DRAFT CONSTITUTION

1952 (2008/9) YABL CONSTITUTION

Yesterday APBA Baseball League

League Charter:

The League will begin in 2001 with the 1959 season and progress backwards through history.

This is a continuous ownership league, once a player is drafted he is yours until traded, cut or is no longer carded.

The League is designed to allow managers the opportunity to play APBA Baseball in a competitive and friendly environment. An overriding concern is ease and simplicity of play. Rules that make play excessively difficult, require excessive time or make instruction making and following too difficult or complicated will not be instituted.

Organization:

Three Divisions with four teams each.

League business should be conducted by email as much as possible. This will save time and reduce costs. There will be no dues as long as costs are negligible to the League Officers (and a free website service can be used). Website address is http://webspace.webring.com/people/fb/burgda

Officers:

Commissioner (Doug Burg): Upholder of the Constitution and League Charter. Runs or accepts volunteer to run drafts. Compiles penalty points. Compiles and issues player limitations and rookie lists.

Executive Committee Member(s) (): Assists Commissioner.

Statistician (Doug Burg): Issues monthly up-to-date leader boards and reports regular season leaders.

Historian (Joe Whitbeck): Compiles career totals for all players and reports career leaders.

Managers: Be timely, play fair. Compile team up-to-the-month season statistics totals. Retain series stats, series scoresheets and monthly stats both hardcopies and computer files until end-of-season official statistics are released. Respond to all correspondence, trade offers, questions on instructions, etc whether by email, postal mail or telephone.

Season:

84 games, 12 games against each team in division and 6 games against each team outside of division.

Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Mar/Apr/May
6 H and 6 A	3 H and 3 A	6 H and 6 A	3 H and 3 A	6 H and 6 A	Semifinals	Rookie Draft
3 H and 3 A	3 H and 3 A	3 H and 3 A	3 H and 3 A	3 H and 3 A	Championship
	3 H and 3 A

Rosters:

Season rosters are maximum of 40 players, carded and non-carded. Not all teams will have 40 players.

16 MLB teams X 25 cards = 400 carded players. 400 / 12 = 33 cards per team + 4 remaining. Rosters of 40 will allow for non-carded players and different size rosters due to trades. Roster sizes may change if more or fewer players are carded by APBA.

Before draft rosters must be cut to 36 total (players {carded and non-carded} + draft picks). All cut, carded players will be added to the draft.

Only carded players may be drafted.

Rosters may contain non-carded players but if a non-carded player is cut he may not be drafted until he is carded again.

Non-carded players may be traded.

Drafts:

Rookie drafts will take place April (or other month designated by the commissioner) of each year. Rookies are carded players not previously carded. The draft will also include all carded players who are not owned by a team. Draft order will be: odd rounds in reverse order of season record, even rounds in order of least penalty points with the tie breaker being worst season record drafts earlier. Ties will be broken by head-to-head records, worst record picks first in odd rounds and second in even rounds. Still tied, look at preceding season total records, then dice roll. Teams will draft until all teams have 36 players (carded or uncarded) or until all carded players are drafted, whichever comes first. If carded players remain, the draft will then continue, beginning with the original first round order, and all remaining carded players will be chosen. Draft continues in order of odd/even order as per initial part of draft.

Trading:

Trading Period, March 1, 2008 – 1952 Rookie Draft, Draft picks for 1952 rookie draft may be traded (Managers who have played at least one entire season may trade 1951 draft picks)

1952 Rookie Draft, March/April 2008

Trading Period, 1952 Rookie Draft – August 31, 2008, Managers who have played one entire season may trade 1951 rookie draft picks

1952 Season, September 20, 2008 – March 31, 2009, No trading during season

Trading Period, March TBD, 2009 – 1951 Rookie Draft, Draft picks for 1951 rookie draft may be traded (Managers who have played at least one entire season may trade 1950 draft picks)

1951 Rookie Draft, March/April 2009

Trading Period, 1951 Rookie Draft – August 31, 2009, Managers who have played one entire season may trade 1950 rookie draft picks

1951 Season, September 20, 2009 – March 31, 2010, No trading during season

Monthly Schedule:

Instructions must be postmarked (email required) by the first of the month. Deadline for February instructions may be moved to a later date, at the discretion of the commissioner, to allow for all managers to have season-to-date statistics available to them before making instructions for the final month.

