nubers of players, as many…

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nubers of players, as many as you could get together. all players were at one side of the street/sidewalk and up against the building/wall, one person (the one who got tagged) had to be in the middle of the street and bend over at the waist facing away from the players, he was the “polar bear”, the person who was the bear, became the chaser, he had to place his hand on the back of bear and circle the new bear three times and run to the oppsite side (across the street) of the street and tagged the wall/building and catch anyone of the other kids who had to run up to the “bear” and swat him on his rearend and make it back to base and not get tagged. All players had to leave the wall and run to the middle of street and swat the bear at least once. the chaser had to tag anyone he could before they made it back to base. the person who got tagged then beame the new polar bear.

I just wanted to say Thank…

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I just wanted to say Thank you for this website! I played Skelsie growing up in Ridgewood (bordering Bklyn)and it was so much fun! Now that my boys are at the age I started playing it, I wanted to show them how but for the life of me couldn’t remember how to the board was layed out. Someone sent me this link and reading it brought back so many great memories. Thank you Ann Marie

I remember playing stickball…

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I remember playing stickball in Brooklyn in the 30’s and early forties. Ave. T between East 28th and East 29th Streets. Seems that there were a lot fewer cars on the street then. One bounce to home plate. The business of the distance, sewer covers, in my opinion, was determined by the length of the stick (broom handle). The longer it was, the further it went. With a long enough stick, if you caught the ball at the end of the stick, it never came down. I believe the first thing in orbit was a Spalding. Not only spin on the ball when pitched but squezzing the Spalding (bastardized to spaldeen I guess) with the middle finger gave the pitcher what might be considered a “knuckler” which, no one ever knew which way it would bounce when it hit the ground. If you grew up in Brooklyn before the war, there was bound to be some stickball somewhere in your back ground.

Does anyone know the one…

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Does anyone know the one A sailor went to see, see, see, to see what he could see, see, see, but all that he could see was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea…. I know there is more verses but can’t remember them….please help me remember…

We played curb-ball in suburban…

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We played curb-ball in suburban NJ. It was also called off the curb. The neighborhoods had sidewalks on both sides of the street. In between the sidewalks and the street was a strip of grass about the same width as the sidewalk. When you were up, you threw the ball against the curb, and it rebounded toward your opponent on the other side of the street. If he fielded it cleanly (either in the air or a grounder) you were out. If it made it pass him, or he bobbled it, you got a single. If it landed on the strip of grass (after flying across the street), it was a double. The sidewalk was a triple, and the front yard a home run. If the ball went the other direction, it was foul. The game was the greatest way to improve eye hand coordination and fielding. I miss it.

hey i just posted a part…

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hey i just posted a part of the ryhme shimmy shimmy coca pop here’s how my girlfriend and me used to sing it in school down down bab-y down by the roller coaster sweet sweet bab-y never gon-na let’cha go shimmy shimmy coca pie shimmy shimmy shy- shimmy shimmy coca pie shimmy shimmy shy- mamma’s in the kitchen daddy’s in the hall baby’s in the bathroom marking on the wall that’s how we sang it in school