Mustangs Baseball 
MVHS Baseball Parents,
The purpose of this letter is to outline the summer baseball opportunities for MVHS high school students. I know, we haven't even started the high school season, but it's a topic that I receive a lot of questions on, and I know people are beginning to look at their summer plans.
The following should help provide some perspective for those who want it, as well as some contacts at the bottom who can be called for further information.
SAYB sponsors teams for 14 and 15 year-olds similar to the teams for 13 year olds. Since most of you are familiar with SAYB, nothing new here... Registration for the SAYB "Big League" (13-15) has been open for some time, and is done online at www.sayb.org - I believe that although regular registration closes on February 6 - you can register after that but it costs more money to do so.
Beginning with 16 year-olds, things get a little different.
Age 16: SAYB sponsors teams that are affiliated with the VFW and MYAS.
- VFW:
- The SAYB sponsored VFW team eligibility is open to players who attend a 621 District High School, including those that do not live within this district. Those who live within the 621 School district but enroll in a different high school are also eligible for VFW.
- VFW is the ONE organization that has a different birth date cutoff than all the other summer baseball organizations: the VFW birth date cutoff is "age through May 31" (all others are "age through April 30").
- I coach the SAYB sponsored VFW team.
- Because the VFW organization requires affiliation with a VFW Post to participate, the Kraus-Hartig VFW Post in
Spring Lake Park - Information about registration and tryouts for this VFW team are provided by SAYB later in March.
- In past years, SAYB sponsored 2 VFW teams, one for MVHS students and one for
Irondale High School Totino-Grace High School - I know this can be confusing - the bottom line is that 16 year-old MVHS players tryout to play on the SAYB sponsored VFW team that I coach.
- MYAS: SAYB also sponsors one or more teams that play in MYAS for those players that do not make the VFW team. This provides another summer baseball opportunity for 16 year olds. The geographic boundaries are slightly different than VFW, and as noted above, the birth date cutoff is different.
Ages 17-19: One American Legion Baseball team is sponsored by the Tri-City American Legion.
- The Tri-City Legion team has MVHS as its home base school - meaning it is open to Mounds View High School students or students who live within the Mounds View High School boundaries but do not attend Mounds View High School
- The Irondale Baseball Boosters sponsor an American Legion Baseball team for Irondale High School students (Irondale High School is its home base school, and any player living within the Irondale School boundaries but attend a private school can also participate).
- The Fridley Legion team uses Fridley High School Fridley High School 's attendance area boundary, players who attend Totino-Grace have the option of trying out for the Fridley
- This option for Totino-Grace players to choose between the Fridley Legion team, or the Legion team representing their home address, is a one-time choice - whatever decision is made in their first year of Legion eligibility, this is where they play for the duration of their Legion eligibility.
MVHS Baseball Parents,
The purpose of this letter is to outline the summer baseball opportunities for MVHS high school students. I know, we haven't even started the high school season, but it's a topic that I receive a lot of questions on, and I know people are beginning to look at their summer plans.
The following should help provide some perspective for those who want it, as well as some contacts at the bottom who can be called for further information.
SAYB sponsors teams for 14 and 15 year-olds similar to the teams for 13 year olds. Since most of you are familiar with SAYB, nothing new here... Registration for the SAYB "Big League" (13-15) has been open for some time, and is done online at www.sayb.org - I believe that although regular registration closes on February 6 - you can register after that but it costs more money to do so.
Beginning with 16 year-olds, things get a little different.
Age 16: SAYB sponsors teams that are affiliated with the VFW and MYAS.
- VFW:
- The SAYB sponsored VFW team eligibility is open to players who attend a 621 District High School, including those that do not live within this district. Those who live within the 621 School district but enroll in a different high school are also eligible for VFW.
- VFW is the ONE organization that has a different birth date cutoff than all the other summer baseball organizations: the VFW birth date cutoff is "age through May 31" (all others are "age through April 30").
- I coach the SAYB sponsored VFW team.
- Because the VFW organization requires affiliation with a VFW Post to participate, the Kraus-Hartig VFW Post in
- Information about registration and tryouts for this VFW team are provided by SAYB later in March.
- In past years, SAYB sponsored 2 VFW teams, one for MVHS students and one for
- I know this can be confusing - the bottom line is that 16 year-old MVHS players tryout to play on the SAYB sponsored VFW team that I coach.
- The SAYB sponsored VFW team eligibility is open to players who attend a 621 District High School, including those that do not live within this district. Those who live within the 621 School district but enroll in a different high school are also eligible for VFW.
- MYAS: SAYB also sponsors one or more teams that play in MYAS for those players that do not make the VFW team. This provides another summer baseball opportunity for 16 year olds. The geographic boundaries are slightly different than VFW, and as noted above, the birth date cutoff is different.
Ages 17-19: One American Legion Baseball team is sponsored by the Tri-City American Legion.
- The Tri-City Legion team has MVHS as its home base school - meaning it is open to
- The Irondale Baseball Boosters sponsor an American Legion Baseball team for Irondale High School students (Irondale High School is its home base school, and any player living within the Irondale School boundaries but attend a private school can also participate).
- The Fridley Legion team uses
- This option for Totino-Grace players to choose between the Fridley Legion team, or the Legion team representing their home address, is a one-time choice - whatever decision is made in their first year of Legion eligibility, this is where they play for the duration of their Legion eligibility.
- With the age-cutoff being 19, some players who have completed their freshman year of college are eligible to play legion baseball.
- There are also some regulations allowing players to "move" to a different legion team if they are not selected for their "home base" legion team; I don't pretend to fully understand this, so I won't attempt to explain...
Ages 17/18: SAYB is affiliated with the Senior Babe Ruth association and MYAS.
- Senior Babe Ruth eligibility is open to players who live within the 621 School district only. Players who attend a 621
- SAYB will determine Senior Babe Ruth and MYAS Team(s) depending on the numbers of players interested.
- SAYB coordinates with the various Legion team tryout processes to be able to provide the opportunity for 17/18's to play on a Senior Babe Ruth or MYAS team if they tryout for a Legion team but do not make the Legion team.
- Information about registration and tryouts for Senior Babe Ruth / MYAS for 17/18's are provided by SAYB later in March.
Registration for all SAYB 16-18 and Tri-City Legion opportunities will occur in early spring. When I am notified on the dates, I will post on the MVHS Baseball website.
One part of the confusion/complexity relates to the fact there are several different organizations that sponsor summer baseball: MYAS, VFW, Senior Babe Ruth, and American Legion Baseball. Residence and age cutoff dates can differ somewhat with each organization.
The bottom line is that if you live within the
I think it's important for players that want to improve to play summer baseball. The high school season is extremely short (about 1/2 as compared to sports like basketball and hockey for example), so the summer baseball experience is important. SAYB and Tri-City Legion work hard within all the regulations to place players on teams that afford them with the most competitive opportunity to play baseball.
Hopefully, I've helped provide some perspective versus created more confusion. I am more than happy to try and help, but I am not the expert on all the regulations - Please feel free to contact the SAYB and Tri-City American Legion contacts below to answer any questions you may have.
SAYB: www.sayb.org, Mike Anderson, SAYB President: mianderson@lifetouch.com, (651) 592-6744.
Tri-City American Legion: www.tricitybaseball.org, Rus Poser, Coach: rusposer@gmail.com, (651) 343-4500.
Mark Downey
612-716-1088
mark.downey@moundsviewschools.org