Whiffle Ball Was Field Of Dreams

In the Friendly Confines of our 50’s fenced in South Side Chicago backyard there was little “whiff” in our Whiffle Ball games, while WSJ piece recalls “For a Suburban Kid, There Was No Purer Sport Than Whiffle Ball.” Truth!

Does anybody realize I broke Babe Ruth’s record for most home runs in a season as a 9-year-old and that I did it in a dozen games? As suburbanite author Rich Cohen recalls, “We got so good that we yearned for a pro circuit to show off our skills.” Indeed. I remember nightly dreams about such a Whiffle Ball Stadium filled with thousands of roaring fans as another of my whiffle missiles soared over the left field stands and into the mini-Wrigley Field bleachers. Cohen also notes: “The game’s simple essence” is to “make the other guy whiff like an idiot.”

True, the plastic whiffle ball, we’re told was invented by a typical suburban father, David Mullany of Fairfield, Ct, in 1953 who wanted to teach his young son how to hit the toughest curveball and nastiest sinking fast ball. The tool: He cut wholes in a plastic sphere that can curve 2 feet at speeds up to 70 mph and, voila!, the 3 on 3 backyard sport was invented. But, instead of making the kids in my neighborhood whiff, the equally light plastic bat allowed us to quickly mastered the art of making contact with what major leaguers now call “short-to-long” swings. Is there anything more beautiful than seeing a Spaulding or a Whiffle Ball sail over a fence?

Davd Soul