Pennsylvania

American Legion Baseball

Bear Stadium in Boyertown, PA will be featured in a segment on 'Classic Venues' on Comcast Sportsnet.  It will air for the first time at 11:30pm on Tuesday June 7th on Net Impact Philly and continue to air on the Comcast networks over the next month or so.

We'd like to take this time to thank all of you for your support and visits thus far this season.  In light of hateful and spam-type comments being posted to the site, we have disabled the ability for non-members to comment on our stories.  Don't worry though, commenting for members is still the same as always.

Please consider joining our site by clicking 'become a member' on the homepage.  It is, as always, free to join.  The perks are well worth the few seconds of time to sign up and login: you can post on our forums, post comments on our stories, and as an added new feature, those on our membership list will receive first access to site news before the general public.  We have some exciting and big news coming soon, so if you'd like to be the first to hear about it, please join!

Our goal is to double our membership this week, so we hope you can join us in that effort and help support our efforts to increase exposure for PA Legion Baseball!

Thank you!

It isn't often that an American Legion Baseball pitcher hurls his way to throwing a no-hitter.  That's what makes Max Henry's start to the season almost unprecedented.  The Latrobe pitcher has thrown two consecutive games without surrendering a hit to the opposition.  

In two complete game outings this year, totaling fifteen innings, the Jethawks' ace has struck out an eye-popping twenty-four batters and has given up just one run.  In case you're wondering, that places his current season stats at an ERA of 0.47 based on 7 inning games or, for comparison's sake, 0.60 based on 9 inning games.  He averages 1.6 strikeouts per inning.

The Jethawks, coming off a successful District 31 campaign last year which saw them reach the playoffs for the nineteenth straight season, are looking like one of the teams to beat in the league this season.  If Latrobe's pitching staff continues to deliver and make batters miss, there's no telling how far they'll go.  They have already jumped out to a 2-0 start in the league this summer.

The following is an article written by Kevin Manero, the head coach of the Nor-Gwyn Hawks of the Bux-Mont League in southeastern PA's Region 2.  Kevin has been at the helm for one of PA's most successful teams for nearly a decade.  He managed the 2005 state champions and continues to produce quality teams and players that are always in the hunt for another state title.  

Like for many of us, the debate between AAU and other pay to play programs and American Legion Baseball hits close to home for him.  Each year high school age young men and their parents leave the comfortable confines of legion ball for the fast paced and high stress life of travel baseball.  But is the grass always greener?  Are you as a player more likely to be offered a college scholarship by paying to play? Is the competition better? In the end, is it worth it?  Coach Manero outlines his passionate take on the subject below.  We're most appreciative of him writing this piece and for being a well spoken advocate for the game we all love.

Please feel free to comment on the article (Kevin will be able to read them) or send us an email with your thoughts on the subject.  Without further ado, here we go.

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PAY TO PLAY - THE FINANCES AND THE PROMISES:

Over the last approximately ten years, the concept of AAU baseball, otherwise referred to as Travel Ball or Tournament and Showcase teams, has increased in popularity and diverted many high school age baseball players away from the established, community based American Legion programs. As I enter my ninth season as an American Legion coach with an admitted bias, I continue to see many families spend inordinate amounts of money on these nouveaux programs, and I feel it is time to speak as a voice for Legion baseball. I am certainly not denouncing all tournament and travel teams (there are always exceptions to every point one may make for or against), and I am also not promulgating praise for every American Legion program, as certainly some need fixing and Legion ball itself is not without its own shortcomings, but before people jump into what may be packaged as a better baseball alternative, there are some points that should be considered and some questions that should be further examined.

How much money are you spending on "furthering your son's baseball career?"

Who are you listening to for baseball advice?

What are your kids really learning, and how much are they really progressing?

It's time to start thinking about these questions a little more diligently in this era of "pay to play" youth baseball. In so many ways, it appears that parents and their sons now feel they should measure the quality of a baseball program on how much it costs to join it. But, does it make sense to pay at least a $2,000 registration fee (sometimes much more) and then dish out more money on top of that for transportation and hotels, only to end up at a college where your counterparts on American Legion teams also landed, after paying much less to get to that point?

