ARTICLE I. Commissioner
The Commissioner is Andrew C. Stevens (andrewstevens@mchsi.com). The Commissioner's responsibilities include but are not limited to ensuring the league is run with integrity, maintaining the schedule, updating the website, distributing league files, creating the league and season schedules, maintaining absent owner franchises (unless the absent owner specifically delegates this responsibility to someone else), interpreting rules which the Constitution does not make clear, removing owners from the league, resolving disputes between league members, invalidating lopsided or collusive trades, and amending the Constitution. The Commissioner reserves the right to make any decision which he deems in the best interests of the league.
ARTICLE II. Beginning League Setup
The League will consist of ten (10) beginning teams, divided into two (2) divisions of five (5) teams apiece. The schedule will consist of 162 games every season, twenty-three (23) games played against every team in division and fourteen (14) games against every team in the other division. The top team in each division will play against one another in a best-of-seven League Championship at the end of every season. There will be no Designated Hitter (DH) in the League until at least 1973 at which time each of the divisions will vote to decide whether or not to include it. No one person may own more than one franchise in the League, although the Commissioner will be responsible for the maintenance of any absent owner teams or computer-controlled teams. The Commissioner may not, of course, use this position to benefit his own team in any way. (Fortunately the Commissioner of the League is incorruptible. Note: I said incorruptible, I did not necessarily say smart.)
ARTICLE III. Team Rosters
Rosters shall be limited to thirty (30) players, of which only twenty-five (25) of whom may be active at any one time. There shall be no minimum number of players except that a league owner must strive to have enough innings pitched and at-bats to complete a full season (1450 cumulative IP and 5500 AB) and I strongly encourage having at least two players at each fielding position. (Common sense should be used here, though. If you have Lou Gehrig, it's perfectly acceptable to not have a second first baseman.) Rights to a player whose services have previously been retained by a team, but do not qualify with the minimum AB or IP to participate for a season but will qualify again in a later season shall be retained by the team and shall not count against the roster maximum for the team. This will matter particularly during WWII, but will affect many other players both before and after.
ARTICLE IV. The Inaugural Draft
The inaugural draft will be up to 30 rounds and will be serpentine. The Commissioner shall remove all players from the draft who do not meet the required AB/IP minimums and any "double cards" included in the roster disk (preference going if any be needed to the card which includes the maximum amount of usage), including any player listed as both a hitter and a pitcher for that season. (Sorry, but the computer has trouble recognizing that these two are the same player, so it's much easier on me if I eliminate one of the cards.) The list of eligible players will be on the website well before the draft. It is strongly recommended that a draft list be submitted to the Commissioner with as detailed instructions as the player desires. If a draft pick is not submitted to the Commissioner on time and no draft list has been submitted, the program will select a player for the team. The first fifteen (15) rounds of the draft will be conducted by email. The remaining fifteen (15) will be conducted using draft lists/computer/live attendance/chat room attendance as the individual owners desire. (For the very last rounds, the Commisioner will be using the program to select players since at that point the limitations of the program are not terribly severe. If your research does not extend to the fringe players, this may be the best solution so keep it in mind.)
ARTICLE V. Subsequent Drafts
Subsequent post-season drafts will be six rounds and will not be serpentine. Draft lists including expected cuts to the roster should be submitted the morning after the League Championship Series is played. (This list may be submitted any time in advance during the season as well and may be updated as the owner sees fit.) Teams not involved in the League Championship Series will select players in reverse order of finish (ties will be broken by the team with the worse run differential picking earlier), followed by the loser of the League Championship Series, and then the League Champion. The draft will be held over a period of three days with two rounds per day. The day after the draft is finished, all teams with more than thirty (30) players must cut down to roster size. The next day, the supplemental draft will be held for all teams who do not have thirty (30) players on their roster. This draft will use the same order as the regular draft and will be as many rounds as are necessary for every team to fill up to thirty (30) players. Note: Sandbagging in order to secure a high draft pick is perfectly acceptable within limits. If a team desires to rebuild by trading away veterans in exchange for "prospects," that is an acceptable form of sandbagging. However, tinkering with the computer manager in order to make your team "artificially" worse (e.g. bunting frequently with power hitters, using bullpens in a ridiculous manner, and the like) is not acceptable and the Commissioner reserves the right to question and alter the computer manager so that sort of thing does not occur. The Commissioner does not expect this to be a problem.
