History

The World Series Of Wiffle Ball - A Historic Timeline

The World Series Of Wiffle Ball was conceptualized in the winter of 2014 by the Twinsburg Baseball League Board of Directors in a quest to raise money to help build the awesome "little field" you'll all see during the event at Liberty Park. Ron Schultz, Jason Passek, Jim Porach, Paul Baird, Rick Hollan and Rich Swerbinsky became the committee to get it going. At that point the event was viewed as more of a publicity stunt joke to help raise awareness for the need for a smaller baseball field for younger players.

What followed, was madness. And four years later the event evolved into the biggest goddamn Wiffle Ball tournament in the world. We're projecting massive growth again this year and 200+ teams.

Wiffle Ball. God. Family. Country.

Teams That Have Won More Than One Championship

THREE TIME WINNERS

MLW All-Stars (440,000 You Tube followers) - 2016 winners (15+), 2018 winners (16-29), 2019 winners (16-29)

TWO TIME WINNERS

Never Bunt - 2017 winners (30+), 2018 winners (30+), also lost in 2019 title game to St. Mary's Lobos

Team Hasbulla - 2017 winners (10-12), 2021 winners (13-15)

The Ball Busters - 2015 winners (7-10), 2019 winners (13-15)

Team Wrobel - 2014 winners (15+), 2015 winners (15+) - The Wrobel brothers never re-entered the event after being eliminated in the 2016 quarterfinals by MLW All-Stars. Dave Wrobel returned to the event in 2021 after singing a one-year, $11.2 million dollar deal with Ping The Metal.

The Upside Downs (Ava Banach, Cayla Cellura, Taylor Dye, Erin Sweeney) - 2021 winners (female), 2022 winners (female)

Over The Shift (Jon Brayer, Rob Jackman, Jon Susin) - 2021 winners (30+), 2022 winners (30+)

Best Team Name Winners

2015 - Wiff That
2016 - Me And My Three Pitches
2017 - Vicious, Delicious, and Wiffle-icious
2018 - SWIG And A Miss
2019 - Second Grade Sluggers (vote tampering scandal)
2021 - Wiff Deez BALLS
2022 - Taste The Rainbow

Year-By-Year Recap

2014 - 55 TEAMS

55 teams enter?! 150 people at the Pool Play Game Blind Draw party the Wednesday night before? WHAT?!

We knew we were onto something special immediately when in the first game ever on Saturday morning an all-girl team called The Ponytail Express scored 20 unanswered runs (12 coming on three grand slams) to upset an all-boy team in the 7-10 age division before a frenetic throng of fans and onlookers.

Saturday was awesome. Then it started POURING on Sunday late morning. We were literally minutes away from calling the tournament Sunday at like 1:30 PM. Then the Wiffle Ball Gods intervened, the skies parted, the sun started blazing, and we finished the event.

The Weekend Warriors (7-10), Balls O' Wiff (11-14) and Team Wrobel (15+) became the first three champions in event history.

After losing in the semifinals to "The Eventual Champs", in a controversial move questioned by analysts, Ping The Metal GM Rich Swerbinsky signs Eventual Champs 45-year old left-handed starting pitcher Rick Hollan to a 7-year, $57 million dollar deal. Hollan would go on to throw a no-hitter in his first game for Ping The Metal in 2015 (after arriving to field 2 minutes before game time coming straight from a four margarita lunch at El Chile Bravo). Ping has been eliminated in the championship game once, semifinals three times, and quarterfinals twice. Hollan enters the last year of his contract in 2021.

2015 - 61 TEAMS

61 teams enter. The MLW All-Stars and their camera crew start to generate buzz at the event from social media-addled pre-teens that realize they are a You Tube sensation. They would eventually fall to Ping The Metal in the 15+ semifinals. The Wrobel Brothers repeat. The Ball Busters and The Golden Warhawks win the 7-10 and 11-14 divisions.

2016 - 72 TEAMS

72 teams enter. The Wallnuts win 7-10. The Golden Warhawks effort to repeat as 11-14 champs is thwarted by The South Park Cows. There is a changing of the guard as the MLW All-Stars knock out the Wrobels en route to a dominating run through the 15+ amid big crowds.

