AREA 2

American Legion - Area II
(Through Monday games)

North
Conf. Overall
Jacksonville 1-0 4-3
Morehead City 1-0 2-2
Duplin/Wallace 0-1 4-4
Jones Co./Trenton 0-1 0-3

South
Conf. Overall
Hampstead 1-0 1-0
Wilm Post 10 0-0 11-1
Hope Mills 0-0 4-2
Whiteville 0-0 0-0
Brunswick 0-1 0-1

 

Maybe this has been asked before or maybe I'm just crazy...but after looking at these standings, is it possible that some of the reason for the drop in Legion participation is right there in those standings. The Legion season starts in mid-May for most teams, but with the exception of Wilmington, they've barely averaged a game per week. Why would I play for a team that only practices and rarely has a game?

 

These 9 teams are the only teams we pretty much can play down here on the coast. Besides going to South Carolina these teams are as close as we can get. Some of us are also strapped because to have a Legion team, we also have to deal with kids playing travel every weekend or most weekends, which limits us to mostly Monday-Thursday game days. It's a never ending battle we have to fight down here even though most of our Legion Programs offer minimal spending, but our kids will go pay >$2000 just for the name on the front of their shirt. That $2000 doesn't even include travel, hotels, or food, where if they played Legion, they would just have to worry about traveling and sometimes food.

Legion baseball is the closest thing to college baseball that these kids will see and it also lets them know if they really want to play baseball in the future because it is a grind. Playing 4-5 games on the weekend and resting all week is nothing compared to playing 9 innings every day in the heat and sometimes playing 8 games in 7 days. Legion separates the guys who really have a passion for baseball and guys who just do it because their parents want them to do it. I wish it was different, but its the world we live in now.

Sorry for the rant...

 

Speaking on behalf of the quickly evaporating Area I...

AMEN!

 

Wow, I don't understand how the showcase players ever play College ball since they don't play Legion and all their 9 inning games. There are just as many kids playing Legion ball because of their parents and Legion in our area is not free.

 

Never said legion was free, not as expensive, yes. I understand why kids play showcase baseball, I really do, but what's the point of playing showcase baseball after you have graduated? I really think Legion baseball should be for those kids that have already committed somewhere to play (mostly guys who have graduated or early verbal guys). Saying this because most of these guys are going to be playing 9 innings and they have some aspect of trying to become draft eligible. Showcase baseball gives you a lot of games in 2-3 days and then a lot of time off. Legion is night in and night out. I really think kids should play showcase baseball during the fall, but that is only one person's opinion.

The main thing as a coach is that we want our baseball players playing summer baseball. Whether it is showcase or legion, we want our kids to have those extra at bats, those innings pitched, those infield/outfield reps because the baseball season in NC is usually maximum 30-33 games. Most showcase or legion teams play just as many if not more games in the summer, thus our kids get close to 100 AB if not more in the summer and that is the main goal.

Another reason, I talk about legion is because I played legion and I coach legion as well and really don't want to see legion baseball die because it is a lot about town and community pride and I would really hate to see that go away.

I hope you understand where I'm coming from and that this rant isn't too bad

 

Great response Eagles 1313. I do agree with a lot of your comments. My oldest son played 3 years of Legion and he did have fun most of the time, just did not help him get seen. I thought the coaches used the arms of the pitchers too much, just my 2 cents on that. I saw where a Mooresville team pitched their pitcher 177 pitches in 8 1/3 innings. I would like see Legion play Monday thru Friday and maybe some showcase players would come and play since they would make a large percentage of the games. If you are lucky enough to get some college kids to come back and some early commitments then your legion team will be good. I just don't know if that many are coming back to make a difference in Legion and when they do it sends a bad message to underclassmen who may not have a spot and just decide to do showcase instead of playing junior legion or riding the bench on senior legion. I like both legion and showcase, but you must find that showcase coach who has the contacts if you want showcase to be successful...