A vision for American Legion Baseball

Gary Stone, a lifelong Missouri resident, coached American Legion Baseball for 25 years until he retired in 2008.

“My philosophy was always it’s not always about winning. It’s teaching the kids the right way to play and if they get a scholarship to help them with their education, that is fine," Stone said. "I had several players that played for me that made it to the major leagues for a short time. The one most people would remember is Albert Pujols, who currently plays for the Los Angeles Angels.”

Now, Stone is the chairman of the new Legion Baseball Committee after previously serving as a consultant on the subcommittee. He sat down for an interview with American Legion Media during the Major League Baseball World Series in Kansas City.

Q: Tell me about what kind of player Albert Pujols was when he was with you?

A: He was a great young man. He set some records - we don’t keep those things in the state of Missouri. But in approximately 120 games over a two-year period he had 85 home runs, drove in 256 runs and hit .580. One of the classy things that I like about Albert was after his first year with me, when all the travel teams found out about him, they all tried to take him and Albert said, ‘No, I committed to Gary Stone and American Legion and that’s where I am going to finish my career.’ And he did.

Q: We know how popular Legion Baseball is. Tell me why you think that’s the case and how it’s still been popular for 90 years now. What can the Legion do to keep it going?

A: To me, the strong point of Legion Baseball is that it is primarily focused on community participation. That’s why we have base high schools and all that. Then, if you advance to post-season play, you are basically playing with who got you to the dance. For example, the other organizations when you advance to post season, you are allowed to pick up players. To me that kind of destroys team continuity. That’s why I always loved Legion Baseball. Also, in Legion Baseball we teach the fundamentals of baseball. We just don’t see how hard you can throw or how far you can hit the ball at the expense of not knowing how to play the game. In my opinion, if you are good, I don’t care if you play on the worst team in your state, they - college and pro scouts - will find you.

Q: As a coach or other volunteer, why should I decide to spend my summer coaching or volunteering for a Legion team instead of one of the other options?

A: For one thing The American Legion is a service organization and it’s for veterans and we have the four pillars. One of which is Americanism, which baseball falls under. I think you are adding to your community, and you are enhancing the visibility to the veterans organizations. I would recommend (Legion Baseball) because we want to teach the kids how to play the game, how to conduct themselves as citizens and behave on and off the field. Winning is not the only thing. It’s certainly better than losing. You have a lot more fun if you win, but that should not be the primary focus of baseball

Q: What’s the future for American Legion Baseball?

A: I think there are some changes we have to make. The (Legion Baseball) committee will have to discuss what those are and how we enhance things. For example, there’s an initiative called Pitch Smart. People are concerned about the number of pitches the kids are throwing, and we have to find a way to limit that. The last thing I ever wanted as a coach is for some young man to come back to me a few years later and say, ‘Do you remember when you made me throw 150 pitches? I never threw that way again.’ You are jeopardizing their chance for a scholarship in college. Also, the length of games and the pitch counts being utilized. Those are things the committee is going to have to discuss.

I started working the Legion World Series, actually the last time it was not in Shelby (N.C.), it was in Spokane (Wash., in 2010). I know years prior to that, every year or so we’d go to Dakota or Oklahoma or some place where the transportation is an issue and cost is an issue. That’s one of the reasons that they opted to try to find a permanent home base. As far as I am concerned, they couldn’t have made a better choice. Shelby has done an excellent job. Shelby adds a great environment. It’s an amazing experience.

Q: Where would you like the relationship with ESPN to go for the World Series?

A: I would like it to go as far as we can get it. For people to sit at home and watch those games on live TV like they did this year, the championship game and two semifinals. Everybody back home was texting me and calling me saying what a great place. I’d like to see every game of the World Series televised. This year’s tournament, I think out of 15 games there were 11 one-run games. That’s pretty good baseball. I would like to see ESPN pick up as many games as they possibly can.

Q: Good high school players are getting asked to play on elite teams, travel ball and Legion Baseball. Why should they spend their summers with a Legion Baseball team?

A: You get this exposure. Shelby, for example, is the only one that I know of that’s televised on ESPN, so there’s a lot of pluses to that. The other thing is you learn how to play the game and conduct yourself. What I tell players is in your area you might be a super player, but around this country you are a dime a dozen. What if you have an attitude problem or conduct issues? If the scouts are looking at somebody, and you are equal to somebody else who does not have that issue, who do you think they are going to take? That’s what we try to stress to the players – how to conduct themselves on the field. Hopefully for the most part it has worked out.

Q: What would you like the volunteer community and Legionnaires to do to help Legion Baseball as a whole?

A: At least lend your name to the team even if you don’t have money. Support them locally. Go to the games. It’s sad to say that even in my Legion career we’d have the team and on any given night you wouldn’t see a Legionnaire there. I would encourage them all to go to the games and wear their Legion hat and make the program visible in your community. Let people know that this is supported by the veterans of the United States. That’s what I would encourage all Legionnaires to do. Get more actively involved in your local team.

Q: Short term and long term, what would be the successes for the program?

A: Short term would be to implement the Pitch Smart initiative. See if we could get that implemented correctly. It’s going to be tough to administer; if we put a limitation on pitches, how are you going to police that? We can certainly do it at the final state tournaments. That’s the short term because we have to protect the health of our players first and foremost above anything else. Long term, of course, is to get teams back involved in the program. We have to work with the state directors. They do some things in their states which are allowed under national rules, but when they get to post season play then they have to go back to that. We’ve got to compromise with them to see what works because what works in Missouri may not work in California, for example. Somewhere in there we have to find a happy medium. I think once we do that and make those directors get more involved, I think we will build the program back to where it was.