Merry Christmas From Wiffler's Digest

Mix it up with some Wiffle ornaments

Like it or not, Christmas is upon us. Decorations and lights line the houses on each block, Christmas music blasts over the speakers in each store you enter, and parking lots are so far that finding a spot should merit college credit. For some of us the season is a cheerful celebration, and for others a grueling time of year full of stress and annoyances. Nevertheless, we here at Wiffler's Digest would like to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas. If you find it hard to blend your love for wiffleball with Christmas, take a cue from Trevor Collie, aka Wiffle King. Trevor decided to get creative and paint some wiffleballs and sprinkle them with glitter. Are the chic? No, but it is a creative idea that gets people excited for the upcoming 2012 wiffleball seasons! This photo was taken from the December newsletter from Journey's Excursions to Health and if you haven't subscribed to that newsletter...make it a resolution for the New Year.

Season's Greetings,

Josh Smith
Wiffler's Digest

Black Top Wiffleball League's Winter Meetings

Black Top Wiffleball League, formerly known as Auburn Wiffleball League, in Massachusetts has recently had it's captain meetings to discuss the upcoming 2012 season. This small, 4-team league is making great strides to make 2012 their greatest season yet by making some admirable rule changes. The league plays in a wide open parking lot and as a result there are a few unique problems that many leagues would be unable to relate to. One of the new rules has to do with errors in attempting pegging of runners - in that situation base runners will automatically advance to the next base and no further. This rule is significantly similar to the 'one base over-throw' rule that the Garrett Drive Wiffleball League (GDWL) has used since 2002. The league is also looking to use different venues for the upcoming season such as a skate park and the Industrial Park. The most impressive proposal for the 2012 season is the decathlon the captains must perform to establish the draft order. Activities range from the athletic (field goal kicking) to the random (Yahtzee). Also, their highlights show, Non-Stop Black Top, will have new episodes every two weeks. This is good because, given the potential the show provided in 2011, Non-Stop Black Top has the potential to be one of the best ongoing wiffleball series online. If you don't believe me watch the four episodes they produced in 2011:

              

BWWBP League Play

Brian Trigg and his fantastic Bassett Woods Wiffle Ball Park are in their first season as a league and here is the most recent highlights footage. It's nice to see this beautiful field enjoying some league play. This video is pretty solid, decent commentary, great slow-motion, and good camera angles. These things are hard to find in league highlights videos. Hoping to see much more of this from our friend Trigg.

The Wait Is Over - GSWL Format Release Is Out

The 2012 Format for GSWL/GSTC has finally been released on the Golden Stick website. It's a 27 page magazine explaining in details of what the plan is for 2012. The new point system to determine national standings is pretty impressive. But what I admire most is Lou Levesque's honesty on some issues and admitting that there are still a few things that need to be worked out and is open to the opinions of the players.

If you want to see the magazine for yourself, click HERE and read through it.

Shamefully, my attention mostly went to the dilemma a man named Doug Winship faces on naming his team for 2012. He appears to have narrowed it down to two choices: Wiffzilla and Mustangs. I don't see how this is a hard decision. That Wiffzilla logo is amazing.

Wiffle Logos Resource

Brandon Corbett, of Wiffle in SE Michigan, has began constructing an interesting wiffle website. It's called Wifffle Logos Resource and he's been archiving the team logos of leagues and teams. So far he's only done a few leagues but I'm sure he'll have it all done by the end of next season. So why is he doing this? He explained on a thread on the NWLA messageboard, "Well, first off I love design and logos in general. Second, there are a ton of great (silly-great, and great-great) logos in use throughout NWLA, but usually don't get noticed outside of their own leagues. We already learn a bit about the cultural nuances, similarites, and differences of our leagues bumping shoulders on these forums; so, the WLR is a good way to extend that into seeing a bit more about a league through its creative side, as well." Noticed that teams from your league aren't featured yet? Try to help Brandon out by saving him a lot of legwork and drop him an email with the logos attached. So far he only appears interested in doing NWLA logos, once he gets that done he may or may not do GSWL and other non-NWLA organizations.

Would You Use A Stat App During Your Wiffleball Games?

One of the players from CoMo Wiffleball in Missouri has modified a baseball statistic app to fit the needs of wiffleball games. Below are pictures (click on them to enlarge) he posted on a thread on the NWLA messageboard. He wants to know if he further developed the app, would people be willing to pay for it. Take a look at the pictures and determine if you would be willing to use the app and pay or just stick with score sheets.

Brainless Threesome

Given the positions that the recipients took, I have my suspicions on what they did with the bats after the camera stopped rolling. I won't go into details but I think we all know what I'm hinting at.

Dedication - do you have it?

As someone who has played in the snow before, I doubt these kids ever do it again...but if they do they have a considerable amount of dedication. Snowy conditions simply aren't a productive atmosphere for wiffleball. The ball and bat, and everything else, gets wet. Freezing temperatures cause the joints to become stiff, and put players at greater risk for developing pneumonia or hypothermia. The costs outweigh the benefits but if you and your friends are careless enough to play some wiffleball in the snow this winter, be sure to send us a copy of the url of the video to us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com

Backyard League in PA is Thinking Big

Kevin Sickle of Wilkes-Barre, PA could possible receive a $10,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project. If Sickle gets the grant he will get a piece of land and build a wiffleball field that can host league games and charity tournaments. There's no reason NOT to believe that he'll do this as he's done charitable tournaments before for Sears' Heroes at Home and the Colleen Shea Foundation. Sickle has overseen 8 seasons for his league, Backyard Wiffle Ball League and would become a fixture in the sport in a hurry if he receives the honor of getting the grant. Sickle can't get this funding on his own. There's a voting system on the refresh project site and the top ideas get the money. Currently, Sickle's idea is in 12th place in the $10,000 tier - four places lower than a few days ago. Help this guy out by VOTING for his idea and watch another extraordinary wiffle event unfold.

