Wiffle Ball time of year is once again upon us . Before you pick up your first white plastic ball and yellowish plastic squash racket of the summer , we thought we ’d take you in on a few points about the proud game ’s history and science .
Where did Wiffle Ball originate?
In 1953 , David N. Mullany was watching his 12 - yr - former son and some admirer playing a baseball game - like game with a perforated plastic golf ball and a broom handle in their Fairfield , CT , backyard . The boys were trying to cabbage pitches past each other by throwing curveballs and slider , but to no avail .
Mullany , who had been a semipro hurler himself , knew all too well what thousands of Little Leaguers have had to painfully see : nothing shreds a tender adolescent arm quite as effectively as throwing breaking balls . Mullany dress about trying to spare the boys ' shoulder and elbow by creating a ball that would curl and deform on its own .
His original medium was an unexpected one : a hard plastic ball that serve as publicity for Coty perfume . After have the boy experiment with various designs , Mullany hit on the Wiffle Ball we now know and love .
What’s with the name?
Like a good deal of baseball fans , Mullany ’s boy and his friends touch to strikeouts as " whiff . “ Since the new invention made stifle - buckling curveballs a breeze to shed , pitchers started racking up the punchouts . Mullany named the product the Wiffle Ball to honour its strikeout - friendly intermission .
Why no “h" if the ball is named after whiffs?
The Mullanys allegedly veto the " h" to keep open money if they ever had to corrupt a house for their fledgling initiative .
How did the Mullanys advertise their product?
For years the Mullany crime syndicate marketed their Wiffle wares using pictures of star giving leaguers like Ted Williams and Pete Rose on the publicity . So did the Splendid Splinter and Charlie Hustle like to play with the darting plastic ball on their days off ? Not necessarily . The Mullanys later explain in interviews that doing actual pic shoots with the player would have been too costly , so they just negotiated with player ' agents and then used any old photograph . The good news : this means you might have stand a opportunity against Whitey Ford in Wiffle Ball .
What makes it break and spin?
It ’s a middling simple construct even if you ’re not a physicist . The side of the testicle without the holes cut into it obviously has expectant surface expanse than the other half . Thanks to this difference in surface domain , a larger amount of atmospheric pressure acts on the hole - free side , which makes the pitch curve towards the hole .
What about scuffs?
As you might pretend , competitive player who are looking for an edge go to great lengths to " damage" their balls in just the right agency to make their pitches really trip the light fantastic toe . They ’ll scuff the ball with emery paper , stomp on it , even heat up it up in a microwave to subtly change its surface . According to a 2002 article inThe Atlantic , competitive players are allow to do anything scant of changing the molecular body structure of a ball ’s charge card to reach the desired essence .
Wait, competitive Wiffle Ball?
Yup . Since the mid-1990s , adult Wiffle Ball leagues have been popping up around the state , and some of them are middling serious . They even fulfill in annual competitions like the Wiffle Up ! Three on Three World Tour , which yield out grand of dollar to the winning team .
How does competitive Wiffle Ball work?
This come as a bit of a surprisal to us since we ’re used to playing Wiffle Ball like normal baseball with scant equipment . However , some tournaments use altered rules that move out baserunning from the equation . Instead , a lick nut is assigned a note value — single , double , etc.—based on where it lands on the field of play . Some issue of " outfielders" seek to fascinate the balls on the fly , and the one that dismiss for hits advance whatever " runners" were already on base .
Other tournament work more like traditional baseball and allow steals , bunts , and other strategic maneuvering .
Are these guys toting the classic yellow plastic bat?
Not quite . They ’re using equipment that you ca n’t just pick up for a few vaulting horse in the toy aisle of any drugstore . or else , they come to the plate arm with bat made from aluminum , carbon fiber , fiberglass , or super - hardened plastic . you could pick one up if you want to overshadow the secret plan at your next party outing , but grabbing that glory wo n’t be meretricious . Moonshot Bats ' top - of - the - communication channel SpectraCarb Enforcer goes for around $ 200 .
What’s competitive whiffing look like?
Here ’s a look at video from one competitive league . The movement on some of these pitches is insane even by Wiffle standards :
This clause in the beginning appear in 2010 .
