When I played wiffle ball Whitey Ford was on the box the ball came in (around 1960). I remember playing fast pitch with broom sticks as bats - one on one with my best friend when I was around 11 or 12. We both threw wicked sinkers or drops and big curves and side arm risers. Getting hits was not easy. Using an apartment house behind the pitcher to stop the ball anything caught on the fly after hitting the apt house was an out, any swing and a miss was an out, any foul ball was an out. The ball had to hit the house then the ground to be a hit, the higher up the bigger the hit. Homers had to hit the very top level of siding. Average scores were 1-0 or 2-1. Extra innings were very common. Natrually we got plenty of grief from the residents of the aprtment house but we did errands for the residents to make it up..
wil.
wil.
Thanks Wil, I was there with you guys....that riser was a side arm underhand...the guy that threw it in my neighborhood was named Jonathon Smith...his catcher was Michael Cox....(I couldn't catch because I was bat shy, after a back of the head shot at 9.)
The best part of my life is that I still know these guys...and we play the remember when game. Like remember when my dad was sleepin and you kicked the Soccer ball through his window? Yep I was the only one still there paralized in fear.
Wil, we played fast pitch too, but when you fall down in the Florida grass you are gona itch,itch, itch....and if your off the bag and get hit with the wif you are done.
We also had BB games during the season, we were so short we couldn't even play horse.
I'm gona busta move....Howard Gardener, Editor Tampa Tribune....Gene Frennete...Jax last I checked....And I am the Famous one....Articles turn into songs...and yes we live in Atlanta.
The best part of my life is that I still know these guys...and we play the remember when game. Like remember when my dad was sleepin and you kicked the Soccer ball through his window? Yep I was the only one still there paralized in fear.
Wil, we played fast pitch too, but when you fall down in the Florida grass you are gona itch,itch, itch....and if your off the bag and get hit with the wif you are done.
We also had BB games during the season, we were so short we couldn't even play horse.
I'm gona busta move....Howard Gardener, Editor Tampa Tribune....Gene Frennete...Jax last I checked....And I am the Famous one....Articles turn into songs...and yes we live in Atlanta.
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THIS game was exciting I witnessed this exact play back in 2002...We spent a week at the wiffleball championships...man nothing like a ZZZZZZZZZZZZ of a wiffle ball cracking off of the bat!!!!
VIPERS REPEAT - RETAIN TITLE
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD align=left>
At precisely 1:05 PM what had promised all year to be the best of the best began. The Fast Plastic National Championship of Wiffleball. The defending National Champion Vipers were poised to repeat their task of 2002. Standing in their way were a young group of Northern Californian's - The Tracy Shockers. <TD align=left>
Viper's Jim Balian records the final out.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
VIPERS REPEAT - RETAIN TITLE
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD align=left>
At precisely 1:05 PM what had promised all year to be the best of the best began. The Fast Plastic National Championship of Wiffleball. The defending National Champion Vipers were poised to repeat their task of 2002. Standing in their way were a young group of Northern Californian's - The Tracy Shockers. <TD align=left>
Viper's Jim Balian records the final out.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
We played in one guy's back yard/lot all of the time, and simply called our game "Strike~Out". We batted with a 6 foot wooden fence behind us to stop the tennis ball we used in place of a baseball for a couple reasons being, our "pitching mound" was pretty close, and we could wing that tennis ball as hard as we could without the fear of being hurt ("too badly at least!) if we hit the batter or got hit. The name of our game fit perfectly because of the circumstances.......
Great thread!!! A few memories:
1) whiffle ball....ahhhh the wicked things we used to do with the ball.
2) city baseball....played with a tennis ball or rubber ball and chalked strike zone against a vacant/abandoned building. All balls not caught in the air or on one bounce were hits. We had designated single, double, and triple areas. A home run was a ball hit on top of or over the house across the street.
