Vintage Baseball Guild

Rulebook

Modified: June 26, 2011

NOTE: The Rulebook may be amended by the Commissioner. If a situation arises that is not covered by the rulebook, the Commissioner will handle the situation as he sees fit.

League owners are encouraged to offer suggestions and comments on the Rulebook at any time.

Table of Contents
League Structure Franchises Team Rosters & Manager Profiles Player Usage Player Contracts & Salaries Roster Carry-Over Drafts Free Agents Trades Injury Rule Taxi Roster Rule Game Simulation Rules Post Season Mid-Summer Classic Ballparks Awards Rookie Of The Year Selection Hall Of Fame Selection Review Committee Noncompetitive Actions

League Structure
1. The VBG will expand to a total of 18 teams for the 1961 season. Details of an expansion draft, league structure, and length of schedule are yet to be determined. An additional 2 teams may be added for the 1962 season, depending on availability of qualified owners and a reasonable expansion plan.
Franchises
1. The VBG will adhere strictly to the copyright and licensing agreement of the Diamond Mind Baseball (DMB) company. The Commissioner may share copies of the league database with licensed owners of the corresponding DMB season disk after such ownership is verified by DMB, consistent with DMB policy for centralized leagues. As a condition for membership in the VBG, all owners agree to abide by DMB copyright and licensing agreements for the purposes of their participation in VBG activities. No owner may knowingly share a copy of the VBG league database with any other owner without express consent of the commissioner. No owner who has not legally purchased the game software and corresponding season disk from DMB may knowingly obtain or attempt to obtain a copy of the league database from another owner, or use or attempt to use an unauthorized copy of the league database to operate his team. Effective with the 1955 season database, if an owner is determined to have violated this rule, the respective team shall be opened to new membership. By accepting a team franchise or continuing to operate an existing franchise for any season beginning with the 1955 season, all VBG owners will be assumed to have agreed with this condition for VBG membership.
Team Rosters & Manager Profiles
1. Unless otherwise announced by the Commissioner, changes to Team Rosters and Manager Profiles must be received by the Commissioner by 5 p.m. on each day that games are played, to guarantee that the Manager Profile is used. Profiles received after the 5 p.m. deadline may or may not be used for that day's sim. The Commissioner may announce earlier or later deadlines on a case-by-case basis, but will avoid giving owners an unreasonably short period for submitting Manager Profile changes.
Player Usage
1. New owners must complete one entire draft and successive season before being subject to the penalty detailed in the final sentence of Rule 4-I.
Player Contracts & Salaries
1. Unless the VBG conducts an expansion draft, the only exception to this rule is detailed in Rule 6, "Roster Carry-Over." Procedures for an expansion draft have not yet been determined, but will result in some players being drafted off of existing teams. See rule 2(D) above.
Roster Carry-Over
1. Carry-Over Rosters that are late as per the specified due date ~~shall~~ may be subject to a one-player penalty, losing one spot on their Carry-Over Roster. If 24 hours pass after the due-date, and an owner's Carry-Over Roster has not been submitted, the Commissioner shall determine said team's Carry-Over Roster.
Drafts
1. Before each draft, the Commissioner will review the error ratings of all non-pitchers with more than 80 plate appearances. If any such player has an error rating of 0 for any position other than his designated primary position, that error rating shall be raised to 90.
Free Agents
1. Free Agents are signed on a "first-come, first-serve" basis based on the date and time the request is received by the commissioner.
Trades
1. "Players to be named later" may be traded but only under the condition that said players are identified and agreed upon at the time of the trade and change hands ~~traded~~ by the end of the trade deadline on September 1^st of the same season.
Injury Rule
1. The Real Life Injury setting will be used.
Taxi Roster Rule
1. The Taxi Roster limit shall be expanded to five (5) players through the following seasons: 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945. At the end of the 1945 season the Taxi Roster limit shall be retracted to three (3) players.
Game Simulation Rules
1. Both leagues will play using the following DMB simulation rules: No DH, No Warm-Up, Weather Effects On, Real Life Injury Rule.
Post-Season
Mid-Summer Classic
1. Mid-Summer Classic managers will determine player substitutions before the game is simulated.
Ballparks
1. Ballparks will not be transferred from one league to another during season play. At the Commissioner's discretion, procedures may be adopted to allow transfer of ballparks after intervals of 2 or more seasons.
Awards
1. The Commissioner shall develop a voting system prior to Award Voting.
Rookie Of The Year Selection
1. Rookie Of The Year candidates must be approved by the Commissioner before votes cast for them are recorded. ~~The Commissioner shall name the candidates prior to voting. Any owner may request a player be added to the ballot. The request must be made to the Commissioner prior to voting.~~
Hall Of Fame Selection [This section still under review]
19. REVIEW COMMITTEE
     A.   REVIEW COMMITTEE FORMED: During periods when the Commissioner is also a VBG team owner, a Review Committee may be formed. The Review Committee will have the authority to make decisions when the Commissioner must make a ruling or decision that directly affects his own team, or when other owners have complaints about the Commissioner�s actions as a team owner.
    B.   COMMITTEE COMPOSITION: The Review Committee will have three members appointed by Eric Lowder, with one member from the league in which the Commissioner�s team competes, and two members from the other league.   If Eric Lowder is unavailable to make the appointment, owners in each league will elect the members from their respective leagues.

