Category Archives: Locales

I wanted to drop you a line…

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

I wanted to drop you a line and say how impressed I was with this web site. I know that it takes a lot of patience and perseverance. My hat is off to all who helped put this site together. I AM the Gringo that played in many of your tournaments since 1983. I Am a native New Yorker from Brooklyn and played with the Miami Sharks. I always felt comfortable and enjoyed the hospitality that New York has shown me and my family. I wanted to share my memories and web site with you. If you any suggestions and can help with promoting this lost game here in Miami, please don’t hesitate to contact me. WWW.STICKBALL.NET Ted Wozny 305-688-7464

I am a 23 year old member…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Ghost-face36 [e-mail]
 

I am a 23 year old member of the United States Air Force, and I am from New York. While “surfing the net”, I happened to come across your website. For years, i thought I was the only person who might remember “skelsies”. I used to love this game when I was younger!!!!! I have tried to explain this game to my friends, and they look at me like i’m crazy. Skelsies is by far the greatest street game of all time. I’m glad to see that the older crowd is teaching the younger kids about this game at the Brooklyn festival of ’99. Maybe one day I can get some formidable competition.(HA!) Here’s an addition to your list of tops to use: When i was coming up we would the hold portion of a meat tenderizer shaker. They are so skinny and flat that it was easy to fly over the top of them if your top was not weighted down. They also glided well also. Another popular one was the Kodak film cap. These gray tops had a section in the middle where we would put our clay to weigh the tops down. In my area, in the Bronx, these tops were known lovingly as the “meaty” and the “Kodak” respectively. Keep up the good work and don’t let “skelsies” die!!

I started on the Grand Concourse…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Steward Tony Pacheco [e-mail]
 

I started on the Grand Concourse in the early 60’s and never stopped having fun after that. Stickball, Skellies, Johnny on the Pony, Kick the can, watching the greasers and the new hippies stare each other down. My twin brother and I were nice Puerto Rican boys in an Irish / Jewish neighborhood. All my friends were Shemtobs, McNallens, ORielly, Buffa, Mehan, Schwartz. It was great, I learned a whole bunch of different cuss words. We had fake wars with sling shots and bottle caps. We would explore boiler rooms and roof tops and would make flashlights out of Bean cans with a lit candle burning the tin till it was too hot to hold. We could watch the parades on the Grand Concourse from any stoop on the street, All the US flags would wave from the windows. We had about 30 kids playing stickball on Marcy place and many of us would roof spaldings atop PS 88 on Sheridan. It was the perfect Stickball Street. We could also open Johnny pumps with a stickball bat and a coat hanger and spend hours grinding bean cans on the concrete to get the tops off.(boy were we dumb) We also built scooters with old metal skates and old milk boxes. Build tunnels in the mountains of snow that was built up by sanitation. We would sing Beatles tunes to our 3rd grade girlfriends and run like heck when they tried to kiss us. We all formed the Bronx Super Heroes club. I was 007 – James Bond and my brother Karl was Robin “The boy blunder” Between all the Bronx buildings were miles and miles of alleys and basements were we all would explore. We also would walk on Jerome Ave. to go Ice-skating or go to the Concourse hotel to see Mickey Mantle as well as the Original NY Giants in the winter. Then one summer every one moved to co-op City and from that time on it was never the same. That was until I discovered Handball and life in the Bronx was good again 🙂 I live in Dallas now and doing well. My kids are popular here because they are from the Bronx. It’s cool here. People don’t know whether to love us or hate us. In any event, when we have to be heard, no one stands in our way. Thank you my Bronx. I could not imagine my life without you in it. You are now in me and I will share you with all. We miss you all! Schools: PS, 44, 88, 90, 67, Catholic: Christ the King, Sacred Heart HS (Don

Spaulding balls ruled in…

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

Spaulding balls ruled in the Bronx during the 60″s and 70’S. With the introduction of injecting helium in the ball, we had some fast, bouncing handball games. I miss the days of stickball in the streets, Can someone make a game for playstation. I’ll buy it!!

I grew up on Ely Ave off…

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

I grew up on Ely Ave off of Edenwald in the 60’s. Man what a good time! All these games bring back some great memories, some of them I even forgot. One I did not see was something called Johnny on the pony or something like that. Anyone remember that one?

The program on WNYC brought…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Anonymous
 

The program on WNYC brought back many memories of Brooklyn, Quentin Road > between West 4th and 5th street. We played all the games you mentioned and > some variants. Playing Association with a rolled up Daily News or Mirror > for a football or square or triangle using a spaldeen. The dificulty with > square was that Mrs. Deutch had a window between second and third and we > had to avoid a tag as well as the water she threw at us. > We also played Chinese handball both with our hands and and our FEET. We > also had a novel form of stoop ball. It was played on Mr Bock’s “stoop” > with a spaldeen and invisible runners. The stoop was not steps but a > “correctly” slanted wall surrounding his lawn. Mr. Bock was also an a > constant thorn in our side by calling the police. > During WWII we play “Commando Tactics”. At dark we would meet and find a > route thru the yards of a neighborhood. It was more than once people in > their homes would come out to see who was there. It was a miracle that we > had no ‘wounded”. > Thanks for the memories!! >

We use to play a game called…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on by
Original author: Joe C.
 

We use to play a game called “Red Rover”. It was played with boys and girls. The player would make a line and join hands. The player in the line would call”red rover, red rover, we call ___ over.” The player called(not in the line) would run up and try to brake the line. Your arms would hurt for days. This was in Brooklyn in the mid 70s.

This site has brought back…

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

This site has brought back so many memories!! I was so happy to find others who remember “the spades go tulips together…” a very complicated hand slapping game. My family is from Inwood but we moved across the river to Hudson county NJ when I was small. Here are some Jersey versions of street game songs: Jump rope chant: Cinderella dressed in yella Went downtown to buy some mustard On the way her girdle busted How many people where disgusted 10-20-30-40, etc. (jumping fast as the rope turns) Does anyone else remember this circe game song? I’m a bowlegged chicken on a knock-kneed fence Never been so happy since I don’t know when And I walk with a wiggle and wobble and a twist Doin the Tennessee Wig-walk. Just doin the Tennesee wig-walk. Terri here are some variations on the “I wish I were” song: I wish I were a little bar of soap, bar of soap I wish I were a little bar of soap I’d slippy and I’d sliddy over everybody’s hiney Oh I wish I were a little bar of soap I wish I were a little bumble bee, bumble bee I wish I were a little bumble bee I’d sit up on the steeple and I’d spit on all the people Oh I wish I were a little bumble bee I also remember many stanzas to the Lulu had a baby she named him Tiny Tim song but they are pretty dirty. Also here is a variation on the “we are the girls of” song: We are the Jersey girls We wear are hair in curls We wear our brothers shirts They call us stupid jerks. Oh, ladies, thank you so much for the memories.