MITCHELL — The South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association had its own version of hot stove talk on Sunday.

The association held its annual winter meeting at Mitchell’s Highland Conference Center. And there was no shortage of heated discussions among several amateur baseball figures during the three-hour meeting. 

The conversations ranged from commissioner appointments, annual reports and new by-laws, which caused the most stir among the SDABA members. The new by-laws were determined on Saturday at a prior meeting among league commissioners. 

The association modified its in-state and out-of-state release and non-release players rule. In South Dakota amateur baseball, a team is allowed up to four release players from other communities to be on its roster during the regular season.

“We now have a rule that says if you are an out-of-state team, and you get somebody from South Dakota, he’s automatically a release player,” South Dakota Amateur Baseball Association secretary-treasurer Herb Sundall said. “On the other hand, if you are an in-state South Dakota team, and you get someone from out of state, he’s automatically a release player.” 

“The modification to that, which is not popular everywhere, is that you can ignore state lines if the player is within 25 miles of your town,” Sundall continued. “Then he becomes a non-release unless he’s from a large town — 5,000 or more — he’s still a release.” 

Lennox Only One Alpacas manager Chad Reilly was outspoken about the modification, among other items at the meeting. 

“Why would we as a South Dakota amateur baseball association — why would we want to encourage and welcome non-residents of the state of South Dakota to become members of our baseball association?” Reilly questioned.

During a 20-minute back and forth debate, Mount Vernon manager Deric Denning questioned if the modification was an unfair advantage for out-of-state teams. 

“In South Dakota, those teams in that radius have teams,” Denning said. “So essentially what those out-of-state teams can do is pick a town in the middle of the 25-mile radius and pull as many players from that team; plus an additional four releases. Because they don't have the membership that the towns in South Dakota have competing against them to get players. Was that considered?”

Reilly immediately chimed in. 

“That’s why they put the 25-mile limit on the out-of-state teams is because there were no member towns close to Larchwood (Iowa),” Reilly said. “They could go however big the radius the league decided and there’s no Humboldt. There’s no Canton. There’s no Tea, where all these towns around us are member towns. So we can’t go to them and pick up a guy. Where you may have five or six towns around you that are within the radius that you can pick up anybody from any of those towns. That’s a huge, huge…huge advantage.”

Reilly and District 1B commissioner Brock Greenfield followed with their opinions on the matter, while talking over each other’s thoughts. 

Greenfield defended the association’s decision and said “all things were considered and it was a spirited debate.”

“We had to make a decision, with respect to Elk Point, that they are about a mile and a half from one border and three from the other border,” Greenfield said. “So they don’t have much to draw from.”

Reilly again spoke bluntly in his response. 

“To open it up and just allow guys to just go wherever, isn't fair, it’s not right,”Reilly said. “We’ve already changed our rules because Harrisburg started getting too good at baseball. Like our rules say we go by the last completed census, and you guys threw it out of the frickin’ water and kicked Harrisburg and Tea out because in your opinions they grew too fast.” 

“Now do either of those teams have a team anymore?” Reilly questioned. “Yep, Tea has a Class A team. Harrisburg doesn't. We make decisions because who is going to be good or who we think is good or they have too big of an advantage. Instead of making decisions about how we make decisions about how to grow amateur baseball.” 

Denning agrees with Greenfield’s opinion and “I can understand the South Dakota teams that are geographically trapped. I can at least understand that.”

But Denning said the rule is going to give an advantage to teams in the southeast corner of the state. Denning singled out Larchwood, which “can get anybody from 25 miles, plus they’ve had Northwestern (College) players and they can pull out of Sioux Falls for their four releases. So that to me is the problem. It’s the out-of-state teams you are giving the advantage to, not the teams you are talking about that are trapped, that are from South Dakota.” 

After more discussion, Reilly questioned the association’s process on making by-law changes.  

“Why don’t you guys send that information, a big proposal like that, before it’s voted on and put into place?” Reilly said. “Why don't you put it out and get some feedback from your membership. The players are the association. We are the people that elect you all to make the decisions we want. I don’t think anybody besides a select few has any idea this was going on or this was voted on. I had no idea until right now.”

