Teams Turn Out for Wiffle Ball Title

By Victoria Welch, Free Press Staff Writer

ESSEX -- The third annual Vermont Wiffle Ball Tournament began Friday with trash talk in the stands that was nearly as lively as the game on the Little Fenway Park diamond.

With 20 teams vying for the title of ultimate wiffle ball champion, good-natured teasing is a part of the game. Ed Simes, 52, watched members of the Hockey Monkeys and Ace's Hardware teams battle during the tournament's first game on Friday afternoon.

Jokingly narrowing his eyes, the captain of the Blue Bulls team looked at members of the Hotdam team as they watched the game from behind home plate. Hotdam captain Mario Fontana, 21, sat with a trophy from last year's tournament at his feet.

"Look at the trophies," said Simes, a Holderness, N.H., resident. "That's a security blanket. They've got something to hide."

A benefit for the Travis Roy Foundation, the Wiffle ball tournament brought teams and players from throughout New England to Little Fenway Park, a small diamond in Pat O'Connor's back yard, An avid baseball fan, O'Connor built his mini-Fenway in 2001 and started the tournament the year after.

The tournament has grown from a one-day event to include three days of ballgames, a concert, home run derby and silent auction. Teams in this year's tournament include players from Colorado, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York state and Vermont, organizers said.

Among the 20 teams registered for the tournament is one all-kids team, organized by captain Scotty Wilson, 15. The incoming Mount Mansfield Union High School freshman played on a team in the 2003 tournament and decided to bring friends together to form the Hockey Monkeys and raise the $500: entry fee.

"It's harder to organize with kids," Wilson said, "but I thought the enthusiasm would be great with these guys."

The enthusiasm, Fontana said, was clearly generated by both the fun of the game and the foundation which benefits.

"The real reason why we're here is for Travis," Fontana said. "It's great to be able to do something to help Travis and help others."

The Travis Roy Foundation distributes grants to paraplegics and quadriplegics in financial need, and also funds research into spinal cord paralysis. Roy became a quadriplegic after severely damaging his spinal cord in 1995, during his first collegiate hockey game, at Boston University. Organizers said they hope to raise $15,000 by the end of the tournament on Sunday afternoon.

But it doesn't hurt to be able to have some fun heckling others, Fontana said. For the past two weeks, players from opposing teams have posted items on the message board at the Roy Foundation Web site, heckling other teams' names and players, he said.

Many of the players said they didn't know how the trash-talk started. Fontana laughed.

"I started it," he said.

Appeared in the Burlington Free Press - August 14, 2004