Asbury Athletic Association

Prairie League Meeting Minutes

Fall Baseball Meeting 2008

Location: Asbury Fire Station, Asbury, Iowa

Date: Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Time: 7:00 PM

Meeting Summary

The communities of the Prairie League-South division in attendance (in alphabetical order) were: Asbury, Cascade, Dyersville, E. Dubuque, Epworth, Farley, Key West, Monticello, Peosta, Placid and St. Donatus.  Absent was the community of Monastery.

  • Steve Weber of Key West presented a clarified set of rules for all boys divisions (A, B, C and D) and made a motion to have these rules be used going forward as the "standardized" rules that the league will use for all of its games and tournaments. This motion was passed unanimously by the board and will be made available to the league via this web site as soon as they are received from Key West.
  • A tabled point of business from the Spring 2008 meeting concerning the barrel width of bats used at the boy's B level was closed.  It was agreed that the barrel width of bats used by boy's B-League teams will be no bigger than 2 1/4" wide with an unlimited weight ratio limit.  This will result in the distance of the pitching rubber to remain at 46 feet and base path distances remaining at 60 feet.  See below for what was proposed at the Spring 2008 meeting.
    • Bat barrel width of 2 5/8" with unlimited weight ration, pitching rubber distance at 50 feet, base path distance at 65 feet.
    • Bat barrel at 2 1/4" with unlimited weight ration, pitching rubber distance remaining at 46 feet, base path distance remaining at 60 feet. 
  • A motion was brought forth by Epworth to change game nights of boy's C-League and D-League games.  Epwoth's proposal was to switch boy's D-League games to Tuesday nights and move boy's C-League games to Wednesday nights.  After much discussion the motion was passed by a 4-3 vote in favor of moving the nights by the communities that have C and D league teams.
  • A motion was made by Peosta that the use of a pitcher's mound be mandatory for all boy's C, B and A league games beginning in the 2010 season.  This motion was made in the interest of safety for pitcher's arms.  This motion was tabled and will be discussed further in a future meeting. For informational purposes, St.Donatus offered what they purchased and use as a portable pitching mound.  It can be seen here.
  • It was unanimously agreed that the number of communities comprising the Prairie League-South division be frozen at the current number of 12.  The communities comprising the Prairie League-South division (in alphabetical order) are: Asbury, Cascade, Dyersville, E. Dubuque, Epworth, Farley, Key West, Monastery, Monticello, Peosta, Placid and St. Donatus.
  • The community of Asbury officially passed control of the board to the community of Cascade for the upcoming 2009 season.
  • The community of Farley will be responsible for the scheduling of all boy's baseball (A, B, C and D) games for the 2009 season.  Farley requests that field availability (days and times) be supplied to them at the Spring meeting in March.
  • It was decided to hold the Spring meeting after all of the communities have held their baseball sign up days and have an idea of the number of teams each community will have for each division.  This meeting is set for Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 at Dagwood's Pub (back room) in Cascade, IA.

Next Meeting

Location: Dagwood's Pub (back room), Cascade, IA

Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Time: 7:00 PM

Outstanding Business

  • Farley will expect to receive field availability (days and times) for each community for scheduling purposes.
  • Mandatory use of a pitching mound for boy's C, B, and A League games starting in 2010.


Winter Baseball Meeting 2008

Location: Eagles Club, Asbury, Iowa

Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Time: 7:00 PM

Meeting Summary

The communities of the Prairie League-South division in attendance (in alphabetical order) were: Asbury, Dyersville, Epworth, Farley, Key West, and St. Donatus.

  • It was decided to keep the current schedule of game nights as it has been in the past (A-League on Mondays, B-League/C-League on Tuesday and D-League on Wednesday).  Currently, it's unknown if this will be a problem for the 2008 season.  If a community needs to supplement a team with players from another team, every effort will be made to accommodate that community's need through scheduling. 
  • Steve Weber, the Key West representative, discussed the code of conduct policy that Key West has adopted for its coaches and parents and offered it as a guide for other communities to follow or adopt if they so chose.  Steve also presented a medical form, which he has used in the past, that contains each player's medical and parent/guardian contact information in the event that a player is injured during a game or at a practice.  As Steve pointed out, "...parents usually attend games, but in the case of older players, Mom and Dad may chose to attend the game of a younger brother of one of your players.  How do you contact the parents if the older brother is injured?"  The need for contact/medical information is probably more of a concern during practice.  Again, as Steve indicated, "...with your parents of older players, they drop the kids off for practice and are running other siblings to their practices, games or picking things up from the store."  They aren't hanging around watching practice.  It's important to have the contact/medical info if a player is hurt at practice".  The "Code of Conduct" for coaches can be found here, the "Code of Conduct" for parents can be found here and the player contact/medical form can be found here.  Thanks Steve!
  • Farley and Key West announced tournament dates. 
    • Farley's A-League/C-League tournament dates are May 2nd, 3rd and 4th and their B-League/D-League tournament dates are May 16th, 17th and 18th.  The Farley Park Board is also holding a 12 and under tournament which will include a "Home Run Derby" June 13th, 14th and 15th.
    • Key West's tournament at the Dubuque Sports Complex will be June 7th and 8th.
  • Bruce, Chad and Lou from Maquoketa, Iowa were in attendance inquiring about picking up some games for their two 14 year only baseball teams.  Each community can contact Lou via his cell phone (563.212.5882) for games once the 2008 Prairie League schedule is set.
  • It was decided to hold another meeting after all of the communities have held their baseball sign up days.  This meeting was tentatively set for Wednesday, March 26th. A more concrete date and place will be forth coming.  Check the web site for the updated date and place.

Next Meeting

Location: Asbury Fire Station

Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Time: 7:00 PM

Outstanding Business

  • D-League: Rule change to disallow the use of girls softball bats.
  • Clarify the ruling of how a pitcher can reenter the game.
  • Unify the dimensions of bats across all leagues, specifically the barrel width and the weight ratio (-8..-10) for pitcher safety.  Currently, A-League allows a bat barrel to be 2 5/8" wide with a -9 oz. weight ratio limit whereas B-League allows a bat barrel to be 2 5/8" wide with an unlimited weight ratio limit.



Fall Baseball Meeting 2007

Location: VFW Hall, Farley, Iowa

Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Time: 7:00 PM

Meeting Summary

The communities of the Prairie League-South division (in alphabetical order) are: Asbury, Cascade, Dyersville, East Dubuque (IL), Epworth, Farley, Key West, Monastery, Peosta, Placid and St. Donatus.

  • It was decided to form an 11-member board to handle concerns and issues associated with the rules of play and other general policies concerning the Prairie League-South baseball communities. 

  • The board will be comprised of one representative from each town that comprises the Prairie League-South division.

  • Each town's board member will be responsible for bringing concerns and/or issues before the board on behalf of that community.

  • Each town's board member will be responsible for communicating the decisions made by the board back to that community and to that community's coach(es).

  • Each town's board member will be responsible for representing that community's position for a given issue/concern (vote for or against the current issue/concern --if applicable).

  • If an issue/concern before the 11-member board does not affect that community directly, that community will not have any vote for or against the issue/concern.

It was decided that each year's baseball scheduling will be rotated between the 11 communities comprising the Prairie League-South division based on alphabetical order (Asbury will be first).  The scheduling will be for all divisions of play (A, B, C and D) and include all of the communities that comprise the Prairie League-South division.