PAL Baseball, Sponsored by Walmart

PAL’s Citywide Baseball Program, Sponsored by Walmart, Provides Fun, Safe, and Free Summer Activity for Hundreds of Kids

Baseball is America’s pastime.  Here at Philly PAL, it’s also one of our favorite summer activities.  Thanks to a continued partnership with Walmart, PAL was able to provide exciting in-house leagues at the Gibbons and Harrowgate PAL centers, and citywide leagues for our 12-and-Under and 14-and-Under divisions.  Serving nearly 1,000 kids and teens, baseball is a staple in PAL’s summer program offerings.

Kicking off in late June with our annual Homerun Derby, PAL’s Citywide League plays games throughout the summer at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park.  The program provides an alternative to the streets, and keeps kids engaged in a healthy, team-oriented fitness activity that allows them to spend time bonding with friends and under the guidance of their mentors from the Philadelphia Police Department.  This season, participants were excited to get a fresh, new look to their uniforms, and took pride in wearing their new baseball gear.

While all teams deserve credit for participation and for competing valiantly throughout the season, the championship games boasted particularly exciting matchups.  The 14-&-Under Championship featured Cobbs Creek PAL and perennial PAL Baseball powerhouse, Ford PAL.  Despite Ford PAL’s prestigious place in PAL baseball history, West Philly’s Cobbs Creek PAL edged them out for the win.  The 12-&-Under Championship was a clash of two of PAL’s baseball titans: Harrowgate PAL and Cozen PAL.  Both teams have been post-season nemeses for a number of years.  In a tight finish, Cozen eked by Harrowgate to win 5-4.  Congratulations to all children who took part in our summer baseball program and PAL Center Directors Police Officers Darryl Johnson and  Cassandra Parks-DeVaughn (Cobbs Creek PAL), Police Officer Joe Ellerby (Ford PAL), Police Officers Frank Rivera and Sharon Wells (Harrowgate PAL), and Police Officers Kareem Johnson and Phyllis Young (Cozen PAL).

Special thanks to Walmart for their unwavering commitment to our mission of “Cops Helping Kids.”