• Welcome To NCYB
• How to Sign Up and Costs
• Spring Season and Winterball
• All Stars
• Field Locations
• Divisions
• Differences between PONY and Little League
• What makes NCYB different?
• League History
• Mission Statement

Welcome to North City Youth Baseball! Located in the San Diego community of Clairemont, NCYB offers recreational youth baseball to all boys and girls from ages 5 to 14.

Any child is able to play during the regular recreation season and playoffs in NCYB, regardless of where they live. For all-stars, NCYB boundaries includes Clairemont, University City, Kearny Mesa, Linda Vista, Birdland, Serra Mesa, Tierrasanta, and other neighborhoods.

NCYB is affiliated with PONY Baseball (Protect Our Nation’s Youth). Some of the differences between PONY and Little League are detailed below. To see a boundary map that is only applicable to all-stars, please click here.

For any newcomers to North City, we are now registering players for our Spring 2016 season. A timetable of events is available on our website under the Events tab.

North City has two seasons in which it plays. Spring Season runs from February to June. Winterball begins in September and ends before Thanksgiving.

Immediately following the Spring Season NCYB creates one or more teams of top players within each division to represent the league in the PONY All-Stars tournament. These players will continue playing into the month of July.

To see a list of the impressive successes NCYB has experienced over the recent years, click on the All-Stars tab.

NCYB is fortunate to occupy two major baseball complexes, which are within 1.5 miles of each other. This means we have a much greater ability to simultaneously have fields available for both games and practices. There are nine playing fields and a total of three batting cages between the two facilities.

Our Shetland (ages 5-6), Pinto (ages 7-8), Mustang (ages 9-10) and Bronco (ages 11-12) divisions play at both of our facilities, while the Pony Division plays only at the Hickman complex. The 4741 Mt Etna Drive facility is in the heart of Clairemont, while the Hickman Athletic facility is on the border of Clairemont and Kearny Mesa.

To see some pictures click on North City Fields.

There are three major differences PONY offers:

1. Pitching machine for younger ages

2. Leadoffs and steals for older ages

3. Increasingly larger field sizes as players move up in age

The first key difference is at ages 7-8 (Pinto) -- which is one of the most popular participating age in all of youth baseball. NCYB (and PONY in general) features a pitching machine for the full season – as opposed to player-pitch as is often the practice in Little League.

Any player/parent who has seen a Little League game at this age level no doubt has suffered through the walk-filled boredom that results from kids who don’t have the physical ability to either consistently throw or hit live pitching.

Pitchers too often hurt their arms and shatter confidence by pitching at such an early age. Hitters don’t develop because they rarely see hittable balls and are rightly worried about being hit themselves. Base-running skills don’t develop because there are so few base-runners who advance off a hit. And defensive skills don’t improve because the ball is so seldom put into play.

All this too often results in a complete lack of on-field action – which ultimately concludes with players and families dropping out of baseball because they consider it too boring.

By contrast, Pinto is regarded by many as the most exciting division of PONY because of the fast-paced action, and the dramatic improvement of all players over the course of the season in all phases of the game. This is all due to a consistent ball being pitched by the machine. Many families move from Little League to PONY just for this reason.

The second major distinction comes at the next level up with ages 9-10 (Mustang). By this point, players are physically and emotionally mature enough to be introduced to live pitching. Unlike Little League though, PONY allows leadoffs and steals. This introduces additional nuances to the game just as you see in the big leagues.

For example, pitchers learn how to pitch from the wind-up and stretch, holding runners on bases. Catchers learn how to throw out potential base stealers. Base-runners learn proper lead-offs and other base running techniques.

The third significant difference is that as players move up from one division to the next, the base path distances increase. Little League maintains the same distances not increasing the size of the infield as the players get older and stronger. Therefore the infield never grows larger than 60’ between the bases. For comparison, freshman high school baseball up through the major leagues features 90’ base paths.

PONY believes in graduating up in field size as players get older. For all field dimensions, please see “Divisions” above.

Solid, stable league

• A league of 350 players total makes it large enough to have 6-10 teams in each division but small enough you get to know lots of parents and players
• Although many leagues around the country have seen declining numbers of participation, NCYB has maintained the same level for years (even growing over the past several)

High quality fields

• NCYB is known for creating and maintaining some of the most lush, green, smooth fields in San Diego County.
• The recent expansion taking over the Hickman complex has doubled the number of fields available for games/practices.

