“IN GOD WE TRUST”
www.shelbyinfo.com Our 41st Year • Issue No. 31 • August 1, 2024
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Shelby’s American Legion World Series is a home run with baseball fans By Alan Hodge
Baseball and Shelby go together like livermush and a cathead biscuit. In fact, it’s said the first documented baseball game in Shelby was staged in 1903 and the first semipro team was organized in 1904 with both teams playing their games at a field near the old Southern Railway Station in downtown Shelby. Carrying that tradition to a pinnacle in the present day, the national-level American Legion World Series will return to Shelby starting on Thursday, August 15 and continue through Tuesday, August 20. The games will be played at Shelby High School’s Veterans Field at Keeter
ALWS chairman Eddie Holbrook and marketing and communications specialist Adrian Hamrick along with their staff and hundreds of volunteers work year-round to make the World Series happen. Photo by Alan Hodge
Scenes from previous games (Photos provided)
Stadium. The field has received a big upgrade this year with the installation of a new, collegiate-level, DuraEdge playing
surface. The series brings a beaming smile to everyone who attends. “This is a fabulous, feelgood, community event.” T h a t ’ s how Shelby ALWS chairman Eddie Holbrook said the late NC House RepIn 2010 this group of folks went to Indianapolis and successfully lobbied to have the resentative Dr. Jack Hunt described the event to him ALWS find a permanent home in Shelby. several years ago and the statement perfectly sums up the atmosphere and impact the games and associated activities creates. The series pits the champion teams from the American Legion’s eight national districts against each other in an elimination tournament of fifteen games. The “Stars” teams represent the Northeast, Southeast, Central The Parade of Champions. Before Game 4 on the first night of the tournament all the teams take to the Plains, and Western field led by their host families so all in attendance can welcome every team. districts. The “Stripes”
August 10, 2024 Uptown Shelby
12 Hours of Fun! Two Stages of All Day Music! Bigger Footprint! More Activities!
www.alwsfestival.us
7PM Cooper Alan
t r e c n o Free C 8:30PM Craig Morgan
teams represent the Mid-Atlantic, MidSouth, Great Lakes, and Northwest districts. The ALWS dates to 1926 but it wasn’t until 2008 that Shelby first hosted the event. That tantalizing taste kicked off a burning desire in Shelby movers and shakers to have the games become a permanent fixture. Shelby ALWS marketing and communications specialist Adrian Hamrick explained what happened. “In 2010 we took two busloads and four carloads of people to ALWS headquarters in Indianapolis to lobby for the series,” she said. “Everyone wore orange jerseys. It was a sea of orange.” (Orange and blue are the colors of Shelby’s own Post 82 team.) See ALWS, Page 6
August 15-20, 2024 Keeter Stadium, Shelby NC
T-28 Warbirds Blaze Battalion JROTC Golden Knights Miss NC Taylor Loyd
www.alws.us
#ALWS24