Du Quoin Baseball Dumps Expensive Pony League for Popular 'Babe Ruth'
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The board of directors of Du Quoin Baseball,?Inc. Sunday voted to end its affiliation with the national Pony League little league baseball and softball program as team and tournament franchise fees rose to over $2,400 in 2011.
Instead, the board is mailing in an application to become part of the more popular Babe Ruth League, whose licensing and participation fees are less than half of those in the Pony League.
Major League Baseball great Cal Ripkin Jr. is one of those affiliated with the Babe Ruth League and there are several communities in Southern Illinois which are switching. Some of hem include Murphysboro, Carterville,Carbondale, Marion, West Frankfort and Salem, among others.
Borrowing a page from the Du Quoin Rotary Club, which broke with Rotary International late last year because of abusive membership fees, Du Quoin Baseball Inc. vice-president Jeremy Morgan told the newspaper Tuesday, "We will save at least half and have a better program."
Some of the benefits are listed below:
"We are officially leaving the Pony League," said Morgan. "We will still have our travel teams, but instead of losing older players to travel teams we will have local tournaments to keep all of our teams interested," he said.
"The Babe Ruth League is moving into Southern Illinois real big," he said.
"There will be an honors league with a choice of coaches. When you sign up kids will get a coach, regular town teams and tournament teams," he said.
"More opportunities is No. 1. Cost is No. 2," he said.
He said team and tournament fees were costing the Du Quoin league almost $225 per team. Under the Babe Ruth League we will be paying $13, $18 or maybe up to $20," he said.
"And, the rules are a better fit for players who want to go on to play at the Middle School or the Du Quoin High School," he said.
Young players benefit from rules they can live with and grow with. Older players can make a seamless transition from the Babe Ruth league into DMS and DHS play.
Registration
The 2012 season opens the week after Mother's Day and there will be three registrations, all at Du Quoin City Hall: Saturday, Feb. 25 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 26 from 12 noon until 4 p.m. and finally on Friday, March 2 from 4-8 p.m. However, Morgan asks parents to sign up as early as possible so the board can get a feeling early for how many players plan to participate.
Registration is $45 for the first child in the family and $15 each for all others in the same family. About 440 players sign up annually.
"We will announce a cleanup day at the ballpark in the near future," he said. "Any help will be appreciated," he said. "We will also have a 50-50 drawing and raffle off a flat screen television and DVD Blue Ray player on opening day. Tickets will be $5.
The newly organized Du Quoin Baseball board of directors includes: Tim Davis, president; Jeremy Morgan, vice-president; Amanda Lemons, treasurer; and Amy Hill, secretary. Board members are Mike Ward, Chris Robinson, Howard Baxter, Robin Morgan, Charles "Beaver" Rice, Bruce Eisenhauer, Tawmi Conley, Michelle Klein and Matt Foster.
Babe Ruth League serves over 1 million players from ages 4-18 in Babe Ruth Baseball, Cal Ripken Baseball, Babe Ruth Softball. The Babe Ruth Buddy Ball Division encompasses players ages 4-20.
The annual charter fee is only $13-$23 per team, which is less than 1 percent of the yearly budget for most Babe Ruth affiliated leagues.
Chartering with Babe Ruth League normally takes less than two weeks and is easy.
World Series Tournaments are played in seven divisions of baseball and two divisions of softball. Five additional tournaments advance to the Regional level. Ten communities will advance to every Babe Ruth World Series. The league also has three National Invitational Tournaments in softball to showcase our players to collage coaches.
Babe Ruth League baseball and softball are played in more than 6 countries, and all 50 U.S. states. This year, seven Cal Ripken Baseball games of the Cal Ripken Major 70 will be televised nationally on "VS."
For teams at each of the Nine World Series tournaments, team travel expenses are paid by Babe Ruth League from a major airport. In addition, Babe Ruth League, Inc. does not charge local leagues to participate in tournament trails.
Babe Ruth League, Inc.'s approved accident insurance* is Primary Coverage-not secondary. Babe Ruth League, Inc. insurance programs cover leagues and teams for up to 12 months (if they obtain their coverage annually by Feb. 1); and local leagues will not have to purchase additional insurance for Fall Ball, Winter Programs or when they participate in tournaments outside of Babe Ruth League.