Credit where credit is due:

The bulk of the following is from "Rotisserie League Baseball – The Official Rulebook and Complete Guide to Player Values" by Glen Waggoner and Robert Sklar, Bantam Books, New York, 1989. While there have been some changes in the text to incorporate the rules of the Charred Retina League, most of the words are those of Messrs. Waggoner and Sklar. The full text of that document can be found here.

CRL CONSTITUTION

CONTENTS
(Scroll down or click to go directly to section)

I.	OBJECT	X.	STATS
II.	TEAMS	XI.	TRADES
III.	ROSTER	XII.	THE RESERVE LIST
IV.	AUCTION DRAFT DAY	XIII.	FARM SYSTEM
V.	POSITIONAL ELIGIBILTY	XIV.	OUTRIGHT RELEASE AND WAIVERS
VI.	FEES	XV.	SEPTEMBER ROSTER EXPANSION
VII.	PLAYER SALARIES	XVI.	THE OPTION YEAR AND GUARANTEED LONG- TERM CONTRACTS
VIII.	PRIZE MONEY	XVII.	ROSTER PROTECTION
IX.	STANDINGS	XVIII.	GOVERNANCE

I. OBJECT

To assemble a lineup of 23 National League baseball players whose cumulative statistics during the regular season, compiled and measured by the methods described in these rules, exceed those of all other teams in the League.

II. TEAMS

There are 10-11 teams in a duly constituted Rotisserie League composed of National League players.

III. ROSTER

A team’s active roster consists of the following players: Five outfielders, one catcher, one second baseman, one shortstop, one middle infielder (either second baseman or shortstop), one first baseman, one third baseman, one corner man (either first baseman or third baseman), one utility player (who may play any non-pitching position), and ten pitchers. (See Article V for rules governing position eligibility.)

IV. AUCTION DRAFT DAY

A major league player draft in the form of an open auction is conducted on the first Friday in April. Each team must acquire 23 players at a total cost not to exceed $130. A team need not spend the maximum. Teams will nominate players in the reverse order of the previous season’s final standings. The team bidding first opens with a minimum salary bid of $0.50 for any eligible player, and the bidding proceeds around the room at minimum increments of $0.50 until only one bidder is left. That team acquires the player for that amount and announces the roster position the player will fill. The process is repeated, with successive team owners introducing players to be bid on, until every team has a squad of 23 players, by requisite position.

Players eligible at more than one position may be shifted during the course of the draft.
No team may not make a bid for a player it cannot afford. For example, a team with $3 left and two openings on its roster is limited to a maximum bid of $2.50 for one player.
No team may bid for a player who qualifies only at a position the team has already filled. For example, a team that has acquired a catchers, and whose utility slot is occupied, may not enter the bidding for any player who qualifies only at catcher.
Players who commence the season on a major-league team’s disabled list are eligible to be drafted. If selected, they may be replaced (see below, Article XII, for details).

Immediately following the major-league draft, a minor-league player draft shall be conducted, in which each CRL team may acquire players who are on the roster of a National League farm team but are not on the Major League team’s disabled list.

Selection takes place in two rounds of a simple draft, not an auction. The selection order is determined by the order in which the teams finished in the previous season. The 5^th place team picks first, followed, in order, by the teams finishing 6^th through last, followed then by the top four teams in reverse order.
Any team not meeting pre or post-season payment deadlines picks last in each round of the minor league draft.
The price and subsequent salary upon activation of each farm-system player drafted is $5 for position players and $2.50 for pitchers.
See Article XII for operational rules governing farm systems.

V. POSITIONAL ELIGIBILTY

A player may be assigned to any position at which he appeared in 20 or more games in the preceding season. If a player did not appear in 20 games at a single position, he may be drafted only at the position at which he appeared most frequently. The 20-games/most games measure is used only to determine the position(s) at which a player may be drafted. A player who did not appear in the major leagues the previous season may only be assigned to the position he played most frequently in the minor leagues. Once the season is under way (but after Auction Draft Day), a player becomes eligible for assignment to any position at which he appears at least once. Players selected for the utility slot may qualify at any position except pitcher.