Also consider this: In the last six years, four players from the Hatfield and Nor-Gwyn Legion programs have advanced to play professional baseball, and over forty have gone on to play in college. And that is just 2 of the 4,000 programs in the nation and nearly 400 in PA. These numbers may not mean much at first but consider these facts available at www.ncaa.org:

* Only 6.3% of high school baseball players go on to play NCAA baseball.

* Only 0.44% of high school baseball players will be signed by a pro team.

When you consider these meager percentages, it is clear that two of our most prominent local Legion baseball programs are doing a pretty good job of turning out players who advance beyond their percentage likelihood to the next level (and that is only mentioning two programs). Oh, and by the way - these players' parents are not spending thousands of dollars to allow that to happen; instead, they are saving that money for college since most NCAA baseball teams have only limited scholarship money, and it is rare that a player would get a "full ride" despite what some disillusioned would-be collegiate stars may boast to their peers.

Here is a brief glimpse at local Legion players who have advanced to play Division I ball in recent years: (Doylestown Legion – John Gyles, LaSalle; David Putman, Duke; Ryan Pater, St. Joe’s;  Nor-Gwyn Hawks – Mike Bradstreet, Rhode Island; Matt Quinn, Maryland; Ryan Ignas, Penn State; Hatfield Legion – Eric Ruth, Winthrop; Kevin Christy, LaSalle; Pennridge Legion– Eric and Adam Kammler, LaSalle; Pat Dameron, Delaware.) To finish the list of local Division One players in just the last few seasons and to add the prominent D-2 and D-3 programs to which our local legion players have advanced would far exceed the available space for this article (such as Boyertown Bears Legion alum Shayne Houck who lit the PSAC on fire last year, batting .449 with 17HR and 77 RBI for Kutztown).

THE EXPERIENCE

If your son is playing an AAU sponsored tournament with a name like the  "Elite National Championship" but you had to pay a boat load of money for the team to be there - are they really playing for a national championship? Or are they just a team that has enough money to pay to enter the tournament with an impressive name?

It is worth noting that the American Legion programs in Spring City, Norchester, Boyertown, Pennridge, Hatfield and Nor-Gwyn have, in the last six years and beyond, advanced to Regional, State, and National Tournaments on multiple occasions, and yes... they ADVANCED- that means they had to win a lot of baseball games to earn the right to compete for these tournament titles, after all, generally that is how it works in college and the pros as well. And when they did ADVANCE, how much money did they have to pay to play in these tournaments comprised of some of the best legion teams in the state and nation... $0.00. In fact, when the Nor-Gwyn Hawks advanced to the Great Lakes Regional in Appleton, WI in the summer of 2009, (and when Pennridge Legion advanced to Mattoon, IL last summer) not only was it free, but American Legion baseball picked up the tab for the round trip flight, rental cars, and four nights in the hotel, AND all players and coaches received meal money each day. And yet some families are paying thousands to play in tournaments in which they have to pay for their own transportation and hotels, but those are the tournaments that are titled “Elite.”

So, if Legion ball in our area has so much to offer, what is pulling families into the realm of AAU tournament ball instead? A lot of it has to do with the myth that a player has to play in AAU Tournaments and showcases to "be seen." Sure, there are very talented players who have been seen by and signed by college coaches at tournaments; however, do people ever realize, "yes, but these players are good players anyway, and they would likely have gone on to college ball with or without an AAU team"? Many tournament teams have spawned when talented kids leave an established program, set up tournament teams full of good players, and then a year or two later... disappear to be replaced by another temporary team somewhere else. I fully understand the need for our kids to be on good teams that provide good baseball experiences. After all, who wouldn't want only the best for his or her own son, but perhaps maybe if the good players would stick around for the commitment of community based teams, and the focus would be on getting good people involved to run these teams, and continue to build them, then we would not even need teams with registration fees of over $2,000+ for a season, and those who really cannot afford that would not feel so much pressure to spend it anyway.

THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT

Pennsylvania's nearly 400 American Legion teams ranks it tops in the country in total number of teams, and Region 2 in PA (Berks, Bucks, Montgomery, Lehigh, Northampton, and Schuylkill Counties) has been home to the PA State Champion eight times in the last ten years, including Hatfield in 2002 and Nor-Gwyn in 2005, www.baseball.legion.org/baseball. Along the road to that success, it is difficult to top the baseball atmosphere one would find at Bear Stadium in Boyertown on a typical summer night (www.bearstadium.com), or more locally at our own Hostelley Field at Nor-Gwyn on a night when the Hawks are in town (www.nor-gwynbaseball.org). The community involvement, the behind the scenes volunteerism, the media attention on the front page of the sports section on a daily basis, the constant phone calls and emails to and from college coaches, the affordable registration fees, and the opportunity to advance to League, Regional, State, and National play in front of numerous coaches and scouts, are what combine to make American Legion baseball such a beneficial program of which to be a part. And to the question of exposure for players well, the list (as previously referenced) is lengthy and getting longer each year.  

WHICH BRAND OF BASEBALL IS REALLY PREPARING YOUNG PLAYERS MOST EFFECTIVELY?

An NCAA season is a day in and day out grind of 56 nine inning games on a nearly daily basis, usually with conference games on the weekends and days of practice in between. A major league season is a 162 game grind with nine innings each day. These college and pro seasons are marathons of ups and downs, with standings, jockeying for positioning, league and non-league opponents, strong and weak opponents, home field advantage and away games. Preparation for this type of season happens in American Legion baseball. Teams are vying for postseason berths, coaches are playing non-league games to keep people fresh and give regular players a break, and players are learning to handle and adapt to the high and low moments in a rigorous, but regimented schedule of daily baseball.

AAU/ Tournament ball is run entirely differently. In many cases these teams play weekend tournaments often requiring extensive travel arrangements, only to be idle most of the week, before packing up and heading to another tournament the following weekend. Without daily conditioning regimens such as pitchers running and long tossing between starts, without league play, and with the focus being on just winning these short sprints of weekend tournaments that often include multiple doubleheaders and upwards of 4-6 games in one weekend, the baseball being played in the AAU/ Tournament programs is not conducive to preparing players for the competition and the rigors of the next level. Not to mention, these teams lack the media publicity, the community involvement, and the affordability that American Legion baseball offers. After all, just because it costs more money does not mean it is a better final product. Further insights are also available at the following link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD4GSEYDeZc

FINAL THOUGHTS

So, if your son is going to be in high school soon or already is, ask yourself if you want to be spending upwards of over $15,000 between summer and fall baseball for about three years worth of youth baseball.

Sure, tuck some money away for private instruction - our area is brimming with indoor instructional facilities, and one-on-one private lessons can absolutely make better players. But save the rest of your money to cover what a partial baseball scholarship may not, and remember, the players in our area who have been drafted and signed at the pro level, still make up only 0.44% of high school players, so be optimistic but also be realistic.

And if you are a player with high aspirations for baseball, and want to play at the next level … get better.  Setup a batting tee in your basement or backyard and take fifty swings a day. Get out and long toss as much as you can while the weather is warm, and have someone hit you a hundred ground balls a week; get into the weight room; watch baseball games on TV and learn situational baseball, not just ESPN highlights. Oh, and by the way…that advice is free.

On Saturday evening before the commencement of a Bux-Mont League game against Perkiomen, Nor-Gwyn will pay homage to longtime Perkiomen manager Ernie Quatrani.  Coach Quatrani managed the Perkiomen legion team for twenty-four successful seasons before retiring last summer.

The tribute will take place at Hostelley Field before the 7pm game.  While you're there you can take in some of the state's finest baseball at one of its finest facilities. 

In PA's Region 3, no team is off to a better league start than Bristol in the Lower Bucks League.  They knocked off Bensalem by four and won a couple close games against Yardley-Morrisville.

Things didn't go quite as well for Falls this weekend.  Despite throwing up twenty-eight runs in two weekend games against foes from New Jersey, the Region 3 natives were unable to come away with a win.  They were downed by state power Haddon Heights 19-17 and edged by Bordentown 14-11.

In Lower MontCo action, Roslyn knocked off Cedarbook by three.  Mount Carmel played several tournament games this weekend, they beat Cumberland 13-0 and were downed by Williamsport 11-9 and Woodsboro 15-0.

