B.R.A.S.S. began the first of its rotisserie leagues in 1985 and the first of its Strat‑O‑Matic leagues in 1987 on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. Current BRASS League Director Vaughn Nuest was among the four original BRASS members and "founding fathers."

The first BRASS Strat-O-Matic Baseball League was a face‑to‑face league in 1987 with a forty game season. In the following five years, the face‑to‑face league added many new members. Among these was current BRASS League member Kevin Kolb. During this five‑year period, we played 13 league seasons ranging from 40 games to 162 games per season. We often played 4 leagues and over 400 games in the year during which we used a given set of cards.

Many original BRASS members joined the play-by-mail world in 1990 after being invited to join in the formation of a new 16-team league. As many new leagues do, the start-up league sputtered through a rocky first season under an ineffective administration, lost nearly 70% of its original owners in the first year and finished that season on the brink of collapse. BRASS began operating this league in its first off-season in 1991. The league has prospered under the BRASS Constitution since that time. In 1993, the BRASS League expanded to 20 teams. The league expanded again in 1996 to 24 teams.

The BRASS League has now grown into a well-established, high-quality league presently entering its 19^th year. It is a 24-team league which plays a 162 game season over a 6‑month period from September to February. We use the players from every major league team as our talent pool and also permit the drafting of a limited number of players in the minor league systems of MLB franchises. We use almost all super advanced rules of play, and a few time‑tested rules and programs of our own. These rules and programs are detailed in this document.

The BRASS League is divided into two smaller leagues, the Gold League and the Silver League. BRASS has six divisions in all, three in each league. There are ten post-season qualifiers each year. All six division winners qualify as well as two wild card teams from the Silver and two from the Gold. The players which make up the franchise rosters in BRASS are the Major League Baseball players who played in the most recent MLB season and a handful (two) of minor leaguers to give each franchise a semblance of a minor league system.

BRASS employs a contract system that is similar to the system used in Major League Baseball in many respects. Young players have a few seasons at minimum salary levels before a team has to decide whether to invest in a longer term deal or allow the player to place his services on the open market, available to all bidders as a restricted free agent. All BRASS teams will therefore have an opportunity to bid on and sign any player at some point in his career and most players several times in their career. The contract and free agency system promote the type of annual, MLB-style player movement that offers the opportunity for every team to improve, for every team to land a superstar.

BRASS also employs a system of revenue sharing that ensures equal footing and equal competition for all franchises. There is no such thing as a small market or large market franchise in BRASS. The teams succeed based on the decisions of the owners, along with the usual healthy dose of baseball luck that any good franchise must have. A luxury tax system ensures that no team can just save up or otherwise acquire cash and purchase a championship, at least not without paying a premium for unbridled spending.

The League has all the bells and whistles that one would want from a good league. It has an annual All-Star game, post-season awards, incentive programs for on-time mailings, rewards for league member contributions to the league, a very low league dues payment, speedy electronic delivery of league information, straight majority voting on all issues of league changes, an excellent web site with an up-to-date in-season standings feature, and an extensive compilation of the league’s history in the BRASS Encyclopedia.

The BRASS League does not have a Commissioner, as such. The League is administered by a League Director, who is assisted and supported by members of the League’s Administrative Team. The team handles jobs like Webmaster, League Statistician, Draft Conductor, League Accountant, Newsletter Editor, Free Agency Conductor, All-Star Game Coordinator, Awards Coordinator, Hall of Fame Screening Committee and any others that are necessary from year-to-year. These individuals have the authority and bear the obligation to keep the league running smoothly. The League Director or his designee may author a monthly newsletter if time permits, reports a list of who owns which draft selections, handles recruiting and other mailings, organizes and conducts all league operations, and of course rules on all league matters and disputes which may arise.

The League Director has the responsibility for making certain that league activities are conducted in accordance with the information contained in the BRASS Constitution, for enforcing league penalties in accordance with the Constitution when league members do not observe the league’s rules, for wisely spending the collective league dues on essential supplies and expenses, and for providing any league requester with information about how the league funds are spent, among other duties.

The BRASS League Director is not granted the authority to make unimpeachable rulings on major league matters however and is not granted the authority to make unilateral rules changes. His decisions are subject to the approval of the league's membership, as represented by the BRASS Executive Committee.

The BRASS Executive Committee is constituted of four league members (two from the Gold League, two from the Silver) who are in good standing. The Committee, once constituted, possesses the authority to overturn poor decisions and to rule on poor or unfair trades. The Committee's primary function is to check the power of the League Director if it should ever be necessary.

The Director does have the authority and obligation to rule on disputes, rules interpretations, and expulsions. He has commissioner-like authority, but not the end‑all authority of most commissioners. After the Director rules on an issue, a league member may appeal the ruling to the league's Executive Committee. In order for the Director's decision to be overturned, the Executive Committee must pass a majority decision on the appeal. If the voting is split, the original ruling will stand. If one or more Executive Committee members are involved in a dispute, they are not permitted to vote.

All appeals must be made within 3 days of the L.D. ruling. The league membership is cautioned about calling for appeals frivolously. The appeal process is designed simply to provide a mechanism for overturning a very poor ruling, not one that just didn't go your way. An appeal can quickly drain the league treasury of critical operating funds because of the inevitable phone bills it creates.

The BRASS Constitution provides for monthly, up‑to‑date, in‑season communication to the league's membership. League members will likely have completely current standings, league leaders, trades and other league information before playing their games for the coming month.

The league emphasizes fast turnaround time on all league information and prompt, respectful correspondence practices as basic, high ideals in the league's operations. This constitution does not permit the League Director to have any tolerance for late mailings and requires him to enforce league penalties in accordance with the Constitution on the first offense.

Being a member of the BRASS League also means your opinion will be required in periodic voting processes during the season. From All‑Star balloting to post‑season awards voting to off‑season voting processes to the BRASS League Hall of Fame voting to occasional informal vote during the season, the collective League opinion is sometimes gathered several times a year. Voting is not considered optional in the BRASS League.

BRASS is set up to be something significantly more than the run-of-the-mill Strat League and it has succeeded at this for almost two decades. Whether it winds up being a special league this year is dependent solely on its administration and its members. In order to have a successful Strat-O-Matic Baseball league, we must each be a strong link in the league's chain of owners. Everyone must meet his mailing deadlines and fulfill other obligations, treat our league colleagues with respect and remember to keep this wonderful hobby in the proper perspective.

As we see it in BRASS, that perspective is to view the league as a fun and friendly pastime, a break from the stresses and day-to-day grind of everyday life, with only league members who conduct ourselves in such a way as to bring us each the respect of our colleagues and who knows, maybe even result in a few friendships!

Article II. League Administrative Team

The BRASS League is filled with capable, competent managers and administrators. Many (or perhaps even most) of the League’s membership have been or are currently commissioners of other leagues. The League’s annual success will depend heavily on a group of veteran gamers each year who will hold down various league jobs. This team of special contributors is called the League Administrative Team.

In exchange for the significant extra work these folks are contributing for the betterment of the League, they will draw a BRASS League salary. The salary is awarded in league dollars and is credited to their team bank accounts at the end of each year served.

The members of this team, along with a brief description of their jobs and their salaries follow below.

LEAGUE DIRECTOR (David Dick, interim)

The League Director is responsible for managing and coordinating all day-to-day operations of the BRASS League. His primary service to the league is to keep the league operations running on time and in accordance with the Constitution at all times. He must recruit and select new owners for any franchise vacancies, recruit and select BRASS owners to fill as many positions in the League Administrative Team and the Executive Committee as possible, rule on all league disputes or situations that may arise, coordinate the annual league changes process, organize all league processes to keep the activities and fun flowing as smoothly as possible for all.

SALARY: $12,000,000 per year

LEAGUE ACCOUNTANT (Tony Cieszynski)

The league will entrust one person with the sole authority and responsibility for tracking, and recording all league transactions or activities that have an affect on any team’s bank account. The Accountant must maintain complete and accurate records of all financial transactions, organized by league year, and archived for future reference. The Accountant will supply the League Director with an updated bank account report on a monthly basis, or more frequently as off-season activities may warrant.

SALARY: $8,400,000 per year

LEAGUE STATISTICIAN (Scott Campbell)

The League Statistician will be entrusted with compiling all league in-season statistics upon receipt of the monthly game files which contain game results from each team. The Statistician is responsible for creating and updating the game software league setup and schedule, the roster .lzp file used to begin league play, as well as for making all roster changes that occur as a result of trades. Each month the Statistician will produce an updated .lzp file that will have up-to-date stats, rosters, league leaders, and standings. These files will be used by league members to restore the league to the current version, within each person’s game software, prior to the next month’s play. The Statistician also creates and distributes the post-season and All-Star Game .lzp league update.

SALARY: $8,400,000 per year

NEWSLETTER/BLOG EDITOR (open)

The BRASS League employs a Newsletter/Blog Editor who will provide a forum for league discussion and articles, as well as authoring periodic newsletter-style articles covering league in-season activities, league history or whatever he wishes to write about. The blog will be available to the entire league and there will be a link to it on the website.

SALARY: $4,800,000 per year (plus $1.2 M per article)

WEBMASTER (Mike Swanson)

This individual will be responsible for designing, updating, and maintaining a useful league web site. The webmaster will ensure that the site provides the league with features such as fully accessible in-season stats, leaders and standings, real-time trades and results, discussion forums, historical records, league information and contacts for recruitment, team pages, must fully register the site and make it accessible with search engines and any other features intended to enhance the enjoyment of the BRASS League for everyone.

SALARY: $9,600,000 per year

ROSTER AGENT (David Dick, interim)

The league will entrust one person with the sole authority and responsibility for the league’s Excel workbook roster file. The Roster Agent will be responsible for creating a document that accurately details the team’s roster of players, their contracts and their annual salaries. He must note all trades and must track, record and report all league transactions or activities that have an affect on any team’s bank account. The Roster Agent must keep track of each team’s draft pick holdings, ballpark assignments, and on-time mailing records. The Roster Agent will supply the league with the updated file on a monthly basis, or more frequently as off-season activities may warrant.

SALARY: $9,000,000 per year (Dick is performing this job without compensation.)

DRAFT CONDUCTOR (Steve Klein)

The league will entrust the responsibility for managing the annual Draft to one of its members as well. The Draft Conductor is responsible for providing a draft list, setting a schedule, keeping the draft moving, recording selections into the historical file and for making the decision when a manager’s pick should be skipped. The Draft Conductor is responsible for sending out the final draft report and updating the keeper of the rosters as to who was selected by whom and which selections involved a financial component. The Draft Conductor is the person to whom written instructions should be sent for those who cannot participate in person on draft day or during portions of an e-mail draft.

