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 We are devoted to Legion Baseball in Minnesota. We have the years in service and enough experiences to prove it. We are thankful for what we have. And we are mindful that Legion Baseball can be even more than it is today.  We are keenly aware of challenges faced by families and programs posed by competing programs in a vastly changed baseball landscape. We are also keenly aware that Legion Baseball in Minnesota has seemed unwilling to engage in open discussion let alone develop programs to diversify its "one size fits all" approach that appears to repeat the past with maybe a sprinkling of incremental adjustment. Maybe that is good enough. Maybe not.

We do not have all the solutions or ideas. Most of what we share comes from what we have heard from coaches and players and parents and college coaches. Maybe some discussion gets triggered by thoughts we share. Maybe not. 

Doing things well and continuing a strong tradition of community based baseball is what Legion baseball is all about. Doing things better should also be our purpose. Legion baseball has 5,500 players and over 1,200 coaches. Add in 11,000 parents plus other supports and that number gets pretty big. The Minnesota American Legion transferred virtual ownership of the baseball program to a quasi-independent Board of just 13 people. The members are appointed and may stay in positions for life. The options available to Legion players and coaches are restricted to the personal vision, personal views, personal agendas, and energy of this group of 14. Unlike neighboring states that favor open, democratic structures, Minnesota Legion Baseball  is, for all intents and puposes, a very closed system.

Back in the day, everyone used to play Legion and even more aspired to wear a Legion uniform. For most communities, the Legion team was the summer varsity often mirroring the school team. Minnesota restricted team formation to one team per base school. Until twenty years ago, there was no competition for kids from other bprograms. Club baseball was an in its infancy. No Legion innovation was required. No one had to compete for players. Legion baseball was the 'it" place to be. And the quality of play was often amazing.

Most Legion programs simply "hit rinse and repeat" using the same format year after year after year. A few decades ago, there was unhappiness in Minnesota. Some influential baseball people wanted to split from the state Legion organization and run their own Legion baseball show. The guys wanted to run things their way without interference (as we are told) from the outside (the State Legion) and without interference from within the baseball program (other Legion coaches). A new control system was imposed with a charter or constitution from the Minnesota Legion. It has been in place ever since, even though most of the originators have moved on.

Times have changed. Available program and playing options have greatly changed. They have been changing for over 20 years. Competition for players has stiffened in the metro and increasingly in outstate regions. Where have the elite baseball players gone? They used to play Legion. Where did many the next tiers - the better and best players go? How many better and best players have elected to find other competitive options to supplement or to replace Legion baseball? How many programs and coaches struggle to compete for players? And why has this subject been avoided by the Legion baseball mangers/owners? There should be plenty of interest in development of more playing choices and opportunities. All Stars proved that. The interest in a beta test of a mid-season weekend porogram proved that interest. Yet all the Baseball Board has been able to do is create several anti-club or anti-club player rules that are randomly enforced and compleytely ignored in some instances. 

Most of us only know what is within our local borders. Fewer know what is going on with our neighboring programs and within in our state borders. It is when you look at other states you really learn and expand your horizons. You see the good and you see the bad. 

All surrounding states use an open, democratic structure for baseball. Every American Legion post and state organization follows a democratic approach as Legion baseball is supposed to teach our players and tomorrow's lewaders about American institutions and American values. But that is not Minnesota American Lewgion - Baseball.

Some states face little pressure from competing baseball program models. Yet those states work hard to deliver programs that continues to be tailored to players and communities. They continue to involve coaches as voters in elections and policies. They are open to conversations of new ideas.

Other states face intense pressure. In Wisconsin, there are more senior club baseball teams than there are senior division Legion teams. Their player program menu never varied or diversified. Players left. Coaches left. And teams dropped away. As a Wisconsin coach told us - "It's broke now. We can't fix it".

But maybe Minnesota is different? We hope so. We hipe someone is listening. We hope someone will join a conversation.

It is easy and sometimes fun to point the finger at individuals. We think the real issue is systemic - the system.  

