Article by: Sam Skibbe
This year’s Winter Meeting, while maybe light on patrons, was not light on upcoming changes to the SWBL season. For the 13 in attendance (no Brewers or Athletics), votes were casted and changes were made. Here are some of the new things to expect from 2015’s Season 13:
-Media: This year, the SWBL will be providing more media coverage with the continued podcast Game of the Day featuring Joe “The Voice” Ivancic, while also using the new system of cameras to provide more video coverage as well. We will also be adding post-game conferences where the stars of the SWBL can sit down to answer questions from the media throughout the weekend season.
-New Franchise: We welcomed Kevin Wiethuchter and the Expos to the SWBL family as the third expansion franchise in our history.
-All Star Game: The Saturday night ASG will be hosted by the American League with team captains, Paul Castellano (AL) and Sam Skibbe (NL). A new voting system was adopted and the fans will now only vote in two all stars, while the Captains will choose the third and the front office will choose the final roster spot purely based on that season’s current statistics.
-Hall of Fame Voting: A new rule was developed to expand our Hall of Fame, where voters can now vote for UP TO 50% of the year’s current nominees. For 2015, that means each player can vote for UP TO 4 players on the 8-man ballot.
-Roster Maximums: There will be no roster maximums, and teams are allowed to sign as many players as they would like. Be aware though there are eligibility requirements for All-Star voting, Hall of Fame voting, Awards consideration, and more. “Fans” that you sign to your roster will purely be for the thrill of being on a team and won’t come with some of the player perks.
-Run Rule Per Inning: The maximum is still 7 runs, but you can get up to 10 in an offensive half inning. It just means that all runs/RBI will count if a home run is hit with the inning still active.
Other things that were discussed were: Jerseys, Transaction Processes, 2015 Draft, NWLA Awards, 2015 Ohio Tournaments, Ballpark Village League (starting April 7th), and more. Any questions, please contact the front office!