PONY is an acronym for Protect Our Nation's Youth. The concept for the name originally came from boys at the local YMCA in Washington, PA and stood for "Protect Our Neighborhood Youth", but when PONY became an international program in the early 1950's the "Neighborhood" was switched to "Nation's".
PONY Baseball and Softball is designed to "Protect Our Nation's Youth" by providing experiences in youth baseball and softball that will help young people grow into healthier and happier adults.
Yes. Currently there are over 375 Major League Baseball players who are graduates of PONY Baseball. Mark McGwire, Tony Gwynn, Alex Rodriquez and J.T. Snow are just a few of the Major League players who participated in PONY Baseball.
Baseball play is governed by the Official Baseball Rules, "The Sporting News" edition, and PONY Baseball rules and regulations, which contain those exceptions to Official Baseball Rules, deemed necessary in a youth baseball program. The PONY rulebook also contains regulations relative to league organization and administration. PONY Girls Softball Rules and Regulations include the rules of play, as well as regulations for softball league organization and administration.
To protect our members, all leagues are required to determine that accident and medical insurance coverage is provided for the players, managers, coaches, official scorekeepers and volunteer umpires in their league with a policy provided by the league, similar to that available through PONY Baseball and Softball. It is strongly recommended that the league provide or determine that all volunteer workers have Accident/Medical Insurance coverage, since volunteers can be injured, too. Such coverage is available through PONY Baseball and Softball.
All member leagues are required to purchase league liability insurance with minimum limits of one million dollars, on an occurrence policy basis, and naming PONY Baseball, Inc. as additional insured. Such coverage is available through PONY Baseball.
Leagues become members of PONY Baseball and Softball by filing a membership application form and submitting a membership fee. The league must file membership application forms each year prior to April 15. The forms are mailed to all renewal leagues automatically, and are provided to proposed or interested leagues upon request.
All material and correspondence sent from PONY Baseball and Softball headquarters to the league will be sent to the person designated as the league contact on the membership application form. The league contact may be the league president, secretary, or any person designated by the league to receive correspondence and supplies from PONY Baseball and Softball Headquarters and PONY Field Directors.
PONY Baseball and Softball Field Directors play a vital part in the organization. Without them, the program would not function. Field Directors assist the PONY Baseball and Softball Headquarters staff in providing services to existing leagues. They organize and conduct tournament play and they are largely responsible for the development of new leagues. Field Directors gather input from local league organizations for the Board of Directors and staff, and relay information based on such input back to the leagues. Field Directors serve as administrative and service agents to the leagues.
You can contact PONY Baseball and Softball in several different ways. You can call us at 724-225-1060; fax us at 724-225-9852, e-mail us at pony@pulsenet.com or write to us at PONY Baseball and Softball at P.O. Box 225, Washington, PA 15301.
Yes. PONY Baseball and Softball has many supplies and merchandise items available for its
members. Supplies include: scorebooks, rulebooks, equipment catalogs, line-up cards,
award certificates, instructional books and videos and tournament organizers. PONY
Baseball and Softball merchandise includes: pullover jackets, golf shirts, hats, uniform
emblems, hatpins, sweatshirts, umpire hats and sweaters.
Supplies and Merchandise can be found in the annual PONY Baseball and Softball Supply
Catalog. Free copies are available to those associated with PONY Baseball and Softball.
Orders can be placed over the phone if you charge by Discover, Visa or MasterCard. Orders
through the mail must be accompanied by a check or money order.
Also, please check out our PONY store here at www.pony.org.
PONY Baseball and Softball is not designed for a few highly skilled athletes, but for all of the young people in your community who are sincerely interested in the game. Here are a few of the features that the PONY Baseball and Softball program has to offer:
Two-Year Age Brackets
League boundaries are determined by the officers and executive committee of the local league, but are subject to annual approval by the PONY Zone Director. Boundaries need not be identical for Shetland, Pinto, Mustang, Pony, Colt, and Palomino. Baseball league boundaries need not be identical to Softball league boundaries.
PONY Baseball is organized with two-year age brackets.
The age brackets for baseball are as follows:
For PONY Girls Softball, leagues are operated for fast pitch and slow pitch on an "and under" age concept.
The tournament team application form is provided to all member leagues, but need to be
filled out only by those leagues desiring to enter tournament competition. These
applications are distributed by Zone Directors. When the tournament application is
completed, the form is to be mailed with a check for the tournament entry fee to the proper
Zone Director.
Tournament entry fees go into a fund maintained by the Zone Director to assist teams in
that zone to meet travel expenses at the higher-level tournaments.
League officers should make provisions for sufficient funds to cover all costs incurred by the
tournament team through the lower levels of play and be in a position to meet travel costs
at the higher levels with the knowledge that some reimbursement will be forthcoming from
the travel funds.
Leagues must pay an annual registration fee to PONY Baseball and Softball. The fee for softball registration is $15.00 per team.
The registration fee for Shetland, Pinto, Bronco, Pony and Colt is as follows:
The registration fee for Palomino League is $100.00 per team.