"We're here for
a good time,
not a long time."
"Follow your own
path, even if it
seems that your
own path sucks."
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Frontier League Constitution
April 1, 2009
Article I: League Structure
A. The league is comprised of 16 teams.
1. There are two eight team Conferences, each comprised of two four-team divisions.
2. The playing schedule will commence in April and complete in September.
3. The schedule will consist of 162 games.
i. 66 within the assigned division (22 per team).
ii. 32 with the teams in the other division in the assigned conference (8 per team).
iii. 64 with teams in the other conference (8 per team).
B. The Frontier League plays its games using APBA Baseball for Windows version 5.5 with League Manager Power Tool.
C. Teams retain permanent ownership of players as defined in Article VI.
D. There will be an annual draft of carded, un-owned players as defined in Article V.
E. The designated hitter rule will be used
Article II. The Commissioner
A. The commissioner(s) is responsible for administering the league.
B. Commissioner(s) is selected by a majority vote of owned teams (one vote per team)
C. Commissioner(s) serves until resigns, or is replaced or removed by majority vote of owned teams.
D. Duties are:
1. Review all prospective members
2. Establish league schedule
3. Conduct all drafts, including compiling and communicating list of available players.
4. Maintain official player rosters of all teams, as communicated by team owners.
5. Review all trades.
6. Establish date to reduce team rosters to 35 players known as “Cut date”
7. Submit and conduct voting on all rule changes
8. Assign team divisional alignments, keeping in mind owner preferences.
9. Settle all disputes over games and honesty.
Article III. League Manager Duties
A. Each team will be owned by a fully paid up manager or managers.
1. More than 1 person may own a team, but each team is entitled to only 1 vote per team, and each person is responsible for all aspects of running the team.
B. Duties
1. Send F-files promptly to league-wide e-mail address.
2. Play all games within the scheduled period.
3. Vote on all rules changes.
4. Maintain up-to-date roster and communicate all changes to Commissioner(s)
5. Choose team’s name
6. Send a default F-file at beginning of season. The default F-file will be used if a monthly F-file is not received by the specified deadline.
7. BE HONEST, this is your league
Article IV. Team Makeup
A. Each team is comprised of 35 players as follows:
1. A 25 man playing roster
2. A 10 man reserve roster
B. A team may exceed 35 players after the playing schedule is completed but must be reduced to 35 by the “Cut date” established by the commissioner(s).
1. The “cut date” will be after the draft but before the waiver draft.
Article V. Player Draft
A. Prior to each playing season a draft of carded, un-owned players will be conducted by the Commissioner(s).
1. The draft will be held the first weekend of March. (When Possible.)
B. The draft will be comprised of a minimum of 6 rounds. Additional rounds may be designated by the Commissioner(s).
C. Each team’s position in each round will be determined as follows:
1. A draft-lottery will be conducted to determine the draft order for the non-playoff teams in the 1st round.
2. The teams will be ranked from worst won/loss percentage (#1 seed) to best percentage (#8 seed).
3. The first two picks will be determined by the lottery. After the first two picks are determined, the third through eight picks will be determined by order of worst won/loss percentage.
4. If two teams have an equal Lottery ranking, then the tiebreakers will apply.
D. Step-by-Step Instructions for applying the lottery to each pool
1. Each position will have the following probability of winning the first or second pick:
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1st |
31% |
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5th |
7% |
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2nd |
24% |
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6th |
5% |
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3rd |
17% |
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7th |
3% |
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4th |
12% |
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8th |
1% |
2. To apply "random numbers", we need an unbiased source, which can be verified by anyone in the country. We will use the closing price of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the Wall Street Journal. The date will be selected by the commissioners and announced in advance.
3. The number after the decimal point will be used to determine the first pick of the draft. In other words, if the closing price is 10,586.34, then the winning number is 34.
4. The first team will have numbers 1 through 31, and each team will be slotted after that according to their percentage, with the 8th pick winning only with the number 00.
5. The second pick will be determined by looking at the two numbers immediately prior to the decimal point. In this case, the second number would be 86.
6. If the two picks cannot be determined from looking at these two numbers, then we will go back to the prior days closing price and repeat the same procedure.
E. Picks 9-16 will be determined by playoff finish.
1. Positions 9, 10, 11, and 12 are composed of the four losing teams in round 1 of the playoffs (worst won/loss percentage is 9th with same tie breaker procedure as above).
2. Positions 13 and 14 are composed of the two losing teams in round 2 of the playoffs.
4. Position 15 goes to the losing team in the league championship series.
5. Position 16 goes to the league champion.
F. Ties in won/loss percentage to be decided as follows:
1. Worst road record
2. Worst head to head competition.
3. Worst record in division
4. Least runs scored in head to head competition
5. Toss of coin
G. Actual conduct of the draft is left to the discretion of the Commissioner(s).
Article VI. Waiver Draft
A. Following the Cut date, a waiver draft consisting of players not on the 35 man roster of any team will be conducted by the Commissioner(s).
