The start of the season was delayed due to COVID-19 "Social Distancing" protocol. With the coronavirus threat lessening more and more each day, combined with the state cautiously "opening up", the start of the season is within sight, but the league will implement a number of safety precautions to help protect player health.
Those safety precautions will be reassessed on a week-by-week basis by league president Josh Paul and vice president Alex Miller making ultimate decisions on how games will be played.
For the time being, the following temporary precautions will be implemented:
- Players on the "hitting team" will maintain no less than six feet distance between each other, limiting players in dugout
- If 20+ players are in attendance, teams will utilize separate dugouts
- No high-fives, hugs, knuckles, elbows or any other physical player-to-player celebratory contact
- Suspension of shared league equipment:
- Water cooler (players must bring their own beverage)
- Gloves (players must bring their own glove)
- Bats - players are encouraged to bring their own; those who don't will "draft" a bat beginning with most senior players - if there are not enough bats for each player, least senior players will share a bat (players with batting gloves are exempt from this restriction and can use any league bat)
- Only the two captains will maintain the box score throughout the game
- No lead offs at 1st or 2nd bases
- Teams will be limited to using two pitchers max per game, and pitchers will be encouraged to wear batting gloves
- According to an SI article, baseballs are the highest likelihood to spread coronavirus; we are trying to limit the number of players regularly handling baseballs
Opening Day will feature rivals Alex Miller's Cannons visiting Josh Paul's Goonies. Game two will have World Series Champion Heavy Hitters (Mason Overmire) against Johnny Readus' Racketeers. Make sure to help the league be spreading the word to family, friends, coworkers, acquaintances and strangers to help with league recruitment. New captains Edwin Moore (Admirals) and Brandon Bollman (Bears) will have their official Captain debuts on Sunday.
As always, Veto League is free to play and open to anyone with a positive attitude.