Results must be reported to the away manager (email required - W-L and email preferred total series stats for both teams, postal mail – individual game score sheets and a hardcopy of both teams’ series stats) and the statistician (email required - W-L only), postmarked, by the 20^th of the month.

Stat totals month-to-date for your team (totaled from Oct through the current month) must be reported to the statistician, postmarked (email preferred), by the last day of the month.

In order to try and keep the league as current as possible:

1. If you do not receive instructions by the 7th of the month you may contact the opposing manager by email (and telephone, but that is not required) and tell him you have not received instructions, copy Commissioner on the email.

2. If you do not receive instructions by the 10th of the month you may play the games with instructions you make up or emergency instructions provided to the Commissioner. Email the opposing manager and copy Commissioner, tell him you are playing the games. You should use the player at each position that has the lowest J# (or most games in usage as some of the J#'s didn't photocopy well) and make a reasonable lineup. Use a rotation with the pitchers with lowest J# (or most starts). Use best reliever as closer. Use your best judgement and make few if any substitutions.

3. Send results and instructions as always. EACH MANAGER IS STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN TEAM'S USAGE. PENALTIES WILL BE ASSIGNED FOR OVERUSAGE. AT LEAST 20 PENALTY POINTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR NO INSTRUCTIONS.

Note: This is optional. No manager is forced to play games he isn't responsible for. But, if you cannot play the extra games then contact the Commissioner and he or another manager will play the games for you. If this happens too often the manager will be replaced. You may send the Commissioner emergency instructions to be used if another manager doesn’t receive specific instructions from you for a given month. I will keep track of emergency instructions and if I see a situation occur where they should be used I will make sure the home team gets a copy.

Pitchers:

Non-D, DZZ and DZ graded pitchers are restricted to BOTH 50% actual Games Started AND 50% actual Innings Pitched (all rounded up to next whole number). A pitcher may not exceed EITHER of these totals. D and DW pitchers are allowed greater of 50% of actual or amounts from Table below. The additional allowances only apply if Pitcher is the first position listed on the player’s card. [Split grade pitchers, D(C*), are limited to 50% actual Games Started and 50% Innings Pitched]:

Grade	Starts	IP		Grade	Starts	IP
D or DW	9	54		D* or D*W	0	35

Pitcher Grade Advancement or Reductions - None.

Starting Pitchers must pitch 4 innings or until they give up 3 runs, earned or unearned. Pitchers must rest 3 games before and 3 games after a start.

Relief Pitchers must rest one game if they pitch more than 3 and up to 4 innings (10 – 12 outs), two games if they pitch more than 4 and up to 5 innings (13 - 15 outs) and 3 games if they pitch more than 5 innings (16 or more outs).

Starters may relieve but must follow all rules above (3 games rest before and after a start) and follow limitations on IP.

All pitchers start each series fully rested – there is no carryover between series.

Pitcher/Players:

If a player’s first carded position is pitcher and the player is also carded at another position he may only play non-pitching positions for 54% actual games played at positions other than pitcher. However, any player listed as Pitcher as the first rated position on his card may not bat, see DH below.

Players:

Players are restricted to 54% of actual Games.

If a player has an OBP and SLG less than .325 he may play the maximum of 40 games or 54% of actual.

If a player is rated 3B-2, SS-6, 2B-5 or C-5 at a position other than his first carded position and he has an OBP or SLG of .325 or higher than he may not play that position until the 5^th inning or later.

Designated Hitter:

The DH will be used at all times. The official MLB DH rule will be used. Any player who DH’s in a game cannot play the field in that game and any player that plays the field in a game cannot DH that game. The DH position in the bating order must remain the same for the entire game. Any player pinch hitting or pinch running for the DH becomes the DH.

Any player listed as Pitcher as the first rated position on his card may not bat.

Rule Modifications:

No injuries, ejections or rain outs.

ZZ – The ZZ pitcher control rating will be used for seasons where APBA assigned ZZ’s. ZZ will not be used if APBA did not assign the rating. ZZ = 2 balls on a 14 result for bases empty or runners on first and third board situations in addition to all Z = 1 ball results. Two consecutive ZZ = 2 balls earns the batter a BB. Four consecutive Z = ball earns the batter a BB.