SALARY: $7,200,000 per year

FREE AGENCY CONDUCTOR (David Dick)

The league free agency process will be served by a person who entrusted with the responsibility for handling every aspect of the process. The Free Agency Conductor sends out the list of free agents, collects the sealed bids, determines Type A and B free agents, does all the calculations necessary to determine the winning bids for given players and manages the pace of the process as the decisions and signings are announced. He must report signings on a daily basis to the league at the end of each day during which the process is under way. He must also make a full report to the league at the end of the process by recording the signings into the league free agent file and distributing it.

SALARY: $9,000,000 per year

AWARDS COORDINATOR (Henry Vance)

One person from the league’s membership will handle the post-season awards voting. The respective members of each league are required to vote on Player of the Year, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year, and GM of the Year for the league in which they play. The Awards Coordinator will send out a statistical file that lists the player stats for all the top candidates for each category, as well as a ballot. He tallies the results, reports the winners to the league and enters the voting totals and results into the league’s Awards file before distributing it.

SALARY: $6,000,000 per year

ALL-STAR GAME COORDINATOR (Lenny Luchtefeld)

The BRASS League has an annual All-Star Game, hosted in odd-numbered years by a league member volunteer from the Silver League and in even-numbered years by a league member volunteer from the Gold League. The game will be played after the completion of November’s games.

The All-Star Game Coordinator will send out an All-Star Game ballot to all the league members from both leagues, along with a statistical file that lists the player stats for all the top candidates at each position. The Coordinator will receive and tabulate the voting. The voting totals will identify the 20 players who were voted to each 28-player team and the Coordinator that year selects the final 8 players based on team need from the list of deserving players. Each team must have at least one player representative in the All-Star Game. The Coordinator must write an article about the game and share the box score with the League.

SALARY: $6,000,000 per year

CONSTITUTION AUTHOR (David Dick, interim)

The League puts the responsibility of drafting a clear and comprehensive guide to all aspects of the league in the hands of the Constitution Author, as well as the annual responsibility of updating and revising portions of the document that may need to be revised each year.

The League Constitution governs all League activities without exception in the BRASS League. The document will be followed to the letter at all times so that league is operated in a manner that is free from surprise or inconsistency and so that the league’s membership can readily expect and predict how and when league business will take place. The document details not only the answers to the typical how, when, where and whom questions that arise in day-to-day league participation, but also a way of doing league business.

Adherence to the Constitution is mandatory for league members and those who are serving the league on the League Administrative Team alike. We all agree to follow it, as written, when we agree to play in the league. These are our rules and the pages here define and detail our contract with each other and our commitment to each other. The document is what makes the league special, the people are what make the league successful.

If no review or revision is required in a given year, this salary is not collected.

SALARY: $6,000,000 per year (Dick is performing this job without compensation.)

BRASS HALL OF FAME SCREENING COMMITTEE (both positions open)

This group serves a three-year term and is responsible for constructing the annual BRASS Hall of Fame ballot, managing the voting process in accordance with the league process outlined in Article XXXII. of the constitution, formally announcing the results to the league with an article, and enshrining the new members into the league’s Hall of Fame.

SALARY: $3,600,000 per year

Article III. The Draft

a. The annual BRASS Draft is conducted by e-mail over the course of a two-week period.

b. The Draft starts at 7 pm (ET) two Fridays prior to the second Saturday in May and ends at 7 pm (ET) two Fridays later.

c. The Draft proceeds on a pick-by-pick basis with each league member announcing his selection over e-mail when it is his turn and copying the rest of the league on the message. The Draft Conductor will set timed deadlines for making picks to ensure that The Draft does not get hung up waiting on one league member to make a pick.

d. The following players are eligible to be selected in The Draft:

· Unowned, carded players: These are players whom the game company has carded for the current season and who are not on a 30-man protected list for any BRASS franchise at the time of The Draft.

· Unowned, never-carded or “amateur” players: These are players at the professional, college, high school or any domestic league of play whom have never been carded and are not already owned by another BRASS franchise.

The following players are not eligible to be selected in The Draft:

· Protected players: These are players who are on 30-man protected lists or who still retain their amateur contract status and are on a BRASS franchise roster already.

· Uncarded Veterans: These are players who were not given cards for the current season, but who have been carded previously. These players will be unrestricted free agents in the next free agency process.

· International Professionals: These are players who have played at the major league level in another country and have signed a major league contract with a MLB team. These players will also be unrestricted free agents in the next free agency process.

e. The Draft will last for a number of rounds sufficient to satisfy all owners or until each owner has filled the 40 roster spots available for carded players in his organization and the three spots available for amateur players; whichever occurs first.

f. Draft order for each round is determined as follows:

· The 24th pick will belong to the BRASS World Series champion. The 23rd pick will go to the World Series runner‑up. The 22nd pick will belong to the League Championship Series runner‑up with the better record. The 21st pick will be awarded to the League Championship Series runner‑up with the worst record.

· Picks 17 through 20 will belong to the teams who were eliminated in the Division Series Round of the Playoffs. The order will be the inverse order of that season's regular season winning percentage for the four teams.

· Picks 15 and 16 will belong to the teams who were eliminated in the Wild Card Series. The order will be the inverse order of that season's regular season winning percentage for these two teams.

· Picks 8 through 14 will belong to the seven teams with the best records who did not make the playoff field. The order will be the inverse order of that season’s regular season winning percentage among these seven teams.

· Picks 1 through 7 will belong to the teams with the seven poorest regular season winning percentages. The order of these selections will be determined by a random, public selection process where each of the seven teams has an equal chance at landing any of the seven “lottery” picks.

g. Tie breakers for all selections will be: 1) best on‑time mailing record, 2) regular season series, 3) division record (if in same division), 4) record within the teams league (if in same league), and 5) a coin flip.

h. The Draft contains a Bonus Round after Round 3 for teams whose owners maintained perfect on‑time mailing records throughout the previous league year, from March through February. Picks in this round are in the inverse order of that season's regular season winning percentage.

i. Each team may protect 30 non-amateur players in their organization during The Draft. Players who are on no-trade contracts may not be left unprotected during The Draft.

j. All amateur players who are already on rosters are automatically protected during The Draft.

k. There is a limit of three protected amateurs per franchise going into the Draft. No team may finish the Draft with more than three amateurs on their roster.

l. A list of your 30 protected players is due to the Draft Conductor five days prior to the beginning of The Draft. A fine of $3,000,000 is incurred for being late on the mailing, with $600,000 being added for each additional late day.

m. A player left off the 30-man protected list is no longer property of his old team. In order to reclaim a player left unprotected during The Draft, the team must use one of its draft selections to do so.

n. The contract for each draftee is determined by the number of PA or IP the drafted player has accumulated to date. If a draftee has not appeared in a MLB game, he is signed to an AM contract. If a draftee has yet to reach either 40 IP or 130 PA in any given MLB season to date, he is signed to a M0 contract. If a draftee has reached at least 40 IP or 130 PA for the first time in the previous MLB season, he is signed to a Y1 contract. If a draftee has reached at least 40 IP or 130 PA in two MLB seasons, he is awarded a Y2 contract. If a draftee has reached at least 40 IP or 130 PA in three MLB seasons, he is awarded a Y3 contract. If the draftee has reached at least 40 IP or 130 PA in more than three MLB seasons, he is signed to a U contract, the length of which is determined by the team which drafted him.

o. A team may draft an unprotected player from another team during The Draft. If a team does, it must reimburse the current owner for the money remaining on the player’s contract for the current season, accept liability for all future seasons of the contract, and pay the team a $150,000 transaction fee.

Article IV. Bank Accounts & Luxury Tax

a. Each BRASS team receives an equal bank account each year. This practice represents our form of revenue sharing. We all essentially equally divide up a modified equivalent of MLB's gate receipts, merchandising profits, TV contract money, parking, advertising, concession revenues, etc. to allow everyone to compete on equal ground. None of the franchises in our league will be "small market" franchises. We divide up the $2,400,000,000 in league operating funds equally each year.

b. When the League began, each team received $135 million to spend on their initial player contracts. Expansion teams also received this same amount.

c. In every subsequent season, each team receives $100 million in operating funds.

d. The money is credited to each team's bank account on the first day after the end of each new league season, which occurs on March 1 in BRASS.

e. A team can carry over unspent money indefinitely without limit.

f. A team may not spend more money than is available in their bank account at any time. The only time a negative bank account is possible would be in the unlikely case where a team's fines have exceeded their available balance.

g. A franchise incurs an immediate and non-refundable penalty if their player payroll exceeds $165,000,000 at any time during the league year. The penalty is called a “luxury tax” and is assessed according to the tax schedule below:

LUXURY TAX SCHEDULE

Range Team Payroll Tax

1 $165,000,001 - $180,000,000 $1 owed for every $1 spent in this range

2 $180,000,001 - $210,000,000 $2 owed for every $1 spent in this range

3 $210,000,001 - $240,000,000 $3 owed for every $1 spent in this range

4 $240,000,001 - $270,000,000 $4 owed for every $1 spent in this range

5 $270,000,001 - $300,000,000 $5 owed for every $1 spent in this range

6 $300,000,001 and higher $6 owed for every $1 spent in this range

h. For luxury tax purposes, a team’s payroll is defined as the total amount of player salaries (for the current year only) who are presently on the team’s roster.

i. A team does not avoid a luxury tax assessment if a player acquisition puts them over a given total team payroll threshold, but the player’s contract is being paid by another team. The team saves the money on current salary outlay to be sure, but the total salary amounts of all players on their payroll would still exceed the threshold and the appropriate penalty is assessed.

j. If a team exceeds a threshold and is assessed a penalty, then through trades dips back under a given threshold, only to surpass the threshold later through another trade, a new luxury tax penalty is assessed for this and each time any team exceeds the given payroll threshold.

k. The penalties are not prorated. They are assessed on the full-season value of the player contract dollars, regardless of when the player is acquired. If, for instance, a player is acquired for the final month of play and his contract puts the team $10 M over the total salary threshold, the full $10 M penalty is owed and not a prorated portion of it.

l. A report of each team's current bank account is distributed on a monthly basis.

m. The payroll penalties collected from league franchises go to BRASS charities and do not get redistributed among the league’s franchises.

Article V. Contracts

a. When a player is selected in The Draft, he must be signed to a contract before joining his team. The contract options for the first few years of a player’s career are governed by the contract explanations below:

Stage 1 – Amateur (AM) contract

1. A player who has never been carded is signed to amateur contract.

2. A player can be re-signed to an amateur contract for any number of successive seasons, so long as he has not been carded.

