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

jack@cornbeltbaseball.com.

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

isuredbirds91@comcast.net

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

a.mosele@comcast.net.

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

PAGE 7 VOLUME 2011 ISSUE 1

2010 Division

Champions

THE DUGOUT PAGE 8

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:mcponybb@aol.com

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 (landsly@gmail.com). See you at the ballpark!

Mark Landsly

Colt / Palomino Division President

COLT DIVISION (AGES 19 AND UNDER)