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Constitution |
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OVERVIEW The SSBL will consist of twenty teams. These teams will use the Diamond Mind computer game and follow a league schedule in playing assigned games. The results of these games will be reported to league officials as well as opposing managers each month on a timely basis. The statistics will be compiled on a monthly basis and reported to each owner via computer diskette or by sending file transfers over the Internet. LEAGUE PHILOSOPHY The SSBL exists for the enjoyment and sportsmanship of its members. It is intended to supply an outlet for fellowship, fairness and competitiveness. It is a non-profit organization, whose dues and monies will be used to cover expenses incurred in operating the league. DUES The annual dues for the SSBL will be $20 per team. These monies will be used to cover the leagues expenses and in the building and maintaining of a web page. These dues are due on October 1st. REQUIREMENTS Each member of the SSBL MUST own the Diamond Mind Baseball computer game (latest version) as well as the Diamond Mind Baseball player disk that the season is based on. Periodic inquiries will be made to Diamond Mind to ensure that all owners are complying. Any owner that does not comply will be removed from the league. STRUCTURE The SSBL will consist of twenty members, each with the responsibility for the prompt and conscientious management of their team. The SSBL commissioner will grant and revoke team ownership, resolve disputes and conduct all league business. The commissioner will appoint a board of governors consisting of the following: 1 President Newsletter author 3 Vice-Presidents The commissioner will use these four members to assist in assuring and maintaining quality league standards. The commissioner will have complete and final authority. LEAGUE STRUCTURE There will be twenty teams divided into two conferences. Each conference will consist of ten teams, divided into two divisions. TEAMS Each team will maintain a roster of thirty-five players, utilising these players to instruct other teams in the playing of all away series as well as utilising them in the playing of all home series. Each team will send their complete home results over the Internet as a file transfer to the league statistician. They will also send complete boxscores, scoresheets and player stats to the web page and each opposing team they play. SCHEDULE Regular season will begin on April 1 and end on September 20. Each team will play 162 games. Teams will play division opponents 18 games (9 home/9 away) and all other teams 6 times each (3 home/3 away). All home games must be reported by the 20th of each month. The Diamond Mind Computer Manager will be used for the visiting team; therefor the manager profiles for the visiting team must reach the home team by the first of each month. Playing face to face, or the use of Microsoft Netmeeting, Laplink or similar programs to play "face to face" over the Internet is acceptable. ROSTERS Teams will consist of 35 players each and must have enough pitching and batting to cover the 162 game schedule. For pitching, each team would need a minimum of 162 starts and approximately 500 relief innings. For batting, approximately 650 at-bats per position would be needed. Of the 35 players on the roster all may be active each month. Each team may designate players to be "farmed" to avoid overuse. Of the 35 players on each roster, not more than 3 may be unrated. Only players who appeared on a SSBL roster in the previous season, who are not on the current season DMB player disk are eligible to be classified as "unrated". Typically these will only be players who played in the previous season but missed the entire current season due to injury, playing in Japan, etc. All teams must cut down to a maximum of 35 players by March 15. Teams may carry less than 35 players on their roster, but do so at there own risk GENERAL RULES 1. Injuries: will be set on "injury rating" in the SSBL. 2. Rest: All players will be rested before each series. 3. Injured players will be made healthy at the start of each new series. 4. Designated Hitter: The designated hitter will be used in all games. 5. Pitchers: Pitchers are NOT allowed to bat in the SSBL. Pitchers can be used as pinch runners. 6. Weather: Weather will be used in all games. 7. Era will be set on NL in even numbered years and AL in odd numbered years. 8. Players: Players will only be allowed to play the positions for which they are rated. 9. Series results must reach opposing managers by the 20th of the month. 10. Monthly stats must reach league statistician by the 20th of the month. PLAYER LIMITATIONS Players will be limited in the following ways: 1. Hitters a. Hitters may be used 100% of their actual plate appearances. 2. Pitchers a. Starters will be limited to actual starts and cannot be used in relief. b. Relievers will be limited to batters faced. Relievers must be rated as a relief pitcher. c. Swing men (start and relieve) will be limited by starts (cannot exceed number of real life starts) and by batters faced. Once a swingman has reached his actual batters faced, he is done for the season even if he still has starts left. d. A pitcher with no games started cannot start. 3. Minimum Usage: a. 70%-100% Player stays with team b. 0%-69% Player becomes a free agent. (Does not apply to hitters with less than 80 ab’s or pitchers with less than 25 innings pitched). c. 101% and up Player becomes a free agent SERIES PLAY Each month's games must be played in a SSBL directory with no stats. All games are played using the dh. Pitchers are not allowed to bat at any time. Computer manager is mandatory for visiting team unless play is done face-to-face or on netmeeting. Manager profile must reach the home manager by the first of the month. Boxscores and scoresheets to visiting manager and stats to statistician by the 20th of the month. PLAYOFFS All playoff series will consist of 7 games. There will be one day of rest between games 2 and 3 and between games 5 and 6. Each series starts with zeroed out stats. The first round will be between the first and second place finisher in each division. The division winner will have the home