Whiffle Ball History

[Honus Wagner Rules]

I still have fond memories of playing Whiffle Ball as a kid!

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/invented-wiffle-ball-203300250.html

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

I have a book about wiffleball that shows you fields, organizations, pitches, batting techniques, and its history. I still play a few times a week with friends.

[SHOELESSJOE3]

I still have fond memories of playing Whiffle Ball as a kid!

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/inv...203300250.html

Loved that game, played as a kid and adult.
Not to crazy about some type whiffle balls and that included the official whiffle ball. If I recall, it had some cuts in it a couple of inches long,on one side, the other side solid. This ball was too erratic when hit, hit it good and sometimes wind up with not much of a drive, the ball could go downward. Other times the ball would travel a mile, too much luck involved when hit.

The ball we used most often had holes in it, all the way around it, holes maybe about 3/8 of an inch in diameter.
At least with this ball, you got what you deserved when hitting it. A true flight, not so erratic and unpredictable as the offficial ball

[TonyK]

Ten years ago our little league put up fences in one field, and had a parent-child league after the little league season ended. We had a lot of fun and it brought back old memories. It was almost impossible to hit a home run over the fence.

As a kid I loved pitching a whiffle ball and make it rise, sink, shoot to the left or shoot to the right. Like knuckleballers, every now and then you were unhittable and made your friends look like fools. We used to switch hit and tried using major leaguers batting stances or pitching motions. My favorite was Juan Marichal and his high leg kick.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

we used to add some white medical tape around certain parts of the ball (never covering up any holes) which made the ball stronger and heavier. this allowed pitchers to pitch the ball much faster and when you squared it up as a hitter you could hit it much farther. it also made the ball last longer

one guy was a master pitcher he could throw the proverbial curve or screwball but his other two pitches were awesome. he would throw "the hover", where the open holes were all on the bottom and he would literally throw it sidearm almost directly into the ground. the ball would skim along the ground less than a few inches off the ground and then just as it got to home plate would rise ever so much for a strike. if you swang at it, you most likey would miss it, and if you were lucky enough to make contact, you would almost always foul it straight back, if you did hit it, it was usually a 3 hopper right back to the pitcher. he also would turn the holes so they all faced up and throw a huge and very fast "drop" the ball would be way above your head and suddenly at the last second dart straight down into the strike zone, i think one time out of a million I squared it up and hit a home run over the fence but almost always this pitch was truly unhittable.

and all this reminds me of story. my friend and i went backpacking deep into the high sierra in northern yosemite. his gf dropped us off at kennedy meadow and then we hiked 44 miles one way and she was to pick us up 8 days later at hetch hetchy reservoir. I think it was late on the 7th day we were at the base of the last mountain (we would climb up and over it the next day to get back to civilization) and we were just kinda hanging around camp when I picked up a broken twisted branch, about the size of a bat, and picked up a pine cone and swatted it. I swatted it some more and then my companion said hey I will pitch to you. we then had a game with 3 outs an inning etc . after an inning or two he threw the pine cone inside and I crushed it, hit it about 4 times farther than either of us had hit it before, I started trotting "around the bases" and he said "what are you doing"? I said legging out my killa home run, he declared "it was a foul ball" I said what? it was a long home run and we literally got into each other's faces and were screaming and arguing with each other foul ball or home run. Then we looked up (remember we were back in the yosemite wilderness) and there was a family backpacking and the parents were hurriedly rushing the kids away like we were two axe murderers or something, we started laughing it was so funny

[TonyK]

we used to add some white medical tape around certain parts of the ball (never covering up any holes) which made the ball stronger and heavier. this allowed pitchers to pitch the ball much faster and when you squared it up as a hitter you could hit it much farther. it also made the ball last longer

one guy was a master pitcher he could throw the proverbial curve or screwball but his other two pitches were awesome. he would throw "the hover", where the open holes were all on the bottom and he would literally throw it sidearm almost directly into the ground. the ball would skim along the ground less than a few inches off the ground and then just as it got to home plate would rise ever so much for a strike. if you swang at it, you most likey would miss it, and if you were lucky enough to make contact, you would almost always foul it straight back, if you did hit it, it was usually a 3 hopper right back to the pitcher. he also would turn the holes so they all faced up and throw a huge and very fast "drop" the ball would be way above your head and suddenly at the last second dart straight down into the strike zone, i think one time out of a million I squared it up and hit a home run over the fence but almost always this pitch was truly unhittable.

and all this reminds me of story. my friend and i went backpacking deep into the high sierra in northern yosemite. his gf dropped us off at kennedy meadow and then we hiked 44 miles one way and she was to pick us up 8 days later at hetch hetchy reservoir. I think it was late on the 7th day we were at the base of the last mountain (we would climb up and over it the next day to get back to civilization) and we were just kinda hanging around camp when I picked up a broken twisted branch, about the size of a bat, and picked up a pine cone and swatted it. I swatted it some more and then my companion said hey I will pitch to you. we then had a game with 3 outs an inning etc . after an inning or two he threw the pine cone inside and I crushed it, hit it about 4 times farther than either of us had hit it before, I started trotting "around the bases" and he said "what are you doing"? I said legging out my killa home run, he declared "it was a foul ball" I said what? it was a long home run and we literally got into each other's faces and were screaming and arguing with each other foul ball or home run. Then we looked up (remember we were back in the yosemite wilderness) and there was a family backpacking and the parents were hurriedly rushing the kids away like we were two axe murderers or something, we started laughing it was so funny

They were looking forward to escaping civilization but unfortunately ran into you. Nowadays you would have been on YouTube before sunset.

The hover ball was my favorite pitch. If it was timed right, the batter was swinging at chest level but the ball crossed the plate up around his eyes. I had to throw it sidearm too. I think we also used a pitch where the ball would almost stop near the plate for a second and then drop? A friend could curve a whiffle ball in one direction and then bend it back the opposite direction somehow.

[TexAg]

Loved playing whiffle ball in my friend's backyard growing up....kept stats and everything.\

There's a whiffle ball league here in SD at an indoor complex. Never played, but it seems like it'd be fun. My son also had an opportunity to play a game at the "park in the park" at Petco for the local news. The Padres supplied uniforms for our Little League and a group of ~20 got to play as part of the team's promotion for it.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

There's a wiffle ball ball park that has a replica of the Green Monster.

large_BallPark.jpg

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/8_ball_clubs_to_compete_in_911.html

[Phantom Dreamer]

Indoor whiffle ball.

[Phantom Dreamer]

Whiffle ball should be part of every P.E. class if it isn't already.