1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,760 --> 00:00:09,400 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: show that takes a second look at the home runs 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: of history. I'm Gabe Blue Sier, and in this episode, 5 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:19,960 Speaker 1: we're talking about another proud member of the National Toy 6 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, a humble little game changer known as 7 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: the whiffle ball. The day was August fourteenth, nineteen fifty three. 8 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: David Nelson Mulaney created the first working prototype of the 9 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: whiffle ball, the perforated white plastic ball and the yellow 10 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 1: plastic bat. It later came packaged with launched a brand 11 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,479 Speaker 1: new backyard sport, and later became a staple of summer 12 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:58,960 Speaker 1: playtime for kids and adults worldwide. The inspiration for the 13 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: whiffle ball came on one summer evening in nineteen fifty 14 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:05,119 Speaker 1: three when mulaney was watching his twelve year old son, 15 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 1: David Junior, playing with a friend in their backyard in Fairfield, Connecticut. 16 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: The kids had given up on playing baseball as they 17 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 1: didn't have enough players for a team or enough space 18 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: to hit a home run without breaking a neighbor's window. Instead, 19 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: they improvised by taking turns trying to hit a plastic 20 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: practice golf ball with a broomstick. The boys spent all 21 00:01:27,840 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: day trying to throw curveballs and sliders past each other, 22 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 1: but try as they might, they just couldn't get the 23 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,840 Speaker 1: little perforated ball to curve. By the time they finally 24 00:01:37,880 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: called it quits, David Junior was complaining that his arm 25 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: felt like jelly. His dad knew the pain all too well, 26 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 1: as he had been a pitcher himself back in college. 27 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 1: He also knew that throwing too many curveballs was a 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: surefire away to blow out a young arm. Hoping to 29 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,080 Speaker 1: spare his son that trauma, he decided to craft a 30 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: new kind of ball was just as lightweight as the 31 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: practice golf ball, but they would curve and bend on 32 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: its own. David mullaney Senior was a salesman by trade, 33 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:12,720 Speaker 1: but the business he had started selling car polish had 34 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:17,040 Speaker 1: recently folded, leaving him unemployed. The upside was that he 35 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 1: had plenty of free time to tinker on his new project. 36 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: He reached out to some friends at a local factory 37 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 1: to see if they had anything on hand that might 38 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: be useful for making a prototype. What he got were 39 00:02:28,919 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: a bunch of plastic half spheres, which had been used 40 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: as packaging materials for perfume bottles, and they turned out 41 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,679 Speaker 1: to be perfect. On August twelfth, Mullany and his son 42 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: sat down at the kitchen table and got to work. 43 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: They cut different designs into the spheres and then glued 44 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: two halves together to form a hollow plastic ball roughly 45 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: the size of a baseball. Once the glue had dried, 46 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: the Mlanies went out to the backyard and tested the 47 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,360 Speaker 1: various designs one by one. They tried out holes of 48 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 1: every ship ape size and configuration they could think of, 49 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: but none of them yielded a ball that curved consistently. Finally, 50 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: on their third night of trying August fourteenth, nineteen fifty three, 51 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: the Milanies found a winner. The ball was hollow in 52 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: the middle and weighed about one third as much as 53 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: a baseball. One of its sides was solid, completely uncut, 54 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: while the other had eight oblong holes, each of which 55 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: was about three quarters of an inch. The ball was 56 00:03:29,240 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: able to curve and spin with ease due to the 57 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,160 Speaker 1: difference in surface area between its two hemispheres. Because more 58 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: atmospheric pressure acted on the solid side of the ball. 59 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,160 Speaker 1: A pitch would curve toward the side with holes, and 60 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: as air circulated through those holes, the ball would drop, rise, 61 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: or spin depending on various environmental factors. In other words, 62 00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: the ball would always curve, but you would never know 63 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:59,840 Speaker 1: exactly in which direction or to what extent. David J. 64 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: Junor and his friends thought the unpredictable curves were a riot, 65 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: and Mullaney started to think other kids might feel the 66 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: same way. Over the next year, he finalized the ball's 67 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: design with William F. Blamey Junior, a friend and fellow 68 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,839 Speaker 1: athlete from the University of Connecticut. They applied for a 69 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: patent together in nineteen fifty four, and three years later 70 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: it was granted under the simple title game Ball. The 71 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:29,719 Speaker 1: patent described the ball as durable, lightweight, and inexpensive to produce. 