My Dad, Robert “Lefty” Gregory…

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My Dad, Robert “Lefty” Gregory played on The Presto in the late 30’s early 40’s. His brother Willie Gregory played on the Madision Ave Flashers. Dad went on to play in the Winter Baseball Leagues in Puerto Rico with the San Juan Senators in 47. He returned to Manhattan the following season and went to an open try out for the NY Giants in the old Polo Grounds. He put four consecutive shots in center field which got him a trip to North Carolina to play for the Giants Farm Team. Those were rough days for people of color. I was about five or six and can remember sitting in the stands in center field. Those folks were pretty hostile. Dad was a quiet man and always avoided confrontation. He deceided then to give up his dream of a professional career and we all retuned to live in Brooklyn. Dad played stickball for Home Relief during this time and spent the rest of the decade playing in the great Puertorican baseball leagues in Central Park. Not sure of his team’s name, but I remember the word “GOYA” on his uniform. To say Dad played stickball or baseball at another level was an understatement. When I was about sixteen we were living in the upper Bronx, East Chester Projects. Dad came down one Saturday afternoon to join us while we were playing stickball. We thought we were really good. Dad got up, pointed to each of us in order and said, “This is yours”. Bam! a blur of a warped spaldine would be coming at you at mach 5. BAM! one more for the guy on 2nd and Bam! another for 3rd. My buddies would duck, jump out of the way. To damn hot to handle! For us in the out field he would pop them up so high they come down whistling and dancing the bugaloo! He would place them just where he wanted to, every time. It was a reality check for us young punks! I really miss my Dad and am glad to see this site giving these guys and their generation their due. I was shocked to find out that my Dad was inducted along with my uncle Willie into the hall of fame. This was in the seventies and he never told any of the family. I only found out about it this year when his good friend Hector Arroyo was inducted. That was my Dad! A very humble but unforgetable man.

in response to the hin-do…

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in response to the hin-do quesstion:we always said it stood for hindering or blocking out the other player. we always called a redo. also i’m going to give my vote to the pense pinkie. either ball was okay but the pinkies lasted longer as long as they stayed off the roof. does anyone remember chinese handball? you bounced the ball on the sidewalk before it hit the wall. and if you were the cause of play stopping you were sent down the end of the line.

I was playing handball today…

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I was playing handball today in Flagler Beach, FL, when the ball coming OVER the wall and onto my court was PINK!!.”WOW! A Spaldeen! I have not seen one in 25 years since back in Brooklyn and North Babylon, NY. I found out who hit it over. He said that you can buy them now at the “Sports Authority” stores. Any handball players out there? Eddie Jensen

I grew up in Southwest Philly….

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I grew up in Southwest Philly. We played box ball, wire ball, stick ball, step ball, etc. We also played Kick the Can, which was like Jailbreak. Somebody was “it”. Everyone else had to hide. The person who was it had a can and a jail. They had to identify the person that they saw hiding, grab the can and bang it on the street saying 1-2-3 I see Joe hiding behind Mr. Doyle’s car. If that was right, the person would go in the jail. The rest of the people had to try to sneak up the street to kick the can to free anyone in jail and hide before the person who was “it” saw you. It could take awhile before you caught everyone if you were it. What a thrill to kick the can and set everyone free. You were a hero for a minute. I also remember Hide the Belt and Buck Buck and Break the Golden Gate. I wish that I had a whole pimple ball. I have one half ball left.

hi everyone, I WAS…

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hi everyone, I WAS IN A DOUBLE DUTCH TEAM ONCE AND IT WAS FUN.. WELL I HAVE A RYHME IN WHICH YA MIGHT BE INTRESTED.. HERE IS GOES… NAME : PLAYGROUND p-l-a-y-g-r-o-u-n-d foot to the playground u know bounce to the play ground u know hop to the playground you know turn to the playground you know crist to the playground you know walk to the playground You keep on jumping until u MESS UP. once u miss you have to do whatever u MESS UP untill a high number.. example : if u MESSED UP on bouce.. u will say bouncy’s to the word hit it.. 10,20,30,40,etc.. hope that many will use it…

In the late 1960s there…

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In the late 1960s there used to be a massive day long Johnny-on-the-Pony fest at the bottom of the stairs next to Bethesda Fountain in Central Park. It was a pick up game with several ponies lined up next to one another, probably 100 players or more at a time on any given Saturday. Fans would be lined up along the wall at the top of the stairs looking down at the action and cheering whenever the pony filled with riders and one more runner came leaping aboard. It was truly an authentic New York experience. At 125 pounds, I was an observer at these “semi-pro” games, but enjoyed playing in school. No one seemed to notice or care that so many of our activities were perilous. We continued to shoot half paper clips at each other with rubber band launchers after Mario gained a glass eye. Nowadays you can’t even find a set of metal monkey bars set on a rough concrete pad. Man those hurt.

Spaldeens were always the…

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Spaldeens were always the ball of choice for me. Money was something only grownups were allowed to hold, so spaldeens were the kids eqivilent of cash. It you had one, you got to play. In the mid-60s we played punchball day after day against the expansive brick wall of the New Yorker Theatre on 89th Street between Broadway and West End. Mostly 2-on-2. Hitting the New Yorker Bookstore sign was a homerun. The game pretty much broke up by middle school, when some kids started into drugs and others were diverted to supervised activities. I was never much of a ballplayer, but punchball required more finesse than power and I was pretty good at it.