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           ROTO-LITE™ 1999,  RULES

To field a Roto-Lite™ team . .

- Select one player from each of the 14 AMERICAN LEAGUE teams in the following way:
- You can have at most: 
       Two first baseman     (2  [Sum])
       Two second baseman     (4)
       Two short stops     (6)
       Two third baseman     (8)
       Two catchers     (10)
       Four outfielders     (14)
       Two designated hitters     (16)
       (And two pitchers if you really want them).

- Select one player from each of the 16 NATIONAL LEAGUE teams in the following way:
- You can have at most:
   Two first baseman     (2)
   Two second baseman     (4)
   Two short stops     (6)
   Two third baseman     (8)
   Two catchers       (10)
   Four outfielders     (14)
   Two designated hitters     (16)
   Two Rookies     (18)
   (And two pitchers if you really want them).

   Just like the American League except for the 2 rookies. 

Note 1: In the American league you will be choosing 14 players and there are 16 position slots to put them in.  In the past the two position slots left unfilled have usually been 2nd basemen or Designated Hitters.  In the National league you will be fitting 16 hitters into 18 position slots meaning you will most likely be leaving off the 2 DHs (unless, of course, you can find an N.L. DH with a full time job this year).
Note 2: For the two rookies you will not be declaring positions, so, you could actually wind up with four first basemen in the N.L., but in this case, two of them must be rookies and the position is therefore irrelevant.
Note 3: It may be difficult to find designated hitters in the National League since the N.L. is relatively new at interleague play and few of the N.L. players have played in that position much if at all but, then again, how many at bats is a DH in the N.L. really going to get anyway? It would appear you're better off filling the two rookie slots instead of the DH's.

- The Roto-Lite™ team who's 30 players sum to the most home runs, over the regular season, wins.  (Note 4: If 2 or more major league teams tie for a division lead and are forced into a playoff game/s, homeruns hit in this/these game/s count in regular season stats and therefore count in the Roto-Lite™ totals as well).

Above are the basic rules but the questions then arise . .
1. Who can be put at what position?
2. Who is eligible on what major league team?
3. Who qualifies as a rookie?
For example, it wouldn't seem right for someone to put Frank Thomas at 2nd base just because he played six games there three years ago. Therefore, the following guidelines have been established to answer these three questions.

1. POSITION eligibility is determined as follows:
  i.   A player is eligible at all positions he played at least 20 (US) major league games at last year.
  ii.   If a player played in the (US) major leagues last year and did not play 20 games at any position*, then he is only eligible at the position he played at the most. In this case, if there is a tie for the position he played at the most he is eligible at all tied positions. Example: If a player played in 10 games, 5 at 1B and 5 at 2B this player is eligible at either position.
  iii.   If a player didn't play in the (US) major leagues last year at all, refer back to the last season he did play in the major leagues and apply rules i. and ii above.
  iv.   If the player is a rookie, (and you are putting him at a position), the chances are he has played at least 1 major league game and if this is the case refer to i and ii above.
  v.   If the player has played no (US) major league games in his life, then refer to his minor league record and apply rules i, ii and iii above replacing in all instances "major league" with "minor league". This sounds like a lot of work to reference but lists of all players and the number of games they played at each position last year are abundant and in almost all cases every player you would consider, played at least 1 game last year. One such list is "ATHLON SPORTS, BASEBALL" magazine which can be picked up at many magazine stands. With a few quick searches, I have also found numerous lists on the web displaying player's GAMES BY POSITION and STATS for last year as well as INJURIES and (those always annoyingly inaccurate) PREDICTIONS for '99. All of these links have been posted at www.gis.net/~benbeyer/rotolite/ilinkage.htm.   Be warned that I composed this page of links for the '98 Roto-Lite™ season and never gotten around to modifying for '99.  This may lead to dead links or even worse, inaccurate links.  When surfing baseball sites, make sure you're not reviewing stats from many seasons gone by.

*For the 2 rookies you can choose in the National League you do not have to declare any position, i.e. we don't care about the position they played in, all we care is that they qualify as rookies as described below.

2. TEAM eligibility is based on:
  A player is eligible to play for a team if he is on the team's opening day roster 1999 (not necessarily home opener, a road opener is still considered opening day here).  If the player is on no MLB roster, he is eligible on a team if he is in their system.   Therefore, for example, Mo Vaughn will most likely be a member of the Angels and not the Red Sox while Al Belle will probably be playing for the Orioles and not the White Sox. These updated lists are a little more difficult to find but still exist. It is actually possible for a player to be eligible for more than one team if this player is traded at the very beginning of the season and makes opening day for several different teams.

3. ROOKIE eligibility is determined as follows: (For those, up to, 2 N.L. Rookies)
  For a player to have "rookie status", this player can not have accumulated more than 130 at-bats, 50 innings pitched, or 45 days on a major league roster. If you have a border-line player, please consult the exact wording of the rule as major league baseball has it.**  So, in the National League, you can theoretically end up with 4 first basemen, but if this is the case, 2 of them must be rookies.
Note: My extensive studies indicate this is the most difficult to validate. For example, if you find a 32 year old being brought up from the minor leagues, how do you know how many major league games/at bats this player may have had before?  It's tough to say and no doubt, an obscure potential rookie will take some real research on your part to be sure that this player is in fact a rookie.  Case in point, in '98 two Roto-Lite™ teams picked up what appeared to be a rookie because he played major league games in '95 and '97 but not '96.  This player was later deemed ineligible on at-bats after one heck of a sharp owner tracked this down.

