Spotlight On: Minnesota Legion Baseball

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American Legion baseball has operated in Minnesota since 1926 as one of the original 15 states forming Legion Baseball.  In 2024, Minnesota was the the nation's leader in team numbers with 360 teams. The #1 status is cherished among Minnesota Legion baseball officials and is a source of pride for all that support Legion baseball in Minnesota.  Add up the numbers: 5,500 players, 1,200 coaches, 11,000 parents plus thousands more that come out and support Legion baseball in our state.  It is the largest summer baseball program in Minnesota.  Minnesota Legion Baseball is structured very differently from neighboring states. It's structire might be unique in the entire country. The program is run by a group of 13 or 14 people that form the Minnesota Legion Baseball Board that is substantially independent from the Minnesota American Legion state structure and apparatus.

Legion baseball archives show that the Minnesota Legion team count  had grown to 330 in 2000.   Since then, Junior Legion D1, Junior Legion D2, Senior Tier 1A,  and Legion 2 teams (representing "JV" teams of large programs) brought in some 130 to 150 additional teams since 2000.  It would appear that Minnesota's team count grew by a net of 30 . 

Minnesota Legion Baseball Board  Structure - The Constitution

•  Minnesota American Legion Baseball is set up very differently when compared to our neighboring states and may be unique among all Legion baseball structures nationally.
• As is the case with neighboring states today, Minnesota Legion baseball functions were originally embedded as a part of the state American Legion structure. It was a direct function of the state Legion organization with involvement of Legion employees and command structures. Every American Legion baseball program we surveyed was housed in the American Legion structure and offices. The National Baseball Director stated that was the norm.
• It has been said that concerns were raised 'back in the day' by some Legion baseball people about the State Legion handling of baseball finances as well as concerns that non-baseball people perhaps had too much oversight and authority. These baseball people wanted a new and separate baseball structure run by the baseball people and not run or substantially supervised by the Minnesota American Legion. 
• The "Minnesota American Legion Baseball Board" (the Committee) was apparently created many years ago. The document gives the  Legion Baseball Board total control over baseball operations. The rights to use the Legion brand and to operate the baseball program and the baseball checkbook were transferred out of the Minnesota Legion into this subsidiary organization. The Minnesota Legion Baseball Board sought and received virtual autonomy. For all practical purposes, this quasi-independent Baseball Board is Legion baseball in Minnesota. The Board members might be considered the owners of the Legion baseball in MInnesota.
• No one seems to know when or if the constitution has been reviewed, updated or challenged since creation. Does that constitution best meet todays standards, todays challenges, or today's needs? The American Legion organization supports Americanism and espouses free speech, member voting, openness and transparency . We the American democratic system and institutions. The Minnesota baseball group set their system up very differently.  No one is elected. Meetings are few and they are private. Communications are minimal.  
• To be clear, times were different back then with fewer teams, fewer divisions, no Junior level, no Internet to facilitate communications or voting,  and no cell phones or text messaging.  Administrative burdens and paperwork were minimal. Its said that the early baseball people wanted complete control and they got it. 
• The Constitution created a 13 person Board , each with a vote. More recently a 14th person was given a vote by the board. The Constitution may or may not have been amended to authorize the addition. Board composition: Ten District Directors, three officers (Director and two Vice Directors, and one vote is assigned to a Special Assistant to the Director.
• All officers and directors are volunteers.  The Board holds spring and fall meetings with an occasional 'special' meeting called. These can be in-person meetings or virtual meetings with locations rotated around the state. The Minnesota American Legion does not provide a professional manager, assistant adjutant or assigned administrative person to oversee or manage the baseball program. Unlike many of our neighbors, the State Legion does not provide administrative assistance to the baseball board. 
• A non-voting state Legion communications employee is assigned to the board as a liaison. He performs some duties including facilitating communications, taking minutes and/or other duties as the Board or the State Director may request in addition to his full time position at the Minnesota American Legion office in St. Paul.
• 10 Directors are each appointed to the Board by one of the 10 State Legion Department Districts. A District Commander may directly appoint a representative but more often a confirming vote is obtained.  Unlike other states,  Directors are not elected by the coaches in the District.  In practice, when a Board seat has opened, a new director has typically been recruited or recommended by a Baseball Board member or one of its officers. An individual may have expressed interest to someone in the know.  To anyone's knowledge, there have not been open or contested elections at the District level. The process seems to be fairly closed to outsiders.
• Directors have no term limits. Once on the board, you stay as long as you like or as long as you live. No one is aware that any director was changed or removed while alive.  Several Board  members have been in their appointed positions for decades. Directors choose certain roles and responsibilities that focus on a part or parts of the program and its operations. Most decisions typically require a vote the entire board. Baseball Board insiders tell us that getting something through a board vote is often a challenge. Often directors have their own "turf" with many 'personal agendas' driving votes and decisions, or so it has been said.
• The Directors hold an internal election to select  three officers - two vice directors and one state director with three year terms. The slate is advanced to the State Legion Executive Board for ratification. Officers may come through Director positions or may come from the outside. An example would be a current officer that came aboard as a "package deal" with the new director. He was to work along side the state director and assist with administrative duties. In 2025, a person has been hired to assist in administration. Are officer elections open to outside challengers? We don't know.
• The construct of the Board has had its share of controversy. Critics see it as an autocratic system that acts more like a closed private fraternity than an open democratic system. The only people having a vote or having a say in the Minnesota Legion Baseball program, a program involving many thousands, are the 14 people with the vote. We have not found another Legion baseball program or an American Legion structure that is similar in any way. Supporters of the current system like the continuity of the program and will often remark that Minnesota leads the nation in team number so something has to be going right. If its not broken, then why fix it? Others see substantial room for improvement.