WiffleATL Turning Over A New Leaf

Last spring I expressed how skeptical I was that WiffleATL would updated their website. They're notorious for having a sleek website with outdated information - which is a shame. 2011 saw more updates from them than I can recall in 2010. And for that, I think congratulations are in order. But I've noticed that the homepage of the website never featured the end of the playoffs or anything like that. So I prowled their messageboard and it didn't take long to find out that someone from the league has built a blogger website for the league and it appears that it could possibly replace the current website. Perhaps relieving the burden of working on the design of the site will be exactly what the league's webmaster needs to update the site more often. Leagues using blogger can have really nice sites too (such as Wiffle in Southeast Michigan) so it's not like WiffleATL is settling for less.

Golden Stick Experiences Website Woes

 

This comes as no surprise to Golden Stick followers, but the GSWL website has been hacked and Lou Levesque has temporarily shut down the site until the problem is resolved. Although the threat to visitors is gone, others may have not been so lucky as facebook information was required to get to the messageboard and eventually to view the site at all. Levesque does not know the origin of the problem. The site could take some time to bounce back, depending on the severity of the hack. But if there's any league that can bounce back quickly it's GSWL. This happens only days before the big announcement of a major format change that is expected some time this week.

Wiff Junkies Indoor Tournament In 9 Days

If you visit the Tournament Tracker page on this blog you'll quickly notice that there were nearly 100 tournaments this year and few stand out. You'll also notice that the frequency of tournaments dramatically drops after late August or early September. So when a promising winter tournament in New England appears I feel I must point it out. Scotty "Wiffs" Martell (from Golden Stick) emailed me about such a tournament. He's hosting a tournament in N. Smithfield, Rhode Island on December 17. It's not only an indoor tournament, which is rare, but it's a tournament that takes place during the middle of the night - the only tournament to do that this year (that I'm aware of). It starts at 10 p.m. and, depending on the amount of teams, will surely continue well past the time when the rooster crows.

I should also mention that Martell runs a site that some of you may have heard of, Wiff Junkies. The site is similar to this one, a blog that sports an online magazine. From what I can tell, all (or most) of the articles appear to have been written by Martell. Quite impressive if you ask me - that's quite a load. The things I have previously mentioned is where the similarities between Wiffler's Digest and Wiff Junkies end. Wiff Junkies has a primary focus on GSWL/GSTC whereas Wiffler's Digest focuses more on backyard/recreational leagues. There's nothing wrong with that and readers from both magazines could benefit from reading what the other end of the spectrum is talking about...see how the other half lives, if you will. But there is no animosity between the two projects as Martell appears to show respect to the Digest in the Editor's Note from the first issue. So if you want to know a little more about GSWL or just want some more wiffle reading material check them out.

The Digest Is Now Smartphone Friendly

 

I've been reading the site visitor statistics lately and noticed that 15% of our readers this past month visited the site using the Android network, iPhone, iPad, and various other wireless devices. When I visited this website using my smartphone I noticed that that it's troublesome to zoom in to tap any of the links and took away from any enjoyment the site could bring to potential visitors. The solution: now when you visit the digest on your smartphone you should see the mobile friendly version of the site (preview in the image above). Think of it as a Christmas gift from Wiffler's Digest. Enjoy.

Super Savvy Are Weird...I Like It

Witness what could very well be the weirdest wiffleball team in the country: the Super Savvy Psychos out of Georgia.

These Kids Have Seriously Never Heard of Wiffle?

Based on the comments on this video's Youtube page, I found out that it was a fake commercial made for a class project. Fine. What the kid doesn't understand is that the ball he held in his hand at the beginning of the commercial is not a "normal wiffle ball." The simpleton doesn't realize that the 'Zebra Ball' is nothing extraordinary, in fact a better version of it was created over 50 years ago...you know, the real Wiffle Ball. Kids have access to such a vast amount of information on the internet yet this dolt appears to believe he invented something. Unbelievable!

Two Dweebs Hit An Indestructible Camera With A Wiffle Bat

At first glance this video looks like a couple of weird guys wearing metrosexual hats and matching vests (cute, right?) trying to perform what they feel is a legitimate science experiment. Well...I guess the deductive first glance works for this video. These guys have managed to take a $300 dollar video camera (GoPro Hero 2) and beat it with something that costs 1% of the cost of the camera (a wiffle bat). The due runs a site called gizmoslip.com where you can watch more videos of them abusing technology. If you're interested they've also thrown the GoPro off a 6 story building and set a Kindle Fire on fire - how clever. Not really. Where these guys get the money to buy all these products is unknown. Why they do this is another fact that escapes me. I think the real question is why do these two grown men dress the way they do?

Who Are America's Best Pitchers?

