SIXTIES LEZCANO ULTIMATE BASEBALL ASSOCIATION RULES
These rules were originally prepared by J Michael Kenyon on March 23, 1984. They have been frequently modified - most recently by Jack Fleming on March 6, 1997. Any similarity to Rotisserie League Rules is intended.
To assemble a lineup of 17 young major league baseball players whose cumulative statistics, compiled and measured by the methods described in these rules, exceed those of all other teams in the League.
There are 6 teams in SLUBA composed of major league players born in the calendar year 26 years previous to the current year and after (with the exception of a few long-term contract players).
A team's active roster consists of the following players: 4 outfielders, 1 catcher, 1 second baseman, 1 shortstop, 1 first baseman, 1 third baseman, 1 floater (any infielder including catcher), and 7 pitchers.
A major league player draft in the form of an open auction is conducted on the first weekend after Opening Day of the baseball season. Eligible players include those whose birthdays fall in the calendar year 26 years previous to the draft year or in subsequent years. Additional eligible players may be included by unanimous vote of the SLUBA bosses. Each team must acquire 17 players at a total cost not to exceed $100. A team need not spend the maximum. Players' names are presented for the auction by each SLUBA team in reverse order of the previous season's regular season final standings. The team presenting the player for auction opens with a minimum salary bid of $1 for any eligible player, and the bidding proceeds around the room at minimum increments of $1 until only one bidder is left. That team acquires the player for that amount and announces the roster position the player will fill. The process is repeated until every team has a squad of 17 players, by requisite position.
Immediately following the major league auction, a minor league player draft is conducted, in which each SLUBA team may acquire players who:
Immediately following the minor league draft, a RAT player draft is conducted, each SLUBA team may acquire up to 5 players as stipulated in the RAT Rules later in this document.
A player may be assigned to any position at which he appeared in 10 or more games in the preceding major league season. The 10 game measure is only used to determine the position(s) at which a player may be drafted. Once the season is under way a player becomes eligible for assignment to any position at which he appears at least 10 times. Players who don't meet this requirement with big league time (rookies) will be considered eligible for whatever position it appears on draft day (or the day they are called up) they will be playing most. Rookies can only be eligible for one position until they prove their flexibility in the heat of a major league season. If an experienced player is playing a new position he may forgo the 10 game measure if all SLUBA Bosses agree that it appears he is a regular at the new spot.
SLUBA has a schedule of fees covering all player personnel moves. No money passes directly from team to team. All fees are payable into the prize pool and are subsequently distributed to the top four teams in the final standings.
The salary of a player is determined by the time and means of his acquisition and does not change unless the player becomes a free agent.
All fees will be promptly collected and wisely invested by the League Treasurer, who is empowered to subject owners to public humiliation and assess fines as needed to ensure that payments are made to the League in a timely fashion. At the end of the season the prize fund (known as the "Kent Green") will be split into two equal parts. One part will be distributed to the top finishers in the final regular season standings and the other part to the top finishers in the final playoff standings. Half of the Kent Green will be divided among the first four teams in the final regular season standings as follows:
During the SLUBA Playoffs among the top 4 finishers in the regular season the second half of the Kent Green will be distributed as follows:
Golden Thumb Award (to the winner of the special playoff between the two teams that didn't make the Regular SLUBA Playoffs): $1
The following criteria are used to determine team performance:
Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the eight categories, and given points for each place. For example, the first place team in a category receives six points, the second place team 5, and so on down to 1 point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the pennant.
NOTE: Pitchers' offensive stats are not counted. Nor are the pitching stats of the occasional player called in to pitch when the score is 16-1 and the relief corps is hiding under the stands.
In case of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by totaling points for the rankings at issue and dividing the total by the number of teams tied.
In cases of ties in total points, final place in the standings is determined by comparing placement of teams in individual categories. Respective performances are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team acquire more points than the other, the team is declared the winner of the tie. Should the points be equal, the tie stands.
In cases where the fourth and fifth place teams are tied at the end of the regular season (after using the tiebreaker in the previous paragraph) the team with the most home runs will go into the post season playoffs, if they are still tied then the most wins will go, and if they are still tied then the team with the better batting average will go to the playoffs. If they are identically tied even in batting average (calculated to 10 or more places!) then the trophy Yoo-Hoo bottle will be spun (carefully - it might explode!) by the Commissioner and the team owner closest to the mouth of the bottle when it stops spinning will be considered the winner.
If teams tie for the SLUBA Crown at the end of the playoffs and the first tiebreaker two paragraphs above is inconclusive then the team with the better regular season record will be considered the SLUBA Champion. If they were tied in the regular season then we go to the second tiebreaker in the previous paragraph.
The weekly player performance summaries supplied by the Quick Stats statistical service constitute the official data base for the computation of standings in SLUBA baseball.
he effective date of any transaction for purposes of statistical calculation is the Monday immediately after the transaction is reported to the League Secretary.
Transactions recorded on Draft Day, including trades and call-ups to replace disabled players, are effective retroactive to Opening Day.
Performance stats of a player will be assigned to a SLUBA team only when he is on the 17 man roster of that team.