Board Policies and Practices - Notable Features

1. Minnesota Coaches Voting for Area Representatives or Directors - No.  While direct voting is the standard practice in American Legion Posts and its structures across the state and nation, and while direct voting is the standard practice in other state Legion baseball programs, there are no direct elections of Directors, officers, or other persons that supervise American Legion Baseball in Minnesota.  In a representative democracy, elected representatives are accountable to the voters. Without voting, one has no voice. Programs and coaches may pay the fees, but that does not translate to having a vote. What is more American than the battle cry - No taxation without Representation? 
2. Open Board Meetings - No. Board meetings are not public. Meeting notices are not published other than to the members. Meeting Agendas are not publicly published. Meeting minutes are not openly published or available.  Outside presenters can ask for time to present a topic which may include question and answer time. Discussions are then held privately by the Board after the presenter has left the room. Transparency does not apply.
3. Periodic Coaches Meetings - No.  Every neighboring state holds annual, semi annual or quarterly coaches meetings as part of their regular Legion baseball board routine. Coaches are the life blood of Legion teams in their communities. Coaches are a critical part of the representative processes in surrounding states and the Minnesota State High School League system. Not in Minnesota Legion Baseball.  Of couirse an individual may make a phone call, engage a conversation  or send an email. But in Minnesota only the board member has a vote and participates in meetings.
4. Registration and Playoff Focused - Yes. Maintaining the Legion apparatus requires registering teams and supporting leagues. The playoff structures are critical to the Legion program. Assigned board members must find hosts for substate and state tournaments. Substate tournaments often have board members present at seeding meetings and playoff games. Registering teams and maintaining playoffs appear take up the bulk of time available from the volunteer board members. 
5. Coaches Voting on Policies, Rules or Other Issues. No.  Coaches in surrounding states vote on such things as state tournament formats,  registration fees, travel reimbursements, rules, divisional structures or other matters as may arise. In Minnesota, only Board members have a say or vote. 
6. Communications and Discussions.  Uncertain. What issues are before the Board? What issues, updates, or changes are out there? What decisions have been made? What rule changes are considered? What other challenges confront teams and communities? What changes or trends affect baseball around the state and metro areas? What directors think what? What conversations should be had? What is the one year or three year or five year plan? Is there a plan? What might be new? What challenges does Legion baseball face?  Where is the discussion (if any)?  The website offers no information onb matters, votes, changes in policy or changes in programs. Communications seem to be at the barest minimal and largely organizational in nature.  

• Example - At the fall meeting, the Board was said to have dropped the D1 pool play format in favor of something new. Did anyone hear about it? 
• The Board was said to have dropped the policy of paying out meal money to players at state tournaments. Did anyone hear of that?
• The Board effectively killed the Legion All Star program and apparently censured or excommunicated the two founders. Was anyone told of that? 

Team Composition Format

• Minnesota team rules differ significantly from our neighbors and differ from the National Legion format.
• Legion baseball ties team formation to high school enrollments. The total enrollment limit nationally is 7,500. A single team could be from one school or one could combine school zones up to the maximum enrollment limit. Most of the teams we surveyed simply use the "National Rule B" without modification. 
• Under the National rule, an area team can be formed from with kids from multiple high schools. Multi-school teams typically form in outstate areas (Nebraska and Michigan) where smaller communities (having fewer players) put their top players together on a single team to then compete against the big school teams. Most teams especially the larger communities tend to use the "one-school-one-Legion team" approach. The National rules allow for flexibility.
• Minnesota has almost uniformly follows a one-team-per- base high school approach with an enrollment limit of 3,600, less than half of the national limit. The only exceptions that we know of have been conditionally granted to Duluth and Bloomington allowing all the high schools in the school district to combine into one summer Legion team. 
• We are nbot aware of any combined-school teams in smaller communities.
• Exhibition teams or programs can be formed from multiple communities. Such teams would not be eligible for the standard state playoffs or championships. All Stars was such a program as was the beta test of a local area mid-season effort that had almost developed. The Board scrapped such efforts.

