Walton Family Reunion Wiffle Ball Game Brings Out the Neighborhood

The Phillies may have sunk to third place Thursday, but residents of a north end neighborhood had a great ballgame to cheer on without moving their cars. In fact, moving cars would have complicated things, since some were on the field for the 16th annual Walton Family Wiffle Ball game held on the Fourth of July in the alley behind John Walton’s Third Street home. Walton is well known in town as a local realtor and one of the originators of Ocean City’s Business Person’s Plunge, a wacky dip in the ocean by formally attired local business leaders that helps open the summer season before each Memorial Day. “The wiffle ball game is a highlight of the summer, and certainly of the reunion,” said Walton, 62. John Walton jokingly flashes the form that earned him a .112 career batting average. More than 70 family and extended family members attended the reunion, he said.  “We packed 12 bedrooms,” he remarked. The wiffle ball game? Not only well-attended and participated by reunion members, an estimated 100 neighbors looked on from decks, balconies and yards along the alley facing the back of Walton’s house. “Every year it gets bigger,” the Upper Darby, Pa. native said. The neighborhood action unfolds in an alley behind John Walton's Third Street home. Wiffle ball enthusiasts of all ages pose for a group photo.