All-Star Program

The HOYB Cal Ripken Baseball League maintains a competitive All-Star Program that is open to all children aged eight and older. 

Leon Newsome is Commissioner of our All-Star program. If you have any questions or comments regarding the program, please contact Leon.

The All-Star Program is designed to allow children who love baseball the opportunity to continue their Baseball experience into the Summer. It typically begins practicing once or twice a week in early May, during the House League season, and can practice as often as 3-4 times a week once the House League season ends, with tournaments or scrimmages on weekends.

Memorial Day weekend is usually the first tournament weekend of the All-Star season, which normally ends in late July/early August. Most of the teams resume practicing and playing in September, in a limited capacity, during the Fall House League season.

The players are chosen based on House League performance, House League Coaches opinions, and the child's performance during the tryouts that are held April 20, 25 and 27. The games are competitive, and the team will travel quite a bit, usually within the local area, but occasionally requiring long drives or hotel stays. A great deal of planning, organizational, baseball, and interpersonal skills are required to make this a positive experience for the children and their families.

Questions regarding a specific team may be addressed to the respective All-Star managers listed below:

Printable Map of HOYB Main Baseball Fields (gif 86 KB)

Babe Ruth Leagues of Virginia, Inc. has the detailed tournament dates and other schedule information.

Official League Policies and Procedures

HOYB shall maintain a competitive All-Star program open to all children whom play in our regular “house” league. There will be an additional fee to participate in the All-Star program.

All-Star managers are selected by the Board and serve a two (2) year term except the manager of the Eight and under (8U) team who serves for one year.

Selection to an All-Star team is via two tryouts that take place in April. League managers and coaches evaluate the players using a quantitative skills assessment sheet which can be downloaded from the league website. The managers and coaches whom perform the evaluation select the first eight (8) players for a given team. Then the All-Star manager has the option to select the remaining four (or more) players for his team. The All-Star manager may choose to have the evaluators select or help select the last four (or more) players.

Any player who wishes to “play up” at the next age range (for example a 10-year old who tries out for the 11-year old team) must try out for both All-Star teams (10 and 11). In order to be selected to “play up” the player must be one of the top eight (8) players as scored by the league managers and coaches evaluating the tryout.

For all invitational tournaments and scrimmages, league policy mandates a 50% playing time rule. This means that all players must play a minimum of 50% of all innings played. There are no maximum playing time restrictions.

For all Cal Ripken district, state and regional tournaments there are no minimum playing time restrictions. All-Star managers are free to use players according to Cal Ripken division rules and restrictions.

Managers are not required to “rotate” players to different positions in the All-Star program. For example, a player could play all of his innings as an outfielder. There is no requirement to play in the infield.

The “house league” games, practices and events have precedence over the All-Star program. All-Star managers must consult with the respective house league managers before using players as pitchers. All-Star teams may not schedule events that conflict with HOYB activities (Bat-a-Thon incentive or awards games, Picture Day, etc.).