We bought Wiffle balls and bats this summer, but the grandkids were not quite ready for the big leagues.
Meanwhile, WBUR radio’s Bill Littlefield decided to cover the Golden Stick Wiffle League All-Star Series for Only a Game.
“At about 8:30 [on a] Sunday morning, a half-dozen Wiffle Ball enthusiasts began assembling the field that would host a three-game series of All-Star games between the most accomplished Wifflers in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and their counterparts from New York and Philadelphia, dubbed, vaingloriously, the World All-Stars.
“The field, which took up most of the front yard of a large home in Danvers, Mass., featured black, cylindrical outfield walls which had to be inflated with a leaf-blower. There were yellow canvas lines tacked to the grass to distinguish singles from doubles and a backstop featuring a metal target and a couple of corporate logos. According to Jason Doucette, a player who’d driven down from Laconia, N.H., the logos were a little misleading.
“ ‘Not a lot of people sponsor wiffle ball,’ Doucette said. “Money-wise, we stick together. We try to help each other out.’ …
“Perhaps in part because of a recent cancer diagnosis, [Pat] Vitale was only scheduled to pitch one inning for Massachusetts/New Hampshire. But after Vitale had retired the New York/Philadelphia — a.k.a. ‘World’ side — in order, team manager and president of Golden Stick Wiffle Ball Lou Levesque was asked if he would follow that plan.
“ ‘No, no, by no means. We’re leaving him in there,’ Levesque said. “He’ll go right up to the full three if he keeps playing like that.’
“Would he yank Vitale if he didn’t keep playing like that?
“’Oh, yeah. Absolutely,’ he said. ‘Cut throat. This is the All-Star game.’ ”
More Wiffle fun here.
Photo: Louis Levesque
Pat Vitale tosses a pitch during the Golden Stick Wiffle League All-Star series. The 62-year-old managed to stay in the game for an unexpected three innings.
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