NOTE: It is common for a player to appear on the roster of more than one SLUBA team during the season because of trades and waiver list moves. Even a player who is not traded may spend time on a team's Reserve List, during which period any numbers he might compile for his major league team do not count for his SLUBA team.
Standings will be tabulated and issued in a regular and timely fashion by the SLUBA Statistician.
From the completion of the draft auction until noon of the Monday following July 4, SLUBA teams are free to make trades of any kind without limit (except players on SLUBA Reserve Lists may not be traded), so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transaction. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen on the following draft day are not bound by the position distribution requirement.
Trades do not affect the salaries or contract status of players.
A team may replace any player on its 17-man roster who is:
To replace such a player, a SLUBA team must first release him outright or place him on its Reserve List. A team reserves a player by notifying the League Secretary and paying the $3 transaction fee. A reserved player is removed from a team's active roster effective noon, Monday after formal notification is given, and placed on the team's Reserve List. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its Reserve List. Reserving a player protects a team's rights to that player. A suspended player may not be reserved, released, or replaced. Players suspended for drug related reasons may be reserved (they are treated as if they were on the Disabled List).
Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from its 17-man roster (via release or placing him on the Reserve List), a team is then free to select any eligible player from the Free Agent Pool of players not already owned by another SLUBA team. The salary assigned to a player so selected from the Free Agent Pool is $5 until the Monday following the Major League All Star Game and $10 thereafter.
The call-up takes effect on Monday following the notification of the League Secretary. The players' stats begin to accrue to his new team at that time. If more than one SLUBA team chooses a player from the free agent pool then the team lower in the standings the week previous to his selection will get the player. When a player on a Reserve List returns to active major league duty, he must be reinstated to the active 17-man roster of his SLUBA team before noon on the second Monday after his activation, or be waived. Failure to notify the League Secretary will be considered a waiver of the player on the Reserve List.
When a player is reinstated to the active 17-man SLUBA team roster from a team's Reserve List, the player originally called up to replace him must be waived, unless he can be shifted to another natural opening on the roster for which he qualifies. If the replacement player has been traded, reserved, released, or waived within SLUBA, the player acquired in his place must be waived or put into a natural roster opening if one exists. A reinstated player may not displace any player on the active 17-man roster other than his original replacement or the player for whom the replacement has been traded. The rule holds through successive replacements that may occur for the duration of the season.
NOTE: the intent of all this is to minimize the benefit a team might derive from an injury. Say Harold Baines is injured and you call up Vince Coleman to replace him. Baines comes back. What you would like to do is activate Baines, keep Coleman, and waive your fourth outfielder, Henry Cotto, who hasn't had an at bat in six weeks. Our rules say you can't on the premise that a team should not be helped by an injury to a key player. We know the big leagues don't handle it this way, but art does not always imitate life. Without restrictions of this sort, a team might draft a bum and hope that it would be "lucky" enough for a good player at that position to go on the 15-day DL (with a minor injury, of course), thus giving it a chance to acquire a quality player that got passed over in the draft or a hot rookie who has just been promoted. Placing a player on the Reserve List and activating a player from the reserve list are each subject to a $3 transaction fee. Players on the Reserve List cannot be traded.
If a Farm System player is promoted to the 25 man roster of his major league team at any time during the regular season prior to the start of the SLUBA Playoffs, his SLUBA team has until noon the second Monday after his promotion to activate him (at the position for which he qualifies) or waive him. The fee for activating a player from a team's Farm System is $3.
If a Farm System player is activated, the player displaced from the 17 man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers, unless the Farm System player can be activate into a natural opening, in which case no waiver is required. Example: one of your pitchers is placed on a major league disabled list; you reserve him (or you can release him) and activate a pitcher from your Farm System who has been called up by his major league team. Once brought up from its Farm System by a SLUBA team, a player may not be returned to it during the same season, although he may be placed on a team's Reserve List in the event he is returned to the minor leagues by his major league club.
A Farm System player not brought up to a team's 17-man roster during the season of his initial selection may be kept within the Farm System in subsequent seasons upon payment of a sum equal to the players salary. A Farm System player may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions, as may a team's selection rights in the upcoming minor league draft.
"RAT" stands for Reserve Access Team. This draft of minor leaguers happens right after the regular two rounds of our minor league Farm System draft. We have 5 rounds of RAT selections. These are from the minor leaguers left after the minor league draft. Same draft format is followed as in the minor league draft. The difference between a Farm System minor leaguer and a RAT minor leaguer is that the RATs don't have a salary attached to them. When they are called up by their big league club the team who has RAT rights has the first option of signing the player as a free agent (salary would then be $5 before the All Star Break or $10 after - just like a regular free agent). This decision has to be made immediately on the first Monday following the RAT's call-up (allowing other team owners with natural openings to take the player during this first week if the RAT owner chooses not to). The cost of signing the RAT is the same as signing any free agent ($9 before the All Star Break and $15 after). The RAT owner doesn't need a natural opening to sign one of their RATs, they could sign them and waive any player at the same position (like when a Farm System player comes up). If the RAT owner decides not to sign the player as a free agent then the RAT is available to the rest of the owners just like they are now - if another owner has an opening the free agent can be signed to take the place. At the playoff expansion draft the RAT's owner must claim their RAT before the draft starts or lose priority rights to the RAT.
