Iowa
Baseball League
Frequently Asked Questions
How are teams
assigned to conferences?
Has the IBL considered
dividing divisions into single grades rather than two (e.g., all 3rd
grade and all 4th grade)?
How are the pools created
for the tournaments?
Why doesn't the IBL
have all-star teams like Optimist baseball does?
Should 1st and 2nd
grade players be in the IBL?
What are Position Rounds?
How can I get my player on
a team?
Are girls allowed in the IBL?
Why doesn't the IBL
allow games to be rescheduled if both managers agree?
Why doesn't the IBL
certify umpires?
Why does the IBL play
Major League Baseball Rules instead of Iowa High School Rules?
Why is leading off not
allowed in 3-4 and 5-6?
If a team plays with less
than the allowable number of players, is it required to take an out
when the missing player(s) would have batted?
What about if a
player leaves the game early and misses an at bat? Isn't that an
automatic out?
In the pitching rules,
what does the term "...in any seven day period" mean?
How are teams
assigned to conferences?
Teams are not randomly assigned to conferences in the divisions.
Rather, in each division they are first divided by grade into 3 groups:
all lower grade,
all upper, and mixed. The upper grade teams are evenly distributed
across the conferences, as are the lower and mixed grades. Then, they
are reallocated according to community. That is, we try to spread out
the CF teams, the Waterloo teams, and then the other towns equally
across the conferences. After the teams are allocated to the
conferences, we go back and make some final adjustments. The objective
is to have conferences that are approximately the same based on grade
and community. So, the short answer is conferences are
created based on grade of players and geography.
Has the IBL considered
dividing divisions into single grades rather than two (e.g., all 3rd
grade and all 4th grade)?
Yes, but it seems unworkable. Many teams, especially from other towns,
are by necessity made up of players from both grades in a division. The
policy would discriminate against them by forcing them to play
generally older teams. Also, we have no assurance the number of teams
at each grade level would be equal. That is, we might have four 5th
grade teams and twelve 6th grade teams. That certainly doesn't make for
balanced or fun competition. Further, playing a younger team allows
managers to experiment with different pitchers and players at different
positions. Playing an older team can sometimes induce greater effort
and motivation from players.
How are the pools created
for the tournaments
Usually, there are 2 conferences in a division. We place 4 teams in
each pool according to their conference finish and all teams in a
pool each other. The gold pool is the 1st & 2nd place
teams in each conference, the silver pool is the 3rd & 4th place
teams in each conference and so on. Sometimes the last pool might
have 3, 5 or 6 teams. In that case, there is a slightly different
playing format.
Why doesn't the IBL
have all-star teams like Optimist baseball does?
One huge problem is how to appropriately select the players. In major
league baseball there is fan voting and players are well-known to the
public because of media coverage. In any IBL grade division,
there can be almost 300 players and there isn't any media present!
How could we possibly select all-star teams that are representative and
appropriate? Not every team keeps accurate or complete records on the
players and selecting a fixed amount from each team creates the real
possibility that better players could be excluded in favor of less
developed ones, which hardly seems fair or appropriate.
But, that’s NOT the
reason we have decided against it. Most
importantly, all-star teams are contrary to the philosophy and
objectives of the IBL. It is our intention to have as many players as
possible have a fun, positive experience. While the IBL encourages all
players to do their best, we prefer to recognize team accomplishments
rather than individual achievement.
Should 1st and 2nd
grade players be in the IBL?
The biggest concern is with the age difference. At a minimum,
there will be a 2 year difference between a 2nd grader and a 4th
grade team in the League. Given that many parents hold their kids back
a year before starting school, that difference could be as much as 3
years. This can be a huge size and maturity difference. While the IBL
is not a tournament level league, it is still competitive and the
level of play is fairly high. With most teams, the best and
biggest kids are pitchers and it is their intention to strike batters
out, usually by throwing as hard as they can, sometimes wildly.
Further, they also hit the ball pretty hard. All of these things
combine to present a safety concern for us and while we have no rule
against younger players in the 3-4 grade division, we do strongly
discourage it.
What are Position Rounds?