3. The cost of the contract is $100,000.

Stage 2 – MO (minor league) contract

1. Any carded player that hasn’t reached 130 PA or 40 innings in a MLB season since they were selected in the Draft, or signed in Secondary Free Agency, can be signed to a MO contract.

2. A player can be re-signed to a MO contract for any number of successive season so long as he still meets the qualifications above and is currently signed to a MO contract.

3. If a player whose next contract would be a MO deal is not re-signed, that player will re-enter the draft..

4. The cost of the contract is $200,000.

Stage 3 – Y1 (major league) contract

1. Any carded player that reaches 130 PA or 40 innings in a MLB season for the first time since they were selected in the Draft (or signed in Secondary Free Agency) can only be signed to a Y1 contract.

2. Any carded player signed to a MO contract for one season who reaches 75-129 PA or 30-39.2 innings in the following MLB season, can be signed to a Y1 contract prior to the beginning of the BRASS season.

3. If a player whose next contract would be a Y1 deal is not re-signed, that player will re-enter the draft.

4. The cost of the contract is $400,000.

Stage 4 – Y2 (major league) contract

1. Players who were signed to a Y1 contract during the previous BRASS season can only be signed to a Y1 or Y2 contract, depending on the amount of playing time they achieved.

2. A player is signed to a Y2 contact if they reach 130 PA or 40 IP during the previous MLB season.

3. A player is signed to a Y1 contract if they did not reach 130 PA or 40 IP.

4. Players that remain under the Y1 contract will only be eligible for the playoffs if they reached 75 PA or 30 IP.

5. If a player whose next contract would be a Y2 deal is not re-signed, that player will re-enter the draft.

6. The cost of the contract is $600,000.

Stage 5 – Y3 (major league) contract

1. Players who were signed to a Y2 contract during the previous BRASS season can only be signed to a Y2 or Y3 contract, depending on the amount of playing time they achieved.

2. A player is signed to a Y3 contact if they reach 130 PA’s or 40 IP during the previous MLB season.

3. A player is signed to a Y2 contract if they did not reach 130 PA or 40 IP.

4. Players that remain under the Y2 contract will only be eligible for the playoffs if they reached 75 PA or 30 IP.

5. If a player whose next contract would be a Y3 deal is not resigned, that player will re-enter the draft.

6. The cost of the contract is $800,000.

Stage 6 – A and U (major league) contracts

1. Players who were signed to a Y3 contract during the previous BRASS season can only be signed to a Y3, A, or U contract, depending on the amount of playing time they achieved.

2. A player may be signed to a A or U contact if they reach 130 PA or 40 IP during the previous MLB season.

3. A player is signed to a Y3 contract if they did not reach 130 PA or 40 IP.

4. Players that remain under the Y3 contract or signed to a U contract will only be eligible for the playoffs if they reached 75 PA or 30 IP.

5. If a player whose next contract would be an A or U deal is not re-signed, that player will be released into the free agency pool.

6. The cost of the A or U contract depends on the type and length you choose. The table below provides the possible A and U contracts and their associated costs.

U Type Contract A Type Contract

Length Yearly Payment Total Cost Yearly Payment Total Cost

1 yr $1,200,000 $1,200,000 N/A N/A

2 yr $1,500,000 $3,000,000 N/A N/A

3 yr $2,000,000 $6,000,000 $5,250,000 $15,750,000

4 yr N/A N/A $8,250,000 $33,000,000

5 yr N/A N/A $9,750,000 $48,750,000

N/A indicates that a contract is not available for that type and length.

7. A team retains matching rights to players who have finished an A contract. These players become restricted free agents (RFAs).

8. A team does NOT retain matching rights to players who have finished a U contract. These players become unrestricted free agents (UFAs).

9. A player who receives no offers as a restricted free agent (RFA) may be signed to a new B contract, bound by the free agency minimum salary marks for the given number of years.

b. A player may also be signed to a month-to-month major league contract (MTM) if his owner believes he will only be active for a few months during the season and if he is acquired in the Secondary Free Agency process. The team pays $105,000 at the time of signing, covering his first month’s salary. It pays an additional $105,000 for each additional month that the player is on the 25-man, active major league roster. Managers must inform the L.D. which (MTM) players are going to be active in the coming month before the 1^st of the month. At the end of the season for which a player was signed to the month-to-month contract option, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

c. All contracts of every type are considered to be guaranteed. If a player is released before the termination of his contract, the team who releases him is still obligated to make any annual contract payments still owed and meet the total value of the contract they promised to the player when he was signed to the guaranteed deal. This value is considered to be the terminal pay for that player’s terminated contract. The contract is considered to be void upon the player's release. Any terminal payments which a franchise owes will be listed on the league roster sheets.

d. If a released player is acquired by another team, he must be signed to a new contract, regardless of the length of his previous contract. The new contract does not take the place of the old, it is compensation that the player earns in addition to his old contract.

e. No team may sign any player to a contract of more than five seasons in length, no matter the type of contract.

f. When a team signs players to contracts, the money for the current year of the contract comes from the team’s current bank account. Obligation to pay for each subsequent season is met on each subsequent March 1 after each BRASS franchise receives the $100,000,000 annual operating funds. In other words, each player is paid a lump sum for each season in which he is under contract on March 1 of that league year.

g. A player's contract status for a given season is found in the string of numbers and letters located after his name on the team roster sheets.

h. The player’s contract status will be expressed in a contract string taking on the following form: (Ay-x) or (Uy-x), where x is a number representing the current year of the contract, and y represents the length of the contract.

Examples: (U2-1) – Player is in the 1^st year of a 2-year, $3 Million unrestricted contract.

(A4-3) – Player is in the 3^rd year of a 4-year, $33 Million restricted contract.

i. When a player’s major league contract comes as a result of a contract offer obtained in his free agency process, the total value of the contract also appears on the roster sheet.

j. A player who receives no offers as a restricted free agent may be signed to a new deal by his team, using the pay scales and options outlined in the section a., Stage 6 description above, except that any “A” contract is now designated as a “B” contract. A three‑year contract signed under this scenario will bear a string like this: (B3-1). The players on “B” contracts become unrestricted free agents at the contract's conclusion.

k. After a player has completed any “B” contract, or is released during any season, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Any major league contract after the “B” contract is complete will also be expressed as a “B” contract, except in the case of a contract extension, as outlined in sec. e below.

l. A contract string which is followed by the designation "-pd." indicates that another team has agreed to pay this player's contract as part of a trade or other transaction agreement. Players with this designation after their contract strings therefore do not cost their current or future owners any money in contract expense for the year(s) covered by the “-pd.” agreement. These players, if exposed to the draft and drafted do not require reimbursement to the previous owner by the drafting team.

m. A manager may extend any “B” contract for any amount of years, using the following cost structure:

Years 1-3: $15,000,000 per year or current player contract times 1.1 annually (whichever quantity is higher)

Year 4: $18,000,000 per year or current player contract times 1.15 annually (whichever quantity is higher)

Year 5: $21,000,000 per year or current player contract times 1.2 annually (whichever quantity is higher)

· The contract extension option may be exercised anytime between the original signing of the “B” contract and January 31 during the final season of the contract. In essence, the player refuses to negotiate shortly before his free agency begins.

· Once a player's contract has been extended, the contract string will be signified with an "X", as opposed to a "B".

· To represent the newly-extended contract string,, the total amount of the initial contract is added to the total amount spent on the extension. For instance, if a player on a (B4-3) contract is extended for 5 years, the new contract string would look like this: (X7-1,$113.25M). [The two years remaining on the existing contract, added to the five-year extension equals 7 years; the new contract is in it's first year; $8,250,000 remaining on the initial contract plus $105,000,000 for the extension equals $113,250,000 - thus, (X7-1,$113.25M)].

· "X" contracts cannot be extended and once a player completes an "X" contract he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

m. When a team reaches an agreement with a player on a contract extension or a free agency contract, which is at least 3 years in length and at least $36 M in total value, it may designate the contract as a no-trade contract if it wishes, in exchange for a 5% reduction in the player’s annual salary. This designation attempts to simulate the MLB model where players may agree to stay with a given team for less money, if given the guarantee that their lives will not be disrupted by a trade.

The following text details specific manner in which the program is applied in the BRASS League, the specific trade restrictions imposed by the no-trade designation and the penalty incurred by trading the player:

· A team may declare any contract extension or any contract signed as result of free agency, a “no-trade” contract, as long as it is at least 3 years in length and at least $36,000,000 in amount.

· An owner must announce his intention to declare a newly signed contract a “no-trade contract” immediately upon announcing a contract extension or signing a player in free agency. The designation may not be used retrospectively.

· Upon announcing a no-trade contract, the signing team will receive a 5% discount off the annual salary of the tendered contract. This amount will serve as the player's concession to receive the no-trade provision.

· A new contract string will be created. Examples are: (B4-1,$75M-nt) or (X3-1,$45M-nt) The “nt” will of course stand for: no-trade. The league will list the original amount of the offered contract in the contract string so as to easily recall what the original contract offer was and to easily determine what the discount was.

· If a team decides it wants to trade a player with a “no-trade” contract it must reimburse the player for 5% of the total original value of the contract (its NT discount) plus 5% of the remaining value of the contract (its penalty).

· When a player with a “no-trade” contract is indeed traded, the league will assume that the no-trade provision was waived only to go to the new team, and no other, and the no-trade contract will remain in effect. The new team will receive the original 5% discount. If the new team or any other team wishes to trade the player it must make the same contract reimbursement and pay the same penalty as the player’s original team.

· No player who has been signed to a no-trade contract may be left unprotected in the league’s annual draft.

While the intention of this rule is to simulate the condition by which a player and franchise agree to cast their lots together for a few years while the player pursues his profession in that city, we know that in MLB, on occasion, no-trade contracts are waived or bought out. Sometimes a player with a no-trade contract is traded, though generally not without the team compensating the player in some way. This is possible in BRASS as well. The points above are designed to simulate that "traded for a price" concept.

n. You must notify the L.D. by the given deadline for each season in early March which of your players you intend to sign for the coming season and under what contract. This notification should also include those players whom you intend to cut from the organization. A fine of $3,000,000 is incurred by being late on the notification with $600,000 added for each additional day late.

