To print this page I recommend copying and then pasting it into a word processing program.
GSBL Constitution
To print this page I recommend copying and then pasting it into a word processing program.
Introduction:
The Grand Slam Baseball League is a continuous ownership simulated baseball league created
to give its members the opportunity to assemble and run a team using the current players of
MLB in a realistic manner. The league will not charge dues.
Requirements:
All owners are required to own a registered copy of DMB 7.0 (with the most current patch,
7.0d), the current player disk, stay active and honest. Although it is not required, ICQ
may facilitate league communication and, as it is free, is strongly recommended..
League Structure:
1) The league will consist of 26 teams spit into 2 leagues. The AL will have 3 divisions of 4
teams each. The NL will have one 4-team division and 2 5-team divisions. The American
League will employ the designated hitter, while in the National League pitchers will bat. The
league will use a 162 game schedule, with a small portion of those games played through
interleague play.
2) The Commissioner of the Grand Slam Baseball League will be a rotating position, chosen for
a term of one year. At the end of each season, the incumbent commissioner may opt to stand
again or step down in favor of another member who chooses to stand for the position. Any change
in this position is subject to a 2/3 vote by the league. If a 2/3 vote is not obtained, the
incumbent will remain the commissioner or the vote may be retaken. The aim of this rule is to
emphasize that the league belongs to the membership.
3) An assistant commissioner will also be named. The role of the assistant will be to serve as
an active consultant in all matters concerning the league and to lend help when needed. A
particular role. of the assistant will be to act as commissioner in the commissioner's absence.
4) A trade committee will also be appointed. The role of this committee is to evaluate any trade
regarded by the commissioner or assistant commissioner as questionable in nature or against the
best interests of the league. The committee will also serve to arbitrate trade disputes should
they arise. A secondary role of the committee will be to consult in suspected cases of cheating
or other foul play and to act in consultation with the commissioner, assistant commissioner,
webmaster, and founder (Ryan Rutherford) as a league committee.
General League Rules:
1) Games: 162 (a few doubleheaders as well)
2) Injury: Injury rating
3) Bullpen Warm up rule is OFF
4) Weather Effects in use
Participation:
If you will be unable to have full control over your team during any part of the year
due to vacation or other reasons notify the commish of your absence. Create your
manger's profile to reflect the upcoming games that you will be absent. Your home game
will be simmed according to the instructions you leave. So it's to your benefit to
leave some instructions during this period, otherwise you leave it up to the sim. Any
failure to respond to countless email from the commish will result in your removal
from the league.
Stadiums:
Stadiums are picked on first come- first served basis. Teams may choose to change to a new
stadium that is not currently in use during the offseason. One team maximum per stadium.
Rosters:
1) Rosters may never exceed 40 players.
2) Active rosters must not exceed 25 players; at the point of the schedule on the league
disk corresponding to Sept.1, rosters may expand to 35 active players.
3) Nine pitchers including a minimum of 4 starters must be active at all times.
*Corollary to #s 2 and 3:
Because reporting periods consist of 3-4 games, it may be tempting to farm tired
starters/relievers and bring up fresh ones. (A not-infrequent occurrence in other
leagues) This constitutes a violation of realism and the spirit of both rules 2
and 3 (which are there to make roster usage consistent with realistic play). Such
manipulation also provides an undue advantage, for in effect it increases roster
size beyond 25 players. Therefore, in order to guard against improper shuttling
of starting players between the farmed and active lists, all transactions must be
effected before the start of the first half of each week. All roster changes
effective as at the week 'A' disk will be considered final and irrevocable for the
entire ensuing week. Exceptions to this rule will only be made in the case of either
a) a player is injured during the 'A' phase of the playing period, whereupon a
transaction will be allowed in order to bring the roster back to 25 active,
uninjured players, or
b) a trade is made during the 'A' phase of the playing period, in which case the
appropriate players will be substituted in the new profile. The league office will
also consider petitions on a case-by-case basis.
4) Two catchers and two shortstops must remain active at all times.
5) Injured players cannot be sent to the minors, but they may be put on the DL. If
they are not put on the DL and remain on the active roster they will be counted
against the 25 player active roster limit.