Let's face it - writing articles can involve a lot of unnecessary legwork. One of the articles that's in the works for the upcoming (and very delayed) issue of the magazine is about the top pitchers in the country. We need YOUR input on who the best arms are in your league. The best way to do this is to email us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com and give us the name of the person, their 2011 stats (career stats would be nice too), a picture of them, and a little background information. This article will be featuring pitchers not only from backyard/recreational leagues in the NWLA but from Golden Stick and Palisades as well. The article will be covering what we feel are the top 20 pitchers in America. It's a difficult task that can be made easier if you cooperate and meet us halfway by sharing who the best pitcher(s) are in your league.

GSWL Announcement... On An Upcoming Announcement?

So it's barely the off-season, a time that most league commissioners or presidents are taking it easy and not thinking about what the next season will bring. But if you're like Lou Levesque and run the largest wiffleball organization in the country - you don't have the luxury of "taking it easy" for about 5 or 6 months like the rest of us. According to a brand new article posted on Golden Stick's website there will be some major changes happening to the GSWL/GSTC format next year. What are the changes? No one outside of the Golden Stick front office knows. What was the point of the article? I can't say for sure. I suppose it's a 'heads up' that some fecal matter could be hitting the metaphorical fan for some of it's players. With great changes comes great dispute. Levesque has the league on "stand by" and to not make any significant decisions about teams and so on because the new format will surely "rock the boat." The front office had "headed discussions" over the changes and it's up to the players to "perfect it" once the new format is released to the public.

However, Levesque says the changes are necessary and that he "won’t stop looking until we [golden stick] see that we’re truly perfect.” In sum, Levesque is striving for perfection in his latest overhaul of the league's format. I find this to be admirable but cannot help but worry that his vision, which has yet to be revealed to the public eye, may be too ambitious. The funny thing about ambition is few people have it and it can serve as a repellant to many. Levesque is a man who is no stranger to constantly 'reinventing the wheel' but it takes hard work and dedication to perform such a task. I guess the real question is can the players in Golden Stick support Levesque's vision? We'll soon find out.

Oven Fresh This Month In Wiffleball

Love them or hate them, Palisades WBL has cracked out another impressive episode of their This Month In Wiffleball series. This time they recap the playoffs and announce which players won awards. The Giants won the championship, which is nice because the Blue Jays have won the championship 3 times in a row (2008-2010). It's unfortunate but Palisades seems to have escaped the view of many wiffleball enthusiasts lately. Palisades parting ways with the NWLA early this past summer could be to blame. Yet Palisades has since remained the most popular third party wiffleball league out there. They still have a lot to offer: top notch competition, dazzling videos, and a heated message board. Long story short: don't forget about Palisades. Although their name may be somewhat tarnished from the very public disputation with Kalamazoo Wiffleball League from earlier this year, the fact remains that they are well deserved contenders for your attention.

And if you think this will be the final episode of This Month In Wiffleball for a while, think again. This episode foreshadows that there will be a video following the free agency.

New Article For NWLA About OCWA Freaky Franchise

Freaky Franchise finished the 2011 season at 9th place (NWLA Rankings) making them one of the best backyard teams in America. I felt it necessary to shine the spotlight on them for a brief moment and interviewed the players to see what they had to say about their new found success. I had not written an article for the NWLA website in quite some time but knew an article about a team from a small league breaking into the top 10 in the nation was a story worth writing. If you would like to read the article you can click HERE or click on the Freaky Franchise image at the top of this post. Enjoy.

If you would like to actually see Freaky Franchise in action you can check out a link to a VIDEO showing some game highlights. Yes, the music is annoying and the camera angles are not very inspiring but you'll get to see their unique field - Bush Grapes Park (they play off a house).

Let The 2012 Previews Begin

Wiffle in Southeast Michigan (WSEM) are officially the first league to come out with a 2012 preview video. Congratulations guys. It's good to see that these guys are so certain that they're having a 2012 season. I've personally met a few of them and they are a great group of players and I look forward to following them this upcoming season and seeing some of them at the 2012 London Wiffleball Tournament in London, OH this summer.

Wiffleboy28 Has A New Video Out

Attention all you Wiffleboy28 fans...as you may know he has a new video out. This time the subject of his attention is predicting ball movement and further instruction on pitching delivery. Most of his videos tend to be the same thing but I never tire of watching him nail that strikezone. His talent is undeniable and the fact that he's willing to pass his knowledge to striving young pitchers is admirable. His videos normally just trail off but this time he poured a bucket of balls out and hopped on top of them. I'm not sure what that's all about but makes for a memorable finalé.

Tadashi Still Doing His Thing

It's nice to see that our friend in Japan, Tadashi Onizuka, is still working on his game. He appears to have all but master the screwball. I'd love to interview this guy but a lot gets lost in translation because I don't speak Japanese and he speaks little English. He may forever remain an enigma.

Turkey Day Wiffle

Not all of us are so lucky to live somewhere with palm trees where the weather is always nice, especially during Thanksgiving. But I'm sure there were some of you out there who risked getting pneumonia to play in places like Massachusetts or some place like that. If that did indeed occur it wasn't uploaded onto Youtube as of yet.

How was your Thanksgiving? Did you play any wiffleball?

NWLA Releases National Teams and Wiffy Awards

The National Wiffle League Association recently released the names of the players from across the country who made the list for the national teams as well as the coveted "Wiffy" Awards. This is the 6th year that the all-powerful "Wiffleball100" (the guy who runs the NWLA website) has taken the time to weigh all the players within the jurisdiction of the NWLA and declare which are the best. Each year the NWLA gets more leagues than they had in the previous year and, as a result, it's fair to say that this is a project that is an extremely laborious task and we thank the NWLA for taking the time to tell us which of America's backyard players are among the elite.

