together for . . . Mr. Doug Sabeh, the 2009 Specials MVP!  ‘Ocho-Uno’ combined poise, patience and preseverance to become the first player to ever hit over .900!  He will give all the credit to his teammates, but his approach to hitting this season was the key to his success.  The Sabeh-tooth Tiger’s .901 average in 81 at bats in the year 2009 wasn’t luck, it was destiny!

The final team award was the Special Feat of the Year!  This award was chosen by the players as their most special accomplishment of the season, and narrowly beat out the feats of tying the Back-to-Back-to-Back-to-Back Homerun record and winning the first Non-Nines games at Legacy Field on July Fourth against Mark, Jason and Robin.  The Special Feat of the Year is . . . Traveling over 7,000 miles and playing in 15 different cities or town along the way!  Over 3,000 miles were logged on the team bus/car.  The Specials were definitely ‘playin’ in a traveling band’ in 2009.

The Specials played several games against their arch rivals The Nines this season.  So to put some faces on the team the Specials have named nine players who will make up the Mudville Nine.  So without further adieu, meet The Nines!  On the mound, flamethrower and Texas native (Alvin, Texas not far from Lake Jackson) Nolan Ryan; his battery mate behind the plate, Bush League Hall of Famer, Earl Norton; at first base (and a little out of position), ‘Number 9′ for whom The Natural is partially based, Ted Williams, aka ‘Teddy Ballgame’; at second, none other than the ‘Doc’, Carlton Postle, a real-life Dr. ‘Moonlight’ Graham; on the hot corner, Idaho sandlotter and hall of famer affectionately known as ‘Killer’, Harmon Killebrew; at short, Gila Valley Legend, Jim ’Zeke’ Smith; in leftfield, a man still looking for that second chance, Shoeless Joe Jackson; in center, humanitarian, hall of famer and Pittsburgh’s favorite son, Roberto Clemente; and rounding out the Nine, in rightfield, the Natural, . . . Roy Hobbs!

We hope you enjoyed the Specials Awards and the Naming of the Nines.  The Specials will see you in Twenty-10.

Specials team members including ESPN’s very own Kelli-Marie Smith voted on all of these awards with the exception of the Extra-Special Award which was appointed by the owner.