North Tonawanda American Babe Ruth 2013 Rules and Regulations Rules apply to Senior, Prep, Cal Ripken Major, Cal Ripken Minor, Cal Ripken Rookie and Cal Ripken T-Ball Divisions unless otherwise specified. 1) All Babe Ruth League rules per sanctioned rule books shall govern team play. NTABR League amendments, as adopted by the league Board of Directors, will override standard rule books as stated here. 2) Registration a) Registration shall be open to all players age 4 to 15 who live in the area allotted to NTABR by District 1 of Babe Ruth Baseball of Western New York. The player s age on April 30 th of the current year determines league eligibility. b) Divisional placement is determined strictly by age with the exception of 14 year olds as outlined in Rule 3b. c) All players who register after the final registration or a division is closed shall be placed in a pool to be called by the player agent to fill vacancies on a first in, first out basis. 3) Team Make-up a) Senior Division- team roster, 12 player min.-13 max. Maximum five (5) 15 year olds. (If no Prep: A minimum of three (3) 13 year olds (or younger) per team is required.) All players are 15, 14, or if no Prep Division exists, 13 or 12 years old. If there is a Prep Division, the maximum number of 15 year olds is eight (8). All players are 12 to 15 years old. b) Prep Division- team roster, 12 player min.-13 max. All players are 14, 13 or 12 years old. Registration numbers will dictate the number of 14 year olds in Prep Division. Only that number of 14 year olds that will even up the Prep league teams will play in Prep Division. Those 14 year old players not selected in the Senior Division draft will enter the Prep Division draft pool. c) Cal Ripken Major Division- team roster, 12 min.-13 max. Maximum six (6) 12 year olds. All players are 10 to 12 years old. d) Cal Ripken Minor Division- team roster, 12 min.- 13 max. All players are 8 to 10 years old. e) Cal Ripken Rookie Division- team roster, 11 min.- 13 max. All players are 6 to 8 years old. f) Cal Ripken T-Ball Division- team roster, 9 min.- 14 max. All players are 4 to 6 years old. g) In rare instances, a player whose skill set warrants it, can request in writing, a waiver from the Board of Directors to play at a level different from the ages listed in 3a-f. 1
h) Evaluations shall be held for unplaced players in their own age group: Seniors, Prep, and Cal Ripken Majors. Players are selected to teams by the Player Agent with input from the individual managers at a group meeting. Minors, Rookie, and T-Ball teams are assigned by the Player Agent. In the event that a draft is decided upon for the selection method: i) Major and Senior draft order will be the reverse order of the previous regular season standings. Any unreported game scores from the previous season will be treated as a WIN for the purpose of draft order standings. The last place team shall select first in each round. ii) The Prep draft order will be assigned by lot. The order will then proceed as a snake draft, first to last in round one, last to first in round two, etc. iii) Expansion teams shall pick first in the regular entry draft. If multiple expansion teams are present, the order of their selection shall be determined by lot and rotate from round to round. iv) The manager s child shall be assigned to the second round pick. A new player that is assigned as a result of a sibling already being on the team from the previous year will be assigned to the first open round pick after the second. If two or more siblings are eligible for the draft, the first taken will be assigned in the round taken. All others will be automatically assigned to the same team in the first available open slots for that team s draft selections. v) Deviations from the player seeding in Rule 3.h) iv.) Will be allowed to maintain competitive balance only with the consensus of all managers, the respective divisional V.P. and the player agent. Dissent from any manager or the V.P. will automatically cause player seeding to revert to Rule 3. h) iv. i) Each Senior or Major player remains on the same team from one year to the next unless a division expands or disbands by one or more teams, or at the discretion of the Board of Directors, doing so causes a significant competitive imbalance in the division. The team eligibility of a player who quits during the previous season will be determined on an individual basis by the Board of Directors. Players may request to re-enter the draft after one season on a team for legitimate reasons. These requests must be submitted in writing to the Board of Directors. A player re-entering the draft cannot be selected by the team he or she has left. j) If registration numbers dictate that a team or teams should be disbanded from the Senior or Major Division, the team or teams with the fewest number of returning players should be disbanded. Other arrangements may be made at the discretion of the Board of Directors. All players from disbanded teams shall be placed in the general pool of players for team selection. k) If registration numbers dictate that a team be added to the Senior or Major Division, an expansion draft shall be conducted by the player agent. For an expansion of one (1) team, each existing team will submit a list of players eligible to be selected by the expansion team. The number of players on this list will be equal to half the number of registered players remaining on the team at the time of the expansion draft or three, whichever is fewer. Teams with an odd number of players shall receive the benefit of rounding down. That is a team with five (5) players shall be required to submit a list with two (2) players. No existing team shall lose more than one (1) player. The manager s child may not enter the expansion draft. If the expansion is more than one team, the numbers listed above shall be adjusted by the player agent accordingly. 2
