SJMSBL News - 2011

It's been 12 long years since the Atlantic Division (18+) sent a title-winning team to the MSBL World Series in Arizona. The long wait for another title is finally over as the San José Brew Crew finished their dominating journey to the 2011 MSBL World Series 25+ Federal Division Championship.

Read more about the Brew Crew's title run.

The Orioles jumped to an early 10-3 lead over the Yankees by the fifth inning of Game Three of the American Division Championship Series. However, the Yankees showed a lot of fight and scored seven unanswered runs over the sixth and seventh innings to tie the game. After threatening to take the lead on several occasions, the Yanks were turned away scoreless by several key defensive plays.

The game remained tied at 10 until the bottom of the eighth when the Orioles offense erupted for six runs including a three-run home run by J. Newman and a two-run blast by A. Sheehan to give the O's their 16-10 win and the title.

Read more about the Orioles 2011 championship season here.

The Indians topped the Tigers 5-3 at Gavilan to win the National Division Championship, their seventh in the last ten years.

It was a close game until Pablo Gutierrez drove in two runs with a two-strike, two-out base hit in top of the 8th. The Indians added an insurance run in ninth on doubles by Trevor Bryden and Paul Sargis.

Jamie Ybarra pitched a complete game, striking out 10 Tigers.

Tom Herrington pitched a complete game and Conan Tzou's three-run home run in the eighth proved to be the winning margin as the Braves held on to win the rubber game 9-7 at Gunderson to claim the Pacific Division Championship.

The Championship is the Braves second Pacific Division title (2008, 2011) and third title overall (2007 American).

Read more about the Braves 2011 championship season here.

The Royals didn't have their best game backing up starter Joey Canter, making seven errors on the day, but their offense bailed them out and propelled them to their first Championship in 10 yrs.

Jeff Canter and Ryan Becks combined to go 9-for-10 on the day with four doubles and a home run. Steve Connolly came in in the 6th inning and shut the door to wrap up a tremendous year for the lefty! Casey Tauscher came up huge again in the finals with a pinch hit two-run single to push the score to 11-8 in the 9th.

Read more about the Royals 2011 championship season here.

For the third straight year the Santa Cruz Mets — a.k.a., the SJMSBL Mets(18) — took down the Woodland/Davis "Best in the West" tourney over the Labor Day weekend.

Read the Santa Cruz Mets Woodland Tourney highlights.

A page has been set up to pay your 2011 MSBL World Series Fee using PayPal™.

Payment is currently available for the 50+ Wood Bat National Division team. Other teams may be added as they organize.

I've finished posting ALL the Photo of the Week submissions for the past four years. ALL submissions, not just the winners. You can view them on the 2008 Photos, 2009 Photos, 2010 Photos, and 2011 Photos pages. Take a look. Not all photos have captions. If you submitted a photo that doesn't have a caption, send me a caption and I'll add it.

I want to thank everyone for all the photos over the seasons and keep them coming, we've still got playoffs.

Playoff seedings and matchups have been set for the National, Pacific, and Atlantic Semi-Final Series' that begin on August 28th. Fields are still being assigned.

Check out the Playoffs page for more information.

The American Division has one more week of the regular season and will begin their playoffs on September 11th.

This year has seen a lot of quality photos submitted for Photo of the Week. It's a crime that only one photo per week has been displayed on the website. For that reason, I've put in some time to update the interface and most of the photos submitted this year are now available.

If you've submitted photos this season, take a look on the Photos page and send me any captions you have for the photos I've added.

I want to thank everyone for all the photos this season and keep them coming, we've still got playoffs.

The League has been informed that Prospect High School is no longer available on August 21st. For this reason, the following schedule changes have been made.

• Games scheduled for Prospect — 10:00 AM Braves vs Padres and 2:00 PM Padres vs Yankees — are being moved to Gunderson.
• The Yankees will need to travel from Challenger to Gunderson for their Game 2 vs the Padres.

Updates have been made to the Schedule.

The Indians-Brewers doubleheader scheduled to be played at Soquel is moved to Los Gatos.

Updates have been made to the Schedule.

The Giants-Brewers doubleheader scheduled to be played at Soquel is moved to De Anza.

Updates have been made to the Schedule.

I will be going on vacation on Tuesday, July 26. For that reason, this week's Photo of the Week submission deadline is being moved from the normal 8 PM on Tuesday to 8 PM on Monday, the 25th. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Strong pitching, a two-run blast over the left field fence, and untimely errors highlighted the inaugural Dave Nicewonger All-Star Classic at San José Municipal Stadium as the National All-Stars defeated the American All-Stars 7-3.

