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!
70th street between 14th & 15th Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. I got so tired of re drawing the board every day, I decided to carve it into the asphault. It probably took me two days, but it was soo hot in mid July that the street was like butter. Mid to late 70ies we played all day long, we had to mark where our caps were with a penny or pebble when an occasional car came down the block. Evenings we played Buck Buck & Manhunt until Mr. Softee & then sit on the stoop & tell stories. Not the same anymore. I’m gonna draw a board on the driveway & teach my sons…they probably wont get it.
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 played stickball on 61 street between 6th and 7th ave in Brooklyn in the late 50’s. Home plate was either the sewer near the Gooch’s house, or up by the lot near sixth ave. The latter was better because the outfield spread out at sixth ave. The leaders on the apartment house were the foul posts. The outfielders had to dodge traffic on the ave. Spaldeens were better. They didn’t egg as easy as the pennsy pinky. Max’s candy store on seventh ave would let us test bounce the balls to get the best one. Spaldeen 25 cents. Pennsy pinky 15 cents. Remember when they started to sell stickball bats with the black tape for grip. No more broom handles.
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
During the thirties we bought our candy in Jakies on Brooklyn Avenue between Herkimer Street and Atlantic Avenue. In the evening our Fathers used to hang out in front waiting for the bulldog editions of the newspapers to be delivered so they could check on the race track results. In those days a store like Jakies carried many newspapers and the Daily Mirror and the Daily News were the ones with the most complete horse racing results. If a kid managed to come up with a penny, he or she had a great many choices to make in front of Jakes candy case. . . a Hootens bar, jaw breakers, sugar dots on a strip of paper, Mary Janes, Fleers bubble gum, etc. If you took too long to make a choice Jake would say, “Come on kid, I ain’t got all day.” You tried to choose a piece of candy which would last a long time. Those were the days!