Updated 15 December 1999

110. TCBA YESTERDAY (TCBA-Y) operates to promote friendship and stimulate competition among baseball fans through playing the APBA Computer Baseball Game (also known as BBWIN) by mail and in person.

111. No wagering on any TCBA-Y game, series, or draft is permitted.

112. The league mailing list may not be used or sold for any form of solicitation that is not directly related to league business.

120. The association is composed of 16 active managers, consisting of four divisions of four teams each. There may also be an indefinite number of non-participating associate members.

121. All members are required to adhere to both the letter and the spirit of this Constitution and all other TCBA-Y rules and practices. Members must be fair and prompt in their dealings with other members, and answer all correspondence from other managers, including trade offers.

122. Repeated failure to follow league rules and practices, gross incompetence, or violation involving personal integrity may result in a vote to suspend or expel a league member. The vote will be conducted among the President, Player Control Agent, and Treasurer. A simple majority is required for expulsion. Once expelled, the member may not rejoin the TCBA-Y except by vote of league members.

130. The basic operating rules of the TCBA-Y shall be as follows:

131. A designated APBA data disk will be used each year.

132. All players are owned from year to year by the same team, unless released, including league action to release a player, or traded.

140. The officers of the association are the President, the Newsletter Editor, the Treasurer, the LMPT Commish and Player Control Agent.

141. The President interprets and enforces TCBA-Y rules, recruits and selects new members, and arbitrates any conflicts between members (except as provided in Rules 370-74). The President names members to fill any vacancies in officer positions created by resignations.

142. The Newsletter Editor maintains the league's website and distributes a regular monthly newsletter to league members.

143. The Treasurer collects annual dues fixed by him at a level which will cover anticipated association expenses for the year, and distributes league funds as necessary to cover league expenses.

144. The LMPT Commish maintains the league organization file; distributes weekly Commish Files (C-Files) containing both results and lineup changes; and receives and processes Franchise Files (F-Files) containing both results and lineup changes from individual members.

145. The Player Control Agent maintains "cash" balances and rosters of each team in the league. He is responsible for handling the Rookie Draft, Free Agent Draft, and any Free Agent waiver claims that are made.

 

200. . SCHEDULE

1. TCBA YESTERDAY uses BBWIN's League Manager Power Tool (LMPT) to play and report all scheduled games.
2. The regular season shall consist of 18 home and away series. Each series will consist of 4-5 games and be scheduled in such a manner as to avoid any team being at home for more than three consecutive series.
3. The LMPT Commish is responsible for organizing and maintaining both schedule and the flow of Commish and Franchise Files.
4. The LMPT Commish will provide all members with details of how to report via F-Files. Those details will include both a regular weekly reporting deadline and the file naming procedures for efficiently reporting via F-Files.
5. Members who fail to adhere to either the reporting deadlines or the file naming procedures will be subject to fines at the recommendation of the LMPT Commish and discretion of the President.
6. Excessive violation of rule 214 may result in a member being suspended or expelled at the discretion of the President.
7. For each home series F-file received before deadline by the LMPT Commish the reporting team shall receive a bonus of $2 million.
8. In the event of a home manager making an arrangement to allow the visiting manager to play his "road series" the $2 million timeliness bonus will be equally divided between both teams. This bonus will only be paid if the series is reported on time.
9. Failure to report a home series by deadline will require the LMPT Commish to auto-play the series using default lineups and rotations previously provided by both teams. There will be no timeliness bonus paid in this case.
10. Failure to meet player usage minimums due to series being auto-played by the LMPT Commish will not be recognized as a valid excuse.
11. The LMPT Commish will reschedule rainouts and/or ties at his discretion.
12. Rainouts and ties will be replayed in full at the end of the season if they have any bearing on divisional championships or playoff qualification.
13. There shall be post-season playoffs subject to the following rules:
14. THE LMPT Commish will use the facilities available in LMPT to create a post season organization and schedule for the league playoffs. AIM will be used in the playoffs and will control usage and eligibility with the following artificial limitations and minimum guidelines:

