Quality of legion baseball going downhill?

Braves,

You are right on spot. Your senario is dead on.
Thanks for turning a negative thread into a positive thread.

 

WOW. I agree with Braves and all the Legion minds 100%. All it takes is to see the kids from the high NC legion programs playing great baseball in college and in the pros.

As for the quality of legion baseball being down this year, I would make a case that baseball in general is down this year as everyone has to change their baseball mindset with the BBCOR bats. Bunting, baserunning and fielding has become the name of the game. I watched Cherryville Post 100 play three games this week, two at Fraley field and not a homerun in any of the games. Even Bobby Reynolds (like him or don't) has had to adapt.

All that being said, Braves, TJ, Vet-17 and anyone else that would like to chime in... what changes would you make to put Legion the prefered in all summer baseball?

 

I would change nothing about the game. It's pure, simple and the best brand of amateur baseball in the country. Although I would demand pitch counts (with some flexibility to complete pitching to a batter.)

Many of the problems facing legion has to do with in-fighting...or in some cases a sense of devious. The most glaring one has to do with "attendance zones". I've never seen anything more convuluted. Many times it appears AL shoots itself in the foot about this subject. Players don't get to play because their area doesn't field a team and they have to jump through hoops to get permission to get to play for someone else. And there should be given a time limit to charge a team with an illegal player. Some supporters of a team willingly hold out the information of an illegal player until playoff time..then they report it. I'd say the biggest concern for me is the illegal player ruling. I don't know how one can fix it, but it needs to be addressed to ensure all players have an opportunity to tryout without fear of being removed 2/3 of the way into the season.

The politics can be unnerving; Too much power and control by a select few. Many decisions appear to be subjective.

There are other areas to address (marketing and promoting the league to encourage kids of why Legion baseball is the best), but those a just a few.

Again this is something off the top of my head. I'll post something more succinct later....after I enjoy my father's day.
However, the game itself is as close to perfect as you will find.

 

Easy Fix

I would change nothing about the games. They are awesome.
The administration is a Mess By Design. We are allowed; even encouraged to hide basic information from each other and the Public so we can fain ‘we didn’t know’ later on. It would be mandatory for ALL teams to adhere to certain common dates for example…

April 1, Declare team and any base school change for PUBLIC knowledge.
May 1-15, Must have an OPEN tryout (announced at Schools and PUBLIC)
Friday before Memorial Weekend. All Rosters Must be on line for PUBLIC to see names, address, schools.
Memorial Weekend; OPENING DAY for NC Legion. Make it a Big Deal. What sport/league does not have an Opening Day?

Attendance zone works fine, you put the parents address into MapQuest and TaDa, you know right team. Might not be the team he wants but we ain’t raising 10 year old boys, we’re raising men. Yes people do wait to call out the illegal players, but the illegal coach, parent and sadly player know their cheating folks.
Lastly, in our area the Top talent all play Legion Ball. Some play other stuff but they ALL play on the Legion Team. Drag them off to space camp, showcase, American idol, whatever, they WANT to play Legion Ball.
Pretty Simple, just quit hiding.

 

Legion changes???

Good question, of course there needs to be some (like anything else), but keep in mind that American Legion baseball is a national organization in which the rules are voted on nationally. I often hear local folk complaining about a rule like they think the local Area Commissioner "has it in for them" or something, and thats just not the case,,,,,,,,,,,, well let me clarify by saying "that MIGHT NOT BE the case" in every situation.

One rule change that goes into affect for the 2015 season = college players will no longer be allowed to play AL baseball beginning that year.

One last thing, while we routinely tell folk that internet message boards are not the place to simply "gripe or complain", THERE ARE avenues for folk to make suggestions for rule changes. Starting with your Area Commissioner, of course most people (excluding Braves) can write a letter.

Just messing with ya Braves, like always you make very good points.

 

I wuz taght that ritin leters were for gurls.....boys dint ritr no leters. But mi south caroliner edumacashun was grate!!!!!!! I mad all A's!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I want American Legion to become the baseball of choice for the summer. I think some of the attendance concerns lie mostly in the big cities--where an AL post will open, then close, then may open again.

Then you have some kids that stay with their extended family (for legitimate reasons) for the summer....and they can't play. There should be a waiver for a legitimate reason.

 

Ironically someone is agreeing with our argument about leadership at the NC American Legion Ranks. If I told you right now that our state commissioners were not following a national rule would anyone believe me?? Probably not. Instead, everyone just figures it those guys in mooresville stirring up stuff. In fact, I personally have called National, and personally spoke with Jim Quinlin, the man himself. He did say that a major rule was being broken and that our state commissioner knew better!

We put pressure on the state guys, along with 3 other legion squads, and an emergency meeting was called in Lexington several Sunday's ago. An email was sent to all coaches and ADs informing that all rosters were frozen and no more add ons, as in the National rule book. By this time, one and only one team had changed their roster twice adding kids from other posts that were cut due to National rule. This team does happen to be from Mooresville do maybe that's why we down here are so proactive. The very next day another email was sent out saying never
Mind we are going to keep it like it is, but you have to call the state commissioner to get roster changed. I once again called National after several coaches found it hard to believe that a national rule had changed. And once again they assured me no exception has been made however Mr Quinlin was away for a couple of weeks on vacation.

I was told by a state official higher than our state commissioner that if National found out that NC could be banned from play for 1 year. And the second phone call to National yielded a comment from the individual I spoke with of" you guys need younger blood in office down there.".

So why should we let one commissioner and one coach jeopardize 55 some odd years of play in our state. I promise you these are all factual statements and I wish someone else other than us folks in Mooresville, China Grove, Salisbury, and Kernersville would join this fight to clean house. This very reason IS why American Legion is loseing respect and why we are so upset here in Mooresville!!

 

Can you walk this back a little bit as I am a bit confused? Are rosters frozen? I am not in a dugout anymore and havent been in 2007, so I don't quite understand. I thought you didn't have to put the rosters/Form 2s in until a certain date. Are Roy Waters or the Area III commish telling people to change rosters with kids on other rosters?

 

Due process is taking place. There is a meeting in Raleigh today that will bring some issues out in the open. I believe that there will be a positive changes for the program. The national guys are very sharp and the rulebook has a tremendous amount of time & effort involved before rules are implemented. Down South's question currently has two conflicting answers. I fully expect that to be cleared up today. Open meeting so if you feel inclined...North Raleigh Hilton off Wake Forest Rd at 3:30 on the ground floor.

There are so many avenues that are available for the program...ie THE KIDS without a road block that currently exists. The truth is close. Let's use the proper channels to voice & demand what is right.

 

I am very much interested in what you or anyone else finds out about the meeting and moving forward. Thank you for your help.