"The Boss. He's Back!"

Commissioner Dee of the HRL Twin Cities posted an update on November 9th entitled 'Life, the Universe, and Everything'. The big news message within Dee's message has rocked the wiffleball world with excitement: Pat "Truck" Moriarty is coming back. And by coming back, I mean reclaiming his role as commissioner of the HRL. In 2010 he stepped down as commish and turned the league over to Craig "Dee" Deelsnyder. While Dee has done a great job running the league, it is undeniable that the HRL lost it's social flair (with the exception of the Blue Jays, of course) that it had when Truck was at the captain's wheel. I was not the only person who shared the position that the HRL had become reclusive under Dee's watch. The HRL was once very involved in the NWLA messageboard but suddenly dropped out of the national spotlight in 2010. Their league board was quite alive and well, however, leading some to believe that they no longer were concerned with what everyone else was doing or maintaining their reputation as the nation's top recreational wiffleball league. With the sudden downturn of the HRL, the Kalamazoo Wiffleball League and Palisades WBL muscled away the spotlight and the HRL - a distant memory. KWL commissioner, Brian Meyers, wrote an article about his disappointment in the HRL and called them out as his league (KWL) had won the 2010 Wiffy Awards for Website of the Year and Commissioner of the year, which the HRL previously had a dynasty on. But I've got to ask, is Dee the one who should shoulder all the blame for the HRL's fall from grace? I don't think so. It takes more than one guy to get the word out about a league and a commissioner can only do so much. Dee cited that he had a lot of things going on in his personal life and that he could no longer "put the time and effort needed to run the HRL" and that "life was catching up" to him and that, as a result, he was stepping down as league commissioner. It is unfortunate that such an able commissioner is stepping down from one of the nation's top leagues but we can all take great comfort in the fact that the league is still in good and familiar hands as the league enters it's second era under Pat "Truck" Moriarty's reign.

Halloween Costumed Wiffleball Game

In the event that you ever wanted to see the Lucky Charms guy dive for a fly ball or a biker pull a "free willy" over a first basement - then you're in luck! There's no sound except for one part near the end of the video. I have no clue why.

"Wet" Wiffleball

"Like dry wiffleball? We like it wet." Best part of when he's saying that is the guy next to him is holding a limp noodle. If you've been watching wiffle videos or prowled the webernets for new leagues for a while, like me, you'll find that the field looks so familiar. Come to find out it's the Fridley Factors field, which was a Minnesota league that appeared to primarily consist of family and neighborhood friends. This video is only worth watching for the first minute and a half, then it turns into some sort of vlog entry or something.

Kid Pitches In The Snow

I suppose that this is an indication that we could be seeing at least some wiffle-related activity this winter from places OTHER THAN Florida.

Premature Death For One GSWL Wiffler

It is with regret that today's post is the announcing of the untimely death of Kyle Piazza from Golden Stick Wiffleball League on October 30, 2011. His demise came at the hands of cancer. He only lived to be 28 years old but his reputation appears to have had the tendency to precede him as he was described as "unbreakable as they come" on the NWLA messageboard today. He  won Most Valuable Player last year in the MA Region of Yard League and won the MA Region with the Throwbacks in 2009. Clearly this guy was talented and his absence will be noticed in the MA Region but he "will always be a champion" according to an article on the GSWL website. Golden Stick has also uploaded a tribute video that you can view if you so desire.

HFWB 2012 Promo

Hess Field Wiffle Ball has recently posted a promo video for the 2012 season. A little soon, I know. But they must be super excited to get another season underway. The league really had a spectacular season in 2011 and seem to have recovered from their 2010 funk. Wish they would have used a different song. It's been done with the Winston-Salem Wiffleball League 2010 promo video (which won 2010 NWLA Video of the Year).

Dude throws Wiffle Ball onto MLB Field during World Series

Not many people are watching the World Series this year, in fact this series is one of the least watched in the sport for quite some time (according to Variety). I ask everyone if they're watching and most say no and when I ask why the generally respond by saying "I don't care for either of the teams." Judging by this video there are people at the games who are getting bored as well. One fan even threw a wiffleball onto the field. Comments on the page for this video on Youtube convey that some want him to be thrown in jail for this - but I just think it's hilarious.

Source from Variety: World Series no Albatross for Fox by Jon Weisman, 10/18/2011

Top 20 GSWL Pitchers

Golden Stick Wiffleball posted a new article asking their members to cast their votes on who they think the top 20 pitchers are in the GSWL/GSTC. If you are a member you probably already know about it or are currently finding out. If you are a fan of their organization then you'll still want to keep an eye out on that post as members comment with their opinions on who the Top 20 are.

Spinning Ball

Oh my God! It's a wiffleball spinning in super-slow motion. If you're wondering why the blog has been a little slow lately, this video should really clear things up. Most leagues have wrapped up their seasons and there aren't many tournaments left until next year. So don't take it personal if there aren't posts nearly every day like you may be used to. But don't worry...the blog isn't going anywhere. Things will just be slow until the spring.

Some Kid Reviews the Franklin MLB Powerhouse Bat

I know that there's been videos of kids reviewing wiffle ball products, nothing new. But none of those videos were nearly 5 minutes long! This kid knows no limits when it comes to letting his verbal diarrhea spill out of his mouth. How can you talk about a piece of plastic for nearly 5 minutes? The best part of the video is around 3:59 into the video he sings a little song or something. He also keeps looking over his shoulder 98% of the video as if to make sure his mom isn't walking by his room.

BWWBP Develops League

In the past we've had posts about how it's a shame that Bassett Woods Wiffle Ball Park doesn't have a league to call that wonderful field home. Well, that's over now as BWWBP will have their first fall/winter league starting this month and the season will go through December. They plan to have highlight videos with commentary throughout the season which can make for some interesting viewing considering that 99% of leagues will be done with their season. But it's nice to see that someone is reading what bit of constructive criticism that this blog has to offer. We get quoted throughout the video and they use it as inspiration to step their game up. Nice!

Last Call To Register For WiffleFest!

I received an alert from NJWA President, Mike Palinczar, announcing that WiffleFest 2011 (14th Annual) is just around the corner and that the deadline for registration is TODAY! So if you're interested in playing in this tournament - don't delay! Register today!

PWBPA Needs You!

Many of you may have over-looked the ad in the latest issue of the Wiffler's Digest Magazine but there is a registry out there known as the Professional Wiffle Ball Players Association - and they need you to register. About 1,500 people have already registered and I think the overall point of the project is to see how many wiffleball players there are out there. There may be undiscovered leagues, tournaments, or teams out there that could be found if a lot more people register. It also could become the largest wiffle mailing list and could serve the purpose of reaching a vast amount of players with important wiffle-related information. Nick Benas, of Big League Wiffleball, has been working on this project for quite some time now but the rate of registration for this has almost stopped. Let's pick it back up! Your info you put in when you register will be archived and you will have left your mark on the game. It's free and you'll receive a membership certificate as well as an occasional newsletter with tournament listings, etc. This project seems to have the intention of filling the void that Wiffleball.net left when they shut down their beloved site. Those of you who remember that website know what I'm talking about.

Only posted this for one reason

This video is pretty boring but the only reason I posted it is because I had a hearty laugh at these kids' hair styles. Who still gets a bowl haircut? That and they get WAY too close to each other when they pitch. I kept thinking maybe one of them will get nailed by a line drive but it never happened.

"If I was a lefty I would poop myself"

Nothing really special about this video. This kid just made a video comparing some pitches that Erik Anderson and Sean "Wiffleboy28" Steffy have to offer. "Which is nastier?" and that kind of stuff. What makes this video relatively entertaining is the text commentary between scenes such as "Mamma Mia Let's See That again" or "Dear God Thats Nasty If I was a Lefty I Would Poop Myself Lets See That Again". Then there's also "Comment on Whos Screw You Think is Better". I'm not even going to say anything on that, I don't think I have to. Who needs punctuation when you can capitalize the first letter in every word of a sentence?

Eastside Expos Take 2012 CCWA Crown

This morning the CCWA announced on their facebook that the Eastside Expos won the 2012 CCWA Championship Series 3 games to 0 against the Jackmove Giants. One of their players, Dan Sefner, won 2012 CCWA Player of the Year. The Expos held the Giants scoreless in all three games of the series. They won game one by the score of 1-0 thanks to Sefner's fine pitching and won game two 1-0 thanks to Omar Steinberg's no-hitter (Steinberg also was responsible for the lone run - which was a solo shot). Sefner took the mound again for the Expos in game three and shut the Giants out 3-0. Congratulations to the Eastside Expos!

Silence of the Wiffleball

It's October and Halloween is just around the corner. It's time for you and a few of your friends to head to the local cinema and share a tub of buttered popcorn in comfortable seats as you see, what is most likely, a terrible scary/horror movie. But how do you decide which movie to see? Allow me to settle that for you. Remember our little knife-lover in the wife beater who showed us how to knife-scuff a wiffleball? Well enjoy this trailer that the guy who runs the NWLA made not too long ago. Seeing this kid still gives me chills. He's creepy. NWLA's Sly Rivers has the story.

It's a hit

Some people will never learn that if you're going to film behind the plate with no protection you need to pay attention. Don't look through the camera the whole time! You have to film and watch at the same time. Sure it's tricky but it'll save you a lot of money in the long run because you will otherwise be buying a lot of replacement cameras

Wifflemania For The Cure - A Success

We received emails and Facebook messages from one of our readers, Ken Flammia, who told us a little bit about the 1st Annual Wifflemania For The Cure Wiffleball Tournament that took place recently in Sarasota, Florida. The tournament was organized to raise money for children with Ataxia Telangiectasia, also known as "A-T". One of the early symptoms of a child having this genetic degenerative neurological disorder is slurred speech and "wobbliness" while walking that "never improves." To find out more about Ataxia Telangiectasia visit the Wobbly Feet Foundation. The tournament had over 14 teams participate and raised over $5,000! Add this tournament to the growing list of wiffle events that raise money for a great cause! So who won? The "A-Team" Pirates and the Sarasota Landsharks were runners-up. Thanks to Ken for passing along the information about this tournament to make this post possible. If you want to see more pictures of the tournament visit the Facebook photo album we dedicated to it.

Watch Hours of Wiffleball Games. Seriously...HOURS.