     C.   COMMITTEE DECISIONS: Committee decisions will be made by majority vote. In the event that a committee member is unavailable to vote for any reason, the remaining members may appoint a mutually acceptible replacement to act as a temporary member.

      D. APPEALS AND REFERRALS: To some extent, the Commissioner�s team is always affected directly or indirectly by rulings and actions that affect any other team. However, in most cases that impact is not significant enough to create a conflict of interest. When the Commissioner feels that he has a conflict of interest that is strong enough to justify recusing himself from the decision, he may either refer the issue to the Review Committee, or to the Commissioner Emeritus, whichever he feels is appropriate for the nature of the issue. All parties directly involved with the issue will be informed of the referral, and all parties will have an opportunity to explain their positions before a decision is made.

        Owners who suspect the Commissioner, in his role as team owner, may have violated league rules may request the formation of a Review Committee and bring the issue before the Committee.

         Any owner directly involved in an issue before the Commissioner may appeal the Commissioner�s decision to the Review Committee if that owner believes the Commissioner has a significant conflict of interest in the specific case. This is the only grounds on which the Review Committee will consider an appeal of a decision by the Commissioner.   If a majority of the Review Committee agrees that the Commissioner has a significant conflict of interest, the Review Committee will decide the issue. If a majority of the Committee does not agree that the Commissioner has a significant conflict of interest in the issue, the Review Committee will refer the issue back to the Commissioner for his decision.

         All decisions of either the Commissioner or the Review Committee may be appealed to the Commissioner Emeritus, who may decide whether or not to consider the appeal at his discretion.

          E.   CONFLICT OF INTEREST AMONG REVIEW COMMITTEE MEMBERS: If any member of the Review Committee feels that he or she has a significant conflict of interest in an issue referred to the Committee, that member will abstain from the decision. The remaining member(s) may appoint another owner to serve as a temporary Committee member for the resolution of that issue. If all three members have a conflict of interest, the issue will by default be referred to the Commissioner Emeritus.

20.          Noncompetitive Actions
[NOTE:  Rule 20 will not be enforced for any season in which the reverse draft lottery will be used to set the draft order for the subsequent season's draft.]                                                                                                             A. THROWING GAMES: Within the limits of each team�s rosters, owners are expected to do their best to win as many games as they can with the talent they have available. �Throwing� games or intentionally depleting a roster for the purpose of improving a team�s draft position or influencing a pennant race between two other teams is not allowed. Owners are also prohibited from attempting to persuade or induce other owners to violate this provision. This does not prohibit draft and trade strategies that put a lower priority on winning in the current season in order to increase chances of winning in future seasons, or put a lower priority on winning in future seasons to increase chances of winning in the current season, or lineup decisions made for reasons other than trying to increase a team�s total losses. A more detailed explanation of prohibited vs. permitted actions is available here.
B. COLLUSION: Collusion, defined as any agreement between two or more owners to intentionally reduce competition between them, will not be tolerated and will result in termination of ownership of all parties involved and a lifetime ban from the league. Examples of collusion are described here.

