Rowan Legion team disqualified (per Salisbury Post)

Wilkes has taken enough hits. I was 100% assured (from someone involved in the process) that no one from Wilkes was involved in this.

 

They were not the one raising all the concerns on Saturdays meeting.

 

The mystery will be untold

WELL we might never know who turn Rowan in, but im positively sure that it was not SOUTH ROWAN. I mean heck, why would they do that for. They were already out of the playoffs.

 

It wasn't Kannapolis or Concord either...

 

This is what makes American Legion Baseball have the so called black eye.

Last years problems with Garner..
This years Tie Breaker with South Rowan
Then this with Rowan County.

Perhaps it was a problem someone had with the Rowan coach holding players hostage and not releasing them to play for other teams after he wasnt either using them or didnt need them.
This has been the case on numerous occasions over the last couple of years.
I hate it for the players and fans .

i imagine this came from a disgruntled parent .
The only team that had anything to gain from this would have been Lexington and i doubt they would want to be idle for 4 or 5 days .

 

Lexington has no illusions that they can win a national title. The team just wants to play baseball TODAY. This is a horrible thing for everyone, especially Rowan.

Be sure to read Ronnie Gallagher's scathing article in the The Salisbury Post today. Absolutely dead on. This guy tells it like it is.

http://www.salisburypost.com/sports/291951514284364.php
Legion baseball season in Rowan County has come to an unceremonious halt and you can blame Will Clark.

But before you Rowan fans start making plans to cuss out the guy or egg his house, take into account this one little detail.

No one knows who Will Clark is. He's like Deep Throat of Watergate. He'll probably come out and admit it when he's 91.

Seems area commissioner Bob Beeson got a call recently from a guy ranting about an ineligible player on the Rowan Legion team.

"He was very hesitant to tell me who he was or where he was from," said Beeson on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after informing Rowan athletic director Banks Barringer that his season was kaput.

Beeson kept pressing. The guy finally said, "Will Clark."

"He kept asking me, 'What are you going to do about it?' "

Beeson took the numbskull at his word and contacted the state Legion office. No official protest has been filed, as far as anyone knows. Just a voice on the phone.

And sure enough, after a check was made, Zeb Link, who attends West Rowan, was suddenly Mocksville's property. For the record, Link lives 9.2 miles from Davie High School and 12.5 from Salisbury.

And because of a scant 3.3 miles, 18 baseball players and thousands of fans have to find something else to do with their evenings.

*

When Barringer awoke on Wednesday morning, it seemed like any other day. Until the phone rang at 9:30.

It was Beeson.

"I have bad news for you," he told Barringer.

"I was like, 'Did somebody get hurt or something,'" Barringer said. "He told me, 'You're playing an ineligible player and you have to forfeit."

Like the rest of us, Barringer wondered who the heck Will Clark was and how did he have the power to get a program shut down by a phone call.

"I was told by the commissioner," Barringer explained, "that if ol' Joe Blow has something in for me and knows I'm playing a kid closer to another base school, he can call and say, 'Check it out.' And it's their duty to check it out.'

Barringer said Beeson also said two other callers turned in Rowan, but wouldn't divulge the names.

"Evidently, we've got some enemies out there," Barringer said. "As far as I'm concerned, they're trying to ruin American Legion baseball."

*

Mocksville coach Mike Lovelace told the Post on Wednesday night that Mocksville shouldn't be made the bad guy.

"The only thing I know for 100 percent guarantee is that Mocksville did nothing as far as filing a protest toward them," he said.

It's obvious that Legion has too many teams. It has become a watered-down mess.

"It hasn't even really crossed my mind," Lovelace said about going into Rowan, "just because we've never crossed out of Forsyth County and Yadkin County.

"Then Yadkin County brought a new team in, and it's kind of like the South Rowan situation that came in on Rowan County. Then you've got Mooresville that's got kids close to there.

"What it comes down to is we've got all the same players and everybody's looking for the same pool. If we could just keep it down and not have as many teams, you'd have an opportunity to have great baseball.

*

Ladies and gentlemen, this drama has been brought to you by American Legion baseball.

It's a yearly fiasco.

Oh, the bigwigs will tell you it's all for the kids. Yeah, it's all for the kids.

Well, why isn't Zeb and his Rowan Legion teammates planning to start the second round?

Did Link not play for Rowan last year on the Junior Legion? Of course, he did. Has he not suited up in 27 games this year? Of course he has.

