Article 3 – PLAYER ELIGIBILITY

A – Residence shall be defined as the place where a new player has established their residence by March 15 of the current year. The new player must take demonstrative legal action to establish their residence (voter registration, driver’s license change, income tax return, utility bill, etc.)

B – College Student Residence – The residence of a college student shall be defined as the place a player has established primary residence (on or before March 15) while attending a school of secondary education. Providing bills or correspondence from the post-secondary institution, driver’s license, voter registration, etc may prove this residence. The player may also use their parent’s address (their permanent residence).

C – A player under registration to a team in any season remains the property of that team until they are released, even if the player moves their residence to another locality outside of the boundaries of that team or into the boundary of another team. They shall be registered to and remain with that team until they are properly released (see Article 7 – Release Procedures). Managers shall not grant a release until satisfied with the return of uniform, team equipment, monies or any other property of the team.

D – A player who does not play for a team for one or more complete seasons shall be granted their release, if requested, as long as they are in good standing (monies, uniform, etc.) with their former team.

E – Service Personnel – A player serving in the military on furlough or leave is eligible to play with the team to which they are registered. They are eligible for play in the LOL Grand Championship Playoffs if they meet the three-game rule (Article 3-G).

F – High School Players – Students playing baseball with a high school team are ineligible to play LOL baseball until completion of their high school baseball season. Students whose high schools play summer baseball can play until the season starts (May 15 – WIAA start). High school players are not subject to the three-game rule (Article 3-H).

G – Professional Players

1) Players who sign professional baseball contracts may play for their former amateur team. They must provide a written release of their professional contract to the commissioner of their division. The commissioner shall forward a copy of the release to the LOL Secretary/Treasurer for filing. They must follow the three-game rule (Article 3-H) to be eligible for post-season action.

2) As the LOL is an adult amateur baseball league, a player who finishes a season with a professional baseball team must provide written proof of release in order to play in the LOL. Absent this proof, said players are ineligible to play until the team they finished the season with starts their season without said player being on their roster.

H – Three-Game Rule – A player must play in a minimum of three regular season division games to be eligible for post-season play. Post-season play consists of any tiebreaker games following the regular season, playoff games following the regular season, tournament games following the regular season, or Grand Championship Playoff games. An appeal may be made on this rule (see Article 8 for appeal procedures). Appeals of the three-game rule may include, but are not limited to, injuries.

I – Upon playing in their first LOL game of the year, any legally rostered player who misses a regularly scheduled game in its entirety to play with another team shall lose their LOL eligibility for the remainder of the season.

J – A player currently registered in college and with college eligibility remaining may play in a league open to such players without losing their LOL eligibility. Said player must be rostered with their LOL team prior to July 4 and meet the three game rule (Article 3-H) in order to play in any post-season games. The player must notify their division commissioner and give the name of the team and league before leaving.