Sacrifice boards – Use Z and ZZ result for result number 14 the same as the regular boards, example: runner on first, sacrifice bunt result 14 is Z or ZZ, ball or 2 balls respectively.

Sacrifice with a runner on second – a result of 8 is changed to a successful sacrifice, runner moves to third and batter out at first, P-2B.

Hit and Run:

Batter must have two or more 31 result numbers to use in the hit and run.

The Hit and Run may not be used when there are two outs.

Change the following hit and run board results:

Result	Change board result to:
14	Foul strike
13	Strike out, runner caught stealing, C-SS, if runner has a first column 11 result then he steals successfully

Fielding:

No switching of fielder positions within an inning unless due to removal of a player from the game.

All advanced fielding (individual, team and infield) will be used:

Position	Result Numbers	Fielding 3	Fielding 2	Fielding 1
LF	15, 30	1	2	3
CF	16, 31	1	2	3
RF	17, 32	1	2	3
2B	26, 20	5, 6	7	8, 9
3B	27, 19	2, 3	4	5, 6
SS	28, 18	6, 7	8	9, 10
Infield	24, 25, 29, 21, 22	31 or less	32 - 35	36 or more
Total	All others	35 or less	36 - 40	41 or more

Runners:

Slow Runner Rule - If a slow runner is thrown out going an extra base, then that runner doesn’t attempt to take the extra base. This is for result numbers 3 – 9 only. If all runners (irregardless of speed) are thrown out then the slow runner is also out on these results. On all other board numbers, 12 – 41, follow the board results accordingly for the runner’s speed. You may not “hold” a slow runner or any other runner.

Base Coaching - None. All caught stealing are upheld, no calling “no steals”.

Boards:

Any set of official APBA boards may be used. The same set of boards must be used for both teams and the same boards must be used for the entire season. If two teams play face-to-face and they are using different boards then the home team’s boards will be used. The most current boards are preferred. All rules and rule changes in the Constitution apply to all boards. (Note, new boards do not have advanced fielding for the infield rating. The infield rating will be used, as described above, for all boards).

Cards:

The most recent editions of APBA cards that are available a reasonable amount of time before the rookie draft will be used. 1954R, 1953R, 1952R, 1951R, etc. Each manager is responsible for obtaining the current season set of APBA cards. If APBA is sold out of a season or isn’t selling a season and the card set is difficult to obtain or very expensive, copies of the card set will be provided at cost of copying and postage. Any manager who has not paid for delivered cards will not be allowed to draft.

Statistics:

Pitchers – G, GS, CG, ShO, W, L, S, IP, ER, BB, K, E*.

Players – G, AB, H, 2B, 3B, HR, R, RBI, BB, K, HBP, SB, SH**, E.

*Note: These errors are errors committed by the pitcher, not errors committed by the opposing team while that pitcher pitches. We compile pitchers’ errors as one team stat. We do not keep individual pitchers’ errors.

**Note: SH is a sacrifice hit, that is a bunt that advances a runner. We do not total SF, that is a sacrifice fly where a fly ball scores a runner. Please do not confuse or combine SH and SF. SF are still scored as such, no AB, but we don’t total them for a player or for the team stats.

Each manager will be responsible for keeping his team’s statistics. Each month updated totals for all players will be reported to the statistician (email, Excel on supplied template, preferred). The statistician will report stat leaders on the league web site or by email.

Each home manager will score each game. The supplied scoresheet may be used or another scoresheet may be substituted at each home managers’ discretion. The scoresheet should be legible and allow the away manager to easily follow the game and recreate the statistics. Fielding credit must be given for each play. Special plays (hit and run, sacrifice) must be noted.

The supplied template should be used if at all possible to total series and monthly stats. Equivalent replicas may be used if it helps the manager to send the stats via email rather than postal mail. To maintain as much integrity of statistics we will require the following: All statistics must be totaled, that means columns must be totaled on the stat sheets. The following must be checked to insure accuracy – batters’ total K and BB must equal opponent pitchers’ K and BB (checked for both teams). H, R, and E totaled from linescores on scoresheets must equal totals for each team on the stat sheet. IP totals for team must equal total IP for that team in the series. GS and W+L must equal games played in the series. If all totals don’t match up then penalty points will be assessed for statistics errors. You need not calculate AVG, OBP, SLG or ERA.

Game results are unofficial until statistics are compiled and reported. Any games without statistics will be replayed and the standings adjusted as necessary.

