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Los Altos-Mountain View PONY baseball is stepping up to the plate for its 30th year. The local youth baseball league opened its 2016 season’s registration on Nov. 1, celebrating 30 years of baseball.
PONY baseball first made its way to the area in 1986, when Jim Wilson, founder of the Los Altos-Mountain View branch, brought the program to Los Altos. Back then, the local PONY baseball had just under 300 players in three divisions: Pinto, Mustang, and Bronco. Now there are nearly 900 players in nine divisions.
PONY league is characterized by these distinct (and thematically-named) divisions, which start with the Shetlands for 5- and 6-year-olds and end at the 19-and-under Palominos. The distance of the pitching mound and the distance between bases increase incrementally as the divisions rise, with new mechanics like stealing bases introduced along the way.
“LAMV also allows the opportunity for players to be on teams with friends in the area and not be divided by city boundaries,” said the local league’s current president, Curtis Banks. He said that’s something that sets the organization apart from other youth baseball leagues in the area.
For the youngest divisions, Shetland and Pinto 1 (age 7) and Pinto 2 (age 8) players are put on teams with other players from the same school or who have requested to be together. For the older children, starting at age 9 with Mustang 1, through the Pony teams for ages 13-14, tryouts and a draft are used only to ensure that teams are balanced.
“It is the philosophy of LAMV PONY baseball that ‘Everyone Plays Real Baseball,” Banks said. “There are no ‘cuts.'”
The PONY league participated in the development of the fields at Rosita and at Blach school, and the program also works with the Boy Scouts each year on Eagle projects to improve its fields.
“LAMV prides ourself on serving the community, serving kids in the area and providing them with a great opportunity to play baseball. We’ve had a great 30 years and we’re looking forward to the next 30,” Banks said.
Registration for the 2016 season opened November 1. To register or for more information about LAMV PONY, go to www.lamvpb.org.
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Sally Jackson from Palo Alto will be among the more than 70 local artists participating in the Nov. 14-15, 2015, Art in Clay event. Photo courtesy of Art in Clay. -
Celma Kirkwood from Palo Alto will be among the more than 70 local artists participating in the Nov. 14-15, 2015, Art in Clay event. Photo courtesy of Art in Clay.
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Why is PONY all caps?
From “About Us” on the PONY.org website:
“Originally tied closely to the slogan, “Protect Our Nation’s Youth”, the first PONY emblem featured a silhouette of a rearing pony to symbolize the enthusiasm of youngsters 13 and 14 who had not yet reached physical maturity.”