Coaches pitching return for Legion baseball

FIRST, some context : American Legion baseball grew through a world war and countless national tragedies. It prospered in times of triumph and hopelessness.

Yogi Berra played Legion. So did Ted Williams and Frank Robinson and Roy Campanella and Tony Gwynn and Greg Maddux. In all, 82 Hall of Famers wore a Legion uniform.

It’s as much summer ritual for young players as staying up late and sleeping in.

But much like so many annual events being delayed or canceled because of COVID-19, a few of the more prestigious summer leagues have bowed to the reality of a pandemic.

Local prep coaches want to change that, even if small in manner. While national tournaments for American Legion and Connie Mack have been

to local media members they voted against the 24-team proposal.

“For our guys, one of the things that was important was keeping the integrity and doing it the best you can,” Schmidt said. “I think they got the format right. In my opinion, did a few teams sneak in that had a very outside look coming in? Maybe. But it’s an imperfect world.

“There is no rulebook or guidelines or benchmark, if you will, to what we’re doing right now and what kind of life that we’re living in, especially what kind of life we’re living in hockey.”

Since the NHL paused March 12, Schmidt is responsible for relaying updates from the NHLPA to teammates and bringing their concerns to the executive board.

On days when the NHLPA meets, Schmidt holds a group chat on Facetime that usually goes for an hour, then gets three or four “stragglers” who have additional questions or didn’t want to bring up an idea in front of the group.

“The biggest thing that our guys talked about was safety and whatnot, and that’s something you’re going to see a lot more of,” Schmidt said, adding the detailed Phase Two plan the NHL released Monday provided reassurance to his teammates.

“Just being able to be back playing is something that we want to do, but it has to be a situation where it’s going to be healthy and safe as possible for everyone. Anyone that’s involved in this is going to have to feel comfortable.”

Under the NHL plan, the Knights receive an opening-round bye and play round-robin games against

St. Louis, Colorado and Dallas to determine the top four seeds in the Western Conference.

The first-place finisher in the round robin will receive the top seed, giving the Knights a chance to move up from No. 3 .

“If you’re St. Louis, you’re like, ‘Man, we had this huge lead on everybody. Now we’ve got to play a round robin. Now we could lose three games and be in fourth place?’ ” Schmidt said. “It’s hard, but you can’t please everybody.”

One of the issues yet to be determined by the return to play committee is whether the postseason will utilize a bracket format or reseed to ensure the top seed faces