Farm Dugout/Dugout Sizing... · Created Date: 4/8/2009 1:46:21 PM
FEBRUARY 1, 2011 Dugout
Transcript of FEBRUARY 1, 2011 Dugout
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
MIRACLE LEAGUE
SHETLAND DIVISION
CORNBELT BASEBALL
2
PINTO DIVISION
PHOTO DAY
FUNDRAISING
3
SPONSORS 4
PONY DIVISION
MUSTANG DIVISION
BRONCO DIVISION
5
UMPIRES
FROM THE FIELDS
6
2010 CHAMPIONS 7
DOYLE ACADEMY 8
CONCESSION STAND
CORPORATE GRANTS
9
COLT DIVISION
CALENDAR
10
FEBRUARY 1, 2011
VOLUME 2011 ISSUE 1
is our increased commitment to
expanding our Twins tourna-
ment teams.
For 2011
we have
added a 9-U
Twins team
to Mustang
for those
kids moving
up from
Pinto, and
an 11U
Twins to
Bronco.
We are
open to adding a 13 U Twins
team in Pony on years where
registration numbers will sup-
port it. Tryouts for these
teams were held last fall.
Twins tryouts for 2012 will be
held the 3rd weekend in Au-
gust. The Twins program adds
another level of competitive
baseball to those in-house play-
ers who tryout and make the
team. The kids get additional
travel caliber games and a tour-
nament for an added cost of
only $50 per team member.
Twins team players are ex-
pected to commit to playing
both their in-house team sched-
ule and their Twins schedule.
Spring and the baseball season
can‟t get here fast enough for
me so I‟ll conclude by saying
I‟ll see you soon at the Shira
Complex!
Dave
I hope all had happy holidays
and are faring well this post
holiday season!!! I‟m tired of
all the snow this winter and
thrilled with the opportunity to
start talking baseball! Spring
training is just around the cor-
ner.
Your McLean County PONY
Baseball (MCPB) Board of
Directors and Division Presi-
dents are already working hard
planning for the 2011 season.
Our 2011 Calendar can be ac-
cessed on the MCPB website.
We have started our coach and
team building processes in
preparation for the April
Coaches‟ meeting.
As of January 5th we
had approximately
800 registrations for
in-house leagues and
approximately 125
travel team registrants
totaling 925 so far.
We are still accepting
registrations for all
divisions, but Pony,
Bronco and Mustang
divisions are nearing
capacity. Please pass
this information on to
your friends.
From a business perspective, I
„m pleased to announce we
again fared very well on our
annual financial audit con-
ducted by an independent CPA
firm. The annual audit help
keep us in good standing as a
501(c)(3) non-profit organiza-
tion with
the state‟s
Attorney
General. I
want to
thank Larry
Horvath as
he con-
cluded his
role as the
MCPB
Treasurer.
He did a
nice job the
past couple years providing
sound financial counsel and
taking care of bills, bookkeep-
ing, helping us refinance the
mortgage
( which
came
due this
year),
and
manag-
ing the
audit
activi-
ties. In
turn, I
want to
welcome
and rec-
ognize our new MCPB Board
member and Treasurer, Cory
Rogers. Welcome aboard
Cory!
One of the more significant
changes for 2011 going forward
McLean County PONY Baseball, Inc.
The
Dugout
PRESIDENT’S LETTER
The Miracle League of Central Illinois
launched its inaugural season in 2010
featuring one game per week at GE Field
during June and July and on the Shetland
Field at the Shira Baseball Complex dur-
ing September and October.
The purpose of The Miracle League is to
make dreams come true for children with
special needs by providing an opportunity
for children with disabilities to play base-
ball.
McLean County Pony Baseball will con-
tinue to be involved with the Miracle
League this upcoming season. For more
information about the Miracle League,
please visit miracleleagueci.com or call
451-4500.
views with several league ad-ministrators.
Cornbeltbaseball.com is a
great site to get the latest base-
ball news regarding local pro-fessional, college and high
school teams, area residents playing elsewhere, equipment,
fields and much, much more.
The website is always chang-
ing with new articles and links
If you‟re a baseball nut and have not already discovered
cornbeltbaseball.com, please
visit the one-stop shop for everything baseball in Bloom-
ington-Normal and the sur-rounding area.
The site does a great job of promoting events and report-
ing news regarding McLean County Pony Baseball, includ-
ing photos and audio inter-
appearing daily, so you‟ll want to check back often.