300. RULES OF PLAY

1. All games are played subject to the Official Rules of Baseball as applicable. The TCBA-Y plays its schedule using the APBA Baseball Computer Game (BBWIN). If a version of this game later than version 3.5 is used, any features which affect the play of the game which were not included in version 3.5 must not be used, including but not limited to bunting for a base hit, pulling the infield in at the corners, and ballpark effects.
2. In the event of computer failure prior to the end of a game, the game should be replayed in its entirety.
312. All managers shall use a copy of the official league data disk for that season. The league will modify the disk by changing pitching grades, fielding ratings, etc. and will create players for some who had actual ML appearances but were deleted from the data disk by APBA/MA.
313. TCBA YESTERDAY uses BBWIN's Advanced Injury Management (AIM) system to control player use including fatigue and injury. AIM options being employed include:
314. All injuries and fatigue
315. Mid 20^th century pitcher durability and recovery
316. Batters faced limits are enforced
317. Pregame AIM auto-substitutions are enabled.
318. Generally speaking, all player usage limits will be controlled by the AIM factors outlined above. However, in the interests of both fairness and realism additional "top end" usage restriction will apply in TCBA YESTERDAY.
319. All players must abide by usage restrictions. Players who fail to abide by those restrictions will be declared free agents immediately and may not be used in any manner by any team for the rest of the regular and post season. It is recognized that some overuse or misuse of players may be attributed to the use of Micro-Managers (MM) or other AIM related factors. Therefore all EXCESS player usage will be subject to appeal on those grounds. Player usage restrictions include:
320. No player may be used at a position for which he is not rated on the corresponding data disk.
321. Players are always eligible to start a game at their primary position as indicated on the data disk. They may be used at secondary positions if the following criteria has been met:
322. A minimum of 25 defensive appearances for the corresponding MLB season.
323. A minimum of 100 defensive appearances in the players MLB career. Includes appearances that post date TCBA-Y play (ie -after 1973).
324. No other players meeting the criteria established in rules 320-323 are currently available to play that position.
325. Rules 320-323 are waived when necessary to replace an injured or ejected player and no other eligible player is available at the position. No ineligible player may appear at a defensive position before the seventh inning, even if the regular starter is injured, unless all eligible players have been exhausted.
326. No player may be removed from the game without a defensive substitute available at his position, unless his team is tied or behind in the ninth inning or later. If it becomes unavoidable to use an ineligible player at a position, a weak hitter who once played or might be expected to play the position shall be used.
327. Each team must include on its playing roster at least two rated players at every defensive position. A player maybe used to meet this requirement at more than one position.
328. In addition each team's roster must include at least two rated players at every defensive position whose combined AIM Player Rating (PR) equals or exceeds 1,100 rating points. For the purposes of this rule each of the three outfield positions constitutes a single defensive position. A player may be used to meet this requirement at more than one position.
329. Catchers may not start both ends of a doubleheader.
330. Players who have reached a stolen base total equal to 125% of their corresponding MLB total may not be used to steal a base.
331. Pitcher usage and fatigue are subject to the limitations imposed by AIM's fatigue system. This means there are no further limits on pitcher use beyond the following:
332. Each team's roster must include enough pitchers to meet a combined MLB total of 170 Games Started in the corresponding MLB season.
333. Each team's roster must also include enough pitchers to have their total AIM MBF (Maximum Batters Faced) reach a minimum of 7,000.
334. Pitchers with dual grades (split grade pitchers) may not exceed their MLB total games started unless forced to do so by injury or fatigue to the rest of the pitching staff.
335. STARTING pitchers designated "innocuous" will have their MBF factor increased to 900 batters. Each pitcher so designated will be allowed to contribute 20 GS to the team total required by rule 332. Note - starting pitchers who are both innocuous AND have a MLB GS total in excess of 20 starts or more than 900 MBF will be allowed to contribute their full MLB total of GS and/or MBF to their team total.
336. INNOCUOUS Players and Pitchers - the implementation of AIM makes many of the conditions that existed to require an "innocuous" class of players a moot point. However, TCBA YESTERDAY will still edit the data disk to enable the "innocuous player" concept to continue. To wit:
337. Players who meet the following criteria are designated "innocuous players." Innocuous players are defined as players with a batting average less than .235, an on-base percentage less than .315, a slugging percentage less than .350 in the corresponding major league season, and who meet fielding limitations as shown in Appendix B. Players meeting the above criteria will have their AIM Player Rating (PR) changed to 930 and their Season Factor (SF) changed to 100. This will allow "innocuous players" to appear as full time performers in roughly 93% of their team's games.
338. Pitchers with a data disk grade of 3 or less are designated as "innocuous pitchers." Innocuous pitchers will have their Maximum Batters Faced (MBF) value increased to 900.
339. No pitcher may be removed from a game without a valid baseball reason. Valid reasons include fatigue, allowing the last batter to reach base, pinch-hitting, lefty-righty advantage or anything else which would make sense in real baseball.
340. The pitcher who starts the game may not be removed before pitching two full innings, unless he allows two or more runs, Rule 339 notwithstanding.
341. No pitcher may pinch-hit unless it is shown that he was used to pinch-hit at least 8 times during the corresponding season. A pitcher who qualifies to pinch-hit under this rule may only pinch-hit when all or all but one of the non-pitchers on the bench have been used. Announcing players and removing them without playing for the purpose of making a pitcher eligible to pinch-hit is not permitted.

