todd schaefer

If you grew up playing WIFFLE BALL in the 80s and 90s, this one's for you... We didn't just play Wiffle ball. We built STADIUMS in our backyards. I remember mowing the grass on the LOWEST setting to outline our field. Eventually the grass would die, which absolutely pissed my dad off. 😂 We chalked batter's boxes. Made our own outfield distance signs. Our HOUSE ROOF was the right-field home run fence. Left field? A portable fence we built ourselves. We scraped together whatever money we could find for replacement Wiffle balls at the local hardware store. We organized tournaments that lasted ALL SUMMER. Ghost runners. Made-up ground rules. Hit the runner with the ball to get him OUT. We argued calls like it was Game 7 of the World Series. No umpires. No coaches. No adults organizing anything. Just neighborhood kids, a plastic bat, a plastic ball, and an imagination that never ran out. And looking back 30 years later, something hits me... We were learning how to COMPETE. How to solve problems. How to make our own decisions. How to handle winning AND losing. We were developing baseball instincts without a single lesson. We were falling in love with the GAME without anybody telling us we needed to. We just called it PLAYING. Man, what I'd give for ONE MORE summer afternoon on those backyard fields. ⚾️ Who else grew up this way? Tell me about YOUR backyard stadium.