A Century of Luxury & Legacy
Four Generations Strong: What Family Businesses Can Learn From Wiffle Ball
Published: Aug 30, 2026
What Wiffle Ball Reminded Me About Legacy
Sometimes you run across something you were never looking for, and it takes you somewhere you did not expect to go.
That happened to me recently while I was in Shelton, Connecticut.
I was there for some training with The Edge, the point-of-sale software system we use at David Douglas Diamonds. While I was in town, I happened to come across the Wiffle Ball Company.
Now, I know that may seem like a strange connection to a jewelry business celebrating 100 years, but it immediately caught my attention.
Here was another family business with a long history, now moving from its third generation into its fourth. They have had opportunities over the years to sell to larger toy companies, but they have kept the business in the family.
That got me thinking.
A Simple Product With a Long Legacy
One of the things that struck me about Wiffle Ball is how simple the product really is.
It is a plastic ball.
That is pretty much it.
And yet, that simple ball has become part of American childhood for generations.
Over the years, the company experimented with different ideas and different ways to expand, but they kept coming back to the thing they did best.
The Wiffle Ball.
There is a lesson in that.
Sometimes longevity is not about constantly reinventing yourself.
Sometimes it is about knowing who you are, understanding what works, and taking care of it well enough that the next generation has something worth carrying forward.
That certainly made me think about our own family in the jewelry business.
Backyard Games and Uncle Art
Seeing the Wiffle Ball Company also brought back some memories I had not thought about in quite a while.
My Uncle Art, my dad's youngest brother, was a fireman in Florida. Because of the way he scheduled his shifts, he could sometimes put together several weeks off during the summer.
He would come up to Michigan and stay at my grandmother's and aunt's house in Fowlerville.
That meant cousins.
And cousins meant games.
We would all get together in the backyard and play Wiffle Ball.
Nothing fancy.
No stadium.
No uniforms.
No trophies.
Just family, a plastic bat, a plastic ball, and a backyard.
But somehow those are the memories that stay with you.
At the time, I doubt any of us thought we were creating memories we would still be talking about decades later.
We were just having fun.
That is one of the funny things about life.
You often do not know which moments will become important until many years have passed.
Growing Up Around Detroit
That visit also had me thinking about some of my earliest childhood memories.
I grew up around Detroit. Technically, I believe we were in Redford for part of that time. I was only there until I was about five years old, so some of the memories are a little fuzzy.
But there are certain things I can still picture.
My dad was working at the Michigan Theater Building at the time.
I remember nights when I wanted to stay awake until he got home.
I would try.
And I would usually end up falling asleep on the living room floor.
When he came home, he would pick me up and carry me to bed.
That is such a small memory.
But it stayed with me.
I remember walking to school when I was very young and being scared to go by myself.
It was a different time. Parents thought nothing of sending a five-year-old down the street to school.
My mother expected me to go.
I apparently had other ideas.
I made her walk almost the entire way with me that first time.
She was not especially happy about it, but after that I think I figured it out.
I remember one birthday at school where a girl's father brought in a pony so the kids could take pony rides.
For a city kid, that was something.
You just did not see ponies in the neighborhood.
Rats, maybe.
Ponies, not so much.
Childhood Was a Little More Adventurous
Some of my other memories make me wonder how I survived childhood at all.
When I was probably four years old, I asked my dad for the keys to the car.
Somehow, I figured out how to open the trunk, get the jack out, and start jacking up the car.
The driveway was on a slight hill.
A neighbor eventually came over and asked if my parents knew what I was doing.
Naturally, I said yes.
They did not.
Thankfully, somebody got my parents before anything terrible happened.
Then there were the bicycles.
A friend and I had been told not to ride in a certain area.
Of course, telling two boys not to go somewhere can occasionally have the opposite effect.
We went.
There was sand.
My friend crashed.
And because he did not have handle grips on his handlebars, the metal end cut across his chest.
Needless to say, we got into some trouble.
But once again, it became a memory.
I am not recommending any of these childhood safety practices, by the way.
I am just saying childhood was a little different back then.
What Makes a Family Business Last?
As I stood there thinking about the Wiffle Ball Company, I found myself wondering what allows a family business to survive for multiple generations.
There is no simple answer.
A good product helps.
Hard work helps.
Knowing your customer helps.
But I think there is something deeper.
There has to be a willingness for one generation to build something and then trust another generation with it.
And the next generation has to respect what came before while still figuring out how to make it their own.
