National American Legion Baseball Office to ‘Re-open’ PROTEST against Post 87 High Point/HiToms:Post 87 Playing the ‘Waiting Game’

Posted on by Andy Durham

+++++Post 87 High Point will not back down.+++++
*****But right now, all they can do is sit back an wait to see what happens with their season…..*****

Coming in from the High Point Enterprise and re-tweeted by Mike Duprez with the Lexington Dispatch:
*****The National Legion office(Indianapolis, Indiana) has reopened Post 87’s appeal. Posts 87(High Point) & 82(Shelby) have 24 hours to submit their statements.*****

In the Title Game today at historic Holt-Moffitt Field in Lexington, North Carolina, Shelby(44-2) defeats the Gaston Braves 7-2…This game got going earlier than the forecasted 5pm first pitch…They are rolling on now….1440AM doesn’t have it, but the game is on WKXR 1260 in Asheboro with Tony Wright….Shelby is your Champion, or are they???

We have been talking a lot about the Post 87 HiToms, from High Point this week and here again is a rundown of some of the Guilford County kids on this team, that are being effected by the American Legion Baseball decisions that are coming down/going down this week…

Ryan Hedrick(Southern Guilford)
Ryan Caveness(Southern Guilford)
Evan Edwards(Southern Guilford)
Taylor Sugg(Southern Guilford)
Cesar Trejo(Ragsdale HS)
Ben Fisher(Ragsdale)
Avery Hodges(Ragsdale)
Trevor Gay(High Point Central)
Ryan Kahny(High Point Central)
Zach Saylor(Southwest Guilford)
Zach McClean(High Point Christian Academy)
*****That is now 11 right there, right quick and I know there are more kids involved from Guilford County with the Hi-Toms’ legion baseball team.*****

17 thoughts on “National American Legion Baseball Office to ‘Re-open’ PROTEST against Post 87 High Point/HiToms:Post 87 Playing the ‘Waiting Game’”

  1. This game should have never been played. The entire tournament is a fraud and should be replayed.

  2. yeah – two more Ragsdale kids – Ben Fisher and Avery Hodges. The whole thing just stinks to high heavens. I really hate it for these kids. I have followed the legion program there for years. Had a kid that played fall ball for Suire several years. My daughter worked there one summer. I don’t know Shore directly but I was always impressed by the way he coached. Always been impressed by the whole organization.

    This is the first year I haven’t made it to at least one game in awhile. I had planned on going to watch them play on Monday til all this garbage happened.

    I’m glad they reopened the protest but I remain skeptical anything positive for Post 87 will come out of this. They will likely agree the rules were ambiguous. That they were wrong to DQ High Point and that they will clear up the rule book for the future. But at the end of the day High point will get no more than an apology and will remained screwed out of their chance to win a state title where it counts – on the field.

    I hope I’m wrong.

  3. Would the right thing to do, if you can’t send both Shelby and High Point to the Southeast Regional, a World Series qualifier; would it be the right thing to do, to have a one-game playoff, with High Point vs. Shelby and then the winner of that game on Wednesday/tomorrow would be the Area Rep from here to the SE American Legion Regional in Asheboro????

    The High Point pitching should be rested up and ready…

    Or do you go right at it and do the right thing and send High Point to Asheboro for the Regional????

    Doesn’t Shelby get an automatic bid to the World Series, since they are the HOST team any way????

    *****Southeast Regional:
    August 7 – 11 at McCrary Park/Field in Asheboro*****

    Several things to chew on……

  4. Word just coming in from Michael Lindsay at the High Point Enterprise:

    Michael Lindsay @HPEmichael
    The Post 87 HiToms have submitted their appeal to the Legion national office. The 24 hours ends around 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

  5. Only the 8 regional winners advance to the World Series. Shelby’s home stadium is used as the venue but there is no host team for the World Series.

  6. National needs to admit their mistake and fix this issue this year!!!!!
    there are several ways and they need to realize that the negative publicity in the light of everything that has come out is not helping their cause.
    with the travel ball getting more poplar in many areas, National needs to get smart and come up with a way to fix this THIS year!
    Prayers for all those kids and coaches that have gone from the mountaintop to the valley in 1 night and continue to live in limbo hoping National does the right thing!!!!

