The look of the league’s new headquarters is inspired by baseball imagery.

It began on the dusty diamonds of Washington’s sandlots and pick-up league fields as a way for area youngsters to shag flies, swing for the fences and stretch singles into doubles.

It since has grown into a global community that has brought the joy of baseball to more than 7 million kids over the past half century. Pony League Baseball is headquartered in Washington, Pa. Its new $1.8 million digs opened late last year and is a true diamond in the architectural sense. And it’s hard to miss. Located next to Falconi Field, the 12,000-square-foot building has windows shaped like baseballs and homeplates. The front doors open to what will soon become the Pony League Hall of Fame, recognizing the league's past accomplishments, teams and players.

“It’s a beautiful building and we’re very proud of it,” says Pony League President Abraham Key. “We can’t wait for the season to start and really show it off.”

The building houses a conference area, board room, warehouse and administrative offices. The warehouse brims with baseball rules books, balls, scorebooks, uniforms and other things all successful leagues need.

And it’s from this building that Pony League communicates its brand of baseball to the world.
“Pony League promotes teamwork, honesty, self-discipline, integrity... it teaches all those positive aspects of life and those positive aspects of baseball,” Key says.

They are lessons players can carry from the ball fields to the board rooms. The league started in the early 1950s when a group of Washington business and community leaders including Lew Hays, then-sports editor with The Reporter newspaper, dreamed up the league as a way to give 13 and 14-year-old kids the opportunity to continue playing ball after their Little League years ended and before their high school days began. It also provided an outlet to keep kids on the ball fields and off the streets.

Pony, which stands for Protect Our Nation’s Youth began its first season in the summer of 1951. Six teams took to the diamond and played a regular season schedule. It was an overnight success.

Hays became the focal point of the league and his sports contacts and community ties were invaluable. As word of the league spread, communities across the country inquired about the secrets of its success.

“They recognized there was a gap there,” Key says. “And after one season, they found there was this thirst nationally for a league for kids in those age groups.”

When it resumed play the following season, the league had grown to include more than 500 teams from across the nation and the Panama region.

The league continued growing during its initial seasons and in the late 1950s merged with another league to offer Colt League baseball for 15- and 16-year olds. In the 1960s, the league branched out into other age categories and launched Bronco League, which was followed over the years by Mustang, Thoroughbreed, Palomino, Pinto and Shetland baseball.

In 1976, the league opened up to a different kind of hurler and formed a softball arm.

“Our softball program is huge,” says Karen Reese, director of softball operations. “It’s continued to grow and more young ladies are taking part. It’s wonderful that we can provide this opportunity.”

Reese says the east coast is a big softball country, and the league has teams stretching from Rhode Island all the way down the coast and into Florida.

When the league first offered softball, the majority of participants played in the slow pitch league. Those stats are reversed these days.

And as the pro game has gone global, so, too, has Pony League.

The league became international 50 years ago when a Cuban team—pre-Castro—took part in a Pony League exhibition. In 1968, the league held its first International World Series.

The international push also has taken the league to a dozen Caribbean countries as well as China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Pony currently has offices in Tokyo and Puerto Rico and access to an office in London.

“Europe has a lot of potential, but it’s been a little tougher to attract the players,” Key says. “There is a big opportunity for us there.”

The language barriers, he says, pose some problems for parents and organizers, but no problem for the kids playing the game.

“They just go out, joke around and play the game.”

Key says youth baseball’s future looks bright and adds Pony may consider branching out to include different sports or partnering up with another already-existing league.

“We’ve done a pretty good job with baseball and softball, and we might try to do the same with other sports. We think the interest is there for the kids.”

Though the numbers for Pony League ball are strong, there was a time when participation waned.

The number of kids playing the game dipped in the late 80s and early 90s. Although Key says the league didn’t lose communities, it did lose some teams that played within those communities.

Those years also coincided with the rise of free-agency in sports, the growth of other sports and outlets such as all-star traveling baseball teams for youngsters and labor unrest in pro baseball.

“Some of those who left because of the player’s strike are a little harder to get back,” Key acknowledges.

Though the baseball strike may have soured people on the sport, Cal Ripken’s consecutive games-played streak, the Sammy Sosa - Mark McGwire homerun chase and a Boston Red Sox World Series win may have played roles in bringing the sport and participation back to the forefront.

“We had no reasons why those numbers went down, and we’re just as curious as to why they came back up,” Key says. “We’ve seen more participation in 5- to 10-year-olds and we hope that continues to translate into the other age levels as well.

“People say that football is the new national pastime, and I guess there’s a lot of validation for that, but baseball still is America’s game, and kids are starting to come back to that.”

And baseball has increased popularity in Western Pennsylvania. The Pirates have drawn big crowds to PNC and the explosion of the Washington Wild Things on the regional scene have no doubt been a boost to interest.

“The Wild Things brought baseball back to the forefront of the consciousness of the area,” he says. “They’re important to the region, to Washington County.”

Though millions of players including major leaguers Alex Rodriguez, Tony Gwynn and JT Snow have passed through the league, it is Pony’s volunteers that make it a success.

The league has approximately 850 field directors who handle more than 30,000 teams each year. Its volunteers, some 90,000 coaches and managers, are parents, relatives and everyday residents who care about children and want to teach them about life on and off the diamond.

“They are our life-blood,” Key says. “Without our volunteer efforts, we’d cease to exist.”

“You can’t be in this business if you’re not in it for the kids. That’s what this is all about.” •