Article VI. Free Agency

a. After any player's “A” contract expires, he becomes a restricted free agent and may obtain an offer sheet (or bid) from any league owner during the free agency process. The offer sheets are obtained in the form of sealed bids submitted to the Free Agency Conductor.

b. After a player has completed his “B” contract, or is released during the season and is beyond his Y3 year, he becomes an unrestricted free agent. He may also obtain an offer sheet from any league owner during the Free Agency process.

c. A legitimate free agency bid must be at least equal to the minimums shown below for the given number of years:

CONTRACT LENGTH ANNUAL COST TOTAL COST

1 year $ 600,000 $ 600,000

2 year $ 1,200,000 $ 2,400,000

3 year $ 2,000,000 $ 6,000,000

4 year $ 3,000,000 $ 12,000,000

5 year $ 4,800,000 $ 24,000,000

d. A restricted free agent's owner does not submit a bid on him. He waits until all the bids are in and will have the opportunity to retain his player.

e. To retain a player, the team which owns his matching rights need only match the best bid a player obtained. The team must match the length of the contract offered and the dollar value. He may top the best offer in any way (using the Bid Superiority Chart to do so) and is entitled to know which team signed the player to the offer sheet.

f. If an owner loses a restricted free agent, he may receive a compensatory draft selection in the next draft. The awarding of a draft pick depends on the quality of the free agent, as expressed by the teams bidding for his services. The measure of the quality of a restricted free agent is determined by finding the average of the offer sheets submitted for his services.

g. The average free agent offer is calculated by adding up the total amount of dollars bid for his services and dividing by the total number of years offered in the contract bids. If six or more bids are submitted for a given restricted free agent, the highest and lowest bid are tossed out. A player must have at least two bids to be considered eligible for averaging process.

h. After the average offers have been calculated, the restricted free agents who received bids are arranged in order from highest quality to lowest. The top 10% of the players on the list, rounded to the nearest whole number, are called Type A free agents. The next 10% of the players are called Type B free agents. At this point, the decisions to match or not to match can be made. If there are fewer than 10 restricted free agents overall, the player with the highest average bid will be Type A and the player with the second highest average bid will be Type B.

i. Regardless of what is listed in h. above, any RFA whose average bid (per contract year) comes out to at least 15% of the basic yearly revenue for each team will be Type A. Any RFA whose average bid (per contract year) comes out to at least 10% of the basic yearly revenue will be a Type B if he doesn’t otherwise qualify as Type A.

j. If a team loses a Type A free agent, it is awarded a compensatory draft selection after the completion of The Draft's first round. If a team loses a Type B free agent, it is awarded a compensatory draft selection after the completion of The Draft's second round.

k. The order of the compensatory draft selection is the descending order of the quality of the free agent lost.

l. Unrestricted free agents may be signed by the team who has the reigning top bid at that given point in the process.

m. A list of available restricted and unrestricted free agents will be sent out to league members by March 15.

n. All sealed bids for these players will be due by a date to be determined by the L.D. each year, generally sometime near March 25. Any bids sent after the deadline will be disregarded. You should clearly label your sealed bids so they are not opened prematurely by the person handling free agency, who will also be a participant. The Free Agency Conductor should reduce the chances for this by filling out his own bids first, then sharing them with someone else in the league and announcing that it is safe to submit bids.

o. The free agents will be placed with their teams and contract status of each player reported at the completion of free agency and before The Draft.

p. Individual owners retain the rights to their restricted free agents not signed in the free agent process. They may release the player or sign him to a major league contract whose length and minimum annual salary is outlined by the cart in section c. above. Note that the contracts will become “B” contract in this case.

q. A franchise retains no rights to an unrestricted free agent who receives no offers. These players will be available in The Draft, if carded.

r. To determine which free agent bids are superior to others, use the information in Article VII. Free Agent Contract Bid Superiority and the Bid Superiority Chart that is contained in that Article. The processes described in Article VII. will be used as the sole determinant in finding the top free agent contract offer for a given free agent.

s. If two free agent offers are identical, the tie‑breaker is: 1) best on‑time mailing record, 2) lower regular season winning percentage from the past season, and 3) coin flip.

t. Owners must submit bids with complete independence. They may not collaborate to influence the intended secret, sealed bids in any way. They may especially not collaborate on bids designed to artificially set the market value on a given player or on a given team's crop of free agents in a given year. This constitutes collusion and as in MLB, carries a heavy penalty. Any BRASS member engaging in collusionary practices against another owner can be expelled from the league or be penalized at the sole discretion of the L.D.

Article VII. Free Agent Contract Bid Superiority

In developing and using a system that attempts to simulate the decision making of the average MLB free agent, the league makes some basic assumptions.

We assume that the average free agent will be concerned about three main characteristics of any contract offer: 1) length, 2) total value, 3) guarantee status. When comparing contract offers, a free agent will use the first two characteristics listed above to determine his average salary per season. We assume that the average salary per season is the determining factor in contract offers whose lengths are identical and is extremely important in contract offers whose lengths are similar. We also assume that to eliminate an extra bookkeeping task and to keep the comparisons relatively simple, we ignore guaranteed, non‑guaranteed, bonus clauses, option years, incentives, buyouts and other MLB contract elements that would serve to make our job more difficult and muddy up the comparison process. So, all deals are said to be guaranteed. If you make the bid, you pay the price‑‑no escape hatches.

Beginning this process by making the basic, logical assumptions listed above, we simplify the process a great deal. We boil the contract offer comparison process down to just one number, the average salary per year.

We realize that any system we create in our PBM world to judge contract offer superiority is missing the key element in the MLB process of determining bid superiority‑‑the living, breathing, thinking, deciding player. The only way to simulate the player's decision making is to employ a device that places value on the same things a real player does, and will make a judgment which is similar to a player's judgment. This "judge" is found in our employment of the Bid Superiority Chart.

In setting up the Bid Superiority Chart, the League again makes a couple basic assumptions. We assume that a longer deal, for the same average salary per season, would be judged superior by any free agent. For instance, a 3 yr, $36 M offer would be better than a 2 yr, $24 M offer. We further assume that average salary per season was less of a determinant in comparing relatively long term offers than relatively short term offers.

The Bid Superiority Chart compares two contract offers, using the assumptions outlined above as important to the process we have already established, and determines which offer is better. It allows us to compare contracts of any length and any total value. It does this by using multipliers designed to "judge" (in place of the live free agent) a shorter‑term contract of higher average salary per season against a longer‑term deal of less average salary per season.

The Chart makes the assumption that if you have two offers of say, 4 yr, $72 M and 5 yr, $85 M (which translates to $18 M per year for 4 years and $17 M per year for 5 years), the player would likely take the long‑term security. But on competing offers of say, 4 yr, $72 M and 5 yr, $80 M the choice is not so clear. The extra year of the second contract at only $8 M, as compared to his average of $18 M per year under the other deal probably would not be palatable.

A few examples of competing offers, and the likely choice of a free agent presented with these offers, shaped the chart:

FREE AGENT

Player A

Player B

Player C

Player D

OFFER #1

4 yr. $72 M

3 yr. $72 M

OFFER #2

5 yr. $85 M

5 yr. $80 M

4 yr. $90 M

4 yr. $84 M

LIKELY CHOICE

the 5-yr. deal

the 4-yr. deal

the 3-yr. Deal

In each set of examples above, the chart assumes there will be a "break even" point, somewhere in between the offers listed under "Offer #2," where the difference is too close to call, or where the offers are basically equal. The Chart assumes that the tie‑breaker for all "equal" offers goes to the deal in which the most money was offered.

The Chart treats longer‑term contracts with higher value because a free agent will usually opt for the deal that guarantees him significant long‑term security, over a short‑term windfall, because long‑term contracts risk greater sums of money than short‑term. In each case however, the chart builds in the possibility of a player selecting a huge single‑year or two‑year payday over a long‑term deal, and then deciding to take his chances on attracting interest in the free agent market after the year is over, like Wally Joyner did in the off‑season after the 1991 MLB season. Of course, as in MLB, a team takes a significant risk by bidding this way. They might get a good player, but at an extremely high price for a short period of time. And they do not retain matching rights in the next free agent cycle for this player.

Now, let's go through how one uses the Chart.

Let's use one of the above examples of competing contract offers. Let's say we want to use the Chart to compare offers Meridian and Plainsfield make for Alex Rodriguez when he becomes a free agent. Let's say Meridian offers Alex a 4 yr, $72 M deal and Plainsfield offers a 5 yr, $85 M deal. Who will Alex choose? To find out, we first determine the average salary per season of the two offers. The Meridian offer averages out to $18 M per season (over 4) and the Plainsfield offer averages out to $17 M per season (over 5).

We are comparing a four‑year deal to a five‑year deal, so the chart will be necessary to tell us the "multiplier" we must use to find out if the smaller deal (the $72 M deal) is superior to the larger one. Use chart's "4" row and sight over until the "4" row intersects with the "5" column. This is the multiplier. Multiply this quantity (1.125) by the average contract of the LONGER deal. If the average salary of the shorter deal is higher than this quotient, then the shorter deal is superior. If it is not, the longer deal is superior. The multipliers allow us to compare a shorter length deal, with a little higher average contract per season with longer‑term deals to determine bid superiority.

Let's work through the results...

The average salary of the Plainsfield offer is $17 M per season X the 1.125 multiplier = $19.125 M per season. Since this number is larger than the average salary of the Meridian offer ($18 M), the Plainsfield 5‑year deal wins out.

BID SUPERIORITY CHART

USE

THIS

SIDE

FOR

THE

SHORT-

THE

TWO

OFFERS

THIS

SIDE

FOR

1.5

THE

1.75

1.25

LONGER

2.0

1.5

1.175

2.25

1.75

1.25

1.125

THE

TWO

OFFERS

This process simulates what a free agent is "likely" to do. We cannot account for individual choices, or what we might do in their position. All we can really employ is a fair system which simulates the decision making of the "average" free agent, who is motivated by just about all the same factors as the next guy, or even us, if we were in their shoes.

Article VIII. Clustering Free Agent Contract Bids

A team may bid on as many free agents as it wishes, by "clustering" the bids according to the procedure outlined in the following paragraphs.

In free agency, a team may opt to use the process to bid on just a couple players and take their chances on landing them. They may not be satisfied with less than the top player available at a given position of need and might prefer to draft a young player in the next draft, instead of pursuing the rest of the free agents. But if a team decides it wants one of a given year's crop of second basemen, or starting pitchers, etc. it can "cluster" its bids to define a group of players with something in common in whom they have interest even if, in total, the bids exceed the team's bank account. Here's how:

A team can construct a free agent cluster by position, by age or by "desirability." The bidding franchise may use whatever criteria it wishes in which to cluster the players. The cluster system attempts to simulate the process a MLB team goes through in "pursuing" players to fill a certain need or desire. Perhaps a MLB team wants a "franchise player" and doesn't care what position he plays. They might "pursue" several players in a "franchise player cluster". Or perhaps if they want a #1 left‑handed starter, they might well pursue a group of lefties that they have on their "short list."

Let's say for example a team decides it has to have one of the current crop of free agent shortstops and one of the current crop of free agent relievers. Let's also say that their current bank account holds $51 M. They could cluster their bids in the following way to give them a greater chance at landing one of the players they want.

