By John Royster
August 25, 2001

YAKIMA, Wash.–It's not so hard to keep Brooklawn, N.J., Post 72 out of the American Legion World Series. Just get yourself a Mark Teixeira.

Of course, to land the Rangers' new uberprospect today, it'll cost you millions. But in 1997, the Legion team in Severna Park, Md., had him for free, and he homered twice to help beat Brooklawn in the semifinals of the Mid-Atlantic regional in Hagerstown, Md.

Since then, Brooklawn has been to four straight World Series, a record for the event which began in 1926. Billings, Mont. (from 1960-62 with Dave McNally), Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico (1972-74), Cedar Rapids, Iowa (1974-76 with Mike Boddicker), Santa Monica, Calif. (1976-78) and Boyertown, Pa. (1986-88) made three straight trips.

Catcher Mike Rucci has been on all four of the Brooklawn teams, making him a record-holder individually. And several players were on the Gloucester Catholic team which won the 2000 high school national championship.

"This is bigger I guess (than the high school title)," said coach Dennis Barth, who also is the Gloucester Catholic coach. "Because we know how hard it is to win the state, let alone win the regional and get to the World Series. It takes a lot of luck, and we've had a lot of bounces go the other way, against us.

"To get here four years in a row shows we're doing something right, I guess. You can say we had a good crop of kids for two years, but actually we've gone through three different crops of kids now and made it. Now next year if we do it, we'll be pulling a rabbit out of our hat. We've got a chance to have real good pitching next year, but we've got to come up with some players."

The best of the four teams was probably the 1998 club, which entered the World Series with only one loss, fresh off a 12-inning victory in the regional final. But it promptly lost three straight and went home to rebuild.

Both the '99 and '00 teams reached the World Series semifinals before losing to the eventual runner-up. This year's team won the regional final with a bottom-of-the-ninth rally, then pulled off the improbable in its first World Series game. Trailing 6-2 with two out and the bases empty in the bottom of the eighth, it scored seven runs and beat Midwest City, Okla., 9-6.

Brooklawn went to the World Series five times in the 1990s, but won the championship only in 1991. Barth thinks this might be the year for a repeat.

"Last year's team had just won the national championship in high school, a lot of the guys," he said. "They were kind of complacent and on easy glide until the tournament, whereas this team has gotten better from day one until the end of the year. Right now I think we're playing as good as last year's team, and last year's team could have easily won it with a break here and there. If you keep throwing your hat in the ring, sooner or later some good things are going to happen."

The title would be the perfect topper for Rucci, who was a reserve in 1998, a semi-regular in '99 and the everyday catcher for the last two years. For the time being, though, he thinks less about his own achievement and more about opposing hitters and his own pitchers–he calls the pitches, not the coaches.

"It's there, but we're trying to win," he said. "The last three times we came up short. This year, hopefully, it's a different outcome."