How would you like to spend 10 days playing baseball in Hawaii with the best age 50+ athletes in the world?

The top two finishers of the regular season earn double elimination status in the playoffs. They meet head-to-head at noon on Tuesday, with the winner being hoisted into Wednesday's championship game. Accordingly, the Tuesday noon game can be thought of as "the $50,000 guaranteed" game.

At the end of the regular season, the 6th and 7th place teams are eliminated. The good news for them is that everybody goes home from the HITFAIR Tournament feeling like a winner, even if the last-place consolation prize is a modest $100 per player.

Teams that finish in 3rd, 4th and 5th place still have a chance to win the $100,000 championship, but their roads to victory are more challenging.

Field A	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Monday	Playoffs - Tuesday	Finals - Wednesday
9 A.M.	Team C at Team D	Team A at Team C	Team F at Team G	Team B at Team E	Team E at Team A	#1: 5th place at 4th place	#4: Game #3 winner at Game #2 loser
noon	Team E at Team F	Team C at Team E	Team C at Team B	Team G at Team D	Team D at Team F	#2: 2nd place at 1st place	#5: Game #4 winner at Game #2 winner
3 P.M.		Team E at Team G				#3: Game #1 winner at 3rd place

Field B	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Monday
9 A.M.	Team A at Team B	Team D at Team B	Team D at Team E	Team F at Team C	Team B at Team G
noon	Team G at Team A	Team B at Team F	Team A at Team D	Team F at Team A	Team G at Team C

Each team has equal home and visitor games:

• Team A: V H V V H H
• Team B: H H V H V V
• Team C: V H V V H H
• Team D: H V V H H V
• Team E: V H V H H V
• Team F: H H V V V H
• Team G: V H H V H V

Each team has one double header:

• Team A - Wednesday
• Team B - Thursday
• Team C - Thursday
• Team D - Friday
• Team E - Thursday
• Team F - Saturday
• Team G - Monday

• All players must already be 50 years old as of beginning of the calendar year in which the tournament is held. Thus, for the 2020 HITFAIR Tournament, players must have been born in 1969 or earlier. A prospective player whose birthday was January 1, 1970, must wait for a 2021 tournament.

• Wood bats or composite wood-faced bats are required. Metal and composite materials bats are prohibited. Until a permanent HITFAIR facility is built, one of the available fields does not have infield grass. For safety reasons, a wood-bat requirement will be enforced in 2020 and 2021.

• Team managers will enjoy the flexibility that the HITFAIR Tournament provides when it comes to substitutions. The batting order rules, pinch runner rules, courtesy runner rules, player-platooning rules, and defensive substitution rules, give the manager almost as much flexibility as a football coach. Interestingly, there's no need for a designated hitter, as such.
• The batting order consists of nine batters. Theoretically, the entire offensive lineup could be comprised of non-defensive players (all "designated hitters", using that terminloogy). As such, a game could be played with nine fielders who never bat, if that's what the manager chooses.
• A player may be entered more than once as long as that player occupies the same spot in the batting order.
• Multiple players can platoon in the same spot of the batting order. For example, two players can alternate at-bats, either one of them batting or doing the base running for that particular co-platooning teammate. Platooning batters during a specific at-bat is not allowed, except in the case of injury.
• A pinch runner may be used at any time so long as the pinch runner is not in the batting order. Each time that same pinch runner is used, that pinch runner is assumed to be platooning in the same spot in the batting order as the player being replaced. Should that pinch runner subsequently bat, that player may no longer be used as a pinch runner, except in that specific (newly platooned) position. This rule allows the team to make use of a fleet-footed player who may also have defensive skills, but perhaps has weaker batting skills.
• HITFAIR Tournament pitcher substitution rules are very liberal. In recognition of the fact that teams need to play six to nine games in a short, nine-day period, each 20-player roster needs several position players who can also pitch. Accordingly, it is permissable to change pitchers at will, except while the same batter is at bat. For example, the manager may choose to use one pitcher against left-handed batters and another pitcher against right-handed batters. A pitcher taking the mound for a subsequent time in the same inning shall be allowed one optional warm-up pitch.
• All HITFAIR games are scheduled in 3-hour blocks. Due to time constraints, each game consists of 7 innings, with no inning to begin later than two and one-half hours from its starting time. There is also a 10-run mercy rule after 5 innings' bats by the losing team.

