The
spring
meeting
took
place
this
weekend
in
Jefferson
MA.
The
big
topic
discussed
was
the
resignation
of
league
commissioner
Kevin
Costner.
Kevin
has
been
head
of
the
league
since
it's
inception
back
in
1988.
Kevin
invisioned
a
dream,
they
told
him
to
build
it
and
he
did.
Frenchman
Stadium
This
was
the
week
of
the
one
man
show.
Each
of
the
3
games
this
week
was
pretty
much
dominated
by
one
player
on
the
winning
team.
The
WWL
players
are
finally
putting
to
rest
the
complaints
of
so
many
of
the
fans.
The
complaint
was
that
there
wasn't
enough
Good evening my little wifflings... Danny Gladden reporting and ready to report on this weekend's festivities. Wiffle has been coming in spurts this summer as the players appear to have lives outside of playing their beloved sport. This week promised to have some excitement as talks are beginning to escalate as to how the world series will be played and also Jake Mckelvie's emergence to the top of almost every offensive and some pitching categories. It will be a tough voting for all of us reporters and players to choose
awards among our great gladiators with plastic balls.... Well enough about me, let’s get to some action. By the way, all of you that have not watched Harold & Maude, un-not watch it!
Game one hurlers were new wiffle stud Jake McKelvie and the promising prospect, fresh from AAA, Alec Goodale. Josh McKelvie was not playing this weekend as he was getting an MRI on his right shoulder, which opened a spot for Alec. Jake, just signed to a new 25 year contract, came out firing strikes in route to a 5 hit performance. Mckelvie & his team took no time in welcoming the rookie to the WWL. 4 bombs were launched off of Alec ( pictured ) early, but he managed to settle down to finish with some
dignity. Alec, in a postgame press conference, stated that he tried to pull himself out of the game several times, but finally realized that was the managers job.
Game 2 wheeled out Glenn, against the other pillar of the WWL Gregg Frantz. Frantz hoping for his first win of the year was greeted rudely by Leonard who crushed a 3 run bomb to left to open up the game quickly. In the second inning Frantz was injured by Glenn as he tried to get him out at first on a successful bunt attempt. Frantz was hit square in the area where only 2 balls, not 3, should reside. Frantz took some warm up tosses but the manager deemed him unfit to resume. Alec was brought in for a shot at redemption. He did his best to impress the manager, but 8 runs in 3 innings isn't how you do it :-) . As for Glenn, he was in control most of the game. Making one mistake to Jake, a tomahawked laser to right center. Glenn is now leading the league in wins and takes a slight lead in the CY Young voting
taken by the "The Association That Does Voting For Wiffleball Related Awards". Pat ( pictured ) had a coming out party this weekend as he added another 3 HR's and 7 RBI's in the teams’ 13 run attack. Glenn added another dinger & Johnson chugged around the bases for an inside the park jobby! I caught up with Pat after the game and I asked him what he credited for the turnaround. "When you play with the bat and balls
as much as I do, things are bound to come around..."
If that wasn't enough excitement, there was a third game! Mounting the mound were red hot Leonard opposed by current ERA leader Johnson. Leonard, who hasn't had much luck on the mound, seemed unhittable. Johnson also showing his whole repertoire of pitches was just as effective. A 0-0 score brought the game into the top of the 6th inning where a couple of hard hit and well placed shots quickly added up to 3 runs against Johnson ( pictured ). Leonard driving in the first and Mckelvie knocking in 2 more for good measure. Johnson led off the bottom of the 6th with a double where he remained stranded. Pat received the player of the week award for his dominating performance offensively and his lobbing off of the mound.
There seemed to be some rumblings and grumblings in WWL nation after this weekend’s festivities. Are players taking advantage of the 3rd outfielder? Are there other underlying problems within the system? Word out of the commissioner’s office is there should be a meeting with the players association to bring up any issues that are leading to unfair play and/or unsportsmanlike conduct. On a side note, don't miss Jeff Manning and his 6'7" frame playing in a charity 3 on 3 tournament this weekend. All proceeds will go to bribing him or Randy to come and play in the WWL another Sunday this year.