The Portland Barbers advanced to the American Legion World Series as champions of the Northwest Regional Baseball Tournament in Billings, Montana. However, the Idaho Bandits believe they were robbed of a national championship bid.
Their opponent appears to be in violation of the rules for recruiting.
Although this matter was escalated to the highest of authorities, it was very quickly dismissed. The governing body of American Legion baseball considers the matter closed without proper explanation.
The Idaho Bandits are a powerhouse.
Based out of Idaho Falls, the Bandits became just the sixth program in American Legion history to win back-to-back World Series championships in 2021. They almost went back-to-back-to-back in 2022 but they lost to the team from Troy, Alabama in the final game.
To make the accomplishment even more impressive, the 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic so Idaho technically went back-to-back in 2019 and 2021.
The first five teams that went back-to-back had mostly the same roster from the year prior still in tact for their second victory. The majority of the Bandits’ players from the first national championship had aged out by the time they won again.
It seemed as though Idaho had a strong enough roster to compete for another title in 2025 until it ran into a buzzsaw.
Portland rallied back from an early deficit to win Game 1 of the Regional Tournament championship by a score of 12-9. The Barbers then beat the Bandits 13-5 in Game 2 to earn a bid to the World Series.
Idaho saw its season come to an end in Billings, Montana. Portland plays on in North Carolina.
American Legion Baseball sets very specific rules for recruiting.
Here is where things get messy.
The Idaho Bandits recently discovered what they believe to be a “clear rule violation” by the Portland Barbers. American Legion Baseball is choosing not to address the issue. The case is closed.
This potential breach of the rulebook stems from recruiting.
Every American Legion program must submit a recruitment plan to the national council of the local high schools from which it is going to pull its athletes. Every program is allowed to recruit from a pool of 7,500 students in grades 10-12.
If the program’s recruitment plan includes more than 7,500 students, the program can either add a second Double-A team or it can remove however many high schools necessary to fit under that cap.
Did the Portland Barbers commit a violation?
As the Idaho Bandits prepared for its first of two games against the Portland Barbers on the final day of the Northwest Regional Tournament, their coach reviewed the opponent’s roster and discovered a list of nine different high schools. That amount of schools would far exceed the 7,500-student cap.
Upon further review, the local American Legion association president (a high school principal) confirmed the coach’s findings. Portland exceeded the cap by a large number.
Idaho immediately informed the Northwest Regional Tournament director but he said there was nothing he could due. The Bandits ultimately flagged the potential violation to the state level. They also filed a protest to the national American Legion tournament direct and its appeals committee.
Their complaint was refused. American Legion cited Rule 9.d, which states that all protests must be submitted by 9:00 a.m. on Day 1 of the tournament.
Although that ruling might seem fair based on the timing, it neglects to mention a big piece of the equation. Rule 9.d also states the following:
“Eligibility protests of players involved in national tournaments must bear written proof of ineligibility and must be filed with the department or national tournament director at each such tournament no later than 9 a.m. local time on the first day of the tournament involved, except upon discovery of a rules violation. When a rules violation is discovered, the eligibility protest and a written description of the alleged violation must be filed immediately and if a rules violation was committed, the player shall be ineligible and the team manager shall be suspended until further notice.”
Idaho filed a written description of the alleged violation immediately upon discovery. By all accounts, the Bandits followed the protocol outlined by the national council.
The Idaho Bandits were rejected.
American Legion initially came back to Idaho with a valid excuse. It stated that Portland’s official roster differed from the one that raised concern at the Regional tournament. Everything was fine.
However, even using the list of “official schools” provided to them by the national headquarters, the Bandits still found the Barbers to be 168 students over the 7,500-student recruiting cap. They followed up with a second protest.
Steve Cloud serves as the Program Director of American Legion. He, after a meeting with the national appeals board to review the information, also denied the second protest because all of Portland’s players were deemed eligible.
When Idaho went back for an additional explanation — citing the aforementioned portion of Rule 9.d — Cloud shut them down again. “This matter is officially closed,” he wrote in response to the inquiry.
According to Cloud, “parties agree the final interpretation determined by the National Baseball Appeals Board ruling shall be final without any rights of appeals in accordance with National Rule 10.” That was it!
At no point did American Legion confirm or deny whether Portland exceeded the 7,500-student cap. At no point did American Legion provide a full explanation for its ruling, just that it is final.