On October 18, the LBA held its annual meeting, at which business was conducted to choose officers and positions for upcoming terms.  This year marked the retirement of several long time board members, and so personally for me I entered this meeting with a lot of anxiety. A small town like ours has only so big a volunteer pool, and I was worried that the league would end up short-handed. Thankfully, the meeting was well attended, with several new people who have kindly stepped up to serve the league. Thankfully, my concerns are no more. As is almost always the case with a turnover in leadership, there will be change as well as bumps in the road. Luckily for us, we know where the retirees live, and can tap their knowledge and experience pretty easily! The new faces will bring new ideas and fresh enthusiasm, both of which are needed to run an organization and to bring it to new and better places. Following is a list of current officers and directors on the board. Please join me in welcoming and thanking all for their willingness to “step up to the plate!

Officers:

Directors:

We should also take a moment to thank those who are retiring this year for their past, and continuing, service. Many of them will continue to help in smaller, but still important, ways, which will help ensure a smoother transition as the new team takes over. My thanks go out to them, and for their willingness to help the new folks transition to their new positions:

Pam Bumbaca, for her efforts as a player agent, registrar and online operations coordinator. Sean Munnelly, for managing all of the league equipment and keeping it in good repair. (And to Nancy for putting up with what I'm sure was a huge amount of hanging around in their garage and basement!) John Prendergast, for his efforts over the years in instructing our coaches on how to teach the game of baseball. Paul Damphousse and John Ferlan, for their day to day management of operation of the league.

These people represent not only many years of directorship to the league (I'm guessing close to 30 years), but also countless hours of actual time volunteered as part of their service (probably thousands of hours). It takes a huge amount of preparation, each year, to prepare for a season, and these folks have been doing it for a long time, and some of them are doing it having no children playing in the league. They were doing it for love of the game and our community. Everyone should thank them for their efforts, and likewise for the continuing board of directors.

It won't be long now before the new team starts the whole process again for the 2010 spring season. So until then, enjoy the holidays, and see you next spring!