• The consitutional structure is frankly anti-democratic by design. 
• The volunteer group has been unable to manage the program beyond the boundaries set decades ago that is clearly out of step with baseball programs throughout the country as well as within our state. 
• A handful of people control the agenda, the program, and the policies that are literally imposed on the Minnesota Legion program's 5,500 players, 1,200 coaches, and 11,000 parents. 
•  Despite claims to the contrary, Minnesota Legion Baseball is run as a closed loop. It operates as a private group. That is not your fault. The Constitution was designed to concentrate sole authority in a handful of insiders that have no accountability to anyone outside your Board. Hence, any and all power is vested in The Handful. 
• There are no open elections, meetings, or communications. Critics say outsiders are not welcome nor are differences of opinion welcome. The system is best called an Autocracy not Democracy. It is in all practical senses a form of dictatorship. 
• The baseball system is most certainly nothing close to American democratic principles or ideals or mechanisms. No  American Legion state organization is run in this manner. And we cannot find any other state American Legion Baseball structure that is similar.
• The Minnesota baseball constitutional design looks like a system of colonial rule with appointed governors versus an American sytem of freely elected representatives.

We might just need a fresh look. 

• Is there any board member that would fear an elective structure? 
• Is there anyone that would fear an elective term of three or four years versus life? If one wants to serve for life, then win re-election.
• Is there anyone that fears open voting by those that pay the fees, i.e. the coaches and program managers"? No taxation without representation is an appropriate slogan and its very American. 
• Isn't it fair and American to openly elect representatives?
• Should Minnesota Legion baseball fear meetings that are open and discussions that take place in the open versus behind closed doors?
• Where committees are formed that can invite more people aboard to work on exisiting as well as new projects?
• Where personal agendas that plague and gridlock the existing structure give way to collaborative efforts and an open exchange of ideas and views? It is no secret. current and past State Directors have admonished the directors to focus on ideas versus their personal agendas.  
• Does that frighten anyone? It shouldn't.
• We don't think we have bad people. But it is a bad Constitution. 

Many of Us Are American Legionnaires

We do not preach autocratic rule in our American Legion "Americanism" pillar. We would never take voting away from members. We are to instill American values and demonstrate American principles and institutions as part of our mission and commitment to youth. Our Minnesota Legion Baseball structure violates our American Legion promise, values, and violates our Legion structures. 

Any realistic review of the baseball system and its constitution will conclude that the system  is anti-American Legion practices in structure. Baseball operates anti- the American Legion core Americanmism values. Colonialist structures and authoritrarian rule by a tiny minority of unelected persons that can sit in control for a lifetime are hardly the values or institutions that the American Legion should be teaching our youth.

Representative Democracy is American

Legion Baseball touches over 15,000 people every year. The Minnesota American Legion needs to  step up and accept responsibility for this baseball program and for the constitutional structure that concentrated all power anmd authority in the hands of an unelected few. The baseball program is bigger than a handful of part-time volunteers no matter how fine and well intentioned they may be. Open discussions and meetings are better than closed doors and back rooms.

• All Baseball Directors should be elected by coaches. You will have to communicate with your constituents and earn their trust and votes. You will learn to represent your constituents as well as advance your personal agenda.  There is no reason to doubt that many current board members and officers would get elected and or re-elected. But Accountability would shift from a group of insiders to elected representatives responsive to their voting constituents.
• Elections should be periodic - every three or four years. That is plenty of time for the sake of continuity. No doubt there are directors who work their tails off that will get re-elected many times over. Personal agendas and outsized influence will be minimized as representative governance will not likely reward selfish interest.
• Elections with today's technology can be cheap and efficient.
• Every coach or program director that pays a team registration fee must be given a vote and a voice. Americanism at work: No taxation without representation. No vote = no voice.
• Minnesota Legion baseball must come out of the closed room and do its work in the open. That means open meetings with published notices and agendas. In today's world, anyone can attend virtually. Legion Baseball should never be criticized as the personal property of a few. An open  door policy will dispell shut negative views.  Legion Baseball should never be criticized as can be heard today as a 'secret society' (minus the handshake) or a closed 'fraternity" or a "few guiys in an echo chamber".
• The State Legion should well consider the Nebraska model with a professional activities director placed at the helm of all Legion activities including baseball. Central dependable administrative help is required. In 2025,  the Minnesota Baseball Board has hired a part time admin person.  Roadblocks and board impasses on Divisions, on development, or on almost any topic show you a board structure that past and current leaders refer to as "dysfunctional".  Part time volunteers have limited time and energy. The Minnesota program is the largest in the country and yet the Minnesota State Legion takes no responsibility and plays virtually no part in its administration or  development. Legion Baseball is a Minnesota American Legion responsibility. You gave it away. We can't find any other state that did so.
• Establish a Development Committee and a Coaches Advisory Committee. Maybe an Events committee whereby volunteers would help create more exciting features or sponsors for Legion events. Bring people in for a change. Maybe its easier right now to tell hosts what to do or a tournament. But even the creation of state tournament websites would help hosts as well as elevate the experience beyond going to the current website and looking at a spreadsheet. Bring talent and energy IN. The system and the people today keep people OUT. 
• No substantive progress can be made under a private system that is mired in its own log jam. 

