“THE
DEADBALL STRAT LEAGUE CONSTITUTION”
SECTION 1 –
GENERAL:
A.
PURPOSE:
The purpose of the Deadball Strat League (DSL) is to promote the enjoyment
of baseball computer gaming. Each member must demonstrate honesty, punctuality,
sportsmanship, and a dedication to realistic baseball simulation.
B.
MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION:
The DSL operates as a continuing Strat-O-Matic Computer Game draft league.
The league consists of sixteen teams that will be divided into two Leagues
known as the AL (American League) and the NL (National League).
All members must be accessible through an on-line service (i.e. e-mail and
AIM).
C.
EXPANSION:
- DSL policy is to expand as
the major leagues expand.
- Expansion formats will be
discussed as needed.
D.
SCHEDULE AND FORMAT:
Each team will play 140 regular season games, divided into 70 games both
home and away. Each team will play
every team within their respective league a total of 20 times with 10 games
being at home and 10 games being on the road.
All games are to be played by mail (each team will play their road games
against the home teams computer manager) unless other arrangements are made by
the opposing managers of a given game or series. The Strat-O-Matic Super
Advanced Game (most recent version), except as modified by this constitution,
must be used for all games. All owners shall use the most recent computer
version (CD-ROM) of the game, unless special provisions are made prior to the
start of the season. Owners will be supplied with an DSL roster disk before the
start of the season, and MUST use the rosters from this disk and MUST NOT alter
the contents of this disk in any way.
E.
POST-SEASON PLAY:
The DSL Champion shall be determined by a best of seven World Series. World
Series participants will be determined as follows:
- The winner of the American
League (or AL Pennant winner) will play the winner of the National League
(or NL Pennant winner).
- The American League is home
team in odd numbered DSL seasons, the National League in even numbered DSL
seasons.
World Series games are to be played by arrangement between the owners
involved. If they cannot agree on a suitable way to get the series played, a
neutral party may be appointed to ensure the series is completed in a timely
manner. The World Series shall be completed no later than three weeks after the
end of the regular season.
F.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS:
Any requests for constitutional change should be submitted to the DSL
Commissioner in writing. The Commissioner shall present all such requests to
the league as written by the proposer. The Commissioner retains the privilege
of editing such proposals for the purpose of condensing or clarifying, and
reserves the right to comment on any proposal.
All eligible members must vote on every proposal, with eligibility determined
by the Commissioner. Any proposal that receives at least 67 percent
(two-thirds) approval by the voting membership shall be incorporated into the
DSL Constitution.
G. TEAM ROSTERS:
During the season, and at the conclusion of the annual rookie draft, each
team may carry a maximum 30-man active roster of carded players. During the
regular season, except for the final month, and during the post-season, 25 of
the 30 active players are used on the major league roster, with 5 of the 30
active players being designated for assignment to the club's minor league
affilate (reserve status). Such players may be restored to the major league
roster, with an equal number of players being sent down to the minors, at the
end of any month. A list of the personnel to occupy the reserve roster each
month of the season must be provided to the league (along with pitching
rotations) upon a due date specified by the Commissioner, and may be changed
only by specific mention in series instructions. During the regular season's final
month, all 30 active players are considered recalled to the major league
roster.
Any active player who becomes inactive (uncarded) at the end of the DSL
season shall immediately be placed on the team's inactive roster. There is no
size limitation to the inactive roster; however, any player who is uncarded for
a third consecutive year shall be considered released
H.. DRAFT:
An annual email, telephone or on-line chat room draft will be held for all
rookies and free agents. Rookies will
be considered players in which this is the first draft they are eligible to be
drafted. Free agents will be considered
any non-rookie, eligible (carded) player who is not owned by another DSL
team. Players who receive two
cards from the Strat-O-Matic company shall be considered carded for the team
and league with which they finished the major league season. Players who
receive two cards due to appearing as both a pitcher and a batsman will be
considered one players and may not be drafted separately. These combination players will only count as
one player toward the roster limitations.
Until a date prior to the draft that is determined by the Commissioner,
teams may release carded players to utilize more of their draft picks. These
released players join the pool of players available in the draft.
Drafting order shall be the inverse of the previous seasons winning
percentage except the World Series Champion will draft last regardless of the
previous seasons winning percentage. Should it happen that two teams have
identical winning percentages, the team with the better record in head-to-head
competition will draft ahead of the other. Teams that are also tied in
head-to-head shall have the tie broken by a "coin flip" conducted by
the Commissioner.
