November 2007 -- This constitution is effective for the 2007 GAPL Season (to be played in 2008).
GAPL -- The Great American Pastime League (GAPL) is a computer baseball league founded and organized for the entertainment and enjoyment of the franchise owners. Owner-managers in the GAPL are expected to conduct themselves in a friendly and responsible manner. Good sportsmanship, ethical behavior and honesty are required of all owners.
1. INTRODUCTION -- Each owner in the GAPL must buy the latest version of Diamond Mind (DM) computer baseball game and must purchase the season disk annually from the game company. Any manager failing to do this will cause the league to be in violation of copyright laws. The commissioner will, from time to time, send the roster of GAPL managers to Diamond Mind to insure that we are not infringing upon their copyrights. In addition, the GAPL roster may be posted on the internet on the GAPL web site.
Although the GAPL uses the DM computer baseball game, a change to a game put out by another company is possible should a better product become available at some point in the future. Each owner is required to own or have access to an IBM compatible computer that will handle current technology and that includes a hard disk, A CD-ROM drive and a printer. Each owner must be on-line, have a valid internet address and be able to send and receive e-mail and data disks on line. In addition, each manager should have Yahoo instant messenger to participate in our GAPL chat room where we hold the annual draft.
Each owner will be billed annually for dues. The amount of the dues will be set by the Commissioner and will be payable prior to the start of each season at a date to be established by the Commissioner. No owner will be permitted to trade or draft for the coming season unless dues are paid. Dues not paid on time will cause expulsion from the league. Annual dues have been fixed at $25 per year since the founding of the GAPL in June of 1988.
The GAPL regular season begins in May or June and ends in September or October. The post season ends in September or October. The annual draft for the following season is in late March just prior to opening day of the Major League season. A rookie draft will be held a week or so prior to the start of the regular annual draft.
2. LEAGUE STRUCTURE -- The GAPL currently has 26 teams. The number of teams is maintained at between 80% and 90% of the number of Major League teams. The 26 teams are divided into 6 Divisions with 4 or 5 teams in each Division. There are 3 Divisions and 13 teams in each Conference: Pilgrim, Liberty and Rebel Divisions in the Atlantic Conference and Gunter, Tumbleweed and Great Lakes Divisions in the Pacific Conference. Teams are arranged in conferences and divisions annually based loosely along geographic lines.
The schedule for the season consists of 162 games for each team and will be constructed with consideration given to the following guideline. There will be 4 Play Cycles: Cycle #1 -- home games vs other teams in an opposing division. Cycle #2 -- home games vs teams in the same division. Cycle #3 -- home games vs other teams in an opposing division. Cycle #4 -- home games vs teams in the same division. Actual schedules will be on the database each year. Schedules will include some doubleheaders and will be constructed so that all teams have played approximately the same number of games following cycle #3 when draft order is determined.
The Designated Hitter Rule is not in effect -- the GAPL is a "no DH" league.
Each team in the GAPL will have a home ballpark. Teams wishing to change ballparks must notify the Commissioner prior to the annual draft.
3. PLAYER OWNERSHIP -- Each player drafted by a team becomes the property of that franchise until he is traded, released, or attains free agent status. Only players who are available on the current season Diamond Mind database are eligible to be drafted. Players owned by a franchise and not on the database for a subsequent season may be traded or retained by that franchise at the expense of a signed roster spot.
4. ROSTERS -- Each franchise carries a roster of a maximum of 40 players. This limit may never be exceeded, even momentarily, as a result of trading or drafting. Immediately after the draft, at a date chosen by the commissioner to coincide with the start of the Major League baseball season, each owner must submit a roster for the coming season. This roster must indicate which players (up to 25 players) are to be signed and which players are to stay on the roster for the season as unsigned players. Any players not released prior to the draft may be released at this time. Those players not signed will automatically become free agents at the end of the season.
In constructing a roster of players, owners should arrange to have backups for each position in case of injury, a sufficient number of starts by the pitchers, plenty of relief innings, and a sufficient amount of usage available at every position so as not to be penalized for overuse of players.
