FPBL Hierarchy:

• Commissioner – Duties include overseeing all league activity, ensuring rules and regulations are followed, updating all roster moves, running simulations, attending to any & all problems which may arise, overseeing the daily operation of the league
• Deputy Commissioner – Assisting the Commissioner with the overall running of the league. Responsible for the annual Hall of Fame Nominations. Able to act on the Commissioners behalf in his absence.
• Historical Director - Makes All-Star ballots, Award ballots, Player of the Month Ballots, and tabulates the winners. Keeps track of all league records.

Owner Responsibilities

All Owners are responsible for the following:

• Ensuring their team has no more than 100 players at any given time.
  (Teams having more than 100 players are subject to cuts made by the Commissioner)
• Submitting a roster or an email indicating no changes prior to EVERY submission deadline.
• Any owner that will be away for an extended period must email the Commissioner and advise him of this to prevent his team from being considered dormant
• Roster moves are to be made using the game “High Heat 2003” or using "HHEdit2K3."
• Submissions are to be made using HHEdit2K3 export option.
  (This is explained in detail on the F.A.Q.’s page)
• Responding to trade offers within a reasonable period of time. A reasonable period of time will be defined as 72 hours. If you receive a trade offer, respond to it in one of the 3 following ways:
  1) No thank you, I’m not interested in trading so & so at this time.
  2) Make a counter offer.
  3) Accept the proposed trade.
  
• An owner is now able to lose his job if he fails to produce a competitive ball club.  Any owner who meets the following criteria will be fired from his General Managing position and will be available for a new GM position with another team (a team with a record below .500 the previous season).

A playoff appearance would start an owner over on all requirements.

Simulation Guidelines

• Simulations will occur on Monday, Wednesday, Friday to keep the league active. Check the schedule for exact times and changes.
• Simulations will take place on the Commissioner’s computer. The website will be updated after the simulation is run.
• Rosters must be submitted 2 hours prior to the simulation.
• 15 days will be simulated at a time.
• During the Playoffs, if the commissioner is in the playoffs, another computer will be used for the simulation to create all fairness.
• The object of the league is to be updated often so owners stay involved.  It is crucial for owners to submit their rosters before each simulation to ensure a competitive league.

Interim GM Signing Rule

• If an owner cuts a player from his/her team, 48 hours must pass before they can sign them to a team that they are temporarily managing.
• They may NOT cut players from their temporary team and then sign them to their “original” team, until a different team has signed and cut the player.
• Penalties will be in place for owners abusing rules in ways to “stack” their teams, or help stack someone else’s team.

Procedures

• Rookie Draft - The draft will be done using the programs HHSelect and HHDraft. These programs will be linked on the main page prior to the draft for teams to download.
  
  
• Off-Season Free Agent Bidding - Off-Season Free Agent Bidding will last 5 days. Teams will bid on players in the specific forum "Off-Season Free Agents." Please title the "subject" the name of the player you are bidding on. Teams may make any type of bid on a player which includes: any $ value, any # of years, any signing bonuses, any yearly incentives (i.e. extra 500 K for hitting 40 HR). All dollar values will be spread out evenly. A group of agents will get together on the third night of bidding and begin accepting offers from teams. They may accept offers, acknowledge they are close to signing with some teams, or say the figures are too low. They may choose lower dollar values to play for better teams, or they may choose the contracts with the best incentives. It is left to the discretion of the agents. The last day to open a bid on a player is the 4th day. This allows 1 full day for teams to place bids. All bids will be accepted or rejected by the 5th and final day. Players must have at least 24 hours of time to be bid on before signing with a team.
  
  
• In-Season Free Agents - Free agents will be bid on in the forum "Free Agents" on the message board. The minimum bid for a player is $250 K. Bids must be increased by at least $250 K until bids reach $5 mil, where they then have to be increased by $1 mil or more at a time. Bids that stand for 24 hours will be accepted.

Trades

• Trades can occur in any combination that the owners desire, 2 for 1, ML for Minors, Players for cash, players for Rookie Draft Picks, etc.
  (RDP’s are explained in full below)
• Trades must be specific (ie: if you trade a Rookie Draft Pick, you must specify which RDP. You cannot trade a "conditional" RDP to be determined at a later date)
• Trading deadline is midnight PT Jul 31 (Game Date) (This will be posted on the main page prior to the deadline.)
• A Trade Committee of 4 memebers is in place to ensure fair trading. They will only vote on trades in which they feel are unfair. If there is a tie, the commissioner will break the tie. If a trade is vetoed, then each owner will have a chance to state his reasoning for accepting the trade. The Trade Committee will then review the trade once more.
• Rookie Draft Picks– At the end of each season, when the new season button is pushed, the game generates a certain amount of new rookies in the free agent pool as well as 25 per team. These 25 rookies are what are considered as rookies for the purpose of this league. There will be a 3-round live draft at the end of each season. Each team will recieve a pick in each round based on the previous season record. So, an example trade involving a RDP may go like this:
  a) I trade player X to St. Louis for his #1 RDP
  b) when the new rookie crop is generated, I get St. Louis’ first round draft pick of the new rookies.
  
