History

On May 3, 2003, Chris Gallaway sent an email to Sam Pierron asking if he was interested in playing some Wiffleball.  A few days later, they got together and took turns pitching to each other in a south Lawrence park.  The game, which both had played during their childhood, was still alive inside of them.

On May 13, 2003, their first game of Wiffleball was commenced.  It was 2 on 2, with John Schneiderwind and Nate Brinson joining Gallaway and Pierron.  There were no bases, instead, trees were used.  The cove of trees, a shady area just southeast of the Gazebo in Lawrence’s South Park, were good enough to get the game started.  The teams even used a different bat for the first inning of play, but at the end of seven innings, it was decided that the official Wiffleball Bat and Ball would be the choice of the league.  The balls and bats are produced exclusively by The Wiffle Company in Shelton, CT.  Before each game, the home plate umpire takes the shine off of the new balls by rubbing them in a special mud pulled only from a secret location out of the Kansas River.  This has the two-fold effect of making the balls better to play with, in addition to making them toxic.

Sam and Chris beat John and Nate 7-6 in that first game for a come from behind victory.  Two days later, they would add bases to the game.  A week after that, they moved into what would become Constant Park and for the first time witnessed the ball reach the home run area.  The homer was a drive to center off Sam’s bat that landed just into an area designated as the home run zone.  Six days later, a four foot fence was added, and the modern game, by all accounts, began.  Since that time, complete statistics have been kept, and several minor improvements have been made.  The foul ball arc was the first field marking to be added, followed shortly thereafter by the foul lines being painted.

The move to Deerfield Park as the new primary park provided a larger playing area, with fewer impediments as well as got the crybaby right-handed batters to quit complaining about the right field fence.

Where do you get these rules?

The rules were first taken from the London (OH) Wiffleball League.  A few modifications were made for the purposes of the League, but for the most part, they were the same, including the dimensions of the bases and pitchers rubber.  The Rules committee of the League Currently consists of Chris Gallaway, Sam Pierron and John Schneiderwind.

Commissioner

Chris Gallaway became the first Commissioner of the Lawrence Wiffleball League, mostly because he owned the balls, bats, bases and fence.  In order to avoid the conflicts that would seem so apparent in a player in the league also serving as commissioner, Gallaway has entrusted the management of his play during the games to his yet unborn daughter.  She manages his play during games so that he can act as a fair and impartial commissioner on league matters.