7 - STATISTICS TO BE REPORTED 7
14 - ROOKIE/FREE AGENT DRAFT 12
19 - SPECIAL RULES FOR PLAY-OFFS AND WORLD SERIES 19
To provide FUN and FRIENDSHIP through the framework of a continuous ownership baseball mail league which uses the APBA BBW Computer Baseball game. Although winning is not frowned upon, it can not be justified by the use of illogical, immoral, or illegal tactics. Good sportsmanship is the paramount virtue.
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COMMISSIONER: |
David Esdale |
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VICE COMMISSIONER: |
John Wilson |
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VICE COMMISSIONER: |
Bill Esdale |
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VICE COMMISSIONER: |
open |
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STATISTICIAN: |
David Esdale |
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NEWSLETTER EDITOR: |
David Esdale |
The league has 16 teams for the 2007 season.
There will be two (2) CONFERENCES with eight (8) teams in each Conference. Each Conference will have two (2) DIVISIONS with four (4) teams in each division.
TED WILLIAMS CONFERENCE |
BABE RUTH CONFERENCE |
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CANADIAN DIVISION |
DONALDSON DIVISION |
ERICKSON DIVISION |
AMERICAN DIVISION |
Chicago Cubs |
Arizona Diamondbacks |
Boston Red Sox |
Florida Marlins |
Kansas City Royals |
Detroit Tigers |
Cleveland Indians |
Milwaukee Brewers |
New York Mets |
Oakland A’s |
Minnesota Twins |
Pittsburgh Prates |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays |
Toronto Blue Jays |
Seattle Mariners |
Washington Nationals |
A unanimous agreement by members of the executive committee is required to realign the league. Any realignment must be announced before the start of the trading period.
Executive shall consist of a Commissioner and three (3) Vice Commissioners. It shall be their duty to administer the league.
The Commissioner serves continuous terms with the consent of the membership.
The responsibilities of the Commissioner are:
to produce monthly Newsletters or appoint a Newsletter editor to do so.
to conduct the annual Rookie/Free Agent draft.
to provide updates of the constitution at least once a year.
to provide a league budget and statement of expenses at least once a year.
to rule on any protested games.
to draw up the schedule.
to determine divisional composition.
to enforce the rules.
The Commissioner may delegate these responsibilities to other members of the Executive Committee or to individual managers.
THREE (3) Vice Commissioners will be appointed by the Commissioner. Their duties are as follows:
to assist the Commissioner in operation of the league.
to assume the duties of the Commissioner, if for some reason he is unable to perform them.
to carry out any other duties delegated by the Commissioner.
Ideally, but not necessarily, the commissioner and three vice commissioners should each represent different divisions.
Statistician is appointed by the Commissioner and his duties are:
to compile league statistics, including league leaders, on a regular basis.
produce a monthly standings report
to carry out any other duties as delegated by the Commissioner.
It will require a two-thirds majority vote by managers to remove an Executive Committee member from office. The loss of a team by penalty points will automatically result in the removal of an Executive Committee member from office.
The two managers involved in a series send a set of instructions to each other containing all basic decisions and strategy to be made for their teams.
Managers have the option of playing the series face-to-face in which case instructions do not have to be exchanged.
Each HOME manager, using the opposing manager’s instructions, plays the required number of games for that series.
Home managers must e-mail .bxs files to the visiting manager. All box scores MUST be placed in a single .zip file. Please name the zip file (VisHome6). DO NOT RENAME BOX SCORES.
For example: Toronto plays at Milwaukee in May. The zip file should be named TorMil5.zip.
Home managers must e-mail the Script files, of the play by play, to the visiting manager. This option is available in BBW 5.0. If you do not have the updated version, please notify the commissioner.
Home managers must keep a copy of box scores and script files for each game until the season has been completed.
A copy of the box score zip file is to be sent to the league statistician
Before the 1st of the month each manager will send the SERIES INSTRUCTIONS to the opposing manager for his away games for that month.
Example: The instructions for the May series will be sent on or before the 30th of April.
By the end of the month each manager will play the home games and send out a box score zip file, and the play by play script file to the visiting manager. A copy of box score zip file will also be sent to the league statistician.
Example: The May series should be completed and reported by May 31st.
The mailing dates are absolute deadlines, not the dates that you can wait for, to mail things out. Please try to be as early as possible as it makes things easier for all concerned. Failure to meet these deadlines will result in penalty points.
