Why Change Should Come

At their annual meeting in October, 2010, the Minnesota Baseball Association Board of Directors was pressed to find a solution to re-classify teams.  They appointed approximately 13 section and region commissioners and other interested baseball people to attend a meeting on Friday night before their meeting on Saturday, November 20.  This meeting was supposed to be a workshop dealing only with re-classification. 

When the time came there were about 25 people that came to the meeting.  We were expecting to have a vigorous discussion on how the state should be divided.  I thought there would be maps of the state, breaking out into groups and really getting into the task of who should be class B and who should be class C.  The 25 were ready....the Board wasn't.

First, President Richter announced that the meeting would only be a little over an hour long.  That was changed.  Next they had everyone introduce themselves and tell the group what concerned them.  We had heard this before.  We spent the next hour and a half covering old ground and not really accomplishing anything.  Never took marker to paper, never came to any conclusion, just another feel-good, thanks for coming, meeting with the Board.

I should have known better than to expect groundbreaking area.  I came expecting to have maps all over the walls, groups of interested baseball people making good points on re-classifying teams and finally people working together to actually better baseball in the state of Minnesota.  This group wasn't just any group getting together, it was an expoerienced group that had all been at the annual meeting and really knew something about Amateur Baseball in Minnesota! 

Instead everyone travelled to St. Cloud, paid to spend the night and got nothing out of it.  The next day the Board made their own changes letting 11 or 12 teams go from class B to class C and dropping class B to under 35 teams.  There was no mention of this happening that Friday night.

This led to the B group meeting and trying to control their own destiny.  It worked pretty well in 2011 and even though the State Tournament was excellent, things have already begun to fall apart again in 2012.  These things take planning and the Board just doesn't spend the time working at it. 

This is the same Board of Directors that ran the MBA in 2010.  It is the same Board that refuses to enter the 21^st century by not posting meeting agendas, have email as a form of communication, and clings to the principle that secrecy is good.  It is time to change.  Let's elect people that want to work for amateur baseball and will include everyone.  The election is Saturday--Make sure your league officers and Region and Section Commissioners go to the meeting and vote for change.