Columnist Ron Kantowski: Bright lights, bigger city for Legion

Friday, Aug. 21, 1998 | 10:48 a.m.

LAST YEAR the American Legion World Series was held in Rapid City, S.D., a.k.a. The Gateway to Mount Rushmore. In fact, the visages of Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln (from third to first) were featured in the official World Series logo.

In an upset that ranks right up there with Buster Douglas and the '69 Mets, Las Vegas was awarded the bid to host this year's Legion World Series, which got under way today at Cashman Field. So to the coaches, players and fans (and with all due respect to the friendly folks of South Dakota), I extend a simple salutation:

Welcome to the real rapid city, baby.

We don't carve the faces of politicians into hillsides here. But as you may have noticed when the courtesy van rolled out of McCarran Airport and past the ad for the Crazy Girls show at the Riviera, it's not like we ignore the human anatomy, either.

Presidents on a postcard or butts on a billboard. Heads (of statesmen) or tails (of showgirls).

Most of the coaches around the batting cage Thursday spouted rhetoric about the site not mattering. "We're here to play baseball," they said predictably. The Legion officials? Well, they said they were happy to be here -- but that they enjoyed Rapid City, too.

No doubt, they said the same thing about Roseburg, Ore., Fargo, N.D., Boyertown, Pa., Corvallis, Ore., Millington, Tenn., Middletown, Conn., Stevens Point, Wis., Kokomo, Ind., Sumter, S.C., Ely, Minn., etc., etc., etc.

It would seem, then, that the only prerequisites for hosting the American Legion World Series are a decent ballpark, a Days Inn out on the Interstate and lots of volunteers.

But while it's a safe bet there are a lot of guys named Roy residing in Sumter, S.C., it's a lock that none has a partner named Siegfried.

Don't think the players, even if most were born three years too late to truly experience all that our city has to offer, haven't noticed the difference.

"I'm probably going to get into trouble for saying this, but the places we've been playing -- Lancaster (Ohio), Highland, Ill., Robinson, Ill., -- were deader than a doornail," said Kory Kuba, a right fielder for the Edwardsville, Ill., entry. "This place is pretty much happening."

Chris McCoy, the third baseman for the Illinois team, said he and several of his teammates took a quick tour of the Strip Wednesday night. Their eyes were lit up like the Florida Marlins' bullpen.

"We saw all the stuff we'll be able to do when we come back in a few years," the players said.

In other words, all the stuff their parents will be doing from now until Tuesday. There's a reason this year's World Series has sold more advance out-of-town tickets than any in recent memory, and it has nothing to do with these kids' ability to hit the cutoff man.

But, assures Jim Quinlan, who runs the national American Legion baseball program, this World Series will not be transformed into all-night poker game.

"We've absolutely warned the players that if they get caught gambling, they are going home. And they will be subject to arrest," Quinlan said.

Or sent to Rapid City for a player to be named later.