Things are not perfect and likely not where they should be. But we hear the claims loud and clear:

• We lead the nation with 360 teanms. We must be doing it right.
• If it aint broke, don't fix it.

Minnesota kids and coaches love baseball. Most love Legion baseball. Many remember the Legion brand for what it was - the best baseball around.  But do not confuse love of baseball for the belief that a program modeled on 1995 cannot or should not improve and strive to be the best baseball program it can be. The Legion baseball centennial might be this year. But baseball market realities are far different now. And Minnesota Legion Baseball, in our view, can meet those challenges. It just has not tried, yet.

• Yes. We have 360 teams.  Great. But don't pat yourselves on the back quite yet. Look further. Twenty five years ago we had 330 teams. Over 130 new teams have been added. Where did the other 100 plus teams disappear to? What happened? Who is monitoring or analyzing for the Legion program?
• Legion structures need reform. Operating 2 1/2 senior divisions produces competitive disparities that need correction. 
• For instance - Why should a few smaller Metro programs get to compete against similar sized programs in Tier 1A while smaller Outstate teams are exl;uded from T1A and have little chance to ever see a state tournament. They are literally "canon fodder" for big programs in sustate playoffs. 
• For instance - Why don;t Sednior D2 teams have the same equal access to substate playoffs enjoyed by every other level and program in Minnesota - Junior and Senior?  Why should every level get automatic seeding in a substate playoff tournament while 57% of the Senior D2 teams will never even get a playoff spot? No  neighboring state and no other baseball program discriminates against its own in this fashion.
• For instance - Competition for players by other programs has been draining Legion player talent and undermining the competitive level of play for years. And evidence from 2024 says that erosion has accelerated. Some measured metrics show that Legion baseball has lost significant market share of the better to best players in communites. The Legion Board will not openly engage this topic. Why can't honest and open discussions take place? Maybe the current outstate directors do not care. Maybe the metro directors are unwilling to engage the topic. The woprld will not be less competitive nor will challenges shrink. A constitutionally mandated closed system prevents conversation let alone possible solutions.
• For instance - Minnesota Legion players, families, and coaches have rallied when given opportunities to play in Legion events and programs that extend beyond the boundaries of their base school. Why does this board structure undermine and then eliminate the development of programs that diversify the Legion baseball program lineup while expanding playing opportunities? Disliking a couple of innovators is pretty lousy justification for crushing innovations. Closing the door to baseball on development is not the sign of vision.

Change is needed. It is not hard. If it change could have happened within the current structure and with the current people, you would have seen it already.  No meaningful development or change has occurred or will occur under the status quo. The experience we have had with Legion All Stars simply reinforced the most negative of views. Legion Baseball is, by its own constitutional design, a non-democratic closed system that is owned by a handful of people that have zero accountability beyond their conference room. Its not their fault. It is by Constitutional design. 

The Minnesota American Legion should not be supporting and authorizing an antiquated, authoritarian baseball structure. The principles of Americanism are right. They are American Legion. Put those principles to work in Legion Baseball. Every neighboring state has democratic rule. Minnesota is out of step.

 Do you believe that choices have intended consequences and maybe some unintended consequences as well? Did you know D1 is on its third format in five years? Were you consulted? Did you vote on it? Were you in on the discussion?  Have you even heard of the New D1 Tournament structure? Of course not. In any state around us, coaches would have been involved and would have had open discussions and likely voted on the new structure. Apparently the Board got it wrong a few years ago when it made a change. We hope it got lucky and has it right this time. Is the new format a 16 team clone of a high school wrestling bracket? If so, its fortunmate to have a wrestling coach onthe board.

State tournaments are big things to players, coaches and families. Most want to think they have a chance.  Playoffs and state tournaments currently take up the vast majority of Board members time and energy. It may come as a surprise, but different tournament structures can favor certain teams and programs over others. Who benefits? Who does not benefit? To many observers, the eveolution of Senior D1 state yournaments have favored large metro programs while outstate programs lost out. It used to be that 42% of the state champs or state runners up came from Outstate. In the last twenty years, only 7.5% of Outstate teams have placed in the top two spots. Was this intended or not intended? That meant 92% of the regional playoff spots went to metro teams. Was that really fair? Did the metro teams win any more games at regionals than an outstate team might have won?

