LL Baseball front-page story in Collegiate Baseball

Don't forget Jack Lemmon AND Tony Curtis- Some like it hot, 1959

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THe players at our school are forced to play Legion; if they choose to play travel, they will not play on the HS team. The other schools in the district allow their players to play travel and they ALL place more players in College and in the Draft.

In Virginia, this would violate VHSL rules. Someone should investigate whether Florida has a similar rule barring HS coaches from requiring certain playing commitments outside of the approved season.

What you need is for a few of the players your coach truly would never think of doing without to break ranks, as a group. And if he even thought of doing anything to them, someone should assure that he lost his job. In the alternative, he should be approached in advance and, if unrepentant, you should go over his head until you get a sensible person. Which hopefully is available to you at some level.

A HS coach should never have the power to tell you what to do year round, especially if he damages your college prospects in the process. He may be one who thinks "all that travel ball is just a waste of your money"; yes I know the type. But what he thinks should not matter. It is your life, therefore your decision -- not his. If he doesn't see that, he must be made to live with it whether he likes it or not.

Lord have mercy are all black and white pictures of people this scary? These people are frightening! I like color pictures.......

I think the point of the original poster is that Little League is not the "volunteer" -- free from profit organization that many people might believe them to be... I'm not saying LL is trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but when Dad & Mom pay the registration fees and see all the wonderful parents volunteering you don't associate Little League with CEO salaries.

Like many other facets of the game Little League has changed..... No one can dispute that it has become very commercialized with the widely televised LLWS, which I VERY much enjoy watching.

I do believe that Legion has tried to remain true to it's roots in many area's, including costs.. It is undeniable the impact that the showcase circuit's had on Legion, although I have seen a few of the top showcase players also play legion at the same time, which helped to create very good legion teams...

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you don't associate Little League with CEO salaries.

Whether LL has a lot of volunteers or not, it's a huge, worldwide organization. You're not going to send a volunteer to Bristol to negotiate a tv contract with ESPN/ABC and their lawyers. The median salary for NFP CEO's in 2008 was 418K. Keener made 236K in 2007.

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think the point of the original poster is that Little League is not the "volunteer" -- free from profit organization that many people might believe them to be... I'm not saying LL is trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, but when Dad & Mom pay the registration fees and see all the wonderful parents volunteering you don't associate Little League with CEO salaries.

i think your right, it's the perception of volunteer's that throws most people off.

but would LL be what it is today if it was just a bunch of parents getting together ? isn't that how it started ?

After following some of these posts, why is there a perception that some folks do not like ALB?

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but would LL be what it is today if it was just a bunch of parents getting together ?

Despite what some people think about LL it's a growing organization. LL recognized travel is an issue. They loosened the reins on LL'ers playing travel. They've grown internationally and with softball to offset loss of players.

What would LL be if it hadn't become what it is? It would be an organization in decliine like Legion ball. In our area travel is draining the talent out of Legion from 13U to 18U. Legion doesn't have a competitive stategy. They just tell people Legion is better ball and slam travel ball as a waste of money. Yet, whenever I asked to schedule a doubleheader with our 16U team comprised mostly of fifteen year olds they made excuses to avoid playing us. The same thing happened when I wanted the 14U team to play the Junior Legion team.

I don't hate Legion. I played Legion when it was the best place to play. But any organization that stands still will be passed over time by progress. Locally throw daddyball into the equation. The head coach started his sons at short and center. Neither one got even a D3 look. Two kids who played short and center he cut are now playing college ball. The coach only has four more boys to come through the program. The two assistants who just signed on both have boys coming through starting next year. The Junior Legion team has a coach with one year of experience twenty times over.

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Originally posted by fsmjunior:
THe players at our school are forced to play Legion; if they choose to play travel, they will not play on the HS team. The other schools in the district allow their players to play travel and they ALL place more players in College and in the Draft.

I understand the coach's reasoning. He wants his kids playing together as much as possible.

Maybe, it depends you live. You must live in baseball heaven. Here, I can think of only one player who falls within the local Legion boundaries that was drafted within the last five years.

Also, in this area, one travel team can draw players from PA, NJ, MD and DE. Legion is limited to a few school districts and/or zip codes.

