Age Rule DUGOUT CHAT Tom Magedanz - 03.20.2002

After a couple of years of rumors, it seems likely that Legion baseball, along with a number of other national youth baseball programs, will change its age requirements. Under the current rule a player can play Legion ball if he does not turn 19 until August 1 of his final season or later. The proposed new age rule would move the deadline back to January 1 of the following year.

In other words, under the new rule, you can play Legion ball during the summer of the year that you turn 19. For example, Dalton Decker will be 18 during the 2002 season (18th birthday in April 2002), which would be his last year under the current rule. However, he will not be 19 until April 2003, so under the new rule, he could come back from college and play during the 2003 season because that's the year he turns 19. Charlie Magedanz, on the other hand, will also be 18 during the 2002 season, but he turns 19 in September 2002, so he will not be eligible for Legion ball in 2003. This rule will benefit players born in the seven-month period between January 1 and August 1 each year.

The reason for the proposed rule is that parents over the last 25 years or so have tended to hold their kids back a year from school until they feel they're ready, especially kids who have summer birthdays and are young for their class. This means a lot of kids are older when they graduate from high school and many are not eligible for baseball the summer after their senior year. This happened to Scott Rislov, JJ Iverson, Justin Sarvis and other Post 8 players. The proposed rule would fix this and open up participation to a larger number of players.

This is not strictly a Legion initiative. Legion baseball, along with many other national baseball programs, such as Little League, Pony Baseball, Babe Ruth Baseball, and others belong to an umbrella organization known as the National Baseball Congress, which sets uniform age rules. The National Baseball Congress is the group proposing the age change, and its member organizations would agree to the change.

I recently e-mailed national Legion headquarters about the change. They replied and sounded fairly certain that the change would happen in 2003, although there are still some doubts. Keep checking over the next winter if you would be affected. Teener baseball has not been a national program for a number of years and is not part of the National Baseball Congress, so I don't know what the South Dakota Teener program will do if the Legion rule is changed.

This rule is not yet final, but it's a strong possibility. Stay tuned.

Webmaster's Note: The rule was passed in the winter of 2002, effective for the 2003 season.