Ever play Wiffle ball on one of these fields?

Times have certainly changed. Today, you get personal lessons for your son to teach them a sport. Back in the day, you learned on the street (excerpt from “Season 1” of The Anchor)……….

In my neighborhood, there were no less than twenty boys within a grade or two of me. My days were spent playing ball with them nonstop. Football, basketball, baseball, soccer—you name it, we tried it. When college sports changed seasons, our sports changed. We had makeshift fields, each with a name, each unique depending on the yard, spread across the neighborhood. When school was in session, we met in the afternoons to play ball at one of the fields. When summer came around, we played from dawn until dusk. We would go home for dinner and meet up at night for games of Kick the Can.

The fields were all special places to us. One family had a nice large side yard that was very flat, no trees. This was primarily our football field. The electrical wires overhead were perfect for field goals. A couple of other families lived across the street from each other, providing a great multi-yard field for Wiffle Ball. We always used a tennis ball at this field because of the distance required to hit a home run. Pop flies that would sometimes ricochet off one of the roofs were automatic outs. Our neighborhood elementary school had an awesome yard for all sports too, and everyone had a basketball court at their house, which saw a lot of use during basketball season.

Then there was the field in my backyard. My backyard field was a special place to me for a couple reasons. First, it took a monster shot to hit a home run over the trees. And second, you had to become skilled in catching balls falling out of trees, bouncing between limbs like a pinball game. The major obstacles at this field were the treasures that my boxer would leave. I remember cleaning the shoes of my best friend after he stepped in one of the treasures. As I cleaned, he was violently dry heaving off to the side. He had a very weak stomach—something we had a great deal of fun with over the years.

Always thinking about how to create the perfect sporting environment, my brother and I created a special ball, one that revolutionized Wiffle Ball (at least to us). We loosened the covers of baseballs, just enough to pull out the thread and hard core. We then took the cover and stuffed it full of Nerf balls before re-stitching the ball with thick wax thread. This ball mimicked a baseball—you could throw curves, sliders, knuckles—but it was perfect for our shorter field because you couldn’t hit it too far. For a bat, we used a wooden baseball bat sawed in two at the top, with the handle left whole. The bat looked more like a paddle at the top.

Good times in our own little world.