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Originally posted by Vicarious Dad:

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Originally posted by fsmjunior:
THe players at our school are forced to play Legion; if they choose to play travel, they will not play on the HS team. The other schools in the district allow their players to play travel and they ALL place more players in College and in the Draft.

I understand the coach's reasoning. He wants his kids playing together as much as possible.

Maybe, it depends you live. You must live in baseball heaven. Here, I can think of only one player who falls within the local Legion boundaries that was drafted within the last five years.

Also, in this area, one travel team can draw players from PA, NJ, MD and DE. Legion is limited to a few school districts and/or zip codes.

To be clear, the 7 players drafted were from our HS district which includes 1 1/2 counties. We are in FL 6A schools.

As for getting a group to go elsewhere, great idea. Putting to reality is another story. The head coach does not coach the Legion Team, it is his assistant. The HC is also the Athletic Director, NICE!

Any team that plays ALB can have an "outside" sponsor, the team just has to obey the ALB rules.

There is a misunderstanding by many, the perception is that you have to be sponsored by a legion post, not true, any team may play Legion baseball BUT has to follow the rules!


http://www.legion.org/baseball

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Originally posted by Coach Milburn:
Any team that plays ALB can have an "outside" sponsor, the team just has to obey the ALB rules.

There is a misunderstanding by many, the perception is that you have to be sponsored by a legion post, not true, any team may play Legion baseball BUT has to follow the rules!


http://www.legion.org/baseball

There are teams in our area who have sponsors. Others don't. Our local team lost their sponsor a couple of years ago.

Any team that plays ALB can have an "outside" sponsor, the team just has to obey the ALB rules

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a few years ago the maine team, nova seafood went to the world series. did quite well as i remember.

I sure hope Collegiate Baseball does a follow-up story to compare LL to Babe Ruth League/Cal Ripken League and American Legion Baseball. These leagues have been around the longest.

This Collegiate Baseball article has opened up some folks eyes very wide.

"Lucrative life of a non-profit"

In some folks eyes, another way or loophole for folks to get one over the system.

Just my own respectfully shared opinion.

There are tons of non-profits that are "lucrative." I would imagine that if you check the management salaries for NPR Radio, American Heart Association, PBS, American Cancer Society, etc., you will find plenty of people making six-figure salaries -- and in some instances, perhaps more.

Who cares if a few Little League high-ups make a bundle? Their expertise is making it possible for thousands of kids around the world to play in well-organized leagues for a relative pittance.

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Originally posted by 20dad:
Any team that plays ALB can have an "outside" sponsor, the team just has to obey the ALB rules

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a few years ago the maine team, nova seafood went to the world series. did quite well as i remember.

I played for Caldwell Post which no longer exists. That Nova Seafood team was the sons of a lot of former Caldwell teammates and opponents from Andrews Post. Ryan Flaherty played at Vanderbilt and was a first round supplemental of the Cubs a couple of years ago. For those in baseball circles you may know or know of his dad as a very successful college coach. Andrew Giobbi also played at Vanderbilt. Mark Powers played at Maine. Ryan Piacentini played for D3 champion Trinity (CT). A couple of kids I didn't know their dads and can't remember their names pitched D1 in the CAA. Three more played at Southern Maine which is a top D3 program. There were nine future college players on that team, five D1 and four D3.

One of my memories of playing for Caldwell was in regions. Steve Balboni (Manchester Post) hit a ball the other way. As we were running up the gap to the fence I yelled, "Is that bleeper ever going to come down?" He cleared the clubhouse behind rightfield to the opposite field.

thats wild how much they make

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Originally posted by baseballboydeuce:
thats wild how much they make

Although we had this discussion earlier in the year, it has reared its ugly head again.

Not for Profits MUST pay well to get quality leaders. HOWEVER, this is not really that much money, some are acting as if they are making Million dollar salaries.

YMCA Executive Directors make way more than this just as one example.

Yet another example of this fairly new agenda nationwide to despise anyone doing well.

I sure hope Collegiate Baseball does a follow-up story on this to tell the world about American Legion Baseball that is basically the only nearly 100% volunteer baseball organization left in the world that I am aware of.

For the record, at the National Level, just 1 and 1/2 full-time employees.

I did send Lou at Collegiate Baseball links to Babe Ruth Baseball and American Legion Baseball financials.

Asked Lou to do a follow-up comparison to inform the citizenry.

Thank You to everyone for sharing their opinion.