The Potomac Wiffleball League has been uploading videos of entire games from their current "summer" season. They've uploaded 11 videos in the past 24 hours on their Youtube channel which will provide their players and fans literally hours of visual wiffle stimulation. So who's shredding the competition in the PWL this time around? Scared Hitless and Superman's Wheelchair are leading the standings with a 10-0 record a piece. Big surprise, right? Not really, if you follow their league much.

Wiffleboy on SportsNation

For those who follow Wiffleboy28 on his Facebook page you might have noticed that he announced that he was featured for a brief moment on ESPN's SportsNation yesterday.Wiffleboy appeared to be surprised that he was featured on the show because he was unaware that he would be featured and only heard about it after the episode aired. He announcement also inquired if anyone caught the episode on their dvr so he could see it. So there you have it, yet another place where Wiffleboy28 has popped up on the television.

SAHD Wiffle Reviews Blitzball

As you may remember, we did an interview with Aaron Kim, the founder of Blitzball, for our first issue of the magazine. For many of you this was your first introduction to this product and it has since faded from the minds of most of our readers...but not all. The new and exciting website, Stay-At-Home-Dad Wiffle has been reviewing wiffle products left and right but I noticed that they had not reviewed the Blitzball. I gave them a link to the article in our first issue and soon enough they were ordering some of Kim's products. It had been a couple of weeks since I heard anything about them testing the product and they finally put something up on the website. The wait was well worth it because they put a video up reviewing not only the ball, but the bat as well (which can be ordered in a combo pack for $20). Click HERE to see the review on their site. They seem to be convinced that Blitzball is not an inferior product to Wiffle and, in time, will "built itself into a longtime player in the backyard[s] of America." SAHD Wiffle also thinks that the two products can "co-exist peacefully in the world of backyard bat and ball sports."

More Footage

Not much to say about this except that it's more footage from "the OPEN" tournament presented by Golden Stick.

"Open Arms" At the Open

For those of you who missed the Golden Stick National Championships, aka "the OPEN", in Boston this past week you're in luck because they just leaked a video that displays some of the top pitchers. There are some sick pitches in this video! See for yourself.

"Chug, Spin, Hit... Are You Okay?"

Wiffle Inc. should really just give up and strike up a sponsorship with a beer company so they can make this a sport. I've seen many videos like this (minus the whole chick getting drilled in the face part).

Random, So Random

This video, titled HCOWiffleball, appears to be the most random wiffle video I've seen in quite some time. They're singing 6 seconds of "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" - which is pretty weird. But what puzzles me even more are their outfits. I don't get it.

Wiffle Still Kickin' in Taiwan

It's nice to see that Wiffle Ball is still alive in Southeast Asia. I think this is a different group from the previous Taiwanese video I showed a month or so back. And before you ask, I have no idea why there's a bunch of fireworks/explosions going on in the background.

Josh Burckhardt: Wiffle King of the Pacific Northwest by Nate Bullock

[Dislaimer]: This article written by Nate Bullock for the August/September issue somehow slipped through the cracks and didn't make it into the magazine. This was in no way on purpose and I offer my humblest apology to Nate for this mishap. So since it's still a great article and a good read I've attached it here. Hope this makes up for it Nate! --- Sincerely, Wiffler's Digest

Josh Burckhardt: Wiffle King of the Pacific Northwest by Nate Bullock

Josh Burckhardt of the Cowlitz Phillies is having a season for the record books.  Already one of the most feared hitters in the league he’s taken his hitting to new levels this season.  He is currently batting an eye-popping .500 with 22 homeruns and 92 RBIs.

Burckhardt smashed three round-trippers in his last series against the Clark County Colt .45’s, and he currently sits at 22 homeruns for the season in 22 games and 156 at-bats.  Brad Williamson of the Lexington Brewers set the previous homerun record with 19 bombs last season.  To top it off, Burckhardt is the first player to eclipse the 70 homerun mark for a career.  He has 25 more homeruns than the next leading homerun slugger.

Before the season, Burckhardt was sitting just one RBI short of the all-time leader, Jim Hewey of the Brewers at 200.  He quickly passed that with 17 RBIs in his first two games of the season.  Adding to his hitting prowess, Burckhardt has a unique opportunity to become the first CCWA  player to crack the 100 RBI in a season barrier with 92 RBI through 22 games and two games to go.

Burckhardt doesn’t only hit homeruns, but he also hits for average.  He is leading all batters in the CCWA, hitting at a .500 clip.  He is currently the only player in the entire league batting over .350.  He also owns the single season record of .516 with a career batting average of .408.  He is a pitcher’s nightmare in the batter’s box as he can beat you with a timely single or the long ball.

It should be interesting to see just how far Burckhardt can lead the Phillies this season.  They will be tested in the postseason by some very good teams and will definitely need his big bat to help them reach the finals.

A Wiffleball Calendar?

I'm surprised this hasn't been done before. Well, if it has - I haven't seen it. The legendary Wiffleball 100 of the National Wiffleball League Association. You may not be thinking about it now but in late December you'll be looking for a calendar, if you're the type of person not satisfied with the one of your cell phone, and this calendar could be one of your options.

CCWA Playoffs

The CCWA news blog, Holey Balls, has been recently updated with videos from their playoffs. Check it out.

New Kids League

There's a new league out there called HG Wiffleball. If you like MLW - Schultz Field you might like these kids. They don't appear to be as organized as MLW-SF yet but perhaps they will be in the future. They don't have a website yet and it's unclear as to where in the United States they are located in...so don't be expecting them to show up in the League Tracker anytime soon.