2017 - 94 TEAMS

94 teams enter from five states, making the event the biggest Wiffle Ball tournament in world history. A fourth age division is added (7-10, 11-14, 15-29, 30+). WiffleBoy28 (just recovered from Wiffle Ball induced Tommy John surgery on his right elbow) makes a celebrity appearance with MLW, who have kids lined up all weekend wanting signed wiffle balls from them. Their fans are let down as Victorious Secrets performs one of the greatest runs in tournament history, defeating two defending champs (Cows and MLW) in the quarters and semis before a dominating 11-0 win in the 15-29 title game. The Corn Doggers win 7-10, the Backyard Ballers win 11-14, and Never Bunt bursts on the scene in the 30+ division to win gold behind the fireballing 85 MPH right arms of Kevin Kachele and The Rose Brothers.

2018 - 91 TEAMS

91 teams enter. A 5th age division is added (7-9, 10-12, 13-15, 16-29, 30+). MLW avenges their loss to Victorious Secrets with a 9-0 title game win over them. Never Bunt goes back to back in the 30+. The Wiffle Ballers, Badaboom Badabing, and The Overdogs win 7-9, 10-12, and 13-15.

2019 - 78 TEAMS

78 teams enter (idiotic mid-September tournament date the reason for the drop). MLW gets their third title. The Ball Busters get their second (playing as 13 year olds in the 13-15). Never Bunt's bid for back-to-back-to-back falls short against The St. Mary Lobos. Lil' Bombers and Hittin' Dingers LP win 7-9 & 10-12.

2020

Screw 2020 and the horse it rode in on.

2021 - 114 TEAMS

114 teams in six different divisions descended upon Liberty Park in Twinsburg, OH for the biggest Wiffle Ball tournament ever conducted.

The Ladies Division is finally established and Rats With Bats emerge victorious. Knights Nine wins 7-9, Wiff Deez Balls allows one run all tournament (on an error) to take down 10-12 despite Fart The French Bulldog marring the final with a vicious attack of his brother. Team Hasbulla becomes just the fifth team to win multiple titles winning 13-15 (after winning the 10-12 division in 2017). Ohio Gators Elite take down 16-29 and Over The Shift DOES NOT ALLOW A RUN THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT beating the defending champs St Mary's Lobos 3-0 in the 30+ final.

2022 - 169 TEAMS!

Amidst swirling controversies, record numbers of players and attendees, and daunting expectations - The World Series of Wiffle Ball once again managed to live up to the hype. Over 4,000 people were in attendance at Liberty Park in Twinsburg, OH to see champions crowned in six different divisions in the 8th annual event this past weekend.

Already the world's largest wiffle ball tournament, the 2022 edition shattered their own record as the field of teams increased from 114 teams a year ago to an astonishing 169 teams this year. "It takes a village, and the village delivered," said Tournament Director Tony Dye. "We played 291 wiffle ball games this weekend. Crowned six champs. So many smiles! So little drama." Dye has been an integral part of the event's success since its earliest days as the 'man behind the curtain' managing the event's complex scheduling and field assignment process. His son Jaden, a 2nd Team All-Suburban League varsity baseball player for Twinsburg High School (as a sophomore) was on hand all weekend volunteering as well. Right by Jaden's side all weekend helping out was Twinsburg Varsity Baseball Coach Jeff Luca.

After exploding in size post-pandemic in 2021, the 8th Annual World Series endured a number of controversies this summer before delivering their most grandiose event yet. The 2022 event featured a live performance by The Players Club, a mechanical bull, dunk tank, freshly grilled food, kettle corn, Kona Ice, cotton candy and popcorn. "People love this event because we don't take ourselves too seriously," said Rules & Umpires Director Bill Tisone, another grizzled event veteran. "We paid out over $3,000 in cash to the kids of Twinsburg this weekend working as our umps." Few, if any, have volunteered more of their own time to the benefit of others than Tisone in the city of Twinsburg this past decade as a member of the Twinsburg Baseball Board of Directors and its current Vice President.

Shock waves were sent through the park Saturday morning when Event Director Rich Swerbinsky issued cash bounties for any teams that took out one of the six defending champs in the field. "The park started buzzing when everyone saw the bounties issued," said Operations Manager Tyson Tinter. "None of us knew. It was a cool twist." Tinter saved the event from near disaster in the days leading into the event as Swerbinsky ordered a bull, band, dunk tank, heavy concession equipment, and several vendors with no plan on how to get the power or water needed to operate it all.