5. SIGNED PLAYERS -- At the time immediately after the draft when rosters must be submitted for the coming season, each owner must designate which players are to be signed players. Up to 25 players per team may be signed. This is the only time that players may be signed. Signed players remain on the team roster after the season ends. All players not signed will automatically become free agents at the end of the upcoming season and will go into the draft pool for the annual draft.
Each of the 25 signed players will remain signed for the season unless released. If they are traded to another team, they will remain signed. Note that this could cause a team to have more than 25 signed players in the event of a trade of an unequal number of signed players. Signed players will carry a dollar sign before their name on the master copy of the league database.
Note that players have no status, either signed or unsigned, during the period between the end of the season and the submission date for the initial rosters. Although retained by their club, players are not yet signed for the upcoming year during this period.
6. FREE AGENTS -- All players on a team roster who are not signed will become free agents at the end of the season. Free agents play for their current franchise for the season and, at the end of the season, are automatically released and placed in the draft pool.
MINOR LEAGUES (FREE AGENT DRAFT POOL) -- All players on the database that are not on a team roster are considered to be in the minor leagues. They are not owned by any team, but are rather a collective group of talent that can be tapped at any time after the submission date for the initial rosters and before the cut off date just before the start of the season when pre-season rosters must be finalized. Owners wishing to pick up a minor leaguer must notify the commissioner who will assign minor leaguers to teams from time to time. If the minor leaguer picked up will cause a team roster to go over 40 players, the names of the player or players to be cut must also be submitted to the commissioner. Minor leaguers picked up by the teams will become free agents at the end of the season and will be returned to the draft pool. In case of more than one owner requesting the same minor leaguer, players will be awarded to owners in the same order as the previous annual draft or, in the case of in season minor league pick-ups, via free agent drafts which will be held from time to time with the order of choosing to be in inverse order of winning percentage. Minor leaguers will be on the database in the free agent section.
8. TRADING -- Trading may take place before the season until the cut off date when pre-season rosters must be finalized. Trading during the season will be allowed provided all trades are completed at a date to be determined following the due date for cycle #2. To be effective for the next cycle, trades must be reported by both managers on or before a date to be specified by the Commissioner for each cycle. At a date to be determined annually, trades for the following season may be made by those owners who have paid their dues for the following season. After this date, trades may take place at any time except that trading will be suspended each year at a time shortly before the annual draft (before the rookie draft beginning in March of 2002) so that final pre-draft rosters can be prepared and so that the final drafting order can be fixed and distributed to all owners. Trading will then resume after the drafts have been completed and after rosters of signed players have been submitted.
Trades may include draft choices, but only those picks available for the next upcoming draft. Only annual draft picks 1 – 7 and the pick in the one round rookie draft may be traded. Trades need not have an equal number of players changing teams. All necessary roster moves to meet roster limits must be reported at the same time as the trade is reported. Note that each trade is a separate event. Owners may not make more than one trade and then make the roster moves that are necessary. If necessary roster moves are not reported at the time that the trade is reported, the commissioner will arbitrarily make the necessary moves to meet roster limits. There will be no "player to be named later" transactions. All trades must be effective immediately. There will be no "future" trades or trades involving more than two teams. Trades may be reporte d to the commissioner or by telephone or by fax or by e-mail. For a trade to take place, it must be reported by both owners.
