Volume 8, Issue 1

The Rundown

August 2011

A message from the President..

From President Joe Marrotta Hello all, Well our first season as a new Executive Board is in the history books. I am proud to say that we are in the best shape financially than years past (according to past Treasurer Records). All of our bills are paid, we owe nobody anything and we are now looking forward to next year. This is all thanks to everybody involved in HHYBS! From the concession stand showing a huge profit to a lot of participation at fundraisers to our generous sponsors stepping up and giving us the bulk of our bank roll. A HUGE THANK YOU to all!!!!! Moving into the future makes me think of an item that bothers me. I am still plagued by the fact that we continue to decrease in numbers. Mostly because of a phenomenon that has hit the entire Country like a bad virus. WATERED DOWN TRAVEL PROGRAMS! When I was a kid only the best of the best played travel baseball. These were the kids that did nothing but play baseball 12 months out of the year in some shape or form. Nowadays it seems like every guy who thinks he is raising the next Ty Cobb starts his own travel program. Guess what? My rec team beat three of those (so called) Travel Teams this past year! All they are dong is taking your money! And according to one family that left two years ago and is now coming back, LOTS OF IT!
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2012 EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION!!!!!

Boys & Girls Age 4 - 18

Softball T- Ball Baseball

When: TBA (November 2011) Where: Hickory Hills Community Center 7800 West 89th Place

The Best Fields The Best Equipment The Best Uniforms AND the cheapest reg. fee in the area BY FAR!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE 1 1 3 4 5

Message from the President (continued on page 2) 2012 Registration Info. 2012 Board nominations September Meeting Agenda Sponsors

Payment by cash, check or Visa/Mastercard to HHYB. Registration forms can be found at www.hhyb.org

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(Message from the President continued from page 1)

You can look in any chat room and on any website related to this topic and see what a problem this has become for recreational programs everywhere. From California to New York and Texas to Oregon rec programs are showing severe decreases due to these watered down programs popping up EVERYWHERE! Example # 1: HHYBS charges $100 to play. Every Division has the opportunity to play in as many games as the Manager chooses to play. During the season EVERY division is also given the option to play on Sundays in a more competitive league. ALSO, at the end of the year EVERY division chooses an All Star team that plays into the end of July! All for a fraction of the fee of a Watered Down Travel Program! Example # 2: Watered down Travel program A charges $2500 to simply register for the team. The family now has to buy uniforms, bat bag, shoes, sun glasses, socks, toe nail polish, all matching of course, lol. On top of that you are SLAMMED with ridiculous fundraisers every other week. Not to mention that now you have to take time off of work to travel all over the Country and pay thousands of dollars in hotel rentals, rental cars, airfare, etc! Are you freaking kidding me? Only to lose in the first round because you were unlucky enough to be matched up against a team who really deserves to be a Full Time Travel Team! I dont know about you but I would rather pay the $100 and allow my children to play other sports, allow my family to do other things except travel around only to get killed by real Travel teams! Another thing that makes me sick to my stomach is the RIDICULOUSLY FALSE RUMOR that kids must play for a Travel Team in order to play High School ball! This could not be more FALSE! The 2011 Stagg Freshman Baseball team was made up of a majority of players from either Hickory Hills Youth Baseball or PBO! I personally know and personally had the honor of coaching 8 players from HHYBS that made the Stagg Freshman team in 2011! So much for that BS! Another complaint that seems rabid in these chat rooms is the FAMILY ATMOSPHERE that kids lose when leaving Rec ball. Baseball is supposed to be a fun, life learning experience that is shared between friends. Whether it is on the diamond or in school the following day. When you play for these watered down travel programs YOU LOSE THAT EXPERIENCE! There is no going to school with your buddies that you play baseball with. Kids on these teams live all over the place. I have put two boys through HHYBS! I could not have asked for a better experience. One of my boys is done and is extremely upset about it. Guess what? He WILL play for Stagg Baseball in 2012! My youngest has one year left in HHYBS. I would not have wished to do it any differently. Both of my boys were invited to try out for these watered down programs. Guess what? We happily stayed at HHYBS! HYBS is part of our life, our family and when our time is over with HHYBS I will always be available and willing to do whatever I can to make sure that it stays as strong as it was when we entered the League back in 2002!!!!! I just hope that my little rant stopped some of you from considering leaving HHYBS for one of these rip off, watered down (so-called) travel programs. Stay with HHYBS where WE TRAVEL, WE COMPETE, WE PLAY IN EXCESS OF 50 GAMES A SEASON, WE WONT KILL YOUR CHECK BOOK AND ON TOP OF ALL WE WIN!!!!!