A bunch of games have taken place this weekend in PA's Region 7.   Results are as follows:

Cambria County

Ebensburg 2, Claysburg 1

Portage 6, Cernic's (Conemaugh) 4

Bedford 8, Patton 6

Westmont 9, Lilly 6

Richland 13, Stoystown 8

Stoystown 11, Nanty Glo 1

St. Michael 7, Meyersdale 2

St. Michael 1, Meyersdale 1

Jefferson County

Clearfield 11, Brookville 10

Nor-Gwyn took part in a doubleheader in York County yesterday against a couple non-league opponents.  In the first game, the Hawks downed Penn Manor of the Lancaster County League.  Nor-Gwyn won it by five, 9-4, with the big bat being swung by Nate Sellers who's two run homerun sealed the victory for the Region 2 team.

In the second game of their day, Nor-Gwyn and Southwestern of the York County League squared off.  The Hawks jumped out to a three run first inning lead, though Southwestern rallied to get on top 5-4.  Matt Davey joined the homerun party for Nor-Gwyn, belting a three run shot that put the Hawks back in the lead in the fifth.  Things remained back and forth until Jamie Minnemeyer laced a bases loaded two rbi single to give the Hawks the lead for good.  They finished the day with a 12-10 win.

The Hawks and Southwestern will meet again this afternoon.

As is generally the case this time of year, many high school teams across the state are still competing in the PIAA playoffs.  As such, many early season legion games have been postponed to later dates. 

We'll post as many legion scores as possible once the games resume.

Clearfield and Punsutawney kicked off their seasons on Sunday afternoon with their Jefferson County League opener.  Braedon Pennington paced the home team on the mound, pitching all seven innings for the win.  He surrendered just four hits and three earned runs while striking out fourteen in what will surely be one of the top strikeout performances the state will see this year.

Andrew Redden had the big hit for the visiting Chiefs, hitting a fourth inning home run.  Punxsutawney moves to 1-0 on the young season, with Clearfield now sitting at 0-1.  Both teams will return to action later this week.

As we receive scores from around the state they'll be posted as soon as possible on their respective regional news page.  Those games featuring teams from two different regions will have the result posted on both pages.

To access the regional news pages, simply click the region heading for whichever page you wish to access.

Boyertown was able to take advantage of eleven Doylestown walks and three errors, as the Bears downed the Tigers 7-6 in non-league play at Bear Stadium on Saturday night.  Ben Tracy took the loss in relief for Doylestown, pitching 1 1/3 innings and giving up the Bears’ final two runs. Tracy struck out two Boyertown hitters, but yielded five walks in his time on the mound, including four in the final frame.  Travis Kreitz picked up the win by pitching the ninth, despite giving up two runs in his lone inning of work.  Kreitz did have a good night at the plate, doubling, knocking in two runs, and reaching three times on walks.  Ryan Schwager also did well at the dish for the Bears, reaching three times on walks and scoring twice, including the winning run on an Andrew Gehringer sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth.  Doylestown was paced by designated hitter Clay Sebesky, who had two hits and drove in two of the Tiger runs.  In spite of their shaky pitching, Doylestown was able to keep the game close with good base running and timely hitting.  They were also able to strand seventeen Boyertown runners on base. However, in the end Boyertown got enough from its offense to take the victory.

Doylestown opened the scoring in the top of the third when Ryan Clow was able to score Jake Poeske on a groundout after Poeske led off the inning with a single.  Boyertown bounced back with two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth to build a 3-1 lead.  However, a walk and three hits helped the Tigers draw even in the seventh, 3-3. Boyertown regained the lead in the bottom of the inning with two runs, and despite a single Doylestown run in the eighth, led 5-4 heading to the ninth.  Doylestown got a two run, two out hit from Sebesky to take back the lead, 6-5. However, the walks in the ninth proved to be too much, as the Bears tied it on a bases loaded walk, and won the game on Gehringer’s sacrifice fly, which was only the first out of the inning.

Doylestown will look to get revenge as the two sides meet again in Boyertown on Sunday at 2pm. This is a change to the schedule, as the game was originally scheduled for Doylestown’s home field at CB West High School.

