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Details for Duke

Real name:

Andy

Location:

Simi Valley, CA

Division:

Men's 60

Messages posted by Duke »Message board home »Start a new discussion

May 15, 2013 Duke	Topic: Teams looking for players Discussion: soc. aaa 50 team in need of players Marv, You might add that it is in Temecula not Hemet Andy
Jan. 29, 2013 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Who's Playing Palm Springs in the 60-division Feb. 16 & 19 Venom will be there. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Jan. 29, 2013 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Sal Silva Passed Away 1/28/2013 It was a blessing to have known Sal as a person. I played many tournaments with him and against him. He will be missed by all that have had the pleasure of meeting him. God bless Sal and his family. Andy Smith
Jan. 2, 2013 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Menifee Tournament Jan. 12 & 13, at 9AM.
Jan. 2, 2013 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Menifee Tournament Jan. 12 & 13, BTW Phil, If you want to practice with your Ultra II, we have BP every Saturday at Ventu Park on diamond 2. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Jan. 2, 2013 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Menifee Tournament Jan. 12 & 13, Hi Phil, Our team name is Venom. Mac is playing on our team. Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday. If not, see you in Menifee. Happy New Year! Andy Smith, 60 Major
Jan. 1, 2013 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Menifee Tournament Jan. 12 & 13, If you go to the tournament schedule for January 12-13 in Menifee, there is a list of all of the teams attending to date for all divisions. As of today there are 16 teams in the 60's: 1-AA, 9-AAA, 5-Major, 1-Major Plus. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Dec. 30, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: Menifee Tournament Jan. 12 & 13, Hey Guys, A list was sent out to managers by Kevin Evans. Not sure of the final total. To the best of my knowledge, the following 60 Major teams will be in Menifee January 12-13: West Coast All Stars, Top Gun 60's, Smith Electric, and Venom. Two other good teams, OC Mustangs and R & R Sixties will be there, but have recently been rerated to AAA. Not positive that R & R will be there, but OC Mustangs were slated to play Major originally. Other possible teams are AZ Elite as per above and hopefully Ryan's Way. If we get those 2 teams plus the 4 mentioned above, then we will have 6 very strong teams. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Dec. 27, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: survey I like the 1-1 count and voted for it. I do not care for the 1 foul ball after 2 strikes, since this is slow pitch softball with high tech bats, and it is easy enough already to get a hit. I like being able to play 7 innings. We play 2 games in my leagues, one game with no count and one with a 1-1 count as an experiment. We have noticed a big difference in how long each game takes. We are no longer playing till 12:15 or 12:20. We are now finished by noon or ealier. The league is considering playing both games with the 1-1 count. BTW, we do play with the one foul ball after 2 strikes. In our leagues, it has never been a matter of whether we get 7 innings or not, but how long it takes to get 7 innings in for the 2 games. We have no time limits in our games. Unfortunately, tournaments have time limits. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Dec. 9, 2012 Duke	Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: AAA Home Run Outs The following is just my opinions, so no need to jump all over me. To briefly comment, I agree with wagon and chico, that this type of AAA team is a Major team. What I really want to talk about is in the next several paragraphs. Runs per inning and home run limits are made for each division caused by several poisons, one of which is the Mike Ultra II. I like the current bat/ball combo. The current bat/ball combo is not going to change, and the fences are not going to be moved back. Mostly do to costs, and we seniors do not want to play in larger outfields at our age with lazers being hit off of super bats. The only solution on the fences, would be to add 15 feet to the height, but will probably not happen either. This method would limit many of the home runs, and avoid homeruns over the limit being outs. Here is where I may get shot down by the Major Plus players/teams. AA and AAA divisions seem to have plenty of teams to play and happy with things as they are. Major Plus teams would love to have more teams to play too, especially in the smaller tournaments. This has been discussed for the past 12 years of playing senior softball with absolutely not many results or changes. Major Plus teams in smaller tournaments are still playing against Major teams giving them 5 runs or an extra fielder. Only a crazy Major team would take an extra fielder over the 5 runs. You cannot defend a ball hit over the fence. Obviously, many Major teams can hit many home runs, but not at the rate of the stocked Major Plus teams. Let me get to my humble solution here. Major teams do not have that many Major teams to play in the smaller tournaments either, but more than the Major Plus teams. I want to play softball, not home run derby. Home runs are part of the game, but not at the rate they are happening at our old age now. My humble opinion for a solution to possibly combining Major and Major Plus teams would be unlimited runs per inning and play with a 2 up home run rule and an out not a walk. In combining Major/Major Plus divisions, I would not bargain or budge from these suggested home run rules that I have mentioned. What do I believe will happen now. Well, a lot of critcism, opinions, and other solutions and that I am nuts. Therefore, 10 years from now, Major Plus teams will be in the same situation that they are in now, and have been for several decades, not many teams to play, and playing the same teams day in and day out. BTW, I play on a Major team. I truly believe that most Major teams would be able to compete on an even playing field with Major Plus teams with these rules implemented. I think the poison of the modern bats has poisoned our thinking of the game of softball. I do enjoy watching guys hit those 400 foot shots on occasion, but not 12 times in one game. Rather than pitching BP to a team that can hit more than a dozen home runs per game, I would be happy to let the other team pitch to themselves, so I could sit in the dugout and eat lunch. LOL! Not to make light of this ongoing issue guys, but that is how it feels from many of the Major teams having to play against this situation. Lastly, consider the unlimited arc rule for pitchers, and maybe just in the Major Plus/Major divisions. Now gentlemen, give it your best shot. LOL! Again, just my humble opinions. Have a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year gentlemen!!!!!!!!!!!!! Andy Smith, 60 Major
