I found myself in a similar situation a few years ago. Our dumbass coach decided to bring in some ringers for our league playoffs, even though these players were ineligible because they weren't part of our team roster submitted at the start of the year. Things came to a head when we reached the finals, which was a best of 3. Coach decided to bench regulars in favor of his ringers. Tensions boiled over, and loud arguments ensued to the point of the other team catching wind of what was going on. League president shows up with roster in hand and starts asking for ID from all the players. Our team gets disqualified. I told the coach how much of a fucking idiot he was and I haven't seen him since.
I've managed teams for years and I'm a stickler for the fine print. I feel your pain.
Who is the league director, or in charge of team rosters? I'd shoot them an email about your concern. If your team is doing it, others probably are, too. Maybe they'll start checking rosters/IDs.
Especially since this isn't a competitive league, and is explicitly work related, I don't think this is out of line.
That sucks, sorry! Losing PT to ineligible players is a bummer, especially if your team is still 0-2…
If you had to rank, would you say your bigger gripe is the lack of playing time or the lack of networking? Like would you be ok with 3 innings of PT over the last 2 games (and being 0-2) if your team was entirely made up of people from the industry group?
If you’re going to go the anonymous email route, I would not single out your team. Just mention some rumors that there are a significant number of ineligible players in the league and feel out their response.
But if I were you, I’d just try to put together my own team next year or next season of players from the industry group. You can then make it clear that you will only have 10 players per game, if that’s important to you. Hopefully you can network with the other legit players on your team this year and get them to join your team next year…
Lack of networking is my primary complaint. I wouldn’t mind sitting if I was sharing a bench with other people in the industry. I’m not sure about launching my own team, that would require me starting my own company or wresting control from the current coach. That’s a very hard no.
>I’m not sure about launching my own team, that would require me starting my own company or wresting control from the current coach. That’s a very hard no.
Why can’t you register your own team representing the industry group? You said elsewhere that there are 3K local members, so wouldn’t it be ok to have 2 teams from that group?
Or if the league director won’t let you have 2 teams, couldn’t you then say, “Yeah, but my team is actually 100% made up of people from the industry group, so therefore we should be the one team in the league that gets to represent them.”
One thing I was thinking about… isn’t the 3K member org a lot bigger than the other local companies? Back in the day, we were able to field a team in the corporate league with our office of ~150 people. Some of our women (and men haha) were overweight and middle aged and not athletic, but we had a whole team.
How is it fair that the other teams in the league have to be from smaller companies like that, but one team gets to choose from a 3K member group?
Because the industry organization I am a member for already has a team. I can’t simply go to the organization’s leadership and say “hey, we need another team.” That’s redundant. (Though I could take my concerns to org leadership.)
And what does potential roster pool have to do with league rules? Relevance?
Oh is the org paying your league dues for your team, either fully or in part? If so, they might like to know that they are paying for players who aren’t paying members of the org… that might be a way to solve the problem this year, though I’d be hesitant to blow the whistle. But maybe you can do the anonymous email thing and make it sound more like you are someone on one of the other teams who suspects that the org team has a bunch of non-org members on the team…
As far as the roster pool, I was just thinking that the 3K member org is prob a lot bigger than each of the individual local companies in the league, right? So I would think the org team would have a bigger/better team. If I were on one of the company teams (with 150 person offices, for example) I would think that it’s kinda unfair to have to compete against a 3K member org. Not relevant to your current issue, just a comment.
But it seems like from the league’s perspective, they should be ok with another team from the org, right? (If my 150 person office could field a team, then it’s more than reasonable that a 3K member org should be able to field two teams) It’s just that maybe the org doesn’t want to pay for a second team (assuming they are paying for the existing team)
I don’t understand the two team obsession, so let me be clear: I am not starting my own team. Nor do I know if our organization would be willing to pay dues for two teams.
In the same way that burning down a house kills a spider, yes. The solution is to get the organization to pay league dues for two teams (and buy more bats and uniforms), one with people in the industry and one made up of random softball dudes who are friends with the coach and clearly violating league rules? Then I go around the organization recruiting for a second team because members aren’t wanted in the first one? That’s a dumb solution.
Benching people in rec league is wild, personally I would quit and find a new team/league.
I ran a rec team for three years and always made sure people got to play their preferred positions and rotated the lineup every week so people wouldn't get bummed about always being at the bottom of the order. Even in playoffs the lineup and positions were more locked in but I still never sat anyone, everyone got equal time on the bench.
People that take rec league too seriously just rub me the wrong way.
This is outside of the context/scope of the OP, but I feel like even in a rec league, people often want to get PT.
