Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Official Professional Baseball Rules Book

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The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book govern all aspects of the game of Major League Baseball beyond what happens in the field of play. There are a number of sources for these rules but they all ultimately are sanctioned by the Commissioner's Office of Major League Baseball. Examples of these rules are the Rule 5 draft and the disabled list. Other examples include:

Contents

  • the 5/10 Rule whereby players who have been with a club for 5 consecutive years and have been a major league player for 10 years cannot be traded without their consent.
  • the roster list rules (25 and 40 man lists) which also determines who is eligible to play for a team in the playoffs and World Series
  • tie-breaking rules for deciding which teams go to the playoffs
  • implementing/enforcing the expanded playing rules issued to umpires which goes into much greater detail than the official Baseball rules. These rules are described in the Umpire's Manual.

    • Rules Book

    The Official Professional Baseball Rules Book is organized into the following sections:

  • Major League Constitution
  • Major League Rules
  • Professional Baseball Agreement
  • Basic Agreement

    • Major League Rules

    The Major League Rules begin with a note stating that whenever a provision of any of its rules conflicts with a provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiated with the Major League Baseball Players Association, the provision in the Collective Bargaining Agreement supersedes the Major League Rules.

    The following are the topics covered by current Major League Rules:

    This is followed by the Acceptance of all the Clubs. Then there are the Attachments to the Rules (numbers refer back to Rule # above):

  • 3—Minor League Uniform Player Contract
  • 4a—Player's acknowledgement of Receipt of Contract Tender
  • 4b—Declaration of Club Official
  • 12—Notice to Player of Release or Transfer
  • 52—Major and Minor League Territories
  • 54—Standard Minor League Financial Disclosure
  • 56—Standard Form Letter Establishing Player Development Contract
  • 58—Minor League Facility Standards and Compliance Inspection Procedures

    • References

    Official Professional Baseball Rules Book Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA