In the early days in Sunnyside, Queens, when we were kids, we didn’t have a lot of space to run around in our little courtyard. Our ball games were usually against a brick wall or on concrete pavement. All the boys and girls played together – running bases, stick and boxball, single-double-triple, etc. Of course the girls did the A My Name is Alice thing, and we also played Hit the Ball on the Penny.

For all these games, the ball of choice was almost always a Spaldeen. They had a good feel and a good bounce – and, as I recall, a good smell when they were brand new (that didn’t last long, maybe two paces out of the store and that was it…)