Wiffle ball requires a hollow plastic ball that does not travel far, even when hit with a powerful swing. This variation of baseball, invented by David Mullany in 1953, allows children and adults to practice pitching and hitting in backyards and other small spaces. You can adapt the rules of Wiffle ball to suit a range of playing spaces or numbers of players. In addition to the hollow plastic ball, you'll also need a plastic Wiffle ball bat, broom handle, or similar object for batting.
The Field
Regulation Wiffle ball fields measure 85 feet along either foul line. Though you can play Wiffle ball on a smaller space, the field should preferably measure at least 60 feet long and 20 feet wide at the widest point. Two foul lines extend directly from home base at a 90-degree angle. A line drawn in an arc 42 feet from home plate represents the outer edge of the single hit area. A line drawn in an arc 65 feet from home plate represents the outer edge of the double hit area. A line drawn 80 feet from home plate represents the outer edge of the triple hit area. The pitcher stands within or on the edge of the single hit area.
Team
You can play Wiffle ball with as few as two players or as many as 10 If you have teams of five players each, the team should include one catcher, one pitcher, and one fielder for each zone of the field.
Innings
A Wiffle ball game consists of nine innings, just like a standard baseball game. Each inning consists of two halves. Each team bats and plays in the field during each inning. To complete a half-inning, the fielding team must get three batters out on a multiple-person team. In one-on-one games, a half-inning ends when the batter gets three strikes.
Outs
Fielders can get a batter out by catching a fly ball in the air or catching a ground ball while it rolls on the surface of the field. Players cannot bunt in Wiffle ball. Players are also out when they get three strikes. A strike only occurs when a player swings at the ball and misses, or hits a foul ball on the first or second strike.
Scoring
In Wiffle ball, players do not have to run or tag bases to score runs. If a player hits a ball that a fielder does not catch in the air or as it rolls on the ground, the player earns the number of bases of the zone of the field in which the ball stops — single, double, and so on. Though the batter does not advance to a base, his team keeps track of imaginary runners on the bases. With each new hit, these imaginary runners advance around the bases until the team scores a run.
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