Dear Managers and Players,

Your Synagogue Softball Executive Board each week works on ways to make our league better. Recently, we’ve been working overtime on something that affects every minute of every game: Umpires. In the spirit of transparency and ensuring we have the best Synagogue Softball experience, we want to share with you how we’re improving the league.

We know that the issue of umpires has been among the most debated parts of each game. We are not going to fix everything as it relates to umpires, but there are certain aspects that we are working to upgrade.

Starting this Sunday, we will be contracting with a new group of umpires who work for us under the banner of an organization called Gold Coast Umpires Association. This is a professional set of umpires who do high school, college and other baseball and softball leagues around Southern California. We believe this will be an upgrade in many ways (though the cost is similar to what we’ve paid in the past). But, as this will be the first game for many of them with our league, we need your help.

Synagogue Softball is known for many things, including a high level of camaraderie and competition. Each of those attributes make our league great and are reasons you and your players come back each year. This Sunday, you and your players will be ambassadors of our league to this new set of umpires. They all know the rules and what is expected, but we appreciate, in advance, your patience and any explanations (via the managers) that may be needed if discussions about rules arise.

Finally, it came to our attention that an addendum to the rules was required to tighten up wording as it relates to player rosters. Starting Sunday, a player may only be on one team’s roster during a season, even if a synagogue has more than one team. If this affects you and you have questions, please ask your division rep. We also ask that each manager bring a set of rules to the game for your own edification and everyone else’s. Find a copy of the rules to print at synagoguesoftball.com/league-rules

You are the reason our league is as successful as it is. We can’t thank you enough and are always open to ways we can make Synagogue Softball even better. If you have suggestions, please feel free to fill out this survey.

Thank you!

The Executive Board
Jeremy Oberstein, Kevin Weiser, Louis Friedel , Brad Barnholtz, Avery Krut, Marc Canter