Let's look at the D1 state tournament over the last 25 years. Two teams, the state champ and runner up, advance from Minnesota to a national regional tournament. How have we done? How important is that regional nod? Is it to give kids experiences? Or is it to pursue the next Minnesota National Champion? Could and Outstate team win a game or two in a regional?

In Pursuit of Regional Wins - The Past 20 Years and Past 10 Years

• Our state champ went to the World Series 4 times, all Eden Prairie. None in the past 10 years.
• Our state runner up won the regional 2 times (2005 and 2013).  None in the last 10 years.
• In the past 20 years, only the outstate Rochester Patriots won a state title back in 2009 - 5% of the total.
• In the past 20 years, outstate teams made runner up just 2 times - 10% of the total.
• Outstate teams have garnered just 7.5% of the regional spots in 20 years.
• Outstate teams placed 17 times in the previous 20 year period - 42% of the placements.
• Minnesota teams have won a regional at a 15% rate but 0% in the last 10 years.

When Minnesota adopted large scale D1 state tournaments, Metro teams have consistently won the top two spots while the Outstate kids were headed home in the car.

• 16 Team Double Elimination format required a winners bracket team to play 5 games and a loser bracket team had to play 6.  These were 9 inning games.
• In 2021, the pool play format required 6 games although you could lose one or two in the pool and still become a champion.
• These large scale formats appear to have advantaged big program teams while outstate teams probably lacked the roster and pitching depth to survive.
• Minnesota teams at the regional have played two to four games except on rare occasion. Why couldn't an Outstate team handle two to four regional games?
• Has the dominance of Metro at the D1 state tournament affected outstate programs in any way?

It appears that Division 1 Senior tournaments are skewed to big program Metro teams. Outstate teams seem to have been shut out. The D1 state tournament went to 16 teams. That change added more games to play to get to the finals. More games require more pitching depth. An Outstate team might have a strong 1,2,3 and maybe even a 4th pitcher.  But going 6 or 7 or 8 deep would seem to favor big programs, i.e. big Metro programs. The record shows that, in fact, Metro teams gained a very big edge. 

Did Metro teams win any more regional games than an Outstate team might have? Being a large school metro team has not meant great success at Regionals. In the last ten years, no Minnesota team has advanced to Nationals. Most teams play two or three games and occasionally more. Maybe you don't always have to have big program depth to compete for two or three or four games?

We ask the question - Why can't Minnesota send a metro and an outstate team every year? You know, spread the opportunity. Yes chasing the next national title remains a valid dream. It may be more nostalgia than today's reality.

Nebraska faced such an imbalance issue and addressed it creatively. The east side of the state was almost always getting both regional nods. Of course. Those Omaha teams are tough. Nebraska created an East State Tournament and a West State Tournament with each winner advancing to the regional. The two champions play off for the overall title with the winner getting the higher seed at regions. This approach has had great success and will be introduced this year in Division 2 (Nebraska has 4 divisions). The East West system gives opportunity to the entire state.  It has had the side effect of allowing several smaller lower division teams to join together to form a Division 1 team. A couple of the combination or zone teams won its state and performed well at the regional.

The Board is believed to have changed the D1 State Tournament format once again. If it is the brackets that we saw, this new Minnesota D1 State Tournament formatmay offer an opportunity to get creative. Some new interest and renewed excitement could result. A format similar to Nebraska could easily be adapted with a metro-versus - outstate competitive lineup.The brackets as we saw them basically run side by side 8-team tournaments a part of one overall tourney. On the last day, two finalists from each side play each other which creates a bracket State champion. Each bracket champion gets a regional slot. The two bracket champions then play a final game for what is essentially bragging rights to crown a the overall state champion. Now that's a whole lot of describing when you dont see the bracket. Ask your State Director for a bracket copy.

So how about naming one bracket the American Division and the other the National Division (or something else that creates identity). Outstate teams go in one bracket with metro teams in the other. A Metro state champ and an Outstate state champ  are crowned who play for the overall state championship. Both go to the rehgionals.

Why not spread the wealth and recognize Greater Minnesota programs and teams? What are you giving up? Outstate appears almost shut out by tournaments  that seem  skewed to fewer and fewer big teams. You may discover some fun rivalry and generate enthusiasm not seen before. Give it a couple of years. If it doesn't work then change back to reward the big metro teams again.

Every major sports program divides its teams into divisions. Almost every program seeks to afford maximum access to competitive balance. These are programs after all that are geared to the players whom the administrators supposedly serve.

