I lived in Astoria growing up in the lates 50’s
We used Spaldings for stick ball but we also used the Spalding to play ” Strikebox”. This game featured a Concrete wall usually in a school yard with a box chalked onto it representing a strike zone.It was played with 4 player max ( 2 per side ) or just 2 players. The pitcher stood approx 50 feet from the wall and thru the Spalding and tried to get it past the hitter.As in normal baseball the batter had a chance to get 4 balls or 3 strikes. The outs per side were agreed to in advance as were the singles douobles etc. A broomstick handle was used for a bat. In 1958 a company actually came out with a nicely varnished broomstick just for us kids to play the game..