Letters to the Editor: May 6, 2020

May 1, 2020

Catcher Wearing Mask

I would like to make a suggestion regarding the requirement that the catcher wear a mask.

I heard of an accident in the U.S. in which a guy who was oxygen deprived while driving went head-on into a tree. Most catchers are not in shape and generally high on their BMI (Body Mass Index), so wearing a mask while playing may pose a danger. 

In addition, the sun and its UV rays are stated as a killer of Wuhan virus (COVID-19).

If the temperature is over 80 and the sun is shining, you should waive the covering of face for the catcher.

Duane Williams
Sacramento CA Islanders 65s

EDITORS NOTE: While the N95 masks are thicker, making breathing while playing harder, they are not required for catchers, officials or directors.  They may wear the lighter masks, which are more breathable.  In addition, SSUSA is developing face shields on ball caps that keep a thin plastic shield away from the face so breathing is normal even while playing. The reason for the rule is to protect the people the catcher is near (batters and umpires). These new rules and regulations are also designed to allow the sport to meet CDC recommendations so that we can re-start playing sooner.

How Different Will It Be?

A number of Syracuse Cyclones 75 players have these observations, questions and concerns:

• Will we be room sharing or be in single rooms? What about room cleanliness?
• What about socializing with teammates at the hotel -- will the lobby be off limits? Will we have to wear masks?
• What about eating? Will we be able to eat at restaurants, or will it have to be take-out or delivery and eat in our rooms?
• What about social distancing during the games? Will it be necessary – or even possible? Will we have to wear masks all the time?
• I would prefer to wait until all signs of the virus clear up. Hopefully by September. Mortality rate of all ages from virus if caught is about 5%. For seniors, it is more than 10%.
• I’m not playing or practicing (yet) in my league – and there are no plans to start soon, so I may not be in game shape.

Andy Endsley
Syracuse NY Cyclones 75s

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sharing or not sharing rooms with teammates will be individual decisions.  However, as antibody testing, effective treatments and immunizations become widely available, it will hopefully be less of a concern.  As far as playing with masks, the catcher is the only player required to wear a mask.  We do recommend other players wear masks or face shields.

In the short term, players may have to get take-out or delivery and eat in their rooms – that depends on individual states, and player preferences.

Our goal is to provide the framework for re-starting the sport as soon as possible in the safest manner possible.  The ultimate decision is up to each player.

Manager’s Responsibility?

I am sure that you and the other SSUSA personnel are getting a great many questions regarding the new rules and regulations. 

The one that most concerns me as a manager is the third one on the list concerning managers being responsible for keeping any sick players or players in quarantine out of the tournament. 

I would be interested in any discussion that might have been held by your leadership about possible lawsuits occurring against a manager as a result of this wording.  Most all managers are not doctors, as you know.  Sick has a broad connotation to it covering a much larger ground than just the coronavirus, but would obviously cover the coronavirus. 

Also, I am sure you know that players could have the virus when they start a tournament and not even know they have it.  However, if they do, they could theoretically pass it on to a teammate and/or opposing player without even knowing they were infected at a tournament. 

It would seem to me that a strict interpretation of this language would then make the manager a possible target of a lawsuit possibly asking for financial damages if someone later on thinks they got infected at the tournament and learns that one of the opposing players had the virus at the time of the tournament. 

I am not a lawyer, but in my business career I saw many lawsuits that resulted in financial redress that seemed unbelievable to me.  I would appreciate any thoughts you and others had about this subject.
Mike Cordry
General Equipment WA 75s

EDITORS NOTE: We only hold managers responsible for asking players whether they are sick or in quarantine.  This is an honor issue for the players to avoid them passing the coronavirus to other people at the parks.  We will be issuing new Team /Player Agreements that all players must sign saying they understand that there is a chance of injury or contracting illnesses in groups during the tournament.  This covers managers, as well, because the agreement is signed by the players.

The idea, of course, is to keep people as safe as possible when we start playing again.  As with many things in life, there are no guarantees and some people may not be honest with their managers or us.  We have no choice but to base our policy on trust and protect both managers and the organization in case someone is less than honest.

This policy is also designed for health departments and parks -- they will require many of these specific steps be enforced in order for us to begin playing again.  We have already received notes from a few jurisdictions with specific questions regarding us playing again -- fortunately our new guidelines address all of their major issues -- which gives us hope that we will be able to re-launch the sport this summer.

TOC Berths?

I know how SSUSA feels about our TOC being unique and that it is only for tourney champions. Recently I had a team manager suggest having both the first and second place teams from each Tournament of Champions qualifier be eligible to get a berth to our TOC next February 2021. The reason for this is because of the number of tourneys we have had to cancel this year because of the pandemic thereby having fewer teams qualifying for the TOC.
We could only make this change for this year only because of all of the cancellations that are happening.
Chuck Sharkey
SSUSA New York State Director

EDITOR’S NOTE: At this point, we have had to cancel only one TOC tournament, the Tidewater Classic, and we have made the Crabtown Classic in Glen Burnie, a TOC Qualifier to take its place this year.  Teams have the same number of chances to qualify, so we don't plan on changing the qualification rules.

However, if we need to cancel TOC Qualifiers in the coming weeks, that may change.  As with almost everything in the pandemic, the timing of how life will go on remains in a constant state of flux.

Moving 60s to Weekdays in Reno

You are asking people that are not retired to burn up vacation time to play in the (Reno) tournament during the week. 60-65 players are most likely still working.  I can tell you the team I play for will not be doing that since it means taking off Monday to drive up or hopefully be able to fly in from out of the area, then play Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and then drive home.

Are you going to cover the vacation time we use for this? Not a good scenario or plan. Then in September (during the World Masters Championships) you expect us to play 4 days.  There goes a family’s 2-week allotted annual vacation and leaves no family vacation. That will not go over well with the family members.

Keep the 60's on the weekend as they always are even if it is later then Memorial Day weekend (or get another set of fields), and for the Worlds take it back to 3 days. If the wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends complain they can't do the town, then do it when you aren't playing or go by yourself.

Waiting for the parks to open shouldn't decide where brackets are going to play.
Duff Criley
Tri-C-Machine, CA, 60s

EDITOR’S NOTE: There are no good choices in this pandemic.  

Even if we can use a complex on the weekends, there will not be enough room for all divisions.  That's why we moved the oldest division -- the 60s -- to the week.  We understand that some teams, maybe many teams, will not be able to participate during the week.

However, some 60s teams may be able to play -- and that is better than no 60s teams being able to play.

We wish there was a better answer -- but the unusual restrictions caused by this pandemic force us to change when some divisions play... just to give some teams an opportunity to play.

We all hope this is over soon and we can get back to normal scheduling.