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A field of dreams on a cul-de-sac
By Sylvia Wood
Staff writer: Albany Times Union
Photos by Jonathan Fickies
First published: Monday,
August 6, 2001
Don't
let the name fool you. Major League Wiffle Ball sounds about
as professional as any sports association.
 But at league
headquarters, a suburban home about 10 miles north of Albany, the
wisecracks fly as fast as a plastic ball filled with holes.
"You can't hurt the cars with the Wiffle Ball,'' said
player Mike Breen, 23, of Latham, just moments before the
first pitch of the league's World Series Sunday night.
It was a World Series that might not have gotten any
attention outside of the cul-de-sac where the team usually
plays every weekend, except for a recent mention in ESPN's
Aug. 6 magazine.
"It was a surprise,'' said Shaun Breen, league commissioner
and a recent graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
where he specialized in Web site development.
Breen and his teammates credit the team's Web site,
www.majorleaguewiffleball.com, for lifting the league out of
obscurity, if only for a moment.
But on Sunday, the traffic at game one of their
championship series was decidedly local, drawing the usual
spectators, including Breen's mother, who supplied snacks and
soda for the players and kept an eye out for any interference
from neighborhood vehicles.
"Shaun, car,'' she yelled from the bottom of the
cul-de-sac, which serves as the league's home turf. "That's
the bad thing. They have to move the net all the time.''
Such interruptions are part of the game, which is less
about who wins than about a group of friends, some of whom
grew up playing Little League together.
"It just started on Sundays for fun. It's not about
anything else,'' said Mike Breen, before adding, "It's the
closest we can come to baseball.''
Wiffle Ball won over baseball as last summer's pickup game
of choice because of logistics. Where a baseball game requires
nine people on the field, a fast-paced Wiffle Ball game can
get under way with only a pitcher, fielder and hitter.
But the game took a more serious turn in May, when Shaun
Breen launched the group's Web site under a name that has
since gotten the attention of other Wiffle Ball leagues,
including a group of guys who traveled from Long Island last
week to play.
"It's a lot more popular than I expected it to get,'' said
Breen, 23.
Plans are now under way to play other teams from Delaware
and California, as Breen continues to update the Web site with
enough factoids and statistics to satisfy any fan.
For the uninitiated, Wiffle Ball is almost like baseball,
except for the plastic balls, bats and a few quirks unique to
the Cohoes league, such as the rule that you can't walk unless
the ball hits you at least twice or once in the head.
"If it gets past the curb, it's a home run,'' said Marc
Ceccucci, 22, who grew up next to the Breen family on Spring
Hollow Drive. "It's like our outfield fence in baseball.''
Even with the league's recent ESPN notoriety, there are no
plans to shoot for the majors. On weekends, the team is happy
to play on its home turf, where residents have gotten used to
players dodging their lawn sprinklers as they chase foul
balls.
On Sunday, one neighbor even checked out the game, in
between washing his car in the driveway. Breen's sister,
Kayla, 13, also got into the spirit, blaring music from a boom
box in between runs, including the Bruce Springsteen hit
"Glory Days.''
"It would be nice to be known as the person who made Wiffle
Ball famous,'' said Shaun Breen. "But I don't think it's going
to happen. It's just for fun.'' |
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