2010 Pony League Players

[Harry Dunn]

It's not the point that the Boilers' kids aren't coached. Day and Pfeil are the best coaches out there. What hurts though is that, Day and Pfeil are together. Pfeil can easily start his own team and be competitive with Boilers. But they choose to coach together. And that also undermines the other coaches by what you say. Because the other coaches aren't chicken Charlie. Those guys know baseball, they just don't have the talent. Not their fault. I agree I know those guys aren't out there giving tshirts away and stuff like that. And they don't have the best 13 players in the league. They have most of them but other teams still get players. I'm not sure they had the best player in the league last year. The kid from PNA, whom they picked up, was just as good if not better than all the Boilers kids. I think the league would grow, and the regions baseball situation would be better if there was more than 1 team. Pony is down to 4 teams, and the Boilers can win every game by 15 if they want. The Colt league is poorly coached, and talent is down, and the AAABA is down to 4 teams. Maybe the city is getting a lot smaller at a faster pace than anticipated, and less kids play baseball. Here are some questions I would like answered about the landscape of Johnstown-based baseball.


Within the past 10 years, the Johnstown entry has been able to compete and advance further than ever before in the AAABA tournament. Is that because Johnstown baseball is better? Is that because the AAABA nationally is wayyy down? Or is Johnstown baseball catching up? A few D1 kids, and a draft pick hail from Johnstown. UPJ Baseball has seen some solid success the past decade with these developments, your thoughts?

Is the Pony league at a disparage because of the dominance of one team? It wasn't so long ago that 7-8 teams were in the league. Are kids shying away from baseball because of that? Or baseball is less popular in general?

Is the coaching in the city's league up to par? It's been said it might be a waste for a talented kid to play for anyone else than Boilers? IS there staff really THAT much better than everyone elses? Honest question.

Is the City's declining population in general affecting the landscape? Less and less kids from this area are playing in the AAABA league, more and more kids are coming from Westmoreland county and colleges from that area. It has to be a realistic argument. All the schools in this area are getting smaller and smaller, and that affects the number of kids available to play baseball.


I mean I just want to hear someone else's thoughts on these matters. I feel all are reasonable topics of discussion.

[bleacherbum]

I believe baseball numbers are down everywhere. Here in southern Blair county little league numbers are down by half from just 7 or 8 years ago. It seems soccer has really became popular in the last few years in this area taking alot of kids. And a lot of kids would much rather stay indoors with their electronics than venture outdoors into the sunlight and fresh air.

[S Cube]

The Johnstown AAABA teams have been taking some pretty good whoopings from the Altoona teams this summer as well. I think overall, Johnstown baseball is down. There have been some real standouts, but the depth isn't nearly as good as it used to be.

[youhavenoidea]

I agree, that competitive baseball is down in Johnstown.

I also agree that the Altoona teams have been stomping the Johnstown teams as well. However, when I have checked out the websites for Delweld & Martella's, I have noticed that they havent really thrown their best consistently against the Toona Teams. Not real sure why this is havent spoke to any of the coaches.

Here's another point, the Johnstown Pony & Colt League are thinking of expanding their borders. I have heard that they may want to add competitive areas such as Bedford, Somerset, Indiana, Homer, and Toona Town. Again, this is up to the the City League to decide.

Sorry to hear that competitive baseball is done even in the younger leagues in Toona Town as well. I believe its a combination of a lot of things, especially parents and kids who do not want to compete. Around here kids want drafted - whats the life lesson in that? You'll get drafted into a college or a job? Maybe the world will draft you to be the next Bill Gates or Andrew Carnegie! Remember, a guy named Michael Jordon? He was cut from his high school basketball team. Talk about a life lesson, guy loved a game, worked harder, and hard enough to become one of his games best in history (Thank God he gave up baseball!)

[youhavenoidea]

Seems like when some people get called out on here they RIP very quickly. Its okay, kinda funny how things make sense when the entire story is laid out there for people. Remember AYSO attitudes is as Communistic as they come for all you proud Americans.

[knowitall]

youhavenoidea, You have no idea.

Highland had a pony league in 1980 that included a draft and the requirement that all kids play at least two innings. It was a very competitive league for several years and fed many players to the Johnstown Junior League. That was when the Junior League had eight teams, six or seven of whom were competitive.Now, true, the Johnstown entry back then considered 2-2 to be a successful AAABA tournament but then again, the AAABA tournament had more good teams then it does now.

Somewhere in the last few years engineering has taken over youth sports. The attempt to orgainize a powerhouse team to go compete against other engineered powerhouse teams may be good for the ego of the coaches and parents of the players involved but it is helping to ruin the sport by discouraging those on the other teams which leads to fewer kids playing and a lot less competition.

Furthermore, kids are being asked at too young of an age to pick one sport and many ultimately burn out. I know a seventh grader who participated in a three hour football practice yesterday! Is it any wonder that the same kid doesn't want to play his little league game that night? Basketball is being played year round and there is something called hockey that many kids are wasting their time playing. It's summertime, play baseball!

[youhavenoidea]

What you said makes absolutley no sense.

AAABA had 8 teams in the 80's, should of, the population of Johnstown was 4x's as more. Highland Park tried to put in a AAABA team under Barefoot. He found out that was not good idea. As I recall in the 80's, 90's the only kids that went to Highland were the ones who didnt make city teams. If you can remember the names Dickie Burke and Joel Irwin. Most of the above average kids only went to Highland for a year, because they did not make the more competitve teams as a 13. Then eventually they came down as a 14. I hope Highland is better then than it was today, I mean come on 12 yr olds playing in their pony and colt league.

Finally this discussion did not talk about kids committing to one sport, nor did I require a kid to practice football for three hours. Go back to the fetal position.

[knowitall]

You have no idea.

I'm sure Highland was better then than it is now. The city league was better then than it is now. The city used to send two teams to tournaments then and those two teams didn't always win their own league. In tournaments the Highland Boosters All Star teams would often beat the city teams.

And Dickie Burke and Joel Erwin were probably still in diapers when I was playing.

[knowitall]

What I am saying is that if a kid has talent, playing in a pony league that has a tryout and a draft will not be detrimental to that kid going forward. He may be as good as any kid on an all star team in another league with different rules.

[ERAChamp]

The Boilers ALWAYS go after the BEST pitchers in the area and usually the biggest kids in the 13/14 age bracket.  This is why they always dominate in PONY baseball, at least locally.  The 4 playoff teams this year could all hit, but nobody could match the Boilers pitching and of course they won again.  If the Boilers had to face their pitching, they wouldn't be able to hit it either.
If the PONY organization follows LL age guidelines, which it is rumored they will do, this will definitely alter the city PONY league for the better.  You will no longer have some HS freshman playing with 7/8 graders - a BIG difference!!