Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball

While players and coaches around the state have been unwinding after a long and successful season for Pennsylvania American Legion Baseball, the groups that oversee the state and national programs have been hard at work.  Over the next couple of summers, legion baseball in the state will phase in two rather drastic changes.  

The national legion program has announced that beginning in the summer of 2015, legion baseball will again become exclusively available to high school aged players.  This means that age-eligible players who have been able to play for their legion team after their first year of college will no longer be able to do so in a few years.  The hope and belief is that allowing teams to only field their squads from high school aged students will give more opportunity to younger players and create less turnover and turmoil for teams across the country.

Also of note, the national legion passed an agreement that all states must participate under the same national legion rules.  In the past, states or leagues within each state have taken liberty with such rules as courtesy runners, game re-entry, and the number of eligible players on each team.  The new rule reiterates that programs must all compete under the same guidelines.  States and leagues are still entitled to determine game length, which is at seven innings for most leagues but must be at nine innings for playoff games.

We had been alerted recently to a drastic rule change for PA Legion Baseball taking effect in 2013, and though the news has not yet been officially released by the state, several news outlets have posted information regarding it so we feel the need to confirm that information.  It has been highly publicized (and scrutinized) that the national legion's bat standards had become confusing and daunting over the past few years.  We heard many horror stories from across the state regarding what bats (BESR vs BBCOR and composite) were usable, and which weren't.  It has been known for a while now that in 2012, legion baseball will adopt BBCOR bat rules that the NCAA adopted last year.  This new change will bring continuity to the bat standards and also provide a great deal more safety to pitchers in harms way.

While that news is welcoming, PA Legion Baseball has decided to become one of the largest baseball organizations in the country to adopt even stricter bat rules.  In 2013, PA Legion Baseball will be switching solely to wooden bats for all of its baseball games.  The change will have many benefits to teams and players around the state.  Wooden bats currently retail for 15-20% of the cost of a BBCOR metal bat.  In addition, the new bats will provide a great deal of improvement in safety to the pitcher and surrounding players.  PA Legion Baseball players will have many years of wooden bat hitting practice which should greatly aid in increasing the number of players drafted into the professional baseball ranks.  Simply put, our state's players are being put in a situation where they will be ahead of the vast majority of high school hitters in the country.  It should also be noted that state officials intend to make bat purchase agreements solely with Pennsylvania based company which will add jobs at a time when they are desperately needed.  This is certainly not a decision that came easily, and is not one that will be without opposition.  But as it stands, PA Legion Baseball will serve as a national leader in wooden bat usage, and for that, we should all be proud.

For any questions or comments regarding the rule changes, please do not hesitate to contact us at palegionbaseball@gmail.com and we'll help in any way we can.  Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the snow!