That balance is not easy.
Too much attachment to the past can keep a business from changing.
Too much change can cause a business to forget what made it special in the first place.
The families that survive seem to figure out how to do both.
They honor the past without living in it.
Our Own Fourth Generation
That is something I think about often as David Douglas Diamonds celebrates 100 years of a family of jewelers.
Our story began in 1926.
Now, a century later, our family tradition is moving into its fourth generation as well.
That is something I am incredibly grateful for.
When you are working every day, it is easy to focus on the immediate things.
Customers.
Employees.
Inventory.
Technology.
Bills.
Marketing.
Problems that need to be solved.
But every once in a while, something like a Wiffle Ball factory makes you stop and look at the bigger picture.
You realize you are part of something that began long before you.
And, hopefully, something that will continue long after you.
New Legacies Are Being Started Too
While I was in Connecticut, I also had the opportunity to spend time with other jewelers during our software training.
I always enjoy hearing their stories.
Some come from long-established family businesses.
Others are just starting.
Some are bringing the next generation into the business.
Others are building something today that may become a family legacy decades from now.
That is one of the things I love about this industry.
Every jewelry store has a story.
Behind the showcases and diamonds and engagement rings are families, relationships, risks, sacrifices, and generations of people trying to build something meaningful.
Some are on generation four.
Some are on generation one.
Both matter.
The Things That Last
I started this trip thinking about software.
I ended up thinking about Wiffle Ball.
And that led me back to my childhood.
My uncle.
My cousins.
My dad carrying me to bed.
Walking to school.
Bicycles.
Backyard games.
And ultimately, family legacy.
Maybe that is what this whole journey through 100 years has been teaching me.
Legacy is not just the big things.
It is not only buildings, companies, anniversaries, or accomplishments.
Sometimes it is a father carrying his sleeping son to bed.
Sometimes it is cousins playing Wiffle Ball in the backyard.
Sometimes it is a family choosing to keep a business going for one more generation.
And sometimes it is simply knowing what you do well and continuing to do it with care.
I am grateful for the family members who came before me.
I am grateful for the memories.
And I am grateful that, after 100 years, our family still gets to be part of this wonderful jewelry industry.
Here is to the simple things.
Because sometimes those are the things that last the longest.
Doug Meadows
David Douglas Diamonds
A Century of Luxury & Legacy
Sometimes you run across something you were never looking for, and it takes you somewhere you did not expect to go.
That happened to me recently while I was in Shelton, Connecticut.
I was there for some training with The Edge, the point-of-sale software system we use at David Douglas Diamonds. While I was in town, I happened to come across the Wiffle Ball Company.
Now, I know that may seem like a strange connection to a jewelry business celebrating 100 years, but it immediately caught my attention.
Here was another family business with a long history, now moving from its third generation into its fourth. They have had opportunities over the years to sell to larger toy companies, but they have kept the business in the family.
That got me thinking.
A Simple Product With a Long Legacy
One of the things that struck me about Wiffle Ball is how simple the product really is.
It is a plastic ball.
That is pretty much it.
And yet, that simple ball has become part of American childhood for generations.
Over the years, the company experimented with different ideas and different ways to expand, but they kept coming back to the thing they did best.
The Wiffle Ball.
There is a lesson in that.
Sometimes longevity is not about constantly reinventing yourself.
Sometimes it is about knowing who you are, understanding what works, and taking care of it well enough that the next generation has something worth carrying forward.
That certainly made me think about our own family in the jewelry business.
Backyard Games and Uncle Art
Seeing the Wiffle Ball Company also brought back some memories I had not thought about in quite a while.
My Uncle Art, my dad's youngest brother, was a fireman in Florida. Because of the way he scheduled his shifts, he could sometimes put together several weeks off during the summer.
He would come up to Michigan and stay at my grandmother's and aunt's house in Fowlerville.
That meant cousins.
And cousins meant games.
We would all get together in the backyard and play Wiffle Ball.
Nothing fancy.
No stadium.
No uniforms.
No trophies.
Just family, a plastic bat, a plastic ball, and a backyard.
But somehow those are the memories that stay with you.
At the time, I doubt any of us thought we were creating memories we would still be talking about decades later.
We were just having fun.
That is one of the funny things about life.
You often do not know which moments will become important until many years have passed.
Growing Up Around Detroit
That visit also had me thinking about some of my earliest childhood memories.
