Constitution of The Retro Leagues

1. Introduction

2. League Schedule

3. Responsibilities

4. Financials

5. Drafts

6. Transactions

7. Reward System

Introduction

The Retro Leagues starts in the sim year of 2010. The Retro Leagues is an online league made up of fictional players and teams, although some aspects of The Retro Leagues may have been influences by real life. Any city names used are not intended to represent their real counterparts. Other mods used as a base to the league:

-Midknight’s Fictional Universe In a Box 2.0

-Many teams/ logos are borrowed and/or altered to their current state to be used in the Retro Leagues. I do not claim to have created everything in the Retro Leagues and do not intend to take recognition away from any of the great OOTP community contributors.

All general managers are expected to adhere to the Retro League Constitution. General Manager input is welcome (use the suggestion section of the league forum), however the commissioner has the right to any final decision the league may be faced with. In appropriate situations the commissioner may use the Board of The Retro Leagues to help in decision making. The board will be made up of 5 members, 1 being the commissioner and one representative from each division. Decisions will be made in effort to find what is best for the league. The commissioner has the right to amend the constitution at any time.

League Schedule

Sim schedule may vary and the frontpage should be used as reference for the sim league schedule. Owners must have their exports in at least one hour before a scheduled sim.

Retro League general managers should recognize that team exports are the main gauge the commissioner uses when determining if a GM is active and participating. Even if you do not want to make any changes via export it is a good idea to export at least once a week anyways to make it clear your keeping up with the league. If a GM is planning on being away (such as vacation) it is expected that he notifies the commissioner beforehand.

Live Sims! In certain events the commissioner may schedule a Live Sim. These events will take place in an AOL Instant Messenger Chat Room where the commish will send a chat invite 5-10minutes before the event starts. These events are not mandatory but a good place to interact with other GMs: initiating trades; discussing league matters; and just getting to know everyone around the league. These sims will usually consist of the commissioner updating everyone on outcomes and news throughout the week of a sim.

Responsibilities

-GMs are responsible to have lineups and rotations completed.

-responsible to maintain their minor league system (auto-setup of minor leagues is efficient)

-responsible to place players on the DL and remove them appropriately.

Participants are expected to be both competitive with and courteous to their fellow owners. The Retro Leagues is a league that rewards participation and competitive play. All owners are expected to live up to this standard and agree to do their utmost to put forth the best franchise they possibly can. At the same time, owners acknowledge that The Retro League is a social experience as well. Owners participate to have fun and communicate with like-minded baseball fans. When the twin goals of competitiveness and courtesy collide, owners are err on the side of courtesy.

You are expected to politely respond to your fellow owners’ trade proposals (no matter how unrealistic they may be). This can be as simple as saying, “I am not interested at this time.” Owners are expected to respond to trade communications – however briefly – within a week of their receipt. If you have sent a communication to a fellow owner and received no response within this time frame, you may send a complaint to the Commissioner.

As Commissioner, my responsibilities to you include timely sims, maintaining our website and forums, fairness in addressing your desires/concerns regarding the league, and clear communication if/when unforeseen events arise. Above all else I have a responsibility to never abuse my status as Commissioner for personal gain. I am strictly prohibited from either altering/adjusting sim results to favor my team or gleaning “inside information” that would lead to a competitive advantage.

Financials

-All Retro franchises will start with the same fan base and market size. After the initial draft a salary cap will be implemented based on the current payrolls of the league.

-extensions and free agent bonus may not exceed 50% of the total yearly salary offer. Bonus offers made not following this rule will be terminated and if caught late will result in immediate release of the player with penalty of still having to pay the remains on the contract. (rule will be reminded during free agency as to not sneak up on anyone.)

Drafts

-Each season the amateur draft will be held in the sim month of June. The first round of the draft will take place in a LIVE chat event. This event is not mandatory but strongly recommended is attendance (1 round (16 picks) shouldn’t take long. The rest of the draft will be simulated using the OOTP AI making the selections.

-Draft picks are only tradable up to one season in advance. Example: During the 2010 season only picks for the 2011 draft are able to be traded. This is to keep a GM from trading all of a franchises future and then bailing on the league, only to leave the new GM in an impossible situation. *note picks for the inagular 2010 season’s amateur draft are NOT tradable. ALL Retro teams will have a first round pick for the June draft. The draft order for the 2010 amateur draft will be inverse of the standings come draft date.

-Amateur Draft Lottery. Will affect the top 5 picks of the amateur draft. The purpose of the draft is to keep teams from tanking in order to obtain the top pick in the draft. The lottery will work as follows:

#1. Worst Record: 42% at #1

#2. 26%

#3. 16%

#4. 11%

#5. 5%

Transactions

All transactions must be submitted BEFORE the due time given on the sim schedule (located on the frontpage)

       -All transactions involving lineup changes, rotations, changing of Depth Charts, or moving players between certain levels of your roster must be completed by going into the game (with the latest copy of the file downloaded), making such changes, then going to the Team Setup screen and selecting ‘Export to FTP’.

        *when posting transactions such as trades in the RL forum notes can be made describing where you wish a newly acquired player to be place level  and lineup/rotation wise. 

        -Trades should be posted in the “Completed Trades” section located in the RL forums.  One owner should take the initiative to make the original post describing the deal agreed upon.  Then the other owner involved in the transaction shall reply stating that his team agrees to the proposal. 

