Defining Players IV: The Wiffle Ball Hall of Fame Rolls

The New Carlisle Wiffle Ball Hall of Fame, 2020–2022 rolls as published

The institution keeps its own roll of defining players. The New Carlisle Wiffle Ball Hall of Fame was established in 2020; its criteria weigh on-field performance together with impact on the founding and growth of The Wiffle®Ball Championship and the ORWBL, and after the inaugural class, classes are voted by the Hall's members at a 75-percent threshold. More than 1,300 players have competed in the Championship and the league since 2005; the published roll as read carries eighteen names.

Class of 2020 (fifteen, the inaugural class): Shane Anderson (Maple City Magic); John Arndt (Looney Wifflers); Nick Arndt (Wills Township Federalists); Garrett Curless (New Carlisle Newts); Wes Ellis (Maple City Magic); Jared Emmons (Pterodactyls); Matt Flagg (New Carlisle Newts); Denis Jedrysek (Pterodactyls); Bob Keck (contributor — grounds crew and owner of Migley Field, the roll's one special contributor); Kaylor Keck (New Carlisle Newts); Drew Luther (Maple City Magic); Matt Serge (Speedy's Chickenheads); Seth Shail (The Muffs); Jay Ryans (Cult West Warriors); Scott Soos (Cult West Warriors).

Class of 2021 (two): Danny Hernandez (Cult West Warriors), named on 10 of 13 ballots (76.9 percent), and Koby Keck (New Carlisle Newts), on 12 ballots (92.3 percent) — the Championship's founder entering his own Hall in its second class; the class was honored at Migley on 25 July 2021. Class of 2022 (one): Matt Soos (Cult West Warriors), the sole inductee at 80 percent of the vote — the fourth Warrior inducted, joining his brother Scott, Jay Ryans and Danny Hernandez. Four of the eighteen were inducted as Newts.

The defining profile. The Hall's own inductee page for Matt Flagg, styled the "X-Factor," shows what the roll honors: he captained the Late Arrivers, the team formed in the wee hours before the first tournament to fill the sixteen-team bracket, to the inaugural 2005 championship; won two more titles with the Newts in 2007 and 2008; was the original ace of the Newts' ORWBL staff, the league's 2007 Cy Young winner and an All-Star in each of the league's first three years; helped manage the pool-play schedule and umpired Hometown Cup Finals; and retired after 2012. The profile speaks of him in the past tense — "the late Matt Flagg." Around the roll, the record's other defining marks: John Arndt's five Golden Bats in the Home Run Derby, matched by his son Nick Arndt's four; Jared Jonkman's six-year Derby reign, 2017–2022; Andy Sieradzki's 105 home runs in the 2015 Derby, the bracket format's first year; and Garrett Curless, who named Migley Field itself, winning the Kaylor Keck MVP Award in 2018.

Sources:

1. The Wiffle®Ball Championship, "Hall of Fame," hometowncup.com (read 2026-11-11) — establishment, criteria, the 2020–2022 rolls and ballot percentages.
2. The Wiffle®Ball Championship, Matt Flagg inductee profile, hometowncup.com (read 2026-11-11).
3. New Carlisle Newts, ncnewts.com (read 2026-11-11) — four inductees as Newts; Derby records as carried in the league's published features.