Players on the Central Maine American Legion team take in the action from a game against Motor City on Tuesday at Colby College in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans

Long car rides to various venues across the state, bags of sunflower seeds resting in a dugout on a hazy afternoon, and passionate spectators cheering on their beloved teams: They’re all synonymous with Maine’s summer baseball scene – particularly American Legion ball, which debuted in 1925 and for many years had the spotlight mostly to itself when it came to summer sporting events for high school athletes.

For decades, Legion baseball was a popular attraction across the state, from Kittery to Bangor and beyond, culminating in an eight-team double-elimination state tournament. But participation has dwindled in recent years, in part because of competition from other sports, but also because of the appeal of travel and club baseball programs and a new wood bat league that debuted in 2017.

As recently as 2007, the state featured 48 senior Legion teams. This summer, there are just 14 teams at the senior level and 11 at the junior level – none in Cumberland County, which used to be the stronghold of Legion baseball. And the southernmost team in the state, Post 202 of Topsham, doesn’t plan to field a team next year.

At its peak, Legion baseball had five zones, which are similar to conferences. Today, there are just two – North and South.

The Edge Wood Bat League, now in its sixth summer, has become an attractive alternative for players across southern Maine. So, too, is the continued growth of travel programs for players who seek greater exposure to college coaches.

Chris Hickman, who manages the Post 202 Topsham team, said Legion baseball officials simply failed to adapt quickly to the competition.

“They don’t want to change,” Hickman said. “Their model has worked for years, but I don’t see them willing to adapt at all. Their unwillingness to change has led to a lot of angry individuals.”

Historically, Legion teams played doubleheaders on Saturdays, and single games on Tuesday and Thursday. With the growth of club and travel baseball, players had to choose between Legion and travel baseball, and many Legion programs began having trouble attracting a full roster of players.

American Legion did adjust its schedules this summer, dropping the Saturday doubleheaders and playing games Tuesdays through Thursdays to allow players more flexibility to compete on club teams on the weekends. The change may have come too late to save Legion baseball in the southern part of the state, however.

Fans watch an American Legion baseball game between visiting Skowhegan and hometown Capital Area on July 6 in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“In my eyes, it’s the good old boys’ club of the North,” Hickman said. “It’s run by the top three teams in the North, and the South doesn’t get a say. We don’t get a seat on the board. We don’t have any representation. It gets very frustrating. … When I first started coaching (in 2017), there were Legion teams in Portland, South Portland, Cheverus, Yarmouth, Falmouth and Freeport.”

Paul L’Heureux, Maine’s longtime Legion Adjutant, said he’s confident that Legion baseball will persevere in Maine.

“I don’t worry about numbers,” he said. “I worry about quality, and I worry about taking care of our students. … The history of American Legion is what keeps us going. What we do has worked since 1925. Are we up for changes? Of course we are, but not when it comes to our foundation. This system has carried us through worse periods than today – World War II, Korea, Vietnam.”

Jason Douin, the head coach of the Capital Area (Augusta) team, said Legion ball provides players something that other organizations can’t.

“Travel is baseball is great, it’s fun,” he said. “But there is something about playing for your hometown – trying to win for your hometown, your home community, that’s really special. There’s a lot of pride in that.”

Meanwhile, the Edge Wood Bat League has experienced exponential growth in southern Maine, at Legion’s expense. In 2018, a year prior to Edge Academy’s involvement, the wood bat league had 10 teams. Now it has 36 teams.

Ryan Copp, a co-founder of the Edge Academy and the director of the wood bat league, insists he never intended for his league to compete with American Legion.

“The wooden bat league was not supposed to take the place of Legion and push it out of the way,” Copp said. “It was created as a supplement to travel ball.”

Motor City pitcher Tommy Smith (3) warms up in the bullpen prior to a game against Central Maine on Tuesday at Colby College in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

One of the state’s prominent travel baseball teams, the Maine Lightning, focuses on getting Maine players exposure in front of college coaches.

In the 2022 graduating class, 29 Maine Lightning players will move on to play college ball, Copp said. In the last six years, more than 100 kids from the Maine Lightning program, owned by Edge Academy, have gone on to play in college, with over a third of them playing at the Division I level.

That’s not something American Legion baseball can – or even wants to – compete with.

Collegiate baseball exposure has never been the selling point of Legion baseball, L’Heureux said. Legion knows exactly what it represents – the opportunity to be a part of a greater history of youth sports, and it will continue to exist in its current state.

“We have teams in Augusta, but we also have (a team) in Phillips – all the way up in Franklin County,” said L’Heureux. “Who knows what they have, but they have a dedicated coaching staff and kids that want to play Legion baseball. And you know what? They’re playing Legion baseball. … It makes a lot of veterans proud that we have this program. That’s what counts. That’s what we’re here for.”

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