Category Archives: Locales
I just watched Sonia Gonzalez’s…
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I just watched Sonia Gonzalez’s documentary on Stickball last night and got the chance to see and hear Steve, and it really hurts that he was taken from us. He was a hero, a true lover of the game, and a good person. It is touching to read all the comments on this site. I played stickball in the north Bronx in the 50’s and am so glad it was kept alive and strong by new generations. I felt close to so many of the people who appeared in the film and the spirit they showed. Soon I’ll make a journey back to the borough of my birth and childhood days, to Stickball Boulevard (Steve Mercado Way).
Great site! A favorite…
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Great site! A favorite game in the 50s in Mayfair was called “Three Feet Across The Ice.” Everyone stood along the curb and “It”, who stood in the street, called out “Take (1, 2, or 3) feet across the ice!” The players would then take the designated number of steps off the curb into the street and were safe until they moved off their mark, making a run for the safety of the opposite curb. If “It” tagged you off your mark or off the curb, you became the next “It.” Anyone who had reached the safety of the opposite curb could keep a foot or hand touching that curb, stretch out his/her hand and escort any player safely to the curb. But “It” could try to break the grip with karate chops, which caused a lot of bruised arms! I remember there was a game called “Spring” (as above) but cannot remember how it was played. I’ve also been trying to remember a game we called “Clock” that we played on the steps after everyone’s dad came home and parked their cars and we couldn’t play on the curbs anymore. After dinner, the sun would start to set and we’d light our punks to ward off the mosquitoes and play “Clock” but for the life of me, I cannot remember it now. Sound familiar to anyone else?
I learned this game in Bay…
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I learned this game in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where it was called KING’s and the scoring was different from how it’s described on the main page. Where we played, the King would server and would have to hit the ball out of his box, but it didn’t not have to go the next box or the Queen, it could go to anyone. So you could hit the ball to a player three or four down the line. Also, a player in the middle of the line, could hit to his left or his right, so the game had a lot of variety. For us, the ACE, was the last guy in line, also called the ass. When a ball came to you, you could hit it to anyone or you could play it to yourself. A good strategy was to play it to yourself several times, until you were real close to the wall, forcing your opponents to come in to the wall too. If they came up close, you could hit hard and deep on them. If they didn’t come up close, you could hit soft and shallow, like a drop shot in Tennis. The scoring worked like the basketball game of HORSE, where each time you missed, you got a letter. If you spelled out KING’S you lost, (K-I-N-G-‘-S six points including the apostrophe.) If you were the King you got to serve, but if you lost the point, you moved all the way to the end and became the Ace, and the Queen became King. Serving had great advantages and most people tried to become King. I think also if you were King and lost you didn’t get a letter. The other strategy was for everyone to keep hitting the ball to one player, trying to get him out first. When a player first got the apostrophe, they then became King which gave them a chance of lasting a little longer. You need a good flat wall to play this on with a good sidewalk. We used to play in alley down my block, flat walls and good deep boxes in the cement. If you lost, you went Asses Up.
In Bay Ridge Brooklyn, in…
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In Bay Ridge Brooklyn, in the 70’s and we called it Cor-Cor like the posters from Bensonhurst and South Brookly. I always wondered why, and I think I found the asnwer. The post above about Sunset Park, seem to be where it comes from. “caught caught Ringalevio 1-2-3 1-2-3 1-2-3.” Lot of Sunset Park folks moved to Bay Ridge after they built the BQE. Cor-Cor sounds like some kid misunderstood his Dad saying “Caught, Caught. So our rule was when you grabbed the other kid, you said “Cor-Cor Corlevio, 123,123.” Also, like the Jersey City poster, it was pretty much anything goes until the catcher completed the phrase. A popular move I remember was using your arms to smash at the arms holding on to you. When I first read about Ringolevio, I said, that sounds just like Cor-Cor.
I grew up in Frankford and…
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I grew up in Frankford and I was just telling a friend, there should be a site archiving the games we played on the “Streets of Philadelphia” I did a search and here it is!!! How cool is that!? Would anyone remember the rules for “Spring?” Please post them or you can email me direct. skylertking [at] yahoo [dot] com
Thats chinese handball! or…
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Thats chinese handball! or ace, king, queen. I dont remember it being called slug. Names of games changed in all areas of ny in the 1960’s.In QUEENS it was,hey you wanna play ‘chinese’. We played in the school park against the brick wall of a park bathroom building.We used a spaldeen.It was a very fast game,played low to the ground,and wore out alot of Keds sneakers. You had to find a good place with a wall or fence in back of you,so you didnt have to chase the ball.
I don’t have much to add,…
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I don’t have much to add, so forgive me for repeating anything: Spaldeens cost about 25 cents in the 1960’s in my neighborhood in The Bronx near Morris Avenue and 164th Street. Occasionally Harry’s candy store sold “seconds” for about 15 cents or twenty cents. The Five and Ten on Morris Avenue sold P Pensie Pinkies, which I remember as softer and inferior balls — they were for girls’ games. They were not the ball of choice for the boys. And new Spaldeens had some kind of powder on them — and had a distinctive smell. And some were harder than other — those are the ones you wanted, because they bounced better. We didn’t play stick ball on my block but we played Slug — also known as King Queen Jack on some blocks — who remembers that game? It was played in the boxes on the sidewalk, against the apartment house wall — WHO REMEMBERS SLUG?
I don’t know how far apart…
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I don’t know how far apart the manhole covers were where I played, but there were players that could hit a spaldeen four sewers on teams in the South Bronx, Harlem and Little Italy. You didn’t see it often. Only the hard hitters could do it and they usually were Chops with the wind. This was back in the 1950’s.
I don’t know how far apart…
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I don’t know how far apart the manhole covers were where I played, but there were players that could hit a spaldeen four sewers on teams in the South Bronx, Harlem and Little Italy. You didn’t see it often. Only the hard hitters could do it and they usually were Chops with the wind. This was back in the 1950’s.