Most Over-The-Top Video Ever

There have been some really cheezy wiffleball videos out there but this one takes the cake. Thanks to Tabbit Field Wiffleball - this is, by far, the most over-the-top wiffleball video out there right now. The editing must have taken days and for that I must give them some credit, but come on...smoke comes off the bat when they hit the balls. At one point they use fire effects to have the outfield wall on fire. They appear to have used only home runs in this video and some of them go really far, like the one at the end of the video. Whether or not you like the video you have to admit that they put a lot of work into the video.

A Burning Question

I've watched a lot of videos over the past year and there's a question I've been wanting to ask for quite some time and I simply cannot wait anymore to ask it... Just how many damned mini Fenway Park's are out there!? It seems like everyone has one in their backyard. Don't get me wrong, Fenway is a gorgeous field but you'd think that people would come up with some original concepts for field construction on their property. I guess I won't judge. If you like the Red Sox, that's cool and it's your property so do what you wish. But think about how many Fenway Parks you've seen on this blog and elsewhere. It's astounding.

Palisades WBL Playoffs Start Soon

The competition in Palisades WBL has been hot but the playoffs are just around the corner. I love when leagues actually have a playoff preview video! The playoffs are going to be pretty intense in Palisades, NY this year.

Ryan Bush & Freaky Franchise win 2011 OCWA Championship

The Ontario County Wiffle Association (OCWA) had their playoffs recently and Freaky Franchise defeated the Flying Squirrels in the OCWA Championship. Freaky Franchise had a great 2011 Season, finishing with an 18-2 record and currently rest at #8 on the NWLA Top 50 Rankings. The secret to their success? Ryan Bush. He pitched 44.1 innings and only allowed 13 hits and 9 earned runs. He struck out 114 batters this season, had a 0.81 ERA and possesses a dazzling 10-1 pitching record. With this guy on the mound it was no wonder that they only allowed 98 runs (tied for least amount in league) to score against them. Bush didn't do too bad at the plate either, hitting .453, 17 HRs, & 74 RBIs. Brett Bigler also helped the Freaky Franchise at the plate, hitting .630 but only 4 HRs and 21 RBIs. While Bush did have some help on defense and at the plate he clearly was the main ingredient in the success this year during the regular season. But during the post-season it was a different story.
Upon closer examination it seems that Bush had a rough time on the mound during the post season. Freaky Franchise went 4-1 in the playoffs and the one loss was Bush's. He had 4 K's during that outing but his team lost 10-11 against the Flying Squirrels. He pitched more during the rest of the playoffs and struck out 21 more batters but all his outings were no decisions. It is at this point that Jon Suhre and Nate Saint Ours should receive some credit. Both Saint Ours and Suhre pitched 4 innings and had 2-0 pitching records. Saint Ours and Bigler really made the magic happen up at bat, with Saint Ours hitting .500 (5 HRs) and Bigler hitting .474 (6 HRs). These facts are interesting because it's not uncommon to see teams with a fantastic player choke in the playoffs. This is Bush's second consecutive championship (he did it last year with the BT Storm) and his numbers proved him worthy for the 2011 OCWA Pitcher of the Year Award.

--- The OCWA announced 3 days ago that they will be having a draft for the 2012 season but did not mention a date yet.

GSWL/GSTC "Open" Happening THIS WEEKEND!

21 teams from across the country will be meeting up in Boston, MA this weekend to battle it out for some cash ($3,000 to be exact). Click HERE to read the full article on the Golden Stick page.

Really Old Wiffleball Field

You don't find old videos like these often about wiffleball. This is the oldest miniature Fenway Park built that I'm aware of. I've never heard of this Appollo Field but it looks pretty awesome.

Tequila!

I'm not really sure to make of this video. Perhaps he just saw the Pee Wee Herman movie and enjoyed the part where he performed that dance at that biker bar. Kids are weird.

Wiffleball Pitching Machine

There is more than one wiffleball pitching machine out there. Is there really a demand for such a device? Who would drop nearly $1,000 on this? Any thoughts?

SLAM Diabetes

The first annual SLAM Diabetes Tournament, played at Little Fenway and Little Wrigley, appears to have been a huge success. They will be having the 2nd annual SLAM Diabetes tournament in mid-June next year so if you're wanting to get in on that just go to their site and register. This is just one more tournament to consider when you name tournaments that support a great cause. Also, when watching the video you'll notice Luis Guzmán hanging out at the tournament.

The latest episode of This Month In Wiffleball from the Palisades WBL is online! As always it's good but this episode displays just how much the competition is heating up. The Blue Jays (3 championships under their belt) might not make the playoffs...pretty shocking. The White Sox are still dominating with a 15-3 record. One of our magazine's editors, Matt Riegler (Yankees), is in the video a few times as well and seems to be doing quite well at the plate. If you follow Palisades at all and for some reason have strayed from their site, dig your head out from under the sand and watch this video. The playoffs are about to start.

Golden Stick Gets Some Attention

Golden Stick gets some love on the summer show via Ultimate Athlete Magazine. Ultimate Athlete typically covers high school sports from Long Island but have branched out to incorporate a wiffle story. Check it out.

2nd Issue of Wiffler's Digest is READY!