• High school baseball has four divisions AAAA, AAA. AA, A. Small schools are not matched against big schools. How many A's are in high school football? Are there 6 divisions? How could a small town compete with the big schools? They can't of course.
• Every baseball program around us has multiple divisions. Competitve fairness is baked into their systems. Wisconsin only has 100 senior teams so they have 3 divisions. The state director correctly points out that the perfect number of teams for a division is 56 - meaning 8 teams for 7 sectional tournaments. North Dakota is adding a 5th level. It already has 4 divisions for 85 teams. They think right sizing competition makes for a better baseball experience. Nebraska has 4 main divisions with a 5th coming. They divide their teams into equal sized divisions rather than set enrollment limits. 
• Not Minnesota Legion baseball. Minnesota stands alone virtually refusing anything beyond the half-step Tier 1 A compromise launched in spring 2024.

 Until 2024, Minnesota boasted two huge divisions called D1 and D2. 

• Big schools for the Division 1 run from school enrollment of 401 to 3,600. Before last year about 130 teams were D1, including Legion 2 teams ( a "B" team or a JV team of a big program). What real chance did a team from a school of 600 have in playoffs against the big teams with 1,500 and 2,000  and even 3,000 students? Who puts JV teams up against Varsity teams for playoffs? Oh they might win a game but not the tournament. 
• Defending the mismatches, a Board member reportedly said - "When I was playing the game (in a small community) we would just strap up our boots and go to battle" against the big team. Romantic memories indeed.  Sir - did your season end or did the big team go homn?
• In baseball terms we coaches would refer to these small program Legion teams that were used to fill substate playoff spots as "canon fodder". 
• But why the obvious mismatches?  Was this gfood from a field level - for players and coaches? Or was it good from an administrative level where the Board overseers used their own perspective? The main culprit has been the D1 playoff design, of course. D1 has 16 teams. So they created 15 substates plus a host team to equal the required 16 teams. 15 times 8 equals 120. Perfect! Keep the Division huge while sprinling larger programs in with the small at the substate site. The big enrollment teams needed the St. Anthony or Delano teams to fill out their substate slots. Both of these teams have good players to be sure. But they would have little hope of succeeding with such an program size spread. Substates usually had a few big programs mixed in with the "filler teams".  Good practoce or not a good practice? What's your view?
• Another reason for holding so many substates is to limit required travel. Well, one can make that argument. Why isn't travel distance an issue in Nebraska or Wisconsin or with the high school program?  Isn't travel a part of every regular season league game or weekend tournament? Does that argument merit condemning many Outstate players and many Outstate teams to mismatched playoff status?
• In 2024 the Tier 1A was developed as a compromise "half a division" to house about 35 teams.  There had been a proposal to split D1 into two levels presented in fall 2022.  It never got traction.  A compromise came in spring 2024, too late to secure a weekend tournament field slot. Yet Tier 1 A went forward. T1A would absorb some of the mismatched metro teams. We will discuss T1A in a bit. It was very controversial to some while just plain obvious to others. Was it successful? Absolutely. Smaller teams competed against similar teams with a final state tournament that was rockingly successful. Players coaches and parents loved it. Check out the state tournament bracket and look at the teams. LINK   Outstate teams were excluded. 
• The D1 playoffs dropped to 12 sites which needed 96 teams to fill each site with 8 squads. In reality, you can use 8 substates and 64 teams to fill the D1 - 16 team tourney. Just take the top two. You don't need the smaller programs as substate fillers. 
• With 12 substates, the D1 competitive mismtaches were assigned just to outstate programs. They apparently do not deserve equivalent competitive opportunities for playoff success. That is reserved for some metro teams.
• Will we ever see a full blown Second Division, a statewide Tier 1A? There is much resistance on the Baseball Board from what we have heard. According to one state Legion official, there doesn't seem much demand from outstate cpaches because he didn't get many calls from irate coaches complaining to him.  Perhaps that's one metric. 
• What is so difficult? And what could be more obvious? From high schools to other Legion progarms all around us, Minnesota stands alone. Are we right and they are wrong? Does the Board not have enough personnel or time to plan, set up, and manage multiple divisions?
• Who gets to discuss or vote on such matters? You got it. The Board of 14 who has sole authority and sole discretion. 
• Somebody is blocking right sizing divisions. Who and why?

Mismatched playoffs have long been a fundamental feature in  Minnesota Legion baseball. Everyone in the Senior levels was lumped into two divsions - D1 and D2. Attend any Minnesota Legion substate and you would quickly see  competitive mismatches. Many teams appeared to have no chance to get to the state tournament. At the same time, virtually every other baseball program in Minnesota and neighboring states have worked to add divisions to create more opportunities and better competitive balance. Until recently, it seemed discussion of expanding the number of divisions was almost heresy.

