My State of American Legion Baseball

I've had a couple days to look back on American Legion Baseball 2012 and there is alot of things I want to get off my chest. I thought about doing it on nclegionbaseball.com but I am 50/50 on not renewing it. I think it was Jimmy Buffett that said "good times and riches and son of a bitches I've seen more than I can recall." He must have been talking about American Legion Baseball in Western North Carolina.

First of all, over the 13 years I have been involved in American Legion baseball. I have seen tons. I have joked multiple times about writing a book and naming names and honestly I think it needs to be done by someone. I have been one of the most vocal proponents on this site for American Legion baseball for years and I'm just not feeling it anymore. I think my change of heart is multi-tiered because I sat for 14 games in five days and listened and watched.

I'll start with the pluses I saw. Legion Baseball is a GOLD MINE if people would run it correctly.

If you like Caldwell or Cherryville is not an issue. The fact that you support either of those programs and quite possibly have never had anything to do with them is amazing. Its like Carolina vs Duke in mens basketball. The people that have been inside the fire are few. Some even have hate towards the other side but most do not hate the other side and even respect them. I wish more people on here would do the same. When the battles are over, I can look over and say Dylan Hastings threw an amazing baseball game. Ethan Greene did not deserve to lose that game. It was a heavyweight battle and Cherryville got hits when they needed to.

One thing that never can be argued ever is the fact the Lenoir News Topic, Gaston Gazette, Shelby Star do a great job of covering Legion baseball. I am sure David Keever gets paid for his site and his knowledge, but no where near what he deserves. These outlets can save American Legion Baseball by just promoting it. I would rather read about how Jacob Hatton struckout the side and the crowd of 500 strong gasped with every pitch than I want to read about Johnny struckout 4 in 5 innings of the AAU 13U National tournament in Greensboro. He will start in the AAU 13U National tournament next week in Raleigh. If you dont get the joke, its that there is 497 national tournaments in AAU baseball and somehow they are weekly in North Carolina. Its like Cheerleading, ten federations with 402 national tournaments.

Now to the negatives. Get off the backs of Brandon Banks and Bobby Reynolds. These are two men that put their lives, families and in the case of Brandon jobs on hold to coach these men. And they are second guessed, accused, attacked and bashed for peanuts compared to what they are worth. (I have heard Bobby's money amount from Cherryville fans and he is still not paid enough.) I was around in the early 2000 and Bobby Reynolds has evolved alot as a coach. He still the riverboat gambler and the manipulator he has been, but he has evolved from the guy that about fought Brian Harvey or cussed out Caldwell fans in the parking lot in 2001. If Brandon Banks does not get the opportunity to evolve too, that will be a tragedy.

And while I am at it, PLEASE find some new blood in the positions of power in American Legion Baseball. Its not just the commissioners (although they need to GO), but in the legions themselves. Old men whining about playing, coaching and blaming this and that for teams winning and losing are worse than old women gossiping. Worse yet, the women know more than the old men. Then old men penny pinching and trying to make money on the legion teams is wrong. If you dont have the money to put together a team and support them, DONT HAVE THE TEAM. And quit whining about baseballs, uniforms, field care items (turfus, quickdry) etc. Its like gambling, if you cant afford to lose the money, dont gamble.

As for the tournament, I got several emails to nclegionbaseball.com. Some were very positive and some were.... not. Rude old men dont need to be running the gates. Rude kids dont need to be running concessions. If there were more umpires, the missed calls would not have been so noticeable, ie the ball that was 5 feet foul for a double for Cherryville in the Apex game or the play in the centerfield in the Caldwell v Wilmington game. You get what you paid for in this world and then you don't.

All in all, these are my rantings and rambleings. You can like them or not. But things need to be done to fix, save and preserve the best form of baseball out there. If the problems are not met, it will be a shame because it is fixable. As for me, I am resigning from American Legion baseball until people in power get sense, and people with sense get power. Will I come back? It took me a bit to come back this time, so I don't know. We shall see.