If you run a youth baseball or softball program, you get approached by a lot of organizations. Most want something from you — registration data, sponsorship placement, a share of your concession revenue, an endorsement.

This article is about what we provide to you, and it’s fairly specific. Four things.

1. Funding for breakaway bases

This is the core of what we do.

We provide grants and funding to youth baseball and softball leagues to replace old, unsafe, or non-breakaway bases with new breakaway bases that substantially reduce the risk of sliding injuries.

What that means in practice for your league:

You don’t have to find the money. The most common reason fields still have stationary bases isn’t disagreement about safety — it’s that the budget went to umpires, insurance, and uniforms. We remove that constraint rather than lecturing you about it.

You get equipment chosen on evidence. We fund Rogers® Breakaway™ systems, developed through years of clinical research and refinement, and the system that showed the only statistically significant reduction in force at the foot in comparative testing of base types.

The configuration fits your field. Depending on age divisions and field layout, that might be an Original BreakAway™ set, a Change-Up BreakAway™ set, or a setup with a double first base to reduce collisions at the busiest bag in youth baseball.

Installation is usually simple. Most breakaway bases fit standard field anchors, so conversion is typically an equipment swap rather than a construction project.

To access this, you apply. Applications are reviewed on demonstrated need, athletes impacted, program need and support, and organizational structure — and selected programs are notified directly, typically within about a week.

2. Field safety assessments

Not every league knows what it has. This is more common than people admit, and it isn’t negligence — board members turn over, fields get inherited, and equipment that’s been there for a decade stops registering as a decision anyone made.

Our team helps leagues identify unsafe bases and offers guidance on upgrading to safer equipment, so fields meet modern safety standards.

This is useful even if you never receive funding from us, because it answers questions a league often can’t answer internally:

• Are these bases breakaway, stationary, or a mix across diamonds?
• What condition is the anchoring system in?
• Which of our fields should be prioritized if we can only do one?
• What would a complete conversion actually require?
• What do current safety standards expect of us?

A documented assessment is also useful leverage. When you go to your municipality, your parks department, a local business, or your own board with photographs and a clear description of the gap, you’re making a much stronger case than “the bases are old.”

3. Partnerships with organizations

We collaborate with schools, leagues, and corporate sponsors to expand access to breakaway bases nationwide, amplifying the impact of every dollar donated.

For your league, partnership can work in a few directions:

Connecting you with local support. Businesses in your community often want to support youth sports but want their money attached to something concrete. Safety equipment is unusually easy to say yes to — more compelling than another outfield banner.

Working through your parent organization. Regional and national bodies can move more fields at once than individual leagues can. Rogers Base Company’s partnership with PONY Baseball and Softball as its official base provider is an example of how much faster change moves at that level.

Linking leagues to each other. Programs that have converted their fields are the most credible advocates for programs that haven’t. We help make those introductions.

Team and league fundraising. If your program wants to raise part of the cost itself, we can help structure it. Our giving tiers make the ask concrete: $100 funds a single breakaway base, $200 a double first base, $600 an entire field.

4. Knowledge and support

We raise awareness about the importance of base safety through community outreach, social media, and partnerships with sports organizations.

For a league, this translates into practical backup:

Facts you can put in front of your board. The 71% figure. The AAOS position statement. Little League International’s Rule 1.06 requirement for disengage-able bases since 2008. It’s much easier to move a board with orthopaedic consensus behind you than with a personal opinion.

Help explaining it to parents. Parents ask good questions. Will the base come loose? Will it slow the game down? Is this necessary? Having clear answers ready prevents a good decision from stalling on a misunderstanding.

Coach and umpire orientation. Anyone officiating on breakaway bases should understand that a dislodged base is the system working, and that resetting it takes seconds. A short briefing before your first game eliminates most of the adjustment period.

Someone to call. If you have a question about your fields, your options, or your application, you can reach us at 877-200-7970 or info@seventhbase.org. We would much rather answer a question early than lose a league to uncertainty about whether it qualifies.

Who this is for

These services are available to Little League® and other affiliated programs, PONY, Babe Ruth and Cal Ripken organizations, independent and community-run leagues, parks and recreation programs, school-affiliated youth programs, travel and club organizations, and softball programs at every age level.

If your program serves young athletes and your fields have stationary bases, you are in scope. If you’re unsure, ask rather than assuming you don’t qualify.

What we don’t provide

Worth being straight about, so nobody’s time gets wasted.

We don’t fund general field renovation — dugouts, fencing, lighting, irrigation, or scoreboards. We don’t fund uniforms, travel, or operating costs. We don’t run coaching certification or clinics.

We fund bases and support the safety decisions around them. Narrow focus is what lets a small organization actually move the needle instead of spreading thin.

How to start

The most useful first step is a field audit you can do yourself in twenty minutes: photograph each base, note the anchoring system and any wear, count your fields and athletes, and note your age divisions.

Then apply for bases, or get in touch if you’d rather talk it through first.

Your season starts sooner than you think, and equipment decisions made now are the ones that protect players this year.