Okaloosa Men's Baseball League Rules

A rulebook that keeps up with the majors

The most interesting rule in this book is the one about pitching. In a league mixing 18-over and 30-over players, a 30-over pitcher from the roster must throw at least six outs, or face ten complete batters, whichever comes first -- and if a team cannot manage it through injury the opposing manager must be told immediately, after which he is only obliged to match the outs the other side got. Willful violation is grounds for forfeiture. It is a rule that exists to stop a team simply riding its young arms, and it is enforced by making the other team's young arm sit down too.

The league also adopted the recent major league changes and wrote down exactly how far it would go. Shifts get one warning per team then the MLB penalty, with the offence free to decline it, but umpires are not asked to police the grass line -- only to prevent an obvious fourth outfielder. The pitch clock is enforced loosely, because as the league puts it, precise pitch timers are not practical; gross violations get a warning then the MLB penalty. The pickoff limit rule is explicitly not in effect and will be looked at again later. Larger bases would be gladly accepted if any field installs them.

Elsewhere: wood and composite wood bats only with no metal, but metal cleats are permitted. Pitchers come out on the third hit batsman and may throw six innings in a nine-inning game or four in a seven. No infielder may decoy a tag -- every runner advances a base if he does, and a second offence in the same game is an expulsion. A player must be two full seasons out of the major leagues, or one out of the minors, to be eligible at all.

A rulebook that tracks MLB changes needs to reach players who never read a PDF. On a High Cheese league page it sits beside the schedule they open anyway, current version only, which is where a rule about shift warnings is actually going to be read.