Yet another sign of warmer days to come: Baseball signups!

baseballclipart.jpgRegistration is already under way for this year’s West Seattle Association of Pee Wee Baseball league, which is for 5-10 year-olds, both genders. WSAPWB president Doug Groesbeck kindly took some time to talk with WSB so we’d be able to tell you more:

If you’re not familiar with Pee Wee Baseball, you might wonder, what’s the difference between it and Little League, which also has a thriving West Seattle organization?

A few things, Doug explained, including a more-gradual increase in the length of the basepaths as kids move between age groups in Pee Wee baseball (followed by the next level up, the Pony League). There’s also a location difference — Pee Wee is based at Riverview Playfield in east West Seattle, where the league has played for more than 30 years (more history on their website), while Little League plays many of its games at Bar-S in the west.

But Doug says they’re not out for any kind of rivalry – just to help kids learn about baseball and get out to have fun. He’s been with the league 8 years, and is staying to lead Pee Wee this year even though his own son is now out of the age group and has moved on to the Southwest Pony League (on a team that Doug is coaching).

If you’re in the “greater West Seattle area” – stretching on to Burien, Doug says – your family’s eligible. The age groups for play are the “Shetland” T-ballers, 5 and 6 years old; “Pinto,” 7 and 8 year olds; and “Mustang,” 9 and 10 year olds. You can join at any of those levels – beginners are as welcome at the Mustang level as they are at the Shetland level.

Signups are under way now; practices will start in March — usually twice a week — then games run April-June, usually two per week for the T-ball teams, three for the older kids. Doug says registration will be open as long as there are spots on teams, but if they happened to get to a point where existing teams were full, he says, they would be more than thrilled to open up new ones. One of the Pee Wee/Pony League goals, he says, is to keep teammates together — unlike some other formats of play where new teams are formed every year, he says some of the kids in the league play together for years. (Photo below from the Pee Wee site shows the 2006 All-Star team.)

allstarteam.jpg

How much does all this cost, you ask? “We try to keep it as affordable and reasonable as possible,” Doug told WSB. $50 is the fee for T-ball, which includes hats and jerseys that the players keep after the season; Pinto level is $80, Mustang $95, and those both include full uniforms. But if anyone wanted to play and couldn’t afford those fees, he says there’s the possibility of scholarships. He notes that considering the older Pee Wee Baseball kids play up to 20 games a season, the cost breakdown is pretty low. (More details are in the league’s online FAQ.)

Opening day for West Seattle Pee Wee Baseball is April 7th. But as we mentioned, registration is happening right now; you can find out lots more at the WSAPWB website. (Little League registration is later this month, and we’ll take a closer look at that organization later this weekend.)

2 Replies to "Yet another sign of warmer days to come: Baseball signups!"

  • Tim McMonigle January 12, 2008 (5:20 pm)

    West Seattle Little League is starting registration as well on Jan 22 and 24 at WS High School from 7-9. Games start the end of March or early April.

  • WSB January 12, 2008 (5:57 pm)

    Thanks – when we started working on the Pee Wee story, we asked a WSLL contact for info about that, and it will be in our WSLL writeup which will publish tomorrow morning. Good luck to everybody for a successful season!

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