l) A player that is placed on a team automatically as a child of the manager will re-enter the team selection process in the succeeding year if the manager/parent steps down as manager. Enforcement of this rule will be at the discretion of the Board of Directors. m) The Player Agent has full authority over the team selection process and can alter any rule above in the best interest of the players involved. This will be done to promote equality amongst teams and to promote more competitive play between teams. The Player Agent can decide to disband all the teams in a division with the input of all team managers in that division in order to create a competitive balance of teams. 4) Managers and Coaches a) All managers and coaches (independent of sex or age) are recommended by the division V.P. and approved on an individual basis by the Board of Directors. A manager must be 21 years of age or older. A coach must be 18 years old or older. b) Each team s manager and/or coach must attend all manager meeting(s) called by the president or V.P. of his/her division. Failure to attend may result in dismissal. c) There will be a maximum of three (3) non-players allowed in a dugout during a game. These shall consist of the manager and two coaches. A scorekeeper in the dugout is considered a coach. No team will be permitted a coaching staff of more than five (5), made up of four (4) coaches and a manager. d) Any person disapproved as a manager or coach will not be allowed in the dugout or on the field for any reason. e) A manager or coach ejected from a game will be automatically suspended for a minimum of one game and must appear before a review committee of directors selected by the president. It is the responsibility of the respective divisional V.P. s to schedule the hearing. A manager or coach is not eligible to manage or coach until after the hearing and their suspension has been served. A manager or coach is to serve his/her suspension by being absent from the playing field area during a game. The playing field area is anywhere an umpire crew member can see or hear. The umpire crew will notify the umpire-in-chief and/or field director that a violation had occurred when the crew has seen or heard a suspended manager or coach. Any violation of this rule will result in forfeiture by the team managed or coached by the suspended person. Penalty: Minimum of two (2) additional games suspended, possible expulsion f) For any player, manager or coach ejected from a game, notification on a Game Incident Report must be given by the plate umpire to one of the following as soon as possible: the respective division V.P., league president, or umpire-in-chief. g) Cal Ripken Minor managers shall be allowed to select one (1) coach before teams are selected and player assignments are made. Rookie and T-Ball managers shall be allowed to select two (2). Children of the managers and assigned coaches will automatically be assigned to the respective teams coached or managed by a parent. Special circumstances may allow assignment 3
requests to be honored at the T-Ball and Rookie level at the discretion of the player agent. Under no circumstances shall a special assignment intentionally affect competitive balance. h) Emergency one-game coaching approvals may be made by a Field Director or by the umpire with approval of the opposing team s manager. 5) Replacements a) Trades are not allowed. b) Any vacancy (e.g. quitting due to illness, injury or change of address) must be immediately reported by the manager to the player agent. A vacancy on a roster shall be filled by the player agent with the first player in the corresponding division pool, independent of age but who does not violate restrictions in Section 3. If the pool is empty and only seven (7) or less games remain in his/her season, a manager may only borrow to avoid forfeit, see Section 5-c. c) An upper division manager may temporarily borrow registered lower division player(s) strictly to avoid a forfeit or avert possibility of forfeiture due to injury at the start of a game. The replacement player cannot play in a game when his or her own team is playing. i) A call-up form must be completed, signed by both managers, and turned into the Field Director or divisional V.P. on game day before the start of play for each called up player. ii) If circumstances dictate that arrangements cannot be made before a game to borrow a player (e.g. unknown shortage until just prior to the