To our team owners, captains, players, fans and sponsors, I
wanted to address my thoughts on some topics and discussions at the end of our
2025 League Year. By the time you are reading this, I have reached out
individually to some of you for personal thoughts, and I thank you for your
input. Your words and friendship mean a great deal to me.
RECAP, POLICIES & RULE CHANGES
Allow me to start with a recap of this year's tournament.
Overall? Another smashing success. Six full teams, each got a minimum of four
games in, and our playoffs brought new records, tremendous finishes, and an
overall great ending to a long, great day. We started on time, and while we ran
long for various reasons, I believe everyone left feeling they got their
money's worth, and that is really the only broader goal we have as league
management. Congrats to the Goodfellas on winning their fifth title.
Overall, the rule changes and policies that were put in
place for 2025 were followed very well and added to an enhanced experience on
the day. The fields held up better in '25 than they did in '24, and I
appreciate everyone's help with that. We would like to take another step
forward in '26 with this.
OFFICIATING
Another topic I want to address is the overall mindset of
participants when addressing officials of individual games. This has been a
long-running problem. One that dates back to our very first event over a decade
and a half ago. Look, we have no better option for officiating. None. If we
did, we would have exercised it by now. To acquire two umpires (and seemingly,
two additional persons to keep the stat books for each game) would incur a cost
of around $50 per game on average, which totals up to over $600 for the day,
not even including playoff games or scorekeepers. We simply do not have that in
the budget for a tournament where the total purse is typically around $1,000
total. If anyone is willing to step up and offer that type of donation, I am
certainly open to the idea. As has been the case every time I have mentioned
this over the last fifteen years, I do not see many folks lining up to foot
that bill.
This is all to say, take a moment to consider the big
picture. Four teams play at the same time; two teams are off. There is never a
case where the same two teams are off in back-to-back windows. I give your
schedule to your team, at least two weeks in advance, sometimes as early as
months ahead. You have more than enough time to plan out your day, as far as
restroom breaks, getting food/drink, and just taking a rest. You know in the
window your team is off, at least two of you will be asked to officiate or keep
score of a game. If you approach it prepared, knowing what's going on, with an
attitude that you are in charge and do a good job, this operation is more than
good enough. There are multiple ways to do this. Plan to have someone pick up
food for you, make sure you have enough beverages in advance. Plan. Ahead. If
everyone does that, the overall tone of this process will change for the
better.
Additionally, tackle this from the other side. If you are
the on the wrong end of a bad call, take it, deal with it, and move on. If an
umpire is doing their best and paying attention and they get a call wrong? Too
bad. You'll get the next one. Stop bitching and complaining for the next three
hours to any poor soul that'll hear about it. No one else cares. Unless you are
involved in the game in question, literally no one else cares what happens to
you in that game. We are so sick of hearing about how bad the umpires are when
YOU ARE THE UMPIRES. We're sick of hearing about how the stats are wrong when
YOU KEEP THE BOOKS. You want it to be better? Start by DOING IT BETTER YOURSELF
when asked instead of complaining. If you don't know how to keep the book, ASK.
I will show you. Someone will show you. There's plenty of people that know how
to do it. If that's too much to ask in your opinion, maybe this tournament
isn't for you.
STATE OF PLAY
And lastly, but maybe most important piece. I had the
opportunity to hear from a number of participants about complaints about the
quality of play. While I would be inclined to totally ignore this nonsense,
since most of it is from people who've complained about any and everything for
years and yet have participated pretty much every year, I did want to address
the idea that quality of play has changed.
See the table below. This tracks all numbers from each
tournament over the last 6 years. Between 2022 & 2023, the mounds were
moved from 40 feet back to 42 feet.
As you can see, in the 3 years since the mounds changed,
hits are up 8%, runs are up almost 19% (!), walks are up 5.5% but down this
year from the last two years, strikeouts are down 20%, and home runs are up 5%.
What does everyone want? Action, right? Less walks, less strikeouts, more
homers, hits and runs. I agree. I like action. I do not enjoy a game with 25
walks. I get nothing personally from taking 4 balls and going to first. I like
to hit; I have my entire life.
That being said, the team that won this year won in no small
part to their ability to walk. They take their bases. Is it the most
aesthetically pleasing way to play? No. Does it work because their guys who
can't slug well take their walks and get on base for their guys who do? Hell yes!
If you don't like that and don't want to play that way, then don't play that
way. But if you have a problem with how the Goodfellas played, instead of
complaining to me, or Jake, or Ryan Ricci, or Pat Ney, none of whom are members
of the Goodfellas, why don't you throw the fucking ball over the plate. The
only team that has any control over you getting them out, is you. Throw more
strikes. Throw better strikes. It can be done, I've seen it. I understand if
you feel it is not as fun of a way to play, but we are not going to turn our
rule book and tournament format upside down to try to change the way one team
plays.
In the 3 years since we made the mound change, we have seen
a 15% increase in balls in play. In 2022, 69.3% of all plate appearances ended
in a walk or a strikeout. This past tournament, that number fell all the way to
54.2%. Would I like that number to go even lower? Sure. And that is why I do
not want to be dismissive of this topic. I am making a call to all participants
for ideas. Let’s make this thing better. I am open to any ideas no matter how
stupid you may think. I do not want to change our sport dramatically, but if there
is something we are currently missing that would make things better, we'd be
foolish not to consider it.
ROAD TO WIFFLEPALOOZA XX
Lastly, I cannot wait for next year. Not just to get another
shot at winning, but to be able to put on this tournament for the 20th time, is
one of the most sentimental and interesting things I've ever done. I say this
often, but if you went back in time and told Jake & I in 2008 when we began
planning the first one, that almost 20 years from now you'll be putting on this
tournament for the 20th time, we'd have said absolutely no way. We are putting
out a call now, to any and every person that's ever been a part of our
tournament, to please come out to next year's tournament. We plan to have an
extended introduction, where we will call each person out by name and allow
them to get the recognition they deserve. The best part of this tournament is
that it's fueled by you, the participants. We'd have stopped a long time ago if
you all stopped coming. I know some have over the years for one reason or
another, but there's an unspoken bond among the 238 people who've played in
this thing. It's unique, and a shared experience, and we'd love to have you out
there. We will announce some other exciting things related to this tournament
going forward, and we'll decide on a date (either August 1st or August 8th) as
soon as we can. But that's the first part of it is inviting everyone who's ever
played back home. If you still are in contact with people who haven't come out
in a while, but you know they've played before, please reach out to them on my
behalf.
Looking forward to hearing from as many of you as possible,
and we'll see you soon.
Thank you all,
Sincerely,
Alfred B. Etter
Office of the Commissioner
Major League Wiffleball / Wifflepalooza
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