Commissioner / Co-Founder / League Committee
Jacob Davey is the Commissioner of the Wiff is Life League, and is a Co-Founder of the league with Mike Graziani. He has been in the position since the creation of the league, heading into year number eight in 2021.
Participation rates have risen five of the six seasons and 200-plus players have participated in a WILL event. The league has made print news in the Observer-Reporter, multiple times, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, and the Tribune Review. Davey has created a strong foundation in the league's relationship with the local Little League Baseball Organization, CMYBA, which has benefitted the league.
Davey created the Fall Wiff is Life League (FWILL) and the Winter WILL in 2015. The offseason events kept Wiffle Ball going throughout the year. The Winter WILL was dubbed a charity tournament and has collected items for One Warm Coat, Toys for Tots, and the Washington County Food Bank.
After the conclusion of the 2014 season, Davey created a league website, Twitter, and Facebook. He started the movement to take stats for each game in 2015 and inputed them to the website. Prior to the 2017 FWILL, he created a league Instagram account and launched a brand new league website. Davey has remade the league logo and remodeled the website for the 2020 WILL season.
All of the sponsorships of the league have been secured by Davey.
He registered the league for the National Wiffle League Association in 2014. Since then the WILL has had a team represented in the NWLA Rankings each year and has had multiple players be named to an All-NWLA team. The league secured two Wiffy Awards for the first time and had the National Team of the Year in 2018 under his direction.
The Co-Founder introduced Wiffle Ball outside of the WILL to players in the league. The first trip was the 2014 Westmoreland Wiffle Ball Fall Classic. In 2017, Davey created the WILL Waves and entered them in the 2017 NWLA National Tournament. The team won the NWLA National Tounrament Championship in 2018. Since the introduction of Wiffle Ball outside of the WILL, players from the league have played in events in three different states.
The WILL has ran the Youth Tournament in 2016 and the Wiffle Ball Tournament Benefitting Mitch Barton in August 2019. The tournament for Mitch Barton, a friend of the league, raised funds to help him with his battle with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. The event raised over $3,500, all given directly to Mitch and his family.
Outside of the WILL, Davey is heavily involved in the national scene. He is entering his third year on the Host Committee of the NWLA National Tournament, first as the Social Media Director.
He also has recently accepted a contributing spot on the National Wiffle Committee. National Wiffle has taken over the National Wiffle League Association and now includes all leagues, tournaments, and everything about the game in one spot.
Davey was instrumental in forming a partnership that welcomed Mid Atlantic Wiffle Ball to Canonsburg for the Canonsburg Classic in 2018.
As a member of the League Committee, formed in 2020, the Commissioner will be mainly focused on the league's media, which includes the website, social media, live streams, shows, and more. Davey will also take the lead in securing sponsor/partner-ships. He will have a vote on all league matters, including rules, dates, formats, and any other proposed items by committee members. The League Committee meets once a month in the offseason and before each gameday during the season.
WILL Teams:
Brewers (2014), Mariners (2015), Booze on First (2016-18), Plumbers (2019), Banana Slugs (2021-pres.) Waves (2017-pres.)