The International Replay Baseball League (IRBL) is a computer baseball league. The IRBL was founded on October 30, 1973 when an Ad request was mailed to the "Table Sports Scoreboard" magazine asking for managers to join a new Replay Baseball Board Game league. Here is that first Ad that appeared in the December 1973 issue:
The IRBL was the first and longest running Replay Baseball Board Game league from 1974 until the game company stopped producing the game after the 1985 Major League Baseball season.
The IRBL began its first season in 1974 using the stock 1973 season teams that came with the Replay Baseball Board Game. From 1974 thru 1986, the Replay Baseball Game was the only game used in the IRBL. From 1987 thru 1991, managers were permitted to use the Pursue The Pennant PC Baseball Game or the Replay Baseball Board game. From 1992 thru 1995, all managers used the Pursue The Pennant (PTP) PC Baseball Game. From 1996 on, all managers use the Diamond Mind Baseball (DMB) Game (formerly named PTP).
The IRBL uses the player files published by the Diamond Mind company for last year's Major League Baseball season. Each manager must own the latest version of the game and purchase the last year's Player Diskette from the Diamond Mind company.
The IRBL consists of 6 divisions aligned the same as the Major Leagues (and will change as the Major Leagues change). There is a 162 game schedule consisting of 32 thru 40 series (split between home and road series). Each series consists of 2, 3, 5 or 6 games. Each team's home series are played by the home manager and the road series are played by the road manager. There is one series date scheduled every 5 days, usually alternating between home and road. The series span about 24 weeks (April thru August). The post-season series format is the same as the actual Major Leagues used during the Major League season that the current Diamond Mind Baseball Game players files were based on.
In February of each year, the IRBL Rookie/ Free-Agent Draft takes place. All rookies and released players rated in the Diamond Mind player files who are not on any IRBL team are eligible to be drafted. The team draft order is based on the reverse order of the previous IRBL season's team winning percentages. Managers may participate in the draft by telephone, in person or by a written list. There are two time periods during the off-season that player trades can take place (one period between the end of the season and before the draft and the second period after the draft and before the season begins).
The IRBL is playing its 41st season in 2014. For each home series played, the results are sent by the home manager to the League Office via Internet email. The results are added into the master league files. The League Results files and the IRBL Newsletter are available to be downloaded from the IRBL Internet web site approximately every 2 weeks. All managers with email addresses are notified when the new IRBL Newsletter is available. Many IRBL documents are also available for viewing on the IRBL Internet web site. The League Results files includes updated standings and Top Ten player statistics plus the results of your road series that were played in the last 2 weeks. The IRBL is a dues free league.
To simplify playing IRBL series using the Diamond Mind Baseball Game and to simplify distribution (and viewing) of IRBL Newsletters, IRBL documents, DMB player files and series results, the "IRBL Menu Program" has been designed. Through the use of this program, all the scoresheets, boxscores, series totals and export files for each series are all combined into one unique file for easy transfer to the League Office. Each manager receives a series total text file for each road series so the scoresheets, boxes and series statistics can easily be reviewed. The main menu of this program looks as follows:
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International Replay Baseball League
2014 IRBL Menu Program
Main Menu
<1> Select IRBL Series Date and Teams
<2> Create ZIP file of selected series
<3> Create ZIP file of Team Instructions Files set
<4> Display or Print Series Results or Newsletter Files
<5> Display or Change IRBL Menu Program Configuration
<0> Install League Results file (LRD)
<Esc> Exit Program
Selected Series: JUN 25, CUBS at PIRATES, 4 games
(press desired key)
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For full details of the operation of the IRBL and the "IRBL Menu Program", read the "IRBL Rules" which can be accessed from the "IRBL Documents" web page.