The backyard boys of summer enjoying their Ft. Mitchell Field of Dreams, thanks to Hetzel family

By Vicki Prichard
NKyTribune Reporter

In a time when sportswriters and others lament the decline of backyard baseball, Cole Hetzel may very well have the best backyard in Fort Mitchell; just ask any seventh grade boy.

For anyone who’s tired of suffering the lackluster season that’s playing out at Great American Ballpark, take heart, a glimpse over Shannon and Chris Hetzel’s backyard fence at their Ridge Road home might revive some enthusiasm.

A Fenway Park-inspired scoreboard hangs on the family’s garage, and a neatly outlined diamond is the centerpiece of the yard, complete with bases, a pitching mound and home plate. The backyard privacy fence that backs up to St. John’s Road, is topped with netting to catch soaring balls. And if the sun is setting then strings of work lights illuminate the yard. This is St. John’s Field. Let the Wiffle Ball games begin.

On Memorial Day, Shannon’s 80-year-old great uncle threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the batters ready themselves for the first game of the season. Cousins, aunts, and uncles will be on hand to sing The Star Spangled Banner, downloaded organ music will play, and Cracker Jacks, hot dogs and cotton candy will be served to those who aren’t on the field.

“Memorial Day is kick-off day for the family,” says Shannon Hetzel.

After that, the neighborhood kids will show up ready to play and play.

If you build it…

“This was all driven by Cole,” says Chris Hetzel, who is no stranger to Wiffle Ball. At 44-years-old, he and friends play in a Wiffle Ball tournament every summer in Mason, OH.

Hetzel grew up playing Wiffle Ball in Ludlow.

“My first taste of that sweet feeling known as Wiffle Ball started as I grew up playing with my brother and other neighborhood kids in an area of my hometown that I affectionately call “East Ludlow,” to give it more street cred which is right next to West Covington,” says Hetzel.

“We played every chance we could get and made it work with what we had — some fields were “zone” based like our side yard where singles, doubles, triples and homers were measured by depth and others were traditional diamonds with bases, like the one where we played regularly at the Ludlow-Bromley Swim Club,” he says.

It didn’t matter much which configuration they used, says Hetzel, it was always just about having fun.

“One thing is for sure, there were always endless opportunities for spectacular catches, wicked pitches and monster shots to boost all of our egos,” he says.”Thankfully, it’s the same today in our backyard as it was then.”

Last year, as Cole played pick-up games in the backyard with family and friends, it occurred to Cole that it would be a great idea if they had a place where the neighborhood kids could come and play.

“So, I just took the idea and started going with it,” says Cole. “We started out with four cones [for bases] and it turned into this.”

With an eye to detail, Cole began creating the field. Along with his dad, uncle, and cousins, they made a trip to Fenway Park in Boston for a little inspiration for the scoreboard and created their own. The church they attend – Ludlow Baptist Church – donated used bases from their church softball league. And Cole marks the field using an old reel lawn mower and white field paint.

“We measured the bases but if you look closely they’re not even,” says Cole. “We got a little off-centered and there was not much we could do about this. Home plate is not exactly 90 degrees, it’s more like 88.”

Just like the movie, once he ‘built’ it, the neighborhood kids did indeed ‘come.’

“The most we’ve had is 20-something, and we did little tournaments,” says Cole.

Neighborhood kids ride their bikes. Parents drop kids off and pick them up from farther away. Shannon often has hot dogs or pizza for the players, and always provides snacks and a cooler of drinks.

“It’s not necessarily every night, but definitely a few nights a week,” says Shannon.

It all began with a dad and a son

Not unlike St. John’s Field, the game of Wiffle Ball began with a dad and a son, back in 1953, in a backyard when a 12-year-old boy and his friends substituted a broomstick handle and perforated golf ball for a baseball and a bat.

David Mullany watched his son and his friends throw curveballs until their arms were sore and wobbly, and sought a solution. Using plastic ball-shaped parts that were used as packaging Coty perfume, Mullany created balls and carved perforations in them. He came up with a ball that curved easily and was tough to hit, which added up to lots of strikeouts. The boys called a strikeout a wiff and the name was coined.

Wiffle Balls hit store shelves sporting the faces of baseball greats like Pete Rose on the box.

An original advertisement for the Wiffle Ball shows New York Yankee’s pitcher Whitey Ford demonstrating how to throw the ball.

The minimum number of players to play a game of Wiffle Ball is two – one player for each side – and the maximum number that can officially compete is 10, five to a side.

Rules of the game

Just as Wiffle Ball seems a throwback to a simpler time, when kids and families gathered in their yards to play games, equally nostalgic may well be that the game sets the stage for kids to work through disagreements – come to resolutions – on their own, as opposed to in an organized setting where adults oversee the rules of the game. They’ll talk things through, establish rules, settle disagreements, and keep the game moving.

“One of the main distinctions is you have to keep some rules with the strikes and outs,” says Cole.

If a ball goes into the infield, since they don’t have always have a first baseman, if the pitcher picks up the ball then the runner is out.

The Hetzel’s keep a range of standard Wiffle Ball bats available, but Cole says the younger kids – often his sister Emma, who is in fourth grade – are allowed to use a larger orange bat.

Ages of the kids who play generally range from fourth grade to seventh grade, says Shannon. When the backyard is full of seventh grade boys, she says, it can sometimes become pretty competitive.

“That’s the reason I made the rule book,” says Cole. “I made the whole rule book with very specific rules.”

For example, he says, a ball went over the fence, hit a tree and bounced back in and there was a huge disagreement over that, but I eventually called it a homerun. I put a rule in about that.”

He chuckles at the fact that a rule exists for that in his rulebook.

“Why would we need a specific rule like this? Well, if it’s in there, it’s probably in there for a reason.

Cole follows the Cincinnati Reds, he says, but doesn’t play organized baseball. Some of his friends do though. For him, it’s only backyard, “full-time Wiffle Ball.

But even the Reds know that love for the game can start in the backyard. Just last weekend, as part of family day, the Reds gave out free plastic bats and perforated balls to kids 14-years-old and younger.

“Its just taking a great game of baseball and bringing it to the home, to the backyard,” says Cole.

And who knows? Maybe someday one of the Reds will show up to get in on the game in Cole’s backyard.

“The bottom line is, playing Wiffleball is all about having fun and that’s exactly what’s happened with the creation of Saint John’s Field and with the group of kids that play there on a regular basis,” says Chris Hetzel.

When Cole got the baseball bug last year and decided he wanted to play some Wiffleball, Hetzel went all in on helping him build his field of dreams.

“I imagine the reason I went all in is because despite the fact that there a hundred other things I really should be working on, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity for the kids to just be outside where they can just be kids,” he says.