Positive changes coming for VA american legion baseball

I hope so, the Legion program here in VA has really taken a nose dive over the past few years both in the terms of quality of play and being able to get games scheduled.  An infusion of new ideas/thoughts to make this program relevant again is way past due!

Jim, if you are following this thread please PM me, I read the article and would like to possibly discuss some topics with you.

Agree.  Some new energy is needed across all Legion (nationally).  All three of my boys have played Legion under different circumstances with varying experiences & coaching levels.  They liked travel baseball too, but there is something unique about Legion. 

My youngest son's Post played a Fall 2013 schedule at VA tournaments and Dynamic showcases.  They more than held their own.  I'm hoping this can be an example of what Legion can do, and it is a positive trend for Legion.  The success of Legion is really going to come down to the coaches with their experience and college contacts.

Glad to see Brenton Peters (awesome kid & Cornell alum) giving back to baseball and his Leesburg community.  He will do well.  Brenton was a college pitchers nightmare with his power, leadoff speed, and quick hands.

That is exactly what our Post is doing this summer, we are scheduled to play a couple Dynamic events and one Elite Showcase.  Legion ball for us in the fall would be next to impossible as we play High School fall baseball.

Playing for the Legion team brings a sense of community, instead of playing for your school you are playing for your town or county.  I think that is what makes it unique for our guys.

Just wanted to share the former Head Coach of Sumter P15's (a distant friend of mine) perspective that he shared a couple of years ago with me.

I think this would be great.  My son played his first year of American Legion ball last year after 2 yrs of travel ball.  

The games seemed more relax to me and everyone on the team got to contribute on the field.  My son also appreciated not having to travel far nor having to get up early in the morning on a Sunday to play.  

Just wanted to share, after speaking with the new state commissioner this morning for approx 2hrs this morning, without a doubt ... from my perspective, ALB within the commonwealth will be a doing a 180 for the betterment of ALB for all involved!

I think this is great and I sure hope they have success. However until Legion can start to draw the attention and attendance of college coaches and recruiter, I am afraid that the top talent will continue to go the showcase/travel team option. In my local area the legion program competition level is JV High school level and does not attract the top talent and therefore does attract college coaches.

Hope it works in VA and spreads!

It is a common discussion that gets sidetracked once people try to compare the two as an apples to apples scenario.

No doubt American Legion baseball tends to be more of a "team" game while travel/showcase ball is more of, well, about showcasing.

Reality is that college coaches spend FAR more time at high level showcase tournaments because they are actually structured to be recruiting / evaluation opportunities.  It is more economical to go to Cary, NC and be able to watch 20 different teams play than it is to go to any particular legion game. 

I personally think that both are important but in different ways.  With the recruiting calendar having accelerated as much as it has with offers coming early as the fall of kids sophomore year kids aspiring to get serious looks need to get on the trail by their 15U year and stay out there through their Junior years.  That's just the reality of the situation. 

Where Legion baseball has it's most meaningful role is at the Jr legion level (for players who are 14-15 and need more experience to develop into HS varsity players) and then again for the 18-19U kids who are Seniors in HS and Frosh in college.  Those kids don't need to be getting on the road at that point and are better served by the Legion model.

There is a world where both types of summer baseball can be utilized for the betterment of the kids exposure opportunities as well as the health of ALB.

again can only speak about our local area but Senior in High school and Freshman in college would be wasting their time playing Legion...until Legion raises the level of competition that groups of kids should be playing in college summer leagues or somewhere else.

It's my understanding that beginning this year college freshman are ineligible to play legion.  If someone closer to this matter and is in the "know" has a different understanding please post such.

My son's experience as a HS senior and college freshman with legion ball the last two years was very rewarding.  Each summer he got over 125 ABs against a variety of pitchers (mid-major D1 to average HS) and had many opportunities to play the field and run the bases.  To me, it's what you make of the opportunity. 

Since my Son has verbally committed he has decide to play Legion Ball this Summer with Brooklawn

In summer of 2015,  returning college freshman will no longer be eligible to play Legion.

We actually have a few very good Legion teams that attend our events and compete against non Legion teams.  I know they do this for exposure purposes, but I think they enjoy the competition.

i'd like to think these Legion Teams are ahead of the curve when it comes to helping create opportunities for their players. I think we will see more of this in the future.

I like this ruling because a college freshman is taking an opportunity away from a younger kid who might need the experience and exposure to get better.  

My son started playing senior legion the summer after his sophomore year - I liked the fact he was playing against 1st year college players.  It gave him a taste of the game at that level and an opportunity to rise to that level.   I considered Legion (Senior) a half step between HS ball and college ball.  Overall, it was a good experience for him.

thanks guys...I much appreciate the talk about American Legion baseball.  