Knowledgeable managers/coaches. This is the result of several elements:

• NCYB generally has more potential managers than actual positions. The board of directors formally interviews each candidate selecting only the most qualified based on both knowledge and temperament.
• Managers and coaches are required to attend manager clinics, which provide skills to brand new coaches and continually improve the more experienced managers.
• Independent division representatives work with managers throughout the season to provide feedback.
• Parent survey of their manager/coaching staff. At the end of each season, parents formally rate the manager and coaching staff through a league-wide survey comprised of a variety of questions. The board uses this information in selecting the next crop of managers, as well as identifying areas the league needs to improve – taking specific action to do so.

Parental Involvement

• There are a wide-range of volunteers within NCYB making it an extremely well-run league.

Sunday afternoon teams

• While games are held throughout the week as well as all day on Saturday, for certain divisions NCYB has a popular option to play on teams who primarily play weekends on Sunday afternoons after 2 PM (instead of Saturday).

Great snack bars at both Mt. Etna and Hickman fields

• And NCYB requires no snack bar duties.

In 2010 North City Youth Baseball absorbed both Clairemont Mesa Little League (ages 5-12) as well as Clairemont Pony League (which had a single division of players aged 13-14). Both NCYB and CMLL have a long history in San Diego.

In the 1950s, when the community of Clairemont was being constructed, the need for youth sports organizations became evident with all the new, young families moving in. A number of little leagues popped up in the area, including the North Clairemont and Clairemont Mesa Little Leagues. The NCLL played its games on fields located at what we know today as the Clairemont Square shopping center and CMLL was located on land where the 805 freeway now runs.

“North Clairemont” Little League becomes “North City” PONY League

As Clairemont grew, new land was being graded and leveled for new homes. In the late 1960s, a group of Clairemont residents noticed the developers were dumping a great deal of the left over dirt from grading into a nearby canyon of Mt Etna Drive. In 1971, this group leveled and groomed the dirt in the canyon to create what is now our Mustang and Bronco fields.

In 1972, Mr. Frank Morales asked utility companies to dump the excess dirt generated from the undergrounding of utility lines into the hole set just outside the Mustang field. He later utilized a tractor to level and compact the dirt inside the canyon to make what is now the Pinto field. This new leveled piece of land then became the new home of the North Clairemont Little League.

However, in the early 1980s, under the leadership of league president, Tom Klauda, the North Clairemont Little League changed its affiliation from Little League to Pony Youth Baseball. This change allowed for more aggressive and competitive play for the league’s players. The change also required the league lose its “North Clairemont” name. It was decided the new league should be called, “North City” to maintain the “NC” logo the league had nurtured up to that point.

Clairemont Little League’s Honorable History

On December 4, 1959, a young pilot from the Miramar Naval Air Station named Joe Hickman was flying over the Clairemont community when his jet experienced a “flameout”. With his jet gliding towards a playground full of children at Hawthorne Elementary, Ensign Hickman did not bail out, but rather sacrificed himself and guided his jet into a canyon next to the school.

In the late 1960s, with plans to run the new 805 freeway through their fields, CMLL was forced to relocate. The U.S. Navy allowed CMLL to lease a small corner of the Miramar Naval Air Station’s land for a price of $1 per year. This new site for CMLL became known as Hickman Fields in honor of the brave pilot who sacrificed himself for the many children at the school, some of whom probably played the first games at that location.

Joe Hickman

In the 50s, 60s, and 70s NCLL and CMLL enjoyed large league sizes as the children of Clairemont competed for local bragging rights. However, throughout the 80s, 90s and 2000s, both leagues saw their numbers fluctuate as the population of Clairemont and surrounding communities changed.

In 2010, with their league's participation dangerously low, both Clairemont Pony and Clairemont Mesa Little League approached North City about joining forces in an effort to ensure baseball continues to be played on the Hickman Field site. With the absorbtion of those players, North City’s numbers are as strong as they have been in over 20 years.

Today, the new North City Youth Baseball league consists of five divisions and enjoys the use of 9 NCYB-controlled and maintained baseball diamonds, as well as other additional practice fields throughout Clairemont. As in years past, the continued support and volunteerism of community members like you will ensure we handover a strong, competitive and first-class youth baseball league to the next generation of North City families.