3) tackle football without pads, mouthpieces, or cups. what is memorable about these games were the injuries. let's see...a 300 lb kid getting knocked out during a kickoff return, a broken arm, a broken nose and sprained shoulder (me) on the same play. looking back it is amazing there were only two injuries where guys couldn't make it home and had to go to the hospital directly from the field. one cheapshot player who was also a notoriously hard hitter was famous for the following quote he used during EVERY game after the guy he was covering dropped a catch and was laying on the ground after getting rocked, "you might as well catch the ball because I'm going to hit you anyway."
1) whiffle ball....ahhhh the wicked things we used to do with the ball.
2) city baseball....played with a tennis ball or rubber ball and chalked strike zone against a vacant/abandoned building. All balls not caught in the air or on one bounce were hits. We had designated single, double, and triple areas. A home run was a ball hit on top of or over the house across the street.
3) tackle football without pads, mouthpieces, or cups. what is memorable about these games were the injuries. let's see...a 300 lb kid getting knocked out during a kickoff return, a broken arm, a broken nose and sprained shoulder (me) on the same play. looking back it is amazing there were only two injuries where guys couldn't make it home and had to go to the hospital directly from the field. one cheapshot player who was also a notoriously hard hitter was famous for the following quote he used during EVERY game after the guy he was covering dropped a catch and was laying on the ground after getting rocked, "you might as well catch the ball because I'm going to hit you anyway."
k: We played Wiffle Ball from 5-6 years old to grown men down Ocean City with the ocean/bay as the back drop, and I still wish I played ... thats how I learned to swtch hit, we played two ways actually....
In the earlier years we found these 'different' wifle balls...Where if you added a strip of black tape around one side of it gave it just enough weight to make the game great! The ball would travel farther but not too far, and the ball would kind of glide thru the air where you could make great catches as it would hang up in the air....Also if you connected just right, the ball would sail majestically thru the summer sky like a Reggie Jackson blast into the upper deck,lol...The problem was Toys R Us stopped selling the ball, we had to preserve the balls at all costs, eventually we ran out of them and had to revert back to the classic Wiffle Ball....
In the later years using the Wiffle ball we all played with, the rules became different as time went by...We never called balls and strikes really, but did allow all kinda of wicked pitches, the side arm riser, the sinker, the slow curve, the curve you snapped off 12-6, I never could throw a good knuckle ball,lol... We ended up finding this perfect Wiffle ball Stadium, we would actually drive 20 minutes to play at, thats how serious it was back in the day...I'm sure the local people that lived in the townhouses right across the field thought we were nuts, we would play at 3-4 in the morning sometimes!!!
We would run the bases and one of the rules was you could throw the ball at the runner, I have no idea how that rule started but it seems everyone played this way at some point...
In the last edition of my Wiffle Ball career, the rules were refined, and we didn't run the bases at all, we allowed fast pitching , the mound distance was very close, which simulated 90MPH fastballs..We were only allowed to throw straight fastball, no curves, so it was about location and fast pitching...This was probably the best way we played the game, or atleast it seemed to fit at this point in time...Anyway, the rules were; if the ball went over the fence it was a home run, off the wall in the air a triple, if it bounced to the wall a double, a single was a grounder that stopped completely, without the opponent touching it, if he picked it up without commiting an error it was an out if he booted it, a single...If the ball was popped up it had to be caught on one bounce or out of the air or it was ruled a basehit...These rules were perfect for one on one play !
In the earlier years we found these 'different' wifle balls...Where if you added a strip of black tape around one side of it gave it just enough weight to make the game great! The ball would travel farther but not too far, and the ball would kind of glide thru the air where you could make great catches as it would hang up in the air....Also if you connected just right, the ball would sail majestically thru the summer sky like a Reggie Jackson blast into the upper deck,lol...The problem was Toys R Us stopped selling the ball, we had to preserve the balls at all costs, eventually we ran out of them and had to revert back to the classic Wiffle Ball....