game), the field director for that day or a person on the Board of Directors if field director is unavailable should be contacted to assist in obtaining a borrowed player. The appropriate divisional V.P. or league s player agent must be notified of your use of a borrowed player with a call-up form. iii) Amount of play rules (Section 6) remain in effect. The playing time of a called up player may not exceed that of any regular roster player in attendance. iv) Under no circumstances shall a manager who borrows a lower division player use that player as a pitcher v) Called up players may be used only twice per team in the regular season and one additional time in the playoffs. Exceptions are at the discretion of the managers involved and the Field Director. It is the responsibility of the manager that requires the exception to notify the opposing team s manager prior to the start of the game. Failure to do so shall cause their team to forfeit the game. vi) Called up players must come from the division immediately below the division using the player as shown below: (1) Cal Ripken T-Ball: No call ups. (a) Game will be played with players in attendance. No forfeit. (2) Cal Ripken Rookies: 4
(a) Call up 6 year old Cal Ripken T-Ball players only. (3) Cal Ripken Minors: (a) Call up 8 year old Cal Ripken Rookie players only. (4) Cal Ripken Majors: (a) Call up 10 year old Cal Ripken Minor players only. (5) Prep: (a) Call up 12 year old Cal Ripken Major players only. (6) Seniors: (a) Call up will come as a 13 year old from another Senior team not playing, or a 12 year old from the Cal Ripken Major division. vii) Non-compliance could result in forfeiture. 6) Amount of play a) During the regular season, an eligible player in Major and Minor divisions must play at least three (3) innings in the field. An eligible player in Senior division must play at least four (4) innings in the field. Every eligible player in Senior, Major and Minor divisions must be placed in the batting order (every player in attendance bats). i) If a player is scheduled to leave during a game, that player s manager must notify the opposing manager before the game. If this is done, that player s position in the batting order will be skipped over without penalty. However, if a manager fails to notify the opposing manager of a player leaving the game early, then that player s position in the batting order will be counted as an out. ii) If a player in the line-up is not in attendance at the start of the game, they are dropped from the order when their position in the batting order is reached. No out will be recorded iii) When a player arrives late for a game they will be placed at the end of the line-up. In the case of a late-arriving player, innings missed by said player count toward minimum play requirements. iv) If a player is injured or falls ill during a game, that player s position in the batting order will be skipped over without penalty. v) Innings not played because of a shortened or called game count as a player s participation toward the required number of innings played in a game. When a player does not play in the required number of innings due to a shortened game, he/she must start the next game in the field and cannot be removed until he/she has fulfilled the required number of innings played. Note: The Cal Ripken Major and Minor divisions and Babe Ruth Senior division rule regarding non-consecutive innings played necessitates a modification of the Babe Ruth re-entry rule. Any player may re-enter a game more than once at any position, except pitcher. a) Before a game, both managers must submit complete team rosters to the opposing manager and the game status of each player: absent, vacation, discipline or substitute, etc. 5
b) Accurate Pitching Charts, as supplied, must be maintained and submitted by team managers for all Major and Senior Division teams. One pitch constitutes a full inning. c) A violation of pitching rule must be protested within one week of the game. Pitching rule violations result in forfeiture. d) All umpires and directors that are not involved in the game in question are urged to always take precaution to prevent protest. Possible protest action should not be delayed until the infraction has occurred. If possible protests should be avoided within the Babe Ruth Rules. 7) Schedules a) All games should be played at Ramsay or Rojek Field (Senior and Prep divisions only) unless prior approval is obtained from the president of the league. b) Only the schedule coordinator may schedule post-season games or make up games. c) Managers and umpires shall be obligated to appear at game time regardless of weather conditions unless notified by the respective V.P., field director, or umpire-in-chief. d) Games may be postponed or rescheduled only because of questionable field or weather conditions or because the president and scheduling coordinator find it necessary. e) All games will start at the scheduled time. f) It is the responsibility of the Division s V.P to attempt to notify the team managers by phone and/or email of the time and date of a rescheduled game. The league website is most often updated within 24 hours. 8) Field Decorum a) Managers/coaches/umpires must abstain from using tobacco products on the playing field or in the benches and dugouts. Alcohol, Tobacco products and profanity are not permitted at NTABR events at any time. b) Managers/coaches/umpires must refrain from argumentative conversations with fans during a game. c) In the umpire s judgment, a player who uses profanity or deliberately misuses equipment will be ejected from a game. The official rules of baseball provide for other grounds for ejection. d) The ejected player s position in the line-up will be dropped, no out will be recorded. 6
