David "Pop" Eldredge was born in 1907 in Lahaina, Maui, one of 11 children. In 1919, at the age of 12, Pop starting playing with the older boys in the plantation village and that was the start of it all. Pop became the Athletic Director for the Pioneer Mill Company in Lahaina from 1926-1940. He started a youth baseball league in Maui 20 years before the first Little League World Series in 1947. Pop coached until 1984 and in 1989 he received the Chuck Leahey Memorial Award for his contributions to Hawai'i baseball. Pop devoted more than 60 years of his life to coaching kids. Dubbed the honorary "Mayor of Manoa", Pop lived and raised his four children in the valley until his passing in 1997.
In 1949, after moving to Manoa from Lana'i, Pop was the head of maintenance for Manoa Recreation Center. With the help of several community members, he cleared the area now known as the “PONY” field. Waist high grass and weeds were cut, holes filled in, and bases set in place.In the spring of 1954, baseball began in the valley.
Teams were formed and games began with Pop being the only coach. He had many years of experience in various sports: football, basketball, baseball, track, swimming, volleyball, and sipa sipa. Pop would be on the bench of the team at bat, then switch sides at the completion of each half-inning. A few years later, the older boys began umpiring the games. The Mānoa Ranger organization was in full swing.
In or around 1957, Pop entered teams in the Police Activities League (PAL). The first team entered was the Liberty House Cardinals in the Major division. Mānoa experienced many years of success in the PAL.
When Mānoa began operating as a separate league, it was one of the first to do so. The league has survived throughout the years with numerous leaders and scores of teams. Mānoa continues to be one of the top youth baseball leagues on Oʻahu.