If you would like to provide
division updates to the site as
a volunteer reporter, please contact Jack Warren at
CORNBELTBASEBALL.COM
their dugouts inside the fence, spectators are welcome to sit on the bleachers be-
hind home plate or bring a chair and find a spot to get a good view of the action.
Shetland Division coaches will be invited a pre-season meeting on Sunday, April 3.
Game and practice schedules, concession assignments and team rosters will be dis-
tributed at the meeting.
Soon after, the coaches will organize a
team meeting to go over plans for the season and pass out uniforms.
At this time there are still openings for
more Shetland Division players, so if you
know of someone who would like to play or needs more information, please have
them call 662-PONY (7669) or visit mcponybaseball.com.
SHETLAND DIVISION (AGE 6 AND UNDER)
The 2011 Shetland Division season will feature players age 4 thru 6 playing T-Ball
games on their own field, located along the far south edge of the Shira Baseball
Complex.
The players will be dressed in replica
major league uniforms and will play ap-proximately 20 ball games during May,
June and July.
While the players take the field or occupy
Every child deserves the chance to play baseball!
THE DUGOUT
THE MIRACLE LEAGUE OF CENTRAL ILLINOIS
PAGE 2
Everything baseball in
and around Bloomington-
Normal, Illinois.
Let me start by introducing myself. I've
been with Pony since my son Isaac
started in Shetland 3 years ago, and this
year I am honored to be the Pinto Presi-
dent. You may also see me at the Shet-
land field again, as our daughter Katie
will be starting our second pass through
the Pony ranks.
Work is underway for the season, as
we're finalizing our coaching assign-
ments. If you volunteered to coach this
upcoming season you will be hearing
from me soon. Players will then be noti-
fied of their team assignments shortly
after our coaches meeting on April 3rd
and will begin practices for the April 30th
Opening Day.
I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportu-
nity to thank Bill Jones, last year's Pinto
president, for all the hard work he put in.
When you come out Opening Day and
say "Wow, the field looks incredible!" -
thank Bill for all the work he did last fall!
I'd also like to thank Steve Bruso for his
willingness to take the Pinto vice presi-
dent role this year - despite his time being
spread so thinly between his three kids.
And of course, thanks to all the parents
willing to volunteer their time as coaches
this year - you will be the ones that make
this year a success. I look forward to
working with each of you, over the com-
ing months. See you in the spring!
Steve Olson
2011 Pinto Division President
PAGE 3 VOLUME 2011 ISSUE 1
PINTO DIVISION (AGES 8 AND UNDER)
Fundraising packets will be mailed in early February to those players who did not buy-out of fundraising at registration. How do I know if I
bought out of fundraising? If you paid $115 (Shetland / T-ball) $140 (Pinto division) or $160 (all other divisions) per player at registration you
bought out of fundraising.
The fundraising selling period will run until March 7, 2011. This means you need to mail your packet to the address below by March 7, 2011.
The address to return the fundraising order forms and checks is:
McLean County PONY Baseball, Inc.
PO BOX 1779
Bloomington IL 61702.
Contact Luke Filosa at (309) 888-9720 with any questions regarding fundraising.
2011 FUNDRAISING
Team and individual player photo days will be
May 14 & 15. Photo times will be scheduled
close to your team‟s game time.
Once again TSS Photography will be providing
the high quality images and products. Order
forms will be included in the coaches packet s to
be distributed to the parents. You can see a pre-
view of the available items at TSS Photography.
PHOTO DAY
THE DUGOUT PAGE 4
Rick McLean-State Farm
Anvil Brand Shoe Co
Bloomington Police Unit 21
Marcus Brown-State Farm
D.A.R.E.
Sports Enhancement Clinic
Thoma & Hjerpe CPAs
Club‟s Choice
Longhorn Smokehouse
Avanti‟s Italian Restaurant
Chicago Style Pizzeria
FS Custom Turf
Bloomington Normal Fence Co.
Kickapoo Drilling Co.
First State Bank of Bloomington
Read‟s Sporting Goods
Buffalo Wild Wings
Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites
Eastland Dental Center—
Dr. Mike Milligan
ACE Worldwide Atlas Van Lines
Collision Revision Doud Builders
Lowe‟s Home Improvement
Dennison Ford-BMW-Toyota
VFW Post 454
MC Sports
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 99
Holmes Dental Associates
Dr. Larry Gratkins
Personal Touch Cleaning Co.
Obstetrics & Gynecology II Ltd.
