The American Legion Post 4059 in Mint Hill had it’s annual season ending dinner event at the Hill Restaurant in the downtown area on Lawyers Road this past Monday night.
Mint Hill Mayor, Ted Biggers and Town Manager, Brian Welch were in attendance to give an award of appreciation to Kelly Moore for his many years of dedication to local area baseball programs. Moore has coached in the Mint Hill area for over 30 years, including 12 years at Independence High School. He has been an American Legion baseball coach for 11 years in Mint Hill, is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and local business owner. He continues to make a contribution to our community as a mentor to young athletes, hospice volunteer and as a life coach.
The Mayor also mentioned the Town of Mint Hill is currently accepting bids to develop a first class 750 seat baseball facility on Brief Road at the MHAA ball fields for hopefully the upcoming 2018 Spring baseball season. The town is trying to attract two college baseball programs to play a college ballgame as part of the opening ceremonies and celebration when the project is completed. The facility is expected to showcase a press box, an electronic scoreboard, and lights for night games. This new facility would hopefully be able to attract high school tournaments and other baseball events to the area. Also, it could become the new home for American Legion baseball in Mint Hill in the future.
All the American Legion Post 4059 teams were in attendance to enjoy the evening with the coaches, teammates, friends and family members who joined the festivities. The boys had good conversation, discussed the season, playing fall ball, the upcoming high school and college campaigns, major league baseball, their favorite teams and players, heard Aaron Judge mentioned more than once, summer vacation and just what might have been.
The coaches continued to emphasize sportsmanship, building character, skill development, positive attitude, hard work, dedication, commitment and opportunity.
The senior boys team came to compete and represent Mint Hill from 5 different area high schools, two college programs and are considered to be some of the best talent in the area.
We look forward to next season as there is certainly some good talent on the junior teams who will compete for 18 spots on next years Mint Hill senior team. The key is going to be how big of a commitment are these boys going to make collectively next May. The boys must be willing to sacrifice if they want to go deeper into the tournament and keep their calendars open until the end of July.
The boys of summer must eat and sleep baseball, enjoy the dirt, ignore the heat, make the most of a demanding travel schedule, compete and support each other between the white lines. Then they can bounce on the diamond shaped infield and enjoy the sweet smell of the manicured green grass on a hot summer’s night.
