FLY BY NIGHT BASEBALL
ASSOCIATION
Constitution
(4-01-05)
The Fly By Night Baseball
Association (FLY) was established in 1977 and its mission is to promote
friendship, fellowship and entertainment through APBA baseball. The APBA version 5.5 BBW, current disk, with
full AIM will be utilized. The disk will
be modified if there are any official corrections published. All members of the FLY are expected to both
adhere to both the letter and intent of this Constitution, as well as all other
league rules and policies. Repeated
failure will result in expulsion from the league.
ORGANIZATION
The FLY shall consist of
twenty-four (24) individual teams separated into two (2) conferences. Each conference contains three (3)
divisions. Each division contains (4)
teams:
McGraw Conference Mack
Conference
Clemente
Division – 4 teams Banks Division – 4 teams
Mays
Division – 4 teams Kaline
Division – 4 teams
Robinson
Division – 4 teams Williams Division – 4 teams
OFFICERS
The officers of the FLY shall be
the Commissioner, a McGraw Conference President and a Mack Conference
President. Additional officers may be
established at the discretion of the Commissioner.
Commissioner
The Commissioner’s
responsibility is to govern the league and make all rulings in the league’s
best interest above all else. These
responsibilities include but are not limited to:
a)
Organize all league
activities through himself or his delegates.
b)
Interpret and
enforce the league Constitution, rules and policies at his discretion.
c)
Mediate any disputes
between league members.
d)
Discipline managers
for tardiness or violations.
e)
Communicate to the
membership in a timely manner regarding league issues.
The Commissioner is elected by
the members and serves a five year term with no limit, with the support of the
membership. If the Commissioner has not
met his obligations to the league or has violated the league rules, he may be
removed from office by a unanimous vote of the Conference Presidents and 2/3 of
the entire league.
Conference Presidents
The Commissioner will appoint a
President for each conference for a term no longer than his own current
term. Conference Presidents will:
a)
Provide counsel to
the Commissioner in governing the league.
b)
Oversee the
respective teams in their conference to insure managers are taking care of
their teams with respect to roster management, injuries and tired players.
c)
Assist the
Commissioner in the smooth running of the league.
d)
Hear appeals.
e)
Field complaints
regarding the Commissioner’s performance and initiate disciplinary action if
necessary.
f)
Serve as
Commissioner in disputes regarding the Commissioner or his team.
MANAGERS
All managers are to be dedicated
to fulfilling their responsibilities to the league and to each other. This includes fair and timely management of
their teams and players according to the league rules. Most importantly, it is the responsibility of
the managers to communicate in a timely manner with other members and the
Commissioner to help maintain a smoothly running league. Managers must have an active e-mail address
that is capable of receiving/sending the necessary files used by the FLY.
Each manager shall insure full
schedule coverage at all defensive positions throughout the course of the
season. Managers are responsible for
ascertaining that they have enough players to cover each position for the full
schedule. The AIM guidelines call for
1200 PR per position and 7000 MBF for pitchers.
If a team has a usage problem during the season, Commissioner will
consider these guidelines closely when determining if penalties are applicable.
If a league opening should
occur, Commissioner will search for replacements. These prospective managers are expected to be
knowledgeable in baseball and well-versed in any form of APBA Baseball used by
the league. The Commissioner will be the
final authority in acceptance of all prospective managers.
BBW File Schedule
Team Franchise File – due by
10:00 PM central each Tuesday.
Commissioner Play Ball File –
goes out at 10:00 PM central each Tuesday.
Home Team Results – due by 10:00
PM central each Sunday.
Commissioner Results File – goes
out 10:00 PM central each Sunday.
It is each manager’s responsibility
to play his own games. Managers have the
option to play their games in conventional mode or by simming the games. It is not the league’s responsibility to sim
games. In the event a manager cannot
play his games, he must notify the Commish (or his designate), in advance,
whenever possible. If a manager is late and/or
the league has to sim games for a team 3 times or more during a season, he
could be subject to penalties and/or discipline to be determined by the
Commissioner.
ROSTERS
All teams may have a maximum
total of forty (40) players, carded or uncarded during the season. Active Roster is limited to twenty-six (26)
and fourteen (14) on the Farm Team.
Players can be moved between Active and Farm only between series but not
during a series. Rosters may exceed
forty (40) during the off-season. Teams
must have a backup for each position on Active Roster. Players may never play out of position except
by injury.