The following should be included in your instructions to opposing managers:
Major League Roster for the Month
Starting Line-ups
Pitching Rotation
Relief Pitching Strategy
Injury Substitutions
Hit and Run
Sacrificing
Base Coaching
Infield Play
Pinch Hitting
Defensive Replacement
Clear and concise instructions should require no more than one typewritten page with an additional page for the 25-man roster.
Each manager is required to make up a set of default instructions to be printed in the APRIL NEWSLETTER. These instructions should be as brief as possible so that they require no more than one-half page in the Newsletter. A manager may change his default instructions any time by sending the changes to be printed in the Newsletter.
If a manager does not receive his opposing manager’s instructions by the 15th of the month, he may play the series using the opposing manager’s default instructions as published in the Newsletter. Example: Should the May series instructions not be received by May 15th the default instructions may be used to play the games.
NAPBL will use APBA BBW Baseball for Windows 5.0 computer game.
NAPBL does NOT use the Advanced Injury Management (A.I.M.) feature of the computer game.
Rain outs are to be ignored if the game is not official and the game will be replayed from the start. Rainouts can be avoided by playing the games with the “domed” stadium feature “ON”..
Injuries are only to be applicable to the game in progress.
No pitcher may be used as a pinch-hitter unless he is rated at a non-pitching position (i.e. OF-1).
Managers may use a designated hitter for the pitcher. Starting pitchers may bat for themselves, but a DH must be used for relief pitchers. A designated hitter cannot be moved to a fielding position during the game.
He has pitched a minimum of 5 innings, except if he is pitching a shutout in which case he must pitch 6 innings OR until he gives up 3 earned runs or 4 runs in total.
After he has pitched 12 innings.
After he has pitched 4 innings.
All players will be limited to actual Major League plate appearances (AB + BB) + 10%.
All players will be limited to actual Major League stolen bases attempts (SB + CS) + 10% + 10.
In a situation where the full Major League season was not 162 games, the use of hitters in NAPBL can be adjusted at the discretion of the Commissioner.
Once a hitter reaches his plate appearance limit, he may not make any further plate appearances. Once a player reaches his stolen base attempt limit, he may not attempt to steal any further bases. If either limit is exceeded, penalty points will be assessed for these games and the games may be forfeited at the discretion of the commissioner.
A player who has reached his plate appearance limit may be used as a defensive replacement or pinch runner.
A player who has reached his stolen base limit will always play safe on steals. In the board game, stolen bases as a result of a hit result will be ignored for that player.
Player cannot play at a fielding position not listed on his APBA card unless no other available player is rated at the position, and he is replacing an injured or ejected player. His defensive rating shall be that shown on Board “A” of the APBA Basic Game for fielders not rated at a position.
In a situation where the full Major League season was not 162 games, the use of pitchers in NAPBL can be adjusted at the discretion of the Commissioner.
STARTING PITCHERS (except those with a ratio of GS to G less than 0.5) are limited to ACTUAL GAMES STARTED and can only start.
RELIEF PITCHERS are limited to ACTUAL INNINGS PITCHED and can only relieve.
No pitcher may be used in relief without having an (*) after a pitching grade on his card.
SPLIT GRADE PITCHERS are limited to ACTUAL INNINGS PITCHED and can start or relieve. If he pitches to at least one batter in relief during the season, then he is limited to actual innings pitched.
Any pitcher that receives a straight starting grade, but has a ratio of GS to G of less than 0.5 will be treated as a split grade pitcher in NAPBL. This means he will be limited to innings pitched and can be used as either a starting pitcher or in relief.
If a starting pitcher starts more games than he is allowed, penalty points are assessed and those games may be forfeited at the discretion of the commissioner.
If a pitcher, restricted on innings, reaches his limit in a game that is still in progress, he may finish that INNING and must then be removed. Any further games he pitches in during the regular season will result in penalty points and the games may be forfeited at the discretion of the commissioner.
If a split grade pitcher starts in a series, he must follow the guidelines listed for starting pitchers. However, if he used as a reliever, then he is limited to 9 IP in a 4 game series and 12 IP in a 5 game series.
Teams must have at least a 4 man pitching rotation, but it need not carry over from one series to the next.
Relief pitchers are limited to 9 innings in a 4 game series and 12 innings in a 5 game series.
No pitcher, including split grade pitchers, may start and relieve in the same series.
NAPBL allows each team to have a MAXIMUM of 35 players under contract during the season. There is no limit during the off-season.
The complete 35-man roster must be sent to the commissioner by the last Friday of March. Late reporting of 35-man roster information will result in 10 penalty points.
Each team can protect up to 2 un-carded players without them counting on the 35 man roster.
