Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Morning Rotary aims for the fences, hoops with downtown tournaments
By Jeff Bollier
of The Northwestern
Once confined to the realm of backyard games on late summer evenings, Wiffle Ball will step up to bat as the newest effort to bring people to downtown Oshkosh this fall.
The Oshkosh Morning Rotary and Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District hope to hit a home run Ð even if itÕs a short one Ð with 3-on-3 Wiffle Ball and basketball tournaments on Oct. 8, when they will block off Pearl Avenue and Commerce Street.
The Downtown BID Board of Directors provided $500 for the dual tournaments during its monthly meeting Tuesday morning after Oshkosh Morning Rotary President Larry Pasquini pitched the event as ÒConquer the Concrete.Ó
ÒThe Wiffle Ball tournamentÕs a new thing,Ó Pasquini said. ÒWe think it will catch on with the younger crowd. We want to bring people downtown, especially on a Saturday.Ó
The basketball tournament would be patterned after a similar tournament each spring in downtown Neenah. It would cost teams $75 to register.
Registration for the Wiffle Ball tournament would cost $55 per team.
The unique, plastic white balls with eight oblong perforations took its roots in the backyards of Fairfield, Conn., more than 45 years ago when David and Stephen MullanyÕs grandfather cut holes in a plastic ball to make it easier for his 12-year-old son to play a modified version of baseball, according to the official Wiffle Ball Web site. The first commercial Wiffles were produced for sale in 1953 and the game took off from there.
Now, Play It Again Sports Manager Matt Purchatzke said the South Koeller Road store has sold out of the yellow bat and ball combination, which retails for around $7.99.
ÒIt was kind of more popular with kids back in the day,Ó Purchatzke said.
Jeff Bollier: (920) 426-6688 or jbollier@thenorthwestern.com&nbs ¶ 8:20 AM
of The Northwestern
Once confined to the realm of backyard games on late summer evenings, Wiffle Ball will step up to bat as the newest effort to bring people to downtown Oshkosh this fall.
The Oshkosh Morning Rotary and Downtown Oshkosh Business Improvement District hope to hit a home run Ð even if itÕs a short one Ð with 3-on-3 Wiffle Ball and basketball tournaments on Oct. 8, when they will block off Pearl Avenue and Commerce Street.
The Downtown BID Board of Directors provided $500 for the dual tournaments during its monthly meeting Tuesday morning after Oshkosh Morning Rotary President Larry Pasquini pitched the event as ÒConquer the Concrete.Ó
ÒThe Wiffle Ball tournamentÕs a new thing,Ó Pasquini said. ÒWe think it will catch on with the younger crowd. We want to bring people downtown, especially on a Saturday.Ó
The basketball tournament would be patterned after a similar tournament each spring in downtown Neenah. It would cost teams $75 to register.
Registration for the Wiffle Ball tournament would cost $55 per team.
The unique, plastic white balls with eight oblong perforations took its roots in the backyards of Fairfield, Conn., more than 45 years ago when David and Stephen MullanyÕs grandfather cut holes in a plastic ball to make it easier for his 12-year-old son to play a modified version of baseball, according to the official Wiffle Ball Web site. The first commercial Wiffles were produced for sale in 1953 and the game took off from there.
Now, Play It Again Sports Manager Matt Purchatzke said the South Koeller Road store has sold out of the yellow bat and ball combination, which retails for around $7.99.
ÒIt was kind of more popular with kids back in the day,Ó Purchatzke said.
Jeff Bollier: (920) 426-6688 or jbollier@thenorthwestern.com&nbs ¶ 8:20 AM
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Having a (wiffle) ball
By ROBERT STERN
TRENTON - It seems there's a tournament for just about anything these days - from hot dog-eating to bird-watching.
Wiffle Ball tournaments have been the passion of Trenton police officer Michael Palinczar for the past 15 years.
That's right, there are adult tournaments of Wiffle Ball, the childhood sport that has become as American as baseball - the game that inspired Wiffle's founding 51 years ago.
"It's great for the inner city because with baseball you need a lot of space, you need a lot of money," Palinczar said. "Wiffle Ball is cheap. With a couple balls and a bat, you can play for hours."
"For a lot of the guys, it brings the kid out in them," said Palinczar, who has been playing Wiffle Ball for most of his 33 years.
Yesterday, the city's Cadwalader Park hosted one of Wiffle's big New Jersey tournaments - the 15th annual Summer Showdown - organized by the New Jersey Wiffle Ball Association, over which Palinczar presides.
Wiffle Ball isn't yet the kind of event - at least judging by yesterday's tournament - that draws television camera crews or commercial sponsors.
But several beer and tobacco companies no doubt would be pleased to know that their products were popular among some of the players.
The day-long tournament drew its 42 teams (with two to five players each) from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
There was even a player who makes an annual Wiffle Ball trek from Illinois to the Trenton tournament, said Palinczar, who stood on the sidelines this year to oversee the competition.
Unlike baseball and softball, yesterday's Wiffle Ball didn't require any base running and allowed just a third of baseball's nine fielders. It consisted of five-inning games (though six are typical by New Jersey Wiffle Ball Association rules), and was played on fields that are less than a third the size of professional baseball fields.
J.R. DeFrancesco and his teammates from North Haven, Conn., weren't looking to strike it rich by playing Wiffle Ball.
"It's an excuse to come down here and drink all weekend, to have a good time," said DeFrancesco, who described himself as a 24-year-old business analyst.
DeFrancesco said his team got started five years ago and has played in Wiffle Ball tournaments in Trenton, Boston and Connecticut.
"We slept through the wake-up call, then got lost on the way here," he said. "Some teams are more serious than others. We're more the hanging-out team."
John Franolich's Ocean County team - Manchester Flatline - appeared to be among those taking a more serious, studious approach to the competition.
