New rule to alter the ALB landscape
A new rule making an American Legion baseball an activity for newly graduated high school 12th-graders and athletes in the grades below, will take effect nationwide with the start of the 2015 summer season.
This landscape-changing mandate means that college freshman, who turn 19 after Jan. 1 of the new year, will no longer be allowed to play American Legion baseball after the 2014 season. Consequently, American Legion baseball will become a program for high school-age athletes only.
The rule was passed during the national [American Legion] baseball meetings earlier this month. First to feel the impact of this change will be members of the class of 2014. Specifically, players coming into the program as sophomores next summer [2012], who won’t turn 19 after the first of the year in 2015, will be denied a fourth season of competition.
Ironically, the Minnesota Department of the American Legion did not allow college freshmen to participate in American Legion Baseball until the middle 1990s. Up to that time only high school-age players were allowed to play Minnesota Legion baseball, while the rest of the nation allowed young college freshmen, who had turned 19 after Aug. 1 of the new year.
The Post 334 squad had six college freshmen on its 2011 summer roster, but will have just one in 2012.
Posted: October 27th, 2011