Pony Baseball Inc

Sluggers of the Agoura Pony League were getting pretty tired of piling up an impressive record on the road but never winning at home. So expect some cheering for league officials and players who, benefiting from a combination of wily pitches and heavy hitters, are expected to break ground today on their field of dreams--a $250,000 complex of four baseball diamonds and the first youth baseball park to serve residents of Agoura, Calabasas and Oak Park.

Timing may have saved the neck of whoever stole nearly $5,000 in baseball equipment from the North Long Beach Pony Baseball League. Kelly Gorley, president of the league for kids between the ages 5 and 14, says her little sluggers verged on violence when they learned that someone had swiped their new mitts, bats and baseballs one recent Saturday morning while coaches handed out the new uniforms at a park nearby.

Timing may have saved the neck of whoever stole nearly $5,000 in baseball equipment from the North Long Beach Pony Baseball League. Kelly Gorley, president of the league for kids between the ages 5 and 14, says her little sluggers verged on violence when they learned that someone had swiped their new mitts, bats and baseballs one recent Saturday morning while coaches handed out the new uniforms at a park nearby.

Mud-slinging, shattered friendships and claims of deceit. The next episode of Melrose Place? No, just another day in the fight for the soul of Toluca Lake youth baseball, where a lawsuit has overshadowed games and two warring groups of parents believe they know what is best for their children. On one side are Toluca Little League supporters who objected when the league dropped its charter and created a new affiliation with Pony Baseball.

Mud-slinging, shattered friendships and claims of deceit. The next episode of Melrose Place? No, just another day in the fight for the soul of Toluca Lake youth baseball, where a lawsuit has overshadowed games and two warring groups of parents believe they know what is best for their children. On one side are Toluca Little League supporters who objected when the league dropped its charter and created a new affiliation with Pony Baseball.

An official who oversees Bronco baseball said that pitcher Ian Tolentino, who helped the Philippines defeat Long Beach to win the Little League World Series, did not play in the Bronco World Series in 1990, as was reported by a Manila newspaper. Abraham Key, administrative director of Pony Baseball, Inc., said there is no record to support the claim, reportedly made by Tolentino in a story last Thursday in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The Palmdale PONY League released an assistant coach Tuesday after learning that the man was convicted last year of kneeing an 11-year-old boy in the groin on a Little League field. A retired sheriff's deputy, Michael J. DiDonna, was sentenced to 90 days in County Jail and three years probation in May after being convicted of misdemeanor inflicting injury on a child. He was also convicted of misdemeanor battery, a charge stemming from an unrelated incident in which he punched a man.

A small but persistent company has scored a partial victory after a three-year fight with Major League Baseball over the right to produce pro-style uniforms for youth league players. Evans Sporting Goods Inc.'s battle with Major League Baseball Properties Inc. in New York ended last week when the Garden Grove company agreed to make royalty payments in return for a license to sell uniforms with big-league trademarks to Southern California youth teams.

There's little harm in little arms throwing an occasional curve ball. At least that's the opinion of one of the Dodgers' top physicians. Dr. Frank Jobe says new tests indicate there is less danger than once thought from throwing a curve ball, often blamed for injuries in young pitchers because it is released with a hard turn of the wrist that can strain the elbow. The real cause of arm problems among youth, say Jobe and some of his colleagues, is overuse.

Sluggers of the Agoura Pony League were getting pretty tired of piling up an impressive record on the road but never winning at home. So expect some cheering for league officials and players who, benefiting from a combination of wily pitches and heavy hitters, are expected to break ground today on their field of dreams--a $250,000 complex of four baseball diamonds and the first youth baseball park to serve residents of Agoura, Calabasas and Oak Park.