After 20+ years of being called the SJMSBL All-Star Game, the League has renamed the annual event to the Dave Nicewonger All-Star Classic in remembrance of our Umpire in Chief who lost his battle with cancer earlier this year.

Read the full recap of the 2011 Dave Nicewonger All-Star Classic.

Below is information for players and fans who will be attending the 2011 SJMSBL All-Star Game.

Players

• Players should arrive in uniform at 5:30 pm.
• American League Team Nicknames - 3B dugout.
• National League Team Nicknames - 1B dugout.
• Infield from 6:30 to 6:45 pm for American team.
• Infield from 6:45 to 7:00 pm for National team.
• Player introductions from 7:00 - 7:10 pm.

Players and Fans

• Gates open to fans at 6:00 pm.
• Parking in the stadium lot will cost $10 (city parking lot).
• Street-side parking is available but watch out for foul balls.
• Admission is FREE for everyone.
• Concessions stands will be open.
• No coolers or ice chests (city ordinance).
• Police will be on duty inside stadium.

On Sunday June 26 De Anza campus police issued parking tickets to league players from the Pirates and Rays during their game.

ALL cars parked on the De Anza campus must have a parking pass displayed or a ticket will be issued. Read more De Anza parking information.

The 2011 Schedule has been updated and all rainout games from June 5th have been rescheduled. All changes will be highlighted in yellow for a week or two.

Please check ALL your games as several games had to be moved in order to fit in the rainouts.

Thanks once again to our President and Schedule Master Mike Zamba for a few more sleepless nights coordinating fields and rearranging the schedule.

Monday, May 30th, the Santa Cruz Mets — a.k.a., the SJMSBL Mets(18) — took down defending champ East Bay Lumberjacks to take the title at the 2nd annual Santa Cruz Classic 18+ wood bat tourney.

Read the 2011 Santa Cruz Classic highlights.

The 2011 Schedule has been updated and all rainout games from May 15th have been rescheduled. All changes will be highlighted in yellow for a week or two.

Please check ALL your games as several games had to be moved in order to fit in the rainouts. The vast changes required introducing several "travel" dates for a few teams. All Game Twos for traveling teams will begin at 2:00 PM. Most, but not all, of the 2:00 PM games will be seven inning games.

Thanks once again to our President and Schedule Master Mike Zamba for a few more sleepless nights coordinating fields and rearranging the schedule.

Although Sunday the 15th turned out to be an OK weather day — it was the baseball coaches at the schools we use who made the final call on usage of their fields.

Good news is that all of the postponed games WILL be made up.

There will be NO changes to this weekend's (May 22) games.

Stay tuned for an updated schedule in the near future.

The League received notice from Oak Grove HS that games have been "bumped" from the site this coming Sunday (May 15). For this reason, a few changes to the schedule need to be made:

• The 1:30 PM Royals vs Cubs game is moved from Los Gatos to Gilroy HS.
• The 10:00 AM Reds vs Phillies game is moved from Oak Grove to Gilroy HS.
• The 2:00 PM Mariners vs White Sox game is moved from Oak Grove to Los Gatos.

Updates have been made to the Schedule.

The 2011 SJMSBL Season Schedule has been posted on the 2011 Schedule page.

Want to quickly find out where you're playing? Click on your team name in the Team Assignments section to highlight your games.

One team lost, two teams added, one team moving up a division, new baseballs, new sponsor, and new standings calculation. Read the 2011 Season Preview to find out everything you need to know about the upcoming 2011 season.

Ever wonder where all the fields are? Now you can see all the 2011 fields in one click. A custom SJMSBL Fields Google Map has been set up to display all the fields on one map.

The map is also available by clicking on the Google Map Fields button on the 2011 Schedule page.

The Photo of the Week and Photo of the Year contests are back for 2011. Take a look at the Photo Contest Rules.

Thanks in advance for all your photo submissions this year.

The Opening Day schedule has been posted on the 2011 Schedule page. All teams, except the White Sox, will be playing a single game.

All Games are 9 innings - NO Time Limit (Opening Day Only) - 10 Run Rule IS in effect.

The remainder of the schedule will be posted on the website on Monday, April 25.

Want to quickly find out where you're playing? Click on your team name in the Team Assignments section to highlight your games.

Congratulations to Mike Zamba and Robert Straight on their re-elections to the board of directors.

Zamba has been in the League since 1990. He's been on the Board of Directors since 1992, serving as President since 1998.

Straight has been a player and manager in the SJMSBL for 17 years and has been on the Board of Directors since 2002.