VI. FEES

The CRL has a schedule of fees covering all player personnel moves. No money passes directly from team to team. No bets are made on the outcome of any game. All fees are payable into the prize pool and are subsequently distributed to the top four teams in the final standings (see below, Articles VIII and IX).

BASIC: The cumulative total of salaries paid for acquisition of a 23-man roster on Auction Draft Day may not exceed $130.

TRADES: $5 per trade prior to the All-Star break, $10 thereafter (no matter how many players are involved). Each team involved in a trade shall pay the appropriate fee, depending on the time of the season during which the trade occurs. Off-season trades are $5 per team.

CALL-UP FROM FREE-AGENT POOL: $10 until the All-Star Game, $20 thereafter until season’s end.

RESERVE: $5 for each player placed on a team’s reserve list (see Article XII).

FARM SYSTEM: $5 for each player kept in a team’s farm system (see Article XIII).

ACTIVATION: $5 for each player activated from the reserve list or farm system.

WAIVERS: $5 for each player claimed on waivers (see Article XIV).

SEPTEMBER ROSTER EXPANSION: $25 (see Article XV).

VII. PLAYER SALARIES

The salary of a player is determined by the time and means of his acquisition and does not change unless the player becomes a free agent or is signed to a guaranteed long-term contract (see below, Article XVI).

The salary of a player acquired in the major-league draft is his auction price.
The salary of a player called up from the free-agent pool during the season is $5 (regardless of his call-up fee).
The salary of a player activated from a team’s farm system during the season is $5 for a position player and $2.50 for pitchers.
The salary of a player claimed on waivers is $5, or his current salary, whichever is greater.
The salary of a player called up during September Roster Expansion as an extra (24^th) player is $12.50 if he is drawn from the free agent pool (see below, Article XIV).

VIII. PRIZE MONEY

All fees shall be promptly collected and wisely invested by the League Treasurer in a timely fashion. Teams who do not pay their balances for any given month by the 20^th of the following month shall have their rosters frozen and shall not be able to make any roster moves until their balance is paid in full. Payments for September transactions are due by October 20.

As there is no "frozen roster" penalty for off-season payment deadlines, any owner failing to meet either pre or post-season payment deadlines will be penalized by picking last in the upcoming season’s minor-league draft.

The interest income from this investment shall be given to the League Treasurer to help he or she satisfy tax ramifications of the interest income and defray the expenses of handling the account. The principle shall be divided among the first four teams in the final standings as follows:

First place – 50 %
Second place – 25 %
Third place – 15 %
Fourth place – 10 %

Before the percentages for payouts are calculated, the League Secretary and League Treasurer shall be reimbursed for their expenses (mailings, Rental for hotel conference room, faxing transactions to the League Treasurer or Stat Service, etc.). Once the league expenses are deducted from the prize pool, the remaining balance will be distributed to the top four teams according to the schedule above.

IX. STANDINGS

The following criteria are used to determine team performance:

Composite batting average (BA)
Total home runs (HR)
Total runs batted in (RBI)
Total runs Scored (R)
Total stolen bases (SB)
Composite earned run average (ERA)
Total Wins (W)
Total Saves (S)
Total Strikeouts minus walks (K-BB).
Composite ratio per nine innings pitched: Walks (BB) plus hits (H) divided by innings pitched (IP) times 9 ((BB+H)/IP)x9.

Teams are ranked from first to last in each of the 10 categories and given points for each place. The first-place team in a category receives 1 point for each team in the league (currently 10), the second-place team 2 points, and so on down to one point for last place. The team with the most total points wins the pennant.

NOTE: A team that fails to pitch a total of 1000 innings cannot be ranked ahead of any team that does pitch 1000 innings, in either ERA or Ratio. No team, except those failing to get their innings, shall have their season-ending point totals changed due to another team’s failure to get the required minimum. For example, if a team failing to get their minimum innings requirement actually has the fifth-best ERA, those teams with worse ERAs will not each gain a point as a result of the offending team being dropped to last place in the category.

NOTE: Pitchers’ offensive stats are not counted.