At the next season's free agent draft, if any of a team's RATS is included on a major league team's roster they can be included in the team's starting 6-11 man roster at a $5 salary. They, of course, will count against the 6-11 man limit and their $5 salary will be included in the $100 salary cap. If not protected on the pre-draft roster the RAT will go into the free agent pool and the former RAT owner has no special rights when the player's name comes up during the course of the draft.
A RAT that is still in the minors can be included in the owner's Minor League system (salary $3) and take the first round draft spot for that owner. If the owner also wants to keep another of his RATs then that player can take the second round spot and the owner has no Minor League draft selections. If the RAT is not protected in the Minor League system in this manner before the draft - he is fair game for all the other owners in the Minor League Draft.
After the conclusion of the Minor League Draft an owner can specify which of his remaining RATs will continue to be RATs in the new season. They will take up a spot in the owners RAT draft list (from first round on down just like in the minor league draft in the preceding paragraph). If they are unprotected then they go into the pool for the RAT draft and can be selected by any other owner.
RAT picks are protected in the end of the season "Roster Expansion" and may not be grabbed by a rival SLUBA Boss to fill their 17th player spot.
RAT picks and RAT players may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions.
Under certain conditions, a SLUBA player may be released outright or placed on waivers.
NOTE: A suspended player may not be released or replaced. A SLUBA boss is held strictly accountable for his players' deportment, and must bear the consequences of their transgressions. Players suspended for drug dependence are considered to be on the Disabled list and may be replaced.
Once during each season a SLUBA team can waive a current player and make a "Free" selection from the Free Agent Pool. The cost of this "Free" selection is $20 and the salary of the player so selected is the same as the salary of a regularly selected free agent.
If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the SLUBA playoffs by calling up one additional player after the SLUBA regular season from the Free Agent Pool, its own Reserve List, or its own Farm System.
A player who out-grows the SLUBA age restrictions must, prior to the freezing of rosters in the Spring of his coming-of-over-age, be,
If released, the player may never return to SLUBA play. Ever. If signed to a guaranteed long-term contract, the player's salary in each year covered by the new contract will be the sum of his current salary plus $3 for each additional year. In addition, a signing bonus, equal to one half the total value of the long-term contract, but no less than $3, will also be paid.
The maximum length of any long-term contract is two years. The maximum number of players who may be committed to long-term contracts at the time rosters are frozen each Spring is four. During the season teams are free to acquire by trade or waiver long-term contract players. The limit of four long-term contracts is only in effect at the time rosters are frozen each Spring.
Long-term contracts are entirely transferable, both in rights and obligations; the trade of a player in no way affects his contract status.
In all cases - specifically including permanent disability or sudden loss of effectiveness - a team must honor the terms of a long-term contract, as follows:
A player with such a contract may be released (that is, not protected on a team's roster prior to Draft Day), but a team that chooses to do so must pay into the prize pool, above the $100 Draft Day limit, a sum equal to twice the remaining value of the player's contract. The player then is released from SLUBA eligibility forever - in SLUBA this is referred to as "Oil Canning" the player.
Each team must retain, from one season to the next, no fewer than 6 but no more than 11 of the layers on its 17-man roster.
The names of players being retained must be recorded with the League Secretary at the Appointed Time (usually just before the Draft). Specific notice must be made at that time of any Farm System renewals.
The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to Draft Day (not including the minor league players) is deducted from a team's $100 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team's 17-man roster.
The League Secretary should promptly notify all teams in the league of each team's protected roster, including player salaries, contract status, and amount available to spend on Draft Day. Failure to renew a Farm System player's minor league contract will result in his becoming available to all other teams in the subsequent minor league draft.
In the event of work stoppage due to either a strike by Major League players or a lock-out by Major League team owners - the SLUBA season is terminated and the SLUBA rosters are frozen. If the stoppage occurs during the SLUBA regular season then no money is due the league and none of the Kent Green is not distributed. If the stoppage occurs during the SLUBA playoffs, then ½ of each team's financial responsibility is payable and the money is distributed to the top four finishers in the final regular season standings.
SLUBA is governed by a Committee of the Whole consisting of all SLUBA Bosses. The Committee of the Whole may designate as many League officials as from time to time it deems appropriate, although only four - the Commissioner, the League Secretary, the League Treasurer, and the League Statistician - ever do any work. The SLUBA Commissioner has the authority to interpret playing rules and to handle all necessary and routine League business. All decisions, rulings and interpretations of the Commissioner are subject to veto by the Committee of the Whole. Rule changes, pronouncements, and acts of whimsy are determined by majority vote of the Committee of the Whole. SLUBA has four official meetings each year:
Failure to attend at least two Official Meetings is punishable by trade to the Toledo Mudhens.
Please send any league correspondence to the Second Commissioner For Life, Jack Fleming - oolon@eskimo.com.