Team Divisions 

• Minnesota Legion has two major Divisions- Division 1 for teams with 401-3,600 in school enrollments and Division 2 for school enrollments from 1-400. Currently there are about 100 D1 teams  and 120-130 D2 senior teams.   
• Beginning in 2024, a "Senior Tier 1" was  expanded to include former Tier 1A teams, Legion 2 teams and smaller school teams in the metro or near metro areas. One might count Tier 1A as half a division as outstate teams are excluded from Tier 1A play.  About 35 teams competed in the division's first year. 
• The Senior D2 state division houses some 120-130 teams which may be the nation's largest single division, by far.
• Junior Legion is split between D1 and D2 (larger programs and smaller programs) comprising about 120 teams.
• The Minnesota Divisional Structure is just different from other baseball  organizations. The MSHSL features 4 Divisions for tournament play -  A, AA, AAA, AAAA . The MSHSL seeks competitive opportunities and balance. It wants to avoid mismatching small schools against much larger opponents. North Dakota with 85 teams has four divisions with a fifth developing. Nebraska  divides into four equal sized divisions and soon a fifth that support their 260 plus teams. Wisconsin has three divisions to support its 100 or so senior teams.

Playoffs and State Tournament Formats

• State tournaments and playoff formats vary.
• The Senior D1 uses 'substate" playoffs with all teams  entered. Currently there are 12 substates that send 16 teams to the state tournament. Some argue that you can more easily get 16 teams from an 8-team substate format by talking the top two from each site. 
• Division 1 substate playoffs in the metro will only match teams that are above 1,100 base school enrollment level. Smaller programs and '2' teams were moved to the Tier 1A division. Outstate D1 playoffs continue to match small programs against the bigger programs. 
•  The Senior D1 tournament appears to have changed again with the 3rd format in the last five years. Originally a ten team tournament, then a 16-team double elimination format , then in 2021 a "pool play" concept was selected by the Baseball Board. Apparent concerns and deficiencies have lead a new format for 2025. Have you heard about a new D1 state tournament format?  You might be able to get a bracket copy from someone listed on the state website HERE. Our first review of the new format was very positive. We think it offers some new opportunities and efficiencies. Discussion and decisions on the D1 tournament format have been the exclusive domain of the Baseball Board.
• Tier 1A and D1 Junior Legion place all their teams directly into substate qualifying tourneys. An eight team double elimination format is used for both substate and state tournament play. This allows a team to have one bad game and still manage to win the tournament. 
• D2 Senior is substantially different from the other Legion l;evels and divisions. Teams are not automatically placed into substates playoffs. Instead, D2 Senior teams must qualify for substate playoff spots. The D2 Senior (400 or fewer students) playoff system begins quite early for the 130 teams that have "play in" series, best-of-three contests, to get into the Substate playoff tournament. With 7 substate sites, each with 8 slots, 56 teams will compete in the Substate tournaments. The other 74 teams would have been eliminated prior to substates.  
• The D2 Senior and the D2 Junior state tournament formats differ from the olther Lewgion state tournaments. Instead of a double elimination format, D2 sites use the winner-consolation bracket format you most likely know from high school state tournaments.  The format has fewer total games (11 versus 15) when compared to the national American Legion double elimination bracket template. You better win that first game as there is no coming back like you see in thge double elimination format.

State Tournament Focus and Features

Hosting a state tournament has long been considered an honor for the host community that also can be a fundraising opportunity for the host program.  That honor comes with a cost.

• The state board typically extends a $2,500 grant to each state tournament host no matter what the tournament profitability might be - or not be. No neighboring state provides subsidy payments. Wisconsin instead charges hosts $2,500. 
• The D1 Senior tournament host may receive additional state support to help pay additional costs and requirements for the 16 team tournament.
• State tournament hosts were expected to provide participants meals or "meal money" to participants. Providing cash to players was not without some controversy. Some believed the practice violated the Legion's "Amateur Rule". It is likely that the State Legion Board eliminated this practice at the fall meeting. 
• Minnesota Legion state tournament hosts are required to house players and teams that travel more than 50 miles to the tournament site.  Housing can cost a site host from $5,000 to $15,000.  Some hosts have a sponsor base large enough to handle the costs. The housing cost can be a hurdle for other communities that would be interested in hosting the state tournament. Some potential sites don't think they can raise or afford the hotel costs.  
• Surrounding states approach travel costs very differently. None burden a host with hotel or travel costs.  North Dakota, no stranger to travel distance, provides no meal, travel, or housing subsidy.  Nebraska provides a minimal mileage and fee reimbursement that is provided from the state level not the host level. Nebraska coaches who are able to vote on such issues, have not sought increased subsidy that would likely be offset by increased team fees. Wisconsin provides the largest reimbursement program that was introduced by its coaches who authorized (voted) an increase in state registration fees to cover the costs. 
• Is one approach better than another? That is not for us to decide.

It Is Not an Easy Job

• The constituency for Legion Baseball in Minnesota is in the many thousands.
• A devoted crew of 14, the Minnesota Legion Baseball Board, has the task of guiding the program. These individuals have exclusive authority.  From a practical standpoint,  the Minnesota Legion Baseball Board "owns" the franchise.  Legion baseball can be a mechanism that can adapt and grow and customize as the world and market for baseball evolves. Or the Minnesota Legion Baseball Board can reinforce past, repeat existing approaches and stop at the status quo. The choice is solely that of this Board.

Website: https://www.minnesotalegionbaseball.org