TEAM AND PLAYER CERTIFICATION - RULE 6
Page updated 1/23/2022
A. Player and Team Registration – see National Rule #6A
a. An established program may field a 17U (or 15U or Age 13) only team without a 19U team with the understanding that the state committee will establish the 18/19 (16/17) age player options to provide the opportunity to keep these players in Legion baseball. Placement will be based on home address, to determine the adjacent programs to which all 18/19 (16/17) year old players will be assigned if requesting to play Legion baseball. The decision of the committee is final and unlike the normal waiver process this will be a onetime placement that will be the same for any subsequent year(s).
b. Programs wishing to field a 17U (15U, Age 13) only team must request permission from the state committee and register the team no later than Feb. 15. Once approved that program cannot request a reinstatement for the current year.
B. National Online Registration – see National Rule #6B
C. National Form #2 – see National Rule #6C
a. To comply with the National Rule, all CT players must complete the CT Online Automated Form 2, to include player & parent electronic signature. Hard copy Form 2’s will not be accepted
D. Dual Participation – See National Rule #6D
In addition to the National Rule, for Regular Season Games, players will be ineligible to play in further regular season zone and non-zone games and the state tournament (all divisions), and must be immediately removed from their roster, if they miss more than 7 of their team's scheduled zone games for any of the reasons listed in the national rule – including playing baseball for another team, going to a baseball showcase, etc. Teams will be required to keep track of this in their own manner and sign a statement prior to the beginning of the State Tournament attesting to the eligibility of their players to participate. This certification will be subject to protest by the other State Tournament teams. Nothing in this rule is intended to make someone ineligible for, among other things, missing games due to injury, illness, work, vacation, or playing another sport
DURING THE STATE TOURNAMENT, PRIOR TO THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT, A PLAYER WILL BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND A SHOWCASE EVENT OR OTHER BASEBALL RELATED ACTIVITY AND CONTINUE ELIGIBILITY IN THE STATE TOURNAMENT PROVIDED:
A. HE DOES NOT MISS A GAME OR ANY PART OF A GAME. THE PLAYER MUST BE PRESENT IN UNIFORM AT LEAST ONE HALF HOUR PRIOR TO THE SCHEDULED START TIME.
B. HE HAS ADVANCE WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM HIS COACH
C. HE HAS SUBMITTED AN AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL NATIONAL FORM 6 TO THE STATE DIRECTOR OR HIS DESIGNEE AND HAS RECEIVED APPROVAL PRIOR TO HIS ATTENDANCE AT THE EVENT.
CLARIFICATION: Once the National Tournament begins the National Tournament rules are in affect and the state director cannot grant permission to attend a showcase event. Attendance at such an event will make the player ineligible for the remainder of the Department, Regional and World Series tournaments. However, a player attending a college orientation workout may be granted an exception on a case-by case basis. Players granted such an exception may not miss any game of a national tournament. Prior written approval is required.
E. Players Per Team - See National Rule # 6E
Double Rostering with another American Legion team in the same program - In addition to the national rule
For the regular season, teams may double-roster as many age eligible players as they wish with another team within their Legion program but they still must be in compliance with roster maximum limits at each level. Players will be able to participate in more than one level of the regular season and tournament subject to the following:
2. A position player that plays in more than 60% of their 19 & Under zone games or pitcher who pitches more than 25 innings in 19 & Under zone games, will not be eligible to play in the 17 & Under or 15 & Under State Tournament.
3. There will not be any similar restriction on playing time for a 17 & Under or 15 & Under player to play in the 19 & Under Tournament.
4. If a player starts in more than one 19 & Under State Tournament Game they will no longer be eligible to play in either the rest of the 17 & Under or 15 & Under regular season or State Tournaments.
5. Please note that these same rules also apply to the 15 & Under and Age 13 teams if double rostered players exceed the limits in paragraph 2 above for a higher age level, they will be ineligible to participate in the state tournament for the lower age levels. If they start in more than one State Tournament game they will no longer be eligible to play in a lower age level state tournament.
F. Non-American Legion Post Sponsorship - In addition to the national rule
1. An outside sponsored team is one that is not affiliated with any American Legion post. If selected to participate in the program, the outside sponsored team agrees to abide by all American Legion state and national baseball rules. The outside sponsored team also agrees to assume all financial responsibilities relative to the operation of American Legion Baseball including, but not limited to uniforms, baseballs, insurance and umpires. The admission of an outside sponsored team to the state program is always subject to the approval of the State Baseball Committee.