Both elections are for three-year terms which will expire 12/31/2013.

Thank you to Eric Pini and Eric Brown for submitting applications and their willingness to donate their time and effort in wanting to serve on the board. Hopefully all choose to run again next year.

The Mets (a.k.a, the Santa Cruz Mets) are hosting their 2nd annual Santa Cruz Classic tournament over the Memorial Day weekend.

Teams interested in playing in the tournament should contact Jeremy Hernandez, Tournament Director, at santacruzclassicsports@gmail.com.

Includes:

• 3 games guaranteed.
• Tournament BBQ for players and coaches. Non-participants are welcome to eat for $10.
• Prize money will be awarded to 1st and 2nd place teams.
• Champions will receive 2nd Annual tournament T-shirts & Trophy.
• Home-run derby: Each team will have a representative, and a second player from each team can enter for $50. Prizes will be awarded to 1st & 2nd place.

It is with great sadness that I share this news with you. Dave "Bubba" Nicewonger, our Umpire in Chief, lost his long battle with blood cancer on March 30, 2011. Dave was 71.

Dave was a true friend and supporter of San José MSBL as well as the director of our NCAA umpire crews. For the past 15 years Dave has been on the field "calling them as he sees 'em" as well as assigning all game officials for league games.

It will be a sad Opening Day without Dave... but he did get to see his beloved Giants win it all last fall!

The second Workout and Draft has been postponed due to rain and rescheduled for 10:30 AM on Sunday, April 3rd at Los Gatos High School (map here).

Warm-ups and registration begin at 10:30 AM.

More information can be found here.

San José MSBL has two board seat openings (seats held by Mike Zamba and Bobby Straight) that have to be filled by April 26. If you are interested in submitting your nomination please complete a Board of Directors Application.

Anyone, manager, player, family member, friend, etc can submit an application to serve a three year volunteer term on the board of directors. You can review the Director description and responsibilities on the Board of Directors page.

Deadline for submitting applications is Wednesday, April 13. Elections will be held via email on Monday, April 18. Each team gets one vote (managers are team reps for voting purposes). Simple majority elects the two new board members.

Due to rain in the forecast, the second Workout and Draft has been postponed and rescheduled for 10:30 AM on Sunday, March 27th at Los Gatos High School (map here).

Warm-ups and registration begin at 10:30 AM.

More information can be found here.

The San José Diamondbacks are proud to have the great opportunity to join the SJMSBL and be a new part of it's 24 year history!

After the first tryout, there were many of us who were left off of a roster spot or did not show up for the tryout. General Manager Brian Benson brought us all together to form our own team. We grouped together, had a few practices and scrimmages, and looked out for the perfect league to play. The SJMSBL seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to continue our passion for baseball.

Look out for the San José Diamondbacks to shock some heads and compete for a playoff run this year in the 18+ Atlantic Division!

After moving to Silicon Valley Adult Baseball League for one year, the SJ Phillies decided to return back home. After realizing that saving money on team fees resulted in getting an inferior experience, the Phillies knew what they had to do. By coming back to the SJMSBL, the step up in competition and playing fields will result in a much better time out.

Stepping back into the competitive 18+ Atlantic Division means the Phillies will have to reload with talent to be ready to go.

Due to an abundance of quality fields obtained by the SJMSBL for the 2011 season the Board of Directors has decided to accept two expansion teams this season!

There is an opening for a team in each age group: 18+ and 25+.

Interested teams should e-mail Director of Player Personnel Robert Ettare at sjmsbl@comcast.net or by phone (510) 657-2089.

The March 15th Managers Meeting has been rescheduled for 10:00 AM on March 20th at Los Gatos High School and will be immediately before the Workout and Draft.

A second Workout and Draft has been scheduled for 10:30 AM on Sunday, March 20th at Los Gatos High School (map here).

Warm-ups and registration begin at 10:30 AM.

More information can be found here.

The six teams in the 25+ National division will swing wood bats this season.

This marks the first time the SJMSBL will use wood bats for an entire season in any of its four divisions.

Some of the league's best pitchers play on National division teams so hitters will have to perfect their wood bat game to enjoy the same success as in past seasons.

The return to "real" baseball will provide players with a real challenge in 2011.

Teams in the Pacific Division will be allowed to carry an unlimited number of 24-year-olds on their rosters this season PROVIDED these players turn 25 PRIOR to December 31, 2011.

The 2011 Workout and Draft is scheduled for 10:00 AM on Sunday, February 13th at Los Gatos High School (map here). Warm-ups and registration begin at 9:30 AM.

More information can be found here.