e) An ejected player is automatically suspended from his/her next game (regular season, playoff, or tournament.) After a second ejection, he/she is automatically suspended from playing the next two (2) games and must appear before a review committee of the Board of Directors. A third ejection will result in automatic suspension for the remainder of the season s regular, playoff, and tournament games. f) Players ejected from tournament games including Official Babe Ruth, Official Cal Ripken or any other non-league games will be subject to the conditions of Rule 8e. g) Guidelines for treatment of suspended players (any reason): i) Any suspended player is ineligible to be called up until his/her suspension has been served. ii) The suspended player must be present, for the whole game from which he/she is suspended, on the bench in full uniform. If the player does not appear at the suspended game, he/she is suspended until this penalty has been served. iii) Suspensions will carry over to the following season. h) Managers, coaches, players and umpires are not to openly discuss or criticize other managers, coaches, players or umpires during the playing of a game. 9) League Standings a) The following point system shall take place to determine the season s standings: i) A team who wins an official game shall receive 2 points. ii) An official game that ends in a tie will result in each team receiving 1 point. b) Point totals will be final at the conclusion of the last day of the regular season. Standings shall be determined by the regular season point totals. If there is a first place tie based on point totals, a playoff game (2-way tie) or games (more than 2-way tie) will be played. In case of a three or more way tie, the president and V.P. of that division will flip a coin to see who plays whom. The remainder of the standings will be determined by point totals. If the point totals are identical, tie breakers will be: 1. number of wins, 2. head to head point totals, 3. Drawing of lots (more than 2 teams tied) or coin toss (2-way tie). Any game played without the approval of the schedule coordinator or president shall be considered a violation of the rules. c) The winning team manager is responsible to submit the games scores (posted in the garage). If not submitted by the start of the last week of the regular season no points will be awarded for unreported games (Game during the seasons last week scores need to be reported at games completion). Unreported game results will be considered as losses in determining playoff seeding, but will be considered as wins in determining draft position for the following year, if applicable. 7
10) Uniforms and Equipment a) All male players are required to properly wear a protective cup on the field. Players that warm up pitchers must wear a mask and helmet (on the field and in the bull-pen). Players playing catch in the bullpen are NOT warming up a pitcher. A player will be considered as warming a pitcher and requiring a mask and helmet when receiving pitches in a crouch. The umpire, manager, or coach may warm up the pitcher if they choose. b) All pitchers at all levels will be required to wear a helmet when warming up on the mound. c) All base coaches in the Major, Prep, and Senior Divisions will be required to wear a protective helmet. Players are required to wear double ear flap helmets when coaching bases. d) Only equipment issued or approved by Babe Ruth League may be used during games. Equipment must conform to Babe Ruth standards, Rule 1.00. e) Each manager shall be responsible for collecting all equipment at season s end. f) Each manager shall clean and turn in equipment to his/her divisional V.P. within two weeks of his/her final game. g) The complete and proper uniform as issued will be required for all players. Any player out of uniform, at the discretion of the umpire, is disqualified from play until the proper uniform is worn. 11) General Rules a) No rules shall be changed without Board approval. b) Any manager who knowingly violates the rules shall be subject to disciplinary action by the Board of Directors. c) Any player out with an injury or illness under doctor s care must have a release from the doctor to play again. No player will be allowed to play with a full or partial cast. d) Only managers/approved coaches may coach the bases. Exception: Major/Senior/Prep division - players may coach bases with a batting helmet properly worn. e) Game Limits: Games may end if the margin of score listed in the following table is equaled or exceeded after the minimum number of at bats by the trailing team. The trailing team s manager may choose to suspend play (end the game) at any time after the deficit by notifying the umpire and opposing team manager of the decision end the game. Play will otherwise continue. For the purpose of League standings, the win/loss will be decided if the margin of score listed in the table below is equaled or exceeded after the minimum number of at bats by the training team regardless or not whether the game is continued by the training team s manager. The purpose of this rule is to give players on both teams additional playing time. 8
