Agoura Oaks’ Season May Be Put on Waivers

The Agoura Oaks American Legion baseball team has won 10 games this summer. Odds are they won’t win any more.

Agoura Oaks, comprised of players from Agoura and Oak Park, has two ineligible players on its squad, already resulting in one forfeiture, but Coach Lorry Gershon said he intends to play the pair for the rest of the season.

The players, recent Oak Park High graduates Scott Christensen and Danny Wasserman, were declared ineligible last Thursday at a state Legion convention in Long Beach. Agoura Oaks forfeited Sunday’s victory over Newhall-Saugus and will forfeit any victories earned in which the ineligible players participate.

“I’m not going to drop those kids off my ballclub; they should have a place to play,” Gershon said. “If it hurts us down the road, that will have to be the pill we swallow. But we’re a team from start to finish.”

How Agoura Oaks fell into this mess is another matter. Accounts from coaches and Legion officials vary and are filled with contradictions.

Christensen and Wasserman are Agoura residents who last summer received a waiver to play for a Westlake-based team in Legion District 16.

This year, another waiver was submitted on behalf of Christensen and Wasserman by Gershon. Its acceptance would have purportedly allowed them to transfer back to the newly formed Agoura team that plays in District 20.

However, American Legion rules state that a player may receive only one waiver in his Legion career, and Christensen and Wasserman were disqualified for having two.

Gershon said he was instructed to fill out waivers for the players by District 20 Commissioner Mel Swerdling. Swerdling, who has held his position for 23 years, said he was unaware the waivers would be the second for Christensen and Wasserman.

“On paper they looked OK; I didn’t know anything about [last year’s waivers],” Swerdling said. “[Thursday] we were going over some other things and [Area 6 Commissioner] Julio [Yniguez] remembered [Christensen and Wasserman’s] names and pulled out last year’s transfer sheet. I was stunned. How can you have two waivers? It’s not allowed.”

Yniguez said Swerdling helped process the 1996 waivers.

“[Swerdling] initialed their forms and we dated them July 28 of last year,” Yniguez said.

In order for a Legion player to successfully switch teams with a waiver, an official from both his old and new teams must sign a transfer form before it is submitted to the district commissioner.

District 16 co-Commissioner Marty Garcia said that at Gershon’s request, he signed waiver forms for Christensen and Wasserman earlier this year. Garcia said he instructed Gershon to have Westlake Manager Chuck Berrington sign the form before turning it over to Swerdling.

Berrington said he did not sign waiver forms for Christensen and Wasserman until Monday, a fact Garcia was surprised to learn.

“Chuck was supposed to sign those documents and apparently he didn’t receive them to sign,” Garcia said. “We’re getting the impression that Mr. Gershon hasn’t complied with this thing completely.”

Jim Quinlan, national program coordinator for American Legion, was contacted Tuesday by Gershon who attempted to plead his case.

Quinlan said an appeals process would first involve Gershon and Yniguez each submitting their positions in writing to Legion officials at the state level. If necessary, the ruling of those officials could be appealed to Quinlan.

“I would feel sorry for the guys if they don’t get into the playoffs because of me playing,” Wasserman said. “The logical thing to do would be for us not to play but the rules are completely wrong and I don’t think it’s right to quit over it.”

Wasserman was unaware he was ineligible until Newhall-Saugus Coach Pat Eggleston protested in the midst of his team’s game with Agoura Oaks on Sunday.

Wasserman said Gershon, who was notified Thursday by Swerdling, then informed his players of the ruling.

Swerdling said Tuesday he did not intend to notify other District 20 teams of Agoura Oaks’ intention to play with ineligible players until the end of the regular season.

“I wasn’t going to change the standings until after the last eight or nine games so there would be a lot of intensity,” Swerdling said. “What’s going to happen now is that teams will play second- and third-rate players against [Agoura Oaks]. That’s why we wanted to keep it quiet.”

Woodland Hills East Coach Doug Siembieda, whose team entered the week half a game out of first place in District 20’s Western Division, said being assured a victory against a division rival would affect his approach to the game.

“I would probably play some other guys,” said Siembieda, whose team plays Agoura Oaks on July 13. “Once I know those two guys are in the lineup, then we’ve got the win.”

Christensen and Wasserman were at the center of a controversy last summer while playing for the Westlake-based Legion team. The two were declared ineligible at the Area 6 championships over a residency issue and missed one game before being reinstated.