Penalty System:

Penalty points will be assessed for the following:

1 point for each day instructions late

2 points for each day late W-L results to opposing manager and statistician

2 points for each day late series statistics to opposing manager

2 points for each day scoresheets are late to other manager

3 points for each day late team totals month-to-date statistics to statistician

1 point for each statistics error

9 points per start above pitcher GS limit, and

1 point for each inning or part thereof over pitcher innings limit

5 points for each G over position player G limit

Also: Any player who exceeds his GS, IP or G limit is injured and cannot play in any of the playoff games.

X points for not following instructions, points depend on how serious the offense, also games may need to be replayed.

Order of draft picks in the even rounds of the rookie draft are determined by lowest number of penalty points with ties going to worst record drafts first.

Playoffs and Special Limitations and Rules:

(Note: Playoff series are seven-game series with a rest day between games 2 and 3 and a rest day between games 5 and 6. Pitcher limitations, as far as rest, are DAYS during the playoffs as opposed to GAMES in the regular season.)

All playoff series begin with all players fully rested and available (except for overusage penalties in which the player is out for the entire playoffs) so a pitcher can pitch game 7 of one series and game 1 of the next series.

Three division winners and one overall wild card, wild card plays team with best regular season record. Both series are best of seven games. Better regular season record gets home field advantage in 2-3-2 series, except wild card can never have home field advantage. Tie-breaker for division ties and wild card ties is a one game playoff. Division ties are broken first. All tie-breaker games are regular season games for purposes of standings and statistics. If after the division ties are broken and there is a wild card tie then a one game playoff will be used to determine the winner.

Starting Pitchers must have 5 or more start limitations during regular season to be eligible to start a playoff game.

Pitchers must have three “days” rest before and three “days” rest after a start. Playoff series are seven-game series with a rest day between games 2 and 3 and a rest day between games 5 and 6. Three-man rotation can be used.

Starters may not pitch past the 10^th inning.

Starters must pitch 4 innings or until they give up 3 runs, earned or unearned.

Relief Pitchers must rest one “day” if they pitch more than 2 and up to 3 innings (7 – 9 outs), two “days” if they pitch more than 3 and up to 4 innings (10 – 12 outs) and three “days” if they pitch more than 4 innings (13 or more outs). Note: Rest for relievers is different than for the regular season.

Starting pitchers and split grade starter/relievers can both start and relieve (if he has at least 5 start limitations during the regular season). They are still subject to the “3 days rest before and 3 days rest after a start” rule and to the “relief pitcher innings pitched in relief limitations” in the table below. For example: a pitcher is a grade B who had 10 starts and 70 innings limitations in the regular season. He may start game 2 and pitch up to 10 innings, he may now pitch in up to 9 innings of relief in games 5 through 7 (with the proper amount of rest between relief appearances). The same for a split starter/reliever who has at least 5 start limitations during the regular season. He may start (at the starters grade) and relieve at the relievers grade so long as he has the proper amount of rest before and after starts and between relief appearances.

Relief Pitchers		Players
Season IP limit	Playoff Series IP limit	Season G limit	Playoff series limit
61 and greater	9	56 – 84	7
51 – 60	8	46 – 55	6
41 – 50	7	36 – 45	5
31 – 40	6	26 – 35	4
21 – 30	5	16 – 25	3
20 or fewer	4	1 – 15	2

Any player who exceeds his GS, IP or G limit is injured and cannot play in any of the playoff games.

Save Rule:

Credit a pitcher with a save when he meets all three of the following conditions:

1 He is the finishing pitcher in a game won by his club; and

2 He is not the winning pitcher; and

3 He qualifies under one of the following conditions:

a He enters the game with a lead of no more than three runs and pitches for at least one inning; or

b He enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either on base, or at bat, or on deck (that is, the potential tying run us either already on base or is one of the first two batsman he faces); or

c He pitches effectively for at least three innings.

No more than one save may be credited in each game.

Forms and League Data:

Blank score sheet

Sample score sheet

Blank series/team stat compilation sheet

Blank pitching rotation sheet (for your use in setting season pitching rotation, not required)

Pitcher usage limitations for 1954

Player usage limitations for 1954

Pitcher usage limitations for 1953

Player usage limitations for 1953

Rookie list for 1953 rookie draft