1. Each team may control up to 26 players on its active playing roster and 9 others on its reserve list ("farm team") for a total of 35. Players may be transferred between playing roster and reserve list between any two series.
2. Players may be traded and sold between teams, subject to the following rules:
3. Trades may include money from a team’s cash balance, but all players and money in a transaction must be transferred at the same time. Trades may not include players to be loaned, transferred, or named later, or any other type of future consideration. No agreement may be made to announce a trade or part of a trade at any future date.
4. All roster transactions must meet the requirements outlined in Section 500. Managers should pay heed to a player’s eligibility status for minimum or maximum usage requirements.
5. Any transaction resulting in a team acquiring the rights to more than 35 total players or exceeding it’s salary cap of $32.5 ($30 mil starting in 1965 ML and $27.5 mil starting in 1960 ML) million must include an immediate identification of the player(s) being cut to accommodate such a transaction. Such cuts will take effect on the date the transaction takes effect, and are not revocable.
6. No trade may take effect until approved by the Player Control Agent. It is the responsibility of the PCA to ensure all roster and salary cap requirements are met before approving a trade.
7. No manager may offer the same player in trade to more than one team at a time, unless the offer indicates that it is only tentative, using words to that effect.
8. Any team violating Rules 412-416, or attempting to make a trade which is illegal under these rules or impossible because of its current roster or cash balance will be fined. Both parties to a trade may be fined if both participated in the violation. At the President’s discretion, a trade may also be voided and/or the fine money awarded to a team injured by the violation.
9. Trades may occur anytime between the official end of the previous season and the start of series 13. The official end of the previous season for each team is defined as when all games have been properly reported and updated by the Statistician AND rosters have been reviewed by the Player Control Agent.
10. No player transactions of any kind may be made from the first day of series 13 of scheduled play through the official end of the season.
11. No manager may make any trade, trade offer, or agreement to make a trade until the fifteenth day after his name and address have been published in writing to the members of his league.
12. All rosters are frozen from the start of series 13 through the end of the season. Teams are allowed to cut players from this frozen roster but may not add players.
13. The PCA will calculate each team's Historical Reference Value (HRV) based on the roster of each team as of the start of series 13.
14. The PCA will then rank each team in the league by HRV total and designate the league's four weakest team's as the upcoming season's "Feeble Four."
15. Prior to the start of each season's rookie auction the pre-designated "Feeble Four" will participate in a lottery to determine selection order in a precursor to the rookie auction.
16. Once the lottery has determined selection order, the "Feeble Four" will make one selection each from the rookie auction pool as designated by the PCA. See rules 427-435.
17. Each Feeble Four team will be allowed to pay the minimum bid value associated with the rookie of their choice and that amount will be immediately deducted from the team's cash on hand balance.
18. If the league Champ for that year also happens to qualify as Feeble in the next draft, he will forfeit his Feebleness for that year and his spot will be taken by the next weakest team as determined by HRV. *This clause takes effect immediately following play of the 1966 ML disk. In other words, it takes effect with the Rookie Draft using the players on the 1965 data disk.
19. Rookies, defined as players who ended their MLB careers in the season corresponding to the season we are playing, are drafted as follows:
20. The PCA will create a list of all players from the upcoming TCBA YESTERDAY season data disk who meet the criteria outlined in rule 421.
21. Each player will be assigned a minimum bid value based on the following formulas:
22. Position players are assigned a minimum bid calculated using career stats for games played and Total Player Index (TPR) as assigned by Total Baseball. For every game played there is an assessment of $2,000. Career TPR total is multiplied by $200,000. The two results are added together to determine the minimum opening bid for position players.
