~by Corey Wickham~
After years of no adult summer baseball in the Bismarck-Mandan area Amateur Baseball games are once again being played in the capital city. This however is no easy task. I have tried managing my own amateur team in Mandan but due to organizational reasons, getting legit player commitments, and field accessibility my team folded during its second season of play. Another team in Mandan, the Prairie Dogs, were much more established and had some state wide success but have not played the past couple seasons due to most of their core players simply growing past the game or relocating to different parts of the state and country. Putting a full team, much less an entire six team league on the field on a weekly basis in a city the size of Bismarck is a challenge, but not too gigantic of a challenge for former BHS Head Baseball Coach Matt Power. I got a chance to visit with Power, who serves as the league PR director before a game:
Corey: Matt, are most of the players in the league from the Bismarck/Mandan area?
Matt: Yes, and we also have a team of guys who just moved to Bismarck in recent years who contacted us about playing. A lot of the guys are guys I played with or against, or coached with or against back in the day. (Power was the BHS Head Baseball coach from 2010-2012 accumulating a win loss record of 60-38 in three seasons and was an assistant coach with the Bismarck Governors during that time as well.)
Corey: What is the leagues vision for future years?
Matt: We actually sat down back in October for the first time, we needed to all get together and make sure we got organized first of all. We had hopes of maybe getting two teams together for the first year and then travel to Jamestown as they have a league out East, but the more people we talked to the more interest we started generating and we ended up getting about 90 guys signed up for the league. By next year we hope to move up to eight teams, but right now I think it’s a great start.
Corey: Six teams to me is amazing, that’s a full day of high quality college level baseball, something that Bismarck has never seen during my lifetime during the summer season.
Corey: Who is the league designed for and who is eligible to play in the league?
Matt: Guys 18 year of age or older, guys who have played high school, legion, or college baseball or guys who just want to come out any play. Basically anybody who wants to come out and play some baseball is more than welcome.
Corey: The league is in Bismarck and all your games are played at Haaland Field on Sunday’s, but are there any road games?
Matt: There actually are quite a few tournaments throughout the year. There’s a couple in Jamestown and there are state tournaments at the end of the year as well. There’s also a big tournament up in Canada that I know a couple teams are going to go to.
Corey: Are there league All-Stars, or an All-Star Game?
Matt: Nope, not this year.
Corey: Do you have league sponsors?
Matt: Yes, every team for the most part has a league sponsor. We kind of modeled our vision after softball leagues a little bit in that sense too.
Corey: Are there player fees, or do the sponsors cover the fees?
Matt: Yes, there are player fees and a lot of the sponsors end up covering the player fees. The players do pay for their own uniforms, but the league covered all of the baseballs, field rental, umpires, catchers gear and helmets. Teams were in charge of getting their own bats and uniforms.
Corey: What types of bats are used?
Matt: Wood bats. All wood bats.
Corey: Was the city cooperative in letting you use the facility?
Matt: Parks and Rec have been fantastic. We met with them about a month ago just to secure field access and get our schedule set. Tim Kuntz and Riley Merkel have been, like I said, fantastic.
Corey: Do they cover insurance or do the players have to individually pick up their own insurance?
Matt: We (players) can pick up our own insurance and we have each player sign a waiver to kind of cover the league in case something happens.
Corey: Are there umpires? Do you expect ejections?
Matt: Yes, we have all high school and legion certified umpires. We’ll see some inside pitching, but hopefully no ejections.
Corey: Is there league playoffs or a league champion?
Matt: Yes, we have an end of the year tournament in August. Then, it’s up to all the individual teams if they want to play in the State Tournament in Jamestown or not. I know our team is planning on going.
Corey: Does the league have an active steroid or HGH testing policy?
Matt: (laughs) No, but looking at a couple of the guys on our team maybe we should start.
Corey: How about a players union?
Matt: (laughs, again) Nope, no players union, but these are some great, great questions.
Ah yes, and with them great, great questions I ended my discussion with Power. When the day was over Power’s Thrivent Financial for Lutherans team defeated Ace 24 Hour Towing by a very baseball like 3-0 score. There were no home runs, there were no ejections. There were maybe 15 friends and fans in the bleachers cheering the players on that day, all of which I suspect enjoyed the warm sunshine, soft breeze and sounds of wooden bats on a pleasant June North Dakota afternoon.
League info:
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Certified as an LLC in March, 2013
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Founded in 2012 by the Bismarck Amateur Baseball League Board
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Games are played at Haaland Field and Bismarck Muncipal Ballpark
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Seasons consist of 12 weeks, including an end of the year tournament
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Inaugural season made up of 6 teams in the Bismarck/Mandan area
League Rules:
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High School Re-Entry Rule
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High School Designated Hitter Rule
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High School Courtesy Runner Rule
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4 Inning limit per Pitcher per Game
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Ejection Rule- If a player is ejected, he is out for the remainder of that game, plus the following game
League website with results, sponsors and other info: http://bismarckbaseball.jimdo.com/
~Wickham is a graduate of Brown University (MN) is an employee at Clear Channel Radio in Bismarck, has his own morning radio show in Dickinson and is the PA announcer for the Bismarck Bobcats.~