Historical Marker · No. 589
American Legion Junior Baseball Monument
Grant County · South Dakota
Erected by Birch-Miller Post No. 9, American Legion, Milbank, South Dakota
The speaker who started it was Major John L. Griffith, commissioner of the Western Conference, invited to the Milbank convention by Sioux Falls attorney Frank G. McCormick. The national convention at Omaha adopted the plan that fall, and in 1926 posts in fifteen states fielded teams; Yonkers Post 321 won the first World Series over Pocatello. No series was played in 1927, and in 1928 Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis pledged $50,000 a year from the major leagues. The host post's name joins two sons of Milbank killed in the world wars.
What the plaque says
In this city, on July 17, 1925, by action of the South Dakota Department of the American Legion, the nation-wide organization of Legion Junior Baseball was first proposed as a program of service to the youth of America. This monument erected by Birch-Miller Post No. 9 American Legion, Milbank, South Dakota
Where it stands
45.21911, -96.62482 · Directions
More markers nearby
- Gen. A. A. Humphrey Post — 0.5 mi
- Roberts County / Grant County — 7.5 mi
- Brown Earth Indian Church — 10 mi
- Legend of Punished Woman's Lake — 17 mi