To the Parents and Fellow Coaches: Hello and Allow Me to Introduce Myself

I am thrilled to be part of this team and to have an opportunity to work with each of you to introduce our youngsters to the joy of playing softball! You can see the team roster as it now stands by clicking here or by clicking on the link in the right column of this page. Below is a little background on my baseball and softball teaching experience.

I managed a team in this Division last year and have played on and have managed men's softball teams for nearly three decades. I have been attending and assisting as necessary as a catcher at a weekly girls' softball pitching clinic since last December. For the last two years I have managed one of the Pelham Little League's Fall Travel Baseball Teams. Likewise, for the last several years I have coached various of the Pelham Little League's Summer Travel Baseball Teams. I just finished coaching a ten-week indoor baseball clinic in Elmsford, NY every Sunday morning from 7:30 until 9:45 a.m. I also have coached multiple teams in the Pelham Rec Baseball program including teams in the Boys Majors, Boys Minors, Boys National, Boys American, Tee Ball (Instructional) Divisions and, as I noted, in the Girls International Division. I also have coached West Side Little League baseball in Manhattan. I played baseball for many, many years principally as a catcher, but also on the left side of the infield as needed.

I have loved every minute of coaching in Pelham. The Pelham Little League program is a marvelous program. I want to make sure the season is a lot of fun for our players. At the same time, however, I want to use the opportunity to teach them the correct fundamentals of hitting, throwing, catching, running and fielding!

Please read the "Manager's Memo" either by clicking here or by clicking on the link in the right column of this page.

Here are a couple of quick things. First, although this site is not being indexed by search engines so it will not appear in Web search results, soon I will further protect this site by password-protecting it. I will send each of you access instructions at that time and I encourage you to follow those instructions so you can access the site since it and email will be an important means of communicating with the team regarding games, practices, rainouts and more.

I do not yet have word on when uniforms will be distributed, but they will be ready shortly. More information will follow. As soon as they are ready, I will schedule a "gathering" / practice to distribute them.

Throughout the season there will be six different ways that you will be able to determine whether a game or a practice is rained out or canceled due to field conditions. They are:

(1) If you sign up at the PelhamLittleLeague.org Web site for the email blast list, you will receive league emails announcing field closures;

(2) You can call the Little League office and listen to the message on the answering machine - 914-738-7555;

(3) Check your email because I carry a Blackberry and can send you email messages on the go as soon as I know field status;

(4) Check this Web site where I also will post rainout announcements as soon as I can get Web access after learning of field status;

(5) Check the Pelham Little League Web site at http://www.pelhamlittleleague.org/ where there might be a rainout announcement; and

(6) As a last resort, go to the field -- if there is a red flag on the field, the event is rained out.

Finally, my contact information is as follows:

Blake A. Bell
Home: 914-813-0221
Office: 212-455-2935
Email: B_Bell@stblaw.com
Blackberry Cell Phone: (646) 283-1809
Home Address:20 Beech Tree Lane
Pelham Manor, NY 10803
Office Address:
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
425 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017-3954

I know it will be a great season and we will have a lot of fun. I will be posting copies of all email communications to this site so that each of you will have a running record of such materials.