On 3rd Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave, in the late 50’s and early 60’s we would play like this:
First base was a fire pump, 2nd base was a manhole cover and third was a wheel on a car parked in the street. Had to wait until traffic passed (or we sometimes stopped it ourselves)
then hit the ball on a bounce and run like the devil, everything was in bounds as long as it was in the imaginary base lines. Fire escapes on the building sometimes posed a difficult catch, the ball would bounce around and you weren’t sure where it would come down. Also if you broke a window it was a home run or time to RUN HOME..by the way, how many brooms did we all borrow to make the bat??