9. TRADING ETHICS -- Trading between owners promotes friendship and camaraderie among owners and should be encouraged and promoted by all GAPL members. All owners are expected to observe proper trading ethics at all times. Owners should initiate trade proposals from time to time as they see fit and should not always expect the other owners to come to them with trade ideas. Conversely, trading ethics demand that an owner receiving a trade proposal should, under all circumstances, make every effort to come up with some answer to the trade proposal -- a yes or a no or, a counter offer. No matter how outrageous an offer may seem at first, remember that the manager making the proposal wants to make a trade and that GAPL members should make every effort to make a counter offer. Promoting active trading among all owners is the best way for each individual owner to help to strengthen the GAPL for the benefit of all owners
10. ANNUAL DRAFT -- The annual draft will take place at a time and in a manner to be determined by the commissioner. The draft will normally be held just before the day when the major league season starts. Recently the draft has been held in the GAPL chat room on weekday nights or on Saturday and Sunday or on some combination of those times. Each manager has 7 draft picks which may be used in trades. After the first 7 rounds are over, the draft will continue until every team has had the opportunity to bring their roster up to 40 players. If, at the discretion of the commissioner, it is not feasible to complete the draft during the available time, the later rounds of the draft may be conducted shortly after the early rounds and could be by telephone, by e-mail, by fax, or by written list. After the annual draft is completed, the remaining players will be sent to the minors and may be picked up out of the free agent pool by any owner at a time to be determined by the Commissioner, including first come, first served. At no time may a team have more than 40 players on its roster. When a team reaches the 40 player limit, it may not draft any more players.
All players on the DM season database that are not carried over from the previous season on a team roster are eligible to be drafted. "Pure DH" batters on the DM season database who are not assigned a position will be assigned a position on the GAPL database. They will be given a Pr rating and a "300" error rate at the position they most recently or most normally would play. If in doubt, they will be rated for 1B. The draft order will be in inverse order of winning percentage from the next to last cycle of the previous season, except that the 6 teams with the worst winning percentages will be placed in an "NBA" style lottery which will determine the draft order for all rounds of the draft for those 6 teams. Ties will be broken with a coin toss to determine draft order.
11. INSTRUCTIONS
AND MANAGER'S PROFILES --
Prior to the start of the season, each owner must submit a Manager's Profile to be imported onto the master copy of the league database. The manager's profile must include, at the minimum, a lineup vs. right (saved lineup #1), a lineup vs. left (saved lineup #2) and a 5 man pitching rotation.
In addition to being responsible for their Manager's Profile on the original database, owners may submit Manager's Profiles directly to each of their opponents individually for each separate series of away games. Manager's Profiles must include the team's active roster of 25 players for the series and the team's pitching rotation for the series. In addition, instructions may indicate which of the team's saved lineups are to be used during the series, keeping in mind that all players in these saved lineups must be on the 25 man active roster for the series. Note that both the home and the visiting teams may use a different 25 man active roster for each series played. Home team managers are not limited to using the same 25 man roster for the entire play cycle. 25 man rosters may not be altered during a series, regardless of injuries or any other circumstances. Each manager must arrange their 25 man roster to have adequate backups at each position to allow for injuries and for tired players.
For the final play cycle of the season, each manager may use a 30 man roster for each series.
Manager's Profiles are the responsibility of each owner. If the profile on the database is incorrect, each manager must notify all current road opponents and send them a correct current Manager's Profile.
Owners will be notified when their Manager's Profiles are due before the games for each play cycle.
Notification will allow sufficient time for all owners to get current Manager's Profiles to their
opponents in plenty of time to meet the due date. Notification will be sent with the each database.
After each database has been sent out, managers will be able to check for possible overuse or under
used problems and still have time to send out new Manager's Profiles on time. After the date when
Manager's Profiles are due, the home manager may go ahead and play the games without the visiting
managers Manager's Profile. Under this circumstance, the home manager should use the computer
manager, discretion and sound baseball judgment to setup the visiting team 25 man roster, pitching
rotation, lineups, etc. Complaints from visiting managers who have not sent out Manager's Profiles
on time will not be accepted.
Failure to receive road instructions on time
from an opponent is not a valid excuse for results being late. 12, DATABASE -- During
the season there will be a database going back and forth via e-mail between
each manager and the commissioner. The procedure for each owner for each
owner will be the same for each of the four regular season cycles. The procedue is as follows: 1) Install the database. 2) Play your home games for the cycle. 3) Export the results and send them back to the
commissioner. 4) If the manager's profile has
been updated, attach a note to the commissioner that the manager's profile
has been changed. See the Appendix
for step
by step instructions. Do not trade players. Do not play any extra games
in the directory where league games are played. Do not make any trades for
experimental purposes or do anything else to the database other than follow
the steps above. Do not rest players. Do not release players. 13. DUE DATE --
Each manager will be notified in sufficient time as to the date that results
are due back to the commissioner. There are severe penalties for lateness,
including fines which increase for each succeeding infraction. If there
is a problem, and an owner expects not to have the results back on time,
that owner must notify the commissioner before the due date. Late road instructions from an opponent
is no excuse for late results. There is an incentive program for getting
results back on time. If a manager's results are received by the commissioner
on or before the due date that manager will receive a bonus of $37,500 in
GAPL Dollars. This is the only way a team can acquire GAPL Dollars. There will be fines for late disks: $15,000
plus $1,000 per day for the first incident -- $20,000, plus $2,000 per day
for the second incident -- $30,000 plus $5,000 per day for the third incident.
