"We got to a certain point, and they (American Legion officials) said, 'Nope, we're not doing it,' so we developed a league," Sato said.

Bingham has stayed in the Academy's league since its inception in 2002, and Sato has been pleased with the results.

"It helps us develop our teams for the upcoming year," Sato said. "They (the American Legion) have college players. Our poor junior players would be sitting the bench all summer."

Another issue between the two groups was having control of the divisions and schedules. The high school coaches wanted the power to do that, but American Legion personnel refused to allow it to happen. Legion teams follow the same rules nationwide, so there's no way the organization was going to make an exception for disgruntled coaches in Utah.

"Everybody plays by the same rules nationwide," said Utah's American Legion senior state commissioner Les Wells, who's in his second year in his position. "Rules are rules and you have to go by them."

The fallout

The split brought drastic and immediate changes to Utah American Legion baseball. In 2002, the Legion program had 45 teams state-wide after the split. That number dropped to 26 this summer, as 12 teams compete in the Salt Lake Valley League, 11 constitute the Northern League and three play as independents.

The Academy's summer league, meanwhile, has 25 teams in its 17-under division. It also has a collegiate league with eight teams.

The foundation for starting the Academy league actually was put in place in 2001. Many of the same programs that left Legion defected from the Automotive League (the summer league for players 16 years old and younger run through Salt Lake City Parks & Recreation) and started the Utah Summer League. Those teams now play in the Academy's 15-under and 16-under divisions. Other teams that played Automotive now participate in the Varsity Prep League.

The teams in the Academy leagues form their divisions and schedules mostly based on a preseason tournament.

Some schools have left one organization for the other since 2002. Taylorsville, East and Hunter have rejoined the Legion program since originally leaving, but teams that stuck with Legion at the start of the split such as Viewmont, American Fork and Layton have since left.

"If you can play the Altas, the Binghams, the Cottonwoods, those powerhouse baseball programs, you have to do it," said Spanish Fork coach Jim "Shoe" Nelson. "In my opinion, you get better playing good, solid programs. That's the reason we decided to go with the Baseball Academy. The best is playing there, and if you want to be the best you have to beat the best."