The date, time, and place of the annual draft will be announced by the end
of December. Once a team reaches its
30-man active roster limit, it may no longer use any remaining draft picks; in
effect, those picks are lost upon the selection of the 30th player. Trades may
be made during the draft, prior to selecting the 30th player, in order to open
up a roster spot(s) so that further picks may be used. After completion of
draft, no team may fall below 22 active players until the season's completion.
(Note: If an owner cannot participate in the draft, he must send written
instructions for the rookie draft to the Commissioner, to be used in drafting
for his team).
Note: It is each owner's responsibility to keep track of the number
of active players on his roster at all times during the draft. If, following
the draft, it is discovered that an owner has drafted too many players, the
Commissioner shall correct the discrepancy by removing players of the
Commissioner's choice form the owner's team roster to reduce it to the limit.
If it is unclear whether there actually was a discrepancy (for example, if a
trade was made during the draft, but was not reported until much later), the
Commissioner has the discretion to regard this as a discrepancy; i.e. all
interpretation of circumstances shall work against the owner who cannot prove
his roster fits the limit at the end of the draft.
The third round of each draft will be designated the "bonus pick
round". Teams may draft in the third round only if awarded such a pick by
the Commissioner. Such picks shall be awarded to managers who have played the
season and mailed league correspondence in a timely manner, and according to
league rules and guidelines, as determined by the Commissioner. Qualifying
managers will pick in reverse order of the preceding season's winning
percentages.
Please note: When a manager loses
his/her 3rd Round Pick and subsequently leaves the league, the owner
taking over the vacated team will not be penalized that pick. However, should an owner, who has been
penalized a 3rd Round Pick, (and has never paid that penalty due to leaving the
league) try to return to the league, they will lose their 3rd Round
Pick in the first draft in which they participate.
I.
TRADING:
Trades may be made any time from the conclusion of the season until the trading
deadline prior to the draft. Trades become official upon either manager
involved notifying the Roster Czar by phone, e-mail, mail, or in person.
(Exception: all trading involving managers who have not completed one full DSL
season are subject to review by the Commissioner, and do not become official
until this review has occurred. The Commissioner may require such trades to be
revised or reversed, if in his judgment the trade is prejudicial to the
interest of the franchise of the new owner.) The Commissioner will resolve
discrepancies in trade reports. Draft picks for the next draft may be traded,
except that third round picks may not be traded until the Commissioner has
awarded them. The Commissioner retains the right to veto or adjust any trade that
he deems not in the best interest of the league.
Any trade that grants to a trading manager the right to reacquire one or
more of the players traded, or acquire any additional player or choice of
players after the trade is completed (i.e. "players to be named") is
illegal. Managers that violate or attempt to subvert this rule shall forfeit
their third round bonus, or it the third round pick is already forfeited, their
next highest pick. The Commissioner is empowered to void any trade he finds to
be in violation of the letter or spirit of this rule.
J.
BALLPARK EFFECTS:
The DSL will observe the effects of individual ballparks (for home runs and
singles from diamond and triangle symbols) corresponding to a team's city of
ownership. The DSL will not, however, utilize weather effects. Owners may utilize any photo for its home
ball park however the ballpark effects may not be changed in the league
files. Those ballpark effects must be
used for every game regardless of the photo assigned to the home ballpark.
SECTION II -
PLAYING RULES:
A.
INJURIES:
Because the DSL restricts player usage independent of the Strat-O-Matic
game, any injury that occurs will be ignored. In the computer game, this means
that the injury option should be turned OFF before playing a series.
B. PLAYER USAGE:
Regular Season
·
Non-pitchers are
limited to 110% of their actual plate appearances (AB + BB)
·
Pitchers are limited
to 110% of actual games started
·
Pitchers not rated as
a starter may not be scheduled to start any game and are limited to 110% of
actual innings pitched
·
Pitchers are required
to be rested four days between scheduled starts unless they are given a *
rating on their card indicating they may be scheduled to start on three days
rest
Post Season
·
In order for a player
to appear in the post season they must appear in at least one regular season
game.
·
Non-pitchers are
limited to 10% of their actual plate appearances
·
Pitchers are limited
to 10% of their actual innings pitched
SECTION III –
ADMINISTRATIVE:
A.
