I,for one, preferred the Spaldeen over the Pinkie. It lasted Longer, was harder and had a better bounce. I loved my spaldeens so much that I would wash them in the bathroom sink. Funny how I JUST REMEMBERED THAT after all these years! My sister and I never had a dull moment as long as we had a spaldeen to play with.
After reading some of the comments by some of the ladies on skipping rope,they shoul”d take a look at my web site on jetomatic.com & they will see a new & innovative type of jump rope that requires no hands to operate it. It requires only one person to operate it. Complete automatic & is water propelled & spray”s a refreshing mist of water around the jumper. The rope stops turning upon contact with the jumper. The speed of the rope is determined by the regulator on one of the poles. Operates on regular home water supply and garden hose, & is mobile. nothing like it, It is also great summer fun for young and elderly alike.Itcan be set for one revolution per second or much more depending on preference of the jumping party better yet it is made in the U,S.A.TO send comments after viewing site E.Mail to or click on E.Mail on web pages address sheet. From Inventor Ernie.Craven.
In the Bronx we also played curb ball – played in an intersection with 5 or 6 on a side (although sometimes played with less) – corner sewers served as bases – players typically played positions similiar to baseball (1st base – 2nd base/ss – 3rd base – outfield) – After throwing the ball off the curb you ran – Play was just like baseball with the exception that if the ball did not go fair it was a strike – 2 strikes was a strikeout.
There were 2 versions of ‘Box Baseball’ that was played in the Bronx in the late 60’s – ‘Three Box’ in which one player ‘pitched’ underhand while the other player tried to hit it into the third box (closest to the pitcher) hits were determined by the number of times the ball bounced (1 for single – 2 for double etc) – ‘5 Box’ was played by bouncing the ball in the 5th box (furthest from you) then the 4th & 5th (only one bounce in each) etc and then reversing the pattern – the other player was allowed to play defense – that is – without going over the line you may stretch to prevent the ball from landing in the box.
Well…Sure the Spalding was a higher bouncer. Sure the Spalding was a few pennies cheaper. But….The Spalding was also harder. Hence, for punch ball, it hurt like he@@. Also, because it was harder and less forgiving, it was more likely to split in half when use for stick ball. Therefore, I vote for Pensy or Pensie Pinky. It didn’t bruise the knuckles as badley and lasted much longer. That is, of course, if you didn’t lose it over the fence to some nasty’s backyard, on the roof of the school, or down the sewer. Do you remember how we would fish them out of the sewers? Ah, such sweet memories! Also, while I hear that the Spalding can be found available these days, I did come accross one recently. It was made in China. Aside from it’s spherical shape, it bears little resemblence to the original. If I could find the old ones, I would gladly buy a case or two.
Re: “King” (Lee Quinn). In Astoria, Queens in the early ’60’s, we played a game much like King called ‘Chinese Handball.” Many variations. One was as you described (if I’m understanding you correctly) where you could only shoot into a neighboring box (i.e., the Queen could shoot into the King or Jack box…the Jack into the Queen or 10 box] and the player who missed would go to the end with all other moving up. Another variation allowed anyone to shoot for the King (and replace him if you got him out). Sometimes we didn’t even keep score…just looked to be King for the longest amount of time (impressionistically speaking)….A shot that bounced low on the wall and then rolled was called a “killer.” You could hit a higher percentage of killers by slicing the ball…but carrying the ball was not allowed……