Everybody plays, and it is enforceable
Rosters must carry at least sixteen players, filled from the league free agent pool by asking the commissioner for the position needed. A player is not officially on a roster until he has registered, paid his deposit, and been notified to the league -- all three. No additions after eight games. Injury replacements must be on by the last game in June and must play twice.
Then the rule that makes this league unusual. Every available, willing and able-bodied player must get at least two defensive innings and at least one plate appearance every game, and a player who does not is eligible for immediate release -- free to join another club as a free agent or to take a refund for the rest of the season. A captain can bypass it only if the player agrees and it is declared to the official statkeeper before the game.
Batting orders scale with attendance: nine men means a nine-man lineup, ten or more means at least ten, and beyond twelve the extra players share slots on alternating at-bats, with no more than four players alternating.
Rosters, appearances and plate appearances all in one place is the only way that release rule is ever checkable. A High Cheese team page keeps the roster and fills the games-played column from the games themselves, which is what a rule about minimum playing time actually needs.
Philadelphia Amateur Baseball League in detail
- This is not a beer league. This is not softball. Sundays, wood bats, and a real draft.
- Every game on a Sunday, three and a half hours, with the next game's start time as the clock.
- Divisional tables with clinching marks and five tiebreakers.
- Every team must keep the book, and not keeping it costs a club its awards.
- An official statkeeper, post-season awards, and no public numbers.
- Two league addresses — one general, one for the commissioner's business.
- A $150 deposit before a free agent joins a team, and no uniforms ordered until it is paid.
- Tarken and Edgley, with published ground rules and a groundskeeping rota.
- No professional pitchers, six innings of college pitching a season, and a fine for breaking someone else's bat.
- A golf outing, a Phillies game, and a newsletter to subscribe to.
- A photos section sits in the main navigation.
- The homepage notes outside coverage and names no sponsor.
- A divisional round, a bye for each division winner, and a best-of-three championship.
- A live draft with a lottery, a supplemental round, and a keeper pool for disbanded clubs.
- A commissioner and a co-commissioner, approving every trade and every fill-in.
- Can I pitch, will I play, and what happens if we only have eight?
- One rulebook of thirty-five numbered sections, published in full on the web.
- A year of deadlines: 31 January, spring training, week seven, the last game in June.
- Uniforms are league-ordered, and a trade means paying to change the name on the back.
- Umpires record the start time, sign the final score, and may inspect any bat.
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