BBBA’s Official Constitution

Baseball Bloggers Alliance
Constitution

Article I: Purpose

The purpose of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBBA) is to foster communication and collaboration amongst bloggers across baseball, increasing understanding and knowledge about the game.

Article II: Membership

Any blog that has been in existence two months and has 20 posts is eligible to become a member of the BBBA.  Members are placed into chapters that correspond with their blogging focus.

To retain membership, a blogger must meet three criteria.

• Criteria 1: A blogger must not have a gap longer than two (2) months between posts on his/her blog.
• Criteria 2: A blogger must have at least thirty (30) posts during a calendar year, save the year that they join the BBBA.
• Criteria 3: A blogger must vote in at least one (1) of the four (4) voting opportunities during the year.  (See Article III.)

If the criteria are not maintained, a blog may be placed on inactive status or dropped from the organization, depending on circumstances.

The criteria above for eligibility and retaining membership will go into effect January 18, 2015.

A blogger may not have more than one voting blog in the organization at a time.  Blogs, websites, or individuals may also be listed as a “Friend of the BBBA.”  Friends receive e-mailings, are listed on the official BBBA website, and may post the BBBA logo on their site, but may not participate in any of the voting opportunities.  Friends also do not have any requirements to retain their status.

Article III: Voting

There will be five (5) different voting opportunities during a calendar year.  As noted in Article II, a member must participate in at least one (1) of these opportunities.

• In January, there will be a vote based on the official Hall of Fame ballot for the BBBA recommendation of who should be selected.  This will be done either via e-mail or internet form.  All active members are eligible to participate.
• In March, there will be a vote for the Joe Posnanski Award, given to a baseball writer who, along with quality writing, has a strong internet presence.
• In June, there will be a vote for those to be selected to the Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game.  This voting will be done via posts on member blogs detailing their selections.  All active members are eligible to participate.
• In July, there will be a Tony Gywnn leadership award. This voting will be done through a poll. All active members are eligible to participate.
• In October, there will be voting for post-season awards.
  • There will be five awards voted on.  Newbie of the Year (to correspond with the official Rookie of the Year), Skipper of the Year (Manager of the Year), Pitcher of the Year (Cy Young Award), Player of the Year (MVP Award), and Goose Gossage Award (given to top reliever in each league).
  • Each chapter will receive two votes for each award.  Votes will be delegated in a manner designated by the chapter president.  Voters will vote for the league their team is in.  In the case of the general, non-team-specific chapters, the voter may vote for whichever league they wish.
  • Ballots must be posted to the member’s blog (or another designated publically viewable area on the internet) by the deadline set for the award.

Article IV: Miscellaneous

Chapter presidents will be initially selected by the BBBA President.  Chapters are then free to set up their own methods of changing those presidents in the future, if they wish.  If a chapter president resigns with no mechanism in place to select a replacement, the BBBA President in consultation with other members of that chapter will appoint a new president.

Members are encouraged to link to other members and the official BBBA website as well as posting a BBBA logo on their site.