I had the great fortune to…
I had the great fortune to grow up on Pine Street in Cypress hills in the 60’s-70’s where the fulton street el ran. The typical home plate sewer was almost right in front of my house about 2+ sewers from the corner. I remember the first time a guy hit the el from there playing stickball. It was the cousin of a guy who lived on the block. I was younger than that crowd so I just got to watch those guys. It was no-pitch stickball and it was amazing to watch a guy hit a ball so far. My younger crowd played the sewer closer to the corner so we could always hit the el and that was great. If you caught it falling thru the el the batter was out unless it hit the “shed” – the roof over the platform. You also had to be careful not to hit it over or thru the el and onto the roof of Elton Paint. Or if you hit it up there and a train came and hit the ball down Fulton Street it was still fair.