I grew up in Flatbush in…
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I grew up in Flatbush in the 50’s. For some reason, we did not play stickball, but we did play punchball and slapball. In slapball, the ball is pitched on a bounce to the batter who hits it with an open hand. You could put all kinds of different spin on the ball so that after it bounced it would swerve left, right, stop dead, or shoot ahead. We called this “fluking”. Anyone else remember that word? We used mainly Spaldeen, though I do recall Pensy Pinkies. Many balls were lost in the sewers. I recall kids saying to each other, “Walk me to the corner. I have to get a new Spaldeen.”