In cases of ties in an individual category, the tied teams are assigned points by which team is ahead in the most categories.
In cases of ties in total points, final placings in the standings are determined by comparing placement of teams in individual categories. Respective performances are calculated and a point given to each team for bettering the other. Should one team total more points than the other, that team is declared the winner.
Should the point totals still be equal, the tie is broken by adding each team’s total at-bats at season’s end, plus triple the number of its innings pitched. The team that scores a higher total by this measure wins the pennant.

X. STATS

The stats of record shall be supplied by a third-party stat service. Box scores in daily newspapers are riddled with errors, and official scorers occasionally change rulings. Stats from the stat service are considered official.

The effective date of any transaction for purposes of statistical calculation is the Tuesday immediately after the deadline for reporting transactions to the League Secretary. The deadline for reporting transactions shall be 10 p.m., Central Time, on Mondays. Transactions shall occur in rounds in reverse order of the previous week’s standings. Each team may replace only one player per round. Teams with multiple transactions may replace one player per round, but must allow each other team in the league to make a transaction before making another selection. For example, if a team has both an outfielder and a pitcher go down in the same week, that team may select either an outfielder or a pitcher in the first round and then wait until every other team in the league has either made a selection, or passed, before filling the other hole.

Transactions made on Auction Draft Day, including trades and call-ups to replace disabled players, are effective the first Tuesday after Auction Draft Day.

Performance stats of a player shall be assigned to a CRL team only when he is on the active 23-man roster of that team.

NOTE: It is common for a player to appear on the roster of more than one CRL team during the season because of trades and waiver-list moves. Even a player who is not traded may spend time on a team’s reserve list, during which period any numbers he might compile for his major-league team do not count for his CRL team.

XI. TRADES

From the completion of the auction draft until the last out of the All-Star game, CRL teams are free to make trades, so long as the active rosters of both teams involved in a trade reflect the required position distribution upon completion of the transaction, and so long as the anti-dumping rules outlined below are adhered to. Trading may also occur after the All-Star game on a limited basis. Between the All-Star game and Aug. 31, teams in money positions (1-4) may only trade with teams in money positions. Likewise, the bottom four teams may only trade with the bottom four teams. The exception to this is teams that are not in the top four or bottom four positions may trade with anyone. Trades made from the day after the season ends until rosters are frozen prior to Auction Draft Day are not bound by the position or anti-dumping requirements.

Trades do not affect the salaries or contract status of players.
Trades made between Auction Draft Day and the All-Star game, or during the off-season, are subject to a $5 transaction fee per team. Trades made between the last out of the All-Star game and August 31 are subject to a $10 transaction fee per team.
Each team is subject to the transaction fee. The fee is not affected by the number of players involved in the trade.
No trading may occur between Roster Freeze Day and Auction Draft Day, or between September 1 and the end of the season.
Trades may not include "players to be named later," or "future considerations."

Players in the last year of a guaranteed contract, playing out their option year, or players with a salary of $12.50 or more, are considered "asterisk" players. Such players may be traded only under the following conditions:

One team may trade asterisk players to another team provided that for each asterisk player traded, one is received in the same deal.
The above notwithstanding, a team may trade one asterisk player to another team without an asterisk player coming in return, but may only make one such trade with each team in the course of the season.
Between the end of the season and Roster Freeze Day, asterisk players may be traded without restriction whatsoever.

NOTE: "Dumping" is the inelegant but scientifically precise term used to describe what happens when a team out of contention gives up on the season and trades to a contending team its most expensive talent and its players who will be lost to free agency at the end of the year, typically for inexpensive players who can be kept the following season. A "dumping" trade is always unbalanced, sometimes egregiously so, with the contending team giving up far less than it gets, and the non-contending team giving up much more in order to acquire a nucleus for the following season. While this strategy makes sense for both clubs, extreme cases can undermine the results of the auction draft, which should always be the primary indicator of an owner’s ability to put together a successful team. What the anti-dumping rule outlined above is intended to accomplish is to restrict the most extreme forms of dumping, while at the same time permitting a non-contending team to rebuild for the future.

XII. RESERVE LIST

A team may replace any player on its 23-man roster who is:

Placed on the disabled list,
Released,
Traded to the other league,
Sent down to the minors by his major league team or,
Suspended by his major-league team.

