Jun 25, 2015 3 min read

The teams at the 64th annual Pony League World Series will have a new look this year, and the tournament has a brand new sponsor.

At a joint event held at the Dick’s Sporting Goods store at Strabane Square, PONY Baseball and Softball, Inc., World Series Tournaments, Inc., and Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency announced a multi-year partnership with Dick’s for the naming rights to the annual world series held in Washington.

The agreement means the tournament will be called the Dick’s Sporting Goods Pony League World Series. As part of the deal, Dick’s, which is headquartered in Coraopolis, will provide all teams with uniforms and equipment and be the official retailer of the series. Majestic Athletic, an urban outfitter headquartered in Easton, will produce the uniforms.

“It’s an honor and privilege to make this announcement,” said PONY President Abe Key. “Thanks to Dick’s Sporting Goods for a sponsor for the Pony World Series.

“It’s also an honor to announce that as part of this agreement, Dick’s will be outfitting all 10 teams. They’re partnering with Majestic. The Dick’s team will be providing socks, pants and custom uniforms for each of the 10 teams participating.”

On display at the event were three uniforms for the teams that already qualified for the world series, which will be held Aug. 7-12 at Lew Hays Pony Field in Washington Park.

“The uniforms, that’s something we’ve never been able to do before,” said Tournaments, Inc., President Bob Gregg. “It’s really going to add a neat touch to this year’s event.”

The Mexico Zone champion, Liga Mazatlan, will wear a uniform that is primarily red with green lettering and a green hat. Vienna, Austria, the European Zone champion, will wear a navy blue uniform trimmed in red, and host Washington will wear a gold uniform trimmed in black.

All uniforms will bear the Dick’s logo on the left sleeve, and the new tournament logo also incorporates the Dick’s logo.

“It’s a huge statement to tell you that the world series is solid,” said Gregg. “It’s growing, and it’s going to be in Washington, Pennsylvania, Washington County, the home of PONY Baseball.”

Gregg also said the championship game will again be broadcast live for the second consecutive year on WPCW-TV Aug. 12 at 7:30 p.m. All games will be available via live streaming on the Internet through plws.org and ponyworldseries.org.

Students from Waynesburg University’s Department of Communications will coordinate the video stream and manage the live scoring of the tournament on the Internet.

The Pony League World Series, which has been held in Washington for 54 of its 64 years, received a boost in recent years through sponsorships from Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency.

PONY Baseball and Softball, headquartered in North Franklin Township, was founded in Washington in 1951, with the first World Series being held in 1952.