Call to order: The 66th Annual Board of Directors meeting of the Wisconsin Baseball
Association was held at the Blue Moose Grill & Steak House in Bloomer, Wisconsin, on
Saturday, April 12th, 2014. The meeting convened at 1:05 PM, President Joe Juza
presiding, and Chris LaBreche, secretary.
Members in attendance: Joe Juza, Michael Roiger, Chris LaBreche, Josh Eidem, Burt
Ekern, Dave Hanson, Herb Scheithauer, Scott Sorenson, and Ed Pufall.
Members not in attendance: Tim Lee, Dick Leonhard, Jim Nikolay, and Steve Salmi.
Guests in attendance: Roland Grant, Garth Olsen, Art Zwiefelhofer, Dan
Kraschnewski, Paul Juza, Jeremy Musil, Keith Pitsch, Aaron Vold, Josh Briggs, Luke
Anderson, and Garrett Nix.
Approval of minutes: Moved by Jeremy Musil and seconded to approve the minutes of
the 65th Annual (April 11, 2013) meeting. Motion carried.
Officers’ reports:
President Joe Juza thanked Michael Roiger for his service and direction over the past
46+ years to WBA, as he is retiring from the office of treasurer. President Juza also
commended the Osceola Braves on their exemplary work hosting the 2013 WBA State
Finals. Jamie Ziembo notified the board that he would be resigning his position as
director and Vice President due to relocation out of the area.
Secretary Chris LaBreche submitted and briefly discussed minutes for both 2013 WBA
meetings (annual meeting and seeding meeting.)
Treasurer Mike Roiger submitted and read the 2014 WBA financial statement, which
was distributed to all meeting attendees. Moved by Dan Kraschnewski and seconded
to approve the 2014 statement. Motion carried.
New Business:
Election of Directors
Moved by Burt Ekern and seconded by Josh Eidem to elect Dan Kraschnewski
and Josh Briggs to the board of directors. Kraschnewski and Briggs will replace
Tim Lee and Steve Truttman whose terms ended in 2013. Motion carried.
Discussion by Joe Juza et.al. regarding MLB collision rule (between base runners and
catchers). Agreed that leagues will need to interpret this individually, but that no rule
changes are needed for the WBA playoffs as they already follow MLB rules.
WBA Tournament Umpire Fees
Moved by Michael Roiger and seconded to set tournament umpire fees at $70 per
umpire. Motion carried.
Following the motion to approve umpire fees, a discussion of the 2013 play-in game
between Ashland & Haugen last year took place involving Joe Juza et.al. No changes
were made to the by-laws at this time regarding the selection of playoff teams.
Amendment of Article 12
Moved by Josh Eidem and seconded by Dan Kraschnewski to amend Article 12
to include the following rule: “WBA players may not be rostered on a team out-of-state, with exceptions made for the Northwoods League and American Legion
Baseball.” Motion carried.
Amendment of Article 12, rule 4
Moved by Dan Kraschnewski and seconded to keep Article 12, rule 4 (relating to
30 mile distance from player residence to team ballpark) as is. (Several directors
believed this was only approved for one year.) Motion carried.
Home Team Seeding for Playoffs
Moved by Chris LaBreche and seconded that home teams for playoff games will
be determined through seeding. Higher seeds shall be designated as home. In
the case of seeds of the same rank, a coin flip will determine the home team.
Motion carried.
2014 WBA Seeding / Playoff Tournament Meeting
The 2013 WBA seeding meeting will be conducted at the Hallie Eagle’s Club on
Tuesday, July 29, 2013 at 7 PM. Seeding committee members will include: all
WBA directors, a league representative (six total). Semi-Final Tournament site
representatives are asked to attend, but possess no voting privileges.
2014 WBA Playoff Dates
WBA Single Elimination Semi-Final tournament dates for 2014: Friday, August
8th through Sunday, August 10th.
2014 WBA State Final tournament (host unknown at present) will be held
between Friday, August 15th and Sunday, August 17th.
2014 WBA Semi-Final Tournament Bid Auction
The following teams were awarded tournament sites for 2014:
Chippewa Falls Lumberjacks (to be played at Hallie) – bid $3400
Haugen Knights – bid $3400
Interwald Woodticks (to be played at Rib Lake) – bid $3400
River Falls Fighting Fish – bid $3500
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 3:30 PM