Category Archives: Locales

From: Marvin Lerman. My…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Marvin H. Lerman [e-mail]
 

From: Marvin Lerman. My memories of stickball go back to Flatbush, Brooklyn from the 40’s to mid 50’s. The playing fields were on East 4th St., East 5th St, both narrow and one way and on the wider two way Ditmas Ave. We used a spalline and improvised bats: broom handle, sawed off handle of an old, or not so old rake, hoe or shovel and once a thichish wooden rod that one of us found in a clothes closet, it was the best but he got into much trouble at home. The rules of play were as follows: …………. I had just completed E 4and 5 Street and was about to go on to Ditmas Ave. stickball which was much different but seem to run out of space and lost all of E 4th and E5th. Can someone please help. Reminiscing about my boys of summer was comforting,making me feel warmer and less gloomy while sitting out the Massachuttes Blizzard of 2003. Learned of the streetgames websight in William Safire’s On Language collumn in the NT Times 2/16/03 mag. section. Can’t find on the screen much of my earlier stuff. HELP!!! I East 4th St.: Home plate was painted on the road next to a friend’s house, as was a line designating the pitcher’s rubber. 2-3 players on each side. The ball was pitched on one bounce hard and with possible spin. 3 strikes, 4balls. No ump to call the balls and strikes, but we usually managed to agree. Singles were based on whether a ground ball hit within the curbs was cleanly fielded. 2,3 or 4 base hits depended on how far we’d hit the ball on the fly, under, over or through the branches of trees that overhung the road and where it would land, near a parked car or other designated landmark. A batted ball that hit on the fly a parked car or a house was an out. We’d often start on summer mornings, break for lunch and resume until suppertime. Sewers never came in to play. East 5th Street: Same rules as E 4th, except that there were 4-5 players per side, we ran ’em out, there were no automatic designated extra base hits and there were hardly any trees within 150 feet. Those games were usually played in in the early summer evenings.

From: Marvin Lerman. My…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Marvin H. Lerman [e-mail]
 

From: Marvin Lerman. My memories of stickball go back to Flatbush, Brooklyn from the 40’s to mid 50’s. The playing fields were on East 4th St., East 5th St, both narrow and one way and on the wider two way Ditmas Ave. We used a spalldeen and improvised bats: broom handle, sawed off handle of an old, or not so old rake, hoe or shovel and once a thichish wooden rod that one of us found in a clothes closet, it was the best but he got into much trouble at home. The rules of play were as follows: …………. I had just completed 4and 5 Street and was about to go on to Ditmas Ave. stickball which was much different but seem to run out of space and lost all of E 4th and E5th. Can someone please help. Reminiscing about my boys of summer was comforting,making me feel warmer and less gloomy while sitting out the Massachuttes Blizzard of 2003. Learned of the streetgames websight in William Safire’s On Language collumn in the NT Times 2/16/03 mag. section. Can’t find on the screen much of my earlier stuff. HELP!!! I East 4th St.: Home plate was painted on the road next to a friend’s house, as was a line designating the pitcher’s rubber. 2-3 players on each side. The ball was pitched on one bounce hard and with possible spin. 3 strikes, 4balls. No ump to call the balls and strikes, but we usually managed to agree. Singles were based on whether a ground ball hit within the curbs was cleanly fielded. 2,3 or 4 base hits depended on how far we’d hit the ball on the fly, under, over or through the branches of trees that overhung the road and where it would land, near a parked car or other designated landmark. A batted ball that hit on the fly a parked car or a house was an out. We’d often start on summer mornings, break for lunch and resume until suppertime. Sewers never came in to play. East 5th Street: Same rules as E 4th, except that there were 4-5 players per side, we ran ’em out, there were no automatic designated extra base hits and there were hardly any trees within 150 feet. Those games were usually played in in the early summer evenings.

