THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME by Jim Dalbey

In The 2002 Glendale Wiffleball World Series concluded with the Dream Police taking the title, at the same time Jim Balian was in Florida with the Vipers winning the Fast Plastic National championship. A year later and many incredible games later our team with Jim Balian added in managed to shock the world and take the 2003 national championship. It was the first year that fp adopted a tournament style of finish for their season.

The key to that success was obviously the arm of Jim Balian. He would give credit to a team effort, but he was on, and seemed to be able to pull out whatever situation we got in. Randy Dalbey was the 2nd ace, and had clutch hits in every tourney including the final 2 games. Dave Newman and I mopped up innings until the other team got close; Shoeless also was tacking down every ball no matter where it ended up. Greg Edwards hit well all summer, and also used his speed in the field to take anything Dave couldn’t get to. I drove my share of the time on overnighters to California, and walked whenever possible.

Highlights of that season were many: We were down and out of the California playoffs, we needed a first or second to qualify for their qualifier playoffs and we were down by 4 to the Amigos in the last inning of the first playoff match. We thought we had to do this, as the Arizona region wasn’t easy by any stretch, and we were having a lot of trouble beating Cuatro, who at that point was at their best. We got some runners on, and randy again saved the day with a grand slam to put us up. Greg drove in a couple of more, and we lived again. Eventually we ended up beating the Gunners for the qualifier, and ended up winning the LA region.

The “Whiff Movie” visit was really outstanding. Megan came out on July 4th weekend and shot some video with us, and we nearly killed her in the heat, as temps were soaring near 110. She knows her wiffleball and I think she did a great job capturing the feel for the game on the video.

The Nationals was another set of times when we thought we were out, then back in, a play in win against the Bopper was 1-0 on walks in the midst of the “shower” we had that first year that dropped around 15 inches of rain(seemingly). Conditions were tough, but we somehow kept winning.

Our final 8 game against Longball was incredible, from Shoeless getting stuck under the chain link fence, Balian hitting a homer for the lead, then Shoeless making a dive for a ground ball and hitting the double play while on the ground. We left that night dead tired, nothing dry in our midst, and wondering how Jim will ever pick up his arm again after pitching all but 1 game in day 1.

The semis against in the box, then the finals against the Shockers were both incredible games. Randy and Greg had back to back hits in both games to get the wins, and of course rubber arm Balian was on again. If you haven’t seen the “WHIIFFMOVIE”, you gotta get it; the final 8 coverage is excellent.

The whole feel for that first big FP tourney was incredible. The feel 3 years later is still great, but that year was different. People didn’t know each other. You wouldn’t even recognize the big players, at least we didn’t. It was a tough road to even get in. You had to finish top 2 in your region to get there. Marc Martello was shocking everyone with Make Ya Wiff, we had no idea who Tim Benson was, or Joe Nord, let alone Mickey from Longball, all now household names and faces thru the wiffleball community.

2004, we kind of came in favorites if I remember right, we fell to In the Box in the semis…but the tourney was big still. Some new faces, and that Nord kid somehow got even better. Swingers surprised a lot of people and took the title home. They hadn’t even qualified the year before.

2005, now the tourney is changing a bit. More teams getting in, but it works out for good as Chico Bamboos steal the show, but can’t get past the Gunners. In the Box and Joe Nord get over the hump and take the championship. With new regions and more teams, the pool may be watered down a bit, but new faces are also showing up and playing incredible wiffleball. Vipers have a disappointing end; I do too with my joining Cuatro after injuring my shoulder during the winter.

2006, the tourney is now big business…teams combine, and players jumping ship for a run at the title. But, the new team takes another title, as the Rookies show another level to wiff with their hitting and power pitching. The young arms come out and make the old stars look tame. The pool may be watered down with mediocre teams, but each of the teams has a pitcher that has to be watched, especially in the years to come. Vipers again lose to Nord and In the Box, in a great game that probably should have been played later in the tourney. The return of Dream Police goes better than expected, staying close with Niff in pool play, beating thunder and running into the first round of tourney play against Josh and the Rookies.

In my opinion, it’s the greatest game around, and the FP national championship is so good, that I plan on going whether playing or not. What does the future hold? A slow but steady growth will hopefully keep this on track. Rules and money issues are tweaked each year hoping to get the best waffle out there. Is TV in the future? I am not so positive on that. It remains a hard game to track while watching, but still whether running bases or not, the Fastplastic Championship series is the best around.