I grew-up in Philly (Onley) and remember playing both Half-Ball and Wire-Ball as described by Spredhaus. We lived on a street that dead-ended into the railroad tracks, so there was little through traffic except for the trucks going into and out of the factory across the street. We also played a one-bounce pitch version of Punch-Ball. Curb-Ball and Stoop-Ball (or Step-Ball) was common when there were fewer kids around, although we had so many kids getting a Punch-Ball game together was pretty easy