Manpower
McLean Co Asphalt & Concrete
Kathryn Beich Candies
Impressive Home Theaters
Wackenhut Security
Alexander‟s Trailers
Gill St Sports Restaurant
Ron Ruby-State Farm
RE/MAX
First Bank
Carle Clinic
Trunk Bay Construction
Corn Belt Energy
WM Putnam
Workout Co.-Parisi Speed School
Dairy Queen
Allied Waste
Merrill Lynch
Qik-N-EZ
Engraving Express
Grieder Sod and Landscaping
Rosati‟s Pizza
Carpets Plus Colortile
DJ‟s Painting & Remodeling
Ideal Environmental Engineering
Davis Tire & Automotive
Original Smith Printing
Cargill
Wendy‟s
Heartland Bank and Trust
The Normal CornBelters
Stephen‟s Auto Glass
Caterpillar
Chily‟s Drywall
First Farmers State Bank
Busey Bank
Joe‟s Station House
OSF Medical Group Surgical Center
Philip Carr-Farmers Insurance
Extra Innings-Bloomington/Normal
Dine309.com
STL Technology Partners
Shoe Carnival
RW Gipson Insurance
A5.com
Steve Petersen-Country Insurance
Prenzler Outdoor
A Shining Star Learning Center
Ziebart Superstore
Mortgage Services III LLC
Verizon Wireless
The Roofing Dog-Swansons Roofing &
Concrete
Boo Boo‟s Dawghouse
Sherman‟s Homeworks
Masters Brothers
FW Boland Plumbing
Carl S Martin Post 635 Normal
Dick‟s Sporting Goods
Leman‟s Chevy City
El Toro
SPONSORS
Thank you to the sponsors of McLean Co PONY Baseball
McLean Co PONY Baseball is proud to be involved with these businesses.
For more information about sponsoring PONY Baseball please call 662-PONY (7669)
Welcome players and parents to the 2011
Pony Division. I know it doesn‟t feel like
baseball season, but like the Major
League teams we are preparing our
coaching staffs and team rosters. If you
have a player who has not signed up to
participate in the Pony Division, there‟re
still player openings available.
This year we will have 8 in-house teams,
5 travel teams and the Twins. The Twins
consist of players from our in-house
teams who tried out in October. This will
make our Pony field very busy.
Our in-house teams will have a tourna-
ment at the end of the regular season. It
will be double elimination format which
nance.
We also have an immediate need for vol-
unteers interested in being a head or an
assistant coach for the Pony Division. If
you are interested, please contact me at
the phone number or email address be-
low.
Thanks for your Support. We‟re looking
forward to another great season.
Steve Platt Pony Division President
(309) 663-6054
towards the real thing, including base-
stealing beginning at some point in the
season. The great thing about the Mus-
tang division is that it is the first proving
ground that you will have tons of fun
while playing competitive baseball. Our
in-house tournament will begin July 16
and will end with the championship
games on July 31.
There is also a good chance that our Mus-
tang Twins teams will host the Mustang
Section Tournament in July. This will be
a great opportunity for the in-house teams
to come out and see competitive/travel
baseball at this division.
If you have any questions about the Mus-
tang division, please send an email to
Brian Everett. If you have any questions
about the division, including baseball bat
regulations, check out the league website
at the MCPB website (bat regs can be
found under the FAQ section).
Brian Everett
2011 Mustang Division President
Bill Jones
2011 Mustang Division VP
John Harris
2011 Mustang Division VP
MUSTANG DIVISION (AGES 10 AND UNDER)
Despite the chilling winter, plans are well
underway for a robust spring and summer
of Mustang Baseball! It appears we will
have 16 in-house teams in the division
this coming season, along with 3 Twins
teams. After the coaches meeting on
April 3, at 3pm, the head coaches will
contact the assistant coaches, players and
parents and we‟ll be underway. We sin-
cerely appreciate the parents who have
stepped up to head coach our teams this
season.
For players new to the Mustang division,
I want to extend a warm welcome and let
you know that this is a whole new experi-
ence than previous divisions. We keep
score, players pitch, and it is the first step
PAGE 5 VOLUME 2011 ISSUE 1
PONY DIVISION (AGES 14 AND UNDER)
will allow each team at least 2 games in
the tournament and the winner of each
bracket will play a 3 game series to deter-
mine the Pony Division Champion.
Again, this year we will be hosting the
2011 Sectional Tournament for our in-
house Twins and Travel teams. We in-
vite you to come out and enjoy some
additional baseball with other teams from
around the area.