Each team must designate a 25-man roster for each series. All carded players on the team’s 35-man roster are eligible for the 25-man roster each series. Instructions should indicate the 25 eligible players for the series.
The 25-man roster must include at least one back-up player for each position. In order to back up a position, a player must have been assigned a defensive rating for that position by APBA. A single player may back up several positions.
During the final month of the season the major league roster is expanded to 35.
The default 25-man roster, default lineups and default rotation must be sent to the commissioner by the last Friday of March. Late reporting of default information will result in 10 penalty points.
All teams can have up to 10 players on their Minor League Roster.
All players on the roster will be under contract.
Contracts are for a period of one (1) OR five (5) years at the end of which time the manager can renew the player’s contract for an additional one (1) or five (5) years before December 1st. The cost of the new contract will be the salary calculated as per Section 28 of this constitution, except that the minimum is $100,000.
Players whose contracts are not renewed become Free Agents and are placed in the Rookie/Free Agent draft provided they will be getting APBA cards.
Shall include all players receiving an APBA card, including “XB’s” provided they are not on any NAPBL roster as of December 1st.
The draft shall be held on an agreed upon date in January or February each year.
A list of players eligible for the draft and the cost of their contracts will be sent to each manager prior to the draft. This list may not be available until early January.
Trading is suspended from one hour prior to the start of the draft until completion of the draft.
Teams will draft in reverse order of finish.
Ties are to be decided following the procedures described in Section 19.2 of this Constitution. Tied teams will alternate drafting positions after the first round.
The method used in calculating the cost of a Rookie/Free Agent contract is shown in Section 28. All players drafted in the 8th round or later will cost $50,000 for 5 years or $20,000 for one year.
A team drafting a player must have sufficient funds in its team treasury to purchase the player’s contract.
The draft shall last a maximum of 12 rounds.
PENALTY POINTS will be assessed by the Commissioner for the following reasons:
One (1) penalty point for each day the mailing is late. Each series is considered a separate mailing. Maximum of five (5) points per mailing deadline missed.
Penalties for lateness may, at the discretion of the Commissioner, be limited to a maximum of 5 points for any one mailing.
Five (5) penalty points will be assessed for violation of the HITTER and PITCHER usage restrictions.
For HITTERS, an additional penalty point will be assessed for each 3 plate appearances he is over the limit.
For HITTERS, an additional penalty point will be assessed for each stolen base he is over the limit.
For STARTING PITCHERS, an additional 5 penalty points for each start over the limit.
For RELIEF PITCHERS, an additional penalty point for each full 3 innings pitched over the limit.
For exceeding the 25-man roster limit in month, 5 penalty points will be accessed for each player over the limit.
The penalty points that are assessed and the reasons for them, as well as the team totals to date, will be reported in the NEWSLETTER.
When a new manager takes over a team, he will receive no penalty points and the league average treasury balance at that time. The average calculation will not include the treasury balance of the team assigned to the new manager.
At the end of the season, before any free-agents can be signed, each team with penalty points shall be fined $10,000 per penalty point.
The total fines will be limited to the team treasury.
For example: 20 penalty points would result in the $200,000 fine.
After a manager reaches 65 penalty points, he is put on probation or the Commissioner may ask him to forfeit his team if the Commissioner thinks the manager has no hope of improving.
After a manager reaches 80 penalty points forfeiture of his team is automatic.
All penalty point fines will be redistributed evenly to all teams in the league.
Treasury money is earned in the following ways:
Completion of Series Reports on time: Award $ 75,000/series
$ 100/word (as determined by Microsoft Word) rounded to the nearest $1,000. Maximum $200,000 per article.
$ 15,000/page for team stats reports and similar items. Maximum $60,000 per article.
Total earnings for NEWSLETTER articles submitted by each manager shall be a maximum of $400,000 in any one calendar year.
Teams that improve their record over the previous season will receive a bonus of $10,000 per additional win.
Teams whose record declines from the previous season will be fined $5,000 per additional loss. This is intended to help prevent teams from “tanking it” to get a better draft pick.
Annual player awards for the CY Young and MVP will be $25,000 each. These awards will be voted on by league managers based on the commissioner’s nominations.
Special Awards may be made from time to time such as for pre-season predictions.
Money can be used to renew player contracts, purchase Rookie/Free Agent contracts, or as part of any trade.
The Commissioner will maintain a record of each team’s treasury.
Shall commence on October 15th at 12:01 A.M. local time or as specified by the Commissioner.
Shall STOP at midnight on the second Sunday in March, local time.
