# MLB Disabled List **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 5, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827 "2004-06-05T17:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/1 "2004-06-05T17:07:23Z")
I don’t understand how the 15-day, 30-day, day-to-day, etc. disabled lists work in Major League Baseball. Let’s say I’m on a major-league roster. On June 4th I injure my… soul. The team witch-doctor checks it out and says to wait it out. On June 5th my soul is still injured and the team witch-doctor says I’ll probably be out for two weeks. I’m placed on the 15-day DL. Does that mean I cannot come back to play until June 20th? If my soul gets better before then, can I come back to play? ---
**Author:** ![Craneop2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Craneop2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Craneop2)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/2 "2004-06-05T18:08:27Z")
Lets say you slide into second base. Old styx that wiley old shortstop tags you… REALLY HARD in the soul!.. Trainer comes out and says that your soul is pretty nicked up and you should warm up the old golf clubs for 15 days. Bingo you just got 2 weeks paid vacation time! That allows the team to draw from their player pool in the minor leagues without violating the 25 man roster limit. They will bring up a player who might be having a “hot streak” or just someone they just might want to take a hard look at in a major league setting. For more extensive injuries the team may require that you do some rehab time in the minors to get back into major league condition before coming off the injured list. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/3 "2004-06-05T18:31:46Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Does that mean I cannot come back to play until June 20th? If my soul gets better before then, can I come back to play? Yes, that’s correct. Once placed on the 15-day DL, you must sit out at least 15 days. In practice, a player has usually missed some days already before he is placed on the DL. It’s not 15-days from when you’re placed on the list, necessarily, but 15 days from the last game you played. The point of this rule is to allow teams to bring up a replacement for an injured player without havingto remove him from the roster. By placing a 15-day minimum, that keeps a team from manipulating the system to make roster replacements. > [@HeyHomie](#): > > I don’t understand how the 15-day, 30-day, day-to-day, etc. disabled lists work in Major League Baseball. MLB now has just two lsits, the 15-day and the 60-day disabled list. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/4 "2004-06-05T18:41:14Z")
“Day-to-day” merely indicates the player is injured, but will probably recover in a day or so without having to go on the DL. If you bruise your arm on Monday, you may not be able to play Tuesday or Wednesday, but can return on Thursday. The player is not on the DL, but sits out the games (or is only used in a limited capacity – a pinch hitter, for instance) to rest the injury. A player can’t be brought up to replace him on the roster. If the injury doesn’t respond, then the player is put on the DL. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/5 "2004-06-05T18:45:55Z")
Also… You can go from the 15 day to the 60 day but not from the 60 to the 15. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/6 "2004-06-06T02:15:36Z")
Another important consideration is that when a player is placed on the 60-day DL, he no longer counts toward the 40-man roster, giving the GM more flexibility in bringing up a replacement. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/7 "2004-06-06T03:06:58Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > MLB now has just two lsits, the 15-day and the 60-day disabled list. When did they get rid of the 30-day DL? I could have sworn it was in existence at some point, but I can’t remember when. ---
**Author:** ![carterba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85e7bf/32.png) [@carterba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carterba)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/8 "2004-06-06T14:59:26Z")
But you can also be put on the disabled list retroactively to some date. I’m not really sure how that works… can that be done if you’ve been listed as day-to-day since the injury? Or only if you haven’t played at all since the injury? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/9 "2004-06-06T15:27:08Z")
The only limitation on retroactively placing someone on the DL is the last game they played. So a player who is ‘day to day’ for 3 days may be placed on the DL retroactive to the day he was hurt provided he has not appeared in a game in the intervening time. As for the ‘30 day’ DL I can _vaguely_ remember it. But I’ve been following baseball for almost 30 years pretty closely. For all I know it went away in the 50s or something. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-disabled-list/248827/10 "2004-06-06T15:52:06Z")
I found [this page](http://mysite.verizon.net/brak2.0/dl.htm), which may or may not be entirely accurate: > [@](#): > > Once roster limits became a permanent part of Major League Baseball, a need developed to allow teams to temporarily replace injured players without exceeding the limits. In July 1915, the National League created a Disabled List. Teams were permitted to place an injured player on this list for a period of at least ten days. This allowed the team to remove the player from their active roster without having to release him or sell him to another club. They could then add another player to their active roster until the injury had healed. This rule lasted only through the 1916 season, and wasn’t revived until 1941. At that time, both leagues adopted a new disabled list rule, with each team being allowed to place two players on a DL as long as it was done before August 1 and the injured player remained on the list for at least 60 days. In 1949, the minimum stay was shortened to 30 days. > > A 60 day “emergency” list was added in 1960, which required the permission of the Commissioner to use. Players on the sixty day list do not count against either the 25 or 40 man rosters. In 1966, the required stay on the regular DL was shortened again to 15 days, but a year later was increased to 21 days. A more liberal change was implemented in 1971, with teams now allowed to put a player (pitchers not included) on a 'supplemental" 15 day DL in addition to the two player limit on the 21 day list. In 1973, a maximum of three players could be put on the 21 day list . > > Beginning in 1981, there were four disabled lists: the regular 21 day list with a 3-player limit, the 15 day “supplemental” list for one non-pitcher, a new “special” 21 day list to be used when the prior two were full, and the “emergency” 60 day list. In 1984, the “special” list was changed to require a minimum 30 day stay and the supplemental list was increased to allow two players, including one pitcher. In 1990, the rules were changed once again. From then on, there were only two DL’s, a fifteen day and a sixty day list. There were no limits on the number of players that could be placed on these lists. However, the 40 man roster had to be full before the sixty day list could be utilized. This kind of corresponds to my memory. I seem to recall Jeff Stone of the Phillies being placed on that 30-day DL for a groin pull. He played for Philadelphia from 1983-1987, so that might be true.