John Mendez Baseball Park: My Site News

Sign ups for the 2012 PONY Baseball season are underway now through Sunday March 11th on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm and Sundays from 12pm to 2pm. All new players are to provide a COPY of their birth certificate, baptismal certificate or passport to determine division participation. Divisions are T-ball, Pinto, Mustang, Bronco and Pony.

 Registration fee are as follows: T-Ball, Pinto and Mustang $40 per player

                                                 Bronco and Pony $45 per player.

Additional family members are half price. Registration fee does include a newly designed "take home" jersey with the PONY logo on one sleeve and the American flag on the other, cap and socks. Pants are not included. At the end of the regular season, all kids get to keep their jersey to take home.

Important Note: All Fundraiser (Breakfast) monies of $50 are also due at time of registration. Additional family members pay $25 additional. All monies are due and payable by the league tryout date. Tentatively this is is scheduled for March 17th but it may change.  

 All returning and new coaches are required to complete league forms in order to be placed with a team. For all other questions, please contact Ray Madrigal at (310) 549-0052.

The sun was out. The sky was blue. It was time to play some ball.

For the hundreds of kids who showed up to Opening Day at the John Mendez baseball field in Wilmington on Saturday, it was the start of a springtime ritual of swinging bats, running the bases and sliding into home.

"It's a great day for baseball," said the John Mendez Pony Baseball League's executive director, Ray Madrigal, who has been with the program for ages 5 to 16 since 1971. But first there were a few formalities to get out of the way, like thanking the people who made much of it possible.

Long Beach-based energy company Warren E&P, which owns the drill site next to the field, donated $20,000 to lower the registration fee to participate from $60 to $10. Madrigal figures the discount is the reason for the number of kids who signed up to play this year.

"Enrollment is up," he said. "Last year we had 224 kids. This year, over 250. And when the word gets out, we'll be up next year, too."

The lower fee meant that Beto Perez, who has two children in the league, saved $100.

"It makes it affordable," he said.

The league is run through the Harbor Community Development Corporation and is entirely self sufficient; it receives no money from any city parks agency.

"This allows us to operate the program and pass the gift to the community," Madrigal said. "The idea is to get more kids playing and to learn sportsmanship and pride."

For the folks at Warren, which owns most of the land surrounding the field, helping out has become an ongoing process. Last year they helped install a protective top for the chain-link fences and filled gopher holes in the field. And they are in the process of rebuilding the snack stand.

"We felt a lot of underprivileged kids couldn't afford it," Warren General Manager Bruce Berwager said.

It will probably be years before most of the kids stop to care that somebody was looking out for them. All they wanted to do was get down to business.

"I can't wait to play," said 12-year-old Daniel Perez of Wilmington. "I played since I was a little kid. So did my dad and the rest of my family. I guess it's in my genes."

Many of the parents played on the same field when they were younger. Madrigal said he's now seeing the grandchildren of some of the kids he coached 30 years ago.

"It brings me back to my youth," said Sylvia Quintana-Ortega.

The ceremonies finally ended and the kids took to the field as a cool breeze started to blow.

"We're doing this for the kids," Madrigal said. "We're doing it for the community and we're doing it for days like today."

 josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com

Click on the hyperlink below to view a slide show prepared by Sean Hiller
http://web.go2db.com/media/openingday/


Thanks Josh & Sean.

In this photo from May 2005, then Mayor-elect Antonio Villaraigosa visited John Mendez Baseball Park to meet with Ray Madrigal and have a candid chat Pete Garcia along with several of the Bronco Red Sox players. Mayor Villaraigosa then called "time out" during couple of the games in progress to also meet with the coaches, players and parents. 

We welcome the Mayor to visit us here again at our ballpark in Wilmington.

Thanks for visiting Mayor Villaraigosa.