Legion Releases: Facts & Myths

Copied & Pasted from AL Rules

Transfer Rule. A player released from a team must obtain permission on National Transfer Form #76 from that team’s manager to play for the team that is closest to his parents’ domicile. 1. To determine the nearest team from among several, use the shortest driving distance as calculated by MapQuest.
2. The player must provide signed Transfer Form #76 to the new team manager, which must be forwarded to the authorized Department Baseball Official for approval, prior to listing the player on the Form #1. All transfers shall be final and binding through the remainder of a player’s eligibility.

Clarification Players who try-out for and fail to make the nearest team can request a transfer to the second closest team to their parents’ domicile. If cut again, that player may try-out for the third closest team, until which time the player is able to play on a team. The enrollment of the high school a player attends on March 31, shall be counted.

Junior Legion players are not eligible to be transferred

I don't think NC plays by AL rules strickley in Juniors.

 

legion

maybe someone can help me out here, my son play his freshman year on a jr legion team and then it folded, then we went the next year to a new legion team in a different county and play 1 year and this past year we try for a release and they said we had done had a release,hmm so we went ahead and play, and then this team folded,now heres my question, if this team folded and im hearing that they are going to start a new team new post from scratch, can we still switch to another team that is about the same distance? we live right in the middle of about three diffirent counties,and plus this legion team we are wanting to go to is a pretty good team, thanks

 

If the team he was playing on folds, he can go to the next closest team. To fiqure that, you do mapquest from your home to base school of that team.

 

legion

thanks

 

Exactly, its all about the distance you live from the nearest base school. So many times folk think because they live in a certain county or because they attend a certain school that they should play for a certain legion team, but this isn't necessarily true. Sometimes kids from the same HS school play for 2 different legion teams, because it all depends on how far (or close) you are to the nearest base school. You are the property of that nearest base school.

The only time any so-called lines come into play, is when you are on the border of a state line, then in order to play across state lines you must obtain approval from both (your state and the other state) directors.

 

We've had to get several releases over the years due to the size of Durham County and the proximity of Apex, Cary, and Chapel Hill (when they had a team). Every one we've gotten has been final for their career. - also witnessed the Chapel Hill team in 06 be eliminated from the playoffs over a discrepancy of .25/mile. Though it was the letter of the rule, I still think they weren't trying to break any rules, but simply didn't know the player was closer to our base than Chapel Hill's- we were unaware as well, but another team exposed the player in question and got them declared illegal.

 

In my opinion, it's this sort of thing that has helped make American Legion baseball as anachronistic as it's become. All of this works fine, it seems, when you have a town and high school situation that fit within the guidelines. Everyone plays together...in high school and on the Legion team...and everything's copasetic. People in that environment are blessed to have a local Legion team that they can call their own, follow, and support.

However, put these guidelines in a city like Charlotte...and add to it the opportunity to draw the lines the way a few of the local organizers see fit...and you create plenty of instances when a player can be deprived of an opportunity to play with his high school buddies on his high school's Legion team.

How do I know this? Because my son attended and played for a high school that hosted a Legion team and was coached by the same high school's athletic director; but, the Legion territorial lines and rulebook effectively locked him out of participation with his high school Legion team. As you might expect, most of his long-time, baseball-playing friends played for his high school's Legion team. (By the way, we also lived within that school's main territorial boundary, and it was the closest high school to us.)

Unless it's changed in the last several years (and it may have, as I haven't followed it), the Charlotte suburb of Pineville has been given a much different boundary for Legion baseball purposes than the one it shares with the city of Charlotte. The Pineville Legion baseball boundary meanders through the southside of Charlotte, just happening to touch a disproportionate number of the area's baseball-richest sections.

Evidently, there's nothing outside the Legion regulations about this. It's simply that way because the people who control the determination of the Legion territorial lines in Charlotte happen to favor the Pineville Legion Post. That's just the way it is, and any player has to abide by it. I know because I spoke with North Carolina Legion officials at the time, just to make certain that my son had no means short of gaining a release from the Pineville Post Commander to play with his high school's Legion team.

Because the Pineville coach told his Post Commander that he shouldn't grant us a release, my son faced a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. As a result, he played travel ball each summer during high school; never playing Legion ball with his friends as he would have liked to have done for at least one summer.

Several years removed from this, I'm no longer angry or bitter as I might have been at the time. Left to reflect on it today, though, it does help explain why American Legion baseball has lost much of its appeal and relevance for high school players and their families.

 

Prepster, you lost me on a couple big words, but I think you (your son) was a victim of just being in a big city bottomline. Yes Legion Baseball has its negatives, but as you said, it works great in other places.

There are some things I would like to see changed, for instance the punishments when a team is caught breaking a rule. I don't agree with disqualifying an entire team jsut because an Athletic Director turns in birth certificates one day late. I believe there should be different penalties, maybe even fines. The punishment should fit the crime.

In your situation, unfortunately yes teams can dictate what schools they draw from, and in those schools they only get certain kids depending on addresses. It don't always seem fair. I could do the same thing in a smaller county if I wish, one could form your own legion team, designate the base school and then to stay within the legion enrollment guidelines, just draw your players from certain schools, leaving the other schools out in the cold. It don't seem right, but it happens.

This is actually why I got involved, so that the team we had in our small town, would continue, and the kids could continue to play. But I do realize in some instances (many instances across the state) that kids DO get left out. Its not perfect for sure. And thank you for your comments, maybe one day the state officials can fix situations like what you went through.

 

17 years do not need releases for jr teams only if they make sr team

 

Couple of things to think about before throwing stones: No situation will ever produce a perfect senario for everyone involved, just the nature of the beast. It is easy to say do what is best for the kid, but that is not what is always best for the majority of the kids. Mapquest is a great change in rule by having a program that is accessible by all, and I agree with TJ about the punishment issue. It is hard and time consuming when you get in more populated areas with lots of teams knowing if you accidentially make a mistake 18 kids lose their summer dreams. I speak from my playing years when we were kicked out the 1st round for 100% accurate birth certificates with raised seals from Raleigh but because they were picked up by someone other than the parents they had to be notorized. Talk about 5 important words in the rulebook that made a huge difference. Keep in mind to set Mapquest to "shortest distance" in settings. I can say that almost 100% of Area III works together for the best interest of the kids and that is what it is all about! Releases can be acquired from base schools but mileage for a base school player does not matter for eligibility for that team, he could live in another state, commute to the base school and play for that team without a release. The "no release from a base school" came from a past commissioner who misinterpreted the rule. I think this is more than enough for now!!