23. Pitchers are assigned minimum bids calculated using career innings pitched and Total Pitching Index (TPI) as assigned by Total Baseball. Total innings pitched are multiplied by 0.67 with the results assessed at $2,000 per inning. Career TPI total is multiplied by $200,000. The two results are added together to determine the minimum opening bid for pitchers.
24. In the event the calculated minimum bid for a player is less than $500,000, then the bid will start at $500,000.
25. All rookies with a minimum bid value in EXCESS of $500,000 will be assigned to the rookie auction pool.
26. Any rookies not qualifying for the auction pool will be immediately assigned to the Free Agent pool.
27. The PCA will announce the contents of the rookie auction pool to the league listing each player alphabetically by last name and including the player's position, minimum bid value and salary for the upcoming season.
28. Following the completion of the Feeble Four Lottery and selection, the PCA will offer the remaining members of the rookie pool to the league for competitive bidding. Usually he will divide the pool into smaller groups to aid in organizing the auction.
29. As each group of rookies is offered to the league, teams will be given a designated period of time to submit an initial bid on each rookie they care to bid on.
30. All bids must adhere to the minimum bid value associated with each rookie.
31. Teams may submit as many initial bids for as much cash as they desire so long as no single bid exceeds the team's current cash on hand balance.
32. Upon receipt of all bids the PCA will award the opportunity to make second and final bids to the three highest initial bidders on each rookie.
33. Any rookies who receive a single bid are awarded outright to that bidder with the cash being subtracted from the team's cash balance immediately.
34. Any rookies not receiving any initial bids are immediately assigned to the Free Agent pool.
35. A NEW MIMIMUM BID will be established for the final round. That new minimum bid will be equal to the LOWEST of the three bids submitted by the qualifying teams.
36. Upon receiving an invitation to make a final bid each team may submit a new bid for the rookie keeping in mind the new minimum bid established for that rookie. Teams may also decide to decline to bid (pass) or stand pat if their initial bid is higher than the new minimum.
37. As each final bid is resolved, cash is immediately subtracted from the winning team's cash balance.
38. All final bid resolution is done alphabetically by rookie last name. If a team has multiple bids and is successful in earlier bids, the PCA may be forced to lower their bid to keep pace with lower cash balance a previous success may produce. In no instance may a team make a final bid if their cash balance falls below the new minimum bid for that rookie.
39. Teams may not make their bids conditional in any way such as "if A is taken then increase bid on B to…"
40. Tie bids are resolved in favor the bidding team with the lowest CURRENT HRV value. It is expected that the PCA will update HRV totals in "real time" as rookies are awarded to their new teams.
41. Following the rookie auction all teams must make cuts if their rosters exceed either 35 players or have a salary in excess of $32.5 million. (See Section 500)
42. A Free Agent Draft is held shortly after the rookie auction. All players on the current data disk that are not on a TCBA-Y team roster are eligible for the Free Agent Draft.
43. Teams may participate in the Free Agent Draft only if they have roster space (less than 35 players) and/or room under the salary cap ($32.5 million). Once a team reaches either of those limits during the draft they must drop out.
44. Free agent draft picks may be sold or traded.
45. Draft order is determined by previous season finish. The team with the lowest winning pctg picks first. The team with the highest winning pctg picks last. In case of a tie, we revert to ‘strength of Division’ to break it. The team that’s in the stronger Division is considered the better team, hence will draft after the other team he is tied with. The order proceeds as follows: Round One = 1 thru 16 Round Two = 16 thru 1 It continues in this fashion until all teams pass at their turn.
46. For each free agent drafted a team is assessed a transaction fee of $500,000.
47. Players on the league waiver list may be claimed for $500,000 between the end of the free agent draft and the start of series 13 by sending notice of the claim to the PCA. The waiver list consists of all players available but unclaimed in the Free Agent Draft, plus all players released during the current season.
48. All free agent claims are subject to roster and salary cap limitations.