In 2022, two Baseball Board members did a phone survey of every coach of a team with a school enrollment below 1,100, a mark that seemed to divide the huge Division 1 into two equivalent divisions. You need a state tournament host and 56 teams to populate 7 substate playoff tourneys. Each coach was asked, if given the choice, where would that team like to play? Would you like to play up to the Big Team Level or play in a new division that would offer more balanced competition. 

• Of the teams surveyed, several preferred to play in the upper division. Great. 
• Over 60 teams preferred to play in the new division, more than enough to populate playoffs.
• The D1 guys could run 8 substates and still populate their 16-team state tourney. No problem.
• Three programs jumped at the chance to host a state tournament. 
• In three instances, coaches wanted to play in the new division while their District Director said no.  Same town with competely different view points. 

A proposal was made to the Board, presented by a Director at the 2022 fall meeting. The proposal was voted down.  Someone still pushed the idea. In 2023, the Board decided to develop their own survey. They wanted the survery to include all Division 1 teams no matter the program size.  A survey committee was formed to develop  survey questions. Interestingly, the survey committee was populated with three who voted against and one who voted for the divisional proposal. After a clouple of meetings, no survey questions were developed and the new board directed survey never materialized. It was said that the proposal died in committee. 

However, all was not lost as the State Director purportedly went to work on a compromise. A "Tier 1 A" already existed. One could simply move some smaller metro and "2" teams over to create half a division.  The compromise passed at the 2024 spring board meeting.  Unfortunately, the decision was so late that the innaugural state tournament would have to be held. Several volunteers scrambled to create their own T1A management structure 'on the fly". No implementatin plan had been developed at the board level. other than to pick a tournament site and task a person to facilitate the tournament. The project proved sucessful as did the first Tier 1A state tournament.

The cup is indeed half full. What's the future hold? Tier 1A was renewed for 2025. Outstate teams were again excluded.

They say the Minnesota D2 Senior Division is the largest in the entire American Legion Baseball universe.  Some 130 teams. One division. One state tournament.  Far more teams than can be placed into a 7 site substate playoff system.  Is this a 'best practices' for players and teams? Who oversees the division and makes the decisions? Who can discuss or vote on the topic? Many have raised questions andoffered their views on this topic. 

• Why do teams from tiny towns have to play against much bigger foes in Minnesota while neighboring states (and the state high school) give them a more competitively balance division of their own?
• Why do all the Senior D1 teams, the Tier 1A teams, all of the Junior D1 and Junior D2 teams get to play directly in Substate Playoffs but less than half of the Senior D2 teams ever see a substate playoff field?
• Senior D2 places 56 teams into Substate tournaments. That is just a 43% playoff participation rate. Every other level is 100%. What's up with that?
• Senior D2 teams can have their Legion season cut short by two or three weeks by the "play in" rounds. No other levels cut off the Legion baseball season like that. For some teams, the Legion season might be as short as four or five weeks - far less than any other Legion team. Is that fair to the players? Doesn't every player want to play as much as possible? 
• 43% of D2 teams make Substate. 6% make the state tournament. 1.5% of D2 players make the state finals. 
• It looks pretty darn discriminatory. Do any of the early exit teams get a refund on their fees?
• There are certain board people that have the say-so on Senior D2 or maybe all of D2 for that matter. What is their rationale? Why is this approach to D2 such a good deal for the players and teams?
• There are easily enough teams in D2 to split into two evenly sized groups.
• One would simply create a plan. Lay out your playoffs. Get some leaders to locate substate sites and state tournament sites. Commujnicate to the programs and coaches. And then implement the plan. Certainly do not follow the Tier 1A expansion decision making model. Please don't decide in the spring to introduce the new division and then hope people come forward to crash land the project successfully. Just set up a task group and develop a proper game plan. Right?
• Adding the division would immediately allow every player and every team to directly participate in substate playoffs. Doesn't everyone benefit?
• Why are the people that represent D2 areas seemingly so deadset against it? Maybe current Board members do not have the time to set up a new division? Maybe some extra manpower would be needed. But maybe new people would not be welcome with the apparently close knit Board?
• How about also changing the state tournament to a double eliminaton and follow the established American Legion format? D2 state tournament hosts make tons of ,money off state tournaments. Why would adding a few total games be a burden to the host? 
• What reasons justify the current divisional approach that seems to be disadvantaging a huge number of teams and players? Who calls the shots? Who has any input? What prevents a development plan being created?
• It looks like an easy change. Why not?
   

