SHELTON, Conn. (November 11, 2007 03:10 AM EST) Wiffle Ball - you know the game, played at picnics, at birthday parties and in backyards - may well be baseball stripped down to the basics, distilled to its very essence.

Wiffle Ball Inc. keeps things simple, too.

The perforated plastic ball is made at a modest, family-owned factory in Connecticut. The basic eight-hole design was developed more than 50 years ago, and the folks at Wiffle Ball have stuck with it because, well, why throw the public a curve?

In this asap video by PETE BROWN, visit the birthplace of the Wiffle Ball, and meet a few of the players who take the most unserious of sports pretty seriously.

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Watch the video here: http://asap.ap.org/data/interactives/_sports/wiffle/