Bit late for this.. but does anything mark the start of summer like seeing the boxes of Wiffletm bats out at the drugstore? Great factory tour and potted history below from WSJ on this 1950's invention out of Connecticut. Playing with some friends a while back and one gent noted dryly, "I have 27 piches... yeah, 9 different pitches from 3 different arm angles..." Cheers Brady. A whiffle meanwhile, the crew cut, predates this. (The name Wiffle came from to wiff / strikeout anyway.)
whiffle n. whiffle cut informal a very short haircut worn by U.S. soldiers in World War II. -via The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Berkley Books, 2001. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
2 comments:
What a find! I buy one of these at the start of every summer, and I either end up giving it away or breaking it in half over my leg like Bo Jackson.
I've recently been turned onto the Wiffle Scaler. Shaped like an aerobie, the scaler can be folded into quarters and shoved in a back pocket. Great products from a great American company. Thanks for sharing!
http://shop.ctstore.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=25&idcategory=2
Great post. I actually grew up in Shelton. I visited the factory for a boy scout field trip back in the day. Perhaps Shelton's single claim to fame.
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