As you can see we are very busy putting
together an outstanding year of baseball,
but we need your help. With the increase
of activity, we find ourselves continuing
to look for more volunteers to assist with
administrative work and field mainte-
BRONCO DIVISION (AGES 12 AND UNDER)
The Bronco Division will have 12 in-
house teams, 4 travel teams, and 2 Twins
teams (12u and 11u). Spots are still open
for additional players if you know an 11
or 12 year old looking for a good place to
learn the game of baseball. If you have
any questions about the Bronco Division,
please contact Andy Mosele at
This year we will again have our Umpire
Clinic at the PONY Shira Complex at
1:00 PM on April 3, 2011. Over the years
attendance has grown incredibly, but
there is plenty of room for more. We will
have 5 experienced umpires as trainers
with almost 100 years of officiating ex-
perience. The coaches‟ meeting follows
immediately, so coaches should feel free
to attend the clinic to gain insight into the
rules, and the umpire mechanics so that
you too know what to expect from um-
pires as they call your game. Parents are
welcome too, you will learn something
about the game, I promise! After 40+
years in baseball and softball as a player,
coach, administrator and umpire, I still
learn something new at the PONY Um-
pire Clinic, every year. So if you love the
game, want to learn and especially if you
want to be an umpire at PONY, this is a
must attend event!
Bill Graden
Umpire in Chief
"It isn't enough for an umpire merely to know what he's doing … He has to look as though he know
what he's doing, too."
- National League Umpire Larry Goetz
THE DUGOUT
UMPIRES
PAGE 6
Is it Spring yet?
2010 was a brutal year on the facility and
we have a long way to go to get our com-
plex back up to the playing standards we
expect. Thank you to a good group of
people for your efforts in the fall to help
repair the wear and tear from the 2010
season and help us move forward, but we
still need a good spring to help recovery.
With that said, our fields are not nearly
where they have been in years past going
into spring. We are behind, which
means they will require extra care and
TLC come early spring practices and
games, and mother nature to help us out.
This winter moisture so far is very good.
Each field has over 230 games on it each
year, or 1,600+ innings of play.. If we
want to maintain the high quality facility
we have become accustomed to, we need
everyone to pitch in and take care of the
fields and take pride on our facility.
This last fall, I was able to spend an entire
day at Target Field with the Minnesota
Twins grounds crew. What an experi-
ence! It was a non-game day, so I had
full access to the facility. It was amazing
the amount of care they put into that field
and what similar issues an MLB ball field
has compared to our facility at MCPB.
The biggest difference, they rarely have to
repair anything, instead they stay on top
of the issues and maintain them the
proper way from day to day so repairs are
not needed. My day was spent helping
out and observing the finer aspects of post
game care of the field. They had a staff of
7 crew members for the non-game day
activities. The head groundskeeper
(Larry Divito) spent 90 minutes fixing the
mound from the game the previous night.
The Assistant head groundskeeper spent
that same 90 minutes working on the
leadoff/sliding area at 1B…raking, level-
ing, packing, raking, leveling packing…
etc..etc.. The other 5 members of the
crew walked every inch of grass/dirt line
literally looking for any single pebble of
infield dirt that had migrated to the grass
and removed it. Any extra dirt in the
grass is a potential “lip” or bad hop. The
amount of care taken on that level of field
is simply astonishing. I am in the works
of putting together a Field Maintenance
seminar to take place in Mid-March. We
will invite all High School coaches from
Central Illinois as well as any other or-
ganizations interested in attending. The
details of the seminar are still in the
works at this time. For more informa-
tion, please feel free to contact me and/or
keep your eyes on the website
www.Cornbeltbaseball.com. The semi-
nar will feature an indoor talk and Q&A
session, lunch and hopefully on-field
demonstrations if the weather allows.
Please feel free to sign up through the
website.
Andy Ommen
FROM THE FIELDS
The McLean County PONY Baseball
Concession Stand offers a wide variety of
food, snacks and refreshments allowing
spectators and players to quench their
thirst or calm their appetite while at the
ballpark.
In addition to its famous hot
dogs, sandwiches, nachos,
pretzels, popcorn, candy,
bottled water, Gatorade and
Pepsi products the conces-
sion stand serves Avanti‟s
Gondolas, Dairy Queen
frozen treats and Rosati‟s Pizza by the
slice.
The concession stand is a valuable source
of funds for the league and your patron-
age is appreciated.
Most of the families participating in
PONY Baseball support the league by
agreeing to work up to two 2½ hour shifts
in the concession stand during the season.
