Davey wanted to play baseball. But fifty years ago, in his small town, he couldnt find enough players for two full teams or an empty lot big enough for a field. And when he played ball in his back yard, he just broke windows and got into trouble.

So Davey began playing with a plastic golf ball and a broom handle for a bat. When his dad, David Mullaney, a former semi-pro baseball pitcher, realized his son was hurting his arm trying to throw curves with the little plastic ball, he decided to find a better solution.

Mullaney got a bunch of hollow plastic spheres from a local factory, sat down at his kitchen table and began cutting different size holes in the balls with a razor knife. He thought maybe the holes would alter the balls flight and help his son throw curves and sliders without hurting his arm.

All the balls failed - except the one with the eight oblong holes cut into one of the hemispheres. This ball curved naturally and sharply without a violent snap of the wrist. In fact, Davey was now striking out (or whiffing) so many batters, he called his new ball a wiffle ball. And a great American success story was in the works.

A year later, Mullaney borrowed $20,000 from family and friends and started producing Wiffle Balls in his little suburban town of Shelton, Connecticut. I didnt want investors. He said, I wanted to control my own company.

This was the beginning of one of the hottest fads of the fifties and a perennial best seller well known all around the world. Since then millions of boys and girls have enjoyed countless hours of safe, wholesome fun playing with a Wiffle ball and bat. Esquire Magazine has even called the Wiffle Ball a national treasure.

By producing a high quality product at an affordable price, three generations of Mullanys have enjoyed the satisfaction and benefits of running a successful and profitable family business. Over the years, theyve had plenty of offers to buy them out, but theyre still working out of a small factory in Shelton, making a new Wiffle Ball every couple of seconds.

The Mullanys still dont know exactly why the Wiffle Ball curves the way it does. All they know is theyve got a winner and theyre going to keep on playing with it. Sounds like fun, doesnt it?