field advantage in a 2-3-2 format. The second round will be between divisional winners in each conference. The team with the best record will have home field advantage in a 2-3-2 format. The World Series will be between the two conference winners. The team with the best seasonal record will have the home field advantage in a 2-3-2 format. Once the first two games of a playoff series is finished, that home manager will send the entire directory in which those games were played to the commissioner. The manager that is at home for the next three games will use that directory and continue the series. When those three games are completed, that home manager sends the entire directory in which those games were played to the league commissioner. If games 6 and 7 are necessary, they will be played by the home manager in that directory. Once a playoff series in completed, the home manager that played the final game is responsible for sending the directory to the commissioner. If a playoff series is played face-to-face, only one directory needs to sent to the commissioner. Each home opponent in a playoff series must also send the boxscore and scoresheet to both his opponent and the league commissioner. PLAYOFF PLAYER USAGE To be eligible to start a playoff game, a pitcher must have made 10 or more SSBL league starts during the season. The chart below determines the total number of relief appearances, per series, that are allowed in the playoffs. 60 + ML games relieved: 5 games 50-59 ML games relieved: 4 games 40-49 ML games relieved: 3 games 25-39 ML games relieved: 2 games relieved 1-24 ML games relieved: 1 game relieved Any starting pitcher needs at least 3 days rest between starts. If that pitcher is still rated as TIRED, he must pitch at that rating. Batters will be allowed 5% of their ML plate appearances per playoff series. A batter with 500 or more ML plate appearances is allowed an unlimited number of plate appearances per playoff series. MONEY SYSTEM Each team will be awarded money for wins and for getting their disk in on time in the following way: 1. $100 for every home win. 2. $500 for every road win. 3. $1000 for getting disk returned on time each month. 4. $100 for sending boxscores and scoresheets to the web page after each series. This money will be used for purchasing free agents. FREE AGENTS All players with previous major league experience that were not on a SSBL roster for the past season and are on the DMB season disk and any player granted free agency by the player usage rule will be available in a sealed bidding process. There will be three rounds of bidding. The money earned for wins and prompt disks will be used to make these bids. These bids will be accepted starting in October for round one. Bids must be in hundreds of dollars. For example, a $500 bid is acceptable, a $503 bid is not. Each team must make bids totalling all of their team's money in round one of the free agent draft. Any money not bid will be lost. A team cannot bid a total that exceeds their money amount. Example: If your team has earned $30,000, your bids in round one must equal $30,000. Bidding in rounds two and three is optional. Any free agent that remains unsigned after the bidding process will be added to the rookie draft. ROOKIE DRAFT A seven round rookie draft will be held each January. The draft will be run in reverse order of standings of all teams. Ties will be resolved by road wins (better road record = better team), head to head record, coin toss. Only players on the DMB disk can be drafted. TRADES Trading will be allowed from October 1 until March 15. Dues must be paid before a team can trade. All trades must be reported to the commissioner by both owners for it to be made official. Trading will not be allowed during the season. The commissioner reserves the right to veto any trade that is detrimental to the league. Draft choices for the following draft may be traded only after dues for next season have been paid. PENALTIES For the league to be successful, the rules must be followed. The following penalties will be handed out to teams that violate the league rules: 1. Late disks First offense - loss of third round pick. Second offense - loss of second round pick. Third offense - removed from the league. 2. Player Overuse 0% to 5% - loss of player. 6% to 10% - loss of player and 1st round draft pick. 10% and above - loss of player and 1st round draft pick. If team makes the playoffs - forfeiture of playoff series. If team does not make the playoffs, loss of 2nd and 3rd round picks. The commissioner reserves the right to lower penalties if violation is unavoidable due to circumstances beyond the control of the violating party. The SSBL will expand by four teams after the 1999 season. The four teams will be on the 1999 season disk in the Exhibition League section. The Four expansion teams will be named for their divisions until they are taken by a new owner. The expansion teams will
have the following in place: Every team will be allowed to protect up to 18 players. A total of 5 players will be lost to the expansion teams by each existing team. So if due to penalties and free agent losses you have less than 23 players ( 18 + 5 ) at the end of the season, the team will only be allowed to protect their total amount of players minus 5. For example, if after penalties and free agent losses a team has only 15 players, that team would only be allowed to protect 10 players in order to leave 5 available for the expansion draft. The expansion draft will
take place as soon after the conclusion of our 1999 season as possible, before the free
agent bidding and rookie draft takes place. The planned dates are as followed : The four expansion teams will draft from the players left available. After an existing team loses 5 players, the remainder of their unprotected players are returned to the team. The four expansion teams will draft in a 1-4,4-1,1-4,4-1 mode, reversing the order every round, until each expansion team has chosen 25 players and each existing team has lost 5 players. Adding this in with the five players awarded to the expansion teams after the March 15 cut down, each expansion team will have 30 players. As soon as the expansion draft is over, we will begin the free agent bidding process. Jim Condon |
