I grew up in the Bed-Stuy section of BROOKLYN and when we stoped playing streetgames we went on the roofs to fly pigeons! Tiplets, Bald heads, Tumblers and Homers were some of the birds that kept my head in the clouds when the streets started to get roughf. Did your coop ever get tapped off? Also known as having your pigeons kidnapped.
I grew up on Hancock st. in the Bed-ford stuyvesant section of Brooklyn and yes, I played punch-ball, stick-ball, kick the can, red light green light 123,Ring-o-livio, Johny on the pony, yo-yo’s, spinning tops/crack tops skelley, marbles, jacks, and our neighborhood favorite, run catch and kiss. That was a game that would later lead to hot roof top make out sessions.
We were lucky – living at the end of a street in the ’40s-’50s. Punchball was our favorite, and we used the magnificent building called Chateau Frontenac as an automatic HR if you hit it on the fly. Otherwise ball was in play. I remember when I just wasn’t big enough to hit it, but then I was!! What a thrill the first times I hit the building. The location was East 19th Street and Tennis Court – a two block street in the heart of Brooklyn. Anybody grow up near there?
Who remembers the ballgame played under the boardwalk? It was similar to stoop baseball using the “spaldeen.” The ball was thrown as hard as possible against the concrete beam (Bays 6+ where there was sufficient height). Two fielders tried to catch it on the fly before it struck the sand. If it dropped before the first fielder, it was a single, if it dropped at the first fielder it was a double. A triple was at the third fielder and a homerun past the second fielder. It probably was the fastest version of stoop baseball and used a field perhaps 10 feet in length. Herbert Dubno Brooklyn, in the 50’s
I’m an 11 year old girl from Brooklyn and I do this hand game all the time… Her name is Ooh ahh tumbelina atchie catchi liberatchi I love you. Second verse.. Saw you you with your boyfriend last night! How did you know? Looked through the keyhole. Nosey! Didn’t do the dishes lazy! Didn’t flush the toilet nasty! Jumped through the window ,now I know you’re crazy. Thats why they call you Ooh ahh tumbelina atchi catchi liberatchi I love you!
For someone growing up in Canarsie in the 60’s, stickball was played in schoolyards (and still is where I live in the Bronx) It allowed two-4 or more kids to play ball. PS 144 and 155 had walls and protected windows. On the wall was a large box, the strike zone. All that was need was a “stickball” bat, sold in a store. Although a broom handle was similar, the store ones were shorter and heavier, much nicer feel. Tennis balls I liked, a bit heavier, more predictable path. I learned to hit up the middle, much safer and less chasing than pulling. Also, I am not a power hitter, it made me much better.
I grew up in the housing projects in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. There was an overhang above the front entrance and the mothers used to collect bottle caps for months and during a fine hot day in summer would stand on top of the overhang and yell bottle caps.We would come running and the filled cigar box was emptied in front of the door. The prize caps were White Rock and solid gold or silver. My father made his own lead sinkers for fishing and my caps were filled with the lead. I could blast anyone out of the skelly box. (We called to the center jail). someone used to come from the Bronx to play me – maybe he would visit his grandmother too!)
I grew up in Ridgewood, Brooklyn during the late sixties and we used to play Skellsy amidst the street traffic. We never filled our caps with any kind of substance, but my buddy Joe, who grew up in Howard Beach tells me he used to melt crayon wax into his caps for added weight. He and I have debated for years the correct name of this beloved game. He called it skullys and I called it Skellsy. I guess we were both right.
Mick & Pez, You guys have done a service for mankind (at least for Brooklynkind) with this website. I left Brooklyn (Bath Beach/Bensonhurst) almost 55 years ago and I still remember the joys of stickball, punchball, handball, Chinese handball, boxball, Chinese boxball, skully, land, ring-a-levio, three feet off to Germany, odds & evens, knucks, etc. I tried to pass some of these on to my son, but things are just not the same in the suburbs of Cleveland.