To replace such a player, a CRL team must first release him outright, waive him (see below, Article XIV), or place him on its reserve list. A team reserves a player by notifying the League Secretary and paying the $5 transaction fee. A reserved player is removed from a team’s active roster at the end of the stat week following Monday’s games – when formal notification is given – and placed on the team’s reserve list. There is no limit to the number of players a team may have on its reserve list. Reserving a player protects a team’s rights to that player.

Once a specific action has been taken to remove a player from its 23-man roster (via release, waiver, or placing him on the reserve list), a team is then free to select any eligible player from the free-agent pool of players not already owned by another CRL team. The salary assigned to a player so selected from the free-agent pool is $5; the call up fee is determined by the time of the season in which the call-up is made (see above, Article VI).
The call-up takes place the following Tuesday.
When a player on a reserve list returns to active major-league duty, he must be reinstated to the active 23-man roster of his CRL team within two weeks after his activation or be waived. Failure to notify the League Secretary shall be considered a waiver of the player on the reserve list. A player may not be reinstated until he has been activated by his major-league team.

NOTE: Intended to prevent stockpiling of players, this rule is tricky to monitor. Daily newspaper transaction columns and telephone sports-information lines are unreliable about reporting major-league roster moves. The clock starts ticking when the League Secretary is made aware of a player being reactivated. By the way, "two weeks" means two full reporting periods and may actually be as much as two weeks plus six days (as in the case of a player being reactivated on a Tuesday).

When a player is reinstated to the active 23-man CRL roster from a team’s reserve list, the player originally called up to replace him must be waived, unless the replacement player or the original player can be shifted to another natural opening on the roster for which he qualifies. A reinstated player may not displace any player on the active 23-man roster other than his original or any subsequent replacements. The rule holds through successive replacements that may occur for the duration of the season.

Placing a player on the reserve list and activating a player from the reserve list are each subject to a $5 transaction fee.

Once the season concludes, a team may not keep both a player on its reserve list and the player he is tied to. At some point following the end of the season, usually sometime in November or December (depending on when the League Secretary gets around to it), teams with players remaining on their reserve lists must inform the League Secretary as to whether they are keeping the player on reserve, or his active replacement. It is not required to keep this (these) player(s) on the following season’s roster, merely to ensure that multiple players are not tied together during the off-season. In the circumstances where more than two players are linked together, a team may only keep one of the linked players. If a team chooses to keep a player on the reserve list over his active counterpart, and the team subsequently keeps that player the following Roster Freeze Day, the team owes the $5 activation fee into the following season’s prize pool.

XIII. FARM SYSTEM

If a farm-system player is promoted to the active roster of a major-league team at any time during the regular season prior to September 1 (when major-league rosters may expand to 40), his CRL team has two weeks after his promotion to activate him (at any position for which he qualifies) or waive him.

The fee for activating a player from a team’s farm system is $5.
If a farm-system player is activated, the player displaced from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers, unless the farm-system player can be activated into a natural opening, in which case no waiver is required. Example: One of your pitchers is placed on a major-league disabled list; you reserve him and activate a pitcher from your farm system who has been called up by his major-league team.
Once brought up from its farm system by a CRL team, a player may not be returned to it, although he may be placed on a team’s reserve list in the event he is returned to the minor leagues by his major-league club.

NOTE: Once a player is brought up from his farm team, the clock starts ticking. Even if he is sent back down before two weeks have elapsed, he must be activated or waived. In this one scenario only, this may give a team a chance to replace their worst performing player with a free-agent. If a farm player comes up and is sent back down, he may be activated, and any player waived (this part does not have to work positionally). The farm player must then be immediately reserved and his hole filled with a free-agent or waiver player (this move does have to work positionally). This type of move is limited to position players for positon players and pitcher for pitchers. (In other words, if your farm outfielder comes up, you may not activate him and waive a pitcher only to pick up a free-agent outfielder.)

A farm-system player not brought up to a team’s 23-man roster during the season of his initial selection may be kept within the farm system in subsequent seasons upon payment of an additional $5 per year, so long as the League Secretary is duly notified on Roster Freeze Day (see also Article XVII ).
At no time may a team have more than three players in its farm system.
A farm-system player may be traded during authorized trading periods, subject to prevailing rules governing transactions.

