The History of the Summer Classic

EDITOR'S NOTE: In response to recent events The LowPress has decided to rerun this article from Femy LeBouche. It has been enhanced with photos from the original event.

The first Summer Classic was actually the first championship game in Low Ball history. It was really the first time the purveyors of plastic really dreamed that they could do something bigger than just get together for an afternoon game. The nascent league had drawn players and fans into the realm of the ridiculous and the boys began to see that the wiffle craze might just have more to it than simply just a way to blow off steam. A few things happened to create this synergy. One of the most important developments in the advent of Lowball as a league to be reckoned with was the acquisition of the talented young web designer, Seth Beck. Virtually unknown outside the small network of friends who would show up at Gap Bridge field, the league was catapulted onto the virtual stage through the genius of young Beck who dared to believe that it was possible to be much more ridiculous if only it could be made to seem more serious. And so, with the emergence of Lowball as an online presence the framework for the fantasy began in earnest.

Another important step in the growth of the game came when Lincoln grew from one field to three. The famed Friendly Confines was brought into existence at Casa Del Guapo, the palatial ranch of superstar El Guapo. And no one who played there could ever forget the now defunct Twin Oaks. These two fields along with the hallowed Gap Bridge field in addition to the website made possible for the first time the idea that it was possible to create a narrative around the game that went beyond just a single afternoon's horsing around.

The idea got rolling in the subterranean depths of the Handsome One's brain. "We could have a tournament... It could be huge!" Anyone who knows what it means to hear these words knows that they better hang on for the ride. When Guapo starts plotting, anything's possible.

What eventually manifested was huge. In fact nothing like it has happened in the world of Lowball since. Sponsorship from area businesses was rounded up as the game was billed as a benefit for the Lincoln Cooperative Pre-school and over $1,000 was raised. The first Summer Classic was the only tournament style series that Lincoln has seen to this date. Four teams were drafted from the core players at the time. The team captains were: Hot Rod, J-Mac, El Guapo and Lonichiro. The roster of players included players from as far away as Japan - Bubba Okajima, the fireballer from the south of Japan, and the brothers from Bashville: School Bus and King Kong Moriarty.

The semi-final games were awash in controversy, as any good wiffle game should be. The DR Power squad faced the Middlebury Mountaineers at Twin Oaks field. While the Surveyors led by Hot Rod and the Bird's Eye Builders captained by J-Mac squared off at Mountaineer Field (formerly known as Gap Bridge). The teams that emerged victorious to face each other in the championship game were the Middlebury Mountaineers and Builders squad.

The game was a see-saw affair, with plenty of hits and lots of runs crossing the plate. The usually stingy Surgeon, it should be remembered, was not in his finest form. The rumors are still circulating in the backwaters and eddies of lowball lore that he was slipped a mickey by some dame, hired to sabotage the mountaineers.

But the mighty Mountaineers were not to be denied. In the ninth inning, down by two runs, with the bases juiced and J-mac the captain on the mound, King Kong Moriarty stepped in at the dish. It was probably not the longest home run ever hit in Low Ball history. Even then. In fact the Kong had hit one the day before that was measured at 120 feet. No one bothered to measure this ball, way over the fence, toward the Citgo sign, and down onto Hugo Chavez way, the ball was crushed. Kong was mobbed before it even hit the pavement.

It was an epic end to an epic game. The Mountaineers beat the Builders 25 to 23 with a walk off Grand Slam. The first true epic in Lowball history. Here's a little known factoid about the trophy. The plaque on the trophy says "Mid-Summer Classic, Middlebury Mountaineers '08 Champs" What very few people remember, however, is that the Mid-Summer Classic was actually held in 2007. A game for the record books.

--An excerpt from "Notes from the Hot Box: An Exhaustive History of the Wiffles" by Le Wiffleur, Femy LeBouche