It’s a pretty simple game that has a history that dates back to the early 1950’s.
The game is called “Wiffle Ball” which is a simple version of baseball. Four bases a plastic hollow ball with holes, a soft nerf bat are all the ingredients for this version of America’s past time.
Larry Tougas has been running Wiffle Ball games since his children, who are both adults, were four years old.
“I thought it was a really good learning step into the game and it created such a fun part of the game that they got to run and hit lots and that’s what they wanted to do is play two on two, three on three and they got like 20 at bats and they ran the bases lots and they got a really good physical aspect of the game, there wasn’t a lot of standing around,” said Tougas.
The bases are much closer together than in the real game and setting up the game in front of a backyard or school yard fence allows the players the opportunity to take the ball out of the park.
“You are trying to make it as much big league fun as possible,” said Tougas.
“When are you going to be able to hit a home run, besides an inside the park home run in a real baseball game, which is usually done by errors, this is actually hitting the ball over the fence.”
Tougas, who has coached baseball at the rep and high school level in the city, says the game even has its benefits to older players.
“When I was young and coaching the Stingers and my kids were growing up I started introducing it even in the high schools, my high school Physical Education classes we would play Wiffle Ball inside the gym,” he reflected.
Tougas believes the game of Wiffle Ball takes away the fear some players have of baseball, where many younger players become intimidated or fearful of getting hit with the hard ball.
“It was just a simplistic way of teaching the game where everybody can play, there’s no danger, the bat is not a danger - it’s a foam bat - and a found a lot of the kids, even the older ones, who never really experienced baseball found it really easy to play and enjoyed playing it because they got a good impression of the game instead of a bad impression of the game when they get hit by a pitch with a hard ball.”
Tougas, will be running Wiffle Ball games as part of a baseball camp he and local baseball guru Dave Saad are running this weekend for young baseball players at West Ferris Senior Secondary.
Tougas believes Wiffle Ball can be an inexpensive, safe way to introduce baseball to the younger generation.
“I’d love to see that younger age group from five to nine exclusively playing Wiffle Ball and as the season goes on maybe introducing coach pitch which I think they are doing more now and then when you get into Mosquito you get into real pitching because that’s when the game really stalls because the kids have real trouble throwing strikes and stuff like that and it becomes a ‘walk-a-thon' and the kids don’t learn how to play - there are no walks in Wiffle Ball, you hit the ball, it’s the only way you get on. You get 3 pitches and you’ve got to hit.”