Trading is suspended one (1) hour prior to the start of the Rookie/Free Agent draft until the draft is completed.
All trades must be reported by phone or mail to the Commissioner by one of the managers involved.
Draft choices for the current draft and those for the draft in the following year may be traded.
Trades involving “future considerations” or “player to be named later” are not allowed.
The Commissioner shall review all trades and shall have final approval. New league managers are subject to a one to two month “probationary” period during which the Commissioner will have prior approval on all trades involving the new manager. This is not to question their integrity or their knowledge of baseball, but is to take some pressure off of them as they adjust to player values within the league.
The maximum amount of cash that can be part of a trade is $250,000.
The Official Trade Offer:
First manager makes the offer in
writing to a second manager indicating the following -
The word “official” is included in the offer.
Exactly who and what is being traded.
When the offer will terminate (one hour, one week etc) 4. He agrees not to trade any player or draft pick specified in the offer while waiting for a reply.
Acceptance/Rejection/Modification:
Second manager has four
options:
Accept: Responds in writing (e-mail) that he “Accepts” the offer and the trade becomes official immediately and one or both managers then can report the trade to the commissioner. The commissioner would still retain the right to invalidate the trade which would likely occur only in a very unusual situation.
Reject: Responds in writing (e-mail) that he does not accept the offer which terminates the offer.
Ignore: Ignores the offer and it terminates when the time limit specified in the offer passes.
Modify: He can modify the offer at which time it becomes a NEW official offer with a new time limit. The first manger can then accept/reject/ignore/modify the offer.
The teams in the PLAYOFFS will include the four DIVISION pennant winners and the best second place finishers in each CONFERENCE (two Wild Card teams).
A WILD CARD PLAYOFF SERIES will take place between the Wild Card team and the Division pennant winner with the fewer wins in the Conference.
A CONFERENCE PLAYOFF SERIES will be played between the WILD CARD PLAYOFF winner and the Division pennant winner with the most wins in the Conference.
The winners of the CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS will play the CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES.
In the event two or more teams are tied at the end of the regular season play, the following procedure will be used to break the tie.
The team with the best record in head-to-head play will be the winner. Should teams still be tied then
The team with the best record within the DIVISION will be the winner. Should the teams still be tied then
The team with the best record within the CONFERENCE will be the winner. Should teams still be tied then
The team with the higher runs scored to runs allowed ratio will be the winner. Should teams still be tied then
The winner will be decided by a coin toss.
Should there be a tie for FIRST PLACE in a Division, the two teams will play a one game playoff to decide the winner. If the managers are unable to play face to face or have a suitable agreement on the playing of the game, the commissioner will play the game. The above procedure will determine the home team for the one game playoff.
Should there be a tie for the WILD CARD position, the above tie breaking procedure will be used.
The WILD CARD PLAYOFFS, CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS, and CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES will each be contested in a four out of seven game series.
Every effort will be made to play the CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES in December or January prior to the Rookie/Free Agent Draft.
If there should be a Divisional tie for first place at the end of the season the team entering the play-offs will be decided by the procedure described in Section 19.2.
Home field advantage for the WILD CARD PLAYOFF SERIES will go to the pennant winning team. CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS and CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES home field advantage will go to the team with the highest winning percentage during the season or as determined by tie breaking method in section 18.2.
The schedule is as follows with Team A being the team with the higher winning percentage of the two teams involved. If the two teams have identical winning percentages, then Team A will be decided by the procedure described in Section 18.2. The team with the home field advantage will be team “A”. The other team will be team “B”.
|
DAY |
GAME |
HOME TEAM |
SERIES |
|
0 |
1 |
Team A |
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFF |
|
1 |
1 |
Team A |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
2 |
2 |
Team A |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
3 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
4 |
3 |
Team B |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
5 |
4 |
Team B |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
6 |
(5) |
Team B |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
7 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
8 |
(6) |
Team A |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
9 |
(7) |
Team A |
WILD CARD PLAYOFFS |
|
10 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
11 |
1 |
Team A |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
12 |
2 |
Team A |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
13 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
14 |
3 |
Team B |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
15 |
4 |
Team B |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
16 |
(5) |
Team B |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
17 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
18 |
(6) |
Team A |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
19 |
(7) |
Team A |
CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS |
|
20 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
21 |
1 |
Team A |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
22 |
2 |
Team A |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
23 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
24 |
3 |
Team B |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
25 |
4 |
Team B |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
26 |
(5) |
Team B |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
27 |
|
Travel Day |
|
|
28 |
(6) |
Team A |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
|
29 |
(7) |
Team A |
NAPBL CHAMPIONSHIP |
25-man Playoff and Championship roster must be announced at the start of the play-offs.
