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80s - Early 90s The typical backyard game: wiffleball with a white, hole-filled ball and a plastic bat. For the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, this was what wiffleball at the Hastings household was all about…just like it was in any other backyard. As everyone grew older, home runs would become too frequent. Then in an earthshattering few months, both the game and culture of Hastings wiffleball would change forever. For one, the field would be reversed, as hitters would now hit into the house instead of away from it (at the time, Mom Hastings thought this was ludicrous, and she probably still does). Secondly, the field was given a scoreboard and a formal name: Hastings Park. The 90s As soon as the field was named, Memorial Day and July 4 became national holidays that didn't celebrate american history. Rather, there were excuses to play in the two biggest wiffleball games of the year against your closest relatives and friends. throughout the mid to late-90s, the Memorial Day and July 4 games were important parts of everyone in the Hastings extended family's summers. Games normally pit about eight to ten relatives and friends against each other in a 6-inning slugfest. During its hayday, you could often witness gameday drafts, insane team names (like Wet vs. Dry or Crouching Tiger vs. Hidden Dragon), team uniforms, and introductions with music in what was eventually dubbed "The Big Two." At each game, an MVP was always named as well as a cookout, which of course was the real reason everyone was there in the first place: free food and to use the Hastings' pool. "The Big Two" continued its excitement well into the late 90s. The 2000 Season After learning some simple HTML, Justin Hastings, the League President and Webmaster, first introduced a simplistic wiffleball website (it was hideous). A few stats, like homers and wins-losses were kept. About a dozen games were played, but that simply wasn't enough. The normal wiffleball crowd wanted to try the improbable: a legit league with statistics, standings, playoffs, and the whole nine yards. That idea turned into League2k1. The 2001 Season "League2k1" | Statistics | Standings | Game Summaries And it worked! League2k1 had it all: constant competition, over 40 games, an All-Star weekend, and enough online information to suffice all the league's talent (although the site was still quite hideous). To this day, the summer of wiffleball featured the most wiffleball played of any time in Hastings Park history. When all the dust was settled, Rich McMackin & Matt Cassaro earned the right to call themselves League2k1 Champions after defeating Justin Hastings and then-rookie Matt Lincoln in a six-inning, 7-2 victory. McMackin was named MVP after pitching a complete game and driving in six runs while hitting three home runs. The first ever HMWL league was a huge success. League2k1 was highlighted by a first half that saw hitting dominate. After some relaxed pitching rules and regulations, the league slowly matured into a pitcher's game, a style that holds true today. The 2002 Season "Wiff 2.0" | Statistics | Standings | Game Summaries And you thought 2001 was good. Without a doubt, Wiff 2.0 was the best effort of any project in HMWL history. The season featured just shy of the 40+ games of 2001, but the quality was infinitely better. The summer was dominated by strong pitching performances and key hits. Before the season had started, hmwl.net was purchased and the website was a smash hit. Users could now access extra stats, audio diaries, picture galleries, and extra features about the league. The league led to a climactic stage, as Justin Hastings & Matt Cassaro would face off with Fred Rogers & Rich McMackin to determine the greatest title in HMWL history. Fittingly, the championship game featured strong pitching and timely plays, much like the regular season. Fred Rogers would end the game on the final pitch, sending a Matt Cassaro offering into right field for a walk-off home run, giving he and McMackin a 6-5 victory. The 2003 Season "Tri3" | Statistics | Standings | Game Summaries Dang, son. After the success story that was Wiff 2.0, Tri3 was a letdown. With some of the league's stars making minimal appearances, the league did not warrant a championship game. Less than 20 games were played and a large portion of the wiffleball was not the crispest. Matt Cassaro absolutely dominated the league, going 7-1 with a 1.88 ERA en route to an MVP and Error Boy Awards. For all intents and purposes, Cassaro was 2003's champion. The 2004 Season "The TakeOver" | Statistics | Standings | Championship After a subpar 2003 year, the 2004 season looked to get back to the success of years past. Unfortunately, much like 2003, not many games were played. The new 3-headed monster of Craig Hastings, Fred Rogers, and Will Kenney dominated the regular season. Kenney took home the MVP award boasting superb batting numbers to go along with a 7-1 record and a 1.67 ERA. The 2004 HMWL Championship, which was far removed from the regular season finale, pitted Fred Rogers & Craig Hastings versus Justin Hastings & Will Kenney. After the game went into extra innings, Craig Hastings brought the HMWL some déja vu, hitting a solo walk-off homer in the eighth inning to make he and Fred Rogers the 2004 champions. The 2005 Season | Statistics | Standings | Championship | Awards 2005 brought many changes to the HMWL. Hastings Park saw new boards guarding SingleVille (quickly nicknamed the Black Hole) and at third base. The right field home run line was also pushed back, all in an effort to curb run scoring. Did it ever. The season saw a record 2.02 league ERA. The kids (Craig, Will, Fred and now TJ Collins) again dominated the year. Fourteen of the season's eighteen regular season games were won from the hill by either Kenney or Rogers. C.Hastings led the league in batting, and Collins took home Play of the Year honors. However, 2005 will be known as Justin Hastings's year. After three straight championship losses, the league's poster child finally broke through, with teammate and brother Craig, to bring home the 2005 HMWL Championship. There, for the first time ever, the championship was played with a best-of-3 series. After narrowly escaping defeat in game 1, Craig & Justin won the series on a walk-off RBI-single by Craig in extra innings.
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