    ** Definition of a rookie found at http://www.majorleaguebaseball.com/library/rookie.sml

Additionally:
- No winning and whining, by punishment of, not more than, this violation being pointed out.
  º Winning, in this case, is defined as being tied with or ahead of, in total home runs, those in your audience.
  º Whining, in this case, is defined as making an annoying high pitched sound and/or mumbling irritating complaints regarding the misery of your Roto-Lite™ team.

Of course, losing and whining is not only OK but expected.
  º Losing, in this case, is defined as being behind, in total home runs, all those in your audience.

Should someone losing elect to whine, the only recourse the winning team has is to be mindful, agreeable, courteous and attentive.

- The office of the commissioner does it's best to make sure all players are eligible for the major league team they are chosen and at the position they are placed as well as researching all rookies to make sure they are in fact rookies. This is done before the first mailing of all rosters to all Roto-Lite™ team owners. When errors are found the erring owner is contacted immediately and the commissioner's office works to get another player off of the ineligible player's team in such a way that the erring owner does not gain from his/her mistake and in most cases loses. It is certainly possible for the commissioner's office to miss one, or more, of these mistakes and believe a Roto-Lite™ team is OK when it is not. Because of this, we leave it up to all Roto-Lite™ owners to check all Roto-Lite™ rosters if they would like.  If an error with a roster is found, the mistake should be pointed out to the commissioner's office right away in order that the situation can be rectified before we get too far into the season. So that we don't have the situation where rosters are being inspected during the stretch run a deadline of June 1st has been set, before which all such questionable rosters must be pointed out to the commissioner's office. I.E. if the Tatermashers put Mo Vaughn in the Pittsburgh lineup playing as a rookie and no one catches either of these two mistakes before June 1st, then he will remain there and I would say the Tatermashers got quite a deal. If, on the other hand, any of these are caught, the Tatermashers will have to settle for a lesser player from the Pittsburgh lineup. Remember, this is a for fun league and, when possible, we try to work out all errors in such a way that no team gets screwed, but the final decision on how mistakes will be fixed lies in the commissioner's office.

- Standings distribution will be done primarily through e-mail. Three years ago the YAWK-MASTERS did these updates and the last two years the updates and distribution were done with much help from the TATER-MASHERS and FLYING EAGLES. We have in the past managed approximately one update a week, it would be nice if we managed to keep that up this year but, no guaranties.

- The cost is $20/team submitted. Note: (again) This is a for fun only league (i.e. There is no money taken off the top for a management fee) so please put your check in the mail right away.

- All participants will be given one week from the date of the final standings distribution to submit any disagreements they may have with our calculations.   Disagreements must be submitted in this time period as after the purse has been distributed, I don't plan to chase it down and tell anyone they didn't really win.   Note546:  The Roto-Lite™ statisticians (almost) never err and these final numbers will be reviewed more than once.

MAIL CHECKS TO:
ROB BEYER
269 MINISTERIAL DRIVE
CONCORD, MASS 01742

- Prize money will be distributed depending on the number of teams entered as follows:
  1-9 teams: 2 prizes
      1st place gets 60%
      2nd place gets 40%
  10-19 teams: 4 prizes
      1st place gets 50%
      2nd place gets 30%
      3rd place gets 15%
      4th place gets 5%
  20-29 teams: 6 prizes
      1st place gets 40%
      2nd place gets 25%
      3rd place gets 15%
      4th place gets 10%
      5th place gets 7%
      6th place gets 3%
  Over 29 teams: 7 prizes
      1st place gets 30%
      2nd place gets 24%
      3rd place gets 18%
      4th place gets 13%
      5th place gets 7%
      6th place gets 5%
      7th place gets 3%
    
- Rosters must be complete, checked and submitted by Saturday, April 10, 1999 at midnight.  

- STILL MORE NOTES:

- If a player gets injured or dropped there are no substitutions.  

- If a player is traded, the home runs hit for the previous team as well as for the new team count all the same (nothing changes).

- All ties in the final standings split prizes. For example if there are 11 teams and there's a 2 way tie for first, these 2 teams get 40% each and the 3rd place team gets 15% etc.  
 
- If you know of other people interested, please feel free to send them this letter.   Also, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLECTING THEIR TEAM FEE SO MAKE SURE YOU COLLECT OR THEY SEND IN ON THEIR OWN $20 ENTRANCE FEE RIGHT AWAY.  
 
- To submit your roster either fill out the on-line entry form (link below) and e-mail to: BenBeyer@gis.net or USPS mail the entry form along with your check to the above listed address.  
 
- Much information has been made available on the web at the Roto-Lite™ home page www.gis.net/~benbeyer/rotolite.   From here there are links to the past winning rosters and links to all kinds of on-line baseball help.  Also, feel free to write with any questions . . .  BenBeyer@gis.net.