I grew up in the 50’s in Brighton, a part of Boston. We played 2 versions of halfball, usually with 2 players per side. There was a wall version where anything off the wall was a hit, depending on height. However, if a fielder caught a line drive or a rebound off the wall, all baserunners were erased. In the street version we hit for distance. Strikes and fouls were outs. Believe it or not, there was a front page story in the Wall St. Journal in 1985 about the summer joys of halfball.(I still have it). It claimed that the game was only played in two cities: Boston and Philadelphia, and the best teams from those areas
were about to play the 1985 “World Championship” tournament in a schoolyard in Charlestown, Mass.