Region 7 American Legion Baseball

[life hunts]

I am surprised that there has not been any discussion in regards to this regional tournament held in Clearfield, PA.

State College seems to be the favorite.

Perhaps Claysburg can give them a better game if they face again.

Any thoughts?

[say_oww]

What is there to say other than that Legion Baseball is tough because there is no Class A or AAAA. State College will blow out everyone from the Cambria League away because they have an area ten times bigger than either Claysburg, Bedford, or Somerset. Occassionally, a Punxsutawney will come along and give them a game, but 99 times out of 100 it is State College that goes to states. I believe it is 25 out of the last 28 years that it has been that way, with State College winning the Region.

Its the same way that Somerset has been able to make it to regionals so many times in a row. Its not that they are so good, its just that they have such a larger population base than everyone else, and way more depth. Ditto for Claysburg and Bedford. The only way this will ever change is all of the Cambria county teams merged and made one team like Bedford and Claysburg.

I just love how Somerset always touts the fact that they have made it to regionals 14 years in a row. How many times have they ever done anything there - zilch. However, I do believe Claysburg actually went to states one time.

[life hunts]

Yes.

I think you are correct in Claysburg advancing to States one year....

Matt Baker and Cary Dicken were part of the team, I think. Probably in the early 1990's.

[reugenev]

What is there to say other than that Legion Baseball is tough because there is no Class A or AAAA. State College will blow out everyone from the Cambria League away because they have an area ten times bigger than either Claysburg, Bedford, or Somerset. Occassionally, a Punxsutawney will come along and give them a game, but 99 times out of 100 it is State College that goes to states. I believe it is 25 out of the last 28 years that it has been that way, with State College winning the Region.

Its the same way that Somerset has been able to make it to regionals so many times in a row. Its not that they are so good, its just that they have such a larger population base than everyone else, and way more depth. Ditto for Claysburg and Bedford. The only way this will ever change is all of the Cambria county teams merged and made one team like Bedford and Claysburg.

I just love how Somerset always touts the fact that they have made it to regionals 14 years in a row. How many times have they ever done anything there - zilch. However, I do believe Claysburg actually went to states one time.

Agree with the sentiment of most of this. However, Somerset's current population base is about 19,000 people. Claysburg's is about 30,000 and Bedford's is about 44,000, which is the population limit in Legion baseball (not that it's actually enforced).

[say_oww]

To simplify things - here ya go:

Somerset 1 AAA School

Claysburg 2 A Schools (Claysburg, Tussey Mountain, Williamsburg) 1 AA School (Central)

Bedford 3 A Schools (Everett, Northern Bedford, Hyndman) 2 AA Schools (Bedford, Chestnut Ridge)





The point is these three teams have the biggest zones by far in the Cambria League. They also are far enough away from Johnstown and Altoona that there aren't neighboring leagues that draw players away. This is especially true of Somerset. What did they have, four kids who graduated last year and came back "for the good of the team". Heck no, they just didn't want to drive to Johnstown everyday and face tougher competition. The bottom line is that with these advantages, Somerset, Bedford, and Claysburg should dominate the league every year. During the reg season, they are basically beating up on Cambria county teams with 10 or 11 players per squad composed of 14-17 year olds. But when they get into regional competition, they don't do so well.

It is what it is, and I think most people just accept it. However, it does get annoying when you continually read Somerset bragging that they have won the league so many times. Well, honestly, it would be shameful if they didn't.

[thebigeasy]

Just up to a few years ago Tussey Mnt. was part of Bedfords zoneing area too. Did the state rezone? If i do recall there were some teams that dropped out of the leauge this year so those players should have been able to be picked up by neighboring zones? Not quite sure how it works but one would think. Legion baseball is supposed to be a little step up from high school but not quite AAABA, the argument always was if you combine teams less kids would play baseball, well there are more teener, colt, ect leauges out there now that kids would have a place to play.
As for kids form Somerset, Bedford, Claysburg not going over to the AAABA because of the drive. I think it is more the do with the leauge than the drive. What is there 4-5 teams? Unless your a Pitcher, why would you want to go to a wooden bat league and hit .150? Those teams do lose there share of players to Johnstown every year, but with these teams being pretty decent every year, yea more kids will turn down AAABA to play with their friends and win.

[life hunts]

I agree, BigEasy..

The positives

A. Playing with your friends or select kids from neighboring schools
B. Using aluminum/composite bats as opposed to wood (a huge difference in production on the offensive end)
C. Having a chance to participate and be recognized in the American Legion tryouts...a number of kids in the past have advanced to the All-Pa game in Harrisburg.
D. More structure/discipline with the top tier teams than Federation league in Altoona or perhaps the Colt league in Johnstown/Somerset (not sure about the age group with the Colt league).
E. The tradtion...a majority of the most talented kids from the Bedford/Blair/Somerset/Cambria counties have participated at some age in American Legion baseball. The exception may be kids in the city of Johnstown, but for the outlining areas, the tradition is rich of developing/showcasing the quality baseball guys in area legion leagues.

My advice is to kids who are thinking of their playing options is to consider playing out your eligible time within the Legion program. Now much of that depends on the coaching and the surrounding players. If you can get a group of kids to commit to the Legion program ( or any program for that matter), the benefits are huge as compared to leaving early and trying to compete with the college age kids in AAABA....that time will come. Players should take full advantage of the programs/leagues already in place and then advance at the appropriate age. I think too many kids want to rush their advancement and lose opportunities to build confidence and have succes at the appropriate age level.

As always, there are individual exceptions to that thought process, but in general, Legion ball is a great place to play in addition to high school and a great precursor to college baseball.

[sydfinch]

Some excellent points made in this thread BUT there is one HUGE problem right now with playing "age appropriate" baseball and that is the fact that most leagues have followed Little League and adopted an early spring birthday cutoff while Legion still uses a December 31 (calendar year) cutoff.
The result is Little League is now for 13 year olds, Pony League is for 15 year olds and Colt League is played mainly by 17 year olds, who really should be playing their first year of Legion ball.
On the flip side, the Legion rule makes no sense either as a kid may be 18 the entire baseball season, but if he turns 19 on December 31, he's considered 19 by Legion rules.
The bottom line: ALL LEAGUES should go back to the totally sensible and perfectly explainable August 1 birthday cutoff. It will never happen, of course, but this is a perfect example of breaking something that didn't need fixing.