Major League Wiffleball
Wiffleball photos, tips, and product reviews

You are browsing the archives of 2009 August.

The latest report of Mets ace Johan Santana possibly needing surgery reminds me of the dangers of throwing a wiffleball too hard. After taking their turn on the mound, some MLW players would complain of a sore arm or shoulder. Over the years, a few players even had to miss some games to give their pitching arm rest because it hurt too much to throw.

The likely reason is that we were throwing around a practically weightless plastic baseball, often as hard as we could. Since we had to cram in a 20-game regular season in about a 7-week span, we were pitching 3 or 4 times a week. After a few weeks, the pain started to develop.

A few months ago, I wrote an article about the greatest wiffleball bat that I’ve ever used — the Ken Griffey, Jr. bat. And judging from the comments that I received, I’m not the only one who likes this bat.

Shortly after the article was posted here, the bat sold out on Amazon.com. Well, I’m glad to report that it’s back in stock. Buy it now before it sells out again!

David Ortiz is a big guy. He was big when I met him back in February 2002, when he played for the Minnesota Twins, and before he was known by any nicknames. In those days, Ortiz put up below-average numbers for a first baseman, and I wasn’t really sad to see him leave at the end of the season to pursue free agency.

Two years later, the same guy, now known as Big Papi, turned into one of the top home run hitters in baseball, helped bring a World Series championship to Boston for the first time in 86 years, and had Twins fans wondering where this power surge came from. What happened?

National Whiffleball Federation President, Greg Wilcher, recently contacted me about the brand new World of Wiffleball Hall of Fame. I’m considering nominating myself for the “Directors, Advocates” category. I think running the most popular wiffleball site on the Internet qualifies me. What do you think? Here’s the press release: