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Show I ' ' '"il I,. . , 1 ..."-... e -.. " , - ' ,v ' " -' '" . ' 7 - v ; ; " V e ? . -AnrnTP' 1 I al . . ,qB5Y ROBERTS' face gets slapped by the itt and the baseball at second base. Lisa jmuin.the onlv girl in the Mustang League, tag- gee I out Roberts. However, Roberts' team, the Dodgers, won the game by the score of 13 to 12 f Pony League to celebrate 30th baseball anniversary "Protect Our Nation's Youth" The first letters of each of the words in that slogan, PONY, have meant organized summer baseball to millions of young people and adult volunteers over the last 30 years. Having grown from six teams in 1951 to well over 13,000 today, Pony Baseball, Inc. is observing its 30th anniversary this season. Headquartered in Washington, PA, a community of 20.000 in the southwest south-west corner of Pennsylvania, 25 miles from Pittsburgh, the "youth baseball" organization provides Softball leagues for girls in addition to baseball leagues for players from seven to 21 years old. The lineup: Pinto League, for players seven and eight; Mustang, for the nine and ten year olds; Bronco for those 11 and 12; Pony for the 13 and 14 year old players; Colt for 15 and 16; Palomino for 17 and 18, and Thorobred for 19, 20 and 21. Joe E. Brown, the late world-famed actor, comedian, humanitarian and baseball enthusiast, was the first President of Pony Baseball. He retired in 1964 and was succeeded by Lew Havs a fnnnripr nf thfi nrnoram uhi retired last October. Roy Gillespie, a former Springfield. 111., sportswriter who succeeded Hays as Commissioner in 1964 has also been named to follow Hays as president. The new Commissioner Com-missioner is Leo Trich, a Washington native, who once played and coached in the program. In state of Utah there are 30 Pinto leagues, 25 Mustang leagues, 25 bronco leagues, 18 Pony leagues and 12 colt league teams affiliated af-filiated with Pony Baseball, according to Denzil L. Hancey who is director of Pony Baseball of Utah, Inc. Pony League was developed for the 13 and 14 year old graduates of Little League baseball in 1951. It is played on a diamond with 80 feet between bases, and serves as a transition program between the "kids" diamonds and the regulation field where bases are set 90 feet apart. Colt League was organized independently in-dependently in 1953, and was merged with Pony League in 1960. A year later the Bronco League was organized to provide feeder system. The Pinto and Mustang Leagues were later developed more recently, the Palomino and Thorobred teams to provide an opportunity op-portunity for young adults to continue playing the amateur game in organized competition. While the baseball leagues are open to girls, early experience indicated a preference by girls to play Softball with other girls. The Pony Softball leagues have been organized to provide a means for the existing community baseball structure to provide organized league play in girls softball. Now operating in points as remote as the Philippines and Japan, Pony Baseball conducts a series of elimination tournaments at the end of the local league playing season which culminate in a "world series." The Pony World Series will return this year to Washington, to be played on the original Pony League field, now designated a historic landmark. The Bronco series will be played in Lafayette, La., and the Colt in Lafayette, Ind. San Jose, Calif., will host the Palomino series and the Thorobred will be played in Norfolk, |