Starting pitchers must have at least three days rest between starts and have started at least 10 games during the regular NAPBL season. Days are defined by the schedule outlined in section 19.8.
Players with a minimum of 200 NAPBL plate appearances during the regular NAPBL season are unrestricted.
Players with 100-199 NAPBL plate appearance during the regular NAPBL season are limited to one plate appearance per game. However, they are unrestricted if they enter the game in the 7th or later.
Players with less than 100 NAPBL plate appearances during the regular NAPBL season are limited to one plate appearance per game.
All players will be limited to actual 10% of Major League stolen bases attempts (SB + CS) + 10% with a minimum of 5 attempts per playoff series.
Injuries are only to be applicable to the game in progress.
Any starting pitcher must stay in the game for at least 3 innings or 2 runs total.
No reliever may pitch more than 4 innings in any game, or more than 10% of their season limit on innings pitched for a series, rounded to the nearest whole inning.
Any pitcher without an asterisk (*), who is not being used as a starter in a series, can be used in relief for 6 innings in a series.
Managers involved in the World Series will be required to send the game sheets, game-by-game stats, and game write-ups to the opposing manager and the Commissioner.
PENNANT winners will receive $25,000.
WILD CARD teams will receive $10,000.
WILD CARD PLAYOFF winners will each receive $10,000.
CONFERENCE PLAYOFF winners will each receive $25,000.
CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES winner will receive $50,000.
Face-to-face play is encouraged but not to the detriment of the mail league concept. Face-to-face games can be played during or before the month scheduled. The only reason why a series may be played late is if a manager, who would be traveling more than 150 miles from home, can play another manager face-to-face at a date later than when the series has been scheduled. The Commissioner must be notified ahead of time of such an occurrence.
When a manager drops out of the league, for any reason, a back-up manager will immediately take over that team in the league. A back-up manager must follow the teams with great care, as he must be able to take over any team at a moment’s notice.
A back-up will receive all league information including Newsletters, rosters, schedule etc. but will not have voting rights.
The Commissioner reserves the right to suspend any manager for any of the following reasons:
A manager may be suspended from the league for non-payment of dues past the date payment is required.
Continuous tardiness in any aspect, which results in penalty points being assessed.
A manager will lose his team if obvious cheating is established to the satisfaction of the league executives.
Protests are strongly discouraged!!
A manager may protest the loss of a game(s) if he feels there is enough reason to substantiate the protest.
The protest must be made to the Commissioner within 30 days from the time the series results were received.
That manager must send the play -by-play game sheet(s) and a copy of the instructions of the game(s) that is being protested to the Commissioner, along with his written reasons for the protest.
The Commissioner will then rule on the protest and determine the outcome of the game(s) involved.
Another member of the executive shall rule on protests involving the commissioner.
Rarely, should a protest to have a game replayed be upheld. Instead, or in addition to a replay of the game, the commissioner may assign up to 10 penalty points to either team as a result of a protested game. Generally, a protesting team will be assigned at least one penalty point to have their protest heard.
If the protest is for exceeding player usage, as specified in the instructions, the commissioner may increase a hitter or pitchers season limit to compensate for the abuse.
Results of all protests should be published in the newsletter.
The league executive will set league dues on an annual basis.
Dues will be used to cover the cost of running the league.
Each manager is required to pay the dues prior to the start of the season. A manager who is suspended or expelled from the league for any reason will not be given a refund of dues paid, regardless of how much of the season has been completed.
Back-up managers are also required to pay dues, but their dues will not be greater than half the dues paid by full-time managers.
This constitution may only be amended during the off-season.
It is encouraged that constitutional changes should be approved by a two-thirds majority vote. However, the executive may make minor changes as needed.
Team names can be any name of a current team in the American or National Leagues.
During the period between the end of the season and the Rookie/Free Agent draft, any manager may change his team name to any team name that is not already taken by another manager.
The commissioner shall provided or announce the source of statistics by the end of the Major League World Series.
Salary = (AVE*150+OBP*250+SLG*300+(SB/(PA))*50))*(((PA)/3.8)/164) ).
PA (plate appearances) is defined as AB+BB+HBP+SAC+SF
Salary = ((1/ERA)*800+W*0.2+IP*0.2+GS*0.2+SV)*(IP/300)
FREE AGENTS - $100,000 to resign with current team.
ROOKIE/FREE AGENT DRAFT: ROOKIES/FREE AGENTS - $ 50,000.