XIV. OUTRIGHT RELEASE AND WAIVERS

Under certain conditions, a CRL player may be released outright or placed on waivers.

When a team activates a player from its reserve list, the player called up earlier to replace him must be placed on waivers if either he, or the original player, cannot be moved to another natural opening on the roster (see Article XII).
When a team activates a player from its farm system, except into a natural opening (see Article XIII), the player dropped from the 23-man roster to make room for him must be placed on waivers.
A player no longer on the active roster of his major-league team and whose CRL position is taken by a player activated from the reserve list may be placed on waivers or be released outright.

NOTE: While a player may be given his outright release, we do not normally do it. All players released during the season are normally waived because they may end up back on the active roster of a National League team before the end of the waiver period. Besides, some owner may want to spend $5 to remove a player from their team. In the case of certain bad pitchers who always seem to be throwing gasoline on the fire, addition by subtraction can be a good thing.

If an owner picks up an inactive player on waivers, that player cannot be replaced except by another waiver move or a farm system call up.

NOTE: This is to prevent a team from picking up a player on waivers merely for the purpose of releasing him and replacing him with a player of higher quality from the free-agent pool.

The waiver period begins at 12:01 A.M the Tuesday after the League Secretary has been notified that a player has been waived and lasts one week, at the end of which time the player shall become the property of the lowest-ranked team to have claimed him. To make room on its roster, the team acquiring a player on waivers must waive a player at the same position played by the newly acquired player.
Waiver claims take precedence over the replacement of an injured, released, or demoted player. That is, a player on waivers in a given week may be picked up by a team to fill a natural opening only if no other team claims the player off waivers in the same round.
A team may acquire on waivers no more than one player in a given week, but there is no limit to the number of players a team may acquire on waivers during the season.
A player who clears waivers returns to the free agent pool.
The fee for acquiring a player on waivers is $5. The salary of a player acquired on waivers shall be $5 or his previous salary, whichever is greater, and his contract status shall remain unchanged.
A player with a guaranteed long-term contract may not be waived during the season. However, he may be released and replace if he is traded to the "other" league.
A player may be given his outright release only if he is

a) unconditionally released,
b) placed on the "disqualified" list,
c) traded to the "other" major league, or

XV. SEPTEMBER ROSTER EXPANSION

If it chooses, a team may expand its roster for the pennant drive by calling up one additional player after September 1 from the free-agent pool, its own reserve list, or its own farm system.

The order of selection for September Roster Expansion is determined by the most recent standings, with the last place team having first selection. For the 24 hours of September 1, roster expansions take precedence over all other transactions. Beginning with September 2, teams may still expand their rosters, but the roster expansion picks will have a lower priority than regular weekly transactions.
The performance stats of a player called up during September Roster Expansion start to accrue on the Tuesday after the League Secretary has been notified of the player’s selection.
The fee for expanding the roster in September is $25.

The salary assigned to a September call-up from the free agent pool is $12.50. The salary of a September call-up from a team’s reserve list or farm system is the salary established at the time he was previously acquired (on Auction Draft Day, or subsequently from the free-agent pool or via waivers).
During the period of expanded Major League rosters, any player who has been declared out for the season by some national publication or network (such as USA Today, ESPN, the stat service, etc.), may be replaced by his owner following normal replacement procedures. If the replaced player subsequently makes an appearance, even as a defensive replacement, in a game, he will be reinstated to his CRL team’s roster retroactively and his replacement, and any stats the replacement may have accrued, dropped.

XVI. OPTION YEAR AND GUARANTEED LONG-TERM CONTRACTS

A player who has been under contract at the same salary during two consecutive seasons and whose service has been uninterrupted (that is, he has not been waived or released, although he may have been traded) must, prior to the freezing of rosters in his third, or option, season be

released,
signed at the same salary for his option year, or
signed to a guaranteed long-term contract.

