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Officials: Blue &
Gray Baseball has three Operating Officers and all
Managers or selected Team representative are League Officials
The President; who was selected and entered into
contract under the N.A.B.A. Presidential authority
and reports directly to him and his officers.
Two (2) Vice Presidents, which are 1 year
terms, report to the President.
- The Vice Presidents are
selected as follows, one Vice President is
selected by the President, the other Vice
President is selected by the managers by vote.
(The President and selected VP do not vote)
All Franchises have One (1) Member who is
an Official in the League.
- This can be the GM, the Manager or any
selected member from the Franchise.
(a) Articles:
- All Managers and all operating officers
have equal votes on all matters.
- No official may preside/vote over any
incident that directly or indirectly
involves them or their team.
- The President does not decide or engage
in any League directives during the time he
is participating in his own game.
- The Vice-Presidents does not decide or
engage in any League directives during the
time he/she is participating in
his/her own game.
- Vice Presidents have Presidential
authority only when the President is
currently engaged in his own game or have
been granted that authority by the
President.
- Vice Presidents can and are to act
accordingly to enforce established
rules/regulations without seeking the
Presidents approval.
- In matters that concern the Presidents
or Vice Presidents games directly or
indirectly, they are removed from the
decision process and another League
Official, a Manager or Managers, are brought
in to preside in accordance with article 2.
- Managers can and do preside over appeal
processes in accordance with article 2.
- Managers may go to the Vice-Presidents
in accordance with article 6 but adhering to
article 2.
- Managers are to refrain from contacting
and expecting the President or VP's to
interject on problems in accordance with
Articles 4 and 5 only.
Voting:
1 Franchise 1 vote.
Any matter that requires a change to the current
league structure must come before all officials of
the League. All teams should be present for the
voting, if a schedule Meeting has a voting
requirement and a team is not represented they are
considered in absentia and having a sustained vote.
For a vote to count in a scheduled meeting only a
majority of present officials is
required to pass anything. , in other words it is up
to each team to make sure they are represented at
each scheduled meeting.
- If the Recognized Official from a Franchise
can not attend they can authorize another from
their team to represent their interest.
League:
The league is set up to accept a Franchise
a.k.a. Team as a whole, not individual players.
Each team runs their operations as they see fit,
each team is officially represented in the League by
their Manager, Coach or GM or whatever title they
like but only 1 person is recognized for voting
purposes.
Franchise:
Franchise or Teams are run at the sole discretion
of the Owner, Manager or GM. Blue & Gray has
no say so over the daily operations of each team.
Only in the matters of finances or dispute between
teams will the Operating Officers of Blue & Gray get
involved.
Fees:
Each team is required to pay a Franchise
Fee to join the League.
(determined each season, $2100 for 2007)
Each team is required to Pay Umpires Fee
to join the league and to be put on the Schedule.
(determined each season, $2400 for
2007)
Teams can carry any number of players the wish,
the first 16 players are included in the Franchise
fee, each subsequent player, number 17 and above is
an extra $40 per player.
Contracts:
All Players, Managers, Coaches and anyone who
steps on the field of play must be under Blue & Gray
NABA contract, any one not meeting this requirement
is not allowed to participate in any way, the
penalty is an automatic forfeit of that game with no
appeal.
Rosters:
Teams are not limited to the number of players on
a roster as long as the Fee requirements are met,
there is however a maximum of 25 players for a teams
play-off roster.
(a) Roster details:
- A Player must be under contract to play
for any team.
- A team that has paid their franchise fee
may carry any number of players until May
1st, after May 1st all players over 16 must
either be dropped from the team or paid for
($40 each).
- Play-Off rosters (25 man maximum) must
be turned in by the prescribed time for
those players to be eligible, (this varies
each year but usually 4 weeks before the
play-offs start and Managers will be
notified in advance)
- A player may not play for more than one
team in this league.
Rules:
Since Blue & Gray is affiliated with the National
Adult Baseball Association we adhere to the rules
and regulations they set forth. Each Franchise is
given a copy of those {link}
NABA Managers
Rulebook and the Officers of the League enforce
them.
Furthermore any rule or regulation that is not
covered in the NABA handbook defaults to {link}
Major League Baseball Rules
(a) Local rules:
- All local rules are
submitted and voted on by the Officials of
the League
(b) Current Local
rules:
- NABA rulebook states that
2 non-runners are to be declared
BEFORE the game starts,
- The local rule allows
that if a team declares none (0) or only
one (1) non-runner prior to the game
they may use their remaining non-runner
(s) for an obvious injury during the
game only if no substitutes are
available.
- NABA Rule book states
that a team must finish with the maximum
numbers of batters that a team used during
the game with the exception of
injuries prevents that player from
continuing and there is no substitute.
- Local rules allows
continuation of the game, no forfeit, if
a player is ejected and there is no
substitute but the ejected players spot
in the batting order is an automatic out
regardless of how many batters are still
in the line-up. (example: more
than 9 batters)
- Regular season 8 player
rule states a team may play with 8 players
but the 9th spot in the order is an out.
- Local rules say the
9th spot is not an out in the regular
season it is still an out during the
play-offs.
- A team may borrow players
from any other team to put at least 8 or 9
on the field to play the game.
- Local rule allows
this, but that player may not pitch.
Penalties:
Blue & Gray have specific penalties in place for
teams, managers and players that do not follow the
rules as outlined by the Mangers Rule Book.
(a) Team:
- Any team forfeiting a
game is required to pay for new forfeit bond
prior to their next game .