2011 Division Stats..

Mustang Bronco Pony Mustang All Stars
Hickory Hills Phillies WIN Southwest Interleague Championship Hickory Hills Phillies WIN Southwest Interleague Championship Hickory Hills Phillies WIN Southwest Interleague Championship Win 1st Place in Hickory Hills Tournament Win 1st Place in Midlothian Tournament Win 3rd Place in Oak Forest Tournament Win 3rd Place in Hickory Hills Tournament Win 3rd Place in Homer Glen Tournament Win 1st Place in Oak Forest Tournament

Pony All Stars

And all of this for a fraction of what these WATERED DOWN, WANNA BE, TRAVEL PROGRAMS ARE CHARGING!!!!! Thanks all and once again, I hope to see all of you at our next scheduled HHYBS Board Meeting! Joe Marrotta President HHYBS
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LEAGUE NOTICE!!!!!
On Tuesday, August 9, 2012 the following nominations were made at our regularly scheduled Board meeting for the 2012 HHYBS Board of Directors as well as the Executive Board. (***** = Candidate respectfully declines the nomination).
2012 Panel of Director Nominations (1 year term) Concession Director: Karen Orozco Joy Leach Karyn Marrotta Chris Knights Mario Martinez Nominated by: Karyn Marrotta Nominated by: Mike Leach ***** Nominated by: Carl Day Nominated by: Joe Marrotta Nominated by: Ron Moran Nominated by: Karyn Marrotta Nominated by: Ryan Conrad Nominated by: Lou Grzelinski Nominated by: Ron Moran Nominated by: Kim Kurschner Nominated by: Paul Vrbancic Nominated by: Mario Martinez Nominated by: Mario Martinez Nominated by: Karyn Marrotta Nominated by: Mario Martinez Nominated by: Joe Marrotta Nominated by: Lou Grzelinski Nominated by: Mike Leach Nominated by: Joe Marrotta Nominated by: Carl Day Nominated by: Joe Marrotta Nominated by: Joe Marrotta Nominated by: Mike Orozco 2012 Executive Board Nominations (2 Year Term) Player Agent: Treasurer: Scott Kargol Mario Martinez Carl Day Ron Moran Karyn Marrotta Mike Leach Nominated by: Paul Vrbancic Nominated by: Carl Day Nominated by: Karyn Marrotta Nominated by: Mario Martinez ***** Nominated by Ryan Conrad ***** Nominated by: Mario Martinez

Newsletter Editor: Field Maintenance:

Special Events Coordinator: Joy Leach Tournament Director: Equipment Director: Joe Marrotta Scott Kargol Mario Martinez Missy Moran Scott Kargol Rich Ziganto Ryan Conrad John Simone Rick Stiegal Ron Moran Ron Patrick Carl Day Pat Lorenz Lou Grzelinski Don Engstrom Mike Orozco Jim Kaleckas

Uniform Director:

Head Umpire: Web Master: Risk Management:

Specialty Director: Interleague Liaison: Shetland Director: Pinto Director: Mustang Director: Bronco Director: Pony Director:

Vice President:

Nominations will remain open until 7:30 on September 13, 2011. If you have a member that you would like to nominate or even if you would like to nominate yourself, or for the opposite, if you have been nominated for a position & wish to respectfully decline. Please contact Joe Marrotta ASAP at president@hhyb.org.
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All candidates MUST be in attendance for the election tobe held on Tuesday, September 13, 2011 @ 7:30pm.

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There were some serious issues that may affect our league brought up at the last Board meeting. We felt that it was only proper to table these issues until the September 2012 meeting. This would give the families of HHYBS a chance to view these decisions and attend the September meeting to voice your opinions. The following items will be discussed and ultimately voted on at the September 13, 2011 meeting:

Item # 1: Remove the July meeting every year. With vacations, All Star Tournaments and the lack of items historically on the July agenda we feel that the July meeting could be removed with no negative impact on the League. Item # 2: Remove the position of Sponsorship Director and make this the responsibility of the sitting President. Item # 3: Remove the position of Softball Director and make this the responsibility of each Division Director. This would further assist in making HHYBS one league instead of two separate leagues as we feel it is currently being run. Item # 4: Make the home Manager responsible for dragging, striping and putting the bases on his field before his / her game. This would literally save the League thousands of dollars. Item # 5: Keep League fees the same but increase the number of raffle tickets in a book from 17-25. Remove Charity Mania from the League.

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