And then came the Whiffies!

The diligent work of the Rules Committee was rewarded with plentiful plates of Tank's food: there were burgers with and without cheese, wings and fries galore, plentiful pitchers and large cups of water with lemon.  Once gastronomically sated, Master of Ceremonies, Commissioner Peter Berwald began the main program of the evening: The Whiffies.

Peter holding a Whiffie

Fashioned by hand as a joint effort of Glen Cebulash and da Commish, this year's Whiffies feature a brown glass bottle and a whole, genuine OW&AC game-used wiffle ball!  Glen cut, glued, and nailed the plaque frames; Peter added the photos, inscriptions and the bottle/balls.  Truly, works of art.

Honoring each Whiffler that took to the asphalt in the 2010, Peter read the inscription on each plaque.  They combined humor and a fair sprinkling of statistics to capture the flavor of each one's season.  Here we see Laura Hume finding something a great deal funnier than Dave Bush.

After encapsulating 16 players' seasons, it came time for the Commissioner to honor a player who had an exemplary season with the League MVP Trophy.  The recipient was a clear choice in Peter's words: Kurt Mosser, who's league-leading batting was coupled with a pitching ERA just north of 1.

Note that this photo caught the boyish charm of Eric Zamonski and his lovable sidekick, Disembodied Hand.  Such zanies, they are.

Here's the MVP with his hardware.  This trophy is a one of a kind likeness of Tank Killabrew, the League mascot, modeled in clay and fabric, the work of Commissioner Peter Berwald.  It was announced that this trophy will be the permanent MVP trophy for the OW&AC, passing from one MVP to the next each year.    Who doesn't want this in their house next December, huh?

Peter then turned the proceedings over to Glen Cebulash, who fashioned the "Commissioner's Award" for 2010, pictured below.

Inspired by the legend of the sword in the stone, this piece features the bat in the asphalt plus another genuine, OW&AC game-used wiffle ball.  Immediately nicknamed the John Kruk Trophy, it was awarded to Matt Lindsay for statistical and bloggical contributions to the League.  Asked to say a few words, a genuinely surprised Matt thanked the players for tolerating his evident need to keep score and quantify what really should just be a morning's fun. And thus the ceremonies came to a close.

But the merriment continued...

.. until the room looked like this.

Again, many thanks to Peter Berwald for a season's worth of work supporting the games and the Whiffies, Glen Cebulash for the same, Tim Baker for rounding up our tables for the banquet, and Brent Mackintosh for a season's worth of Theory Session umpiring, and working to arrange the venue for the Whiffies.

Gentlemen, it was a hit.

The sweet righty swing of Tim "Boog" Baker