Wiffle Ball is a family affair for the 35-year-old Franolich. Flatline consists of John Franolich and his 30-year-old brother, Chad Franolich, as well as John's 17-year-old son, Billy.
"We've been playing since we've been kids, that's all, just like anybody else," John Franolich said.
As he and his teammates watched a game between two other teams yesterday, John Franolich marveled at the zip and movement that one of the pitchers in that game put on the ball, causing opposing batters to whiff time and again with their aluminum bats.
Flatline had lost each of its first two games it had played in the tournament, John Franolich said.
"I think it's easier to hit a baseball," he said. "It's a tough sport."
"When you say it to people, they kind of snicker. But it definitely is a lot tougher than people think," he said.
Since Wiffle Ball tournaments have taken the game out of the back yards of their childhoods for Wiffle-loving adults like Mike Palinczar, some people might wonder what Wiffle Ball's founding family, which still owns and operates The Wiffle Ball Inc. in Shelton, Conn., thinks of the phenomenon.
David A. Mullany, who retired as the company's president last year and was 13 when his father launched Wiffle, doesn't object to organized tournaments but prefers the backyard pick-up version of Wiffle Ball.
"The way my mind is bent, everything is so organized in our society these days that it's kind of nice to go out in the back yard or out in the city street and play it as a pick-up game," the 64-year-old Mullany said.
"I just know it's a great way to beat the hell out of your best friend without drawing blood," he said.
In yesterday's Summer Showdown, which was split into an upper-level and a lower-level division, a New York City team won the upper-level title over a rival from Parsippany, while a Clifton team defeated a Southampton, Pa., squad for the lower-level crown, Palinczar said. The four finalists shared a $1,000 prize.
On the Net: www.wiffleballusa.com&nbs ¶ 11:14 PM
TRENTON - It seems there's a tournament for just about anything these days - from hot dog-eating to bird-watching.
Wiffle Ball tournaments have been the passion of Trenton police officer Michael Palinczar for the past 15 years.
That's right, there are adult tournaments of Wiffle Ball, the childhood sport that has become as American as baseball - the game that inspired Wiffle's founding 51 years ago.
"It's great for the inner city because with baseball you need a lot of space, you need a lot of money," Palinczar said. "Wiffle Ball is cheap. With a couple balls and a bat, you can play for hours."
"For a lot of the guys, it brings the kid out in them," said Palinczar, who has been playing Wiffle Ball for most of his 33 years.
Yesterday, the city's Cadwalader Park hosted one of Wiffle's big New Jersey tournaments - the 15th annual Summer Showdown - organized by the New Jersey Wiffle Ball Association, over which Palinczar presides.
Wiffle Ball isn't yet the kind of event - at least judging by yesterday's tournament - that draws television camera crews or commercial sponsors.
But several beer and tobacco companies no doubt would be pleased to know that their products were popular among some of the players.
The day-long tournament drew its 42 teams (with two to five players each) from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut.
There was even a player who makes an annual Wiffle Ball trek from Illinois to the Trenton tournament, said Palinczar, who stood on the sidelines this year to oversee the competition.
Unlike baseball and softball, yesterday's Wiffle Ball didn't require any base running and allowed just a third of baseball's nine fielders. It consisted of five-inning games (though six are typical by New Jersey Wiffle Ball Association rules), and was played on fields that are less than a third the size of professional baseball fields.
J.R. DeFrancesco and his teammates from North Haven, Conn., weren't looking to strike it rich by playing Wiffle Ball.
"It's an excuse to come down here and drink all weekend, to have a good time," said DeFrancesco, who described himself as a 24-year-old business analyst.
DeFrancesco said his team got started five years ago and has played in Wiffle Ball tournaments in Trenton, Boston and Connecticut.
"We slept through the wake-up call, then got lost on the way here," he said. "Some teams are more serious than others. We're more the hanging-out team."
John Franolich's Ocean County team - Manchester Flatline - appeared to be among those taking a more serious, studious approach to the competition.
Wiffle Ball is a family affair for the 35-year-old Franolich. Flatline consists of John Franolich and his 30-year-old brother, Chad Franolich, as well as John's 17-year-old son, Billy.
"We've been playing since we've been kids, that's all, just like anybody else," John Franolich said.
As he and his teammates watched a game between two other teams yesterday, John Franolich marveled at the zip and movement that one of the pitchers in that game put on the ball, causing opposing batters to whiff time and again with their aluminum bats.
Flatline had lost each of its first two games it had played in the tournament, John Franolich said.
"I think it's easier to hit a baseball," he said. "It's a tough sport."
"When you say it to people, they kind of snicker. But it definitely is a lot tougher than people think," he said.
Since Wiffle Ball tournaments have taken the game out of the back yards of their childhoods for Wiffle-loving adults like Mike Palinczar, some people might wonder what Wiffle Ball's founding family, which still owns and operates The Wiffle Ball Inc. in Shelton, Conn., thinks of the phenomenon.
David A. Mullany, who retired as the company's president last year and was 13 when his father launched Wiffle, doesn't object to organized tournaments but prefers the backyard pick-up version of Wiffle Ball.
"The way my mind is bent, everything is so organized in our society these days that it's kind of nice to go out in the back yard or out in the city street and play it as a pick-up game," the 64-year-old Mullany said.
"I just know it's a great way to beat the hell out of your best friend without drawing blood," he said.
In yesterday's Summer Showdown, which was split into an upper-level and a lower-level division, a New York City team won the upper-level title over a rival from Parsippany, while a Clifton team defeated a Southampton, Pa., squad for the lower-level crown, Palinczar said. The four finalists shared a $1,000 prize.
On the Net: www.wiffleballusa.com&nbs ¶ 11:14 PM
