About WCWBL

The Windy City Wiffle Ball League originally began in 1977. It started in a backyard of a little league coach in Sauk Village and then spread to the front driveways of the players' homes. It is unknown exactly when, but after 1977 the players split up and began playing in separate leagues with different styles of play. This is the reason you may hear Jorge Batres talk about games he played against his brother, or John Galvan talk about people hitting home runs over the house on Reichert Street and not be able to find any stats on it. Due to the lack of documentation of the games from players like Batres and Galvan, the history was comprised by Jim Galvan, who as a kid, kept records of the seasons played beginning as early as 1981. The league was started by Jim, Cesar Hernandez, and Jaime Hernandez and was simply called the Major League Wiffle Ball League. The ball used was the honeycomb style ball and any bat (except the infamous Big Red) was allowed. The pitches were slow with one fast ball per batter (it had to be called out before it was thrown though). Teams were usually 3 on 3 and bases were ran. This made for astronomical offensive stats. In 1990, the league went back to the classic wiffle ball that they use today, threw fast pitch and stopped running the bases. Each player had to pick a major league team that they wished to represent to avoid any confusion. However, the fields have remained the same dimensions despite all the changes. On average, the length of a WCWBL field is 90 ft to center and anywhere from 85 to 90 ft to the corners. It wasn't until 1999 that the league began keeping the stats. In 1999, home runs, grand slams, and game-by-game play-off stats were kept. In 2000, the league changed its name to Windy City Wiffle Ball League. The stats became more specific with records of home runs, grand slams, wins and losses kept. Today even more stats keep track of the players. Stats like walks, strikes, errors and runs scored! When the league players (7 current players) play as a team in tournaments they are the Windy City Thunder. Formality has taken over the league and the WCWBL takes pride in its reputation. When players act against WCWBL standards they are disciplined accordingly. The players attempt to play a 30 game season. To make the playoffs a player must have a minimum of 20 games.