Don't shoot me, but is it good or bad for legion ball that...

Dancinginthestands, I'm certainly not trying to point fingers either, I'm just suggesting that its not entirely fair to say that American Legion baseball needs to make changes simply because certain communities are having problems supporting a legion team. We should at least be honest and look at the whole picture before we start saying who needs to change what.

If we can all agree that (just like in HS sports) legion teams also need boundaries, if we can agree on that, then what do you propose the legion officials do? Seriously, what do you propose? If a team folds, should legion officials allow boys to just go play anywhere? And if you limit their distance, how do you decide what distance? How far can they go? Say Huntersville has a full roster, little Johnny can't even make Huntersville's team, can little Johnny go try out for Pineville?

You have to have limits. You guys know that. It only bothers me when folks want to blame American Legion Baseball which has been around longer than all of us,,, and legion baseball is only providing a service to kids to play baseball, in most cases at NO COST to the kids.

Even if a certain community has NO LEGION POST, it is fairly simple to get enough veteran members to get a charter and start a post. The only reason some teams fold is "lack of support". That is not the state commissioner's fault.

If someone has a better idea of how to let kids waive the rules and go to other teams, without it causing mass free agency, I'm sure the state commish would be willing to listen. Again, the rules are only there to provide credibility.

In this case, it is unfortunate that Paw Creek folded,,,, but the good news is that I'm glad Huntersville is doing well and I hope legion baseball will continue to grow in popularity in that area. Maybe Huntersville's success and conversations like this will get someone to get the Paw Creek team back rolling next summer. I certainly have no hard feelings and only wish you all the very best of luck.

 

It seems kind of simple; If a team folds, absolutely the kids can go play somewhere else. They need to go to the next closest Legion Post based on proximity to their home address or high school address, choose you own criteria. In reading posts from several threads, where Legion programs do not enjoy strong community support Legion needs to make baseball more accessible to those that want to play, not less. No real changes need to made made other than to allow for situations where a Legion team doesn't exist. Also, as in private schools at least, if a sport that a student wants to play is not offered at that school, the student can go to what would be his assigned high school and participate. As is the case with most dilemmas like this, it is ultimately the kids that lose out. If a business were to close it's doors, the customers don't just evaporate, they go to another place of business. Same should apply here.

 

If there is no legion post wanting to sponsor a team, then you can still form a Legion team. They have this in their rules for areas with no post or no interest. As big as Winston-Salem is and they do not have a post sponsorship, but there are several Legion Post in Winston-Salem.

 

sandman, the only problem with your solution if you let kids go just anywhere, or even if you restrict where they go, simply because a team folds,,,, I know of 2 legion programs right now that would fold today and combine with a 3rd specific program just to get stronger. Thats a fact, I have heard it discussed among them more than once. This is why even when players are released to go somewhere else, they can only be released to the next closest program, and the next program must then be able to carry the student population of the school where that player attends.

The intent of the rules guys is to keep it fair.

Like someone earlier said, folks want to win so badly that oftentimes we all would be amazed at what lengths folks will go to get around the rules.

 

Bottomline, sounds like its truly unfortunate that all these great ballplayers came along and Paw Creek's legion team has folded. Worse yet, nobody in the Paw Creek community had any foresight or ambition enough to see this coming and/or do anything about it.

If Paw Creek has a legion team, those boys are playing and we don't have anything to talk about.