A position round is a set of games where teams play other teams
who are similar to them in the standings. We actually have 2 types of
position rounds: Inter-conference and Intra-conference. With an
Inter-conference round, the first place team in one conference plays
the first place team in the other. The second place teams play each
other, as do the third place teams and so on. In an Intra-conference
round, the first place team in a conference plays the second place team
in the same conference, the third place team plays the fourth place
team in the same round and so on.
Position round games usually match pretty equal teams and can be quite
exciting. When the schedule allows, we try to include position rounds
but that is dictated by the number of teams in a division.
How can I get my player
on a team?
The IBL does not put players on teams. Rather, we schedule and reserve
diamonds for teams formed by parents. We have a link on our home page
to Joining
a Team
that offers suggestions but it is up to players and parents to find
teams. A list of the current and previous season's teams is on
the website under “Rosters” with managers' names and their
phone numbers. Parents not forming their own team may have
to contact teams to see if teams have a need for additional players for
the next season.
Are
girls allowed in the IBL?
Absolutely!
Why doesn't the IBL
allow games to be rescheduled if both managers agree?
At one time, we did. But as the IBL has grown, voluntary rescheduling
has proven
unworkable. We discovered teams were requesting to reschedule for some
less-than-urgent reasons, among them missing a key player, a coach out
of town, or entering a tournament. Just because managers agree on
rescheduling doesn't mean parents do. As our lives have become more
complex, all of us are forced to make plans far in advance. The IBL
puts out a schedule and many parents plan vacations, short trips,
birthday celebrations and other activities around our baseball games.
It's bad enough when plans are disrupted because of make-ups of
weather-related postponements without having to worry about games
changed because of someone else's personal plans. The schedule is
not a guideline,
it's a schedule. The League
asks managers to get as much information about date conflicts before
the beginning of the season and include those dates on the
registration. We then accommodate a reasonable number of requests when
the schedule is made out, avoiding conflicts in
advance whenever possible.
Why doesn't the IBL
certify umpires?
Given the wide range of experience and expertise, there really is
no practical way to certify umpires. On some Sundays, we can have 25
games which would require 50 umpires! There is no way we could devise a
training program to provide that many umpires certified by us.
Attempting to do so would cause more problems than it solves. On our
website we provide a list of people who have expressed an interest in
umpiring, but we do not certify them. Our intention is to have team
managers find
their own umpires and ask that they be competent. We encourage
managers, if they desire, to use younger umpires (although
the home plate
umpire must be at least 17 years old) so they have an opportunity to
develop
their umpiring skills in a relatively low-key environment. It's not
unusual for
an umpire to be a high school baseball player who can earn a few
dollars and enhance his understanding of baseball by seeing the
game from a different perspective. In
general, umpires should focus on balls & strikes, fair or foul,
safe or out and resolve rules issues jointly with the managers of
both teams.
Why does the IBL play
Major League Baseball Rules instead of Iowa High School Rules?
Primarily because of availability. Major League rules are available
on the internet . We have never been able to find a complete set of
Iowa High School Rules on the internet. And, there isn't much
difference.
Why is leading off
not allowed in 3-4 and 5-6?
Part of our philosophy is to gradually move closer to full baseball
rules as players advance through the IBL's divisions. While leading off
is not terribly difficult, it puts a tremendous burden on the pitchers
and umpires at the lower levels. Third-graders would be required to
pitch from the stretch, attempt pick-offs and not balk. All of this
while struggling to throw strikes. While some players could handle it,
it is asking too much of most young players. Another factor is the
length of the bases. It is so short that leading off almost guarantees
a successful stolen base. Finally, leading-off will
amplify the difference between the stronger and weaker teams and we are
already concerned about competitive imbalance.
If a team plays
with less than the allowable number of players, is it required to take
an out when the missing player(s) would have batted?
No. We figure playing shorthanded is penalty enough!
What about
if a player leaves the game early and misses an at bat? Isn't that an
automatic out?
Once again, no. The player is just skipped. There are no automatic outs
in the IBL.
In the pitching rules,
what does the term "...in any seven day period" mean?
This means in the *last* 7 days so it is a rolling period. If
your game is on Sunday, it means since last Sunday. If your game is on
Wednesday, it means since last Wednesday. If your game is on Thursday,
it means since last Thursday and so on. It is not always the same time
period but rather changes every day.