Community, Legion come together

Jul. 28—As any family that's put kids through youth sports knows, the costs of travel and other league fees really can rack up.

In Lewiston, the Lewis-Clark Twins and Cubs American Legion baseball players must pay a base fee of $1,000 to participate. The money goes towards the around $75,000 to $80,000 it takes to run the programs each season, said Patti Meshishnek, the program board president.

That's partly why in recent years Twins and Cubs players were tasked with finding their own "player sponsors" and "player mentors" to help with costs.

Meshishnek said the sponsor program started almost 20 years ago, but it was only last year that the players were encouraged to reach out to local businesses themselves.

Last year also was the first year the Cubs, the organization's Class A affiliate, joined the sponsor program.

This year, they also added the mentor program, where players reach out to Legion alumni.

"It's very nice, and we appreciate all of our sponsors and everybody that contributes in every way they may," Meshishnek said. "But each piece plays a significant part and we couldn't do it without the players paying a fee."

The expansion of player sponsors and the addition of player mentors provides a way for the community to get involved in the local baseball teams.

Each of the 37 players had a sponsor this season, and several also had a mentor. Each sponsor and mentor pays $250 to the player. In return, they get tickets to every game and they get a shoutout every time their player goes up to bat.

The sponsors alone bring in about $9,000, Meshishnek said.

"What our idea (is) as a new Cub coming into the program, we're going to give you a business and you need to go and try to get them to be a player sponsor," Meshishnek said. "And then you build that relationship, so that player would have that sponsor for hopefully their entire career of Legion, which could be four, possibly five years.

"And then as that player can no longer play, they would introduce them to a new player."

On the sponsor front, there's some who have been around for years and years, like P1FCU and Chris Loseth, who has "played an integral part."

Then there's newer ones getting involved, like S.P.O.R.T Physical and Kelly Steiger.

Another sponsor is Scott Baldwin of the financial firm Stifel, whose son, Wyatt, played on the 2017 Twins team that went to the American Legion World Series. Scott Baldwin is a former Twin himself.

That's to name a few.

The mentor front also includes a variety of former L-C Legion players, many of which also are still involved in the community.

How about Dr. Sennett Pierce, a former player who went on to play college ball and now works at Lewiston Orthopedics?

There's Bruce Bensching, an 1980s player whose son, Brice, is a current Twin.

There's Tyler Knigge — a former Lewis-Clark State Warrior and Philadelphia Phillies draftee who played in the minor leagues and whose dad, Kent, coaches the Cubs. Tyler now works for the Lewiston Police Department.

There's also Shawn Lopez, a Montreal Expos draftee and former Warrior.

Recent alumni Jackson Fuller also helped the Twins make the American Legion World Series in 2017 and went on to play for LCSC and Hawaii.

The list goes on.

"This season, we added an alumni mentor because we have many, many, many alumni that come through the program that are very successful now," Meshishnek said.

While the sponsors and mentors are essential to the programs, Meshishnek stressed the parents and all of the donors are needed to make the games happen.

Baseballs cost around $10 and each team can easily go through a dozen or more in a doubleheader, she said. A pair of umpires costs $260 per doubleheader at Harris Field, not including mileage pay if they come from outside the valley.

There's also team travel and a plethora of other costs in a long summer season.

So it takes the parents, families and community coming together to make sure the Twins and Cubs can hit the field every year.

"We appreciate each and every person that gives, no matter what they give to American Legion baseball, because we've had people that have helped us with umpire sponsors or helped us with ball sponsors, so none of them are better than the others," Meshishnek said.

"We just appreciate them all and we need them all. Without them, we couldn't do it."

Wiebe may be contacted at (208) 848-2260, swiebe@lmtribune.com or on Twitter @StephanSports.