Division Margin Minimum Rookie 15 4 Minor 15 4 Major 10 4 Prep 10 4 Senior 10 5 i) Prep division: Regulation game length shall be governed by Cal Ripken Majors rules. ii) Cal Ripken Minor division: A new inning may not start after 2 hours and 15 minutes from the start of the game provided a minimum of four (4) innings has been played. iii) All divisions: if a regular season game is called after being a regulation game because of rain, darkness, etc. and the game is tied, the game is over and considered a tie game. In the playoffs, Babe Ruth tournament rules shall apply. (All games are played to completion. Suspended games pick up where they are suspended.) iv) Game completion times, when applicable in T-Ball, Rookie, and Minors, shall be determined by the umpire. His/her ruling is final. Note: The home team must bat in the last inning if it is losing. If the visiting team takes a lead in excess of the margin in the top of an inning after the minimum, the home team must bat in the bottom of that inning. f) If a runner attempting to reach a base intentionally and maliciously runs into a defensive player in the area of the base, he will be called out on the play and ejected from the game. The objective of this rule is to penalize the offensive team for deliberate, unwarranted, unsportsmanlike action by the runner for the obvious purpose of crashing the defensive player, rather than trying to reach the base. Obviously, this is an umpire s judgment call. The ejected player will be subject to an automatic one game suspension. Ejection guidelines in Rule 8c shall apply. g) In Minor Division and above, only one (1) offensive conference per inning is permitted. Penalty: Ejection of offending coach at the umpire s discretion. h) Intentional walk: Senior, Prep, and Cal Ripken Major divisions only. Must be played out (pitch to batter). Minor Division: No intentional walks are allowed. If, in the judgment of the umpire, an intentional walk has been issued, by the defensive manager or coach, this will result in the ejection of that team s manager. (See Rule 4e.) i) In the Cal Ripken Minor and Major divisions, any pitcher hitting two (2) batters in an inning or three (3) batters in a game must be removed from the mound for the balance of the game. j) It is required that players wear long pants or baseball pants and socks. k) Pitchers warming up from the mound shall throw no more than 8 pitches or until the umpire calls the game to resume. 9
12) Cal Ripken Minor Only General Rules a) There will be no advancing to home on a wild pitch or passed ball or the throw back to the pitcher from the catcher. If any attempted play is made on any runner, all runners may advance at their own risk. An attempted play includes any attempt to get a runner out, either by throwing to the base or running at the runner. An overthrow to a pitcher is not an attempted play. Attempting to steal home at any time is at the risk of the runner. It should be clear that the act of advancing to home from third on a passed ball or wild pitch or the throw back to the pitcher from the catcher simply to induce an attempted play in order to legalize said advance is prohibited. Inducing a pick-off attempt is legitimate. Examples: 1. Runners are on third and first. Catcher throws to second to throw out the runner stealing, then the runner on third attempts to go home. If he/she is safe, the run counts unless the out at second is the third out of the inning and precedes the run scoring. 2. Runner on third tries to advance home on a wild pitch or passed ball or the throw back to the pitcher with no other play occurring, in an attempt to induce the catcher to make a play on him at the plate. This attempted play is not one that would allow that runner or any other to advance. Ball is dead. No runners may advance. b) Balks shall not be called. c) The infield fly rule will be enforced. No pitcher, regardless of age, may pitch more than two (2) innings per game. d) The defense shall be limited to ten players. The outfield shall have four fielders across, no short fielder. All players must still play the minimum required number of innings in the field. Teams will be allowed to start and/or finish a game with nine (9) players. e) Cal Ripken Major 60 Base special base running rules apply. f) There is a 6-run limit per team per inning, except for the sixth or final inning. Senior and Cal Ripken Major pitching rules are governed by the Babe Ruth Rule Book. Please read and know your baseball rules. All other rules are major league baseball rules. Other Cal Ripken T-Ball and Rookie rules are listed separately. 10