II) INTRODUCTION

A quote from a fellow Baseball League player on his thoughts when forming his league. Hopefully to a great degree, these thoughts also apply to the Mid-West Winter League … “To me, baseball has always been larger than life. A game devoid of time restrictions, haunted by and dependent on its ghosts; where numbers become an art form and the human beings that play it are expected to be flawed and inconsistent, yet revered anyway. I hope you will see in the guidelines that follow, that I have tried to create a league that adheres to statistical accuracy yet stays simplistic; a league that will promote competition yet be played for the pure enjoyment of THE GAME. The guidelines are sometimes not extremely specific; but I hope you will see the intent and abide by it.” Dave Mindeman, Founder and First Commissioner of the Iowa Baseball Confederacy 1988.