After three years without fielding a team in the Indiana County League, Blairsville will return this year to league play.  Blairsville's addition means there will be a six team field this season in Indiana County.  This is great news for the league, as it looks to build on a successful 2010 campaign.  Last year's league champion Homer City had great success at the regional level, finishing second in Region Seven to champion and perennial power State College.  Follow Blairsville and their Indiana County rivals and more this year at palegionball.com!

It is a distinct honor to welcome our loyal fanbase to the second season of our unprecedented and unrivaled coverage of Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball!  After Midwest City, Oklahoma secured the 2010 ALB World Series national championship, we went to work upgrading the site in every way imaginable.  Several hundred hours of work later, and we're ready for some baseball.

We wanted to take this time to make you aware of all the changes and additions made to the site since last summer.  The following is a list of upgrades to the site and exclusive articles we've written during the downtime.

Forums upgrade: We've completed revamped our forums secton, including new easy to read formatting.  Our forums are moderated and will soon be the site of intelligent and useful dicussions of all topics related to PA ALB.

Site address:  If you haven't noticed, we've officially moved to www.palegionball.com, this will be our permanent home and make finding us much easier.

Fan twitter: As we outlined the other day, fans with access to a twitter account (or who create a twitter account) can now post their news, stories, etc. on the site simply by hashtagging their tweet with '#palegionball'.  The feed can be found underneath the PA ALB twitter feed on the right side of the site.

Mobile site:  That's right, we now have a fully functioning mobile site that is accessible from any mobile device.  You can quickly surf the site with formatting that is geared towards the streamlined size of a smartphone.

Exclusive Interviews:  We've conducted exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in PA legion baseball.  To date, we have interviews posted to the site with Rick Moatz (Boyertown manager, perennial state power), Kevin Manero (Nor-Gwyn manager, generally one of the state's top teams), Jamie Scheck (Spring City manager, 2010 state champions), Rocky Wright (Pennridge, 2010 state runner-up), and Larry Bowles (Chesapeake, VA, 2010 Mid-Atlantic champions).

In addition, we've got some big plans for the upcoming season... so stop by often, and please help us spread the word.  We'll see you this summer at baseball diamonds across the state!

As always, thanks for visiting!

The Lower Bucks League in Region Three will begin league play next week.  Three teams in the league, Lower Southampton, Falls, and Yardley-Morrisville have posted full team schedules on their websites.  The links are below.  The league champion will qualify for the regional tournament hosted by Norchester.

Lower Southampton

Falls

Yardley-Morrisville

Glen Rock, which competes in Region Four's York County League, will begin its season this coming weekend with an away game at Stewartstown.  Glen Rock will play fourteen games this year as part of its league schedule.  The team's full schedule is linked below.

Glen Rock Legion Baseball

West Mifflin will begin its 2011 campaign with a league game this Thursday against South Park.  Both teams will compete this year in a restructured Allegheny County setup, with the county's four divisions combined into three.  More information and a full team schedule for West Mifflin can be found at their team site below.

West Mifflin Legion Baseball

The Latrobe Jethawks complete in Westmoreland County's District 31 Southeast Division.  The Jethawks 11-4-1 in league play a year ago, and qualified for the league playoffs.  In 2011, Latrobe hopes to return to the Region Seven Tournament.  The team has advanced to regionals ten times, which leaves Latrobe tied with Murrysville for the most out of all Westmoreland County teams.  A link to the team's website and schedule is below.

Latrobe Jethawks

The Lower Montco League will begin play this upcoming weekend, with each of its eight teams in action.  A year ago, Fort Washington followed up a first place regular season finish with a sweep of its playoff games.  The Golden Generals also performed well in the state regionals, finishing third at the Region Three Tournament hosted by league rival Warminster.  A full schedule and more can be found at the league's official site below.

Lower Montco League

The six team Lebanon County League will begin play on June 1.  Last year, Campbelltown dominated both the regular season and the playoffs, finishing a combined 17-1 against Lebanon County foes.  The full league schedule, rosters, and other team information for the league can be found by clicking the below link.

Lebanon County League