They list the clusters they have created and also list their bids, in descending order of the values of the average annual contracts. In our example, the team wanted a shortstop or a reliever, so they might rank their shortstop and reliever bids in the following way:

SHORTSTOP CLUSTER RELIEVER CLUSTER

Player A: 3 years, $60 M offer, $20,000,000 annually Player A: 3 years, $48 M offer, $16,000,000 annually

Player B: 3 years, $48 M offer, $16,000,000 annually Player B: 3 years, $42 M offer, $14,000,000 annually

Player C: 2 years, $24 M offer, $12,000,000 annually Player C: 3 years, $30 M offer, $10,000,000 annually

Player D: 2 years, $12 M offer, $6,000,000 annually Player D: 2 years, $18 M offer, $9,000,000 annually

Player E: 1 year, $6 M offer, $6,000,000 annually

They might also choose to bid on a couple backup middle infielders in the following way:

MIDDLE INFIELDER CLUSTER

Player A: 1 year, $ 3,000,000 M offer, $3,000,000 annually

Player B: 1 year, $ 2,400,000 M offer, $2,400,000 annually

When clustering bids, a team need only ensure that the combined totals of the annual salaries of the top offers in all their clusters do not exceed their bank account. In the case of our example, the combined total of the annual salaries of their top cluster offers is $39 M, well under their $51 M budget.

If a team's offer for any individual player within any cluster is the top offer (using the Bid Superiority Chart), then their offer is considered to be the superior bid. If the player's current team owns matching rights to the player, the superior bid could be matched, and the team in the market for a shortstop or whatever, would still have a crack at another shortstop. If a team submitted the superior bid on two players from the same cluster, and the bids were not matched or could not be matched by his current team, the bidding team reserves the right to pick the player they want, rather than getting stuck with two starting shortstops.

Cluster size is limited to 15 players per cluster. A team may also wish to place their own restricted free agent at the top of a cluster. This is done with the understanding that the team prefers to re-sign it's own free agent in this category. If a team does opt to retain this restricted free agent by matching the top contract offer, it is not obligated to pursue any of the bids lower in the cluster. It can drop them all. But if a team does not retain it's own top-of-cluster free agent, the team is protected by being able to pursue the lower bids in the cluster if it wishes.

Article IX. Secondary Free Agency Process

As a way for teams to acquire additional PAs and IPs after The Draft, the league employs the following secondary free agency process.

a. The Secondary Free Agency Conductor publishes a list of undrafted, carded players beyond their Y3 year by the annual deadline, usually in late-May.

b. Any team who wishes to offer a contract to an undrafted, carded player beyond their Y3 year may do so by making a legal bid.

c. Bidding teams may bid major league “B” contract offers of no more than one year. A one-year offer must equal or exceed the major league minimum for free agency contracts for a one-year contract.

d. Month-to-month major league contract bids are also accepted for any number of months. Again here the bid must at least equal the minimum contract amount for the given number of months offered.

e. The winning bid is the one which offers the most money, regardless of contract length.

Article X. Roster

a. Active rosters are limited to 25 during the first 5 months of the season.

b. Active rosters may expand to 40 during the final month of the season.

c. Teams may make changes in their active rosters prior to a given month's play only.

d. Each roster must have at least 8 pitchers and must have one backup for each infield position. A player may backup more than one position.

e. A team need not have a backup player at a position where the starter cannot be injured.

f. A team may not have more than 40 carded players on their roster at the completion of The Draft, and may not have more than two amateurs.

g. Anytime after the Draft and until the deadline for submitting 30-man protected lists for the next Draft, a team may carry an unlimited number of players on their team roster, whether they are carded or amateur.

h. If a team uses more players than it is permitted in any given month, and it was the fault of their manager, a $3,000,000 fine is incurred.

Article XI. Rules of Play

The BRASS League uses all SOM game company super-advanced rules, including/except the following:

a. All injuries last for the remainder of the current game in progress only, except of course for the players who are only temporarily shaken up and can continue in the game without missing any playing time.

b. All pitchers involved in trades are considered rested.

c. BRASS uses the closer rule.

d. We use the super‑advanced relief pitcher rest guidelines programmed into the computer game. Each reliever is considered to be rested at the beginning of each series.

e. You may only pinch hit for the last player you have at a given position if you are losing in the 9th or later.

f. An outfielder may play another outfield position not listed on his card, according to the game company's guidelines for such play.

g. No position player (except for outfielders as outlined in section g. above) may play a position not listed on their card unless they are the last option as an injury replacement or are replacing a player pinch hit for when losing in the 9th or later. Use the game company's guidelines when playing infielders and catchers out of position. There is an exception to this rule for position players that are not rated for any defensive position. These players will be allowed to play either first base or left field, depending on whether they were an infielder or outfielder when they played in the field earlier in their MLB career, according to the discretion of the League Director. These players will receive the worst possible defense rating assigned by Strat-O-Matic for the position.

h. A pitcher who does not have reliever listed on his card may not relieve and a pitcher without a starter rating on his card may not make a start.

i. A position player may not pitch.

j. A pitcher cannot be used as a pinch hitter unless it is for another pitcher. A pitcher can be inserted as a position player, and take an at bat, if the last player at a given position was pinch hit for in the 9^th inning and the game goes into extra innings. But the pitcher may be inserted only if there are no other position players available. Pitchers will use the pitcher's hitting cards they earned during the MLB season.

k. BRASS uses the pitch count feature.

l. BRASS does not use Strat’s clutch hitting feature.

m. No team may exceed 213 total sacrifices in a given season. The number is exactly 150% of the modern-day record for American League sacrifices after the adoption of the DH. The record is 142, by Gene Mauch’s 1979 Minnesota Twins. The rule exists to address instances were teams were using wholesale sacrifice bunt attempts as method of stretching plate appearances, often regardless of the game situation or player. The sacrifice restriction hopefully reinforces the BRASS ideal that each team be played strictly to win at all times, while still permitting the manager who prefers to employs the sacrifice bunt strategy as a runner-advancement strategy to use it liberally.

Article XII. Player Usage

a. The plate appearance limit for any position player in any BRASS season is the total of his at bats and walks in that MLB season.

b. A pitcher’s usage limit in any BRASS season is limited to the number of innings pitched in that MLB season.

c. A pitcher may not start more than 35 times in a BRASS season unless he started more than that during the MLB season. Pitchers who started more than 35 times during the MLB season are limited to 39 starts or their actual MLB starts number, whichever is larger.

d. A pitcher who has both starter and reliever on his card can move from starter to reliever in a given month or months, but may not violate the super‑advanced starter/reliever rest rules programmed into the game company’s software.

e. Any pitcher giving up 12 runs in an outing must be manually pulled by the owner playing the games.

f. Only pitchers who have an asterisk next to their endurance rating (asterisked starters) in the game rosters may start a game on three‑day's rest. Pitchers who are not asterisked starters must rest four days between starts. Be careful from the end of one month to the beginning of the next, and from the end of the regular season to the beginning of the post‑season, the three-day rest rule applies here too.

g. There is assumed to be no rest days between months of the regular season.

h. A starting pitcher may not be removed from a regular season start until he has either become fatigued or allowed 5 runs, or until the potential 5^th run is on base in the 3^rd inning or later. This runner may not be placed on base with an intentional walk.

i. Players who played in both leagues will often receive three cards by the game company: a NL card, an AL card, and an interleague card. For such players, the interleague card is the one eligible to be used in BRASS play.

j. Managers must adhere strictly to all players’ usage limits.

k. A usage buffer of 10 PA's and 5 IP's is provided in case extra‑inning games, player injuries, other game events, or slight manager miscalculation in the final month cause a player to be overused by a slight amount.

l. If a player exceeds his usage buffer and it was the fault of his manager, the manager incurs a penalty according to the charts below:

Position Players:
11-15 PA over the limit: $1,500,000
16-20 PA over the limit: $3,000,000
21-25 PA over the limit: $4,500,000
26-30 PA over the limit: $6,000,000
31+ PA over the limit:      $7,500,000

Pitchers:
6-9 IP over the limit:         $1,500,000
10-12 IP over the limit:    $3,000,000
13-15 IP over the limit:    $4,500,000
16-18 IP over the limit:    $6,000,000
19+ IP over the limit:        $7,500,000

m. If the game (or games) in which the overuse occurred affects the standings and/or draft order, the game (or games) is replayed from the point at which the overuse exceeded the buffer if the team who was responsible for the overuse won the game or games. If the team lost, the game stands. A team may not benefit from the overuse of a player or players.

n. The overuse buffer is designed to give managers a little insurance from fines because of an unforeseen or unexpected occurrence which caused a player's overuse. It is not intended and should not be seen as an additional 10 PA's and 5 IP's for any of your players. A manager is limited to the MLB usage of the player, but is protected in case something unforeseen happens.

o. If a manager systematically overuses his players, managing several of their PA's and IP's into the buffer zone, he may be penalized at the sole discretion of the L.D.

Article XIII. Trading

a. Both owners involved in a trade must report their trade in real-time and in public in the Trades Forum, accessible from the league’s web site. In order to avoid misunderstandings, the report must feature the names of the BRASS teams who agreed, the first and last names of the players who were traded, the specific year, owning team and round of any draft selections traded and specific financial agreements (if they differ from the league defaults). One owner reports the trade and the other must confirm the trade by posting a response that details the exact same trade details as the initial report.

b. In‑season trades must be reported by midnight (ET) on the final day of the month in order to have the trade take effect by the following month.

c. Players in the first year of their newly signed free agent contract are not allowed to be traded until after November 1 (in time for December’s games).

d. Off‑season trades must be reported as soon as they are made.

e. The in‑season, post-season eligible trade deadline, for trading between the two Leagues is midnight (ET), December 31. An interleague trade can occur after this deadline and until the January 31 deadline, but the player(s) acquired are ineligible for post-season play.

f. The in‑season trade deadline for trading within each League is midnight (ET), January 31. Players in the final year of their contract are not allowed to be traded after this time (i.e. no trading of free agent matching rights after the season concludes).

g. No trading is permitted during the period of time between midnight (ET) on the final day of February and the receipt of the free agency signings report from the L.D..

h. A traded player's new team takes on financial responsibility for all remaining months and years of his contract. Use the information below to determine what percentage of the current year's contract for which you would be liable if you acquired a player during given points in the league's accounting year.

- in all off-season deals (through August 31) teams pay 100% of current year's salary.

