Minnesota’s American Legion cancels 2020 season

(St. Paul, MN) – America’s pastime will have to sit this inning out, at least as far as America Legion Baseball in Minnesota.

Its 2020 season of baseball is cancelled, the Legion announced Saturday, citing concerns for the safety of people on and off the field during the COVID-19 outbreak.

“Safety has always been important in American Legion Baseball,” said Minnesota American Legion Baseball Director Randy Schaub. “As much as we wanted to play this year, we cannot take chances with the players, coaches, and fans we oversee.”

American Legion programs across the country have shut down, resulting in team insurance being unavailable through the national Legion Baseball program.  Last month, the national level cancelled the American Legion World Series planned for August, then announced Friday it wouldn’t provide support to the rest of the program.

The Minnesota committee originally met on April 11 and held off cancelling the 2020 season, hoping that state and federal officials might have good news for summer gathering.

Minnesota Baseball Committee member Jim Peck, who has been involved in Legion baseball for 57 years, call the decision, “one of the worst days in all of my time in baseball.”

Minnesota American Legion Baseball is the largest among the 50, with 366 fielded in 2019, and 357 teams signed up for 2020.