Inland Northwest Celebrates 30-Year Anniversary

Contributed by Bret Fink, League President

It’s a super busy time here in Spokane. We recently got the first week started for the 18+, but with five of the fields we use going into construction phases, it’s about as hard as the Covid year to get fields this year. We are plugging away. Legion also has the same issues and is using the fields we normally use more because some shut down.

We are losing one field for our 45+, which is the only field with lights, so last night we had a meeting about options, which I am working on with the City of Coeur D’ Alene to hopefully acquire a field with lights. That won’t be until August, which leaves us with two weeks in between the season without fields, so we can’t play any games during the week.

I anticipate growth, with possibly 3-4 more teams coming on next year, two in the 18+ age group. They contacted me late this year, but didn’t have time to get enough players, so we put some of them on existing teams. Next year, they expressed having their own team, and a couple in the older divisions

I plan to continue as President to keep growing the league, as it’s taken a couple of years of restructuring and getting things to where they are now to reach our goals of continued league growth. Our new website will help us streamline everything and make it much easier for the Board and returning players to stay engaged with Standings, Stats, Rosters, Newsletters, and communication between players and managers.

The league is very special to me. We have 25 teams spread across five divisions. I put a lot of time and effort into giving teams and players an equal opportunity to draft players and go out and have fun. A special feature of this league is its diversity across age groups. We have two 18+ divisions now, an 18+ American, which is more for a higher level of play and competition, and the 18+ National, which is for the player who hasn’t played in a few years or just starting out, or who wants to play and have fun and needs a year or two before they feel comfortable moving up to the more competitive league.

Our 32+ league has six teams this year, up from four last year. It is also a pretty competitive league that allows our 18+ guys, who are old enough to continue playing, to play when they don’t want to play against younger guys, or to work around their work schedules and families.

The 45+ league grew this year, adding two more teams to play on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so they can have free weekends to spend with family.

Our 60+ started last year and has increased to three teams this year, adding the Sandpoint Tigers. With players in our league getting older and people moving in from different states, I was fielding a lot of calls to start an age bracket for a couple of years, so I decided to create a 60+ League.

I contacted our league founder, Greg Peterson, to see if he would come out of retirement and serve as our 60+ Commissioner to get things rolling. He has done an exceptional job. Greg does nothing half-heartedly; he does it full throttle and even helps me with the other stuff when he is free. I also appreciate his wife, as she allows him to do this, even though it probably takes away from their time together.

All of my Board Members are stepping up this year, and hats off to them!

Jeff Enis is our 45+ commissioner. He helps tons, is always available for a call, and is willing to try and get fields, help fix mounds, and run supplies to teams. He is so helpful and takes a lot of my plate during the busiest times.

Ken Lammerding, 30+ Commissioner, is very helpful in getting the 30+ together, doing scheduling and field coordinating for that league. Also, he is not playing in the 30+, but takes the time to make sure these guys get what they need and is available for calls when they need it.

Our 18+ Commissioner, Trevor Jamme, infuriates me at times, but he is so dedicated to the 18+ players and does a great job. He handles scheduling at the fields and has compiled a detailed list of what managers need to do for field prep and putting the field to bed. He also coordinates practices for all teams looking to hit in the warehouse’s cages. He doesn’t have to do that, but he lets the managers know if they need a place to hit, to come down, and he will make room.

Trevor just lost his dad, and my heart goes out to him. His Dad was a great guy, always at his games during the past year, a great guy to talk to before and after games. He will be missed and was a staple of fatherly support at the Marlin games!

Pete Ramsey is a tremendous addition this year. He is helping take things off my plate, and also with advertising and targeting TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook ads.  Pete also makes and handles practice schedules for teams at fields.  He has been a huge help to me.

I want to thank Mike Lee for helping me with the website, moving it to my server, and getting things ready for the new website.  He has assisted in creating logos for our 30th Anniversary baseballs and shirts, opening fields for teams, and helping with tryouts. This guy loves baseball and embodies what our league represents as a group of baseball players.

Russ Frickey is our Vice President, helping with player disputes and issues, and is tasked with investigating and letting me know what he finds so we can handle them.

Carrie Kellar is new this year as the field coordinator. She is trying to acquire fields for practice and fields we don’t normally play on, and is helping with the new team, the Spokane Royals.

Our treasurer, Michael Stewart has the hard job of paying the bills and keeping the league on budget. He will have his hands full this year!