Hot Fun In The Summertime
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Build it, and they will come.
The line, from Field of Dreams, is unarguably the most famous, most often quoted line from any baseball movie in the modern day era. It, of course, refers to a baseball field.
A trio of 23-year-olds from Warsaw - Brian Aust, Lincoln Howard and Dave Pacheco - heeded the advice. They built their field in an empty lot next to Aust's house on Old Ditch Road near Winona Lake.
On this field, however, the fences aren't 300 feet away. It is 86 feet to the leftfield fence, 94 feet to the centerfield fence and 72 feet to the rightfield fence. That's because this isn't any old baseball field. This is a wiffle ball field, and it was the site of "Wiffle Fest '96," played all day Saturday.
The name of the field is Woodward Memorial Stadium. The name is after Howard Woodward, who is still very much alive. He owns the land they built their field on.
"It's the least that we could do for him," Lincoln Howard says.
This is the second straight year that Aust, Howard and Pacheco hosted the wiffle ball tournament. Aust graduated from Purdue and works in Indianapolis. Howard attends Grace College, while Pacheco graduated from Grace and now works there.
Last year, as this year, six teams entered. A team from Mentone and another from South Bend came. The other four were from the Warsaw/Winona Lake area.
One thing is for sure: Aust, Howard and Pacheco take this day seriously. They sent out flyers and sent messages word of mouth about this year's tournament. They plan to advertise in newspapers next year to drum up more interest in their annual tournament.
"We're kind of the initiators of wiffle ball in this area, I'd say," Aust says. "We used to play at Winona Lake, where we had a field. My two brothers and I would play about every night after work or school.
"We just kept getting more serious each year, and now ..."
How serious? Go to a minor league stadium, and you often see advertisements all over the outfield fence. Well, these three had movie advertisements - of course, Major League II was there - plastered on their outfield fence. They had painted baselines and batter's boxes and a true pitcher's mound.
Just like at any major league park, they had their public address system set up. Music boomed through the speakers before the games. In case the weather threatened, they were prepared. Light poles hovered over the field. The concessions stand? Located down the leftfield line.
"Every year we try to make improvements in the field," Aust says. "Last year we put up lights. It's not like it's as good as a real field, but ..." This year's added improvements? Painted foul poles and an improved backstop.
On this field, a huge "P" is painted with the white dust a few feet in front of homeplate.
"That's the famous P-rule," Aust explains. "If the ball doesn't get past the P-rule line, we figure you don't deserve a hit if you only hit it that far."
"Named after yours truly," Pacheco chimes in, "because I kept hitting them right there."
Pacheco's dribblers were going for hits, and Howard didn't think that was right.
"He kept hitting those five-foot shots and getting singles off of them, so I thought we gotta do something about that," Howard says.
Three players are on each team - a pitcher, right fielder and left fielder. Each team gets one out an inning. You get three strikes, but to draw a walk, you have to take six balls instead of four. Throwing the ball at the runner is permitted, and if it hits him, he's out.
While they use the official wiffle ball bat, they don't use the official wiffle ball that has holes only on the top side. "We think you can put too much spin on it," Aust says. Instead, they use one of those balls with holes on the bottom side as well as the top side. "You can still put a pretty good curve on it," Aust says.
Tournament format is either round-robin or double elimination, depending on the number of teams. Cost to enter is $15 per team.
The HAPS - Howard, Aust, Pacheco - won the tournament last year, so they were defending their title this year. Aust says part of the reason is because they have the best slugger.
"Lincoln is the best hitter," he says. "We keep stats. Last year he had 12 home runs, and the next closest was seven. He batted about .600 last year, and 60 percent of his hits were home runs."
"It's a hitter's game," Howard explains.
On this morning, Howard notices the wind is blowing in from left. That's significant, because Woodward Memorial Stadium plays a lot like Wrigley Field.
"It's very dependent on the wind," Aust says. "If the wind's blowing out, there's a lot of home runs. If the wind is blowing in, there's none."
The three tournament founders have their version of the Stanley Cup, a traveling trophy. Each year's champions will have their names engraved on it. Howard admitted he paid for the trophy by himself.
"But it's worth it," he declares. "We won it."
This year, they made it 2-for-2. The HAPS won their tournament and kept their trophy for the second year in a row. [[In-content Ad]]
Build it, and they will come.
