Celebrating 100 years of Legion Baseball, the Ora Call Post 10 American Legion color guard were on hand to kick off the July 17, 2025 playoff game in Wheatland between the Laramie Rangers (left) and the Wheatland Lobos. On July 17, 1925, John L. Griffith gave a speech at the American Legion Department of South Dakota convention, which inspired a dominoe effect of state and national resolutions that created American Legion Baseball. In the speech he said, "There is nothing in our national life which stresses certain qualities that are expressed in our athletics...Intelligent courage, fighting instinct and cooperation are some things which I believe are visibly expressed in our athletic games ... American Legion posts, as a matter of citizenship training, could easily carry on such athletic activities throughout the U.S."
The program was popular, and by 1926, more than 52,000 players participated. Legends and war heroes such as Yogi Berra, Ted Williams and Bob Feller were some of the 89 Hall of Famers who played American Legion Baseball in its first century. To date, more than 10 million young people have played in the veteran-run American Legion Baseball.
