At the conclusion of the 2014 GBL World Series between the GasHouse Gorillas and the Anti-Heroes, I had an idea race through my head that I feared would inevitably happen. I thought that the Griffleball League was ready to come to an end. After five seasons, I felt like it was time for the league to ride off into the sunset. So often, terms are thrown around that encourage quality over quantity, as in "It's better to burn out than fade away." I loved the GBL so much, that I did not want something that was once so perfect to fade away and be remembered for anything less than what it deserved.
The 2014 GBL season was arguably the worst season of Griffleball up to that point. The league had lost most of its integral and beloved players from the early years and replaced them with players who did not seem to care if their team won, lost, forfeit, or even existed in the GBL. In the 2014 regular season, there were only three teams who consistently showed up to their games; and when they did show up, the competitive and professional atmosphere that once made the GBL so perfect was not present at the ball park. The GBL had suddenly turned into a recreational wiffleball league that was at the bottom of most players' personal priority lists.
My-oh-my, how much the GBL had changed from 2011 to 2014. In the 2011 GBL World Series, there was intensity with every single pitch. There were 10-15 people at the Griffle Grounds to watch us play. I remember waking up in the morning immediately excited about playing in the GBL World Series on those nights in August of 2011. Well, my feelings about the 2014 World Series weren't exactly the same. In fact, my feelings were quite the opposite heading into the 2014 Fall Classic. Heading into Game 1, I thought "I hope at least one person comes out to help keep score. Maybe two people so we can have a play-by-play announcer. Maybe three people so we can have someone in charge of walk-up music and action photos. Maybe even some fans to build up a better atmosphere."
Needless to say, my wishes didn't come true. We didn't have a scorekeeper. We didn't have a play-by-play announcer. We didn't have walk-up songs. We didn't have action photos. We didn't have fans. The games did not have the same atmophere that was once present in better days.
As I took the mound in the 5th inning of Game 5 of that series with the GasHouse Gorillas on the brink of winning the World Series and ending the season, I wondered if I was about to throw the last pitch that the GBL would ever see. It was a scary thought and an odd feeling. I wanted to keep the league going, but I felt as if I shouldn't.
With my emotions riding high at the conclusion of the season, I wasn't sure what to do. Every time I remembered how low the league was in 2014, I remembered how high it was in 2011. Every time I remembered how excited I was in the league's early years, I remembered how disgusted I was in recent years. And so on, and so on, and so on...
And then, something happened that convinced me that I should keep the GBL alive for at least one more season. It was a sign. It made me believe that I owed the league a chance for it to return to greatness.
A few days after the season ended, I received a text message from Jackson Buzea who had just completed his rookie season with the Bird Gang. He followed up with an inquiry he made a few weeks earlier about starting his own expansion team in 2015. It was at that time that I decided to grant him an expansion team as a reward for being one of the few players in the league who helped out at the field whenever help was needed and always seemed to care about the goodness of the league itself. By granting him rights to an expansion team, I had ultimately decided that the GBL would live to play one more season in 2015; and after the season that we just experienced this summer, I could not be happier with the decision to keep Griffleball up and running.
The 2015 Griffleball season was the best season we have had yet; and it was due largely in part to Jackson's expansion team, the Taka Drivers. The GBL needed to find another team that was dedicated to the league.. a team that showed up to all of its games... a team that helped out at the field when it wasn't playing... a team that was thrilled to be a part of the league.
But even if the GBL added another competitive and dedicated team, it would still need to add one more element to return to the status that it once held; and right around the start of the new year, I realized exactly what and who we needed. My old friend from high school by the name of Tyler Walk had just finished up his broadcasting degree in college. I ran into him one night in January at Family Video and he told me that he would like to announce some of the GBL games in 2015, as he would like to put a broadcasting portfolio together for his potential employers. I told him that I would send him a copy of the GBL schedule, and that it would be great if he could make it out to the Griffle Grounds and call some games when he has free time.
Well, I think we all know the rest.
Not only did he make it out to the Griffle Grounds to call a few games, but he did just about everything imaginable towards making the GBL one of the country's most exciting, interactive, and popular wiffleball leagues. In the span of just one season, the GBL went from having virtually no YouTube presence to having multiple uploads every week. Tyler requested off from his day-job every Sunday so he could be at Griffleball games. The man spent countless hours keeping score, broadcasting, video editing, tweeting.... you name it. He was the GBL social media king for 2015. He even started his own weekly recap/preview video called Inside The GBL. Oh, and I should also add that he traveled to Columbus, OH with the GBL's National Team to cover the NWLA Tournament.
Upon adding the Taka Drivers and Tyler Walk - the two most important pieces of the puzzle for the league's return to greatness - everything else started falling into place. More players from around the region heard about the league and joined. Games played went up. Forfeits went down. Rivalries were established. And most importantly, players looked forward to stepping onto the field every Sunday. The 2015 GBL season was ran so smoothly, that I almost felt as if my comissioner duties were on auto-pilot for most of the season. Everyone knew what to do, and everyone knew what was expected.
I remember a moment from the 2nd or 3rd week of the season this year when I looked around the field and I counted over 20 people in attendance. At that moment, I recalled my childhood years when I imagined myself running a premier wiffleball league one day. I remember begging my neighbors to come over so I could play a one-on-one game of wiffleball against them. I think there were only four of us, but that's all it took for the thought to enter my mind that one day, I would like to turn wiffleball into something greater. In the summer of 2015, the Griffleball League turned wiffleball into something greater. It turned wiffleball into everything that I imagined as a kid.
People often ask me how long that I think the GBL will last. I always jokingly say that I would like all of the managers to eventually have their teams' home fields in their backyards once they get older and buy their own houses, and that we can one day pass the league onto our children. But honestly, I don't think I can ever accurately predict how long the GBL will last. Sure, I would love to keep this league going as long as possible; but I do realize that some of us are getting older, and other aspects of life might begin to take away from our dedication to the league.
But when the day comes where one of our players has to deliver the league's final pitch, I will happily look back on the 2015 season - a season that showed me how much we all love the GBL. After a couple of down years, we all could have walked away, but we chose not to. I know that we have at least another season left, and that is all I could have asked for after being so uncertain one year ago at this time. Maybe we have 3-4 years left. Maybe we have more than that. But one thing is for sure - I will no longer feel so reluctant to put this league to rest when the day comes because I will remember that in 2015, we reached the top of the wiffleball world.
Thanks to the Taka Drivers, Tyler Walk, and each and every one of you who contributed to the 2015 Griffleball season. What a great year it has been. Let's make 2016 even better!
Sincerely,
Jeremy Ratajczyk
Commissioner, Griffleball League
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