I played punchball in the…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Edward P. Farrell [e-mail]
 

I played punchball in the early 1950’s in Brooklyn, New York. We played in the middle of the street. Home plate was one sewer (manhole cover) with Second Base the next sewer down. First and Third bases were halfway between home and second next to the curbs. We chalk marked First and Third bases. There were usually 3 – 5 players on a team, no pitcher or catcher. We had a first, second and third baseman, with the extras either in the outfield (beyond 2nd base) or playing a rough shortstop position (either between lst and 2nd or between 3rd and 2nd. The batter would throw the ball up in the air high enough that he could hit it with a clenched fist when it came down. Baseball rules were followed. I can recall being good enough to hit a scorcher which would just clip the corner of First Base just out of reach of the first baseman while a buddy could hit the ball beyond second base. If the ball landed on the sidewalk on the fly, it was either a foul ball or an out (I can’t recall which). It was a grand game! Too bad today’s youngsters can’t play without being in organized teams with uniforms, etc.

regarding the 3 sewer question…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Yisrael Medad Winkie [e-mail]
 

regarding the 3 sewer question vs. 4 sewers: i played stickball in Holliswood Queens NY in the late 50s and I was taught by my late father. he once took me back to the South Bronx where he played in the late 1920s and early 1930s. 3 sewers was the furthest for a homerun and the ball had to pass three full sewers. he never mentioned 4.

What is this “league” stuff?…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Ken Nack
 

What is this “league” stuff? Where were the leagues in 1947? Every game was a one-time event that lasted until someone had to leave or it got dark. Moms were home fixin’ dinner and Dads were working. In Queens, the games in the street were played with as few as two people per side: one pitched and one played the outfield. The catcher may have been a fifth person who caught for both teams or until someone had to go. The ball used was a Spaulding but it was pronounced “spaldeen.” It was also called a Pink Pearl and cost 15 cents. The bats were old broomsticks sawed off — nothing fancier, no tape (what was tape?) and certainly not store bought. Two kinds of pitching were allowed: “no flukin’” meant you had to throw the pitch in on a bounce without spinning the ball. “Flukin’” meant you could pitch it in on a bounce and put spin on the ball. The usual car fenders and sewer plates were bases. The other game where the ball was thrown in a line into a box on the wall was called “steam.” This apparently was a Queens only expression. No running bases. If you grounded the ball past the pitcher, you got a single; past the pitcher into the fence (in the schoolyard) on a fly was a double; over the fence was a triple; and over the fence and across the street into someone’s front yard was a home run. There were lots of local variations depending upon geography (walls, fences, front lawns, fenders) but these were the games before leagues, before television, before Moms and Dads ran things, back in the days of really loud street arguments by ten year old males (only) over whether a ball was fair or foul. No political correctness. And all the games ended when these males got to be about 13 or 14 years old and went to high school. This is ultimate truth I’m talking about… not what your father told you about how he played and you adopted the stories as if they were your own. Dassit.

i grew up in what we called…

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

i grew up in what we called south brooklyn , red hook now it carroll gardens and its a pimple ball for fistball and a spalden for stickball and sometimes the white starball for fistball i was a 2 12 sewer man and capt of the ‘brooklyn angels’ from clinton street between carroll st and first place andrew

Hello every-one this is…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Janet Graves (jbgraves)
 

Hello every-one this is a great site, just reading where you are from and the games you played brings back many memories. I grew up on HuntsPoint 901 Faile st. between seneca and garrison it was a private house my family owned. I attended all 5 schools on hunts point 1)the church headstart school 2)kindergarden on coster 3)ps48 4)the mini schools on manida 5)and then i.s.74. one of the best things about the point was we as kids playing had a green light to play all over the point. i CAN REMEMBER every block had a team. it was strictly if you lived on there, you played there no one played for any other block. i mean we played all the games in the past that you can imagine. plus the block to block stickball games where legendary. the block to block games especially. it was so competitive that we had all ladys game. my mother played first an third my aunt played outfield and my grandmother was the official substitude homerun hitter. plus after the games we had block partys on the 4-hills or in 75 or 48 parks. My generation was the last to have all that fun past down from generation to generation. my child hood years where in the 70s and 80s im 37 now. great old days. next neiborhood story. BIG BAD MELLOW -21 NOW A FORCE IN THE HANDBALL WORLD. MEMORY LANE.

I grew up in the Boro Park…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Brooklyn Boy
 

I grew up in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn (13th Ave, and 48th St.)in the 70’s and our ball of choice was the “Spaldeen” given that we could play handball, stickball, or baseball with a wooden bat. The pinkie was too heavy and mushy and didn’t hit as well (or as far) when playing stick or baseball. We however did use the pinkie for playing punchball, given that it was softer on our knuckles. The Spaldeen for us was the “King of Back Alley Ball”