Nov. 26, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: Maybe try this before adding a pitcher screen???? Either leave the height limit as is, or go to unlimited height. 95% of the umpires do not call the height correctly. Not their fault, it's just an estimate, and it varies greatly with many umpires. With unlimited arc, you solve several issues. You eliminate the umpire's judgement on the height, you eliminate cookies thrown to hitters using a legal weapon(Ultra II, etc), and you increase the importance of the pitcher in this run crazy game and home run derby, and increase the importance of defense. I totally disagree with mandatory mask and shin guards for pitchers or anything else. I tried a mask, and could not react quickly enough to any ground balls, because the mask was in my way every time I looked down. Although more difficult to hit the unlimited arc, it might lead to a couple of new rules to be instituted. For instance, we might not need a 5 run limit per inning. With unlimited arc, I would be in agreement to combine Major Plus and Major divisions using the current Major rules for home runs, in order to have more teams to play in the smaller tournaments. I do not expect this to happen, and these are just my opinions. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Nov. 23, 2012 Duke	Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: looking to play Tom, Rick would be a good fit for your team. Good fielder, hitter, and great attitude! Hope you and your families had a good Thenksgiving Rick and Tom. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Nov. 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: 60s scores in Phoenix Goforit, John, sorry to hear that your team and K C Kids will not be playing this season. To not have you guys, is like a death in the family. You have been around for many years, and it has been a pleasure to meet you and play against you. Though you whooped us most of the time, it was always fun and good competition to play your team. Hope to see you around on another team. Let me know what team you hook up with, so I can look you up. Take care, Andy Smith, 60 Major
Nov. 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: 60s scores in Phoenix Stattad I have played against your team many times, and you are definitely not a AAA team. Your R & R team would run rule most of the AAA teams. Come on Tad, you have Tom, Phil, and Bill who are all superior players in the field and with the bat. Tom would be a huge asset to any Major Plus team. His skills are outstanding. I know you won some tournaments last year, but maybe not SSUSA one's. I will admit, that the 60 Major division in the Vegas Worlds was the strongest field of teams in one division, that I have seen in a long time. Also noted, there were at least 4 60 AAA teams that easily could compete in Major's at the Vegas Worlds. I will be pitching to you on Wednesday Tad, so please do not hurt me, I am very old. LOL! Andy Smith, 60 Major
Nov. 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: toc Nothing has changed for this tournament. Still held at an illogical time of the year. Probably would draw more teams if held the last weekend of October or first weekend of November, before players leave their current teams to play on other teams. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Oct. 27, 2012 Duke	Topic: Players looking to join a team Discussion: SoCal, Ventura county, 55 Hey Rod, what rock have you been hiding under? LOL! Andy
Oct. 22, 2012 Duke	Topic: Rules of the game Discussion: SSUSA ID CARD question 17Black, This is a non issue, and I have had this happen on previous teams on several occasions in the past. Whenever it has been an issue, like a January tournament with an expired December card, the player just had to pay at the time of signing in or call into the SSUSA office with a credit card before the tournament. Same thing regarding a team registration not paid. Just bring the completed form to the tournament with payment, and all will be fine. Andy Smith, 60 Major
Oct. 22, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: LV World Tournament Discussion I wanted to add one more point about having the 11th player on defense. Although it does alter the game, but not as much as the great bats available to us all. The bats are not going away, because if they were banned, then we will get what the young kids play with in their leagues, shaved and painted bats. With all the balls being hit over the fence by 50 players, 55 players, 60 players, 65 players, and 70 players; it has just gotten absolutely out of control. The 11th player will not alter that part of the game too much, except that I actually think with the younger players, it will increase the amount of balls being retrieved over the fence. Just my opinions, Andy Smith, 60 Major
Oct. 22, 2012 Duke	Topic: Tournaments Discussion: LV World Tournament Discussion If an 11th player rule is put into effect in the future, there cannot be a rule that states where a fielder must play. So many infielders play on the grass now. I played on a team where the 2nd baseman plays 25-30 feet on grass in right center. Are you going to force these players to play on the dirt too? Just not going to happen. I believe the 70's and older teams play 11 fielders, and there are no restrictions where anyone plays on the field. Some play an extra infielder, some play a short outfielder, and some play 5 outfielders. Jusy my opinions and observations, Andy Smith, 60 Major
Oct. 19, 2012 Duke	Topic: General and miscellaneous Discussion: What does it take to be a Major player? Softball4b, I agree with most of what you said. I strongly believe that a 6th item as Leftyodoul stated is definitely as important as the talents of any player or team, and that is Team Chemistry. I work that on that for any team that I manage or play, regardless of the level of the team. Andy Smith, 60 Major

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