Failure to send results: $25,000 for the first offense, $50,000 for the second.
If results are so late that, in the judgment
of the commissioner, it will cause a significant delay in the e-mailing of
the next database to the whole league, the commissioner may elect to play
the games for the offending manager, or ask another owner or owners to play
the games. Extreme cases of lateness are cause for
expulsion from the league. Owners with a problem must contact the commissioner
before the problem becomes serious so that special arrangements can be made,
if necessary. Due dates for results are expressed as the
date by which the results are due back in the hands of the commissioner.
To avoid lateness penalties, results must be sent in plenty of time so that
they might be reasonably expected to arrive on time. Pitchers that carry a rating as a starter
may only start as many games as they did in the actual major league season
plus 20%. For example, a pitcher with 20 real life starts may start 24 games
in the GAPL, a pitcher with 23 starts may start 28 games in the GAPL, and
a pitcher with 30 starts may start 36 games in the GAPL. Pitchers rated only
as starters are not limited to number of batters faced and can face any
number of batters as long as they do not exceed the allowable number of
starts. They may not be used in relief as they are not rated for relief.
If a starter starts more games than allowed, the fine will be $10,000 per
start. [It is a good practice for all GAPL managers to figure out their entire
rotation for the 162 game season before the season begins.] Pitchers rated for both starting and relieving
are limited to their number of starts in the same way that starting pitchers
are limited (120%) AND are also limited to 120% of batters faced. Pitchers rated for relief only may not start.
They are not restricted by number of relief appearances, but are restricted
to 120% of batters faced. Pitchers may not be used as pinch hitters
unless forced to by injuries to all available position players. Pitchers may, however, be used as pinch runners.
Batters are limited to 120% of MLB PAs for
usage
Position players may not play a position for
which they are not rated. This includes outfielders who may only play the
outfield position or positions for which they are rated. Exception: If injuries
use up all players rated for a position, the next logical player may be
used to fill the position as a last resort. The fine for a player playing out of position is
$10,000. 16. OVERUSE -- The
penalty for overuse will be $3,000 for each player overused plus $1,000
for each percentage point over 120%. Players showing usage of 130% or greater
will cost their team $12,000 plus $2,000 for each percentage over 130%.
Flagrant overuse will be dealt with accordingly, including possible loss
of the signed player or of a comparable signed player. The commissioner
may use discretion in applying these overuse fines in the case of obviously
unintentional overuse of players with low actual usage. Overuse on the road is no excuse. Players
in danger of being overused should be farmed on the road. Especially for
the last play cycle, players in danger of being overused should be kept off
the road roster. Overuse occurs over the course of a season, not in the
final cycle. Each manager must learn how to rest players and set up their
team in the beginning of the season so overuse problems will be minimized.
The best time to solve usage problems is in setting up a roster and in drafting
free agents and in picking up minor leaguers before the season starts. Injuries are not an excuse for overuse. A manager
with injury prone regular players needs to have extra backup players with
extra usage available to take over the position in case of a long injury.
All players, whether injury prone or not, need sufficient backups in case
of injury. Planning to use players 100% when 120% is allowed should provide
a sufficient margin of safety for most typical regular players. 17. MONSTER STAT
RULE -- The monster stat rule restricts the amount of usage a left handed
batter may have against left handed pitching and the amount of usage a right
handed batter may have against right handed pitching (batting vs same side
pitcher). The rule does not apply to pitchers or to switch hitters. The
rule is: Batters are limited to 250% of actual usage vs same side pitchers.
