If you are in a league that plays by NL-style rules, that is, you let the pitcher bat, do you have 
restrictions or modifications that prevent the overuse of pitcher’s hitting supercards from batting?
Our league uses the Pitcher’s Hitting Card. I originally introduced the PHC sometime in the early 1990’s during my fateful reign as President of the Illowa APBA League. I don’t know who in the APBA community originally designed the card first but we modified it to our needs and adopted it.
Our rules state that any pitcher who has less than 10 at-bats (NL or AL) must use the Pitchers Hitting Card.
The idea here is to diminish the effect of those pitchers who in real life batted so infrequently but maybe got that lucky hit and as a result, got a fantastic hitting card from Lancaster.
We keep the card pretty much the same year to year. The only change we make is where the ’12’ is placed.
It does take a little research before the season to determine which relievers are affected by the rule and which are not Certainly not difficult… but it has to be done..
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Pitcher’s Hitting Card 11- 7-1 31- 13-6 51- 39-6 12- 25-7 32- 26-6 52- 27-6 13- 13-6 33- 8-1 53- 21-6 14- 30-6 34- 31-6 54- 32-6 15- 9-2 35- 13-6 55- 9-2 16- 28-6 36- 33-6 56- 34-7 21- 30-6 41- 12-6 61- 24-6 22- 8-1 42- 13-6 62- 13-6 23- 29-6 43- 29-6 63- 32-6 24- 13-6 44- 8-1 64- 13-6 25- 36-2 45- 14-6 65- 35-7 26- 13-6 46- 13-6 66- 0-1 |
One last point… our league hasn’t been of one mind when it comes to using the Pitcher’s Hitting Card. It seems we vote on this every annual league meeting. Some like it because of reasons stated above. Others just find it easier to play the cards.
Do any other leagues out there use a modification similar to the Pitcher’s Hitting Card?
OAPBA (Orlando APBA Association) uses a pitcher’s hit card for relief pitchers only. Starting pitchers hit cards ARE used, however.
The adoption of the relief pitcher’s hit card was instituted to avoid top-heavy relief pitcher hitting cards that were based on two or three at bats. Manager Dave Larson prepped the hitting card, which changes yearly, based on the actual results from relief pitchers.