American Legions Cancels Season, Local Teams Still Playing

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) — The American Legion National Committee canceled the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Tupelo 49ers will be playing ball this summer.

“I promised my boys I’d do everything in my power to play this summer,” Tupelo 49ers head coach McKinley Holland said.

Holland said the biggest impact of American Legion National’s decision is the team will not be affiliated with the organization for one summer.

“We won’t register our team and follow guidelines, in other words, we won’t have an eighteen player roster cap,” Holland explained, “you don’t have to register…identification for the players because that’s all for postseason play anyways.”

With the National Committee’s decision, Holland said scheduling becomes trickier. His teams usually face teams from around the southeast, and Holland said his job now is to find other American Legion teams still trying to play.

“I host a tournament the weekend after July 4th every single year, and we rely on teams from Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi to fill it up,” Holland said.

“I’m still here to do that. We’re still going to provide that tournament to anyone who wants to, we’re just going to have to work with other organizations to give these kids as many games as possible.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down the sports world in Mississippi, and across the world. With athletes having what could have been their last chance to play cut short, Holland hopes summer baseball can bring back the joy many of his players need.

“Obviously safety is always a concern for your kids,” Holland said, “nobody that’s in the coaching business is not concerned about safety but for my kids, I think about myself when I was their age…if I had to go through this for three or four months without the game I love playing, it’s heartbreaking.

“A lot of them may have lost their last opportunity at a high school game. A lot of them were absolutely on fire during their JUCO seasons. A lot of them were looking for more at-bats to turn the corner after a slow start…my whole driving force behind all of this is making sure I do everything right by my kids because I would hope when I was their age, my coaches would have done the same for me.”

Holland said the timeline for baseball centers around the June 1st date the MHSAA has set as the possible starting point to open athletic facilities again. The Tupelo 49ers use Tupelo high school’s field for home games.

Holland said he’ll continue to work with local officials in the high school and junior college ranks to determine when his team can return to the diamond.