Penalty for overuse: $1,000 for each percentage point over 250%.
18. HOME SERIES
-- Home series for each play cycle are played consecutively by the home
team manager. The fatigue system in DM will be used for the entire home
stand for each cycle. Starting pitchers will require 3-4 days rest, relievers
will tire if used too long or too often and catchers will tire if not rested.
When each database is received, all players will be fully rested. Home teams
will be subject to fatigue factors and to injuries carrying over from one
series to the next for the duration of the entire play cycle. Visiting teams
are also subject to fatigue, but only for the one series (this will more
likely affect relievers than starters). 19. COMPUTER MANAGER
(CASEY) -- In the GAPL, the computer manager will be known as Casey. Except
for face to face, telephone or on line games, all visiting teams must be
managed by Casey. Home team managers may, at their discretion, allow Casey
to manage their team also. Home team managers may not change visiting team
manager's profiles unless instructed to do so in the road instructions.
Decisions made by Casey are final. All owners are equally subject to whatever
flaws Casey may have. Experience and close examination of away game scoresheets
will help to indicate to each manager how Casey is managing in road games
and what manager's profile changes may be required. [Most complaints are
in the area of pitching - using starters in relief or leaving relievers
in too long. It may help to set pitching rotation at strict and use of relievers
at more frequent or most frequent.] Owners are responsible for substitutions made
by Casey. If Casey is inserting substitutes with limited usage, and causing
them to be overused, the managers profile and /or active road rosters need
to be adjusted. Overusage on the road due to Casey is no excuse for overusage
of a player. The procedure that each manager must use for home
games is as follows: 1) Choose human managers for both teams. 2) Enter starting
pitchers and lineups for both teams. 3) Change the visiting team manager
to computer and leave it on computer until the game is over. 20. DISGRUNTLED
PLAYERS -- Any signed players on a team roster that do not attain 50% usage
in a season are considered to be "disgruntled". All disgruntled players
will be automatically released from their team roster at the end of the
season and will be available in the annual free agent draft. Weather effects will be used in the GAPL.
Umpire ejections will be used. The Bullpen warm-up rule will not be used.
The “Era” will be current year National League.
Injuries will be "actual". Managers may use the "pitch-by-pitch" mode for all
or part of any game if they wish. 23. MONEY SYSTEM--
GAPL DOLLARS For each play cycle results returned on time
each owner will receive $37,500 GAPL dollars. Any owner who’s results are
received on time every time will thus earn $150,000 GAPL dollars for the
season. GAPL dollars may be used for only one purpose
-- to sign players. Each owner may sign 20 players for free. Each additional
player, up to a maximum of 25, may be signed at a cost of $25,000 each. A
manager who earns $150,000 and who has no fines, or who's fines total $25,000
or less, will be able to sign 25 players for $125,000. A manager who's results
are late, or who is heavily fined, could drop to the point of having less
than $25,000 and would therefore only be able to sign 20 players. Managers
who have a negative balance of GAPL dollars will be able to sign less than
20 signed players. For example, a manager with a balance of -$35,000 would
only be able to sign 18 players. GAPL dollars may not be carried over from
season to season. Each team reverts to zero GAPL dollars each season. GAPL dollars may not be traded. 24.MONEY SYSTEM -- SCHEDULE
OF FINES Late Results -- $15,000 plus $1,000 per day
for the first incident $20,000 plus $2,000 per day for the second
incident $30,000 plus $5,000 per day for the third
incident Unreadable Results -- $3,000 Results either not received, unreadable, or
so late that it would hold up mailing of the next database causing games
to be played by the Commissioner: $25,000 for the first offense, $50,000
for the second offense. Failure to send post season results to the
opposing manager and to the commissioner -- $15,000. Unauthorized pitching starts: $10,000 per
incident. Player playing out of position: $10,000 per
incident. Overuse: For use over 120% -- $3,000 per player
plus $1,000 per % over 120%. For use of 130% or higher -- $12,000 per player
plus $2,000 per % over 130%. The commissioner may use discretion in applying
these overuse fines in the case of obviously unintentional overuse of players
with low actual usage. Failure to submit a pre-season manager's profile
-- $15,000 and the Commissioner will have the computer generate a managers
profile. Failure to submit a copy of road instructions
to the Commissioner -- No GAPL Dollar fine, but, in the event that the Commissioner
has to play home games for your opponent, the Commissioner will arbitrarily
set your active roster and will let the computer decide your lineups and
your pitching rotation. Additional fines or penalties-- may be assessed
at the discretion of the commissioner, including heavy penalties for overusing
star players in order to qualify for post season play. 8 teams will qualify for post season play
-- the 6 division winners and 2 "wild card" teams -- one each from the Atlantic
Conference and the Pacific Conference -- with the best won-lost percentages
not counting the division winners in each of the 6 divisions. (In case of
a tie, a 1 game playoff will be played by the commissioner at a neutral site.)
