Quality of legion baseball going downhill?

As of this year, rosters for SR and JR legion squads were to be set and frozen before first LEAGUE contest. Two separate incidents took place that spurred this rule, and insurance is the culprit.(1 incident occurred here in NC and both involved insurance fraud. The other in Kansas) I do not agree cutting kids before you really get a chance to see them. But of this is a mandated rule, everyone team needs to abide by it. When I coached we had to the 22 or 23 of June. Not any more. According to Mr Quinlin, rosters can ONLY change after the first league contest if a player is enlisted in military or dies. Cannot replace a hurt player or one that quits. So every team in Area 111 cut down as they were told.... Except one of the Mooresville squads. After players were cut, the coach went to State Commisioner and picked up 3 or possible 4 of these kids that these neighboring squads would have kept if not for the new rule. This is what has everyone in our area furious, that this was allowed despite the NATIONAL Rule. To add insult to injury, this Mooresville squad contacted 2 players actively on a neighboring teams roster asking them to ask for a release promising more playing time. One player actually quit after being denied the release. Recruiting is not allowed either but that is a whole other story!

My question is if this is a National rule and it is, why is the State Commissioner not abiding by it even though 18 of the 19 Area III teams are. This is not an even playing field and the State Commissioner is allowing it!

 

Legion Man, First of all I believe the State Commissioner reversed the decision that was made at the Lexington meeting just too muddy the waters and to see if anyone would buck him. It’s about time someone did even if it does cost North Carolina a year of suspension.
Now, did kids who got picked up have releases? ( If not they are illegal players) and even if they received releases, if there was a roster change after the first “LEAGUE” game then they are still illegal players.
For those of you who have played this team go to http://www.legion.org/baseball/teams/north-carolina and look up their roster and compare it to the night you played them on http://www.gamechanger.io/g/areaIII . If the roster on Legion.org doesn’t match who played in the game from Gamechanger.com then make a protest. Or if the player who played on their first league game does not match the ones showing up on the Legion.org roster now, then make a protest. According to the rules, ALL of these games should be forfeited. I hate if for the kids because it is not their fault but, this is the only way this coach is going to get it. And the boys should learn a valuable lesson about cheating. Lastly, and MOST importantly the Legion, knowing this behavior is common place with this coach, should not allow him to represent this organization because of the lack of integrity he shows to our kids and the organization. It’s time for change!!!

 

Any news on this meeting???

Hope this is a positive meeting and not just more “smoke and mirrors”. I understand that any organization has its issues and there will always be those who look for loophole to cheat. However if everyone would take a minute to look at the bigger picture I believe American Legion Baseball could be the premier summer sport. National has made a great effort in the last few years to make changes for the better and it’s about time North Carolina listened. The biggest changes have been to one, make state rules not conflict with national rules and two, make the protest process by pass those who have corrupt state organizations and put the accountable where it should be, with the State Legion Commander. Needing “younger blood” is exactly the problem. As Braves put it: The politics can be unnerving; Too much power and control by a select few. Many decisions appear to be subjective. As much as I would like to agree with Braves that there should be exceptions to those “out of the box” situation the problems are that we have those who constantly look for those loop holes to cheat. If we would just use the rules that are in place, American Legion in this state could grow instead of fading away because of the Jerry Springer affect. Now that the teams are limited to 18 players, this could allow for multiple teams per post or even new post to support new teams. More and more boys would get to play ball. Bust up the powerhouses and recruiting zones and let’s play ball!!!

 

Cliff note version


Positives

1. The 2013 NC State rulebook will be printed, because we have to have one; however, it was told that it will say refer to the National rulebook. The State rulebook is expected to be a clone of the National rulebook.
2. The rulebook will be the only reference. No he said, they told me or that can be seen two ways. BLACK & WHITE text will be the only avenue to determine how NC will operate in reference to play. No back pedaling on the stance. Uniform rules and treatment to all teams.

I am going to hold judgement on the negative aspects of the meeting at this time. Want to see if some things will continue or if they will be handled properly. Will report back when there is more information available.

 

We don't have to wait h til 2013 print it is available for all to read:

http://www.nclegion.org/Baseball/SrRules2012forWeb 030512.pdf