6) Anyone put on the disabled list must remain on the DL for at least 15 days.
7) DL moves can be made retroactive to the day after the injury occurred.
8) All trades shall go in effect before the current week's league file is sent out.
9) Following the season, teams must limit their rosters to 25 players prior to the
offseason free agent/rookie draft.
10) If a player already has been drafted or traded for by a team but is not
represented by a record in the next season's DMB disk, the team who controlled his
record at the last time he was rated may retain rights to this player. If they
exercise this option, he will be represented on the team's roster by a record
created by the league office. This record will take the form of having the player's
full name and position recorded as if creating a player from scratch. However, in
the "Short name" section his name will be entered in the format "FryeNR" where
"NR" means "not rated". At no point may a nonrated player be activated (and if
at any point he is seen as active, he will be released forthwith). However, he will
count against the upper 40man roster limit and, at the time of postseason roster
cut down, he will count against the 25man protected list. Please note, however,
that if such a player is released to the free agent pool, he may not be drafted
again until he is rated again by DMB. On the other hand, such players may be
freely traded.
Free Agent Pick Ups:
1) Only players who appear on the current DMB players disk are eligible to be
drafted.
2) Players who spent the entire year on IR, or players returning from Japan,
or any players with past major league may not be selected unless they appear
on the current player disk.
3) Minors leaguers, or college players who have had no major league experience
are ineligible to be selected.
4) Free Agents may be picked up after the GSBL season begins, if there is room on a team’s roster.
However, they can be signed for the current season only. They must be released to the free agent
pool at the end of the season.
5) Players drafted from the free agent pool after the season starts must be
treated as free agents on oneyear contracts and released after the postseason
ends. However, if a player is released during the season, another team may
claim this player "off waivers" and sign him to a long term contract. That new
team will NOT need to release the player at the end of the season. The waiver
period exists for one play period, extending from the release of the league
file after the player is released to the release of the league file at the end
of the following week. If the player goes unclaimed during that period, his
waiver status lapses and he will then be treated the same as other undrafted
free agents in the pool. If he is drafted after the waiver status lapses, he
can only be signed to an inseason contract. If a player is claimed by multiple
teams during the waiver period, he will be awarded to the team with the worse
record at the time the claim is made.
Trades:
1) Draft picks of the current and following year may be traded, any picks
there after may not.
2) There are NO trading of future considerations nor any "players to be
named later." All terms of the trade must be announced when the trade is
announced.
3) All trades will be reviewed by the commissioner. If a team appears to be
dumping players on purpose to strengthen another team while getting no real
value in return, the trade will be held up. Both teams will then have a
chance to put in writing their reasons for making the trade and the trade
will be reexamined.
4) Trades are not official until both teams report the trade and the trade
is posted on the web page or is announced by the commissioner through email.
Trades go in effect in the beginning of the week or every time a new league
File is sent out.
5) All trades will be performed by the commissioner on the league disk,
though individual managers may execute trades on their own disk for the
sole purpose of generating new manager profiles. No games may be played
using traded players until the trade is included on the official league
disk.
6) Trading may be freely conducted throughout the season and off season.
However, there is an inseason trade deadline of Aug.1. Trades reported
through July 31 (on the league disk) are valid, but no trades may occur
between Aug.1 and the end of the postseason.
Player Restrictions:
1) Players in the field are restricted to positions they have ratings
for with the exception of when there is injury or a game goes into very
extra innings. The following are some guidelines for players.
Only catchers may play catcher.
Only Shortstops may play shortstop.
Only pitchers with a starting rating may start. Starting pitchers must
have at least 3 days rest in between starts.
Outfielders rated in CF may play any outfield position.
Outfielders rated in RF who are not rated in CF may also play LF.
Outfielders rated only in LF may only play LF.
2) Batters can play 120% of their playing percentage, which can be
found in the upper right portion of their player's stats page.
3) Pitchers can play 120% of their playing percentage, which can be
found in the upper right portion of their player's stats page.
4) Once a player reaches 120% of hisr playing time, the player
becomes inactive and should be farmed to prevent the team from
suffering penalties.
