Rocket Science Less Troubling for Swerdling

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to help run American Legion baseball, although that’s exactly what Mel Swerdling was before he retired early to become the District 20 commissioner.

No, you just need a tireless work ethic, bottomless patience and an iron will.

“You need to be an engineer and a lawyer to do this job,” said Swerdling, in his 23rd year overseeing the district.

Like virtually everyone associated with the Legion program, Swerdling is a volunteer. Problem is, many of the coaches under his rule wish he’d spend his golden years on the golf course, not in the commissioner’s office.

Swerdling has drawn their ire this season with a string of questionable decisions and contradictory statements. Swerdling has presided over periodic chaos for years and his coaches are sick of it.

“It seems like every single year there’s a problem, so something’s got to be changed,” said West Hills assistant Scott Drootin. “Who knows what all the rules are? I’m sure Mel is trying his best to enforce them but it seems like he’s a little overmatched.”

Many of the complaints are tied to Swerdling’s decision to coach North Hollywood East, a District 20 team. The commissioner has proudly continued that practice for years and proclaims himself the nation’s only Legion commissioner who also throws batting practice.

But some of the district’s coaches say Swerdling bites off more than he can chew and needs to focus on doing one job capably.

“I’m not going to hang the guy from the highest yardarm but gosh darn it, he brings so much on himself because of the different number of hats he tries to wear,” said North Hollywood West Coach George Vranau, an eight-year Legion veteran.

Swerdling first stumbled publicly this season late in June when he disavowed knowledge of transfer paperwork bearing his initials.

He subsequently botched the implementation of forfeits by Agoura Oaks for using ineligible players and allowed a player who should have been suspended to participate in a game against North Hollywood East. That player hit a batter with a pitch, resulting in a skull fracture.

Another Swerdling gaffe was approving the entry of Studio City South, a team of acknowledged ineligible players who forfeited every game although they did not play every other district team.

Swerdling also allows District 20 umpire-in-chief Terry Stoller to run the Van Nuys West team, an alleged conflict of interest that Area 6 co-Chairman Julio Yniguez has promised to bring up for discussion at the next state Legion convention. Yniguez said he also will examine the appropriateness of Swerdling’s coaching.

Seeking clarification from Swerdling on such matters often seems oxymoronic. In one conversation with The Times, he first said he didn’t know of a rule’s existence in the state Legion handbook--then cited the same rule moments later.

“Some of these [coaches] have been around a long time and we get sick of this [stuff],” Burbank North Coach Frank Des Enfants said. “We’re like, ‘Mel, which rules are you going to enforce?’ ”

State Legion Chairman Harold Hall is a Swerdling supporter, but concedes he’d like to see him concentrate on being commissioner.

“There’s nobody in that district that works harder than Mel Swerdling,” Hall said. “He may make some mistakes but that’s why we’re [going to clarify] some rules, so his zealousness in having every boy play doesn’t lead to problems.”

That’s the bottom line. Swerdling’s desire to give as many young men the opportunity to play summer baseball contributes to many of the district’s problems.

The district has increased to 35 teams in recent years and is the state’s largest by more than 10 teams. But with that growth, the task of seeing that players and coaches understand and comply with the rules becomes harder.

Few question Swerdling’s intentions or accuse him of a lack of effort. But the district’s participants want a commissioner who keeps them informed of Legion’s puzzling rules and who enforces them in a logical manner.

“It’s up to the commissioner to make rulings on gray areas and I feel Mel hopes situations will go away or resolve themselves,” Vranau said. “But it’s a thankless job and I think that he’s held all of this together in light of all these problems is tremendous.”

Swerdling said he believes he’s doing a good job and that he will “probably” step down from Legion coaching after this season. He is puzzled by those who paint him as power-hungry and saddened by what he sees as a trend to dishonesty by Legion coaches.

“You know you’re the enemy of teams that lose; they think I’m siding one way but I’m not,” Swerdling said. “I’d like to do more things on the honor system but it’s disappearing in the will to win.”

Swerdling, who played in the Philadelphia Phillie and Boston Red Sox organizations and coached the West to the gold medal at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Festival, takes the flak in stride.

“These kids are our future leaders and when I look at what we’re doing for them, that keeps me going,” he said. “But [the criticism] does bother you for an instant there. You think, ‘What am I doing wrong?’ ”

Hall, the state Legion chairman, has a question for Swerdling’s detractors.

“All those people who want him to resign, would one of them come forward and put as much time into the job as he does?” Hall said. “Mel devotes all his time to baseball.”