American Legion baseball season canceled, but there still might be hope

All our coronavirus coverage is free to the public. It’s the right thing to do as a public service to our community. If you find this article helpful or informative and want to support our continued coverage, please support us with a tax-deductible donation.

To find all our coronavirus coverage, including helpful local resources and website links, click here.

---

The American Legion baseball season for both the senior and junior programs was canceled last week, but there is still hope a season might take place after much protest over the decision.

The South Carolina American Legion's Department Executive Committee decided to shut down the season on Saturday due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, while the decision hasn't been reversed, it will be reviewed again on May 15.

"There has been so much uproar - over 2,000 signatures have been sent to the state commander about this - that they have now decided to revisit this by May 15," said Bill Lyons, the athletic director for Sumter Post 15. They may reverse the decision, so we still may have baseball under American Legion this year.

"There's been so much opposition since then, they've decided to revisit it," he added. "And they may say we can't do anything until they lift all of the restrictions any way."

The state baseball committee wanted to wait on making a decision on the season. However, it is overseen by the DEC, which made the final decision.

"The state baseball committee voted against it, asked them to wait to the middle of May, the end of May to make the decision," Lyons said. "But the Department Executive Committee of the state made that decision."

Lyons is on board with the baseball committee.

"I feel they should have waited until the middle or the end of May to make that decision before they arbitrarily decided to cancel the season," he said.

Post 15 has sponsored a baseball team every year since 1929, just four years after the American Legion began sponsoring a nationwide youth baseball. Sumter is the only post in South Carolina to have sponsored a team since the program's inception in the Palmetto State.

In a story in the Morning News of Florence, Florence Post 1 head coach Derick Urquhart said the idea of having an American Legion independent league is being bandied about if the season remains canceled but it is determined it is safe to play this summer.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Urquhart said the "league is the works" and "21 teams so far have said 'interested.' " He also said North Carolina is doing the same and is actually 1 weeks ahead since its season had already been canceled. He said South Carolina is following its lead.

Sumter, Manning-Santee Post 68 or Dalzell-Shaw Post 175 have not decided on whether to commit to an independent league. Each of the programs are supposed to meet in the next few days and discuss the option.

In the Morning News story, Urquhart said the legal ramifications and what the insurance costs might be are being considered.