In the Bronx NY we would fill our bottle caps with asphalt from the street paving. All you had to do was find a spot where a car had parked and leaked any kinf of fluid; oil, gas, brake, transmission, etc. The fluid would soften the aspahlt and you srapped the asphalt with the serrated edge of your bottle cap. Good times for all!
as a kid in the Bronx i played stickball, handball and slugs. what fun it was to play stickball. we played against the wall – fast pitch, one bounce and the 3 sewer home run derby. i remember playing fast pitch with the coke factory behind us. a hit was anything not caught after one bounce. an out was over metal mess fence, over roof and the person who hit it there had to get it. sometimes the workers in the coke plant had windows open for air and watching us kids play. if ball went through open window it was an out. fast pitch and one bounce was two strikes per out. left the Bronx and came to Worcester ma. everyone was into hardball and never heard of stickball. still love stickball at age 62. in wheelchair now but want to play. would love to start a league here. any ideas?
I grew up in the Bronx from 1950-1964. For some reasons I thought if you couldn’t afford a Spaldeen you got a Pencie Pinkies. Remember you used to call out a word (maybe tibs) if the ball was yours and it got lost, over a roof or in the sewer, they had to buy you a new one. What a blast those times were. I loved growing up in the Bronx. I lived on Noble Avenue from 1950-1960 and then the Castle Hill Projects from 60-64. On Noble Avenue we had a stoop and we would play stoopball and all the other games you guys mentioned. All great memories.
Hi, I grow up (40 and 50’s)there also. Lived on Stebbins avenue and belonged to the Sparks over on longwood Avenue. At 17 I left to join the airforce – went to Korea. For most of my life Mexico city Mexico has been my home. But, the Bronx is one of the best memories of my life. If anyone is still out there (I’m 74) Talk to me. Tony Roca Here is a recollection that I would like to share with you…………… The traditional underhanded-mean-Bronx-way to avail yourself of someone else
I just watched Sonia Gonzalez’s documentary on Stickball last night and got the chance to see and hear Steve, and it really hurts that he was taken from us. He was a hero, a true lover of the game, and a good person. It is touching to read all the comments on this site. I played stickball in the north Bronx in the 50’s and am so glad it was kept alive and strong by new generations. I felt close to so many of the people who appeared in the film and the spirit they showed. Soon I’ll make a journey back to the borough of my birth and childhood days, to Stickball Boulevard (Steve Mercado Way).
I don’t have much to add, so forgive me for repeating anything: Spaldeens cost about 25 cents in the 1960’s in my neighborhood in The Bronx near Morris Avenue and 164th Street. Occasionally Harry’s candy store sold “seconds” for about 15 cents or twenty cents. The Five and Ten on Morris Avenue sold P Pensie Pinkies, which I remember as softer and inferior balls — they were for girls’ games. They were not the ball of choice for the boys. And new Spaldeens had some kind of powder on them — and had a distinctive smell. And some were harder than other — those are the ones you wanted, because they bounced better. We didn’t play stick ball on my block but we played Slug — also known as King Queen Jack on some blocks — who remembers that game? It was played in the boxes on the sidewalk, against the apartment house wall — WHO REMEMBERS SLUG?
I don’t know how far apart the manhole covers were where I played, but there were players that could hit a spaldeen four sewers on teams in the South Bronx, Harlem and Little Italy. You didn’t see it often. Only the hard hitters could do it and they usually were Chops with the wind. This was back in the 1950’s.
I don’t know how far apart the manhole covers were where I played, but there were players that could hit a spaldeen four sewers on teams in the South Bronx, Harlem and Little Italy. You didn’t see it often. Only the hard hitters could do it and they usually were Chops with the wind. This was back in the 1950’s.