As the smoke clears and the bright lights inside Intense Arena at Assembly Studios in Atlanta illuminate about 500 fans seated above the artificial turf field, Indianapolis native Brendan Dudas and the New York Green Apples are ready for their first Big League Wiffle game of the season.
Big League Wiffle is America’s first professional wiffle ball league. The league started with four teams in then 13-year-old founder Logan Rose’s Scottsdale, Arizona, backyard during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rose moved from his backyard to hosting tournaments at MLB Spring Training complexes around Arizona. Through daily social media posts across YouTube and other platforms, BLW’s following grew to about 100,000 people, catching the attention of the Dallas Cowboys.
“(The Cowboys) had seen some of our stuff on social and said, ‘We’d love to have you out for your World Series,'” Rose said. “So, we kind of put together a mini league that was a little bigger than we what we did in our backyard and hosted a tournament circuit across that fall and it ended up at AT&T Stadium. So that was when we knew we had something bigger.”
By age 19, Rose expanded the league to 10 teams with the help of well-known investors like actor Kevin Costner, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, Youtubers Dude Perfect, rapper Nelly and former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones.
Rose enlisted the help of Dudas and several of the players from his Circle City Wiffleball league to compete in BLW. Dudas, a Perry Meridian grad, also started Circle City Wiffleball in his backyard with a handful of his former UIndy baseball teammates. Dudas built Circle City into one of the most competitive leagues in the country, winning three national titles, making him and his leaguemates ideal members for the first professional wiffleball league.
Players in BLW are on one to three-year deals and they’re the first people ever to get paid to play wiffle ball.
“The way it got started for us was one of the guys managing a (BLW) team knew that Circle City Wiffle was full of some really good wiffle ball players and reached out to a handful of us,” Dudas said. “Once you heard the details, it was hard to say no to. “
Wiffleball on the big stage
Dudas, along with former UIndy baseball players Will Smithey and Reid Werner play for the Green Apples. Myc Witty, also a former UIndy baseball player, plays for the L.A. Naturals. Fishers native Connor Smith plays for the Atlanta Ballers.
The regular season began June 7, and the postseason begins July 26. All games this season are played at Assembly Studios.
Assembly Studios is a 135-acre complex with 19 sound stages located on the site of a former General Motor assembly plant. Shows like CBS’ Beyond the Gates and Apple TV+ thriller Cape Fear are filmed at the studio.
Witty is one of the top players in the Circle City League, but the Lawrence North grad knows he’s a long way from Dudas’ backyard when he’s playing BLW games.
“Getting under the lights and seeing a whole bunch of people sitting there watching you, it gets to you a little bit,” Witty said. “There’s smoke coming out as you’re going out of the tunnels and all types of stuff. I mean, it’s crazy.”
All of BLW’s games feature a live broadcast with a play-by-play announcer and color analyst. The games are streamed on ESPN+ and ESPN2, adding more legitimacy to the game so many people have played, but is still up-and-coming in terms of national popularity.
Rose said all but one of the league’s live events have sold out — capacity is 500 — as the sport’s popularity continues to grow. Wiffleball’s growth shares some similarities to the growth of Pickleball. It’s a sport that anyone can play, which makes it relatable, but Rose is banking on viewer’s willingness to watch it played at its highest level.
“You could turn on the TV and say, ‘Oh, look, that’s the same game I played growing up. I didn’t know they had professionals do this,'” Rose said. “Pickleball is certainly on the rise and has been growing so fast, and that’s something we could certainly echo. And I think we can kind of expand wiffle ball’s presence in this country by doing what we’re doing. I think a lot of people are familiar with it. So, when they see it on TV or they see us in action, in arena, they have that familiarity and think it’s pretty cool.”
Growing a kid’s game
The games played on a converted tennis arena at Intense Arena are standard wiffleball games with some modifications. Games are three innings long with a six-run per inning max. Teams consistent of two fielders and a pitcher. Lineups feature designated hitters and designated fielders as well. Teams use a standard yellow 8-ounce bat and a standard ⅔-ounce ball. There are no umpires or catcher, just a 23×28-inch backstop to determine the strike zone. BWL games feature a radar limit, meaning pitchers cannot throw a pitch over 75 mph. If a pitch goes over the limit, the batter can have the pitcher redo the pitch, even if the play results in an out. Witty, the top pitcher in the Circle City league can reach 106 mph with no limit. During BWL games he’s mostly used for his hitting ability. The radar limit is used to keep the action up and balls in play, but even without high velocity pitches, the movement pitchers put on wiffleballs regularly baffles hitters.
The Green Apples opened their season against the Philadelphia Wiffle Club. Smithey drew a leadoff walk. Reid Werner followed and he was not fooled by a looping pitch from Body Livingston, making contact and instantly raising his hand in celebration. The ball flew over the right field fence for a two-run home run. As Smithey rounded third base, teammate Gus Skibbe handed him a green apple, and the former Center Grove Trojan took a big bite as he crossed home plate. The two-run blast proved to be all the support Smithey needed, as his submarine delivery and nasty rising fastball kept his opponents off balance all game. The Green Apples beat Philly 3-1 and finished their regular season 6-0.
Rose doesn’t have a goal in mind for the growth of his league. But the players believe wiffleball can achieve mainstream appeal in the near future.
“I definitely think we have room to grow from an arena standpoint and a field standpoint and on a national scale,” Smithey said. “And so far, from everything I’ve experienced, I think it’s just going to keep getting bigger.”
As the Green Apples prepare for the postseason, the group of college teammates can’t help but think how far they’ve come from UIndy, to Dudas’ backyard on the South Side of Indy and now to ESPN.
“People are having families, people are getting married, we’re all growing up, but at the same time we still have that chance to be a little kid still and go out and enjoy life,” Witty said. “Life can get a little quick on us at times and it kind of slows it down for us every once in a while, and it gives us a little chance to be joyous and gracious for the little things in life.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Big League Wiffle turns kid’s game into big‑time show — and Indy players are at the heart of It
Reporting by Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Akeem Glaspie, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
