Category Archives: Locales

I lived in Astoria growing…

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I lived in Astoria growing up in the lates 50’s We used Spaldings for stick ball but we also used the Spalding to play ” Strikebox”. This game featured a Concrete wall usually in a school yard with a box chalked onto it representing a strike zone.It was played with 4 player max ( 2 per side ) or just 2 players. The pitcher stood approx 50 feet from the wall and thru the Spalding and tried to get it past the hitter.As in normal baseball the batter had a chance to get 4 balls or 3 strikes. The outs per side were agreed to in advance as were the singles douobles etc. A broomstick handle was used for a bat. In 1958 a company actually came out with a nicely varnished broomstick just for us kids to play the game..

I played a game similiar…

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I played a game similiar to wire ball called “Light Ball”. The object of the game was to try to hit the light bulb underneath the street light. The rules were almost the same as the wire ball rules. The main difference was that the type of hit(single,double and triple) was determined by how far away the ball travelled from the light(if you missed the light bulb).We used to use cars for distance. If the ball landed uncaught by the first car it was a single,second car double and the third car a triple. If you hit the under side the light(were the bulb is)it was a homerun{the bulb didn’t have to break to get the homerun) . I haven’t played in 20+ years, but thinking about it brings back many great memories. We broke so many light bulbs back then. The street went dark quite a few times.Now the street lights have protective covers on them. I played near Castor and Magee in Northeast Philly.

yeah but the tops at toycrafters…

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yeah but the tops at toycrafters aren’t like the one’s we used to play with. As I recall we played with two different types of tops in the Harlem River Projects. We used to buy them at this store on Bradhurst Avenue called the “Peace Store”. None of the tops had any manufacturer’s markings on them and they were red, blue or green. I can’t remember if they came in yellow too. Anyway, most of the tops we played with had steel points. We also played with tops we called “Ball Bearings” because instead of a sharp steel point they had round points on the end. These ball bearing tops were also larger than the other steel point tops. I would be curious to know who actually made these two types of tops in the mid to late 60’s and early 70’s. I’ve seen some of the steel point tops around but I haven’t seen any of the ball bearing tops.

Does anyone remember the…

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Does anyone remember the type of knock hockey boards that we used to play with in the late 60’s to early 70’s in New York? I could have sworn they were orange and blue, possibly made by AMF. I remember playing knock hockey a lot during summer day camp in the Harlem River projects.

does anyone remember a game…

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does anyone remember a game w/spaldeen called war? i lived in bay ridge thru 1951…was 13 when i moved. we would use a manhole cover w/chaulk and box off names of countries. with the ball laid in the hole of the manhole..someone was “it” and would say, ” i declare war on ” and would say the name of one of the countries..meantime we would all run…except the one who was the country called…they would say “freeze” and through the ball at someone …don’t remember the rest…but no one i know can remember this game…i lived in bay ridge at the time on 49th. st betw. 5 and 6 th.aves….near the 5th. ave. side was a candy store owned by mrs. mazzoola…and an empty lot across the street…anyone out there familiar with this? i’d like to hear from someone…jeanne

How cute to find this site!…

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How cute to find this site! I grew up playing scully in Brooklyn in the 50’s. I live in CA now and from time to time I’ve tried to describe the game and the caps to friends thinking there must be SOMEONE who would know what I was talking about and share my nostalgic enthousiasm – so now how cute to find you all here. Someone mentioned go carts. What I remember is using the wheels from old roller skates and attaching them to a 2x4ish piece of wood, which then attached to a wooden crate with some kind of handles and we rode them like scooters…

looking for any old stickball…

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looking for any old stickball players from 1955 from 134st in Queens N.Y.I am old school LES stickball,stoop,kick the can,scullys,johny on the pony,hoy peas and butter,round up etc.I am also a ebay junkie.I was searching one day and I came across a old stickball bat from 1955.It was written on the bat.34st stickball champs.Queens N.Y.I had to buy this bat.Which I overpaid for.But the seller was from Oregon and I felt this bat should be on the east coast so I bought it.I would like to find any one of this 1955 neighborhood champ team.It would be nice if I could see the face of someone probably in there early to mid sixties see a happy part of there youth.For as any guy out there over 40 knows that some of the best time they had in their life was when there were playing those old games.God Bless