Streetplay Discussions
What neighborhood in Brooklyn…
What neighborhood in Brooklyn were you from? We’ve been finding that Stickball in Manhattan was mainly slow pitch, in the Bronx fungo (hitting by yourself). IN Queens – fastpitch, wall ball – or what was jsut called stickball was played mainly as you describe. In fact, we’ve just talked to someone who has a L.I City Queens league based on this. Brooklyn seems to have had a combination.
We played stickball in the…
We played stickball in the schoolyard of P.s. 209, Brooklyn. We never played with more than three people on a team. Our rules were simple, chalk box on the wall for the strikezone, no arguments there just look at the chalk on the ball. Hit the top of the fence on a fly and you had a double. Hit the bottom of the fence on the fly and you got a triple. Anywhere over the fence and you touched them all. No toe left on my Pro-Keds after a month. It’s too bad I can’t find anyone to play stickball with in Southern California. I’ll always be a Brooklyn boy at heart. Talking about this makes me want to get up and walk down to Nathan’s and get a bag of those greasy fries, nothing like it in the world.
I grew up in Manhattan,…
I grew up in Manhattan, in what is now known as SoHo, in a loft. On the floor of our house we had a hopscotch board. We made it out of tape. My grandmother and I put it down on the floor one day so we could play the game together. Maybe she was embarassed to play this game in a playground with me. She was in her mid sixties. Now I look at my mother who is in her mid sixties and don’t think it’s too old to play at all. When my grandmother did it when I was a kid I understood why she hid it, because she seemed so incredibly old.
What special memories do…
You mean with all the good…
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The Stickball Classic was scheduled for Staten Island today. Last night’s barrage of rain made the game date questionable. This morning players and game assistants looked out to pouring rain, particularly in the Brooklyn/Queens region. Although the rain had stopped by game time, many of the teams and assistants scheduled to be at the event were not there. Stickball Commissioner Curtis Sliwa decided to call the game. The make up time will be shortly announced. The players were obviously disappointed. As the weather cleared and the sun peaked out, it became clear that games could have been held, however, the call had already been made and announced. Players and fans will have to wait to determine who will represent Staten Island in the 1999 Stickball Classic. It should be noted that one of the 3 teams that showed up were the Brookfield Bomber, a team that has already secured its place in the finals by taking the Brooklyn crown in the first week of competition. Even though the day would not be “official” fun was not to be denied. Players decided to take advantage of the day and play anyway. A good crew of players was on-hand when we left midway in the first game. Please post the results of the games so we know what happened. Hope to see you guys at the next one.
Be kind to your web-footed…
I heard it as: Be kind…
I don’t remember it that…
I don’t remember it that way. Each person got half the deck. Each person made their solitaire hand with only five piles in front of them. Then with the remaining cards, on the count of three, each would say spit and put a card down into the middle. Just like solitaire you would set up your hand and put cards up on those center piles until you each had nothing else to put up and then you would say spit and put out another card. There were a variety of variable rules. Should you use two hands to move cards? Use alternating black and red color scheme? and more … I don’t see what a blank pile would be?