SERIES REPORTS:
It is mandatory that league members furnish home managers with a copy of
each game played, as well as a summary of both teams' statistics for each
series. A set of computer box scores and play-by-play files, plus primary and
secondary subset stats, will be acceptable. Computer diskettes or e-mail files
may be used to transfer series results. No series result becomes
"official" until (1) the home owner has received HOME and ROAD team
STATS AND the game-box-score AND (2) the commissioner has received the subset
stats files for BOTH teams. Home owners should notify the Commissioner of any
series for which they do NOT receive such a report by the end of the month.
Additionally, by the 25th of each month of the regular season, each owner
must mail (or e-mail) to the commissioner a diskette or zip-file containing
full stats for BOTH teams for all his road series for that month, (OR copies of
the game score-sheets for all home games, sufficient to allow the statistician
to use the computer's "recreate game" feature to develop statistics
for both teams; this paper option shall be acceptable ONLY where agreed to IN
ADVANCE by the commissioner).
All owners are required to keep copies of all their team's series and stats
for both teams, for the entire season, until such time as the DSL full-season
statistics are published; owners must produce records as needed to assist in
correcting any discrepancies in league records. Note: this requirement covers
both the team's home AND road series/stats.
B. INSTRUCTIONS:
·
A block schedule will
be provided for each season
·
The block schedule
will indicate when files are due
·
Each team must provide
a computer manager for each block of the season
·
Trades will take
effect in the block immediately following the block in which the trade becomes
official
·
Computer managers must
contain completely filled out lineups and pitching schedules
·
Road teams must play
all of their scheduled road games against their opponents home teams CM
·
The files as described
above must be submitted by the deadlines indicated on the block schedule
·
Any questions
regarding these instructions should be directed to the commissioner
C.
PITCHING ROTATION:
Each manager must
"work-up" his pitching rotation and distribute it to the other
managers in his League, and the Commissioner. The rotation may be distributed
each block with the computer manager.
Incomplete rotations and pitching schedules will be returned to managers
to re-work-up and re-submit to the commissioner.
D. PLAYING PROPER LINE-UPS AND STARTING
PITCHERS:
If a road manager plays the wrong
line-up or starts the wrong pitcher for the home team, the following will
occur:
·
1st
Offense – Warning and chance to replay the game/s.
·
2nd
Offense – Automatic forfeiture of game/s.
·
3rd
Offense – Forfeiture of game/s and loss of 3rd Round Pick.
·
4th
Offense – Forfeiture of game/s and additional loss of 2nd Round
Pick.
·
5th
Offense – Penalty will be decided by a review board consisting of the DSL
Commissioner and both the AL and NL Presidents.
Offenses cannot pyramid in the same
series. Example: road manager A
misplays home Manger B’s CM or Starting Rotation for one game or for multiple
games in the same series. This would be
considered a first offense. Should road
Manager A misplay home Manager C’s CM or Starting Rotation for one game or for
multiple games in the same series that would constitute a second offense
Please note: this must be initiated
by the home team in the form of a protest (see Section F), as there is no way
to check all games played on this end.
E.
STATISTICS:
The DSL shall regard as "official" those cumulative statistics
maintained as "primary" subset stats by the Strat-O-Matic computer
game. All files should be emailed to the commissioner prior to the deadline
each block. Any files not received by
the deadline will constitute non-compliance and all games for which files are
not received will be played by the home team or auto played by the commissioner
before the files for the succeeding block are published.
F.
PROTESTS:
The home manager may protest any loss he feels resulted from the road
manager's negligence, error, or misinterpretation of the rules, including
violations of baseball, Strat, or DSL rules, or failure to follow visiting
instructions without good reason. The home manager may protest a series only if
he learns that a visiting player was used illegally. Protest should be directed
in writing and at the earliest opportunity to the Commissioner, who will
arbitrate the dispute.
G.
COMMISSIONER'S POWERS, AUTHORITY AND SUCCESSION PROCEDURES:
The Commissioner shall be responsible for the "smooth" operation
of the DSL and shall be empowered to delegate responsibilities and authority to
league members as he sees fit. Members appointed by the Commissioner to fulfill
certain duties serve at the pleasure of the Commissioner and may be replaced as
the Commissioner sees fit. The Commissioner shall keep in mind that DSL members
perform these duties voluntarily and at his request.
Any and all duties pertaining to the running of the league, which are not
covered above, and which are not clearly the business of the league’s
individual members is in the province of the Commissioner.
