Streetplay Discussion Archive

My father, who grew up in Newark, NJ, in the 1940s and 50s taught me a game that he called “stickball” but is very different from the descriptions of stickball rules I’ve found, so I’m wondering if anyone else has heard of this game, maybe with a different name. We played in the street with a long, thin, wooden bat and a tennis ball. One player is the batter and the other players spread out down the street. The batter tosses or bounces the ball and hits it towards the other players. If one of them catches it before it bounces, he/she becomes the batter. If the ball is fielded after it bounces, then the batter lays the bat down and the player who fielded the ball rolls the ball from the spot where the ball was fielded and tries to hit the bat. If the ball misses, then the batter hits it again. If the ball hits the bat and bounces up in the air and the batter is able to catch it before it bounces, then he/she remains the batter. If the ball hits the bat and either doesn’t bounce up in the air, or the batter doesn’t catch it, then the fielder becomes the batter. We didn’t have a system for keeping score; we just played until we got tired, or dinner was ready, or it got dark.