Accordingly, the winning team is rewarded to the tune of 100%, everyone essentially enjoying a free, 10-day, Hawaii vacation. The second-place finishers receive a 50% rebate; third-place finishers receive a 20% rebate, etc., as is illustrated.

De minimis rebates (up to $200) will be issued in cash to the individual players. Larger rebates will be issued in the form of check payable to either the player or the team sponsor.

Rebates	Per Player	Per Team
Champions	$5,000	$100,000
Runners Up	$2,500	$50,000
Third Place	$1,000	$20,000
Fourth Place	$700	$14,000
Fifth Place	$500	$10,000
Sixth Place	$200	$4,000
Seventh Place	$100	$2,000

Finding it challenging to coordinate such an event from off island, the couple moved to Hawaii and founded the adult hardball baseball league KonaBaseball.com at Simmons Field in Kailua-Kona..

What began as a 4-team, sandlot-style league grew to 8 fully-uniformed teams, each with a local sponsor (a couple of restaurants, a consturction company, an auto repair shop, a barber shop, etc.). Team sponsorships were marketed as advertising opportunities, the league refusing to take any "contributions". Team sponsors received the benefit of coverage on the sports page of the West Hawaii Today newspaper which also listed their comapnies' names in the standings.

After each baseball season, the league's umpire-in-chief Jim Donovan traveled to Phoenix to officiate in the Men's Senior Baseball League World Series. Working games in all age divisions, he was astounded at the quality of play by many athletes in their 50's and beyond, not to mention their improved attitudes (from an umpire's prospective). Jim also took note of the high number of teams represented by those older age groups.

Upon returning home in 2003, Jim and Katherine Donovan decided to resurrect the idea of a HITFAIR Tournament, and the entity HITFAIR, LLC was formed.

Throughout that winter, Jim kept in contact with a number of age 50+ team managers and secured 15 letters of intent to field teams, subject to the Hawaii Tourism Authority's matching funds program. Those letters accompanied the application.

The answer to that question is common to all successful endeavors. It takes a focused and dedicated individual with the passion to make it happen.

The question that remains is what team name and which geographical area are you going to choose for your team?

In early 2019, the Hawaii zones were revealed statewide, and Opportunity Zone status was assigned to two contiguous census tracts in the Kailua-Kona area. Within those zones, several parcels have been identified as having the potential for the HITFAIR Fields of Dreams complex.

The essense of the law is that it allows taxpayers (individual or corporate) to enjoy tax-free future capital gains on investments made through Qualified Opportunity Funds that develop property located in designated Opportunity Zones.

The plan is for all HITFAIR teams to have an ownership interest in the proposed Fields of Dreams complex.

• a major corporate sponsor - a company that is domiciled in the team's chosen geographical area
• team investor(s) - may be the same as major corporate sponsor
• one or more retired major league players
• one or more women serving on a Team Advisory Board or a Board of Directors
• one or more well-known celebrities
• a team manager - designated for tournament coordination

If the team is structured using an Qualified Opportunity Fund entity, team operations must be segregated from monetary investments in the Opportunity Zone property (the proposed development of the Fields of Dreams complex).

The major corporate sponsor will enjoy the advertising and promotional benefits of having its team in the age 50+ world chamionship. It will create goodwill amongst its employees (some of whom may be players) and within the sponsor's geographic community.

The team may raise money for its operations by selling advertising space on its hats and uniforms, and also by making team logos available for sales of merchandise.

Even though the a HITFAIR team is not a franchise,

In fact, one of the founders of HITFAIR, LLC, Katherine Donovan completed the world championship six consecutive times, beginning the sport at the age of 50.

The plan is for the first seven teams (those to be involved in the October, 2020 HITFAIR Tournament) to be admitted for $1,000,000. The next seven teams to join the league (for a tournament to be held in May, 2021) will be admitted for $1,500,000. That same enrollment fee will apply to the third group of seven teams.

After the admission of 21 teams, the long-term stability of the HITFAIR Tournament structure should have been demonstrated to the point that there should be increased demand for the 28 team opportunities for tournaments #3 - #7). The cost of admission is anticipated to be increased to $2 million to $3 million.

The overall objective is to generate as much as $97 million for the complete, debt-free development of the Field of Dreams complex.

In addition to the hotel, income is anticipated by development of residential and neighborhood commercial properties surrounding the baseball complex. Per Opportunity Zone rules, income distributions are allowed before reaching the 10-year holding period, but such distributions will be taxed as ordinary income.