Which ALWS champions had the most dominant title runs?
With nearly 100 years of championship competition, there are lots of ways to compare American Legion World Series champions.
Is the best all-time ALWS champion the team that had the most future major leaguers? Was it the team that finished with the best overall record? Or, as we’re looking at it for this story, was it the team that beat its opponents the most decisively?
Here are the 10 most dominant ALWS title runs, by the numbers, in order:
1. West Covina (Calif.) Post 790, 1971
Though it lost a game in both the Western Regional (2-1 to Lewiston, Idaho) and ALWS (3-2 to Lincoln Park, Mich.), Post 790 recorded a record plus-98 run differential in its 13 national playoff games, outscoring its opposition 125-27.
Led by four future pros, including 11-year major leaguer Rob Wilfong and seven-year major leaguer Tim Corcoran, West Covina recorded six victories by 10 or more runs including back-to-back routs of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to win the 1971 title that made them a rare back-to-back ALWS champion.
All-ALWS picks Ed Putman (.439), Randolph Haas (.429) and Jesse Mendoza (.391) were the team’s top hitters in national competition.
2. Boyertown (Pa.) Post 471, 1987
Just like West Covina, Boyertown suffered a loss in its regional and ALWS — each time on opening day — on the way to a plus-91 run differential (119-28) in 12 games.
Post 471 had four double-figure victories in their title run. Boyertown beat host Frederick, Md., 9-2, to win the Mid-Atlantic Regional title and Vancouver, Wash., 12-6, in the ALWS championship game.
Future minor-leaguer Davie Willman (.358) and ALWS MVP Wilbur “Willie” Stout (.347) led six .300 hitters on the team.
3. Oakland (Calif.) Post 337, 1950
A perfect 9-0 record and plus-84 run differential (118-34) in national playoff games led legendary coach George Powles’ team with future major leaguers J.W. Porter and Frank Robinson to its second straight ALWS championship.
Oakland, which beat 1951 ALWS champion Los Angeles Post 715 to win the California state title to advance, outscored five of its nine postseason opponents by 10 or more runs.
That included a 14-3 win over Denver in D Sectional and 11-0 over St. Louis in the ALWS.
4. East Lynn (Mass.) Post 291, 1937
Led by pitching ace Ray Bessom and future major leaguer Jim Hegan, East Lynn went 7-0 in national competition with a plus-80 run differential (91-11) with the closest game a 7-3 rain-shortened six-inning win over Trenton, N.J., in the Northeast Sectional it hosted.
In that year’s ALWS, Post 291 won 12-1, 5-0 and 13-5 to sweep host New Orleans behind Bessom, who won a staggering 27 games that summer that included five of the seven victories in national competition.
5. New Brighton (Minn.) Post 513, 1999
Also called the Tri-City Reds, Post 513 banged out what is believed to be a national record 126 home runs in 69 games that summer that included a 9-1 record in national competition. The Reds outscored the competition by 75 runs (133-58).
New Brighton scored 13 or more runs in all five wins in the Central Plains Regional, then scored five or more runs in the ALWS, including an 11-5 victory over Kennewick, Wash., in the championship game. Even in their loss, 11-5 to Brooklawn, N.J., the Reds dented the scoreboard.
T-6. Danville (Calif.) Post 246, 2000
The team nicknamed “Hoots” went 10-0 while outscoring its opponents 84-12 (+72) in its title run.
After routing five teams in the Western Regional by a 55-5 margin, Post 246 endured some challenges in the ALWS. Led by future minor leaguers Matt Brown, Mateo Miramontes, Adam Ricks and Tim Gilhooly, Danville edged Columbia, S.C., 2-1 in 13 innings to advance to the championship game where it also won 2-1 over Paducah, Ky., behind Brown’s three-hitter.
T-6. Brooklawn (N.J.) Post 72, 2014
In completing a back-to-back ALWS title run, Brooklawn outscored its 11 national opponents by 72 runs (102-30) and lost only 8-3 to Cecil, Md., in the winner’s bracket final of the Mid-Atlantic Regional it hosted.
Brooklawn avenged that defeat in a 10-0, seven-inning win over Cecil in the regional final, then won five straight ALWS games (two by a single run) before setting an ALWS record for the largest margin of victory in an ALWS championship game with an 18-0 win over Midland, Mich.
8. Mayo (Md.) Post 226, 1990
Post 226 outscored its opponents 117-46 (+71) while going 10-1. Mayo’s only national loss came in the second round of the ALWS, when Bayamon, P.R., rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat Post 226, 9-3. Mayo avenged the loss with two runs in the top of the eighth of a 7-6 win over Bayamon in the ALWS championship game.
Mayo had six double-digit scoring efforts including an 11-2 win over Wilmington, Del., in the Mid-Atlantic Regional championship game and a 16-4 ALWS win over Kailua, Hawaii, that advanced Post 226 to the title game.
9. Yakima (Wash.) Post 36, 1979
The Post 36 team, nicknamed “Beetles,” went 5-0 in the Northwest Regional and 4-1 in the ALWS while outscoring its opponents 99-29 (+70).
A 28-0 regional winner’s bracket win over Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was the top offensive game. Yakima also blitzed Barrington, R.I., 13-6, in the ALWS championship game just hours after Barrington handed Post 36 its lone national tournament loss by a 6-3 score.
10. Cincinnati Post 507, 1988
The Ohio city’s seventh and to-date final ALWS title came via Post 507’s convincing run through the Great Lakes Regional and ALWS by a 99-30 (+69) margin and a 9-1 overall record.
Led by future major leaguers Scott Klingenbeck and Pete Rose Jr., the Budde Post 507 team surpassed 10 runs four times in their title run. Cincinnati defeated defending ALWS champion Boyertown, Pa., 7-0, in the ALWS championship game on Klingenbeck’s eight-hitter.
The 97th American Legion World Series will take place at Keeter Stadium in Shelby, N.C., Aug. 15-21, 2024. Keep watching Legion.org/baseball for more details.