5) Minimum Usage Requirements:
Batters: Any position player with over 200 at bats must achieve 50%
of his playing percentage. If he does not, that player becomes
a free agent and would be available during the draft.
Pitchers: Any starting pitcher with over 100 Ips with a starting rating must achieve 50%
of his playing percentage. Any reliever with 30 or more Ips must achieve 50% of his playing
percentage. If a pitcher with between 30 and 100 IPS is rated as both a starter and reliever,
he must reach 50% usage unless he is used exclusively as a starting pitcher.
6) Any player who plays over his 120% rating will be considered
overused. The GSBL already allows players to play 20% more than they
did in MLB that year. Those that violate will face a penalty. (loss
of position in the free agent/rookie draft, amount of drop will be
determined by how severe the infraction is.)
7) In order for a player to play in post season he cannot have
exceeded his maximum player limits.
8)In addition to being held to the overall 120% maximum, players with
200 or fewer at bats will be restricted to 150% of their plate
appearances vs. sameside pitching (left vs. left, right vs. right).
Some clemency will be extended in cases where the numbers are severely
restricted and it is easy to exceed that limit through accidental usage.
However, if such players are used in a manner that consciously
exploits a statistically unusual reverse platoon advantage (ie by
starting them or bringing them in as pinch hitters) then a win penalty
will be assessed to the violating team.
Penalties:
Otherwise, players who exceed their reverse
platoon percentage will cause a win penalty to be assessed to their team;
if they exceed the percentage by more than 10% they will be lost to the
team.
Penalties:
Most penalties will be determined by the commish on an case-by-case basis.
In general, the more severe the infraction the more severe the penalty. Violation
cases may be appealed but will be resolved only at the cost of high draft picks.
1) Any players going 5% or more over their 120% limit will become free
agents at the end of the season.
2) Any altering of the league file will be considered cheating and will
result in a permanent expulsion from the league.
3) Any votes by the league must have a 2/3 majority in order to pass.
All other decisions made by the commish are final. Some rulings WILL NOT
be voted on if they are deemed immediately vital to the well-being of
the league.
Post season play:
1) The post season will consist of 8 teams, the 6 divisional winners
and a wild card team from each league (AL/NL).
2) In the first two rounds teams will play with in their respected
leagues (AL/NL). The team with the best league record will play the
wild card team and the remaining two divisional winners will play
each other. In the 2nd round the series winners in each league will
play each other. The final series will be between the league winner
of the AL and the NL.
3) All series will be 7 games series, in a 2-3-2 format. With the
team with the better record playing games 1,2,6, and 7 at home.
The host team of the World Series will alternate each year.
4) If a team has a similar record ties will be broken by a one
game playoff , where the stats of the players and conditions
are not reset. Tired pitchers, injuries etc., at the end of the
season.
5) Playoff and World Series rosters shall be limited to 25 men.
At the beginning of the playoffs the teams involved must submit
their playoff roster this roster may not be changed during the
playoffs unless a massive amount of injuries occur to a team that
would limit them from having a fair chance at winning.
6a) A player is eligible for the post season if he is either
active on the 25man roster or on the disabled list on August 31
of the season schedule. Players acquired via trade after the
deadline will be ineligible for the postseason roster.* The
active roster may be changed between rounds of the
playoffs/world series, but only among players who are eligible
as indicated above.
6b) If an injury would leave a player disabled into the playoffs,
a player may be called up from the 40man roster to take his place.
Similarly, if a player is injured in a round of the playoffs, a
player may be activated to take his place, effective the next
game.
6c) Position players are limited to 10% of their reallife playing
time in each round of postseason play. (This would mean that a
player would need about 350 abs to be eligible to play every
inning of every game in a 7 game series; it would also mean that
a shortterm wonder would not be able to be played much beyond a
realistic minimum).
6d) Limitations for pitchers are as follows:
Each team/per series may have a starting rotation of no fewer
than 3 pitchers. Remember that fatigue ratings will be in effect,
so teams may find it Preferable to have a 4man rotation.
Thus, in a 7game series, no more than 1 pitcher may have started
3 games; in a 6game series, no more than 3 pitchers may have
started 2 games; in a 5game series, no more than 2 pitchers may
have started 2 games; in a 4game series, no more than 1 pitcher
may have started 2 games.
