Wiffle Ball

Today I had the distinct pleasure of playing a high-stakes Wiffle Ball baseball game with something like 13 other people. About half guys and half gals ranging in age from around 15 to, well, 40. OK, so I was the old man. But I didn't pull any muscles and don't seem to be limping around too badly and my pitching arm is still functional...so it was a good day in the Wiffle field. We played a double-header in the rain and sun mix -- heavy on the drizzle, light on the rays -- at Avery Park in Corvallis. It was awesome. The park has a Little League-size field with bases and a little pitcher's mound. It's my sincere belief that Wiffle Ball is one of the most entertaining but underrated games in the entire free world. Anyone can play Wiffle Ball and I think as a gesture of goodwill we should start exporting the game. Wiffle Ball could be the ticket to world peace. Seriously.

Wiffle Ball purists are unashamed addicts. I can admit it. My addiction goes back to my youth as a kid raised in the mean streets of east Bend, when my homies Schwartz, RB, the BT Express, Petrie and even guys like Kenon McGee would get their game on at Sabo Field. We had a skinny juniper tree for first base, an elm stump was second base and a raggedy pine tree was third base. Home plate was the dirt in the grass opposite our driveway that showed up every summer. My dad always used to try and reseed it. It was foolishness, I say. He finally gave up until I left home for good when I got married. Hit it into the driveway and it was a home run. But you had a towering juniper tree in left-center that swallowed Wiffle Balls whole. Seriously. Sometimes it wasn't until the onset of seasonal fall windstorms that the dang tree would finally surrender it's catch of Wiffle Balls. Your best bet was to try and hit it to dead center, between the towering juniper and the crabapple tree in right center.

If you think I'm a little crazy about Wiffle Ball, you might check this dude's video out. I showed it to my older boys and already they're making big plans for Sabo Field at Courthouse Square (the subdivision that's home to Team Sabo in Gloucester). The only trick will be getting our Wiffle Ball field past the homeowners association.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1WXtbUEWcA