ARTICLE VI. Trading
Any player may be traded to any active franchise. Absent owner franchises may not trade and may not be traded with. All owners involved in a trade must submit to the Commissioner the details of the trade, and any changes to the computer manager as a result of the trade (please submit changes only). The trade will be considered official upon receipt of this information. The Commissioner does, however, reserve the right to invalidate the trade if he determines it to be collusive or not in the best interests of the league. If insufficient changes to the computer manager are made, the Commissioner reserves the right to update the manager at his discretion if time is of the essence. Regular draft picks (not supplemental draft picks) may be traded, but only draft picks for the subsequent six (6) seasons. This limitation is to prevent an owner from harming his franchise and then leaving the league without enduring the consequences of his/her trade. It is anticipated that this will not be a problem. There will be no waiver period for trading, but September 1 shall be the trading deadline and no trading will be allowed after that until the draft for the next season starts.
ARTICLE VII. Free Agents
A player may be dropped at any time. The player is put on waivers until the next playing interval starts and concludes. After this point, he becomes a free agent. Please make any cuts to your roster as early as possible after a playing interval in order to give the maximum amount of waiver time to a player. A player may be claimed off waivers by any team, but if more than one team claims a player, the team with the worse record shall be given first priority. Any team may claim a free agent at any point during the course of a season. If more than one team has claimed a free agent, the Commissioner will use the time stamps on the email in order to determine who claimed the player first. A player dropped from a roster who does not qualify for the current season disappears completely until the next season that he does qualify for at which time he becomes a free agent and will appear in that season's draft pool. Free agent transactions also must be completed before September 1st. No transaction is official if it puts the team over the 30-man roster limit.
ARTICLE VIII. Minimum AB/IP Qualification
A player must have 50 AB or 15 IP in the current season in order to qualify for the league's draft pool. This stops players with extreme and unbalancing performances from being included in the player pool. It does not, however, stop all unbalanced players from appearing. In the regular season, the effect will be minor. The effect on the League Championship Series could be large, however. Consequently, a player with less than 100 AB may not appear in the starting lineup for any game (no other limitations apply) and a pitcher with less than 30 IP may either start once or appear twice as a reliever. After the second appearance as a reliever, the pitcher will be placed in the minors for the remainder of the series. These minimums apply after prorating for the 154 game season in those years. (The Maurice Archdeacon/Ted Odenwald Rule.)
ARTICLE IX. Computer Settings
In general, default Strat rules will be used, including all Max rules. SADV Injuries will be used, though, Closer Rules will not be used until enough pitchers have decent closer ratings (to be determined by the Commissioner) in order not to penalize owners who want to play with a modern relief strategy immediately, and lineups will be Draft League Mode with Rest (although this won't matter much unless a Deluxe season is being played since "reverse" players will not exist much in a non-Deluxe season). The usage will be set to "Try to Limit Overusage," as per default settings.
ARTICLE X. Computer-Run Franchises
Franchises with no owners will be run solely by the program with little or no interference from the Commissioner. Drafts are the one exception. With the exception of the Inaugural Draft in which the computer will select players purely at its own discretion, the Commissioner will give first priority to rookies (only) who are also in the Baseball Hall of Fame. The Commissioner will select the most sensible rookie Hall of Famer available for each and every computer team in the draft based on its current roster. After rookie Hall of Famers are accounted for, the computer will then select players normally. In some instances the Commissioner will override this rule if he determines the team has no need for the HOFer due to its current roster. (Since the computer teams will not be allowed to trade, this could lead to hoarding by the computer teams of more than one very good player playing the same position. E.g. if a team already has Lou Gehrig, it has no need for Jimmie Foxx.) This rule will also be in effect for franchises which have a human owner, but which do not submit a draft list for that team although, of course, this is a strongly discouraged situation.
ARTICLE XI. Defensive Position Ratings
Owners of a team may request that the Commissioner rate a player for a defensive position that he is not rated for in that season's Strat disk. The following conditions must be met in order to be eligible for this additional rating. 1) The player must have previously been rated for that position in an earlier season actually played by the league in which the player actually appeared. 2) The player must be rated for that position again in a subsequent season in which the player will actually appear. If these conditions are met, the Commissioner will add a defensive rating of the following value to that player for all "sandwiched" seasons: the range factor will be the worse of the previous and subsequent season the player played the position and the error rating will be the worse of those two seasons as well. (The exception to this rule is outfielders who lose one outfield position, but retain another. In this event, the outfield error rating of the current season will be assigned.) Also, pitchers with no relief endurance rating for a season will be assigned a relief endurance rating equal to their starter endurance rating minus four.
