Washington District 4

Waiting Lists are “highly discouraged”. The Goal of Little League is to have every child participate. As such, having players that register “sitting on a Waiting List” waiting for another player to either quit or get hurt does not seem to meet the intent of the Goal. To the MAXIMUM extent possible, every player who registers should be placed on a team and be given an equal opportunity to participate.

According to Regulation III (a) Each league sets the number of players on each team (12 to 15 with the exceptions that Big League can have up to 18 and Minors and T-Ball can have as few as 9 and as many as 20).
The Regulation further states that “All teams in a particular league must carry the same number of players on their rosters.” This is where the “problem/waiting list” arises, that is, what do you do if the number of players is not “equally divisible” by the number of teams.

The solution is really quite simple, you ask for a WAIVER of the Regulation III (a). Little League has historically granted such Waivers and allowed leagues to have some teams that have one more player than other teams in the same league. As new players (late sign-ups) arrive, they are placed onto the other teams to equalize number of players.

You can even ask for a Waiver on the maximum number of players allowed. Say, for example, you have 46 Junior League Players. You need 12 on a team so you do not have enough for 4 teams. If you put 15 players on a team, that’s only 45 players for 3 teams. What about the 46th player? Simple, ask for a Waiver to allow 16 players on a team.

We know that some Managers may complain about carrying additional players but Remember: IT’S FOR THE KIDS, not the Managers.

NOTE:
If you wish, you could include in your “Local Rules & Regulations” how you handle an “unequal” number of players. You could even include a “revised” Draft Plan that states that when the draft is in the “final round” (fewer players left than there are teams), each player’s name will be placed on a slip of paper. A number of “blank” sheets of paper (equal to the number of teams minus the number of remaining players) are also made up. All of the slips are placed “in a hat” and the Managers (in their normal draft order) pick from the hat. That way, the teams that get the extra players are “random”.

01/26/2008