As has been said, those of us that have toiled on behalf of Legion Baseball appreciate the commnuity focus of Legion ball. Minnesota Legion baseball mirrors the high school team approach: One school zone - one team.  There has been virtually no variance with the temporary exceptions made for the Duluth and Bloomington school districts. 

The only Legion Baseball program to ever offer a Legion player the chance to meet and play with kids from other communities was Legion All Stars, a program that was ended by action of the Baseball Board and its officers.  

As it stands now, American Legion baseball stands as a one school - one Legion team program. A  Legion player can only play with their community teammates. Take it or leave it. One must join other programs to do anything else.

Today's Players Seek Out Advanced Competition Programs.

It is a common belief that better players, playing with better players, and playing against better players will get better.  Players seek training and instruction. The seek and find other programs and teams that can offer a more competitive baseball experience. What is the surprise? Most high schools offer advanced educational programs for college bound students. Those are called 'Advance Placement' courses. Should anyone be surprised that players interested in the next level seek out enhanced baseball programs? To some, the Legion program satisfies the competitive level interest. 

Many Players are Choosing to Supplement their Legion Baseball Experience

Others Have Chosen Alternatives

Amateur baseball clubs and private baseball clubs offer greater competition to motivated players. 

• Most Legion programs have chosen to accept club kids on their Legion rosters as "shared" part-time players.  This is quite common with outstate teams, and less common with metro teams. We estimated that over 70% of All Star players also had club affiliations.
• Private baseball clubs and programs have been around since 2005. They first attracted the elite baseball player - those aiming for major college placement. Like Wisconsin, clubs have attracted a much broader talent spectrum. Clubs have diversified their products,  programs, and price points that have drawn an ever larger share of the player pool. It is estimated that Legion baseball attracts less than 30% of the better talent in the metro area, even less in the top tier of ranked talent.
• The drain of talent away from Legion baseball has not gone unnoticed. The quality of play has declined such that the competitive experience of Legion baseball has eroded. 
• Clubs have drawn from the sophomore and junior classes. Most clubs have chosen to exclude graduated seniors leaving Legion baseball as a welcoming place. 

Can Legion Compete in Today's More Diverse Baseball Market?

• Certainly the Minnesota Legion single school/single team model suits many programs and many players.  
• Masny Legion programs do just fine with the full time players mixed with "club shared" players. 
• Programs that see significant erosion of talent are often able to replace those players with younger players or less talented players. You know, where the summer varsity becomes the summer JV team. 
• It has been noticed that the more the competitive level drops, the greater the appeal of non Legion programs. 
• The big question - With a program as large as Minnesota (5,500 players, 1,200 coaches, and 11,000 parents) does a "one size fits all' approach the best we can do with the Legion baseball? Is the One Size Fits All  the most we can do?

Legion Baseball Can Do and Legion Baseball Can Be - What It Chooses to Be

• Keep your thinking inside the old box and keep your options between the old lines.  If you think that is the best or only approach then read no more. 
• Start here: We have Players. We have Coaches. We have supportive parents. They like the Legion brand. 
• When an innovation was offered - people flocked to it way beyond capacity and expectation.  Legion cioaches, college coaches, parents and players all began to pile in during 2024. We built a model and kept refining it.  
• We started with 3 teams, 40 players, 3 games, and the wrong focus. In 2024 160 players were on 11 teams in twio divisions playing 16 games. But that is not the point. Nearly 175 players were nominated beyond our capacity. There is clear Interest in all star or multi-community styled opportunities within Legion baseball. The demand and interest is there. 
• All Stars shows you that you don't have to to replace the Legion baseball community focus. You can supplement the program. That enhances Legion baseball which, in theory, makes it more attractive that simply the same old same old.
• Build it they will come. We did build it. They did come. Discussion should have focused on the 175 that didnt get to participate. Instead, All Stars was killed.

Other Experimental Programs Can Diversify and Enhance Legion Baseball

Coaches and players and parents consistently told us that they would like to see in-season opportunities for an all-star like program. No, they didn't seek anything that would undermine their local teams. They wanted something to enhance their Legion competition experience. 

Zones or Zip Code Teams

Together with several coaches, we came up with local Zone Teams that could play in 2 to 3 weekend tournaments during the season  and a "state tournament" at the end of the season. Is this a radical idea? Was this some wild creative idea? Not at all. It is a copy of Legion programs elsewhere, just like Legion All Stars was a copy of the High School All Star program.

