By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA
For the first time ever, the New York State American Legion baseball tournament will be played in Monroe County.
Volunteers from Greece Post 468 will see their countless hours of preparation come to fruition when more than a dozen games are played between Saturday and Wednesday at Rochester Institute of Technology, culminating in the crowning of a state champion.
Back in 1989, another group of volunteers who worked to bring Legion baseball’s premier national event to Rochester weren’t so fortunate.
It turned out to be the American Legion World Series that wasn’t.
Despite assuring the Monroe County American Legion baseball committee that Silver Stadium would be available Aug. 23-27, 1989, the Rochester Red Wings were forced to nullify their agreement just eight months before the World Series was to take place.
When informed of the issue, Legion baseball’s national committee in Indianapolis was not interested in accommodating any scheduling work-around in Rochester.
Instead, Millington, Tenn., slated to host the ALWS in 1990, agreed in January of 1989 to bring the event to suburban Memphis that summer.
“I was very disappointed,” said Bob Morrill, who was the chair of the local committee to bring the World Series to Rochester. “We had so much community support. Kodak and Xerox and Coca-Cola all were on board.”
The group even had a $30,000 appropriation from New York State, secured by then-Assemblymember Roger Robach.
They were full steam ahead with planning, too, starting in the spring of 1987. They made souvenir pins, and mini bats and shirts. There was talk of bringing the eight participating teams – each representing a different region of the country – to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown.
And then, in an instant, nearly four years of planning and preparation turned into a colossal waste of time.
When the International League schedule for the 1989 season was released in late fall of 1988, the calendar showed the Red Wings would be home for the final nine days of the regular season, from Aug. 24-Sept. 1.
Not long after, then-Red Wings general manager Bob Goughan delivered the bad news to the local Legion World Series organizing committee. Apparently blocking out dates on the calendar had become much more difficult, or impossible, after the IL joined forces with the American Association to form the Triple-A Alliance starting in 1988.
The message to Morrill: Sorry, but you’re out of luck. And out of our stadium.
“We had tried for it in 1988 but didn’t get it,” Morrill recalled this week, “so we went back to the national committee and this time we got it for 1989.”
That the national committee chose Rochester was impressive considering there were five other cities bidding, including Las Vegas and St. Louis.
But once they had the tournament taken away, the local American Legion baseball contingent never bid again.
“When the Red Wings reneged on their promise to us, I couldn’t see going back,” Morrill said.
This is the centennial anniversary of American Legion baseball and the ALWS is the nation’s premier youth tournament. Thousands of Major Leaguers have worn an American Legion uniform on their journey to the big leagues, including 89 members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The World Series now has an annual home for perpetuity in Shelby, N.C. Legion baseball’s national committee opted for a permanent home, much like college baseball’s World Series is played in Omaha and the Little League World Series is headquartered in Williamsport, Pa. Shelby was the successful bidder and has been the host since 2011.
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