The PPBA began operation in 1994 as an association. It transitioned to a Not-For-Profit New York corporation in 2007 and is also recognized as a charity by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) corporation that allows the deductibility of donations. (Click here for a copy of our IRS Letter) Our tax id# is 26-1340053. The PPBA is a league for co-ed baseball for boys and girls ages 4-17 and girls’ softball ages 10-17. Games are played on the seven diamonds and fields painted in the grass for 4-8 year olds in the Prospect Park Long Meadow and on other neighboring fields. Games are scheduled every day of the week usually starting the first weekend of April and finishes with a tournament that ends the third weekend of June. Weekday games start at 6pm. Weekend games are all day on most fields. The PPBA sets the rules, obtains the field permits from the NYC Parks Department, creates the team schedules, handles schedule change requests made only by the coaches, hires the umpires (who are trained by a separate umpire organization), and, with the help of parent volunteers, assist in the maintenance of the fields with the Prospect Park Alliance turf crew. The teams are placed in different divisions that usually contain two age groups. For example, the Cubs baseball division is for 9 and 10 year olds. Players must be no older than the oldest age for each division as of the same date as the public school cutoff date of December 31. Players must play in their age appropriate group. Very limited exceptions must be approved by the PPBA in advance in writing. Some age groups have so many teams, that a division is subdivided into sub-divisions. Teams are placed in those sub-divisions based upon the agreement of the organizations.