  7. Money + youth sports = too many chiefs not enough engines…..

  8. National American Legion Baseball has given the Shelby, NC Post a $7 Million Dollar Renovation to their Baseball Stadium and paid for a $1 Million Dollar Score Board. WHy? WHere did the money come from?

  9. Somebody may need to contact Howard Coble…What a way to leave office….

    Step up to plate before it is too late and get these kids their spot back in the American Legion playoffs and give them their chance for a trip to the World Series…

    Congressman Coble we need your legal experience/leadership….

  10. HiToms mom, you obviousily do not understand Shelby’s relationship with legion. No money was given by National American legion to Shelby’s stadium. All of it was raised locally.

  11. Greg Suire of the HiToms spoke with the High Point Enterprise’ Michael Lindsay on Tuesday evening:

    “At least they(National American Legion) will listen to the points we’ve made,” said Greg Suire, Post 87’s athletic director and HiToms president. “I have no pretense about what way they’re going to go – I have no idea. But at least we’re able to present our case.”

    Both Suire, who filed the HiToms’ statement with the national office early Tuesday evening, and coach Rob Shore said neither the initial decision by state officials nor the appeal to national officials involved them.

    “Absolutely not,” Suire said. “There was not a hearing. This was a one-sided discussion. They only told me that there’d been a protest and that they’d tell me the ruling at 9:30 the next morning.”

  12. Zach Saylor from Southwest Guilford is on the team as a pitcher for post 87 Hitoms.

  13. Mr. Pannell was trying to get this comment in, but was having trouble getting it to stick this morning and here is what he had to say about the issue:

    I love American Legion Baseball. I coached for several years on the Senior level and six years ago started a JR American Legion program at Southeast Guilford . Our Legion program has helped our baseball at Southeast greatly.

    I also know Greg Suire and will tell you he runs a great program with the HiToms. Greg has helped numerous players in this area go on to play at the college level. We play in his fall program and love the great level of competition.

    A few things bother me about this recent ruling that disqualified the HiToms. First of all the young man attended a camp to be seen by college coaches. His attending this camp did not have any bearing on the outcome of the game played. HiToms won and Shelby lost. How did his attending a camp affect the outcome on the field? Second, the camp he attended is a Baseball Factory camp and is sanctioned by American Legion Baseball. As the Athletic Director for JR Legion Team I received letters and emails from the American Legion National office announcing the fact that they had partnered with and sanctioned Baseball Factory Camps and encouraged me to nominate players to attend these camps. I have nominated players to attend in the past and many of our kids have attended these camps.

    Third, All of the coaches either had or had access to each teams roster before the tournament began and I was told that the NC State Legion Directors told the coaches if they had any protests or problems about eligible players to air the protest before a game started. It makes sense to do just that to prevent what happened.

    American Legion members fought many battles for our country and we love and are thankful for the sacrifices they made. The Legionnaires battles were won or lost on the field of battle. At no time did anyone come running up with a rule book or protest the outcome of those battles.”We lost but now we won because you had a ineligible participant!”

    I hope the Legion will make it right and find a way to let the HiToms play in the regional.One thing is certain this type of disqualification has happened too many times in the past. Legion baseball needs to fix this problem.

    Charles Pannell
    Southeast Guilford Legion Baseball

  14. I heard from Post 87 coach Rob Shore this morning(Wednesday) and he said no ruling has come in yet…

    Did get the word from Baseball Factory leader Steve Sclafani and here is a summary of what he sent to Michael Lindsay with the HP Enterprise..

    Could not get a steady transition on this one, but here is a summary from the Baseball Factory…

    FROM THE EARLY DAYS OF THE BASEBALL FACTORY, helping American Legion players further their baseball careers has always been an important initiative of our company..This partnership is meant to provide as many opportunities as possible to help American Legion players improve their baseball skills, gain exposure to college and reach their highest level of greatness..

    The Baseball Factory wants to enhance the American Legion players experiences and move forward with the recent rulings…

    He also says the Baseball Factory wants to continue to work closely with Amreican Legion baseball and to provide scholarship help for those in need….

    Just a summary of what Mr. Sclafani was saying to Michael Lindsay with the High Point Enterprise…

    Mr. Sclafani, from the Baseball Factory…

  15. The letter also states that the Baseball Factory is working expeditiously with the American Legion on trying to understand their position on the recent rulings, and how this process will be handled moving forward.

  17. Gentlemen,

    Thanks for those updates and please let us know when you get a FINAL ruling…

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