Author Archives: Streetplay Discussions

> Does anyone remember the…

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> Does anyone remember the four finger drag in Skellzie I don’t remember it being called the “four finger drag,” but I now recall “dragsies” and “pushies”, both bogus cap-flicking techniques abhorred by true Skully players. I will add these variations to my next revision of the “Official Skully Rules”… http://www.westnet.com/~hmcnally/skully/skullyrules.pdf You’ll need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view this, which you can get FOR FREE at http://www.adobe.com/. BTW, the story recounted a couple of days ago by popbet is dead-on accurate… the same Skully cap development happened to me in the Bronx (Fordham Road/Jerome Avenue/St. Nicholas of Tolentine/Alexanders area). I still have my dominator, and, as proven at the recent Back to Brooklyn festival, it still dominates. -HMM

Our “spin the bottle” game…

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Our “spin the bottle” game was a little hotter than the ones described above…See, when the bottle was pointing toward you,the boy who had spined wasn’t kissing you on the cheek (girls weren’t kissing them there eighther). But if you really didn’t whant to be kissed by the “ugly one”, you had the choice to answer a very embarassing question (like who would you like to go out whit ??) and you had to say the truth. funny old times…

My best day ever ,was when…

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My best day ever ,was when my cousin Sonny took me to see the Dodgers play at Ebbets Field. I got to meet The Duke “DUKE SYNDER”, he was my hero as a young boy and still is. I finally got to meet him again at Studio 54 in New York City many years later at a private party given by our own MANHATTAN SPECIAL SODA COMPANY. I was very sad when the Dodgers left “my” BROOKLYN, I never rooted for a NEW YORK ever again.

Hey, isn’t anybody from…

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Hey, isn’t anybody from Philly?! How about Tarken playground in Oxford Circle? And Solly Avenue? Tarken had the first “twisty slide–” and that’s where I got my first taste of pizza off a truck. It was so great– when Little League games were going on, the trucks would line up along the fence: Mr. Softee, pizza, water ice…. Speaking of which, does anyone remember The Whip (Hint: You rode it, not ate it!)?

Am enjoying the site. Brings…

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Am enjoying the site. Brings back lots of memories. The one subject > regarding Spaldeens that was not mentioned was their propensity to “go > down the sewer”. The obiquitous street drains at every corner were a > magnet for the Spaldeens. The game had to stop while someone located a > wire coat hanger which was straightened out to it’s full length, with a > two inch circle bent at the end at right angles to the wire. This was > lowered into the sewer and the Spaldeen was fished out of it’s grave so > the game could continue. The gook that was on the balls was of now > concern to anyone. A couple of whacks with the stickball bat would clean > it off. No thought was ever given to sanitation – and it never seemed to > matter in those days! > > With fondest memories, > Alan Steinberg > (Avenue O and 23rd Street, Brooklyn) >

Has anyone heard of “Russian…

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Has anyone heard of “Russian Seven”? We played it in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in the 1940s. It involved tossing a Spaldeen against a building wall while performing various actions. Steps were done in a specific order. You could play against others or by yourself, trying to beat your own record of catching the ball.

Thanks for the link to halfball.com….

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Thanks for the link to halfball.com. After reading your page I went into the website and ordered a bat. I’m very impressed with the quality and workmanship. I recommend people take a look at these handcrafted bats and balls. We played halfball as kids and are looking forward to passing on this game to our children.

I almost forgot. Does anyone…

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I almost forgot. Does anyone remember the four finger drag in Skellzie. Also guys would HEAD FOR THE HILLS when another would become killer. I remember chasing a guy all over Carmine Street park just to blast him after I would become a killer. Great memories, give me a Manhattan Special….Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Most definitely! I spent…

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Most definitely! I spent many hours galloping around our neighborhood (Bell’s Corner in NE Philly) on an imaginary horse. Asked the kids at camp to call me Bobbie. Loved baseball– biggest insult from Daddy was to be told you pitched like a girl. Did the baseball card thing– including attaching them to the spokes of my bike for a motocycle sound. I’m still not very “girlie–” always the first to volunteer to play any kind of baseball game at the kids’ school or from work or at family b-b-qs.