The event featured 14 magnificently manicured Wiffle Ball fields, hand-crafted by event legend Rick Hollan. Hollan has supplied the paint and created the fields at Liberty Park every year since the event's inception and has tossed one of just three perfect games in tournament history, his coming just after a four margarita lunch at the Mexican restaurant down the street. The fields were once again cared for all weekend by Fields & Equipment Director Dean Cook. "Our field crew was amazing all week," said Cook. "Wil Bowen, Kyle Cook, Stone O'Bryant, Zack Simchon, Bobby Lemieux, Nathan Christensen and Gabe Heskamp killed it all weekend. And sponsorship and signage was managed flawlessly by Paul Baird and Dave Torcasi."

Two of the six defending champions ended up repeating as The Upside Downs (Ava Banach, Cayla Cellura, Taylor Dye, Erin Sweeney) went back-to-back after winning the inaugural female division a year ago. They fended off the upstart Stingers & Dingers, who rode into the title game via a thrilling 23-22 semifinal win over Resting Pitch Face that caused one of the louder Sunday roars. "It's been great to see the growth of the female division," said Concessions Director Matt Cellura. Matt and his wife Gretchen own the popular swimming pool repair & maintenance company MJG Pools and played a huge role volunteering in this year and past events.

The other repeat champion was in the 30+ division as Over The Shift (Jon Brayer, Rob Jackman, Jon Susin). After becoming the first team in tournament history to go wire-to-wire allowing nary a run a year ago, OTS allowed just two this year in a similarly-dominant run through a larger and stauncher field before calling out the MLW All-Stars for dodging the event after being handed the hardware. Hardware that was brilliantly designed by Event Awards Director Chris Tost.

The 16-29 field was littered with upsets and 85 MPH fastballs, and it was Game On (Alex Antel, Yudi Joseph, Tim Snyder) that took home the title in a 3-0 win over The Master Batters. Saturday saw Back 2 Back bountied by the North Canton Mastadons in one of the tournaments biggest upsets.

In the always tense 7-9 division, Knights 9U and Can't Tatis This locked horns. The Tatis team was heckled all weekend when news broke Friday that the real Fernando Tatis had been suspended for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. In a tight 0-0 game late, amidst "PED! PED!" taunts (from Event Director Swerbinsky), Can't Tatis This erupted for a 7-run rally to etch Gavin Holdford, Porter Howell, Dominic Konopka and Mason Prout's name in the record books. Prout also was the winner of the highly-hyped 7-9 year old Home Run Derby, which was brilliantly executed by TBL President and all-around good guy Mark Silversten.

At 41 and 58 teams respectively, the 13-15 and 10-12 year old divisions were great theater and the large fields pushed the championship games into the early evening on Sunday.

Hittin' Dingers became just the third team in event history (Ball Busters, The Minions) to win the tournament in more than one age division. Champions three years ago in the 10-12 division, Grady Eader, Landon Homan and Peyton Weigand will be bringing more hardware back to their hometown of Mogadore, OH.

Shortly after Hittin' Dingers won the 13-15 crown, fans raced across the park to the screams of "10-12 Championship Game! 5:30 PM start time, field 5!" As the largest division of the event every year, the 10-12 year old championship game always concludes the event before a massive crowd and this year was no different. Adding to the drama was two incredible finishes to the two semifinal games as fans ran over from the 13-15 fields. Tin To Win (Isaiah Baker, Lucas Hudock, Nate Kimball, Ryan Sweeney) held off Holey Balls 9-8, with Kimball mobbed at the pitchers mound after recording the final out. And Catcha Wiffa Dis held off Banana Ballerz in an equally thrilling finish.

The championship was tight early, but in the end Catcha Wiffa Dis was too much, with a 3rd inning grand slam home run being the difference maker in a 10-2 championship win for Will Blueter, Ryan Frohwerk, Logan Ritchie and Landon Root.

The 9th Annual World Series of Wiffle Ball has already been announced for August 10-13, 2023 and will be pushed into Thursday night to satisfy the growing demand, according to tournament officials.

2021 - 114 TEAMS

7-9 Year Old Champs

Knights Nine 6
Bat Flip Bros 1