- if a trade takes effect for October's games, teams pay 83.33% (5 months out of 6) of the current year's contract

- if a trade takes effect for November's games, teams pay 66.67% (4 months out of 6) of the current year's contract

- if a trade takes effect for December's games, teams pay 50.00% (3 months out of 6) of the current year's contract

- if a trade takes effect for January's games, teams pay 33.33% (2 months out of 6) of the current year's contract

- if a trade takes effect for February's games, teams pay 16.67% (1 months out of 6) of the current year's contract

These are the default contract liabilities. Trading teams may negotiate any different contract payment arrangements they wish as part of a trade.

h. For players who are traded and whose contracts are being paid by another team (those with "-pd." as part of their contract strings), the default situation is that neither the trading team nor the receiving team incurs an expense or receives a contract reimbursement.

i. You may trade money and draft picks, but cannot enter into an agreement to trade next year's money, whether implied or announced, or arranged as part of a future trade.

j. Amateur players are eligible to be traded.

k. No trade can be made involving any players to be named later, whether the deal is announced as such or arranged as part of a future trade.

l. You may sell a player, but you may not loan a player.

m. You may trade ballparks if you wish. You may trade them even up or in combination with money, players or draft picks.

n. An appeal may be made to the Executive Committee if any owner thinks a trade should be nullified because it is unfair.

o. The Executive Committee must vote unanimously to overturn a trade and should only vote to overturn a trade that will absolutely not benefit one owner at present or in the future.

p. A team may trade draft selections but must retain a total of four draft choices in the first five rounds between the current year's draft and the next year's draft.

q. A team may not trade draft selections for any drafts other than the coming draft and the one after it.

r. No team may benefit from trading a draft pick that occurs after their last pick in a given Draft. For example, a team is not entitled to trade a sixth round draft pick if it stopped drafting in the fifth round. A team is not permitted to trade something it does not own, even if it expected to be drafting past the sixth round at the time of the trade. If a team finds itself in this position, it must either: 1) trade places with the team who owns their sixth pick, 2) pass on the fifth round selection and make their final pick in the seventh, or 3) use the fifth round pick but release a player and select another one sometime after the sixth round pick they traded.

s. If a team has a trade need or a player it wishes to advertise, the most common method is to e-mail the league’s membership directly.

t. New league members may not trade until they are announced as a new league member.

Article XIV. On‑Time Mailing Records

a. Making mailings on time is a fundamental obligation of a BRASS league manager. Late mailings slow league progress, inconvenience our fellow league members and show a general lack of interest in retaining your BRASS franchise. The league offers incentive and reward for fulfilling all of one's mailing responsibilities each year by tabulating on‑time mailing records for each BRASS owner.

b. The L.D. will tabulate the on‑time records for each BRASS League owner.

c. He will record each late mailing as a strike against the on‑time record of the league member who made the mailing later than required.

d. On-time mailing records are reset on March 1 each year to coincide with the start of the new league year.

e. A mailing is considered to be late, and recorded as such, when it is even a single day or hour or minute later than required.

f. League on‑time record is used as the primary tie‑breaker in regular draft order, compensatory draft selection order and in free agent ties. It also is used as the basis for qualifying for the Bonus Round of The Draft, held after the third round for everyone who had a perfect on‑time record during the past year.

g. In order to be considered to have had a perfect mailing record for a given league year, a league member must have been in the league for the entire year and have met every single mailing deadline that was required of him. League members who join in the middle of the year are therefore ineligible for the Bonus Round pick award that is given only for a full season of perfect mailings.

Article XV. League Penalties

The L.D. is required to announce the following penalties if a league member is late with any of the mailings that are due during in-season months.

a. First occurrence results in the loss of the upcoming bonus round pick..

b. Second occurrence, $1,500,000 fine.

c. Third occurrence, $3,000,000 fine, loss of second round draft pick in the next Draft. If no second round pick, the fine is $6,000,000.

d. Fourth occurrence, $6,000,000 fine, loss of third round draft pick in the next Draft, possible expulsion from the league if the L.D. wishes. If no third round pick, the fine is $7,500,000.

e. Fifth or sixth in-season late mailings, $12,000,000 fine.

Any league member should report the receipt of a late mailing for which a fine has not yet appeared in the distributed league files.

f. A "nuisance" fine of $1,200,000 is incurred whenever a league member forces the League Director or Statistician to spend additional time, effort or money to remedy a problem caused by the inattention or neglect of the league member. Some examples include:

· causing them to ask for information he was supposed to receive in the first place (ie. the "little things" that are small enough to not incur a full incomplete or late mailing fine like no starter listed for a given day in a pitching rotation report, a series results mailing that is incomplete or formatted incorrectly, or other similar oversights)

· causing the League Statistician to have to re-compile or re-enter player or team stats that are now incorrect due to a replay which was caused by the given league member's inattention

· other time-, effort- or money-wasting incidents at the discretion of the League Director

The League Director's discretion will be guided by the important concept that "nobody is perfect", but that his and other Administrative Team members considerable contributions to the League should not include having their time and efforts diminished or wasted by league members who fail to provide the basic information they are supposed to provide for them to be able to do their jobs.

g. If a league member incurs two nuisance fines in the same year he may not participate in the Bonus Round of The Draft that year.

h. If a league member incurs four nuisance fines in the same year or a total of six over any consecutive seasons, he may be expelled from the league at the sole discretion of the L.D. If a league member totals six nuisance fines in a single season or ten over any two consecutive seasons, he is automatically expelled.

Article XV. is clearly the least pleasant part of the constitution. It is one which is very important but hopefully will not be necessary. The L.D. and each league member would love to see each league member meet his mailing obligations and not inconvenience another league member. Here's hoping this article will be an inactive part of the Constitution!

Article XVI. Playoffs

a. The six division winners qualify for the Playoffs, as do two wild card teams from each league. The wild card entries to the Playoffs are awarded to the two teams in each league with the best regular season record who are not division-winners.

b. The Playoffs begin as soon as possible after the regular season ends.

c. In each league, the playoffs begin with the Wild Card Series. The Gold League Wild Card Series is played between the two Gold League Wild Card teams and the two Silver League Wild Card teams square off in the Silver League Wild Card Series. The series are both best-of-five in a 2-2-1 format with the home field team hosting the first 2 games and last game, if necessary.

d. After the Wild Card Series have been completed, each league begins the Division Series. There are two Division Series in each league. They are best-of-seven series. One Division Series in each league will feature the team with the best record among that league's playoff teams versus the team with the worst. The teams with second and third best records play in the other series. The team with the better record gets home field advantage. The series are played in a 2-3-2 format with the home field team hosting the 2-game sets.

e. The winners of the Division Series in each league meet in the respective League Championship Series. Each series is again best-of-seven, played in a 2-3-2 format. The team with the home field advantage is the team with the best record in each series.

f. The winners of the two League Championship Series meet in the BRASS World Series. The World Series is also played in a best-of-seven, 2-3-2 format. Again the team with the best record hosts the series.

g. There is considered to be one travel day between the final day of the regular season and the beginning of the Wild Card Series. There is also one travel day between the Wild Card and Division Series, as well as between the Division Series and the League Championship Series. There are two travel days between the LCS and the World Series.

h. For pitcher usage purposes, there are two travel days during each seven-game post‑season series, one each after Games 2 and 5. There are no travel days during the Wild Card Series.

i. The roster requirements for post-season roster composition are the same as the regular season requirements for the first five months of the regular season.

j. Starting pitchers are required to have made 20 Major League Baseball (MLB) starts or more to start 2 games in a BRASS playoff series (if he is an asterisk starter, then he may pitch 3 games as long as he has 3 days off between starts). Starting pitchers making 15 to 19 MLB starts may start 1 BRASS playoff game per series. Starting Pitchers with fewer then 15 MLB starts cannot be started in BRASS playoff games. Starting pitchers may be used as relievers in the post-season. Unless indicated otherwise on their cards, they will have a (1) endurance, can pitch no more than three innings per game, and cannot enter a game before the completion of the 5^th inning unless the opposing team puts the potential fifth run on base prior to the completion of the 5^th inning.

k. Relievers with 45 or more MLB innings may relieve regularly using regular SOM relief rules. Relievers with 40-44 MLB innings are only allowed to pitch 1 inning max per game except for 1 game where they are not limited to the 1 inning. Relievers with less than 40 MLB innings are only allowed to pitch 1 inning max per game.

l. Pitchers signed to U contracts with fewer than 30 MLB innings are not eligible for the playoffs.

m. Batters who had 450 MLB PA's (400 for catchers) are unlimited for playoff usage.

n. Batters with 400-449 PA's (350-399 for catchers) are allowed to start 5 games per series (4 in the Wild Card Series). He may pinch hit once in the other games or enter any game for good, from the 8th inning on (7th inning if used as a defensive replacement). To be used as a defensive replacement he must be better then the guy he is replacing.

o. Batters with 350-399 PA's (300-349 for catchers) are allowed to start 4 games per series (3 in the Wild Card Series). He may pinch hit once in the other games or enter any game for good, from the 8th inning on (7th inning if used as a defensive replacement). To be used as a defensive replacement he must be better then the guy he is replacing.

p. Batters with 300-349 PA's (250-299 for catchers) are allowed to start 3 games per series (2 in the Wild Card Series). He may pinch hit once in the other games or enter any game for good, from the 8th inning on (7th inning if used as a defensive replacement). To be used as a defensive replacement he must be better then the guy he is replacing.

q. Batters with 250-299 PA's (200-249 for catchers) are allowed to start 2 games per series (1 in the Wild Card Series). He may pinch hit once in the other games or enter any game for good, from the 8th inning on (7th inning if used as a defensive replacement). To be used as a defensive replacement he must be better then the guy he is replacing.

r. Batters with 200-249 PA's (150-199 for catchers) are allowed to start 1 game per series (0 in the Wild Card Series). He may pinch hit once in the other games or enter any game for good, from the 8th inning on (7th inning if used as a defensive replacement). To be used as a defensive replacement he must be better then the guy he is replacing.

s. Batters with less then 200 PA’s (149 for catchers) would only be available to pinch hit once each game or enter any game for good, from the 8th inning on (7th inning if used as a defensive replacement) in any post-season series. To be used as a defensive replacement he must be better then the guy he is replacing. Batters signed to U contracts with fewer than 75 MLB plate appearances are not eligible for the playoffs.

t. An exception is made to section q. above, allowing a player to appear regularly in the post‑season, if he was the portion of a platoon that played vs. left‑handed pitchers during the season, has more than 300 PA's (200 for catchers) allotted to him, but just didn't see enough lefties to gain the necessary plate appearance minimum. The player qualifies for this exception only if he is used in the same role as he was used in the BRASS regular season.

u. If a team has an invalid playoff roster due to not having enough starts at a given position, the team must put the two players with the most playing time at that position on their roster. Once all legal playoff starts for those two players has been exhausted, the opponent gets to choose the starter for each game and that player will bat in the #8 spot in the order. The offending team will not be allowed to pinch hit or bring in a defensive replacement for that player and the only time the player can be substituted for is in the event of injury. Purposeful abuse of this rule to allow superior players extra playing time will be penalized at the discretion of the league director.

v. The playoff series are required to be played face‑to‑face or via NetPlay to provide greater fun and in-game control for all.

w. A copy of the game files, box scores, and play-by-play for the series must be sent to the L.D. to keep as a league record.

Article XVII. Traveling League Championship Trophy

a. The team who wins the BRASS League Championship also wins the right to possess the traveling trophy for the term of their reign as league champion.

b. The trophy is called "The Thomas Taormina Trophy". The trophy is dedicated to the memory of the rich contributions to our league by our friend, colleague, owner and Silver League Director Tom Taormina. Tom’s seven-year league tenure will forever serve as a shining example to us all of how to have a lot of fun, how make a lot of friends, how to contribute countless hours of one’s time to the enjoyment of others, and how to conduct one’s self with class and dignity. As Tom always participated in and directed BRASS activities in a manner that can be aptly described as “championship caliber”, it is altogether fitting and proper that we memorialize his example by awarding our league championship each year in his name.

c. The trophy is an early‑20th Century, hand‑made bucket made primarily of brass. The brass bucket has a copper bottom and iron handle and is filled to heaping with baseballs.

d. Each BRASS League Champion commemorates his championship season by removing the cellophane wrapping on one of the baseballs and personalizing it in some way. He may want to paint the ball team colors and put the year and team name on it, he may want to try to get a few autographs of his key players, he may want to put the BRASS World Series scores, the year and team on it, or other ideas.

e. After creating his own commemorative ball representing his championship season to travel with the trophy over the years, he can place his ball at the top of the heap of balls in the bucket for display at his home or office for the term of his reign.

f. The new league champion may wish to make a photograph of himself with the trophy and send it to the league. If possible, he may also wish to photograph his commemorative ball for publication.

g. The dethroned champion is responsible for the delivering the bucket to the new league champion.

h. When mailing the trophy, special care should be taken to ensure that the package is sealed very tightly (minimizing potential water damage and possible balls getting loose during shipment) and is in a sturdy mailing container. If the container you received it in is in good condition, save it and reuse it when you send it. Be sure to ask your shipping agent to insure the package too. This will protect our investment in the trophy if they lose it or ruin it in shipping. The purchase price of the trophy was $170.00. Please insure it for it's full value, it doesn’t cost much extra.

i. Make sure the trophy has had a good dusting or cleaning before shipping it. Please don't send a dirty trophy.

j. The trophy should contain 36 baseballs when you send it off, same as when you received it. If you or your kids or somebody loses one of the balls, you'll have to replace it before sending it out.

k. Please don't use the baseballs in the Bucket for your own use or your kids. You wouldn't want to, they're junk! They cost $1.99 and would get lopsided with a couple hits from a bat. But they're perfect for display purposes.

l. Please remember that this investment has to last 40+ years, so please do everything you can to keep it safe and sound while you are the caretaker of our League treasure.

Article XVIII. League Change Process

a. The L.D. does not have the authority to change or implement new rules regarding the playing of league games.

b. As part of the off‑season activities, each owner will be given the opportunity to send in suggested changes in rules or procedures for a league vote.

c. The suggestions should be written in such a way that they can be voted on as they are suggested.

d. Changes are approved or rejected as part of the league changes balloting process. The suggestions or ballot items must be sent out by the mid-March deadline for league change proposals.

e. A one month comment period will be built into the League Change process to allow the league the opportunity for respectful commentary or debate on the proposals.

f. A league voting process on any suggested changes will take place soon after the ballot is distributed. The results will be reported by mid-May.

g. A simple majority of league voters is required to approve or change rules and for significant constitutional changes.

h. The current number of votes needed for a simple majority, thirteen, remains the number needed for a proposal to pass even if fewer than 24 members vote.

i. Since league changes also potentially affect the amount of time and effort which the League Director is required to put forth to execute his responsibilities to the league, it may be a good idea to introduce the idea to the League Director as well for his comments and impressions. Any league change is best accomplished with the support and involvement of the league's chief administrator.

j. The L.D. will undoubtedly be called on to make rulings and decisions during the year on issues, league procedures, or other league business which is either not clearly detailed in the constitution or which was not anticipated at the time of the league changes voting process. In these cases, the L.D. will make decisions which are consistent with league ideals, which are fair, and which are consistent with the concept of the smooth operation of the league. He will also need to assess and revise the administrative rules of the league as appropriate.

Article XIX. Ballparks

a. The BRASS League uses the super-advanced weather effects system which influences singles and homers for play in each ballpark.

b. Each team plays their home games in one of the game company's MLB ballparks each season.

c. A team may not use the same park as another team during a given season.

d. A team may not change ballparks during a given season.

e. New owners can swap the ballpark they inherit with the existing pool of unused ballparks upon entry into the league.

f. An owner may change ballparks for free if his current park is no longer in use.

g. An owner may purchase the right to use one of the unused ballparks for $6,000,000.

h. Ballparks claims and changes for existing owners will be processed during the off-season and are due to be sent to the L.D. by March 1.

i. If more than one owner wants to change to the same ballpark, on-time mailing record and then a random roll of a die will break the tie.

j. Anyone may place a claim on a ballpark currently in use by informing the L.D. as soon as he wishes to claim it. If that ballpark should ever become available, it goes to the requesting owner for free.

k. In order to use SOM's super-advanced weather effects for the MLB parks for BRASS League winter play, April = BRASS's September, May = BRASS's October, June = BRASS's November, etc.

Article XX. Dues

a. League dues are $15.00 each year and are to be sent no later than midnight on March 1.

b. The league dues are to be paid to the L.D. Make out the check or money order payable to the L.D., not the League.

c. If a league member drops out of or is expelled from the league at any time after he has paid his dues, he is not entitled to a refund of any amount.

d. New league members pay a pro‑rated amount of the dues fee, rounded off to the nearest month. If they have already paid a fee to be an associate manager, that fee is deducted from their total.

e. The league accounting year runs from March 1 to February 28 (or February 29).

f. The dues will be spent only on essential supplies or subscriptions needed for the L.D. to meet his obligations to the BRASS League.

g. The dues will also be used to pay for long distance phone calls that are absolutely necessary to conduct league business.

h. The L.D. will keep these to a minimum. If he needs to call a league member for several items, he will cover the league business items first then hang up and call back later on his own time for any personal business.

i. The L.D. will keep a supplies and expenses ledger for the given year. It should reflect all deposits, and expenditures for the given year. A League member may ask to see a copy of the ledger at any time.

j. If it is obvious that the dues payments are always yielding too much or too little money for the year, yearly dues fees will be adjusted accordingly.

k. Occasional extra remittances for the process involved in recruiting and appointing expansion and replacement owners may be required.

Article XXI. The Official BRASS League World Wide Web Site

a. The BRASS League will attempt to maintain an up-to-date and active site on the World Wide Web. The web address is:

http://www.brassleague.com/

b. The person who creates, updates, maintains and improves the site is called the Webmaster. He will draw a salary for his league contribution.

c. The site will serve as a potential communications center for the league, equipped with forums. It will feature information about the league's franchises, owners, league history, league records, league champions and much more.

d. The site will have the primary purpose of making certain kinds of league information available which would not otherwise be available, except at great expense to the league.

e. If possible, the site will be used to provide a more up-to-date version of the season standings than is available through the standings reports contained in the newsletters. If this feature is employed, league members with e-mail will be asked to report the wins and losses in their home series via e-mail to the Webmaster.

f. The site will be searchable on all the major search engines so that it can be easily accessed by those who are interested and can be used as a recruiting tool.

g. The site will feature links to other major league baseball, Strat-O-Matic baseball or other related sites of general interest to the league.

h. There may be an occasional need to ask for funds from the league to support the rental of additional server space for this site.

Article XXII. Compensation for League Contributions

a. The BRASS League encourages its league members to submit newsletter/blog articles for everyone's enjoyment. A league member receives a $1,200,000 cash payment (BRASS money, sorry guys!) for each newsletter article he submits, up to the tenth article. A maximum of $12,000,000 can be earned each year, but more than ten articles can be submitted.

b. Keeping in mind the BRASS League ideal for friendly league correspondence, they should not contain information disrespectful or unfair to others.

c. As a reward for his significant contributions to the success of the League, the League Director draws an annual salary of $12,000,000.

d. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the League, the Webmaster draws an annual salary of $9,600,000.

e. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the League, the League Statistician draws an annual salary of $8,400,000.

f. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the League, the Draft Conductor draws an annual salary of $7,200,000.

g. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the League, the Bank Accountant draws an annual salary of $8,400,000.

h. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the league, Newsletter/Blog Editor, draws an annual salary of $4,800,000.

i. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the league, All-Star Coordinator draws an annual salary of $6,000,000.

j. As a reward for his significant contribution to the success of the league, Year End Awards Coordinator draws an annual salary of $6,000,000.

k. As a reward for their significant contribution to the success of the league, The BRASS Hall of Fame Screening Committee members draw an annual salary of $3,600,000.

l. League business may make it necessary to recruit and appoint others to offer similarly significant contributions to the League. When this occurs, the L.D. will set a salary for the contribution that is commensurate with the time and effort needed to complete the task.

m. Anyone earning a league salary is still eligible to write newsletter articles and receive compensation up to the $12,000,000 annual limit.

n. All payments for newsletter articles are awarded the same month during which the article appears. The money is credited immediately to the team's bank account.

o. All league salaries are awarded at the end of the season just completed, on March 1.

Article XXIII. Player Awards

a. Player of the Year, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and the GM of the Year will be voted on in March for both the Silver and Gold Leagues.

b. All‑Star ballots will go out after the November games have been completed.

c. The All‑Star Game will be played at a different owner's park each year, alternating between the two leagues.

d. The All‑Star teams and game results will be reported and if possible, the game will be played by the owner whose park is hosting the game.

e. The winning manager in any post-season series selects the Series MVP.

f. The “Frank Toy Award” is earned by the Silver League owner who is voted the Silver League General Manager of the Year each season. Frank was a friend and set an excellent example of an ideal BRASS colleague before passing away during his BRASS tenure.

Article XXIV. League Correspondence Responsibilities

a. The BRASS League places a very high degree of importance on prompt league correspondence. Whether it is a trade inquiry through the mail or e-mail, a telephone call, a request for some information about a series being played, etc. it is not acceptable to ignore or unnecessarily delay your obligation to respond.

b. Maintaining prompt and respectful correspondence practices is vital to an individual owner maintaining his position in the league in good standing.

c. It is the responsibility of the league members to work out correspondence problems and not call in the L.D. until you've reached an impasse.

d. The L.D. will use his judgment to penalize those who clearly shirk their responsibilities for prompt, respectful correspondence. He will penalize as he sees fit after reviewing a given complaint and finding out the facts.