With five (5) weeks remaining in
the season, Active Rosters may be expanded up to 40 players. Commissioner will announce, in advance, when
this will take effect.
A carded player refers to
any player included on the current official APBA BBW disk, issued by the APBA
Game Company or its affiliates. An uncarded
player refers to any player owned by a FLY team but not on the current data
disk.
DESIGNATED HITTER
The FLY will use the DH in both
conferences and for all teams. Pitchers
may not bat unless there are no remaining non-pitchers on Active Roster. If the DH enters the game in the field (by
injury only) thus nullifying the DH, the pitcher takes the place of the DH in
the batting order. When the pitcher’s
spot in the batting order comes up, a pinch hitter (non-pitcher) must be used
unless there are no other non-pitchers remaining on Active Roster. Pitchers may, however, be used as pinch
runners.
MICRO MANAGERS
At the beginning of each season,
all FLY teams will select an appropriate micro manager to manage their team for
all road games. Any micro manager who is
designed to handle modern day players, using full AIM and the DH may be used. The FLY Default Manager will be Buck Miller
II, unless otherwise designated by the Commissioner. A list of all teams’ choices will be
distributed by the Commissioner.
TRADING
Trading period begins after the
World Series and ends with 8 weeks remaining the following season. Commissioner will announce effective
date. Players and draft choices may be
traded but draft choices will be limited to the current year and one (1) year
in advance. Trades must be reported to
the Commissioner and/or his designate to be valid. If reporting via e-mail, one manager should
address e-mail to Commissioner with a copy to other manager involved in the
trade. The other manager should then ‘reply
to all’ to confirm his understanding and acceptance.
No trades are allowed by new
managers until they have completed 21 days in the league. Commissioner may
waive this restriction depending on the experience of the new manager.
SCHEDULE
The season will consist of 162
regular season games plus the playoffs.
Regular season will start sometime in March and most weeks the home
manager will have a 5-game series to play.
Commissioner will determine start of season and provide the schedule. All teams will dome their stadiums at the
beginning of the season. If rainouts
ever occur, Commissioner will decide if and when to make up those games.
ANNUAL DRAFT
The FLY annual draft day will be
the last Saturday in February each year with the site to be determined by the
Commissioner. All players on the current
APBA BBW disk not owned by a FLY team are eligible to be drafted. The order of the draft will be determined by
the final regular season records of the most recent 3 seasons with the team
with the poorest record picking 1st and so on. In the event of a tie, the most current
season will be used as a tiebreaker.
There will be a total of 10
rounds to the draft with the 1st 7 rounds being conducted on draft
day. The final 3 rounds will be conducted
(by list) shortly after draft day. Rounds
8-10 will be considered the Waiver Draft.
All teams must cut to 40 or less prior to beginning Rounds 8-10. Teams selecting in Round 8 will send a list
to the Commissioner along with the player to be cut (unless under 40). The Commissioner will send a new file out
prior to Round 9 and any players cut from Round 8 will be available in Round 9. Rounds 9 and 10 will then be handled the same
as Round 8 except that players cut in Round 10 would remain in unowned
pool.
PLAYOFFS
The three (3) division winners
from each conference qualify for the playoffs; also two (2) teams from each
conference (wild cards) with the best record and not a division winner also
qualify for the playoffs.
Division Winner Ties
If there is a tie for the final
playoff spot, the teams involved will play a 3-game series to decide who
advances. Commissioner will flip a coin
to determine home field advantage.
Seeding
A division winner will always
have home field advantage over a wild card team. Seeding for others is as follows:
Pitching Rotation
Teams must use a minimum 3-man
rotation in each series.
Playoff Rosters
Changes to roster may only be
made between each series.
Round 1 – The
two wild card teams from each conference play a 5-game series (2-2-1) with the
team with the better record having home field advantage.
Round 2 – The
winning wild card team from each conference will play the division winner with
the best overall record while the other two division winners from each
conference are matched. All series are 7
games (2-3-2).
Round 3 – The
two winning teams from Round 2 play a 7-game series (2-3-2) for the conference
championship.
Round 4 – The
two winning teams from Round 3 play a 7-game series (2-3-2) in the World Series
and the winning team is World Champion.
RULES AND POLICIES
League rules are to maintain
fair and consistent play and player management.
All rules are to be voted on by the managers. New rules require a 2/3 majority for passage,
while changing a current rule requires a simple majority. League policies are guidelines to ensure the
smooth running of the league. They are
to be implemented by the Commissioner as necessary.
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