By Bessie King

Days are getting longer, the weather is getting warmer, classes are almost finished, which means one thing — wiffle ball season is getting closer. Whether it is at one of the “fields” in front of Stetson West Hall or Speare Hall, if the weather is decent, chances are there will be someone enjoying this pastime.

“Last week when it was warmer, we had at least 30 students playing,” said Speare Hall Council President Mike Sovak, a freshman marketing major. “Whenever it’s sunny we go out and play, it’s just the way it is.”

Desire for outdoor activity is what helped create the game more than 50 years ago. After giving up on baseball and softball, but still wanting to go out and play, a group of Connecticut children grabbed a perforated golf ball and a broomstick handle in hopes of playing something.

One of the boys’ fathers, David Mullany, made a plastic perforated ball for the kids to play with. After many designs and trials with the kids, he realized that the ball with eight perforations was best. Lightweight, unable to travel far and good for curves, the new ball was accepted by the children, according to www.wiffle.com.

In the neighborhood, a strike-out was called a “wiff,” so the new ball that caused many strike-outs was deemed the “wiffle.”