The Athlonic Company also known as or The Athlonic Co, or Athlonic Company or simply Athlonic (all Athlonic Company artwork reflects just Athlonic) was founded in the Spring of 1994. Its first introduction was The Spitter Automatic Soft Toss Machine. Though there were other soft toss machines on the market at the time of The Spitter Automatic Soft Toss Machine’s introduction, the was the first soft toss machine to be fully automatic, and the first soft toss machine to incorporate electronics as the controlling device.

Though meeting with great success because of the aforementioned innovation, after several years it was  becoming obvious that a more portable soft toss machine was needed. The Athlonic Company answered the call with The Wheeler Dealer Portable Soft Toss Machine. (Wheeler Dealer was the name chosen as it could be wheeled out and deal out the ball – hence: Wheeler Dealer!)

A few of the universities that use the Wheeler Dealer or Spitter in their programs are: Univ. of Washington, UCLA, Univ. of Arizona, Univ. of Tennessee. Others using the Wheeler Dealer are Florida, Florida State, Georgia, and Arkansas. Of interest is what some of these coaches say: Ralph Weekly of the Univ. of Tenn. says, "There is no greater hitting aid than the Wheeler Dealer. We use two Wheeler Dealers in our circuit training." Mike Candrea, winning coach at the Univ. of Arizona says, "The Wheeler Dealer by the Athlonic Company is a great device to teach timing and hand eye coordination."