Joining the Pacific Coast Baseball League

Two doors, both open

The league is unusually clear about how a stranger gets in. Register in the Player Pool first. Then either attend an open tryout -- the next is 23 August at 10am at El Cariso Park -- or wait to be picked up by a team during the season. There is a separate free agent registration for players who want managers to be able to reach them directly, and a pre-registration form for the tryout itself.

That is a better-designed front door than almost any league in this directory has, because it accounts for the man who misses the tryout date, which is most of them.

What is not published anywhere is the fee. A player can enter the pool without ever learning what a season costs, which is the one question that decides whether he turns up in August. A High Cheese join page states the fee beside the season it buys and keeps the pool underneath it, so both halves of the decision arrive together.