If a family is unable to volunteer to help
in the concession stand, they are allowed
Volunteers are expected to arrive on time
for their shift (just as the players count on
the coaches to show up on time for games
and practices.) The concession stand can
not operate without proper staffing.
Checking in promptly when assigned
allows for smooth training and transition
between shifts.
For their own safety and consideration of
other workers, children under the age of
14 are not permitted to be inside the con-
cession stand. Children age 14 and older
may work with a parent during their shift.
If there are enough adults in a crew and
the child is able to handle the responsibil-
ity of the shift they may be allowed to
work without their parent.
For the benefit of parents who have a
conflict and can‟t trade their assigned
shift(s), the league maintains a list of re-
sponsible teenagers who are able to han-
dle the duties of working in the conces-
sion stand and can be contacted to work a
shift on behalf of the assigned parent.
PAGE 9 VOLUME 2011 ISSUE 1
CONCESSION STAND
to make an $80 contribution at registra-
tion to meet their obligation.
A parent of each player in the league who
has agreed to volunteer is assigned up to
two shifts that usually overlap with times
when their children are playing games.
Although many people have expressed a
concern about missing their child‟s game,
the vast majority would rather work dur-
ing a game than make a special trip to the
complex.
If a parent is unable to work an assigned
shift or can‟t miss their favorite team‟s
game, it is possible to
trade shifts with some-
one else or contact the
concession manager for
special arrangements.
Also, keep in mind that
with nearly 300 coaches
already volunteering
thousands of hours to
the league it is appreciated when a parent
agrees to take the shift of a coach.
All shifts begin at the top of the hour.
Thank you to the volunteers who submit
Corporate Grant forms to benefit
McLean County PONY Baseball. Em-
ployees of Merrill-Lynch, Verizon, and
State Farm who volunteer 40+ hours are
eligible to submit a Corporate Grant
form. The funds provided by these grants
are used for capital improvements at the
Shira Complex to continue to have some
of the finest baseball fields in central Illi-
nois.
CORPORATE GRANTS
Grant Forms for 2010 can be submitted
electronically through March 31, 2011. If
you are eligible to submit a form, please
consider completing one soon. If your
company is not listed above, please ask
your personnel area if they offer volunteer
grants. We appreciate the support we‟ve
received from these companies and the
many volunteers who devote many hours
to make PONY a great place for our chil-
dren to play baseball.
Bill Graden
Past President
February 6 Board Meeting
March 6 Board Meeting
March 7 Fundraising Period Ends—Order Forms Due
March 12 Groundskeeping Seminar
April 3 Umpire Clinic - 1:00 PM - Shira Complex
April 3 Coaches Meeting - 3:00 PM - Shira Complex
April 4 Board Meeting
CALENDAR
McLean County PONY Baseball, Inc.
PO BOX 1779
Bloomington, IL 61702
Phone:(309) 662-7669
E-mail:[email protected]
April 15 Doyle Academy
April 30 Opening Day
May 2 Board Meeting
May 8 Mother‟s Day - Complex closed
May 14 & 15 Picture Day
Greetings to all area HIGH SCHOOL aged baseball players. As many of you
know, the MCPB Colt/Palomino division is made up of high-school age players
(ages 15 to 19). Unlike the other PONY divisions who begin their season the
first weekend in May, our season does not begin until late May due to IHSA
rules. This year our season will begin on May 28th.
For those of you who are familiar with our league, we will continue the pro-
grams and rules that have made our division a success, including provisions for
using courtesy runners, the Extra-Hitter (EH rule), and using player's school to
align teams.
As shown by the last year‟s season, the success of the Colt/Palomino division
marches on. We plan to grow further and 2011 is no different. For the first time,
we are looking at a separate upperclassmen aged group with separate schedules
from Colt, possibly called Palomino+, which would exclusively serve our 17-19
year olds. I'll know the details on this by mid-April.
In the meantime, there are still spots available, so if you are a high-school age
player and are thinking about playing in the Colt/ Palomino division this sum-
mer, it is important that you REGISTER NOW to ensure you can play. Regis-
tration information and forms can be found at www.mcponybaseball.com/
registration.htm. Completed forms can be mailed to the PO Box on the form. If
you have any questions or need any information on our league, please don't hesi-
tate to contact me directly ([email protected]). See you at the ballpark!
Mark Landsly
Colt / Palomino Division President
COLT DIVISION (AGES 19 AND UNDER)