Another by-law that drummed up strong opinions for 20-plus minutes was clearing up the terminology on when American Legion players are eligible to play amateur baseball. The new by-law states an American Legion player may play amateur baseball the day after his season ends. 

“If he has a Legion game on a Wednesday, and his team is eliminated, he may not play amateur until Thursday,” Sundall said. “Because that wasn't being interpreted consistently across the state. Some interpreted that he could play the moment his Legion game was over, others said he had to wait a day.”

Sundall said the rationale behind the rule change was due to safety concerns. 

“The proponents just didn’t want a kid jumping in a car and driving breakneck speed to make an amateur game that same night, which has happened,” Sundall said. 

Reilly also spoke candidly on that decision. 

“It’s not anyone in this room’s decision on who is going to rush to a baseball game and who is not going to rush to a baseball game,” Reilly said. “That’s not our jobs. They are adults at that point. They are 18, 19-year-old kids. It’s not our job to tell them don’t drive to a baseball game. You want those people to come be a part of your baseball game because they are the ones that want to be there. If they are willing to hop in a car and drive two hours to go play an amateur game — those kids are going to be around for 15 years.”

Denning also disagreed with the by-law change and feels Legion players should be allowed to play amateur baseball the day their season is over. 

“Why don’t we want these kids to play amateur baseball as soon as they can?” Denning said. “Because there’s nothing more powerful to get them to keep playing amateur baseball than getting to jump into a district tournament for your hometown as a 19-year-old. I think this rule is missing what that means to those kids because I’ve seen it firsthand.” 

Greenfield said “I believe that what we’ve done is in the best interest of baseball. I don’t think saying you can’t play until tomorrow if you get beat out today, is going to be the thing that sinks anybody’s ship. So I think this is reasonable.”

“Why?” remarked Reilly. “Why is it unreasonable to allow them to play? That’s the question.”

“The rules are made Chad, just live with it,” bellered Joe Schlimgen, the SDABA umpire-in-chief.

“Sir, this is the time when members of the association talk about things,” Reilly said. “Because nobody came to any of us before the decision was made. It’s actually reversed.”

After more discussion, former District 6B commissioner Ken Bruckner implored “Chad, I would recommend that you get a proposal and then bring it to this body at a later date,” Bruckner said. “Because right now we are going in circles. If you have a good proposal, bring it.”

SDABA President Dale Weber later summed up the exchange and said these decisions are made in the best interest of amateur baseball. 

“We are in this game together,” Weber said. “I want everyone to recognize that and keep that in mind moving forward.”

Pickstown’s Bob Altenburg was then appointed the new vice president, replacing Richard Rockafellow. The Philip resident was recognized for his 32 years of service to amateur baseball.

Prior to Altenburg’s appointment, Reilly called for a recess.

“Would it be possible since it’s been a long meeting, to have a recess to get those people together to talk about what the plan is for the vote,” Reilly said. “Like if there’s anyone or if you want to nominate anyone, as a reason why we shouldn’t vote for anyone. Because it would be nice to have a conversation about that. Since this is the one day of the year we are all actually in the same room.”

Sundall asked those present if they were interested in a recess, but after some murmurs, nobody motioned for a recess. 

The nine league presidents voted on Altenburg’s appointment. Rockafellow nominated Altenburg and Bruckner seconded the motion. 

Eight of the nine league presidents voted yes for Altenburg, with Reilly voting no. 

The amateur baseball tournament will be in Mitchell in 2024, followed by a one-year stay in Brandon in 2025. It will return to Mitchell for 2026 and ‘27. 

Other business included announcing new teams from Irene, Burke and a second Flandreau team. 

Rapid City’s Daryl Deneke (District 8A), Vermillion’s Dan Grasser (District 7B) and Menno’s Galen Guthmiller (District 6B) were appointed commissioners. Guthmiller replaces Bruckner, who was recognized for his years of service. 

The South Dakota Baseball Coaches Association awarded coaches of the year to the following individuals: 

District 1B - Burt Tulson

District 3B - Wesley Kroupa 

District 4B - Garrett Gassman

District 5B - Chris Braley 

District 6B - Chris Sutera 

District 7B - Brett Stolpe

District 2A - Carter Roach

District 8A - Parks Brigman 

District 9A - Matt Leedom