LEAGUE CONSTITUTION

I.  LEAGUE PURPOSE

History Rewritten is a dynasty sim-league in which owners attempt to build a baseball dynasty in an indefinite number of seasons beginning in 1885.  We are about begin our 33th season - 1917.

II.  ROSTER RULES 

Every player on each roster must be from the current season.  Clones are not allowed.  

In order to establish a sense of history for each franchise, each team is required to include on its roster a minimum of 13 players that were on its roster at the conclusion of the previous season.  This means that the 13 (or more) players who are kept from the previous season must be drafted with the new season’s year number.  For example, if a team has 1885 Ezra Sutton on its 1885 roster and it wishes to keep Ezra Sutton for its 1886 roster then it must draft 1886 Ezra Sutton.  That counts as one "keeper" and each team must have at least 13 keepers. 

If a team is unable to fill its 13 keeper slots for a new season, it must fill the remainder (total of 13 players) with rookies.  A rookie is defined as a player who made his Major League debut in the current season.   In addition to filling your roster with rookies, a salary cap penalty will be applied to your salary cap if your team fails to comply with the 13 keepers requirement. 

The fine will be $750,000/missing keeper player.  The fine will carry forward as a cumulative fine (fined every year for each missing keeper if need be) until the owner brings the team into compliance.  The maximum fine will not exceed $4,500,000.  The non-compliant team will still be required to fill the 13 keeper requirements by selecting current season debut rookies.  Owners taking over a team will be exempt from the fine for their first season in the league, but the new owner must bring the team into compliance or face the fine.

III.  WAIVER WIRE

Waiver Wire is allowed, but roster rules remain in place.  The only players allowed to be picked up off the waiver wire are players from the current season.

IV.  AAA

AAA does not exist in this league. 

V.  CURRENT SEASON

The current season for roster purposes is 1900.  This number will increase by one after each season.

VI.  STADIUMS

New stadiums will be added as they are built.  Beginning with the 1901 season, each team in a league (National or Patriot) will be required to have an exclusive stadium.  Once the 1969 season is reached, every team within the theme will be required to have an exclusive stadium. 

Enough stadiums will exist in 1901 that we can have exclusive stadiums (within a league).  We ratified this in the 1891.5 constitution amendment.  A draft is a fair means of selecting the stadiums and can be based on the 1900 season finish (worst - best record) or it can be based on the cumulative record of a franchise (worst - best record, since I don't have the 1890 date we can take the total franchise records from 1891 - 1900).

Stadiums cannot be traded.

A waiver wire for stadiums will exist to handle stadiums no longer in use or stadiums changes desired by an owner.  At the end of the season an owner can declare his intentions to release his stadium.  The first Monday (or the following day if Monday is a Holiday) following the conclusion of season will be a one day draft for available stadiums.  The waiver wire order will be based on a reverse standings finish of the prior season.  In the case of a tie the tie-breaker will be home record followed by games back in your division standings.  All owners must use the WW process if they wish to change stadiums.  When a stadium is no longer available to a team in our next season, this team will be placed at the top of the stadium waiver wire process (the owner will get to pick first). 

VII.  SALARY CAP

The salary cap is $80 million.  The salary cap will be subject to fines as set out in Section II.

VIII.  EXCLUSIVE PLAYERS and ROOKIE DRAFT

Each season two one-round "amateur" drafts will be held, one for the National League and one for the Patriot League.  Players eligible for the draft will be all players who made their ML debut the following season.  For example, for the 1886 drafts, players who make their ML debut in the 1887 season will be eligible.

Each player may be drafted a by a maximum of 2 teams - 1 in the NL, and one in the PL.  A player drafted by a team is exclusive to that team in that league, meaning that no other team in the same league may have that player on its roster.  Each team is limited to a maximum of 12 exclusive players, including no more than 4 pitchers.

An exclusive player can only be traded for another exclusive player, and exclusive players may not be traded across leagues.

A team is not initially obligated to place its exclusive players on its roster.  Exclusive players that are not on the active roster are considered to be in the "Minor Leagues" and the team that drafted them retains the exclusive rights to them from season to season.  Once an exclusive player is placed on the Major League roster, however, he must be kept on the ML roster each season.  Otherwise, he loses his exclusive tag and becomes available to all other teams in the league.

Each team will be allowed no more than 15 exclusive players - including no more than 5 pitchers.

Draft order will be determined by the reverse order of the previous season's standings.  In case of a tie, the team that was the most games behind its division leader will pick first.

In order to expedite the league’s progression the draft will be held immediately after the all-star game in the current season schedule.  Each owner will be given 24 hours (excluding weekends) to make a draft selection live or via proxy to the commissioner/owner.  If an owner fails to make a draft pick within the time period the next player on the time clock can pick and the skipped player can make up their pick ASAP.

IX.  LEAGUE PROGRESSION EFFORTS

Each owner has 7 days following the trading deadline to enter his franchise into the following season's league.  If not, his franchise will be made available to the public.

IX.  AMENDMENTS

Amendments to the rules in this constitution may be suggested by any league member.  To be approved, an amendment must receive a "yes" vote from at least 2/3 of the  league members who vote.  All voting will be done in this forum.  To suggest an amendment, sitemail it to the league commissioner (Sockless_Joe).  All amendments will take effect the first full season after their approval.

Amendments will be voted upon after the draft with the final votes tallied in the first week of the following season.  Any new rules or amendments will take effect in the subsequent years.  (Example.  Amendments for league votes are formulated and posted as the 1892 season finishes.  The 1893 season proceeds based on the 1892 rules in place, and all amendments that pass a league vote by 2/3rds will be in effect for the 1894 season).

X.  Gallery of Champions

      1885 - Irontown Nails (NailOne)

      1886 - Mark II  (msheaf1)

      1887 - Irontown Nails (NailOne)

      1888 – Stonies Cronies (Widow)
 
      1889 – Browning Glasscocks (Zeuspole)

      1890 – Road Warriors (cstrohmier)

      1891 – Bluenosers (Ahodder)
     
      1892 - Johnson County Rustlers (maddove117)

      1893 - Calhoun County Tornado (maddove117)

      1894 - Dead White Guys (conspiracynu)

      1895 - Steelers (fire13)
      
      1896 - Fens Phantoms (tycoh88)

      1897 - Fens Phantoms (tycoh88)

      1898 - Steelers (fire13)

      1899 - Steelers (fire13)

      1900 -  Revolvers (cstrohmier)

      1901 -  Boston pops (cstrohmier)

      1902 -  Superbas (Kronkite)

      1903 -  Grantown Aardvarks (Gigrant)