The line, from Field of Dreams, is unarguably the most famous, most often quoted line from any baseball movie in the modern day era. It, of course, refers to a baseball field.
A trio of 23-year-olds from Warsaw - Brian Aust, Lincoln Howard and Dave Pacheco - heeded the advice. They built their field in an empty lot next to Aust's house on Old Ditch Road near Winona Lake.
On this field, however, the fences aren't 300 feet away. It is 86 feet to the leftfield fence, 94 feet to the centerfield fence and 72 feet to the rightfield fence. That's because this isn't any old baseball field. This is a wiffle ball field, and it was the site of "Wiffle Fest '96," played all day Saturday.
The name of the field is Woodward Memorial Stadium. The name is after Howard Woodward, who is still very much alive. He owns the land they built their field on.
"It's the least that we could do for him," Lincoln Howard says.
This is the second straight year that Aust, Howard and Pacheco hosted the wiffle ball tournament. Aust graduated from Purdue and works in Indianapolis. Howard attends Grace College, while Pacheco graduated from Grace and now works there.
Last year, as this year, six teams entered. A team from Mentone and another from South Bend came. The other four were from the Warsaw/Winona Lake area.
One thing is for sure: Aust, Howard and Pacheco take this day seriously. They sent out flyers and sent messages word of mouth about this year's tournament. They plan to advertise in newspapers next year to drum up more interest in their annual tournament.
"We're kind of the initiators of wiffle ball in this area, I'd say," Aust says. "We used to play at Winona Lake, where we had a field. My two brothers and I would play about every night after work or school.
"We just kept getting more serious each year, and now ..."
How serious? Go to a minor league stadium, and you often see advertisements all over the outfield fence. Well, these three had movie advertisements - of course, Major League II was there - plastered on their outfield fence. They had painted baselines and batter's boxes and a true pitcher's mound.
Just like at any major league park, they had their public address system set up. Music boomed through the speakers before the games. In case the weather threatened, they were prepared. Light poles hovered over the field. The concessions stand? Located down the leftfield line.
"Every year we try to make improvements in the field," Aust says. "Last year we put up lights. It's not like it's as good as a real field, but ..." This year's added improvements? Painted foul poles and an improved backstop.
On this field, a huge "P" is painted with the white dust a few feet in front of homeplate.
"That's the famous P-rule," Aust explains. "If the ball doesn't get past the P-rule line, we figure you don't deserve a hit if you only hit it that far."
"Named after yours truly," Pacheco chimes in, "because I kept hitting them right there."
Pacheco's dribblers were going for hits, and Howard didn't think that was right.
"He kept hitting those five-foot shots and getting singles off of them, so I thought we gotta do something about that," Howard says.
Three players are on each team - a pitcher, right fielder and left fielder. Each team gets one out an inning. You get three strikes, but to draw a walk, you have to take six balls instead of four. Throwing the ball at the runner is permitted, and if it hits him, he's out.
While they use the official wiffle ball bat, they don't use the official wiffle ball that has holes only on the top side. "We think you can put too much spin on it," Aust says. Instead, they use one of those balls with holes on the bottom side as well as the top side. "You can still put a pretty good curve on it," Aust says.
Tournament format is either round-robin or double elimination, depending on the number of teams. Cost to enter is $15 per team.
The HAPS - Howard, Aust, Pacheco - won the tournament last year, so they were defending their title this year. Aust says part of the reason is because they have the best slugger.
"Lincoln is the best hitter," he says. "We keep stats. Last year he had 12 home runs, and the next closest was seven. He batted about .600 last year, and 60 percent of his hits were home runs."
"It's a hitter's game," Howard explains.
On this morning, Howard notices the wind is blowing in from left. That's significant, because Woodward Memorial Stadium plays a lot like Wrigley Field.
"It's very dependent on the wind," Aust says. "If the wind's blowing out, there's a lot of home runs. If the wind is blowing in, there's none."
The three tournament founders have their version of the Stanley Cup, a traveling trophy. Each year's champions will have their names engraved on it. Howard admitted he paid for the trophy by himself.
"But it's worth it," he declares. "We won it."
This year, they made it 2-for-2. The HAPS won their tournament and kept their trophy for the second year in a row. [[In-content Ad]]