• Owners may only trade the current seasons RDP.
• Restricted trading may begin after the World Series. This means a team may trade any of their current players who are not in the last year of their contract. All Potentail Free Agents are now Free Agents at this time, and may not be traded. Teams may also trade any current trade money they would like. This trading period will end at the time the new season button is pushed. At this time, the new season button will be pushed and teams will be locked to recalculate all salaries.

Injuries

• Injuries are generated randomly by HH 2003, and it is very likely that a team owner will be forced to deal with an injured player at some point during the season.
• Injuries are the responsibility of the owner. Placing the player on the DL, moving a player up from the minors or signing a free agent to fill the void are a few examples.
• The team owner is given the responsibility of reinserting a player returning from injury.
• In the case where a team owner does not make the roster moves needed to fill an empty lineup spot, the Commissioner's office reserves the right to do so.
• The Commissioner will replace an injured starting pitcher in a 5-man rotation with what he feels is an acceptable replacement.
• Each owner may submit to the Commissioner's office a list of acceptable substitutes by position should a starter get injured in the middle of a simulation period. This will give the Commissioner some guidance when making substitutions.
• The injury substitution list can be submitted once, and will remain in effect until an updated list is submitted.
• If no list is submitted, the Commissioner will make substitution moves using his own discretion/judgment.

All-Star Game

·         Each All Star team will contain 25 players.  Here is how the team breaks down:

Starters:
SP -- VOTED IN
C -- VOTED IN
1B -- VOTED IN
2B -- VOTED IN
3B -- VOTED IN
SS -- VOTED IN
OF -- VOTED IN
OF -- VOTED IN
OF -- VOTED IN

Backups:
1 C
1 1B
1 2B
1 SS
1 3B
2 OFs
9 Ps

·         Backups chosen by last year’s World Series Managers.

·         There can be no more than four representatives from one team, and every team must have at least ONE representative.

·         Starters are voted in by the owners. Each owner may vote only one (1) of his position players to start in the All Star Game.  Owners will also vote for both leagues, not just their own.  Ballots will be sent to the commissioner, who will then release the starting lineups.

Awards

• At the end of each season, various awards will be presented to players and team owners that excelled during that year.
• The following awards will be voted upon by the team owners and will follow guidelines set out by the Commissioner's office:
  a) MVP
  b) Cy Young
  c) Rookie of the Year
  d) Hank Aaron Award (most HR's)
  e) Fireplug Award (Closer)
• The Historical Director, or a representative appointed by him, will be responsible for all vote tabulations.
• A Vote form will be accessible on the web site.
• Each award category will be broken up by league. (AL or NL)

Season Type

• The roster set being used will be a tweaked set of the rosters being used by the league URBL, with each teams hidden players added to the inactive list.
• We will play 162 games, with interdivision games favored and inter-league games.

Hall of Fame Voting

• Voting will take place every season starting during the middle of the 2003 season.
• Each owner will select no more than 5 players from the ballot (no write-ins).
• A player must be on 80% of the ballots to be inducted. If a player receives at least 1 vote, then he will be given an extension and will remain on the ballot for the next season.

Miscellaneous

• All owners are required to keep their personal information up to date with the Commissioner's office.
• The information expected of the owner includes his name, e-mail address, AIM, and ICQ number.
• Any changes in information shall be sent to the Commissioner's office for updating on the web site.
• Aliases can be used instead of names when the owner desires it, however a real name must be provided.
• When emailing the Commissioner it is requested that the e-mail has a subject line that correspond to the type of e-mail being sent, i.e.:

Overview

• These rules are to be adhered to at all times
• All rules are subject to change as deemed necessary for the betterment of the league by the Commissioner's office
• The aim of this league is to have fun, build camaraderie, make friends and enjoy the game of baseball. Any owner caught cheating, being abusive or copping an attitude with other owners, or being a general disruption will be expelled from the league immediately

Credit

·         I would like to thank a combination of leagues for letting me amend their rules.  CBA, MLBC, TCBL, URBL.  Thank you guys for your hard work in these leagues, and allowing me to use your rules.