B. The draft order will be the same as that used in the player draft.
C. The waiver draft procedure is as follows:
1. Prior to the waiver draft each team must cut their roster down to 35 players.
2. Each team may select a maximum of 3 players each round when it is their turn to select so long as their rosters never exceed 35 players.
3. When a player is cut during the waiver draft, they cannot be claimed until the beginning of the next round
4. Once a team passes (does not chose a player) in a round, they are not eligible for future rounds in the waiver draft.
5. The draft will continue for two rounds.
D. Actual conduct of the draft is left to the discretion of the commissioner(s).
Article VII Trading and Player Rights
A. All players remain the property of a team until traded or cut.
B. Teams may trade at anytime during the season. (Until August 1st) Trades must be reported by the Rosters/C-file deadline for the month to become effective for that month. (Exp…If a trade is reported on May 2nd, it would not become effective until June 1st.)
C. The in-season trading deadline is August 1.
D. All trades will be subject to review. Trades that are rejected by the commissioner(s) may be appealed by enlisting the support of two managers that are not involved in the trade. Appealed trades will be put to a vote of the league membership, including backup managers.
E. Any player traded by the August 1st deadline cannot return to the traded from team until August 1st of the following year.
F. A team may only trade picks for the upcoming draft. Draft picks for the upcoming draft can be traded as soon as the preceding draft has concluded.
1. A team may only trade three draft picks before the offseason preceding the draft. A team may begin trading all of their draft picks after the mid-season trading deadline has passed.
H. Trades must be reported to the league office by email, mail or phone. Once a trade has been reported in a C-file and reported to the league it is final. Both managers should always recap the trade to the commissioner(s) to ensure accuracy.
Article VIII Player Usage
A. Seasonal usage
1. All players are limited to actual games played and starting pitchers are limited to actual starts.
2. All teams must have at least 162 games available at each position prior to the beginning of the season. If a team runs out of games during the season, then a “sub-.600” is permitted to exceed their actual Games for a team to get through the season.
a. A “sub-.600” player is defined a player that has a combined on-base percentage + slugging percentage of .600 or below and is not rated Fielding 1 defensively at any position.
b. A team may claim a sub-.600 player from the waiver pool during the season if it will prevent the team from overusing a player. The team must cut a player from their roster to add the sub-.600 player. Any player claimed during the season will become a free agent after the season.
3. Pitcher restrictions:
a. Starters are pitchers without an asterisk (*) grade.
b. Relievers are pitchers with only an asterisk (*) grade.
c. Split grade pitchers have both starting and relief grades.
d. A player may not be used as a relief pitcher unless he had at least 5 relief appearances during the season for which he is carded.
B. Series usage
1. A four man rotation may be used
2. Relief pitching (innings allowed for the entire season):
J Innings
Factor allowed
0-1 120
2 100
3 70
4 40
XB’s by J-Factor
3. A pitcher with a grade of pitching grade of 5-regular or below is limited to 200% of the innings allowed for their J-factor
4. A pitcher may not relieve and start in the same series
5. If a reliever has over 100 "relief" innings he will be a J-0 regardless of what his card says. Also, if a reliever has less than 40 "relief" innings he will be a J-4 regardless of his card. All other relievers will remain the same J factor as his card states.
6. A “split grade pitcher” (a pitcher eligible to start and relieve) will be limited to their actual innings pitched or the amount innings based on the chart above, whichever is greater. A split grade pitcher that only appears as a starting pitcher will be limited to their number of actual starts, not innings pitched.
7. No relief pitcher can pitch more than 6 innings in a series that is managed by a human manager
C. Playing Rules and Game Modifications
1. Starting pitchers must stay in the game in the 1st inning unless 4 runs are given up. In innings 2 and 3, 3 runs with a runner on. In innings 4 and 5, 2 runs with a runner on. In the playoffs the following rule will be used: A starting pitcher must pitch 5 innings or give up two runs before being relieved
2. Starting pitchers are to be removed from a game after allowing 8 earned runs. This rule is waived for the final game of a series.
3. A hitter on the hit and run must have a Hit & Run rating of 2 or higher
4. All managers must set their home stadiums to “domed” to prevent rainouts.
5. A pitcher may appear as a pinch runner.
6. A pitcher may not appear as a hitter.
7. A Back-up for each position must be included on your 25-man roster/instructions.
8. A player may play defensively at a position for which he is not rated ONLY in the case of an injury or ejection.
9. If a reliever has over 100 "relief" innings he will be a J-0 regardless of what his card says. Also, if a reliever has less than 40 "relief" innings he will be a J-4 regardless of his card. All other relievers will remain the same J factor as his card states.
10. Each lineup must have a minimum of four pitchers that are eligible to pitch in the game as relief pitchers.
11. Micromanagers are required for all road series where the visiting manager is not personally (in person, via internet, or otherwise) managing his team. You may use any micromanager of your choice. If a micromanager is not available to the league, you must supply a copy of the micromanager to the league.