In the later years using the Wiffle ball we all played with, the rules became different as time went by...We never called balls and strikes really, but did allow all kinda of wicked pitches, the side arm riser, the sinker, the slow curve, the curve you snapped off 12-6, I never could throw a good knuckle ball,lol... We ended up finding this perfect Wiffle ball Stadium, we would actually drive 20 minutes to play at, thats how serious it was back in the day...I'm sure the local people that lived in the townhouses right across the field thought we were nuts, we would play at 3-4 in the morning sometimes!!!
We would run the bases and one of the rules was you could throw the ball at the runner, I have no idea how that rule started but it seems everyone played this way at some point...
In the last edition of my Wiffle Ball career, the rules were refined, and we didn't run the bases at all, we allowed fast pitching , the mound distance was very close, which simulated 90MPH fastballs..We were only allowed to throw straight fastball, no curves, so it was about location and fast pitching...This was probably the best way we played the game, or atleast it seemed to fit at this point in time...Anyway, the rules were; if the ball went over the fence it was a home run, off the wall in the air a triple, if it bounced to the wall a double, a single was a grounder that stopped completely, without the opponent touching it, if he picked it up without commiting an error it was an out if he booted it, a single...If the ball was popped up it had to be caught on one bounce or out of the air or it was ruled a basehit...These rules were perfect for one on one play !
J~Man, I havent' grown up "completely" :blowup1: ..........Read the last few posts in this thread........ Journeyman....today is Christmas Day!
Thanks Journey, I have enjoyed reading this thread again.
Hache, yes I have played mud ball, I remember my mom wouldn't let anyone back in the house until they were in they're underware and then my mom would wash all our clothes.
One tough thing about vacant lot tackle football in Florida is the sand spurs....makes you want to never hit the ground. They should put sand spurs on all NFL fields, that way we would see alot more yards and the QB would never slide down before getting hit.
I remember after church we would play this game called British Bulldog, I'm sure you guys have heard of it; one guy in the middle of the field and everyone else runs at him and he has to tackle one person and that person has to stand in the middle too, etc.
There had to be more sand spurs per square foot in that lot than anywhere on earth.
Swami, I think we all had a guy that was bigger than us playing tackle ball. I still see a star now and again from a blind sided shot during a kickoff.
Its great to here all the unique ways people grow up. There is something special about each state and city. Growing up on the beach in Florida was something I will always treasure, but growing up sucks for sure.
I went back to the "vacant lot" several years ago; it has a house and pool on it. I almost wanted to stop at the house and tell the owners how much that lot had meant to us as kids.
Take care guys, G
Hache, yes I have played mud ball, I remember my mom wouldn't let anyone back in the house until they were in they're underware and then my mom would wash all our clothes.
One tough thing about vacant lot tackle football in Florida is the sand spurs....makes you want to never hit the ground. They should put sand spurs on all NFL fields, that way we would see alot more yards and the QB would never slide down before getting hit.
I remember after church we would play this game called British Bulldog, I'm sure you guys have heard of it; one guy in the middle of the field and everyone else runs at him and he has to tackle one person and that person has to stand in the middle too, etc.
There had to be more sand spurs per square foot in that lot than anywhere on earth.
Swami, I think we all had a guy that was bigger than us playing tackle ball. I still see a star now and again from a blind sided shot during a kickoff.
Its great to here all the unique ways people grow up. There is something special about each state and city. Growing up on the beach in Florida was something I will always treasure, but growing up sucks for sure.
I went back to the "vacant lot" several years ago; it has a house and pool on it. I almost wanted to stop at the house and tell the owners how much that lot had meant to us as kids.
Take care guys, G
Here's a twisted idea....at the bash we can have the RX Wiffle ball championship in the ballroom at the Nugget. Dante will be the official Wiffle Ball Commisioner.
We could also get one of those basketball hoops on wheels and have a freethrow contest.
These games should go well with drinking.
We could also get one of those basketball hoops on wheels and have a freethrow contest.
These games should go well with drinking.