C. VIOLATIONS: If any owner suspects that another owner has violated Rule 20(A) or 20(B) or is attempting to violate it, he or she should report it to the Commissioner immediately. The Commissioner may also take action on his own initiative. If the Commissioner believes there is reason to suspect that an owner has violated this rule or is attempting to violate it, he will contact the owner(s) involved and ask for an explanation. Owners suspected of violating this rule will be given the benefit of the doubt when the situation is ambiguous or the owner has a legitimate explanation for his actions, even if others disagree might with the wisdom of those decisions. The Commissioner will not take action unless, in his judgement, the most plausible explanation for an owner�s personnel move or strategy decision is to deliberately increase the team�s total losses or to collude with another team. If necessary, game simulations will be postponed until the situation is resolved.

Complaints under this section will be handled as privately as possible. Announcements of violations, and the identity of the owner(s) involved, will only be made after the commissioner has determined a violation has occurred, and only in cases of flagrant or repeated violations or when it is necessary to announce the violation to explain a penalty to other owners. Unless absolutely necessary, owners who are reported for possible violations of Rule 20(A) or (B) will not told who reported the possible violation without that person�s consent.

D. PENALTIES: If the Commissioner feels that a proposed trade, lineup change, strategy choice, or other decision would violate rule 20(A) or (B), he will prevent the action from being taken if possible, and warn the owner(s) to adhere to the rules. If a violation is discovered after it is too late to prevent the action, the commissioner may use his discretion to take remedial action if possible. A flagrant violation or repeated violations of this rule will result in the owner(s) drafting at the end of every round of the following annual draft. If two or more owners are found to be colluding to affect a pennant race, the colluding owners may be expelled from the league.

G. COMPLAINTS INVOLVING THE COMMISSIONER�S TEAM: If another member suspects that the Commissioner has violated rule 20(A) or (B) or is attempting to violate it, that member will contact the members of the Review Committee and provide any information to substantiate his concern. The Review Committee will follow the procedures in sections C and D above, and have the same authority as the Commissioner under these sections.

H. APPEAL OF DECISIONS: Any owner who is penalized for violating this section may appeal that decision to the Review Committee under the provision of Rule 19. At least 2 votes will be required to overturn the Commissioner�s decision. Any decision of the Commissioner or the Review Committee may be appealed to the Commissioner Emeritus, who may uphold the decision, change it in any way, overturn it, or decline to hear the appeal in which case the original decision will stand.

I. NEGLECT OF TEAM: Each owner is responsible for monitoring his or her team's injuries and player expirations, and adjusting the lineup or depth charts as necessary to keep the team as competitive as possible over the course of the season. It is normally not necessarily to make Manager Profile changes after every injury or expiration, because the Diamond Mind program is designed to make reasonable substitutions when necesary. However, the program sometimes does NOT work realistically if 2 or more lineup positions are left vacant or filled by injured or expired players. In such cases, the computer selections can be very questionable, and if enough slots are vacant or filled by unavailable players, the computer selections can be irrational by any human standard. If, in the judgement of the Commissioner, an owner is inattentive to his team's condition during the season to the extent that vacant lineup positions or pitching rotation slots might significantly weaken the team's competitiveness, the Commissioner will use his discretion to fill the lineup positions with the best players available. Under most circumstances, this will involve generating a computer Manager Profile without the expired players. When that is impractical because of injured players, the Commissioner will make the substitions himself. Owners will not necessarily be notified in advance when this is done, because each owner is presumed to already be aware of the condition of his team. However, the Commissioner will try to notify the owner after the changes are made, so that the owner can make other changes if he wishes before the next sim.

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