Putting the "whiff" in Wiffle Ball

September 25, 2007 6:36 PM

This anonymous rightie could be the nastiest wiffle ball pitcher you'll ever see. His buddy is not half bad either.
posted by edverb (21 comments total)

Yowza. I thought the sound was faked at first.

I wonder if that's the equivalent of the knuckleball (chaotic flow) or a curveball (Magnus force). I guess we'd know if we knew if he were spinning it.
posted by DU at 6:54 PM on September 25, 2007

man who the hell is going to bat against that kid? it's lonely at the top.
posted by facetious at 7:00 PM on September 25, 2007

DU, I'm pretty sure he is spinning the shit out of it, based on the sound, and the fact that my brother can do something similar (though not to this degree, and without as much control).

I love the big dude batting against him who looks back at the strike zone device like it is somehow to blame.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:20 PM on September 25, 2007

I could maybe hit the big overhand one, but the pitch that brushes the grass and then pops up into the strike zone, not so much.
posted by popechunk at 7:36 PM on September 25, 2007

I'd seriously want to beat the crap out of him if he pitched that. I mean, IT'S WHIFFLEBALL! The game where you carry the beer with you around the bases.
posted by bpm140 at 7:49 PM on September 25, 2007

I hate to be "that guy", but when we were JV high school pitching "stars", we threw crazy breaking shit with both whiffle and rag balls all over the place.

One can throw a pitch that makes the batter flinch reflexively that crosses over the lower, off-hand side of the plate with a minimal amount of practice. Shit, I'm closer to 40 than 20, and I can still throw a mean whiffle pitch.

I also saw a distinct lack of the whiffles best pitch, the knuckleball.

Between the knuckler and a mean screw-type ball that broke in on your hands, we had a mean game of neighborhood-street-whiffleball going for like 10 years.

Psst: The trick is to wait on it, bring the bat up quickly, and never, never swing early.
posted by Sphinx at 8:40 PM on September 25, 2007

Holy shit, it's Baseball Simulator 1.000 (or maybe that was the video playback making it look like the ball had trails). Also, there's no "whiff" in wiffle. But there's a skiff in skiffle!
posted by Eideteker at 8:50 PM on September 25, 2007

Shit, I'm closer to 40 than 20, and I can still throw a mean whiffle pitch.

Same here. I'm that guy that bpm140 wants to beat the crap out of. (yeah, that's bad grammar but "out of whom bpm140 wants to beat the crap" just sounds funny.) This guy is dropping it at an Olympic level though.
posted by edverb at 9:10 PM on September 25, 2007

Wiffle ball should be an olympic sport. I'd watch that shit.
posted by chrisamiller at 9:22 PM on September 25, 2007

Shit, I'm closer to 40 than 20, and I can still throw a mean whiffle pitch.

Same here. I'm that guy that bpm140 wants to beat the crap out of.

Well, I don't see you making any videos now do I?
posted by puke & cry at 9:46 PM on September 25, 2007 [1 favorite]

I love the rough-and-ready aesthetic of online video, the craptacular films of juvenile home jackoffery.
posted by jayder at 10:16 PM on September 25, 2007

I see Tommy John surgery in this guy's future.
posted by Arch_Stanton at 10:19 PM on September 25, 2007

IT'S WHIFFLEBALL! The game where you carry the beer with you around the bases.

Beer? Wiffleball is for little kids. Which is what makes this shit so amazing. It's like watching extreme jacks or hopscotch or something.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 10:52 PM on September 25, 2007

Wiffleball is for little kids.

The beer is sorta like a handicap for playing it as an adult.

Whiffle ball was always the default outdoor game at my family reunions, because it could basically be enjoyed by everyone and contains little opportunity to actually kill or maim other players.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:11 PM on September 25, 2007

There is a whiffle ball league here in Kalamazoo that a few guys I work with play in. I'm working with one of the guys from the championship team today.

All of them that play say it's quite a lot of fun. The teams are small and the rules are adjusted to make it a fast-moving game.
posted by glycolized at 5:00 AM on September 26, 2007

You know what I love about flash video with poor compression? I CAN'T SEE A GODDAMNED THING!

It's like wrapping my head with cellophane twelve times, then a screen door 3 times, then more cellophane. And being drunk.

I wouldn't want to bat against that guy though. Damn.
posted by SmileyChewtrain at 5:00 AM on September 26, 2007

The Minneapolis Tribune had a video last spring with a camera just over the catcher's shoulder and Johan Santana throwing. Watching a kid throwing a mean wiffle is impressive. Seeing a Cy Young winner throw his shit up close in downright scary.
posted by Ber at 6:20 AM on September 26, 2007

The video quality is pathetic.

I may have actually enjoyed it if, y'know, I could ACTUALLY SEE THE BALL.
posted by chimaera at 9:32 AM on September 26, 2007

Here's the man pitching that Ber speaks of.
posted by panoptican at 11:53 AM on September 26, 2007

Ber: got a link to that?
posted by slogger at 11:55 AM on September 26, 2007

Damn preview.
posted by slogger at 11:55 AM on September 26, 2007