- (see Forfeits section
for further explanations)
- Any team that forfeits 3
games during the season is subject to
expulsion from the League with no Refunds*
- * Special
Circumstances will be considered.
(b) Managers/Players:
- Managers and Players are
subject to suspensions for ejections and
other infractions as put forth in the NABA
Rule book. Blue & Gray Baseball goes one
step further and all ejections carry a 1
game minimum suspension.
- Egregious behavior as
outlined in the
NABA
Rulebook can/will carry a three (3) game
suspension at the discretion of the League
Officers.
- Managers and players may
appeal the suspensions in accordance with
the Articles of the League.
- An appeal must be in
writing/e-mail within 48 hours*
of the incident to be heard, else the
suspension stands
- *
Special Circumstances
will be considered.
(1) Players:
- Players ejected from
a game receive an automatic one (1) game
suspension
- Players may appeal
the suspensions in accordance with the
Articles of the League.
- A successful
appeal still keeps the original
ejection on record a player who gets
ejected a second time must serve a
one (1) game suspension with no
appeal allowed.
- A player who is
ejected that and any other ejections
are kept on record for future
discipline.
- A player who has
served a suspension, may use the
appeal process.
- A player may
attend his teams next game while he
is under suspension.
(1) Managers:
- Managers have a much
greater chance of being ejected just by
the nature of their position than a
player does. Blue & Gray realize
this, so the following guidelines are in
place for a Manager.
- Managers do not
get an automatic suspension for an
ejection.
- Managers are
still subject to suspensions at any
time for egregious violations and in
certain instances if they were
playing in the game as a regular
player which resulted in that
ejection.
- Managers may
appeal the suspensions in accordance
with the Articles of the League.
- A successful
appeal still keeps the original
ejection on record a Manager who
gets ejected three times must serve
a one (1) game suspension with no
appeal allowed.
- A Manager serving
a suspension may not be at any game
his team plays in during his
suspension.
League Setup:
Blue & Gray League is currently divided into two
Divisions the Prince William Division (North) and
the Stafford Division (South), in which an
unbalanced schedule is made weighted towards
Division play. (2007, 6 non-division games 16
division games). Blue & Gray believes that the
Regular season should mean something and only the
top teams should play for the Championship similar
to all levels of professional baseball. So a
Championship Series Play-off structure and a Tier II
Play-Off structure is in place for the end of the
regular season,
The Schedule:
Blue & Gray supplies the entire regular season
schedule for the entire season in advance,
play-offs are slotted into possible dates at this
time, but due to the nature of our play-off system
those dates can not be known until all teams are
seeded.
(a) Season/Play-Offs:
Blue & Gray Currently offer a regular Season
Schedule that when played out determines the
Play-Off seeding and two guaranteed Play-Off
games.
- Regular Season consists
of 20-24 games (2007, 22 games)
- Play-Offs consist of two
Tiers
- Championship Series:
2 Division Winners and 4 Wild Cards.
- Tier II Double
Elimination bracket for the remaining
teams.
(b) Schedule rules:
- Once the schedule is
posted no Manager may change unilaterally or
"work out" a schedule change with another
Manager, all schedule changes are to come
through the league office for approval.
- Franchises are given
a "Managers Conflict Questionnaire"
before the season starts so they may
cross out certain Dates and time their
team can not play, else all other dates
are deemed acceptable.
- Play-Off
schedules are not negotiable by any
Franchise due to the nature of the
play-offs being determined by your
season record and availability of
fields.
- All Scheduled games are
clearly listed as which team is home which
team is away, changing the home and away
teams is also not allowed, teams that do
this unbeknownst to themselves or the
league, the final will still be recorded as
shown on the schedule and no changes will be
made to correct the mistake.
- All Scheduled Double
Headers are set for nine (9) innings for
game 1 and seven (7) innings for game 2, no
exceptions.
- The Schedule Clearly
defines the Game time, the time is not to be
changed unless changes come through the
League office for approval.
- Rain Outs, or cancelled
games:
- These games will be
slotted into available dates and
timeslots in accordance with your
Managers conflict forms as soon as
possible.
- The league takes note
not to overburden a team when
re-scheduling these rain outs or
cancelled games.
Forfeits:
Blue & Gray has rules in place for forfeits so
that all Teams on both sides of the forfeit know
what to expect and to make the penalties stiff
enough so teams will avoid forfeits.
A Scheduled DH Forfeit; A team
forfeiting Game 1 does not Forfeit Game 2, A
game 1 forfeit ends baseball that day for both
teams as the umpires are instructed to leave.
A Game Day forfeit:
- Results in a loss of fees
paid for that game, for BOTH of the umpires AND
the forfeit bond. A new bond must be paid
before your next scheduled game.
Prior to Game Day Forfeit:
- If you know you are not
going to produce a team for a game in
advance, the umpire fee for that game is
forfeited but not the forfeit bond, this is
the cost of doing business.
Umpires:
Blue & Gray uses and has a contract with the
Northern Virginia Umpires association and both
organizations work though all issues good an bad
for the betterment of both parties..
- Only the Blue & Gray Officers are
recognized to officially discuss anything
with the NV Association.
- Managers have recourse by use of a
Umpire Evaluation form.
- Blue & Gray will not recognize any
complaints about umpires without use of
this form which must be filled out
completely.
- Managers are encouraged to get the name
of your umpires at the plate meeting.
Managers Section:
Blue & Gray has a tools for their Managers:
- A Website {link} Managers Corner, with
all the information and paper work needed for
anything in the league.
- A message board {link}
Managers Message Board once signed up that
only the Manager can access.
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