72 00:04:30,279 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: It also highlighted its main feature, the oblong holes that 73 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,159 Speaker 1: allowed it to quote very in flight when thrown and 74 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,760 Speaker 1: when struck. The invention didn't really have a name at first, 75 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: but when it came time to apply for a trademark, 76 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,440 Speaker 1: the Mullenies knew that game ball wasn't going to cut it. 77 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,000 Speaker 1: They thought about what they had created, a ball that 78 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: was easy to curve and harder to hit, resulting in 79 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: a lot of strikeouts. That train of thought led them 80 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:01,880 Speaker 1: to the word whiff a playing term for strikeouts used 81 00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:06,359 Speaker 1: by baseball fans, including David Junior. Mullaney changed the word 82 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,560 Speaker 1: to whiffle to make it more unique, and then drop 83 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: the h from the word when he applied for the trademark. 84 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: He supposedly did this because it meant he would need 85 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: one less letter for the sign on the company building. 86 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: With the patents and trademark in place, mulaney took out 87 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: a second mortgage on his home so that he could 88 00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: start manufacturing and marketing the whiffleball right away. He started 89 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: out selling them for forty nine cents each at a 90 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:36,039 Speaker 1: local diner in Woodbridge, and his sales took off over 91 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: the next few years. He added a long slender bat 92 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: to complete the set. Mulaney would routinely load up the 93 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:45,440 Speaker 1: trunk of his car with product and then sell through 94 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,159 Speaker 1: it in a matter of days. Encouraged by that strong response, 95 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,920 Speaker 1: he contacted the F. W. Woolworth Company and convinced them 96 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: to stock the product in their popular five and dime 97 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: stores beginning in nineteen fifty nine. That contract put the 98 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: toy on on the fast track to success, and within 99 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: a decade, wiffleball was being played in nearly every neighborhood 100 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: in the country. A major part of the product's appeal 101 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: was that it wasn't just a ball. There was a 102 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: whole unique game the kids could play with it, a 103 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,280 Speaker 1: specialized version of baseball with a set of rules devised 104 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: by David Junior himself. The game proved so popular that 105 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: by the late nineteen seventies, wiffleball tournaments were being organized 106 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: not only in the United States, but in Europe as well. 107 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: Another big selling point of whiffleball was the equalizing effect 108 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: it has on those who play it. Because it's so 109 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: hard to predict which way the ball will fly, an 110 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,479 Speaker 1: adult can compete against a kid and still not have 111 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: a clear cut advantage. Of course, the same also holds 112 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,919 Speaker 1: for adults playing against each other. The first adult whiffle 113 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: ball leagues were formed in the mid nineteen nineties, and 114 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:57,279 Speaker 1: many more if cropped up since then. They even hold 115 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:02,159 Speaker 1: annual tournaments like the United whiffle Ball National and World Championships, 116 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,200 Speaker 1: which pay out thousands of dollars to the winning teams. 117 00:07:06,160 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: The inventor of Whiffleball. David Nelson Mullaney passed away on 118 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: March twelfth, nineteen ninety, at the age of eighty one. 119 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: He left the company he founded, Whiffleball, Inc. To his son, 120 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,840 Speaker 1: David Mullaney Junior, and today it remains a family business, 121 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,679 Speaker 1: now run by a third David and by his brother Stephen, 122 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:30,560 Speaker 1: headquartered in Shelton, Connecticut. The original factory still cranks out 123 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:33,680 Speaker 1: more than a million whiffle balls each year, and while 124 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: the company won't divulge exactly how many balls it's produced 125 00:07:37,360 --> 00:07:40,480 Speaker 1: over the years, the Mullanies say the number is well 126 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: north of one hundred million. The good news is that 127 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: whiffleballs are now made entirely by machine, so the Mullanies 128 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: didn't have to whittle all those holes themselves. I'm Gabe 129 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: Lucier and hopefully you now know a little more about 130 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. You can learn even 131 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and 132 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have any 133 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: comments or suggestions, you can send them my way by 134 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to 135 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,120 Speaker 1: Chandler Mays for producing the show, and thank you for listening. 136 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 137 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: in history class.