Historic American Legion summer baseball imperiled

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald

Can you imagine a summer going by in New Orleans without the city’s Catholic schools participating in American Legion baseball?

Long a staple of summer activities for boys (and, on rare occasions, girls) ages 13-19, the sport has been a showcase for young, talented baseball players whose hope of attaining a scholarship burned brightly.

But the primary schools and sponsors that had been the backbone of the summer games have not registered for the 2022 season, said Edwin Wilson, the new American Legion baseball chairman for Louisiana. And he’s not happy about it.

St. Augustine is the only New Orleans Catholic school scheduled to participate. The others from Jesuit, Holy Cross, Brother Martin, Archbishop Rummel and Archbishop Shaw have not. The registration deadline was May 15.

Wilson, who replaced longtime baseball chairman Sidney Parfait in January, said he sent emails to every coach who participated in legion baseball in 2021. Just 10 teams from Louisiana registered. They come from Harvey (Westbank Cougars and Nola Chasers), LaPlace (Gibbs Construction), Gonzales, Lafayette, Abbeville, Opelousas, Crowley and Benton.

Catholic school coaches contacted said they have not had follow-up conversations with Wilson since his email. But the new chairman said that was a poor excuse for not registering their respective teams.

“The coaches did not share with me why they chose not to play. (Instead) they abandoned ship before the first pitch was thrown,” Wilson said.  “This isn’t good for Legion baseball as the number of teams is concerned. I think the big question to ask is why after all these years they chose not to play when the only thing that changed was me as the director.”

Wilson, finance department chairman for the state of Louisiana, said the Legion program was financially concerning.

“There was not one penny available in the account and no record of showing what came in and what went out. I was told that everything was done with a handshake and cash. Profit-and-loss statements did not exist.”

Louisiana’s entry into American Legion baseball dates back to 1928. It has survived a national depression, a world war, numerous hurricanes and a pandemic, and didn’t miss a beat, or, more appropriately, an at-bat. And there will still be a presence in Louisiana, but with a much smaller footprint.

Wilson said he has arranged with Delgado Community College athletic director and head baseball coach Joe Scheuermann for the use of Kirsch-Rooney Stadium for all its games beginning on May 30. Teams will play on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.

Meanwhile, the majority of Catholic schools will participate in a Crescent City Sports Prep Summer League, designed to prepare athletes for the 2023 baseball season.

Teams from Jesuit, Holy Cross, Brother Martin, Rummel, Shaw, De La Salle, St. Paul’s, St. Charles Catholic, Northshore, Newman, Lutcher and Lakeshore will play a 16-game schedule at their respective home fields between May 31 and July 7. The season will conclude with a single-elimination playoff among the top four teams.

But the downsizing of legion ball is a crushing blow to the city’s heritage and legacy.

Baseball in New Orleans had been considered the king of local sports in the 1920s through the ensuing 80-plus years. Teams representing age groups from pre-teen through septuagenarian-aged males have played on organized teams commercially sponsored. And at the forefront of interest were the American Legion and Babe Ruth (ages 13-17) programs.

The local Babe Ruth program, which began in 1954 under the leadership of the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) and sponsored by the mammoth department store Maison Blanche, ended in 2009, but American Legion baseball continued to thrive until the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020.

Even then Parfait continued to put together a season with a limited number of games played at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium in partnership with Delgado Community College athletic director and Scheuermann.

For his part in preserving the summer program, Parfait received the Eddie Robinson award at the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s 2021 Hall of Fame ceremony. Before being stricken by pancreatic cancer, a disease he still battles, Parfait oversaw a program that has sent six teams to the American Legion World Series, including two national champions.

New Orleans and the state of Louisiana have long had great American Legion baseball teams.

The state has advanced to the American Legion World Series 26 times, with five teams taking the title.

In 2012, New Orleans Post 125 added to the legacy with its third ALWS title – the others came in 1932, 1946, 1960, 2006 and as recently as 2012

Louisiana teams have been the national runners-up in 1929, 1930, 1934, 1937, 1956, 1996 and 2015.

At its peak of interest a decade ago, the two New Orleans districts were stocked with 34 teams, its rosters filled with athletes from local Catholic and public schools. The First District, primarily composed of the city’s Catholic schools, had 16 teams. And the Second District teams represented Jefferson Parish public and Catholic schools that numbered 18. Before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the Northshore district contained 16 teams, according to Parfait.

Legion baseball has ushered in the careers of 46 National Baseball Hall of Fame players, including Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Johnny Bench, Reggie Jackson and Tony Gwynn.

Local greats Rusty Staub, Will Clark, Mike Miley, Wally Pontiff (Sr. and Jr.), Harold “Tookie” Gilbert, James “Pel” Hughes, Lenny Yochim and Mel Parnell made their debuts on the Legion diamonds at Perry Roehm, Kirsch-Rooney, Muny Park and Pelican Stadium “back in the day”.

As a legionnaire, Wilson was angered by the lack of response from the area’s large Catholic schools, whose coaches claim there were no follow-up conversations with him.

“It’s not my job to call person to person. I sent out an email,” he said “I’m not concerned if they want to play or not. I’m doing this for the American Legion. Tell them to read what the American Legion is all about. As soldiers, we don’t run away from what faces us; we run towards it.”

rbrocato@clarionherald.org