Chris Bechtold scarcely knew of competitive Wiffle® Ball when he and his old brother, Greg, decided to enter the 1995 North American Wiffle® Ball Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio. By the end of the tournament, Bechtold etched his name in Wiffle® Ball tournament lore with a pitching performance for the ages.
But did it really happen?
The March 10, 1996 edition of the Chicago Tribune contained an article about the Illinois resident. According to the article, Bechtold – who played as one half of a two-man squad with his brother Greg – threw four one-hitters and six no-hitters during the course of the three-day tournament. If that wasn’t impressive enough it gets better! The topper is that – according to the Tribune – Chris Bechtold struck out 214 of the 222 batters he faced over the course tournament!
It is difficult to even process those numbers.
The strikeout total itself is simply staggering. According to the Tribune, Bechtold struck out 96.3% of the batters he faced over the course of that weekend tournament. But it is not just the strikeout numbers that are mind blowing. Based on that one bit of information, we also know that only eight plate appearances against Chris ended in something other than a strikeout. That means at the most he allowed eight base runners (walk or a hit) – that’s a mere 3.7% of the total batters he faced! If Bechtold recorded any outs with something other than strikeout, that already impressive figure drops even further! Those are not just video game numbers, they are borderline unbelievable.
The reported feat is so great – so above a normal tournament performance – that it is a little hard for me to believe it is true. Don’t get me wrong, I hope it is true and if there were no reasons to question the claim, I wouldn’t. The statistics, however, beg as many questions as they answer.
Thankfully, the Chicago Tribune provides a few more numbers on Chris Bechtold’s legendary performance. Let’s start with that first, eye-popping paragraph paraphrased above that addresses Bechtold’s statistical achievements at the 1995 North American Championship.
Bechtold was named most valuable player of the North American Wiffle Ball Championships after pitching six no-hitters and four one-hitters in 12 tournament games while striking out a dizzying 214 of 222 batters he faced.
This sentence raises many questions.
The first question is just what was Bechtold’s workload during the tournament? Six no-hitters and four one-hitters amounts to ten total games. The only North American Championship rule book I currently have at my disposal is the 1997 version which lists the number of innings per game as seven. If Becthold faced every single possible batter in ten, seven inning games he would have had to record 210 outs. The Tribune has him striking out 214 batters – four more than he would have faced during regulation. There are two explanations for this discrepancy – either something is afoot or the Bombers played into extra-innings at least once.
The author writes that the Bombers played “12 tournament games”. It is possible that Chris’ brother Greg pitched the other two games for his team. If so, nothing really changes in terms of the plausibility of the feat. However, if Chris pitched all twelve games and two weren’t no or one hitters, the result is that Chris pitched two games where he let up two or more hits. If so, we have now accounted for all 222 of the batters he faced (214 K’s and eight hits). If true, Bechtold did not walk a single batter during the tournament.
Fortunately, there are more numbers cited in the article. Some potentially clear up what happened while others shed further doubt on the veracity of the remarkable accomplishment. Below (in order of appearance in the article) is every other relevant number cited.
“Chris, a lefthander, allowed only eight batted balls in 12 games while recording his 214 strikeouts.”
“The Bechtolds advanced to the title game but lost 2-1 to a team from New Jersey in extra innings.”
“In wiffle ball, only four players are allowed in the game at any one time, and games are six innings.”
Now we are getting a clearer picture! With two references to twelve games – including one that specifically states Chris pitched all twelve – it is reasonable to assume that Chris pitched in twelve tournament games. The article also states that games were six innings and we will go with that, while assuming that the game length increased sometime after the 1995 tournament and before the 1997 tournament. Taken together, that means Chris would have had to record 216 outs.*
* There is a caveat of course – losses. Bechtold’s arm might have been spared a half-inning or two if the Bombers lost one or more games before the extra-inning finals. Delving into those scenarios without additional information is going to make my head spin even more so than it already is so for my sake, we will assume that Chris pitched six innings+ in all twelve games.
Let’s see if the numbers still hold up. Chris had to record 216 outs to get through twelve six inning regulation games. He struck out 214 batters which meant one or two batters made an out on a ball in play (it could be only one if that one ball in play out was a double play). Assuming two balls in play were recorded for an out, that’s all 216 outs accounted for. Then we have the eight hits (four one-hitters and presumably two two-hitters), which gives us a problem. That is 224 total batters and the article lists only 222. The solution to that might be the aforementioned double plays. A batter that records a hit can still record an out (via a double play) so they are not mutually exclusive. To get back to the magic 222 batters faced number we can make the leap that Greg was able to maintain his concentration during his brother’s strikeout parade in order to wipe out two of the eight base runners via double play.
If Chris did indeed pitch every regulation inning (six) or twelve tournament games while allowing eight hits as the article implies he did, then his 1995 championship stat line might have looked like this:
