Photo TR: PONY World Series (8/12-8/19)

Coaster Palooza · August 22, 2006

I was assigned the PONY World Series from PONY baseball along with three other guys from my group from San Jose. We took off on a red-eye to Pittsburgh on Friday (8/13) and arrived in Pittsburgh the next morning. The World Series is being held in Washington, PA, which is just a half hour south. I will post a link to the whole World Series trip report later. Our schedule was Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday. The championship game is on Saturday.

Our entertainment and work schedule is below:

Friday – Fly out

Saturday – Arrive in Washington and umpire games at 5:30 and 8pm

Sunday – Idlewild, Lakemont Park, and DelGrosso’s

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28232

Monday – Kennywood

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28234

Monday – Umpire games at 5:30 and 8pm

Tuesday – NFL Hall of Fame, Steelers Experience, Pirates Game

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28274

Wednesday – Day of rest and umpire at 5:30 and 8pm

Thursday – PONY Headquarters, Trolley Museum, and Washington County Fair

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28292

Friday – Gettysburg and go to see Ted’s (CoasterFanatic) band play in Toronto, Ohio!

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28308

Saturday – Championship game at 1pm, Steelers game at 8pm

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28313

Sunday – Fly home

Steve, do you want some gravy and biscuits to go with your pepper?

Another one of our crew photos

Steve's brain is working pretty early in the morning.

Did we overpack?

Hey Dan, you look tired. Nope, I am just happy to out of that tin can.

What else would you do for your first stop at 8:30am?

Because I see the immaculate reception!

Rick, how can you be so awake?

Here we are upon landing in Pittsburgh

He was happier to not be sitting next to me.

Oh, we're all happy now...

I lost too. It might have been quicker just to give my money to Dan.

Steve lost, and Jim didn't donate.

Must be in Vegas for our 2 hour layover. Dan doubled his money.

I bet you wish LAX looked like this!

Doesn't everyone get their own personal pre-screener?

I had one of the pre-screeners laughing so hard.

Look at this line! I can't believe how long this might take.

First crew shot. Something tells me we won't look this way a few hours from now...

First stop, a couple of beverages

We thought we needed to get there early because of the problems from Thursday and the no liquids on planes.

We started out on Tuesday by going to the field first. I will add the Hall of Fame and the rest of the day in another thread. There is a bat and ball there and it is the entrance to Washington Park.

Now it's time to rest

Jim won this monkey playing the pig game against the 3 of us. He won 2 out of 3 games.

This sign was actually inside Fridays.

I'm still making my decision between Blue Moon and Hoegaarden. I kept switching between them.

This is from Monday night's postgame. Jim is calling home to find out if Trouble is okay.

Postgame changing.

another shot

A couple of game photos coming up

One of the tournament directors needed some assistance.

This is actually Sunday night after our long trip to Idlewild, Lakemont, and DelGrosso's

These two were our bartenders for the week

Postgame crew photo at TGIFridays

Opening night crew photo.

Jim has 3rd base, he won't mind one more photo.

I think we're losing it Rick with all your damn picture taking!

How do you feel after a red-eye and no sleep?

One of the groundskeepers.

Here's the field.

Our nice, spacious locker room

Here's a bigger one.

The little sign actually says PONY World Series

mcjaco · August 22, 2006

Cool TR. Glad to see "Blue" has a of a good time as the players. As I'm on the other side (I still play in the MSBL), we have a pretty good time with some of the umps. I emphasize, some.

That's a great looking field too! What are the demensions for Pony League?

FlippyTrick09 · August 22, 2006

AHAH! You went to Cracker Barrel... I thought thoughs only existed down south...

Coaster Palooza · August 22, 2006

^^Hey Matt, off the top of my head I don't remember, but from this link: http://www.ponyworldseries.com/public.html/LHPF.html you can get them. It seems to be 250, 275, 305, 275, and 250 (left to right). They have 80 foot bases.

^All you need to do is get a map at any Cracker Barrel. They show all of their places in the United States. So far there aren't any here in California, unfortunately. I really love the place!

mcjaco · August 22, 2006

Very cool. We play on a field that's only 310 down the lines and 350 to center. Lots of wood bat games at that field!

Is there a lot that goes into being an ump at that level???

Coaster Palooza · August 23, 2006

^I believe there is quite a bit to being an ump at any level. I started when I was 13. To get to work this World Series was an honor. You get on a 4-5 year waiting list. They pull in two 4-man crews from different areas. I have worked quite a few big games and a few World Series, but they were all in my area. This is the first one I really had to travel to and I didn't have any of our local Tournament Directors out there. You kind of have to earn your stripes all over again.

Coaster Palooza · August 23, 2006

Just a couple of pics. We really didn't do too much today. We worked both games at 5:30 and 8pm. Jim McAuley got hurt pretty bad in the first game around the 3rd inning. I had to take over behind the plate for him. We do have pics of his injury later.

I would like to have some stupid comment for this, but I don't. It was just doing something random.

It is right off the freeway

This is our hotel

Coaster Palooza · August 24, 2006

The winner of Thursday's games either went into the Championship on Saturday, or if it was their first lost, we would play "if" games on Friday. The two teams that won didn't have a loss, so there aren't any "if" games on Friday. The pics below are from the games. I will comment when needed.

Thanks again for reading all this. Maybe later all the TRs can be combined.

It must be bedtime...

Home team

No one found it though.

The tradition is to get the baseball back to the player and you will get a brand new one. Everyone looked for this one, even a mom in a mini skirt!

I almost got hit by a homerun right after this pic. Everyone was yelling "LOOK OUT!"

See....

Washington was playing Simi Valley, CA. The crowd was huge for the home team.

Running so fast, it's a blur!

The next few pics might be fuzzy, but it ain't easy from the outfield.

National Anthem

They have a PONY princess contest every year. This was the only picture I could get because we were up talking with the umpires.

Jim is happy because he doesn't have to work anymore.

Steve chose the grass knoll (sp?)

All the tournament directors are sitting here with their significant others.

Here's Dan looking at some pictures from the tournament

A little dejection

CRACK!!! or PING!!!!

Here's Lou, the ball lady. She is the tournament director's wife.

Here we are. After a little nap from the day's events.

Coaster Palooza · August 24, 2006

Our day began with breakfast at Danny's, not Denny's. This place is famous for their huge pancakes. I had the plate for the game and after getting around 5 hours of sleep from the night before, I am ready for it! We saw Ted's band the night before. I kept looking at my watch thinking, "The game is in 12 hours, 11 hours, 10 hours...."

The pics should do it all. There are other links to the rest of the trip in the beginning.