Sports

Medfield's 2011 Success in American Legion Measured Beyond the Diamond

While the Medfield American Legion Baseball team fell short of its goals on the field, it was its camaraderie throughout the season that brought Post 110 its own kind of success.

A team’s success is too often defined by the results on the field rather than the strengths and identity of its players as they come together as one unit and grow throughout the season.

Medfield’s American Legion Baseball coach, James Lagos, took the latter approach when reflecting his squad’s 2011 season and while the end results were not what his club set out to achieve, the season’s journey coupled with the 18 players on that made up Post 110 resulted in a very successful year.

“This team is a family and all year long we have been talking about how we are a family and we’ve stayed together,” said Lagos. “We named our family Vegas because whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. We talked about togetherness and winning together and losing together. When you come together that’s the beginning, when you stay together that’s progress but working together is success. We’re done [for the season] but we had a successful season.”

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On the field, Medfield’s season came to an abrupt end Wednesday following a 2-0 loss to Cohasset in the District 6 American Legion Baseball playoffs. Despite back-to-back losses to Cohasset to end the season, Lagos said he was “happy” with his team and “happy” with the 18 young men that made up Post 110.

“We picked our 18 two weeks after Mother’s Day and it was gold,” Lagos said. “[Our goal] was 13 wins, playoffs, no problem. We came up short, certainly made the playoffs, but we’re happy, we got a great group of guys. “It’s tough to be happy when you lose but I’m happy. Even on [Tuesday] after the long drive home. I said, you know what, ‘we didn’t play our best ball. We played some team baseball but we didn’t play our best ball.’”

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It’s that concept of team baseball and camaraderie that defined the 2011 Medfield Post 110 team, proving to be the “heart and soul” of this group, according to Lagos.

“Apparently I had to give them my blessing or my permission to go ahead and rip each other,” Lagos said with a laugh. “As soon [as that happened] these guys really got into the team aspect of it and just said ‘you know what, I can rip this kid and it will be OK.’ When Keleher hit [that ball that was caught in left field Wednesday] everyone was giving him high fives and I said ‘woah, [Keleher’s] got to hit the gym, that’s warning track power.’ But again, I told him, I said, ‘Keles, you’re the best.’ I love all these guys.”

That sense of humor instilled from Lagos and the rest of the coaching staff carried throughout the bench, from one to 18, this club became more than ball players, they became friends.

“These guys are friends now,” Lagos said. “I had guys who I played Legion ball with that were in my wedding. That’s what this is all about. It’s just a good team … different personalities. We got one guy we call ‘Spaceman,’ we got one guy we call ‘Lenny’ from ‘Death of the Salesman’ because he just don’t say anything. Those are things that we have here.”

On the field, Medfield finished 11-7 in District 6 regular season play, third behind Norwood and Walpole. That record earned Post 110 a playoff berth, where it squared off against Cohasset in the best-of-three series. Medfield lost to Cohasset, 4-3 at Cohasset High School on Tuesday and fell 2-0 at Medfield High School Wednesday.

“We may not have done things the right way [at times throughout the year],” Lagos said. “We lost five out of six [to end the year], that’s no good. Was some of that complacency? Could have been. Was some of that shifting guys around to get some reps and keep them fresh? Could have been. But certainly every time we go out, we are looking to win the game. Losing five out of six down the stretch but bouncing back, down in Cohasset, that tells a lot about the guys.”

While the season may be over, Lagos said his team still wants to play and they’re not alone.

“We are going to continue to play,” Lagos said. “Norfolk wants to play, Westwood wants to play. Teams that are already out want to play. So we are going to keep playing. I will make some phone calls and we will keep playing.”

Lagos said he hopes his team, when looking back on the season, see the experience for what it truly is.

“I hope they understand we do this for love of baseball,” said Lagos. “We do this for the love of [the team and players], young men who want to further themselves.”

While the final results show a third-place team exiting in the first round of the District 6 playoffs – the 18 players that came together on and off the field show a different kind of success.

“All I care about is my kids and these 18 kids, that’s all I care about,” Lagos said. “Baseball is great, I love it, it’s a game. Nothing goes wrong, it just doesn’t go the way you want. … We came to life, we came together as a team.”


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