American Legion has been performing the same mission for over 80 years. American Legion baseball has not changed much since I saw it played at Lake Park in Worcester MA...I suggest it's our baseball culture that has changed.  

Coaches and parents...what we teach is leadership and character development.  And e happen to be able to teach some pretty good brand of baseball.  

So the question becomes one in which that parents could be looking out for things their child may not want or maybe would be better served over the long term in Legion baseball.  

Think of the economic analysis or cost benefit of paying tens of thousands of dollars over an 8-10 year period to get a baseball scholarship that pays far less.  Folks in my book, this is poor risk analysis.  

Come on out the American Legion Department tournament at Fireman's Field this July 29th through August 2nd.  

Please stop by a game this summer or talk to a Legion team about your son playing for something he will value for a life time rather than something he will yield little value from.  

American Legion 16th District: 

http://www.leaguelineup.com/we...alb&sid=69292221 

Post 34 Leesburg Rangers

http://www.leaguelineup.com/we...p?url=post34leesburg

I love Legion Baseball.  However, you are down playing the other stuff out there. I take it you are from Virginia. It would be good to know what the DI college players and kids drafted out of Virginia played while in high school.. Legion or Something else? 

Why not just promote what you want without trying to discredit the other. As you mentioned, Legion Baseball can be a great experience for many young players.

I agree with PGStaff...travel ball AND legion offer young men great opportunities to play baseball to improve, compete and showcase their skills.  I would disagree with an earlier comment that Legion baseball hasn't changed.  I don't think their mission has changed but living in Richmond for my entire life, IMHO legion baseball has changed from the 70's and 80's when it was the Pinnacle of Summer baseball for HS players.  Back then, there was no travel ball so the top HS players played Legion and the second tier guys like myself played Senior Babe Ruth.  Now the majority, not all, but the majority of top uncommitted HS players play travel ball (and yes, I fell like I'm overstating the obvious). 

I am anxious to see how Legion changes this summer.  I hope these changes include changing the State tournament schedule so that one rain day doesn't eliminate four teams from the tournament like this past summer.

Community baseball was great when all the top players played in their local leagues. But times have changed and travel ball has become the means to getting to the next level. Legion has not kept up with the changes and could have stayed a force with the right leadership. Hopefully with the new State Commissioner, Legion can evolve into another option for the college bound player.

I manage a Legion team and we offer "team" play while most of my team is made up of Seniors and college Freshman. The Seniors that have committed to a college have the opportunity to play 4, nine inning games per week. The returning college players work on their skills and love the team play.

My concern with Legion is that the age limit is changing next year, where 19's will not be allowed to play. Hopefully this can be changed. I would rather the age limit be extended to 20 yr olds to give those kids in college another avenue to play. This change would also strengthen Legion ball and attract more high school players. I'm looking forward to see how Legion evolves.

VA ALB,

As I stated in my previous post, I've had 3 sons play Legion.  My oldest played after his hs senior year prior to playing in college.  He loved it, and was teammates with Brenton Peters in college.  My middle son played for 3 years and loved it.  My youngest son just played a Legion Summer and Fall season that included Dynamic showcases and tournaments in the Fall.   A couple questions:

1) Will there be time (in the summer) put aside for Legion teams to attend/compete in non-Legion sponsored showcases or tournaments if they choose to?  I believe Legion needs to demonstrate it can compete with travel teams for its long term success. 

2) Will you be expanding the current roster limit?

3) I truly believe American Legion will draw more players IF the AL coaches have contacts & relationships with college coaches.  Is that something you will be addressing or will each Post address it?  The reason I ask is because it is a huge issue.   I can tell you without reservation my son would not be playing Legion if it wasn't for his two current coaches, their college coaching connections, and the Legion friendly colleges my youngest son is interested in.  

Comment - Addressing this primarily from an economic standpoint is not going to win people over.  Parents and players will continue to "invest" many thousands of dollars in baseball because they can.  If you ask any young travel team parent or player, they are blindly convinced little Johnny is going to get a scholarship somewhere.  They have no idea how difficult it is or the talent required to play college baseball......never mind how little athletic money is out there.  The key is the Legion coaches, and their connections to the college coaches.   Showcases and tournament operators don't care if you are a Travel team or an American Legion team.  The operators value is to bring qualified buyers (coaches) and qualified sellers (recruits) together into a marketplace for the benefit of both.  

Thanks.  You can also send me a Dialog Personal Message (top right corner) if you want to take this offline.