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A Great Spring for NJABL

10/07/2015, 3:30pm EDT
By Mike Mazzolla

Achieving Success

We have had a pretty remarkable season and continue to grow in ways we couldn't have imagined. With every season, it seems we catch the attention of new clubs eager to get on the field with us. 

While we advertise many different ways, it's our players who contribute the most, spreading word of what our league really is all about. We feel blessed to have the tremendous interest, the unbelievable support and will continue to operate with the experience of our players in mind. 

This Spring, we had 82 teams play baseball on Sundays with us. That was more than any other league in the state of New Jersey, the 2nd straight year we have held that claim. We welcomed a number of new established clubs to our league this Spring, including the Nutley Royals, NJ Diamondbacks, Amboy Angels, Bloomfield Yankees, Avenel Angels, Mercer Thunder, Edison Cubs, Corozo Green Sox, Jersey Stars & Perth Amboy Athletics. Four of those teams would stand at year's end hoisting a championship trophy. Also joining this Spring were 10 other new teams established in the Spring (not created by the league). In 3 years, we have gone from 52 teams in 2013, 74 teams in 2014 and now 82 teams in 2015. 

In the Fall, we see growth as well. Our first year, we had 28 teams, in 2014 it was 33 clubs and this Fall we are at 36 teams. This Fall we welcome 8 new teams, some established like the Jersey Rays, Old Bridge Tigers and Hudson Astros, some new like Jackson GIants, Hazlet Diamondbacks, Englewood Marlins, NJ Ghosts & East Windsor Sox. We've also got a number of players from various Spring teams trying the league out this Fall with different clubs, getting their own taste of NJABL action which may resonate well with their Spring clubs. 

We have built our model around you, our customers. You have made us who we are, and will shape what we become. With any issue that comes up, how we handle and resolve only helps make us stronger for the road ahead. 

This Spring, out of 756 Regular Season games, only 15 went unplayed. This is less than 2% across the entire league. Forfeits are part of any league, it's how we handle them that makes us different. Don't be fooled, every league has forfeits. Nobody is perfect. If you look over our competition, one league had over 70 games unplayed in 2015, with more than half their teams not playing the # of promised games they paid for. Before you even look at their forfeit counts, they have nearly 5x more unplayed games than us. With another competitor, 4 teams accounted for nearly 30 forfeits and teams were traveling an average of 45 minutes for away games, with competition so skewed there were only 3 clubs really contending all year there. What sort of experience are you getting when you play the same teams, 4-5 times in a season?

People are catching on... and by looking over social media, it is evident who the professionals are. We want to be your baseball home next Spring, and if you have been disappointed with your service, lack of schedule, field locations, competitive balance... look no further than us. 

We've grown quickly because we care, and our players know the difference. Don't take my sales pitch, take theirs. 

Tag(s): Blog