I grew up around Detroit. Technically, I believe we were in Redford for part of that time. I was only there until I was about five years old, so some of the memories are a little fuzzy.
But there are certain things I can still picture.
My dad was working at the Michigan Theater Building at the time.
I remember nights when I wanted to stay awake until he got home.
I would try.
And I would usually end up falling asleep on the living room floor.
When he came home, he would pick me up and carry me to bed.
That is such a small memory.
But it stayed with me.
I remember walking to school when I was very young and being scared to go by myself.
It was a different time. Parents thought nothing of sending a five-year-old down the street to school.
My mother expected me to go.
I apparently had other ideas.
I made her walk almost the entire way with me that first time.
She was not especially happy about it, but after that I think I figured it out.
I remember one birthday at school where a girl's father brought in a pony so the kids could take pony rides.
For a city kid, that was something.
You just did not see ponies in the neighborhood.
Rats, maybe.
Ponies, not so much.
Childhood Was a Little More Adventurous
Some of my other memories make me wonder how I survived childhood at all.
When I was probably four years old, I asked my dad for the keys to the car.
Somehow, I figured out how to open the trunk, get the jack out, and start jacking up the car.
The driveway was on a slight hill.
A neighbor eventually came over and asked if my parents knew what I was doing.
Naturally, I said yes.
They did not.
Thankfully, somebody got my parents before anything terrible happened.
Then there were the bicycles.
A friend and I had been told not to ride in a certain area.
Of course, telling two boys not to go somewhere can occasionally have the opposite effect.
We went.
There was sand.
My friend crashed.
And because he did not have handle grips on his handlebars, the metal end cut across his chest.
Needless to say, we got into some trouble.
But once again, it became a memory.
I am not recommending any of these childhood safety practices, by the way.
I am just saying childhood was a little different back then.
What Makes a Family Business Last?
As I stood there thinking about the Wiffle Ball Company, I found myself wondering what allows a family business to survive for multiple generations.
There is no simple answer.
A good product helps.
Hard work helps.
Knowing your customer helps.
But I think there is something deeper.
There has to be a willingness for one generation to build something and then trust another generation with it.
And the next generation has to respect what came before while still figuring out how to make it their own.
That balance is not easy.
Too much attachment to the past can keep a business from changing.
Too much change can cause a business to forget what made it special in the first place.
The families that survive seem to figure out how to do both.
They honor the past without living in it.
Our Own Fourth Generation
That is something I think about often as David Douglas Diamonds celebrates 100 years of a family of jewelers.
Our story began in 1926.
Now, a century later, our family tradition is moving into its fourth generation as well.
That is something I am incredibly grateful for.
When you are working every day, it is easy to focus on the immediate things.
Customers.
Employees.
Inventory.
Technology.
Bills.
Marketing.
Problems that need to be solved.
But every once in a while, something like a Wiffle Ball factory makes you stop and look at the bigger picture.
You realize you are part of something that began long before you.
And, hopefully, something that will continue long after you.
New Legacies Are Being Started Too
While I was in Connecticut, I also had the opportunity to spend time with other jewelers during our software training.
I always enjoy hearing their stories.
Some come from long-established family businesses.
Others are just starting.
Some are bringing the next generation into the business.
Others are building something today that may become a family legacy decades from now.
That is one of the things I love about this industry.
Every jewelry store has a story.
Behind the showcases and diamonds and engagement rings are families, relationships, risks, sacrifices, and generations of people trying to build something meaningful.
Some are on generation four.
Some are on generation one.
Both matter.
The Things That Last
I started this trip thinking about software.
I ended up thinking about Wiffle Ball.
And that led me back to my childhood.
My uncle.
My cousins.
My dad carrying me to bed.
Walking to school.
Bicycles.
Backyard games.
And ultimately, family legacy.
Maybe that is what this whole journey through 100 years has been teaching me.
Legacy is not just the big things.
It is not only buildings, companies, anniversaries, or accomplishments.
Sometimes it is a father carrying his sleeping son to bed.
Sometimes it is cousins playing Wiffle Ball in the backyard.
Sometimes it is a family choosing to keep a business going for one more generation.
And sometimes it is simply knowing what you do well and continuing to do it with care.
I am grateful for the family members who came before me.
I am grateful for the memories.
And I am grateful that, after 100 years, our family still gets to be part of this wonderful jewelry industry.
Here is to the simple things.
Because sometimes those are the things that last the longest.
Doug Meadows
David Douglas Diamonds
A Century of Luxury & Legacy