by Carl Coffee
To say that Stephen Farkas had a nice year of wiffleball in 2014 would be a huge understatement. Without ever playing organized wiffleball prior to joining the Belgian Wiffles, he played like a seasoned veteran both in WSEM and NWLA Tournament play. By June 1st, he already had four perfect games, a WSEM record. He then joined the National Team, and without throwing a pitch in any of the four round robin games, pitched two shutout games in the playoffs en route to winning the Tournament MVP award. Then back in WSEM play, he set the single season strike out record, and then led his team who went 4-24 the year before, to a runner-up finish in a very competitive season.This isn’t an article about Stephen Farkas’ pitching accomplishments. Everyone knows those. This is an article about Stephen Farkas, the person. Farkas is very loud. Farkas is very intense. Farkas doesn’t know how to "take it easy." Farkas is passionate. Farkas is kind. Farkas is weird. A lot of those traits are common for a wiffleball player. What isn’t common is Farkas’ skillset.
Few pitchers with such power and force have the accuracy that Farkas has. Few pitchers with his dominance will be the first to shake your hand if you are one of the few to hit a home run off of him. At first, I thought this had to be an act. No one can be this nice and genuine. Ace pitchers are usually prima donnas. Farkas was always the first one to help me set up the fields, and the last to leave. He would drive to the gas station when he wasn’t playing to get water for other teams. He would show opposing pitchers how to throw his signature pitches.
Playing with Farkas was a dream. When it was his turn to pitch, you knew it would only take one run for him to win the game. When not pitching, he would be in the outfield diving and jumping all over the place to help his team. League members who weren’t around him as much took longer in figuring out if he was a genuine person. By mid-season, he pretty much won everyone over.
In a sport where people come and go, it’s tough to tell how long Stephen Farkas will stick around for. If these are the glory years of wiffleball, I am very lucky to have met Farkas when I did. His first words to me over facebook chat when I asked if he could throw were: “I am an ok pitcher.” Well Stephen, I would say you are a little bit better than “ok.”
