More than a game

Braden Shipley is on the cusp of playing Major League Baseball, but his fondest memory is when his team competed in the 2009 American Legion World Series (ALWS).

“It was a great event,” says Shipley, an Arizona Diamondbacks pitching prospect who played for series runner-up Medford, Ore., Post 15. “The teammates I played with will be my friends my entire life. Everybody who works for The American Legion treated me so well and our team so well. It was really one of the best opportunities I’ve had.”

In the announcer’s booth that year were Luis Gonzalez and Jeff Kent, former major leaguers and Legion Baseball alumni. Oddly enough, when Shipley debuts with the Diamondbacks, Gonzalez may be broadcasting the game for the team. Since concluding his career, highlighted by the game-winning hit in the 2001 World Series, Gonzalez has worked for the Diamondbacks as a special assistant to the president.

Gonzalez recalls that the 2009 ALWS started with a beautiful ceremony before rain took over every day. “But in typical American Legion style, (they) found a way to get it done. We played games all day long, all night. I think I might have called six games in one day, from the early morning to nighttime. But it was a lot of fun.

“It was refreshing to know that baseball was alive and well in The American Legion.”

Fast-forward to 2015 – and American Legion Baseball is thriving, 90 years after the program was first proposed during a department convention in South Dakota. Nearly 3,800 teams are winding down another season and regional tournaments will soon be underway. And Shelby, N.C., is hoping to again break attendance records at this month’s American Legion Baseball World Series, which will be broadcast by ESPN’s family of channels and websites. 

Since its start, thousands of Legion Baseball alumni have graced major league ballparks. More than 60 – including Yogi Berra, Ted Williams and Ryne Sandberg – have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Whether Legion players reach the major leagues or never play beyond high school, the friendships and life lessons endure.

Alex Gordon, the 2015 American Legion Graduate of the Year, played four years of Legion Baseball with J.C. Brager Post 3 in Lincoln, Neb. 

“I still cherish those friendships to this day,” says Gordon, the starting left-fielder with the defending American League champion Kansas City Royals. “Getting to play with the older guys, you get to develop some of the characteristics of some of the leaders. As a young kid, you may not know how to do everything right, and they show you the way. Later, when you’re the older guy, you try to pass those along to the younger players that come along. There’s give and take. It was a great experience overall.”

Proud moment Gonzalez – a self-professed “little, skinny kid from Tampa” – remembers the first time he stepped on the field as a Legion player. 

“I was proud and excited,” says Gonzalez, who played second base back then. “It was like you made the big leagues. When I finally got to put on the uniform, I realized that I made it. For me, it was a stepping stone to go on to play college and professional baseball.”

He remembers wanting to impress Post 248 members. “Every time you think of The American Legion, you think of the military. You didn’t want to let them down. You always played the game with honor and respect. You were representing that Legion post. So you wanted to play the best you could and make those guys proud of you because they were following you.”

Today, high school baseball players have lots of choices of where to play during the summer. Travel leagues abound. But American Legion Baseball has a proven track record of success.

“The choice between playing Legion ball and travel ball is easy,” Shipley says. “When you play travel ball, you are limited to certain places you can play. When you play Legion ball, you are playing with people who care about you. There are friends you have played with and friends you have played against. It’s just more structured and the competition, I feel, is a lot better. It really gives you an opportunity.”

Shipley is expected to join the roster of current major leaguers with Legion Baseball experience, including Gordon, Albert Pujols and Jacob deGrom.

“American Legion Baseball got me from an average baseball player to the player I am today,” he says.  

Henry Howard is deputy director of media and communications for The American Legion.