Division winners and wild card teams will be seeded according to won-lost
percentages. (In case of a tie, seeding will be determined by winner of
the season series. If still tied, runs for and against will determine seedings.)
In round one, in each conference, division winner #1 will play the wild
card team in that conference and division winner 2 will play division winner
#3. The winners play each other and those winners go on the the GAPL world
series. Each post season series will be 7 games. In round 1, the higher seed
has the home field for games 1 and 2 and for games 6 and 7, if necessary. The higher seed for round 1 will be determined
by won-loss percentages first and then, if tied, by the tie breaking system
outlined above. Prior to the start of the post
season, the post season “tournament will be will be set up on the master
copy of the league database as set forth above. The DM fatigue system will be employed throughout
the playoffs and world series. All teams will be fully rested after the last
day of the season. Then there will be 1 day off between each series of games
and 1 game off in each series after game 2 and after game 5, (except that
there will be no days off after a 1 game playoff if there is one.) Should
one team win its playoff more quickly than the other, it's players will
have more days of rest than it's opponents players.
The playoffs will begin on Octover 1 on the schedule on the database.
All players on each team's roster are eligible
for the playoffs. Active rosters may not exceed 25 players. The active roster
may be changed before each series and after games 2 and 5. Player usage is limited for each 7 game series.
Pitchers rated and used as starters only are limited to 10% of the actual
number of games started during the season, but are not limited by batters
faced. (examples: -- 26 starts = 3 starts, 25 starts = 3 starts, 24 starts
= 2 starts.) All other players are limited to 10% of actual season usage. In addition, in the post season only, pitchers
rated as starters only may be used in relief. Results will be exchanged between managers.
The commissioner will send playoff databases to both managers. After receiving
road instructions, including a manager's profile, the home manager will play
games 1 and 2 and send results to the other manager for games 3-5, etc.
Road instructions and manager's profiles will be sent to the opposing manager.
At the conclusion of each series, a copy of the results will be sent to
the opposing manager and to the commissioner. It will be the responsibility of the commissioner
or a designated representative to report Every year, the Commissioner will prepare a
ballot for changes to this Constitution. The ballot will be presented to
the full membership of the GAPL, including Alternate Managers, not later
than one week before the first Tuesday in November. All votes must be cast
by the first Tuesday in November. All ballot items must be in the form of
yes/no questions. A ballot item receiving "Yes" votes on 60% or more of the
total number of member's (including Alternate Managers) ballots cast will
be considered to pass, and this Constitution will be amended according to
the ballot item. A ballot item receiving "Yes" votes on less than 60% of the
total number of member's ballots cast, will be considered to have failed, and
will have no effect. A ballot not cast will not be counted as a "Yes" or "No"
vote.
21. IINJURIES -- Injuries
will be used in the GAPL. An injury on the road can not be too serious as
it can not last longer than 5 or 6 games and most likely would be less than
6 games. An injury at home could be serious if it is a long injury at the
beginning of a long home stand. Managers can minimize the chances of serious
damage by using injury prone players early in the season and heavily on
the road.
the results of post season play to the other owners.