Heck, Spaldeens and other rubber balls were good only for day games. At night, we used to stuff those waxed milk containers (remember, those now obsolete quart cartons with the pull-up spout for pouring?) with newspapers and use them for balls–but ONLY at night!
We’d play stickball on the sidewalk, and home play was right next to the lamppost to give the batters some light. We couldn’t use a rubber ball at night because the fielders had difficulty seeing it, causing the batting team to stay up forever.
We’d stuff those milk containers with paper and press down on them until they were the size of a softball. The only problem was that the milk carton didn’t last long from the whacking; and every ten minutes, somebody had to go into a garage can for another one, rip off its top, and stuff it again. Creating new balls for the game was an all night affair.
By the ninth inning, the whole sidewalk was littered with milk cartons and newspapers.
Oh, well, we kept the janitors and sanitation workers busy anyway.