Category Archives: Locales

I remember growin’ up in…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Sabrina315 [e-mail]
 

I remember growin’ up in Jamaica Queens, actually Rochdale village building 11 PLAY GROUND AREA. any way…..summer of 1980 ’til 82 it was popular. If you threw your top and it landed in box 1, that was considered an automatic POP so you got to go to 13 and hit the numbers backwards upon completion you had to complete landing in the trapazoid shapes surrounding the number 13. As you got into each box you would say I – AM-A-KILLER-DILLER. As you became KD you had to ask all the others players for “a corner”. The player had to choose one of those 4 outer corners. This was the corner that the Killer Diller had to put his top in the corner and BLAST your top out of square you were in. And he repeated for the remaining players What a memory…we settled our grievences …in game not violence. A frequently heard popular summertime shout would be “HEY, who wanna getta game?” and it was understood that the game that would get got was Skelly. Well that’s how it went down that sweltering Wednesday late afternoon in summer of ’81…Dellick got an automatic pop and within 7 minutes he called me from my corner and blasted me out of the game. Actually I heard the shout“KILLA DILLA” many times during that sweltering summer.” Hey Gary, Erik, Dellick,Willie, and Kim, where are you now?”And i shoulda known….. ’cause it was just a Jamaica tale!

I remember growin’ up in…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Sabrina315 [e-mail]
 

I remember growin’ up in Jamaica Queens, actually Rochdale village building 11 PLAY GROUND AREA. any way…..summer of 1980 ’til 82 it was popular. If you threw your top and it landed in box 1, that was considered an automatic POP so you got to go to 13 and hit the numbers backwards upon completion you had to complete landing in the trapazoid shapes surrounding the number 13. As you got into each box you would say I – AM-A-KILLER-DILLER. As you became KD you had to ask all the others players for “a corner”. The player had to choose one of those 4 outer corners. This was the corner that the Killer Diller had to put his top in the corner and BLAST your top out of square you were in. And he repeated for the remaining players What a memory…we settled our grievences …in game not violence. A frequently heard popular summertime shout would be “HEY, who wanna getta game?” and it was understood that the game that would get got was Skelly. Well that’s how it went down that sweltering Wednesday late afternoon in summer of ’81…Dellick got an automatic pop and within 7 minutes he called me from my corner and blasted me out of the game. Actually I heard the shout“KILLA DILLA” many times during that sweltering summer.” Hey Gary, Erik, Dellick,Willie, and Kim, where are you now?”And i shoulda known….. ’cause it was just a Jamaica tale!

In the 70’s in N.E. Philly…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: SRS
 

In the 70’s in N.E. Philly on our street we played a game called One Foot Off the Ice. It was a tag game that was played from one curb to the other. One person was IT they stood in the middle of the street all other players stood on the curb. When the IT person called one foot off the ice, all the others would take the biggest leap they could, the first foot that hit the street was your pivet foot, you couldn’t move it until you were ready to sprint to the other side. As long as you didn’t move it you couldn’t be tagged. If your tagged when your trying to get across you become part of the IT team in the middle. If you made it to the other side you could run back in and tag another who could then walk freely to the other side, however you could then be tagged. Also a human chain could be made to get someone who hadn’t crossed yet, if the chain was broken anyone who was not attached was an IT person. The game would continue from one curb to the other until the final person is tagged. Then the game would start over with the first person tagged being the IT person in the next round. We played for hours.

I love this sight!!! I…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Garret Evans [e-mail]
 

I love this sight!!! I grew up in southwest Philly and remember all these games. Anyone remember 1-2-3 Ringo? You had to grab someone and hold them while yelling “1-2-3 ringo, u my man”. Then that person helped you catch someone else. This kept going until everyone was chasing one person. The 1st person caught was it in the next round.

I grew up in Port Richmond…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: John Gates Costa
 

I grew up in Port Richmond and played all the ball games stick ball, halfies, wire ball, boxball etc. I see a lot of people looking for pimple balls, the closest I have come is website littlebitofphilly.com They sell halfies , it is better than no pimple balls.

My Dad, Robert “Lefty” Gregory…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: bob gregory [e-mail]
 

My Dad, Robert “Lefty” Gregory played on The Presto in the late 30’s early 40’s. His brother Willie Gregory played on the Madision Ave Flashers. Dad went on to play in the Winter Baseball Leagues in Puerto Rico with the San Juan Senators in 47. He returned to Manhattan the following season and went to an open try out for the NY Giants in the old Polo Grounds. He put four consecutive shots in center field which got him a trip to North Carolina to play for the Giants Farm Team. Those were rough days for people of color. I was about five or six and can remember sitting in the stands in center field. Those folks were pretty hostile. Dad was a quiet man and always avoided confrontation. He deceided then to give up his dream of a professional career and we all retuned to live in Brooklyn. Dad played stickball for Home Relief during this time and spent the rest of the decade playing in the great Puertorican baseball leagues in Central Park. Not sure of his team’s name, but I remember the word “GOYA” on his uniform. To say Dad played stickball or baseball at another level was an understatement. When I was about sixteen we were living in the upper Bronx, East Chester Projects. Dad came down one Saturday afternoon to join us while we were playing stickball. We thought we were really good. Dad got up, pointed to each of us in order and said, “This is yours”. Bam! a blur of a warped spaldine would be coming at you at mach 5. BAM! one more for the guy on 2nd and Bam! another for 3rd. My buddies would duck, jump out of the way. To damn hot to handle! For us in the out field he would pop them up so high they come down whistling and dancing the bugaloo! He would place them just where he wanted to, every time. It was a reality check for us young punks! I really miss my Dad and am glad to see this site giving these guys and their generation their due. I was shocked to find out that my Dad was inducted along with my uncle Willie into the hall of fame. This was in the seventies and he never told any of the family. I only found out about it this year when his good friend Hector Arroyo was inducted. That was my Dad! A very humble but unforgetable man.

in response to the hin-do…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: johnnybrooklyn
 

in response to the hin-do quesstion:we always said it stood for hindering or blocking out the other player. we always called a redo. also i’m going to give my vote to the pense pinkie. either ball was okay but the pinkies lasted longer as long as they stayed off the roof. does anyone remember chinese handball? you bounced the ball on the sidewalk before it hit the wall. and if you were the cause of play stopping you were sent down the end of the line.

One or Two, LOL!!, go to…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Leonard Salvo (lenny) [e-mail]
 

One or Two, LOL!!, go to the handball section. Did you play in any of the Town of Babylon tournements, way back?? I grew up in Lindenhurst,my first games where at the Town Hall wooden wall, a little later Firemans Park, which I called my home court. Whereabouts is Flager Beach, do you have one-wall there??

I was playing handball today…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Eddie Jensen [e-mail]
 

I was playing handball today in Flagler Beach, FL, when the ball coming OVER the wall and onto my court was PINK!!.”WOW! A Spaldeen! I have not seen one in 25 years since back in Brooklyn and North Babylon, NY. I found out who hit it over. He said that you can buy them now at the “Sports Authority” stores. Any handball players out there? Eddie Jensen