2. Should an existing outside-sponsored team wish to affiliate with an American Legion post or merge with an existing post-sponsored team, such merger or affiliation must be approved and coordinated by the State Baseball Committee. In no case will an outside-sponsored team in good standing, be required to merge or affiliate with a post-sponsored team, be replaced by a newly formed post-sponsored team, or be taken over by a post. Teams wanting to merge must adhere to the rules governing Combinations – see Rule 7.
3. For those teams that are post sponsored, the post is the controlling entity and is responsible for the team managers, coaches and other on-field personnel. For non-post sponsored teams, the program General Manager or controlling organization (if applicable) is responsible for the team managers, coaches and other on-field personnel. Posts are expected to not support another baseball organization in direct competition with a Connecticut American Legion Baseball Team.
G. Required Paperwork – In addition to the National Rule:
a. Prior to the start of the season all field coaches and managers must sign the Coaches’ Code of Ethics and National Risk Management Policy via the mandatory on-line electronic signature forms on the State website. Once the each of these policies have been read and signed (electronic signature) a copy will be sent to the Program GM (or HC if so designated as the primary person to the state web master). Once completed the webmaster will show approval on the BGC spreadsheet. Following this process will eliminate the need to provide copies of the signed Coaches Code of Ethics and Risk Management policy to the zone chairman at document review time. Failure to adhere to this rule may make a team ineligible to participate in American Legion Baseball for that season. Forms must be completed and approval noted before a team’s first practice or game.
b. Pre-Season Rosters –All teams must ensure their roster information (including name, birth year, high school graduation year, parent’s home town) is correct in the state provided website prior to playing their first zone game. The information is automatically loaded via the MANDATORY on-line Form 2 process but must be validated by the program. All players must have an approved on-line, electronic signature Form 2 in place before they can be on the field. The Zone Chairman, or his designee, will be required to periodically review these ”Website Rosters” for compliance. Players not listed on the website roster will be declared ineligible until the roster is completed or corrected. Any team playing someone not listed on their Website Roster, will forfeit that game for using an ineligible player.
c. Teams must register, using the National Website, paying all National Registration Fees, purchasing insurance and providing required general information by Feb. 15. The National Website can be reached at http://baseball.legion.org/ Any team that does not meet the deadline will be charged a minimum $100 late penalty. This includes the completion of background checks for all coaches, general managers and other required volunteers (or prior to their first tryout or practice whichever happens first.) Zone chairmen must review a valid complete CT Player ID card for returning players or review either original birth certificate or see a copy of a US Passport or Federally approved Driver's license along with a copy of the electronic form 2 for all players by June 13, 2022. In the case of foreign born players a translation letter as outlined in National Rule 2 must be provided. Teams must complete their Team and Coach Roster on the National Website (old Form 1) and provide copies of National Form 1, National Form 2, and National Form 76 to their zone chairman by June 18 2022. National Form 1 must include player’s full legal name including middle name as it appears on documentation provided. The Roster is limited to eighteen (18) players for all Teams. Teams will be required to make any changes necessary to ensure that their rosters on their State Website is 100% correct (moves to younger team or make a player inactive if they are cut. This all must be completed before June 20th, 2022.
d Upon submission of rosters to the zone chairmen (no later than Friday, June 18, 2022), each zone chairman shall inspect and validate the submitted rosters from his zone.
Teams failing to submit their rosters by June 20, 2022 will be declared ineligible for state competition, in which case they would forfeit all their remaining zone games.
Zone chairman must review, in detail, the player ID for full legal name (First, Middle, Last) and birth date against the information on Form 1 AND Form 2 as noted above. The National Form 1 must show full legal name for all new and returning players. When the review is completed the zone chairman must certify the detailed player information and email the certification form to the Assistant State Director for creation of the National Player ID card. Any player information that is found to be incomplete will result in a player ID not being printed. This will mean the player must provide the proper form of ID (Birth certificate, Passport, Fed ID Drivers license, etc) each year.
Important information to be included in submitted papers: home address of player’s parents (National Forms #1 and #2); The player name on all forms must match their full legal name as it appears on their driver's license or other legal form of identification.