The emergency players

It's almost exactly the midpoint of this season, and I have belatedly had an idea that promises to solve one of the problems of this league -- specifically, the lack of depth on some rosters.

The Phillies have only 26 players. The Indians have only nine pitchers. The Angels have one player as the backup at three infield positions, and he almost never played. And perhaps most significant, several teams have just two catchers. I'm using the injury rules; this creates possibilities of players being put in uncoded positions for several games, which is unrealistic.

I have created an "emergency player pool" of 15 cards -- players from other 1969 teams who had limited playing time (less than 100 at-bats for position players, less than 40 innings for pitchers) and little production. I don't want players who are clearly better than the rostered players they might be replacing.

They can be used if:

• A team falls to eight pitchers (pitchers only)
• A team falls to one catcher (catchers only)
• A team is without a player coded for one of the other seven positions (that position only)
• A team falls to 23 eligible players (any position)

Emergency players may not be active if there is a roster player who can fill the role. They cannot remain on the active roster once the emergency is over. The 10-day demotion rule will not apply to the emergency players. They are not eligible for September callups. Until September, the 25-man roster still applies; add an e-player, somebody has to come off the roster. The 10-day rule for inactivations apply still to rostered players

The list:

Pitchers: Bo Belinsky (Pittsburgh), Ken Brett (Boston), Jerry Crider (Minnesota), Al Jackson (Cincinnati)

Catchers: Gary Kolb (Pittsburgh), Tom Tischinski (Minnesota)

Infielders: Ken Boyer, 1B (Los Angeles); Dave Campbell, 1B, 2, 3B (Detroit); Jerry DaVanon, SS, 2B (St. Louis); Cesar Gutierrez, SS (Detroit); John Miller, 1B, LF, 3B, 2B (Los Angeles); Nate Oliver, 2B (ChicagoNL)

Outfielders: Gates Brown, LF (Detroit); Ralph Garr, LF, (Atlanta); Leon McFadden, RF, SS, LF (Houston).

I wish I'd thought of this idea before the season, but better late than never. The emergency list will be available for use after the games of July 8.