6e) as this series will be played "in real time," round by round,
relief pitching and other factors will be limited by fatigue
ratings. Therefore, ip and number of appearances for pitchers with
ip>=25.0 will not be specifically limited.
However,
6f) pitchers with ip<25.0 will be limited to 10% of their real
life usage.
6g). Prior to the first round of playoffs, the statistics will be
zeroed out on the "playoff disk." This will be repeated prior to
the LCS and the World Series as well. The 10% clock will also be
reset at this time. However, players will not be rested by the
league at any point during the postseason. A new league disk will
be sent out for each round of the playoffs, or for each change
of venue within a round of the playoffs.
6h) Playoff and world series games will be played on NetMeeting
(as will the AllStar game), unless the team's manager does not have
the technical ability to do so, in which case the games will be
played via ICQ or telephone with the opposing manager present.
EXPANSION DRAFT.
The following method will be followed in the expansion draft.
1. Expansion teams will be allocated, and names, stadiums chosen
by the new managers.
2. At a point to be determined after the completion of the
post-season and before the free agent/rookie draft, the
expansion draft will commence.
3. Each existing team in GSBL will submit a list of 13 protected
players to the league office, which will distribute this list to
the expansion clubs (and the rest of the league).
4. In alternation, the expansion clubs will select one player
from the lists of unprotected players. During the first round,
no incumbent team will lose more than one player.
5. When each incumbent team has lost one player, that incumbent
team will pull back and freeze 3 additional players. This list
will be distributed to the expansion clubs. Each incumbent team
will now have a protected list of 16 players.
6. In alternation, the expansion clubs will select one player
from the remaining list of unprotected players. During the
second round, no incumbent team will lose more than one player.
At the end of this round, each expansion team will have 24
players.
7. When each incumbent team has lost one more player, that
incumbent team will pull back/freeze 3 additional players,
leaving a protected list of 19 players.
8. This process will enter a 3rd round, where again the
expansion teams may select up to one player from each team.
Expansion teams may elect to pass. Since this process will
bring their rosters well over the 25-man pre-draft limit,
expansion clubs will first cut back to this limit. Unclaimed
players will revert to their original rosters.
9. The incumbent teams will then cut back to 25 players
preparatory to the normal free agent/rookie draft.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAY AND REPORTING:
SCHEDULE:
An important thing to bear in mind is our schedule. We have
a flexible schedule involving series by series reporting,
two files per week. In no week will any team have more than
34 games to play at home. Deadlines are Thursday night
(midnight EST) and Sunday night (midnight EST). The Thursday
deadline is flexible only this far: if you are unable to play
your games by the deadline or if you make arrangements with
your opponent to play the entire series on NetMeeting after the
deadline, I will not autosim your results. However in order for
me to honor this, you MUST notify me in advance. If I am not
notified, I will autoplay the results. If you DO notify me and
play the games after the midweek deadline, you MUST export your
results as you normally would, BUT SEND THEM TO THE HOSTING
opponent of your team in the week's second half. That opponent
will then unzip the exp files into a convenient directory and
IMPORT them in the Transfer module, using REPLACE, since stats
are cumulative (not "add" because adding at that stage would
screw up the stats).
ABSENTEE NOTICE:
Please, PLEASE inform the league office in advance if you are going
out of town or find that for some reason you are unable to play your
games in any given week.
The Sunday night deadline is FIRM because we need to have a firm
deadline each week in order to stay on schedule. Any results not
received by Sunday will be autoplayed.
The schedule is designed to alternate home and away games against
the same teams. This is to encourage NetMeeting play of complete
series and, at least, focus attention on your weeklong opponent's
team.
Remember, injuries are in effect this season and you will need to
update your manager profile occasionally to make sure that you
have a rated backup for every position.
YOU MUST FOLLOW ALL OF THE FOLLOWING STEPS:
A. PRIOR TO RELEASE OF NEXT LEAGUE FILE:
1. Check your manager profile. Make any changes you would like to it
and send them to the LEAGUE OFFICE (ie. me). You may send profiles
to your hosting opponents. Special instructions sent to your
hosting opponent, , ALWAYS TAKE PRECEDENCE over anything on the
league disk.
