PONY Baseball and Softball (which stands for Protect Our Nation's Youth) was founded in the summer of 1951 as a transition league for 13 and 14-year old players designed to take graduates of Little League baseball from that diamond to the regulation size diamond. Headquartered in Washington, Pennsylvania, PONY Baseball has developed a program that mirrors Major League Baseball rules and regulations as well as a postseason tournament system.  The World Series are hosted at almost every level of PONY baseball, and held across the United States.

Over 500,000 youth participate in the PONY organization each year. There are currently over 375 Major League Baseball players who are graduates of PONY Baseball, with Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, J.T. Snow and the late Tony Gwynn being just a few of the players who participated in PONY baseball. There were also six players picked in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft who played PONY Baseball.