Whiffle ball is the perfect game.

Where else but in whiffle ball could you throw a curve ball that would rival the junk of Bert Blyleven. What other game could you bat lefty, even though you were a born righthander, and send the ball screaming across the street?

Remember the box the official whiffle ball came in? The diagrams on the outside of the box showed in quick easy steps how to throw an inside curveball, how to hit the outside corner and how to unleash the vicious slider.

This little ball could do it all. And you didn't have to worry about your arm falling off. The whiffle ball had no weight, but it danced.

Hitting the whiffle ball was a challenge. The ball would streak towards your head and then make a sharp right turn that would find the strike zone. But when the whiffle ball hung (maybe because the pitcher did not pay attention to the diagrams on the side of the official whiffle ball boxes), it usually flew across the street for a "forget that one"-type homer.

The sound of plastic smacking plastic.

Whiffle is the perfect game.

It is the kind of sport that doesn't need two teams the size of the entire neighborhood. All you need is a phone.

"Yeah, Jim, what's up?"

"Nothing."

"A little whiffle today? I'll challenge you. Seven innings."

"Awright, got nothing else to do."

Two players squaring off in a seven-inning game. One pitches, the other hits. One hits, the other pitches. No bases to run, you only have to field grounders and catch fly balls. It's not that complicated a concept.

Whiffle ball is the perfect game.

What other game can you play with only two people and for less than five dollars?