But the playoffs are when the snakes like "Will Clark" surface.

Barringer said checking on Link was an oversight, but let's all come back into reality. Zeb Link plays high school ball for West Rowan. That is not a Mocksville school. Mocksville has never claimed it to be. Beeson even said Mocksville doesn't even put West Rowan enrollment on its form.

So why would anyone on this side of the Yadkin River even question Link's residency?

Will Rowan protest?

"We could, but we were plainly told that we'd be wasting our money," Barringer said. "They've made their decision.

"Cecil Whitley doesn't think we have a leg to stand on and possibly the best thing to do is go on to next year."

With a smile, he added, "The democracy we have isn't too good — dictators telling you what you can and can't do."

*

Barringer began his Legion career in 1961. For 44 years, the man has tried to support summer baseball in the greatest Legion county in North Carolina. And now, in a week's time, he's seen South Rowan's season stomped out by a questionable (most say comical) tiebreaker decision by Beeson, and Rowan's season stopped by a phone call from someone who we can't prove exists.

In a span of four days, the two top drawing cards in the Southern Division have been body-slammed.

Barringer became quite emotional when asked how the team might react.

"I hate the boys have to face this," he said. "These are some of the best kids we've ever had. Zeb's is a fine boy ..."

Barringer had to turn away at this point and collect himself.

There will be thousands of dollars lost because of "Will Clark."

Hey Will, know where those dollars go? It's college scholarship money. Over the past few years, Barringer said close to $50,000 has been given to the kids.

*

This story isn't about how Rowan should get away with breaking the rules. It shouldn't. And it didn't.

It's about adults who come out of the weeds this late in a season when the kids have been playing all summer long together. Where was "Will Clark" early in the season when Rowan had an outfielder named Zeb Link. Something like this can be devastating to the kids.

Ah yes, the kids. That's who Legion baseball is for, right?

Not for Jim Gantt's team, at least not this season.

"We're through," Barringer sighed. "Our season is definitely over."

 

What's done is done, but...

I believe that next year if a legion team doesn't count a player's high school enrollment....that should signify some sort of unofficial release!! If Mocksville wants that one player from West Rowan, then they have to claim that enrollment. If they don't want him, or can't include the enrollment without exceeding the maximum number, then they shouldn't have rights to that player. No "release" would be needed. If two legion teams include the same school's enrollment, then YES...mileage should come into play for players!!
Can I get an AMEN from the congregation?

 

I agree with UK7Dook3, Ronnie Gallagher and wswball. By the way Bill, Ronnie is a well educated individual and I'm sure he honed his impeccable writing skills when he was matriculating at good ole North Davidson.

 

Great article

......something sure does stink about all of this. Those players who will have aged out after this season are DONE. Good job "Will", go look yourself in the mirror and smile real big cause you've stuck it to a bunch of teenagers.

 

While everyone's trying to point fingers at other teams or trying to figure out which team is Will Clark associated with,,,,,,, hasn't anyone thought about the possibility that Will Clark could be a Rowan parent who's kid got cut???

Think about it, the timing of this comes just days after the final rosters are sent in and Rowan obviously had to make some cuts.

Maybe, maybe not. But its certainly not fair to falsely accuse anyone else either. We need to be careful about how rumors get started,,, and my using the Rowan parent example was JUST AN EXAMPLE, nothing more.

Here's the issue the way I see it,,, I think Mr.Beeson made the statement that if "anyone" makes a complaint, then as Area Commissioner he has a responsibility to check it out. I obviously don't like to hear things like this come up in legion baseball,,,, but I also don't like to admit things like this give legion baseball a "black eye".

We have rules,,,, maybe some of the rules need to be modified or changed, but maybe not. I think we all know "WHY" we have this specific rule about playing for the team nearest your residence. So I agree that its not popular right now. But what if we didn't have this rule? What would it be like with players driving across counties to play for different teams?

I think its very unfortunate and furthermore I don't believe for a minute that Rowan County did it on purpose,,, it was simply an oversight. So if everyone agrees that RC broke the rules (whether intentional or not) then I think the biggest arguement is the "punishment". Maybe legion ball should have different levels of punishment?

Ok, so instead of us blaming legion ball for unpopular decisions like this, or instead of blaming the area commissioner for simply doing his job,,,, why don't we try to modify the penalties for infractions during the upcoming offseason? Just another thought...