12. All players are limited to 150% of actual steal attempts (stolen bases plus caught stealing) or ten (10) attempts, whichever is greater
a. A manager is permitted to set a player’s steal success factor to 0 when they are approaching (or have equaled) their allowed steal amounts for the year. It is the manager’s responsibility to notify the Commissioner to adjust the steal success factor.
13. Each manager must provide an f-file at the beginning of the season, designating team pitching rotation, roster, and lineups to be used for road games. This file may be changed at the beginning of each month, to be included in the following month’s “play ball” c-file
14. Any manager who has not sent the results for that month’s games by the 22nd of the following month will have his games autoplayed. In addition, any manager that has games auto-played due to lateness will be subject to penalties.
Article X. F-Files
A. All Roster/Lineup F-files are due to the league e-mail address no later than the 28th of the month in which the series is scheduled.
B. F-files should include the following:
1. Starting lineups for each game of the series
2. At least one substitute for each position
3. Starting pitcher for each game of the series
4. At least four relief pitchers for each game of the series.
Article XI Late F-Files
A. Initial monthly F-file: If a manager has not provided an F-file by the 28th of the month and has not received prior approval for being late, then games will be played using the default F-file that was submitted at the beginning of the season.
B. Results F-file: If a manager does not provide monthly results by the 22nd of the month, then all missing games will be auto-played by the commissioner(s). The commissioner(s) will determine the appropriate penalty for late/missing F-files.
Article XII Post-season play
A. Post-season play will commence as soon as the teams involved are known.
B. There will be four rounds of playoffs:
1. Round one:
a. The four division winners will be given the top four seeds in the playoffs based on the best win percentage. The four non-division winners with the best records will be seeded with the 5th through 8th spot based on the best win percentage.
b. The #1 seed will play the #8 seed, the #2 seed will play the #7 seed, the #3 seed will play the #6 seed, and the #4 seed will play the #5 seed.
c. Best 4 out of 7 series.
d. Higher seed will host games 1, 2, 6, and 7 if necessary.
2. Round two:
a. The four remaining teams after Round One will be re-seeded based on their seeding that was established in the prior round.
b. The #1 seed will play the #4 seed and the #2 seed will play the #3 seed.
b. Best 4 out of 7 series.
c. Higher seed will host games 1, 2, 6, and 7 if necessary.
3. Frontier Cup Championship series:
a. Winners of round 2 face each other.
b. Best 4 out of 7 series.
c. Team with best overall record will host games 1, 2, 6, and 7.
C. Each manager will provide an F-file for road games. When a player’s usage is restricted, each manager will designate a maximum usage in the instructions to their opponent and assume that usage. Results will reflect all games. Each manager has one week to complete his games.
D. Ties for best record will be decided as follows:
1. Overall road record.
2. Head to head competition.
3. Record within own division.
4. Runs scored in head to head competition.
5. Mid-season record.
6. Toss of the coin.
E. Player usage during the playoffs:
1. Must use a four pitcher starting rotation
2. Any pitcher can be used as a reliever so long as he does not start in that series.
3. Any starting pitcher with less than 10 starts cannot be used as a starting pitcher in the playoffs. A pitcher with between 10 and 17 starts is limited to one start per 7 game series
4. Relief pitchers are limited to the following number of innings per series:
Injury Rating Number of innings
0 6
1 5
2 4
3 3
4 2
5. Each relief pitcher is limited to 3 innings per game.
6. The home manager can override the visiting micromanager when a relief pitcher has exceeded his maximum usage for the series. A home manager that does not remove the relief pitcher does so at his discretion and no overusage penalties will be assessed.
7. Non-pitcher usage (games per series):
(a) Use the chart below for all players with an Injury Rating of 4 or played fewer than 40 games
Injury Rating 7 game series
0 7
1 7
2 7
3 6
4 see chart below
Actual Games # per series
Between 1-19 2
20-39 3
39+ 4
7. A player’s stolen base attempts for each series are limited based on the chart below:
Steal Allowance # Attempts/Series
A, B, or C No restrictions
D or E 4
F or G 3
N or R Not allowed to steal except as part of a broken Hit and Run
Article XIII. Amending the Constitution
A. This constitution may be amended, changed, or replaced by a majority vote of owned teams.
1. A majority is defined as 1 greater than 50% of the owners that participate in the vote. For example, if there are 16 owners that vote, then 9 affirmative votes are needed for approval. If 15 owners vote, then 8 votes are needed, etc.
2. Any proposed action shall be submitted in written form to the Commissioner(s).
3. The Commissioner(s) shall distribute the proposed action as presented to the League teams for a vote and count the returns.
4. Any actions approved by this method are to become effective the day immediately preceding the following season’s player draft unless specified in the proposed action.
5. Any rule proposal that fails to gather at least 4 votes cannot be placed on the ballot again in the following year.
6. In the event of that there is any issue or dispute that is not explicitly covered in the constitution, the commissioners have the authority to decide the issue based on what they feel is in the best interests of the league. This decision can only be overridden by a majority vote of the league owners.