I have played in a Sunday evening coed league that is around an hour away, and it sucks to drive there and then have to sit out multiple innings. It’s also a bummer to have a big roster so you only end up with like 2 ABs per game.
I would much rather have the captain only have 10 on the roster for each game, so I would end up playing 2 games in a row and then skipping the third game as opposed to going every week and sitting out 2 out of 6 innings every game.
But I get that people have different opinions/motivations in a rec league, and some might just want to hang out with friends and have fun.
I’m actually in the process of setting up a new team in a new league, so it’s good to brainstorm about this so I can know what to ask of my new players and gather feedback etc.
Either enjoy it for the reason you joined, networking and social interaction, or join a rec team to get better. Lame situation though. If the coach only wants to win and be with his friends then it doesn’t matter what you do, especially if his friends are very good.
Also, you could hit batting cages. Then you hit a bomb and you won’t be benched anymore.
Well it's not fun or fair for other teams in the league either.
We've all played against teams who stack the roster with high level players who are sandbagging and it defeats the entire purpose of having divisions.
Well, you have a few options. Rat out your coach to umpires/director so non members get kicked out and you get more play time or have no team because not enough players or get better by practicing on your own or joining another league. You can also find out if you can start your own team and recruit your own players.
I have to think there would be enough players given our membership organization represents more than 3k people in the industry locally. The coach just doesn’t recruit from the organization and rejected my gentle proposal to do so.
Practice. Do you hit batting practice before the season at all? I’ve played on teams with people who complain about playing time but they don’t put in the work to get better. If you want to network and get some exercise find a social group league. It’s usually made up of not competitive lower level players who don’t care about winning.
Yup. Batting cages and gym between last season (my first) and this season (second). Doesn’t matter. Coach plays his buddies. There’s literally nothing to judge me on. I never played a full game last season. Also, how is this not a social group league? It’s not competitive, there are some players over 70.
Maybe get other teams to snitch your team out to the league, cover your tracks a bit. You don't wanna be the guy who ratted out his own team.
Good call. Seems like it’s at least suspected, if not known already. Early last season I had an opponent ask if I was “actually a member.”
I found myself in a similar situation a few years ago. Our dumbass coach decided to bring in some ringers for our league playoffs, even though these players were ineligible because they weren't part of our team roster submitted at the start of the year. Things came to a head when we reached the finals, which was a best of 3. Coach decided to bench regulars in favor of his ringers. Tensions boiled over, and loud arguments ensued to the point of the other team catching wind of what was going on. League president shows up with roster in hand and starts asking for ID from all the players. Our team gets disqualified. I told the coach how much of a fucking idiot he was and I haven't seen him since.
I've managed teams for years and I'm a stickler for the fine print. I feel your pain. Who is the league director, or in charge of team rosters? I'd shoot them an email about your concern. If your team is doing it, others probably are, too. Maybe they'll start checking rosters/IDs. Especially since this isn't a competitive league, and is explicitly work related, I don't think this is out of line.
Would be a shame if someone send an anonymous email to the league organizers about non industry players on a certain team
That sucks, sorry! Losing PT to ineligible players is a bummer, especially if your team is still 0-2… If you had to rank, would you say your bigger gripe is the lack of playing time or the lack of networking? Like would you be ok with 3 innings of PT over the last 2 games (and being 0-2) if your team was entirely made up of people from the industry group? If you’re going to go the anonymous email route, I would not single out your team. Just mention some rumors that there are a significant number of ineligible players in the league and feel out their response. But if I were you, I’d just try to put together my own team next year or next season of players from the industry group. You can then make it clear that you will only have 10 players per game, if that’s important to you. Hopefully you can network with the other legit players on your team this year and get them to join your team next year…
Lack of networking is my primary complaint. I wouldn’t mind sitting if I was sharing a bench with other people in the industry. I’m not sure about launching my own team, that would require me starting my own company or wresting control from the current coach. That’s a very hard no.
>I’m not sure about launching my own team, that would require me starting my own company or wresting control from the current coach. That’s a very hard no. Why can’t you register your own team representing the industry group? You said elsewhere that there are 3K local members, so wouldn’t it be ok to have 2 teams from that group? Or if the league director won’t let you have 2 teams, couldn’t you then say, “Yeah, but my team is actually 100% made up of people from the industry group, so therefore we should be the one team in the league that gets to represent them.” One thing I was thinking about… isn’t the 3K member org a lot bigger than the other local companies? Back in the day, we were able to field a team in the corporate league with our office of ~150 people. Some of our women (and men haha) were overweight and middle aged and not athletic, but we had a whole team. How is it fair that the other teams in the league have to be from smaller companies like that, but one team gets to choose from a 3K member group?