1. Each player is "paid" a salary by his team that is equal to the Total Baseball TPR or TPI rating for that player in the corresponding ML season.
2. The salary is expressed by multiplying the TPR or TPI by $100,000. For example, a player with a TPR of 3.5 would be paid a salary of $3.5 million.
3. Players with TPR or TPI values that are less than 0.1 are paid the league minimum of $100,000.
4. The sum of a team’s "payroll" may never exceed $32.5 million dollars. Trades or other player transactions that would place a team over the $32.5 million cap, even temporarily, may not be made until other roster transactions make room for the acquisition.

1. Teams submit pre season rosters to the PCA just after the end of the current season. After deleting any mandatory cuts required by violation of usage of minimum requirement rules, the PCA uses those rosters to calculate team salary for the upcoming season.
2. That team salary is deducted from each team's cash on hand prior to releasing that team to participate in any activities associated with the new season such as trading or the rookie auction.
3. If a team is unable to pay the team salary for the upcoming season the team must make cuts from the roster until it is able to do so. Failing cooperation from the league member the PCA will make such cuts.
4. Subsequent player transactions such as rookie auction acquisitions, free agent picks or claims and trades do not require a salary to be paid to the player(s) involved. However, the team acquiring a player may not acquire the player if his salary puts the team over the $32.5 million salary cap.

1. In addition to the timeliness bonus awards outlined in Rule 217, teams earn cash through the following mechanisms:
2. Teams are allotted cash annually right after the season. The league champion receives $10 million; the other three playoff teams receive $15 million each; the other 12 teams receive $25 million each.
3. Additionally, the teams that finish the season with the league leader in the following six categories are awarded $1 million for each category the claim leadership. Ties result in duplicate awards. The categories are: Batting Average; Home Runs; Runs Batted In; Pitching Wins; Earned Run Average; and Strikeouts.

1. After all cash bonuses are paid (including timeliness) each team must pay its salary as described in Rule Section 500 before it is allowed to use its cash for any player transactions inclusing the rookie auction and free agent draftee.

1. In addition to the maximum usage limits outlined in Rules Section 300, each player is required to meet minimum usage standards.
2. Players failing to reach minimum usage standards will be declared free agents upon completion of the season or post season.
3. Position players must accumulate enough plate appearances to equal 33% of actual use in the corresponding MLB season.
4. All pitchers must accumulate innings pitched equal to 33% of actual use for the corresponding MLB season.
5. In addition, pitchers must also start a number of games equal to 33% of actual games started for the corresponding MLB season.
6. All values such as plate appearances, innings, etc. will be determined using the values shown for each player in his appropriate MLB statistical "line" on the data disk.
7. Fractions arrived at while calculating requirements for sections 612 through 615 are rounded UP. Example 28 MLB games started will require 9.33 starts in TCBA-Y. This figure rounds up to ten starts to meet this part of the minimum usage requirements.
8. Managers should take steps early in the season to ensure injuries and/or "unenlightened" use by Micro Managers do not cause a player to fail to reach his minimum requirements. You alone are responsible for this factor and are not excused by "lack of cooperation" from outside forces.

APPENDIX B

Fielding Limitations for Innocuous Players

POSITION RATING

C 5-7

1B 2-3

2B 5-7

SS 6-8

3B 2-4

APPENDIX C

STEP ONE: Starting grade, based on ERA

STEP TWO: Control Rating Adjustment

Z = -1.00 W = +1.00

STEP THREE: Home Run Rating Adjustment

M = +.50 L = +.25 G = -.25 H= -.50

STEP FOUR: Adjustment for Hits Allowed

If a pitcher exceeds 300 IP then he will receive a two point boost. (These boosts are not to be combined)