• The National Legion team formation model "Plan B" provides a nice framework. 
• Other states, notably Nebraska and Michigan, have 'zone teams" that participate in regular playoffs. We didn't want to do that in the "experimental model".
• Kids would play with their regular team and also play a few weekends on a team formed by local coaches from kids on the nearby teams. 
• Local coaches pick who would play on the "enhanced teams". Local coaches would manage their rosters. Local coaches would decide is their program wanteds to participate or not.
• The point here would be to provide a higher level of competition to Legion kids in a Legikon program. They would not, theoretically, have to join an outside club team to find greater competition. You know, like the advanced placement education program within the community high school.

Coaches and program, people told us they wanted to experiment with it for the 2025 season.

• The Legion Board was told about the concept and they were directly told what programs and what coaches wanted to be called to create an 8-team Beta test program.
• To be clear, Legion coaches could do this on their own. They could call each other, assemble weekend exhibition teams,  and set up weekend tournaments.  No Board would need to bless their efforts. And no Legion organization could stop their program.
• Already we have Legion teams, contrary to the rulebook, changing their Legion jersey and switching to a community jersey to play against  club teams and play in  club tournaments. 
• We have teams combining players for fall ball. We have teams that combine players to send to in-season club tournaments in Omaha and Madison. There are coaches that run summer teams and also run club teams made up of Legion players from several communities. And there is more.
• We are Legion guys. So we believed and still believe that having an official seal of approval from Legion is better than having a bunch of coaches running around doing a wildcat operation.
• What is the experiment failed? Nothing ventured then nothing gained. Anything new can fail. All Stars could have failed. The New Coke failed. Beta tests and experiments can and often fail. But this is baseball! And we know that kids and parents want the challenge of better competition. They like making new friends. They appeciate lower costs that a Legion program or event would run in comparison to private club costs. Most of all, we believe in the coaches. If they want something to happen in their communities, they can and will make it happen. Yes, the Legion Board essentially owns Legion baseball. But its the local coaches that make it happen. Zone Teams are a coach-driven concept.
• Phone calls were made early last fall. Coaches confirmed their interest. Other coaches want to talk about the concept and think about it. A couple of the guys wanted descriptive information sent to others so that the effort would not be accused of favoritism. Nothing was hidden.
• We did not believe that a formal proposal for a beta test program could be made without having interested or commited programs. If there was no interest, why create a written proposal for the Legion board? 
• With interest, why would the Board say no? Player fees or a possible sponsor would handle the financial burden. It would cost the Board nothing. Maybe someday they would get a team registration fee and up the team count?
• Apparently when Board members heard that actual effort was made to assemble a beta test, someone went ballistic. So after killing All Stars, the officers made sure to crush the Zone team beta test. We didn't even bother sending in the just-written proposal. Not one board member or officer bothered to even make a phone call. They were told in person of many of the programs and coaches that would be called (many having already expressed interest). 
• You may not know that the State Director called our All Star develolpment team his "development team". We asked that All Stars be tucked into a Development Committee of the Board.  No, he didn't see Board members joining such a committee. We were that committee. The Director's Development Committee. Perhaps we should have gotten that instruction in writing, on paper, or an email or a text perhaps. 

Grow, Develop, Succeed - Not Everyone's Cup of Tea

Successful business and successful organizations always change with the times. They introduce new products, new marketing, and new programs. Rather than just survive, they seek to thrive.  Development may threaten individuals. Many want to keep their positions and protect their organizational turf. This is natural and to be expected. New people and new programs are threatening. What new people might say or how they say it, may upset people that manage established structures and policies.

What can be worse is if a new idea or program succeeds. Thesuccess of something might be the greatest threat to the guardians of status quo.

Minnesota American Legion coaches, players and families want American Legion Baseball to succeed and prosper. They know it is challenged just as they know that where to play and who to play with is a choice that becomes more complicated every year. Minnesota can easily innovate. It is not an "if" proposition. It is a "willingness" issue.

These very same people, and expecially the Legion coaches, are perfectly capable to help out to develop and build addtional options and programs for Legion communities and players.

Our Minnesota Thoughts on Development

Impasse and doing nothing may satisfy some. Managing the model of the past should not be confused with Leadership that develops a better future. Anyone stepping forward with ideas and possible programs or experiments had better take heed of what has happened to development under this Minnesota State Legion Board, its officers and its Director. Yes, that is a finger pointing. Live with it.