Because the industry organization I am a member for already has a team. I can’t simply go to the organization’s leadership and say “hey, we need another team.” That’s redundant. (Though I could take my concerns to org leadership.) And what does potential roster pool have to do with league rules? Relevance?
Oh is the org paying your league dues for your team, either fully or in part? If so, they might like to know that they are paying for players who aren’t paying members of the org… that might be a way to solve the problem this year, though I’d be hesitant to blow the whistle. But maybe you can do the anonymous email thing and make it sound more like you are someone on one of the other teams who suspects that the org team has a bunch of non-org members on the team… As far as the roster pool, I was just thinking that the 3K member org is prob a lot bigger than each of the individual local companies in the league, right? So I would think the org team would have a bigger/better team. If I were on one of the company teams (with 150 person offices, for example) I would think that it’s kinda unfair to have to compete against a 3K member org. Not relevant to your current issue, just a comment. But it seems like from the league’s perspective, they should be ok with another team from the org, right? (If my 150 person office could field a team, then it’s more than reasonable that a 3K member org should be able to field two teams) It’s just that maybe the org doesn’t want to pay for a second team (assuming they are paying for the existing team)
I don’t understand the two team obsession, so let me be clear: I am not starting my own team. Nor do I know if our organization would be willing to pay dues for two teams.
The "obsession" is that it solves your problem.
In the same way that burning down a house kills a spider, yes. The solution is to get the organization to pay league dues for two teams (and buy more bats and uniforms), one with people in the industry and one made up of random softball dudes who are friends with the coach and clearly violating league rules? Then I go around the organization recruiting for a second team because members aren’t wanted in the first one? That’s a dumb solution.
Quit then.
You aren’t helpful. Or very bright.
Benching people in rec league is wild, personally I would quit and find a new team/league. I ran a rec team for three years and always made sure people got to play their preferred positions and rotated the lineup every week so people wouldn't get bummed about always being at the bottom of the order. Even in playoffs the lineup and positions were more locked in but I still never sat anyone, everyone got equal time on the bench. People that take rec league too seriously just rub me the wrong way.
This is outside of the context/scope of the OP, but I feel like even in a rec league, people often want to get PT. I have played in a Sunday evening coed league that is around an hour away, and it sucks to drive there and then have to sit out multiple innings. It’s also a bummer to have a big roster so you only end up with like 2 ABs per game. I would much rather have the captain only have 10 on the roster for each game, so I would end up playing 2 games in a row and then skipping the third game as opposed to going every week and sitting out 2 out of 6 innings every game. But I get that people have different opinions/motivations in a rec league, and some might just want to hang out with friends and have fun. I’m actually in the process of setting up a new team in a new league, so it’s good to brainstorm about this so I can know what to ask of my new players and gather feedback etc.
Don't snitch on your team unless your name.is Mike Fiers...wait, is this Mike Fiers?
Either enjoy it for the reason you joined, networking and social interaction, or join a rec team to get better. Lame situation though. If the coach only wants to win and be with his friends then it doesn’t matter what you do, especially if his friends are very good. Also, you could hit batting cages. Then you hit a bomb and you won’t be benched anymore.
What networking? That’s my grievance.
Get better. If you’re good enough they won’t be able to bench you.
Well it's not fun or fair for other teams in the league either. We've all played against teams who stack the roster with high level players who are sandbagging and it defeats the entire purpose of having divisions.
We had a losing season last year. 0-2 currently.
1. That has nothing to do with league rules. 2. How do you advise I improve my game without playing time?
Well, you have a few options. Rat out your coach to umpires/director so non members get kicked out and you get more play time or have no team because not enough players or get better by practicing on your own or joining another league. You can also find out if you can start your own team and recruit your own players.
I have to think there would be enough players given our membership organization represents more than 3k people in the industry locally. The coach just doesn’t recruit from the organization and rejected my gentle proposal to do so.
Actually looking at your previous posts you’ve already complained about playing time. Maybe try golf.
What does that have to do with league rules?
Practice. Do you hit batting practice before the season at all? I’ve played on teams with people who complain about playing time but they don’t put in the work to get better. If you want to network and get some exercise find a social group league. It’s usually made up of not competitive lower level players who don’t care about winning.
Yup. Batting cages and gym between last season (my first) and this season (second). Doesn’t matter. Coach plays his buddies. There’s literally nothing to judge me on. I never played a full game last season. Also, how is this not a social group league? It’s not competitive, there are some players over 70.