         -Trading of amateur draft picks is only allowed one year in advance (EX: during 2010 only picks can be traded for the 2011 draft

                          *Format that Trades should be posted with:

                             example:       The Cleveland Indians Trade:    SP-Rick Vaughn (RETRO), CF-Willie Mayes Hayes (RETRO),                                                                                           and 2B-Jo Blow(AA)

                                                     The Durham Bulls Trade:  C-Crash Davis, IF-Donnie Sadler(AAA), and CL- Bob Saget (A)            

          -In season free agent claims, players placed on waivers, DFA, and contract extensions  should all be done ‘In Game’ and exported to the league website. 

Waivers: Waivers will be handled in OOTP. GMs are responsible for placing and removing players on the waiver wire.

League Settings

• Scouting and Coaching are disabled.
• Injuries are enabled. Injury Frequency is Low and Position Player Fatigue is Average.
• Player ratings are set to a 1-100 scale while player potential ratings are set to a 1-10 scale (to simulate uncertainty of prospects talents)
• Box Scores will be kept for The Retro Leagues. Game Logs will not be kept unless by popular demand. News Logs, Injury Logs, and Transaction Logs will be kept from all leagues. Career L/R Splits, Fielding and Postseason Stats will be kept for all levels. (separate download may be required for some of these features if league file becomes too large)
• Player Personality Ratings and Morale System are enabled.
• Fictional Player and Human Manager Pictures are enabled (normal color). If you want to submit a picture of yourself I would be happy to replace it with the default fictional picture.
• Trading with AI-run teams is disabled. (If for some reason a team briefly is without one)
• All teams will have AAA, AA, A and A- affiliates.
• There will be no DH in either NL or SL.
• Roster limits are 25 players at the major league level
• Normal regular season Waiver Period Length will be 9 days; DFA Period Length will be 17 days.
• The Amateur Draft Pool will be revealed 75 days prior to the draft. The draft will be populated exclusively via feeder league players.
• Retro League Playoffs: top team from each division qualify.
• Minimum Days of Service for one Service Year are 172. Players reach arbitration eligibility after 3 service years and free agency after 6 service years. PEBA free agents may sign with international leagues, and vice versa.
• Salary Cap enabled (TBD)
• Market Size and Fan base will initially set to the same for all teams. (to be revisited after first season)

Retro League Award System

The reward system is intended to reward those who put forth the expected effort while also rewarding those who go beyond that with other contributions to the league. The commissioner reserves the right to alter the reward system and to take away RP at any time. If the commissioner decides to do this it should be known that he is acting with the vision of what is good for the Retro Leagues as a whole.

Restrictions:

-There is no trading of RP

-There is no “betting” or “wagering” with RP

You can receive “Retro Points” or (RP) for the following:

-Submitting an export (1 per sim) 1RP

-Voting on a league issues (poll on frontpage not included) 1RP

-Paypal donation to league website

-less than $7 = 5RP

-$7-$10= 10RP

-$10 and up = 15RP

*Please only 1 donation per GM per season, nothing more than that should be needed to keep the Retro League’s site up.

-Submitting an article to IReporters section of league forum 2RP(on occasion 3RP based on commish’s judgement)

-Submitting an article chosen for league frontpage 3RP

-League position

-Retro League Reward System Treasurer 25RP a season

Keeps track of Retro Points for all GMs

-Official Retro Reporter 25RP a season

Requires a webpage updated atleast once a week with content.

-League Exporter 25RP a season

Creates exports for GMs who do not have the game

-If you have any other job ideas please talk to me and I will assign an amount of RP that I feel is worth the work of the job.

You can lose RP for the following reasons:

-missing 2 exports in a row 1RP (does not apply to GMs “out of town” or any other approved absence)

-RP may also be taken away for disciplinary reasons (i.e. breaking league rules or anything else the commish feels does not represent the league well)

Retro Rewards

-Increase of a player’s personal ratings (Cost: 5RP = 1 personality rating)

Increase or decrease the following: leader ability, loyalty, desire for a winning team, green, intelligence, work ethic.

-Give/change a players nickname (Cost = 15RP)

Any player signed to your system. Only names in good taste please.

-Rename an amateur player (Cost = 20RP)

Rename any player you draft immediately after the draft in completed.

-Change amateur throwing or batting hand (Cost = 20RP)

Only for use with amateurs you draft.

-Alter ballpark factors (Cost = 10RP per “0.05” added or subtracted from factor)

Increase/decrease factors for your team’s ballpark. Ballpark factors can be found HERE

-Give any player a rating at new position (Cost = 20RP per position)

Transitions from positions work as follows:

SS, 2B, 3B to any new outfield position = 6 at new outfield position ratings

1B, C to new outfield position = 5 at new outfield position ratings

Any outfielder to 1B = 6 at 1B ratings

Any outfielder to SS,3B,2B = 4 at SS ratings

Anyone converting to C = 4 at new C ratings

Pitcher to any fielding position = 4 (except arm strength will be an 8)

Any position player to pitcher = 5 at pitcher fielding ratings (no pitching ratings)

-Retro League cash ***TBA after Inaugural season*** Shouldn’t be in need of cash wish all financials set to even to kick off The Retro Leagues.

-Heal player with season ending injury (or injury more than 6 months) to 3 week injury (Cost=15RP)

-Heal player with career ending injury to 1.5 month injury (Cost=30RP)

-Heal player during off-season for opening day (excluding career ending injuries) (Cost=15RP)

-Increase Market size ***TBA after inaugural season***

-Increase Fan loyalty “ “

-Increase Fan interest “ “