AMENDMENT I. 1931 Expansion
The League now consists of twelve (12) teams, divided into two (2) divisions of six (6) teams each. The schedule consists of 162 games a season, eighteen (18) games played against teams in the same division and twelve (12) against teams in the other division. The top two teams from each Division will play in a best-of-seven Divisional Championship Series to determine that Division's LCS representative. The League Championship Series will then be played in a best-of-seven format between the two playoff champions of each Division. This Amendment supersedes Article II.
AMENDMENT II. Trading of Future Draft Picks
Regular draft picks (not supplemental draft picks) may be traded, but only draft picks for the subsequent two (2) seasons. E.g. if the 2000 season is being played, draft picks for the 2001 and 2002 seasons may be traded. During the rookie draft, draft picks for the subsequent two (2) drafts may be traded. E.g. during the 2001 draft, draft picks for 2001, 2002, and 2003 may be traded. This Amendment supersedes Article VI. Draft picks for the 1934 or preceding drafts are grandfathered and may always be traded.
AMENDMENT III. Roster Size
Rosters are now limited to twenty-eight (28) players, of which no more than twenty-five (25) may be active at one time. This Amendment supersedes Article III (and sections of Article V).
AMENDMENT IV. Drafts
As of 1934, drafts are five (5) rounds long. They are still conducted in three days. The first day is for the first round. The second day has the second and third rounds and the third day has the fourth and fifth rounds. This Amendment supersedes parts of Article V.
AMENDMENT V. Trading Rules
Traded draft picks may not be reacquired. Traded players may not be reacquired through trade for at least three (3) seasons. A team must retain a player they have traded for for at least one (1) season before trading him to another team.
AMENDMENT VI. Minimum AB/IP Qualifications for Playoff Series
For a best-of-seven playoff series, the following rules now apply.
The following schedule applies to hitters: 50-99 ABs (may not appear in a starting lineup), 100-199 ABs (may start a maximum of four (4) games in a playoff series), 200+ ABs (unlimited usage).
The following schedule applies to pitchers: 15-29 IPs (may not start, may relieve up to twice), 30-49 IPs (may not start, unlimited relief appearances), 50-99 IPs (may start once, unlimited relief appearances), 100-199 IPs (may start twice, unlimited relief appearances), 200+ IPs (unlimited usage, starts limited by usual rules).
This Amendment supersedes Article VII.
AMENDMENT VII. Roster Size and Drafts
As of 1961, rosters are back up to thirty (30) players, of which no more than twenty-five (25) may be active at one time. The 1961 draft will be seven (7) rounds long, conducted in four days with the fourth day including the sixth and seventh rounds. The length of future drafts from 1962 until the 1969 expansion will be determined by the Commissioner on an as-needed basis. This Amendment supersedes Amendments III and IV.
AMENDMENT VIII. Minimum AB/IP Qualification
A pitcher now requires 30 IP in a season in order to qualify for play in that season. This Amendment supersedes parts of Article VIII.
AMENDMENT IX. 1969 Expansion.
The League now consists of sixteen (16) teams, divided into two (2) divisions of eight (8) teams each. The schedule consists of 162 games a season, fourteen (14) games played against teams in the same division and eight (8) against teams in the other division. The top two teams from each Division will play in a best-of-seven Divisional Championship Series to determine that Division's LCS representative. The League Championship Series will then be played in a best-of-seven format between the two playoff champions of each Division. This Amendment supersedes Article II and Amendment I.
AMENDMENT X. DH-only Players.
There will be no DH in Replay League. DH-only players who do not receive fielding ratings from Article XI will receive the following fielding ratings: 4e30 at first base and, if the players were (or will be) outfielders, 4e25 at left field and an arm rating equal to their last (or next) arm rating plus one. This is known as the Ontko Amendment.
AMENDMENT XI. Minimum AB/IF Qualification.
As of 1979, a hitter now requires 100 AB in a season in order to qualify for play in that season, other than players who played catcher in that season who still require only 50. This Amendment supersedes parts of Article VIII.
AMENDMENT XII. Inter-league Players.
As of 1987, an owner may, at his option, request that an inter-league card be created for any inter-league player he owns the rights to. If he does not, he may also use the league card with the greater usage. Under no circumstances may he use the league card with the lower usage. This Amendment is known as the Doyle Alexander Amendment and will expire in 1996.