Welcome to another season of TBO!

First off, we appreciate everyone’s patience, as many changes are taking place, from age groupings, to rules, to programs offered, and even the registration process itself. Many of these changes or important notices are outlined below and we urge everyone to read through it, so as to avoid confusion or errors in the registration process.

Registration is now open – please click on “Register” from the top menu above, or you can click here to go directly to the registration portal.

In addition, please join our TBO Communications WhatsApp group – click here to join – as it is our most reliable form of communication for important league news (registration dates, rainouts, schedule changes, travel tryouts, etc.).

What happened to BBO? Do I register here if I don’t live in Teaneck?

In order to further the goal of a consistent experience for everyone, we are, among other things, unifying the registration and communication process. Starting with the upcoming Spring 2025 season, non-Teaneck residents who previously participated in our interleague play through BBO will now register directly through TBO. We want to thank Rabbi Avi Rosalimsky for all the tremendous work he has done (and will continue to do!) in creating and managing BBO as a great partner league to TBO.

Nothing changes for Teaneck residents; non-Teaneck residents will need to create a new profile, add their children, and make note of their address/town in the registration process. 

Does this mean all teams are being mixed?

No – TBO continues to exist as a Teaneck organization that serves Teaneck residents. The unified registration and communication is for the effect of streamlining, but doesn’t fundamentally change the interleague structure of prior seasons. 

Key Registration Pointers and Reminders

When users sign in, they will be brought to their profile page; AGES AND GRADES DO NOT AUTOMATICALLY UPDATE and need to be manually updated. Since our registration options and divisions will be filtered by grade, this information MUST be correct in order for you to register properly. PLEASE MAKE SURE EVERYTHING IS CORRECT BEFORE PROCEEDING TO REGISTRATION.

Volunteers and Coaching

A key aspect of any recreation league is parent involvement in a volunteer capacity. Certainly, we are ALWAYS looking for coaches, though we often run into 2 issues: 1) parents believe they must be a “baseball person” or “know the game” in order to volunteer; 2) parents are afraid to commit, thinking they will be on the hook for everything.

In reality, anyone is encouraged to help, whether or not they are the most experienced or well-versed person when it comes to baseball. We are always more concerned with finding volunteers to help manage everything else, more so than the on-the-field baseball decision-making, from team communications, to scheduling, to helping prepare the fields for games, etc. Starting this season, we have 2 volunteer questions on the registration form to drive this point home. We generally try to pursue multiple volunteers per team in order to make sure that everything doesn’t fall on just one person.

Please help us put on a fantastic experience for your children by giving of your time where possible as a volunteer, regardless of your level of baseball knowledge.

Costs and Discounts

The baseline price for Teaneck residents will be $250 per child, except for our Instructional and Junior Girls divisions (which will be $175), which is unchanged from last year. Non-Teaneck residents will have a $25 surcharge, for a total cost of $275, which constitutes a discount to prior BBO registration costs. The surcharge is being used to help cover costs associated with managing everything in a unified manner (higher insurance cost, field rental outside of Teaneck, etc.). 

There are 2 primary discounts:

1) Division and League-level volunteers (those who volunteer to help manage a division and/or assist on league-wide activities, such as field prep, checking fields after rain, etc.) will receive a 75% discount to total registration cost (not a typo, you are reading that correctly). If you are interested in such a thing, please reach out to treasurer@teaneckbaseball.org as soon as possible (register in the meantime, your discount will be issued as a 75% refund). 

2) Groups of 5+ girls families (i.e., 5 different families must be in the group, not 2 families with 3 girls each) will be eligible for a $50 per family discount. If a family has 3 girls, they can make 3 different groups of 5 families for each of their girls and receive the discount 3 times.

In order to receive the 5+ girls families discount, email treasurer@teaneckbaseball.org PRIOR TO REGISTERING with the names of the girls, the 5+ families, and their division/age/grade, and please CC everyone from the group on the email. You will get a response with a code to use for registration. THIS DISCOUNT IS NOT AVAILABLE TO ANYONE WHO HAS ALREADY REGISTERED FOR THIS SEASON.

Equipment

Players are expected to have their own equipment, consisting of:

• Helmets – Please note that HELMET CAGES ARE REQUIRED and children will not be allowed to play without it above the instructional level (i.e., 1st grade and up). One-sided face protectors are not permitted. As a recommendation, here are 2 links to helmets (Easton and Rawlings; both just under $30), as well as links to associated compatible helmet cages (Easton and Rawlings; both around $15-22).

• Bats – USA Baseball bats are the only permissible bats for TBO and BBO

• Gloves

• Personal Safety Equipment –  including cups and chest protectors

TBO will always provide fresh baseballs and catcher gear, and will have a helmet and a bat that is to be used as backup in case someone forgets theirs for a game, but should not be relied on for primary use by any player.

Travel Baseball in the Spring?

For the first time ever, TBO will offer travel baseball in the Spring, but travel participants MUST play in the rec league as well. Attendance issues in the rec league will be recorded and players will be held out of travel games if they are absent from rec league games.

Similarly, pitching rules will be rigorously enforced to prevent injuries to young arms.

That said, the option is there for those that want to devote themselves to baseball – we know there are many kids out there like this and want that option to be available. There is a question on the registration form to indicate interest and we will build the travel teams from there.

Age Groupings and Key Rule Changes

We are altering our ages on the boys side to be more consistent with official Little League age divisions, as well as what makes the most sense on a lot of levels. While we will continue to group based on grade, the new breakdowns will be as follows:

Boys and girls K and under – instructional baseball

1st-2nd grade boys – full (6 inning), “real” games of coach-pitch baseball

3rd-4th grade boys – full, real games, half (3 innings) coach-pitch, half kid-pitch

5th-6th grade boys – full, real games

7th-8th grade boys – full, real games (larger field)

On the boys side, pitching rules will be overhauled to ensure no arm injuries. Coaches (and kids) should expect that a lot more kids will need to be “developed” as pitchers, as the new rules will effectively force the use of multiple pitchers per game through conservative pitch-count and rest day limits.

Girls divisions will remain the same at:

1st/2nd grade girls – Junior Girls

3rd-5th grade girls – Middle Girls

6th-8th grade girls – Senior Girls