Customer Reviews

Wiffle Ball : The Ultimate Guide

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If your a fan of wiffle ball, like myself, you will enjoy this trip through history of how the whole phenomenon began.

As an "ultimate guide" I found too little guidance and basic structure of the game. Like the author said, you gotta start with some rules. I found rules on one page reduced in size to a quarter of the page. In my sixties and wanting to start a senior women's wiffle ball league for those of us who love playing ball but were excluded, I find this book NOT a support for beginners.

I bought this book the day it was released. I'm an avid wiffleball player and fan. I write columns for a national wiffleball website. I've played the game my whole life and ran a league for about 7 years. Needless to say...I know a lot about wiffleball. So the idea of buying a book about something I already know a lot about doesn't sound like a good idea but I had to have a copy just for sentiment. While there are some things in there I didn't know there was a lot of overkill about the mullany family which is important, because they did invent the product afterall. My biggest problem with this book is it's unprofessional writing. I don't know if it's because I have too high of standards when reading about something that is a major hobby of mine or if I'm used to reading good writing -- either way the writing for this book was unsatisfactory. It's too conversational and colloquial. When used effectively that type of writing can be quite good, mental floss for an example. But this guy just doesn't pull it off. There are some weird mechanical issues in the book too. There are a couple of sentences in there that you can try to read over and over again and they make no more sense than the first attempt you put into reading it. It's just plain bad writing.
The thing I like most about this book is that they go into depth about some of the most successful wifflers to ever play the game. The guy who build little Fenway is in there and so is the guy who founded the Golden Stick Wiffleball League. Fat Bastard Wiffleball is also mentioned. At the index of the book there is a directory of well-known wiffleball leagues in the country, which is nice except they missed several cool leagues. Oh well. This book does effectively convey that wiffleball isn't just a kid's game anymore, it's a culture. Wiffleball has grown from a simple game to a way of life for some. The book wasn't awful but I was expecting a lot more. If there weren't those errors in the writing (which there aren't a whole lot but enough) I would have enjoyed it more. If you don't know a lot about wiffleball or the history of the sport then this book might fit your bill nicely. But if you've played the game for a while and know the ropes this book will be of little value to you other than as a collectors item.

Michael Hermann has put together a most informative book about Wiffle Ball, past and present. The reader is introduced to the family who started it all, someone the author knows personally. The book is well-written and a lot of fun to refer back to, even after you've finished the last page! I think baseball fans would enjoy Wiffle's story - of how Wiffle Ball came to be and how it's played today. I would highly recommend this book - the author has a unique style to his writing, almost conversational. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Wiffle Ball - The Ultimate Guide, and would highly recommend it.

Spring is finally here and I decided to wrangle up friends using a game of Wiffle Ball as the hook. I bought the book to get the story behind the story; like just about every other kid in America, summertime was synonymous with Wiffle games and the ever-elusive skills to make the ball curve on demand. Now in my 30s, it's the absolute ideal reason to gather guys & gals in the park and escape the apartment. Armed with the book, I figured I'd toss out some fun facts to the gang and get an academic perspective on how to pitch a competitive game.

To that end, the book overdelivers. It's a fun read. Period. In my estimation, it's got exactly the right amount of history, trivia, strategy and editorial from a cornucopia of celebs (only Wiffle could find a link between Dr. J and the Jonas Brothers). The book is a fast read - I think I got through it cover-to-cover in about two hours, and it's formatted to give you the story & the skills right away....seemingly in an effort to get you out swinging the iconic yellow bat as soon as possible. And to that end, we had an awesome game last Sunday that went nearly 3 hours! My pitch still needs work, but the summer lays ahead.

I don't quite understand one of the previous reviews where the writing is criticized as "too colloquial". Um, it's Wiffle Ball - did you see the cover? In my opinion, Hermann's writing style matches the fun, family, throwback-to-youth energy that embodies Wiffle energy. If you're a lifelong Wiffle expert, then yes, you will likely know most of what the book offers, but it doesn't mean you can make the slotted ball dive & curve......

Great Book. A perfect gift for the avid sports fan. Michael's love for the game definitely comes through in his writing. Love the interviews and tips. Highly recommend.

Awesome book. I went through it one Saturday and have opened it back up various times since. It's a very fun read about wiffle, baseball and all those things entail for fans like me. I'm not a thoughtful gift-giver type of guy but this will be great for me for Christmas to send copies to a lot of old friends who I haven't seen in years. I do worry that the guys in Vermont with Little Fenway and Little Wrigley may get a lot of gawkers and interlopers like me now who need to play there and take pictures. I'm glad there was finally a book out about this.