Illinois man creates Wiffle Ball field
Matt Lindner A crowd gathers to play a little Wiffle Ball in a Chicago suburb.LOMBARD, Ill. -- Most men grow up only dreaming of owning their own baseball field.
But then again, Keith Giagnorio is not most men. This winter, he took a look at the giant front yard of the rental house he owns right next door to his home and saw potential for an adult playground.
"We ended up kind of looking at the whole field and we were figuring either a football field or a Wiffle Ball field," he said.
A former college baseball player at Elmhurst College in Illinois, Giagnorio and his buddies decided the siren call of the yellow plastic bat and white ball was too much for them to resist.
So one night, he came home and told his wife, Angela, that the grass lot next door was going to become his own personal Wiffle Ball stadium.
"I was a little surprised and didn't know what to think," Angela said. "I thought he'd just talk about it and not really do it, but here it is."
"I was like if anybody's going to do this in their yard, it would be him," adds the couple's 23-year-old daughter Ashley.
The park is one of a growing number of backyard fields across the country, including "Little Fenway" in Vermont and "Red Barn Road" in Barrington, Ill., north of Chicago.
And do it he did. Pasta Park, named in honor of the family Italian restaurant, Gianorio's Pizza and Pasta, is the envy of any weekend warrior. Giagnorio's diamond is the real deal in every sense of the word.
It comes complete with a scoreboard, pitcher's mound, base lines, even bleachers for the growing legion of fans that come out to support the players. Giagnorio estimates that with all the donations and help building the field, his out-of-pocket cost was only a few hundred dollars.
"We had a friend build the players' bench. We saved the bleachers from being destroyed after they were thrown out by an old park, so we had those donated," he said. "We bought the bases from a second-hand sports store, a sign-maker friend of mine made the scoreboard and one thing led to another."
On Sunday afternoons, Giagnorio is equal parts Mark McGwire and Mark Cuban.
Around the neighborhood, he's notorious for his ability to hit a Wiffle Ball a country mile. As the proud "owner" of the Meatballs, as the home team likes to call themselves, he makes sure his players are taken care of. The cooler is always stocked with cold beer, and there's plenty of food to feed the entire crowd.
"We have a lot of friends on Sundays," Angela said with a laugh.
Unlike with organized baseball, there's no age requirement to play. Players ranging in age from 8 to crowd favorite 81-year-old Tony Maroney are regulars for the Sunday afternoon games. Like kids on a sandlot, the Meatballs play all comers.
"I would do it every day if I could," Maroney said. "Just try to hit that ball as far as it will go."
The Meatballs season started back in May, and while games during the summer start at 2:30 p.m., Giagnorio says he'll be hosting a couple of night games up until the season finale on Thanksgiving. He purchased temporary portable lights specifically so that he and his squad didn't have to stop playing once the summer ended.
But if the Meatballs had their way, they'd be playing all year round.
"People who are over 40, 50 come out here and play and you get to be a kid again for a couple of hours," Vish says. "It's a lot of fun."
Matthew Lindner is a freelance writer for Sports Media Exchange, a national freelance writing network.
 |
| • Philbrick: Page 2's Greatest Hits, 2000-2012 |
| • Caple: Fond memories of a road warrior |
| • Snibbe: An illustrated history of Page 2 |
Philbrick, Gallo: Farewell podcast  |
RECENT ACTIVITY
-
TOOLS
- Contact Us
- Corrections
- Daily Line
- RSS