2. You may also send any special instructions regarding starting
lineup or starting pitching selection, to your hosting manager.
B. PRIOR TO PLAYING GAMES
1. Wait 24 hours after receipt of league disk before playing your
games, to allow your visiting manager to send special instructions,
if any. This is a common courtesy. If you do not hear from your
visiting manager in that time, go ahead and play the games, using
the computer manager to select pitcher and lineups. It is possible
that the manager set up the profile to satisfaction with the
league office prior to the release of the disk.
2. Do NOT zero out stats under any circumstances. We play on
cumulative stats.
3. Only play using the latest file sent by the commissioner via
email.
4.When starting games, make sure that Generate Boxscore and
Generate Scoresheet are both set to "yes" and that the boxscore
generated is in "Expanded" format. [expanded is preferable to
news format for this purpose, because it contains more info.]
If you are like me, you will leave your DMB set this way and
you will not have to think about it every time you go in.
5. When starting games, start with both teams in human mode.
If there are instructions, select lineups and starting pitchers
for your visitors manually. If there are no instructions,
select "C" for autoselect, but go screen by screen. At the
opening pitch, change the visitor's manager from human to
computer. This is important. You are NOT to manage with your
visitor in human mode during the game unless you are playing the
game headtohead.
C. AFTER FINISHING PLAYING EACH GAME
1. Save the game. If the pre-game save settings are correct,
the expanded boxscore and scoresheet will be saved in the
proper format.
2. If you wish to save the NEWSBOX, you may do so. But assign
it a different name than the Gm------ format so that it will
not over-write the official boxscore.
D. AFTER FINISHING SERIES.
1. SENDING BOXSCORES. Send your saved boxscores to your
visiting opponent AND to the league office. It is CRUCIAL to
do this as monitoring boxscores is one of the chief ways
fairness and accuracy are maintained in a league. It is
merely good sportsmanship. Other than that, your opponent
just wants to see how the players have been performing on
the road. Also see below (#3), the note about autogenerated
boxes and scoresheets.
2. GENERATING STATS FOR EXPORT
You must create export files. To do this at the end of the
series, you must go to [T]ransfer, [S]tats/MP, [E]xport.
Select the drive for your stats exports (mine is just a
subdirectory of my GSBL99 directory called "exports"),
select Export Statistics "yes," Manager Profile "No"
(unless you also wish to send a new manager profile, in
which you would select "yes") Export Scope is "TEAM".
Select just your opponent's team AND YOUR OWN. No
leaguewide exports, please. The files get very large.
3. PREPARING YOUR WINZIP FILE FOR THE LEAGUE OFFICE.
Use your zip program to collect necessary files. With the
zip program, collect the following files: CstatsXX.exp,
GsummXX.exp, InjlogXX.exp, StatsXX.exp,TeamXX.exp for BOTH
your opponent(s) for the week AND your own team, where XX
is the team code number for the teams in question.
[Every team has one; to check yours, go to [O]rganize,
[S]chedule, [T]eam and it will display team code numbers.
For instance, Maumee River is 10.]
NEW: COLLECTING AUTOGENERATED BOXES AND SCORESHEETS.
With the same Winzip file, go into the directory in which
the GSBL season is located and collect the autogenerated
boxes for the games you hosted. These files are labeled
in the format GM(LSG) where L S and G are numbers standing
for league (since we have the interleague function
activated that is "i" for us), series #, and game number
within the series. For instance, the 3rd game of the Storm's
opener @ the Carp would carry the file name "GMi00033" since
it is league ie, series 3, game 3.
An easy way to find these games is to scroll through the
files list and find the 34 most recent additions to the
files in this format. They will differ only in the
last digit.
SUMMARY COMMENTS:
All the above technical information is contained in your DMB
manual, if you wish to read it with different wording.
This procedure may seem convoluted, but with only 34 games to
play per week it should not be too difficult in the end.
PLEASE SEND REVISED MPs under separate cover. It easier for
me to keep track of changes that way.
