ABL and legion must come together

J's World/by Jeremiah Bartz

The Alaska Baseball League has unanimously decided to forgo the opportunity to compete in the annual National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan. in order to create its own 10-team postseason tournament.

Though the prestigious NBC tourney is one of the most notable baseball events in the country, it has just become too expensive for ABL organizations to send a full squad to Wichita.

The two teams representing the ABL this season, Mat-Su and the Anchorage Bucs, were said to have spent a combined $70,000 to fund the trip. The Bucs were said to have lost money and the Miners, a non-profit organization, broke even.

The ABL tournament would not only bring a first-class amateur baseball postseason tournament to Alaska, but it would also ensure financial stability for the six ABL teams. Even though the positives greatly outweigh the negatives, there is still one major block in the road -- the American Legion.

The ABL tourney has been projected to be played at Mulchahy Stadium, the only problem -- the American Legion also uses that facility for its final event. Right now there only seems to be one day of conflict, Aug. 2, the first day of the ABL tourney and the final day of the American Legion event. And neither side is budging.

Rather than holding a stalemate, the two baseball entities should come together and work to promote each event together and use the two events to promote baseball in Alaska. If there is only one day of conflict, have the American Legion championship game sandwiched by a pair of ABL contests. Combine a smaller legion fan base with the larger ABL fan base. The opportunity for legion players to be seen by the two dozen scouts expected to hit the ABL tourney should be reason enough for the legion teams to be flexible.

Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz asks why can't they all just get along