I grew up in Floral Park Queens during the 70’s and played a ton of stoop ball with my pals from P.S. 115.

We played with baseball rules, with singles, doubles, triples and home runs determined by the distance an uncaught ball flew before hitting the ground. Bunting wasn’t allowed so the ball had to at least make it past the guy throwing it at the stoop. We had a bit of a lawn in front of our house, and that was all singles territory. Anywhere in the area of the sidewalk was a double. Into the street was a triple and making it across to the other side of the street was a home run. If the ball was caught, or went foul (rebounded off to the sides or up into the door above the stoop) that was an out. Three outs and you changed who was up. You could play with only two people or as many as you liked, but we usually never allowed more than three people in the field at a time, or it was too easy to catch. Pointers were not worth any special amount of points, as in some variations, but considering it was the best way to get distance, you always tried for one. My special “Submarine Sidearm” throw, as I was fond of calling it when I was 8, was very good at getting pointers!