Hey Jim and Jon:

On behalf of the Arlington Dirtbags, I want to thank both of you for your endless hours and dedication to running the MSBL league.  We have been fortunate to have been involved with the league for the past two (2) years and have enjoyed the well organized, competitive and fun environment that you two have provided our team to play ball in. 

What our team has lacked in overall winning success has been overshadowed by the progress that I feel each and every boy on our team has gained by playing in a league with such highly talented ballplayers.  All of these boys came out of the houseleague/post travel format.  In my opinion, they are better prepared for high school baseball now, than if we remained in the post-season format.  The talent that they have seen over the past two years has given them a better benchmark of where they need to be in order to compete in high school.  Because the talent pool is so good, I believe that the majority of our boys worked harder to try to get “caught up” to what they were seeing on the field every MSBL game.

I am hopeful that we as coaches of the Dirtbags have accomplished our team goal which was to prepare the boys for high school.  If in fact we have, then the time and energy that YOU BOTH have put into the league has not only contributed to the success of your ballclub, but directly to The Arlington Dirtbags player’s development, as well.  For this we are grateful.

Congratulations on winning the tournament.

Respectfully,

Jeff Bergman