Wiffleball

[wiffle]

Hi everybody, I am new here and wanted to share some information on Wiffleball. I am sure most of you have heard of and/or played wiffleball at some point in your life, but what you may not know is the game has evolved over the past decade. Today some pitchers are throwing in the 90s and they are using a more traditional or adult sized bat.

Surely the game will never take the place of baseball, but it's a lot like what one-on-one basketball is to team basketball. First of all it is easier to be a dominant wiffleball pitcher, than it is to be a dominant baseball pitcher. The ball when properly doctored by scuffing or knifing actually will travel with more velocity, movement and consistency than a brand new ball. Next, you end up averaging an AB an inning, two or three ABs innings are not unheard of. Though it is a little tougher to make contact against a top pitcher, it is easier to hit a home run when you do make contact, because the field only has one hundred foot fences. Then there is the fielding, with only three players including the pitcher in the field, each player has a ton of ground to cover giving him more of a chance to make plays in the field.

Finally and the reason I am posting this on a baseball forum is because over 50% of fast pitch wiffle players have played baseball from high school to the minors. Most of these ball players came in thinking they would just fill in for the day, because it is just wiffleball and there is no way that wiffleball could fulfill their need for competition... well, in some cases, years later they are still coming back and playing a full season, either in addition or in the place of baseball.

Here is what I am talking about...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4azoW8QM9EI

[Bitter Fan]

Traditional sized bats? Blegh. I've heard of "wiffleball" leagues covering the holes on the ball!

If it's not a yellow bat and a genuine wiffleball, it's not wiffleball.

[wiffle]

If you say so.

[dominik]

If you say so.

Yeah it really doesn't matter how it is called as long it is fun and a good competition. anything that gets people of the couch and is great in these day of ever fatter getting people.

I play baseball but other varieties of the game like softball or wiffleball are great too. especially for urban areas without a lot of space for real baseball fields.
I also think that kids should play more wiffle ball. because of the movement it really teaches tracking the ball. also playing with their friends without adults IMHO is much better for their developement then just playing organized pay ball all year round.

[Zito75]

So are there leagues out there?

I played TONS of wiffleball as a kid, probably up until I was 18 or 19 years old. We would wrap the balls and bats with duct tape. The movement on some of the pitches was unreal. I even learned how to throw a riser. I'm in my 30's now so I seriously doubt anyone I know would want to play - but I'd be interested in playing recreationally...

[banosd]

My father got me into wiffle ball with his sidearm pitch. That and our yard had a natural home run fence. Me and the other kids in the neighborhood called his rising sidearm pitch "the Quisenberry Upper" because it would just float past our bats on an upward plane. I practiced it for hours until I finally got a good one myself and some variants including ones that dropped or slid away. What motivated me was having pinpoint so I could just dominate hitters that would stand there and look at them and I could have strikes called. Some of the guys learned to time them so they could connect but they still couldn't do much. I was always a decent but unspectacular athlete so it was nice having a specialty.

I still practice pitching sometimes against a wall and am waiting for my son to grow up so I can show him my odd skill.

[Zito75]

My father got me into wiffle ball with his sidearm pitch. That and our yard had a natural home run fence. Me and the other kids in the neighborhood called his rising sidearm pitch "the Quisenberry Upper" because it would just float past our bats on an upward plane. I practiced it for hours until I finally got a good one myself and some variants including ones that dropped or slid away. What motivated me was having pinpoint so I could just dominate hitters that would stand there and look at them and I could have strikes called. Some of the guys learned to time them so they could connect but they still couldn't do much. I was always a decent but unspectacular athlete so it was nice having a specialty.

I still practice pitching sometimes against a wall and am waiting for my son to grow up so I can show him my odd skill.

That's awesome - sounds like me - I threw the riser the same way. My specialty was throwing a hook that broke from 2 to 7 on right handed batters. I would start the pitch by aiming near the batters head. A lot of newbies would duck out of the way - but eventually most of the guys learned how to hit it. Ah, fun times.