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As I know it Legion ball is dying. Where my son was raised the better players all played travel/showcase ball. The Legion players were often varsity bench players and JV players. Where I live now Legion is still relevant. But there are more and more travel teams now. When I was a kid Legion was what everyone aspired to play. To make the team I played for we competed against players from four high schools.

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In the 90's Legion was king around here.... it tailed off since 2006 I'd say and is darn near dead.

I'll probably get slaughtered here for saying it, but i really hate to see it go this way that kids just go showcase all over. I went to a wedding a few weeks ago of one of my players and his legion teammates were there and we had a tremendous time telling stories and laughing... they all played together to win games and a state title. All of them that were college quality players found schools to play at too.
Legion ball prepared my son for college level ball far better than any showcase. In our area some are coming back to Legion due to the high cost of showcase teams.

My son's legion team was a mix of varsity players (starters) and 1st year college students. Except for one year, our post never had a JV Legion team - only senior Legion.
In our area legion ball is non factor...the competition has gone done hill and the majority of the better players do not play legion ball ...there is legion ball just north of us that has been able to keep its level of competition stronger but even that league has started to see a decline.

I think the answer to this question " is it depends, depends on your area"
Oldest played travel ball and youngest senior legion. The oldest is now playing professionally and the youngest is a Senior at West Point.

Both were/are pitchers. Although the oldest trumped the youngest as far as baseball, the youngest did something I've never seen before (ever) in baseball:

13 consecutive ground ball outs in a single game.

Go Army!
Two oldest sons played Senior Legion, and I hope my youngest follows in their footsteps. American Legion is a fantastic experience. Both my sons enjoyed it as much as travel & showcase but for vastly different reasons.

Depending on your specific recruiting goals, Legion may or may not be the best recruiting platform. In our case, the format and nature of the season lent itself to local, in-state recruiting.
Last edited by fenwaysouth
I have 2 boys. One played senior legion and the other played junior legion this past summer and will play senior legion next summer. The older one played some showcase on a part-time basis, but his priority was legion. In our area, I would say that showcase ball has weakened legion somewhat, but it still remains fairly strong. My older son had some interest generated by showcase events, but his network through legion is what ultimately got him his opportunity to play at the school of his choice. My younger son has only played high school and junior legion, and junior legion is what led to him committing this fall to play in college.
My son played on two teams last summer. One was in a highly competitive wooden bat league consisting of players who’s goal was to advance to the college levels.

The second team was the local Legion team. Legion in our county has changed drastically in the last 10 years, it used to be the place to play. Now the majority of the better players are scattered around on travel teams. My son and a couple of his buddies wanted to hang out together this year so they all joined the same legion team.

My son being a pitcher only for his wood bat team wanted something to do between starts. He had already committed before the start of his Sr. year and knew this would be his last summer play with his buddies. The league has maybe 8-9 teams in it, his HS teammates were probably on at least 5 different teams. Every game he played in was against old teammates from somewhere in the past so it was fun attending the games from a social end, but from a baseball side it wasn’t pretty.

Folks in our county has always wanted to eliminate some teams, make one stronger team so they can advance in the Legion playoffs. This was my 1st season being exposed to our local Legion. As bad as the baseball was it was great to see marginal players with heart and desire go out and give it their all game after game. These kids hustled, got dirty, picked each other up game after game.

I hope they don’t take away the opportunity for participation from some of these kids. The talent may not be there, the players know it, the parents know it, but on a summer night sitting around a ball field watching neighborhood young men trying to beat each other giving it all they got in front of a 100 or so people can’t be beat.

The dogpile after they won the league title this year was really fun to watch!

I am not sure how the Legion affiliation actually works. Last season was the 1st year our league did not participate in the Legion playoff system. From what I heard it was a financial decision.
Last year was the 1st year that the Legion teams in the area did'nt hold their annual selection of all star teams and didn't have the customary showcases. Other areas of the state may still do that I don't know.
quote:
Originally posted by Bum:
Oldest played travel ball and youngest senior legion. The oldest is now playing professionally and the youngest is a Senior at West Point.

Both were/are pitchers. Although the oldest trumped the youngest as far as baseball, the youngest did something I've never seen before (ever) in baseball:

13 consecutive ground ball outs in a single game.

Go Army!


Sweet!!!!

Legion is a non factor here where I live. There is a legion team, but none of the better players play on it. They have to travel all over the state to play because there just aren't many Legion teams in Georgia.

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