yes,yes,yes….it is a sliding pond. Not just in East Flatbush but in south central Queens. Now I live up in Mass. and they think I’m nuts when I use the term. Check out the book “New Yawk Tawk”. The author says that sliding pond is only used in NYC and may come from the Dutch Bahnn which means TRACK….sliding track.
As a Brooklyn and Queens kid of the 50’s, I have to cast a vote for the one and only ball that any repected kid would use in my neighborhoods. You bought a Spaldeen (At Uncle Milty’s Candy Store). Period. That other ball would be like using some artsy fartsy chocolate syrup for an egg cream instead of U-Bet. And nobody bought a stickball bat. I couldn’t believe when they started selling them at the local stores!
Hi, Jerry. I grew up not far from Jackson Heights. We played single, double, triple, which sounds a lot like your Stonewall Jackson (probably named after your neighborhood, no?). Anyway, did you really have a batter, or was the “batter” actually the person who hit the ball against the wall?
I grew up in Jackson Heights. We played a game in the schoolyard of P.S.69Q. We called it “Stonewall Jackson.” Everyone faced the handball wall. The ball was pitched against the wall and the batter had to hit the wall first. Then depending on how far the ball traveled, the hit was determined. Catching the ball on a fly was out. I mentioned this game to a lot of guys who grew up in NY and no one ever heard of it. Did you?
I remember my first kiss, it was in 1952 and I was 6 years old attending kindergarten at P.S.26 in Queens, NY. Her name was Janet and she invited me for a soda after school, I accepted and when I did she gave me a small kiss on my lip. I still remember to this day, how much it meant to me. I am always telling my kids about Janet and that first kiss.
In Queens their was only 1 playground and that was at P.S. 26. Sure their was others, 73,188, Jewel Ave but only 26 could you play softball, basketball, stickball any kind of ball at night because we had the lights. Even if the parky locked up we had the key to the parky room and turned the lights on ourselves, it was play all nite, or maybe some card games in the empty sand box. Those were the days.