Wiffle ball or wiffleball is a variation of the sport of baseball designed for indoor or outdoor play in confined areas. The game is played using a perforated, light-weight, rubbery plastic ball and a long, plastic (typically yellow) bat.
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The ball used in the game was invented by David N. Mullany of Fairfield, Connecticut in 1953 in Shelton, Connecticut [1] when he designed a ball that curved easily for his 12-year-old son. It was named when his son and his friends would refer to a strikeout as a "whiff". A classic wiffle ball is about the same size as a regulation baseball, but is hollow plastic no more than 1/8 inch thick. One hemisphere is perforated with eight .75 inches (19 mm) oblong holes, with a solid second hemisphere. This construction allows pitchers to throw a tremendous variety and size of curveballs, sinkers, and risers. Wiffle balls are typically packaged with a hollow, hard plastic, yellow bat that measures 32 inches (810 mm) in length and about 1.25 inches (32 mm) in diameter.
The game of wiffleball, which sprang from the invention of the popular wiffle ball, became popular as a backyard, sandlot and picnic game in the 1960s and 1970s. Since 1980, the game has also exploded as an organized sport, with many successful leagues and tournaments now played across the United States and as far away as Spain. These competitions have been known to draw dozens of teams or more, typically consisting of two to five players per team, with widely varying rules and field dimensions.
Wiffle brand products play a central role in Wiffle Ball Summer: The Ride of the Elmoron.[2] The nonfiction title was released in 2011 and details a bicycle journey taken by a man with a Wiffle Ball bat strapped to his bike frame. The final destination of his journey in the story is a large Wiffle Ball tournament in Lafayette, Ohio.
In the South Park episode Toilet Paper, Cartman tries to kill Kyle while on a boat ride, but fails because he could only afford a whiffle bat.
In his book The Complete The Far Side, cartoonist Gary Larson reproduces a letter he received after including a "wiffle bat" in his cartoon. The letter contains language from Wiffle Ball Incorporated's attorneys: "In the future, when you use the brand name WIFFLE, the entire brand should be capitalized, and it should only be used in reference to a product currently manufactured by The Wiffle Ball, Inc." [3]
For some the idea of the game being merely a recreational activity was not enough as leagues began to pop up across the country as early as the 1970s. However, it wasn't until the 1990s that leagues really began to catch on with the assistance of the internet. Now players could view what other people were doing with the game. There are at least 70 active wiffle ball leagues (with active websites) in the United States. It is believed that there are many more wiffle ball leagues that either do not have websites or have yet to be discovered.
Leagues appear to be more prevalent in New England and the upper Midwest than anywhere else in the country. This is most likely because of the concentration of suburbs in those areas, a perfect setting for playing Wiffle Ball.[4] Areas with lower populations, such as the Southeast, are less likely to have as many leagues as New England. Wiffle ball seems to be more accepted in the Northeast than anywhere else as many leagues are close in proximity to one another, particularly in New York (which has 13 known leagues).
Some of the nation's top wiffleball leagues include: Palisades WBL in New York, Kalamazoo Wiffleball League in Michigan, HRL: Twin Cities in Minnesota, Old Republic Whiffle Ball League in Indiana, Potomac Wiffleball League in Washington D.C., and Columbia Cowlitz Wiffleball Association in Oregon/Washington.
Many leagues are involved in an organization called the National Wiffleball League Association (NWLA). The NWLA analyzes how well teams perform and rank them accordingly. The NWLA is one of the largest factions in the wiffleball community and is much more than just a website that ranks teams from across the country. There are columnists who report on current events and has one of the most active message boards in the sport.
Tournaments are the driving force of modern wiffleball. There are over 50 Wiffle Ball tournaments every year in the United States. Most tournaments are annual events that happen in the same place every year but there are some tournament "circuits". Fast Plastic held tournaments in over a dozen locations throughout the United States in the 1990s and early 2000s. When Fast Plastic disbanded it was absorbed by another, up-and-coming, tournament circuit called Golden Stick Wiffleball. Golden Stick Wiffleball is run by a man named Lou Levesque who likes to "take things to a new level." [5] In 2011, Golden Stick held sixteen tournaments from Boston to Los Angeles.[6] Golden Stick holds its national championship every year in Las Vegas where teams have a chance to win $10,000 if they win the tournament.[7]
The Wiffle Up 3 on 3 tournament circuit holds a dozen tournaments every year in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Missouri, Maryland, Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Having held tournaments yearly since 1997, Wiffle Up is possibly the longest consecutive running wiffle ball tournament circuit in the country.
There are many benefit tournaments held every year across the country such as:
There are some wiffle ball enthusiasts who have taken field construction to inspiring heights. Some have built fields to resemble major league ballparks. Thomas P. Hannon Jr. authored a book, Backyard Ball, on his experiences building a smaller version of Ebbets Field. Patrick M. O'Connor wrote a book, Little Fenway, about building his versions of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field.[8] But not all wiffleball fields have been modeled from major league ball parks. Some have created original fields, Strawberry Field being the most exquisite. Rick Messina spent $700,000+ on constructing Strawberry Field, which features lights for night games, bleachers, & press box.[9] He also converted a neighboring house into a clubhouse/pub.[10]
Building fields can lead to controversy and legal issues. In 2008, the New York Times published an article about some teenagers who had to tear down a wiffle ball field they had built because of neighbor complaints.[11]
In April 2011, the government of New York state proclaimed that wiffle ball (as well as kickball, freeze tag, and dodgeball) were unsafe and a "significant risk of injury" for children and declared that any summer camp program that included two or more of such activities would be subject to government regulation.[12] The story often became a source of ridicule and amusement, with Parenting.com sarcastically commented "According to new legislation introduced in New York State, to survive classic schoolyard games like Capture the Flag is to cheat death." [13] The Mullany family originally thought the ordeal was a "joke" at first. The company has never been sued over safety issues in its 50+ year history.[14] The disapproval of people from across the nation pressured the NY legislature to remove wiffle ball and many other from the list of high risk activities that require state government oversight such as archery and SCUBA diving .[15]