Article XXV. Winning Incentive Program

One key way that many Strat Leagues do not simulate big league baseball is in the greatly reduced number of teams that tend to try to win as many games as possible in Strat vs. MLB. Often one sees 8-10 teams who have decided to compete for the post-season in a Strat League in a given year and just as many or more who are racing each other to be an intentionally terrible team to improve next year’s draft position.

The widespread practice of intentionally fielding a bad team is understandable in a typical Strat League. There are no paying customers and their outrage to worry about, after all. In a Strat League, the media are not making life miserable for you by blasting you for tanking the season. And there is of course no bottom line reward in most Strat Leagues that simulates the attendance/advertising bounce that comes with an MLB at least putting a quality product on the field, for being as competitive as possible. In a typical Strat League, the poor season itself is the reward as you then get a better draft pick and have likely saved money for the future on player salaries.

BRASS seeks to be an atypical Strat League by employing a Winning Incentive Program that rewards teams who try for the playoffs and fall short, or try to be as good a team as possible. The program simulates the financial payoff that MLB teams get by doing the same: winning more games, truly trying for the playoffs each year and creating more excitement around their team. The program also discourages a race for the cellar by only giving the seven poorest teams an admission to a lottery for the annual #1 draft selection and no financial reward at the turnstyle.

With a 10-team post-season and fewer guarantees that intentionally fielding a poor team is the best way to advance your future goals, we hope our rules encourage more teams to “go for it” each year, whatever “it” happens to be. If more teams try to put the best team on the field possible each year, we will more closely simulate what happens in MLB and also make the league season as much fun as possible for all.

The chart below will be used to simulate the financial reward teams get through increased revenues from tickets sold by going all out for the playoffs, but falling short. The chart provides for a descending scale of increased gate receipts for teams that missed the playoffs. The reward for the poorest teams in the league is still a good pick and no increase in gate receipts.

TURNSTYLE CHART

League Finish Gate Receipt Increase Received

11th best record: $12,000,000

12th best record: $10,500,000

13th best record:                                             $9,000,000
14th best record:                                             $7,500,000
15th best record:                                             $6,000,000
16th best record:                                             $4,500,000
17th best record:                                             $3,000,000
18th best record:                                             draft lottery
19th best record:                                             draft lottery
20th best record:                                             draft lottery
21st best record:                                              draft lottery
22nd best record:                                            draft lottery
23rd best record:                                             draft lottery
24th best record:                                             draft lottery

The amount earned by trying to make the playoffs, but missing, is credited to the following year’s influx of revenue share dollars. It will be added to the $100,000,000 that each team receives.

Article XXVI. Insurance Protection From Non-Baseball Injuries and Voluntary Retirement

a. If a player's career ends because of his death, his BRASS owner is automatically insured for 95% of the remaining value on his contract. He is only liable for 5% of the remaining contract payments, paid on an annual basis.

b. If a player's career ends because of an injury which did not occur while on the job (playing or practicing major league baseball), his BRASS owner is insured for 95% of the remaining value on his contract. He is only liable for 5% of the remaining contract payments, paid on an annual basis.

c. If a player's career ends because of a sudden and voluntary retirement when he has productive seasons left and has MLB teams interested in his services, his BRASS owner is insured for 95% of the remaining value on his contract. He is only liable for 5% of the remaining contract payments, paid on an annual basis.

d. Involuntary retirement due to loss of effectiveness or due to the fact that no teams are interested in a player's services is not grounds for a BRASS contract reimbursement.

e. The expected and voluntary retirement which occurs at the end of some players MLB careers is not grounds for a BRASS contract reimbursement.

f. The League Director will make a ruling on any contract reimbursement requests which fall into areas not specifically covered in this article.

Article XXVII. Backup/Replacement/Expansion/Associate Managers

a. If possible, the league should maintain a list of backup managers so that if there is any manager turnover in the league, the replacement manager can step in immediately.

b. The L.D. will be responsible for organizing and conducting the activities related to securing candidates for backup, replacement or expansion managers.

c. Each applicant may be required to submit a BRASS League Application Form in order to be considered for admission. The applicant may also wish to include facts or other information that is relevant to his candidacy.

d. The L.D. will approve or deny candidates for admission into the BRASS League and inform the league's membership promptly whenever a new backup owner or replacement owner has been added.

e. The backup owner list will be maintained and franchises awarded in order of the date of the receipt of the applicant's BRASS League Application Form.

f. The current league members should always be aware of people they know whom they are sure would be good BRASS League members and recommend them for the application process. Known quantities are less risky, in general.

g. If the league decides to expand, it will offer expansion franchises in order of backup owner priority number.

Article XXVIII. In‑Season Deadlines Chart

During the season, the key dates to remember are the 31st and the 7th. Each of these dates is the last possible date by which you must send required information to avoid fines. Please don't use these dates as the target dates for your mailings. With the fines attached to late mailings in BRASS, it's too risky.

If you finish playing the games or have all the information ready to mail to the L.D. or other league member in a given month, please send it out before these deadlines. Please don’t delay sending out a mailing that another person is waiting to receive. A brief description of your mailing responsibilities and deadline dates follow:

by August 31:

· report all trades on the Website Forum which will take effect for September’s games

by September 2:

· the preliminary .lzp file for the season, with master rosters, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each owner using it to create his .mgr file for the coming month’s play.

by September 7:

· each team’s .mgr file is due to the League Statistician, complete with starting pitcher rotation plugged in for September’s games, as well as lineups and active roster for the month

· notification of contract signings to take effect for April’s games (if any) due to the Roster Agent

by September 30:

· series results mailings (a boxscore, play-by-play and team stats report for both teams), required to be enclosed in a .zip archive, are due to September home opponents, League Statistician and Backup League Statistician

· report all trades on the Website Forum which will take effect for October’s games

by October 2:

· the preliminary .lzp file for October, with master rosters and stats, trades and standings complete through September’s games, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each owner using it to create his .mgr file for the coming month’s play.

by October 7:

· each team’s .mgr file is due to the League Statistician, complete with starting pitcher rotation plugged in for October’s games, as well as lineups and active roster for the month

· notification of contract signings to take effect for October’s games (if any) due to the Roster Agent

by October 31:

· series results mailings (a boxscore, play-by-play and team stats report for both teams), required to be enclosed in a .zip archive, are due to October home opponents, League Statistician and Backup League Statistician

· report all trades on the Website Forum which will take effect for November’s games

by November 2:

· the preliminary .lzp file for November, with master rosters and stats, trades and standings complete through October’s games, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each owner using it to create his .mgr file for the coming month’s play.

by November 7:

· each team’s .mgr file is due to the League Statistician, complete with starting pitcher rotation plugged in for November’s games, as well as lineups and active roster for the month

· notification of contract signings to take effect for November’s games (if any) due to the Roster Agent

by November 30:

· series results mailings (a boxscore, play-by-play and team stats report for both teams), required to be enclosed in a .zip archive, are due to November home opponents, League Statistician and Backup League Statistician

· report all trades on the Website Forum which will take effect for December’s games

by December 2:

· the preliminary .lzp file for December, with master rosters and stats, trades and standings complete through November’s games, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each owner using it to create his .mgr file for the coming month’s play.

by December 7:

· each team’s .mgr file is due to the League Statistician, complete with starting pitcher rotation plugged in for December’s games, as well as lineups and active roster for the month

· notification of contract signings to take effect for December’s games (if any) due to the Roster Agent

· All-Star ballots distributed by the All-Star Game Coordinator.

by December 15:

· All-Star ballot due to the All-Star Game Coordinator.

by December 31:

· series results mailings (a boxscore, play-by-play and team stats report for both teams), required to be enclosed in a .zip archive, are due to December home opponents, League Statistician and Backup League Statistician

· report all trades on the Website Forum which will take effect for January’s games

· deadline for trades to be made between Gold & Silver League teams which would take effect during the current season

by January 2:

· the preliminary .lzp file for January, with master rosters and stats, trades and standings complete through December’s games, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each owner using it to create his .mgr file for the coming month’s play.

by January 7:

· each team’s .mgr file is due to the League Statistician, complete with starting pitcher rotation plugged in for January’s games, as well as lineups and active roster for the month

· notification of contract signings to take effect for January’s games (if any) due to the Roster Agent

by January 31:

· series results mailings (a boxscore, play-by-play and team stats report for both teams), required to be enclosed in a .zip archive, are due to January home opponents, League Statistician and Backup League Statistician

· report all trades on the Website Forum which will take effect for February’s games

· deadline for trades to be made between teams within the same League (Silver or Gold) which would take effect during the current season

by February 2:

· the preliminary .lzp file for February, with master rosters and stats, trades and standings complete through January’s games, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each owner using it to create his .mgr file for the coming month’s play.

by February 7:

· each team’s .mgr file is due to the League Statistician, complete with starting pitcher rotation plugged in for February’s games, as well as lineups and active roster for the month

· deadline for announcement of contract extensions (if any) to the Roster Agent

· notification of contract signings to take effect for February’s games (if any) due to the Roster Agent

by February 28:

· series results mailings (a boxscore, play-by-play and team stats report for both teams), required to be enclosed in a .zip archive, are due to February home opponents, League Statistician and Backup League Statistician

by March 2:

· the final .lzp file for the season, with master rosters and stats, trades and standings complete through February’s games, will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician

· the preliminary .lzp file for the post-season will be distributed to the league’s membership by the League Statistician for the sole purpose of each 1^st Round team using it to create his .mgr file for the coming 1st Round Playoff Series.

Please also remember the following…

· BRASS League members must be sure to save a copy of the box scores/PAC/game files from each series each month in case a replay is necessary or in case the mailing doesn't make it to the intended party.

If you are late on any in-season deadlines, you incur a late mailing penalty the first time and every time. League on‑time record is the primary tie‑breaker for many league ties, and accurate maintenance of on‑time records is essential to employing this tie‑breaker fairly. Late mailings will be recorded religiously and accurately by the league.

Article XXIX. Off‑Season Deadline Chart

Here is the Off-Season Deadlines Chart for the 2012-2013 BRASS season:

· March 1: 1) New League season begins.

2) Trade freeze begins.

3) Ballpark claims and change notification for the coming season is due to the L.D.

4) League dues payment for next year’s operating expense is due to the L.D.

· March 5: 1) New roster file sent out, with new season contracts rolled over, to be used to assess and

then report player contract decisions and roster cuts.

· March 10: 1) Contract decisions and cuts due back to the L.D.

· March 15: 1) L.