The 2nd issue is ready to go! You can read it on our picasa album or email us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com and tell us you want the .pdf version and we'll send it to you. The .pdf version is higher quality and we recommend it over the .png images on our picasa album. Let us know your thoughts about the new issue!

Oh Those Pre-Teens...

This must be their first boy-girl party. I remember my first girl-boy party. It was my 13th birthday party. Only one girl showed up. I never said it was a good boy-girl party, but since there was a girl there - it counts. Anyway I'm sure this party went through the usual motions where the guys stand in one area growing into their faces while the girls huddle on the opposite side of the room fiddling with their braces. The only thing that makes those awkward moments worse is when Will Smith's "Big Willie Style" is blaring from a boombox in the corner. So after the music is either changed or turned off the mingling finally begins. Among boys of varying heights we find David Holland - who apparently gallivants around parties without socks or a shirt.

It seems that a wiffleball bat can be summoned, seemingly from nowhere, in moments of sheer boredom to be used as an instrument of violence. Nothing breaks the ice at a party better than inflicting pain on someone using a yellow plastic bat! You can add this to the growing pile of intentionally hitting people with a wiffleball bat. I keep saying to myself that I've seen them all but soon enough another one is uploaded and I find myself wondering when everyone is going to realize that a wiffleball bat does, in fact, hurt quite a big when swung at full force upon someone's body. Why accept facts when you can hurt somebody, right?

I wonder if they used the chandelier as a piñata after everyone was tired of being hit?

Stay-At-Home Dad Wiffle

There is a league/organization out there that has escaped my attention for too long - SAHD Wiffle. The two main guys who play in the league are stay-at-home dads, thus the name Stay-At-Home Dad (S.A.H.D.) Wiffle. I'm not sure if these guys really play in a league format or not but they have done quite a few product reviews on different types of bats and balls. They are definitely worth a visit if you haven't visited them already.

WWL - Year In Review

I've got to say that one of my favorite leagues to watch this year was the Washburn Wiffleball League in New York. They played a lot of games and put out a lot of videos. A lot of leagues don't bother to include playoff videos but WWL is not one of them, they posted it all. But they didn't stop at the championship...they made a SportsCenter parody called SportsCircle that highlighted the season as a whole. Most people can't pull off the SportsCenter parodies without failing miserably but WWL did a splendid job with this video; but don't take my word for it - watch it. They even did commercials.

Missouri Park Seeks Wiffle Players

Hannibal, Missouri ---Aron Lee, of the Hannibal Parks and Recreational Department (HPRD), is doing something rarely seen before - seeking out wiffleball players. They want 5 person teams consisting of either 2 men and 3 women or 3 mean and 2 women. $100 per team. The games will be played on Tuesdays in the Admiral Coontz Recreation Center (that's right...indoors). Registration lasts until September 13 so if you live in the Hannibal area in Missouri, this is your chance to join a league. Missouri is not known for having any stable wiffleball leagues and this project could change that. They plan on playing through the fall and winter so that people will have something to do when it's cold outside. Hopefully there will be some players to meet Mr. Lee halfway and the project will take off. Lee intends on posting game results and statistics on the HPRD website. Perhaps we'll be hearing from them soon.

Source: Hannibal Courier-Post

EDIT: There is no longer a co-ed team requirement for the league. You can have teams of all males or all females.

MLW Schultz Field HR Race

One of the most fun leagues to watch out there is a small group of kids in Michigan that play in a league known as MLW - Schultz Field. They've been playing since 2009 and the long balls are starting to add up. They've got two kids that close to hitting 50 home runs a piece. No league is complete without a little competition in the home run department.

Nerf Swerve Bat Review

If you're shopping for bats lately and don't have a lot of cash - listen up, especially if you're a kid. These video reviews give you the skinny on the Nerf Swerve Bat. Also you can see reviews on Amazon, which also complain about the bat cracking.

Wiffle For A Wish

Up until recently I thought there was only one wiffleball tournament in the country that sent proceeds to the make a wish foundation (Wifflin 4 Wishes). It is with great pleasure that I inform you that there is another tournament, Wiffle for a Wish, that raises money for such a worthy cause. They played their tournament on the 20th with 33 teams and raised more than $7,000.

A little taste...

As some of you may know, the second issue of the Wiffler's Digest magazine will be out at the end of this month or the first week of September. We've finished contributing all the content and are now waiting for it all to be assembled. It's a long and painful process but I think everyone's hard work will pay off for this issue. So what all is in the upcoming issue? Well I won't spoil everything but I will tell you that there is some coverage of the London Wiffleball Tournament that I, and some of the writers, attended. There's also some opinionated articles along with part one of a fictional wiffleball series and a review of the movie Screwball: The Ted Whitfield Story. But it's not just articles, there's actually a quiz in this issue and a couple more wiffle related ads. While I won't link you any of the content in the new magazine, I do hope you enjoy a preview of the cover. Those of you who have emailed us and wanted to subscribe to the magazine will be the FIRST ones to read the new magazine before it is uploaded in .jpg form onto our Picasa photo album. For best quality, I strongly suggest you subscribe so you can have it in .pdf form - it's much nicer. Just email us at wifflersdigest@gmail.com and say you want the magazine. That's it!

Also, for all you stragglers out there...if you either "like" us on facebook or "follow" us on twitter there are generally more updates there than on the blog. There you will find more links to videos as well as the posts that are made here daily. You don't miss a thing.