If released, the player returns to the free-agent pool and becomes available to the highest bidder at the next auction draft. If signed at the same salary for an option year, the player must be released back into the free-agent pool at the end of that season. If signed to guaranteed long-term contract, the player’s salary in each year covered by the new contract (which commences with the option year) shall be the sum of his current salary plus $2.50 for each additional year beyond the option year. (For example, if a player is signed to a three-year contract, his salary becomes his current salary plus $5 – $2.50+$2.50 – the option year is only included in the duration calculations, not the salary calculations). In addition, a signing bonus, equal to one half the total value of the long-term contract, but not less than $2.50, shall also be paid.

In determining a player’s status, "season" is understood to be a full season or any fraction thereof.

A team may sign a player to only one long-term contract, at the end of which he becomes a free agent.
Option-year and long-term contracts are entirely transferable, both in rights and obligations; the trade of a player in no way affects his contract status.
If, during the course of a long-term contract, a player is traded from the National League to the American League, the contract is rendered null and void. The team that loses the player’s services shall be under no further financial obligations.
In all other cases – specifically including permanent disability or sudden loss of effectiveness – a team must honor the terms of a long-term contract, as follows:

A player with such a contract may not be released during the season. But the player may be released during the off-season and prior to Auction Draft Day. A team that chooses to do so must pay into the prize pool, above the $130 Auction Draft Day limit, a sum equal to twice the remaining value of the player’s contract. The player then re-enters the free-agent pool.

XVII. ROSTER PROTECTION

From one CRL season to the next, teams finishing in the money (1-4) may protect 7 players. Teams finishing out of the money may protect 10 players.

The names of players being retained must be recorded with the League Secretary by midnight, Roster Freeze Day. Specific notice must also be made at that time of any guaranteed long-term contract signings and farm-system renewals.

NOTE: Roster Freeze Day will always be at least one week prior to Auction Draft Day, and as close to April 1 as possible, to allow all owners at least one weekend prior to the draft to fine-tune draft strategies. Until you know whom the other teams are going to keep, you won’t know for sure who’s going to be available. And until you know how much they will have to spend on Auction Draft Day, you won’t be able to complete your own pre-draft budget.

The cumulative salaries of players protected prior to Austin Draft Day are deducted from a team’s $130 expenditure limit, and the balance is available for acquisition of the remaining players needed to complete the team’s 23-man roster.
The League Secretary should promptly notify all teams in the league of each team’s protected roster, including player salaries, contract status, and amount available to spend on Auction Draft Day.
Failure to give notice of a guaranteed long-term contract for a player in his option year will result in his being continued for one season at his prior year’s salary and then released into the free-agent pool. Failure to renew a farm-system player’s minor-league contract will result in his becoming available to all other teams in the subsequent minor-league draft.
A farm-system player whose minor-league contract is renewed on Roster Freeze Day and who subsequently makes his major-league team’s active roster may be activated (or waived) the Monday following Auction Draft Day. The two-week clock for bringing up a farm player begins on Auction Draft day. The player may not be maintained in his CRL team’s farm system.

NOTE: For our purposes, a player is deemed to be on the opening day roster, and thus available to be drafted, if he is;

a) On the Opening Day roster of a National League Team,
b) On the Disabled List of a National League Team on Auction Draft Day.

XVIII. GOVERNANCE

The CRL is governed by a Committee of the Whole consisting of all team owners. The Committee of the Whole may designate as many League officials as from time to time it deems appropriate, although only two – the League Secretary and the League Treasurer – ever do any work. The Committee of the Whole also designates annually a Rules Committee composed three team owners in good standing. The Rules Committee has the authority to interpret playing rules and to handle all necessary and routine League business. All decisions, rulings, and interpretations by the Rules Committee are subject to veto by the Committee of the Whole. Rule changes, pronouncements, and acts of whimsy are determined by majority vote of the Committee of the Whole.

Discussions of proposed rule changes undertaken by the Committee of the Whole on Auction Draft Day shall be limited to one minute per team. Once a team’s time is up, breaking into the discussion to rehash an argument will cost a team its vote. Any owner who brings up a proposed rule change may respond to direct questions from other owners seeking clarification of the proposed rule change without that time counting towards the one-minute limit.
Any motion that is defeated by a vote of the Committee of the Whole, and which receives one or less votes for passage, is automatically tabled for a period of two years.