Category Archives: Queens
I live in Long Island but…
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I live in Long Island but grew up in Queens and my wife grew up in Brooklyn. When we are home relaxing and hanging out we sit on the front stoop. Another couple from Howard Beach moved in on the block and then sit on the front stoop too, but all the people who grew up on Long Island sit in the backyard. You don’t get to know your neighbors as easily as you used to.
I used to hang out with…
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I used to hang out with these kids in Woodside. When it was snowy and icy, we wore special clothes for one of our favorite activities “Skitching.” You had to have boots with substantial soles. We had rubberized fabric gloves and glove liners and the gloves were typically bright colors. Kids even had rubber pants. After a really severe snowstorm the cars would have to slow down, and only go at about 20 miles an hour down Queens Blvd. You could hide between parked cars, sneak out in a crouch behind a car when it stopped at a light. Grabbing the bumper, you’d lean back and let the car pull you down the street. We called it skitching because it was a cross between hitching and skiing. Most times the drivers didn’t see you. You could go for blocks. What a ride!
I lived in Fresh Meadows…
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I lived in Fresh Meadows Queens and we had an enormous group of boys and girls who would play together after school for hours and hours. We created an elaborate ongoing saga based on the TV show Lost in Space. We each had steady roles (I was Penny), a boy named Steven was my space monkey. Our game wasn’t based on the episodes, but our characters were from the show. We’d create our own experiences. The guy who played Don the pilot and the girl playing the older sister (what was her name?) absolutely had a relationship going, but we were kids so, what would you call it? Whatever it was, the roles gave us the freedom to play out what we wanted to do and say in real life.
I grew up in Ridgewood on…
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I grew up in Ridgewood on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. We played stickball on a short street which was on a hill with first and third painted in (2nd was the sewer). We would hit by ourselves (no pitching), with 2 strikes. The thing was that if you hit it over the roof before second base you were out and if you hit it over the roof over 2nd base across the block, you won the games. These rules were to protect the ball from being lost. Neighbors were not particularly happy about us playing in the street, we were loud, the ball might break a window, land on the porch, etc. so they’d call the police. If the cops would come and catch us they’d stick the broom handle in the holes of the manhole cover and snap the bat, so we’d have someone on watch who would call out “Chickee the cops” if he saw them coming. If warned we’d hide the bats by rolling them under the cars next to the curb. To this day I still can’t throw out a broom handle.
I grew up in Queens . Played…
What neighborhood in Brooklyn…
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What neighborhood in Brooklyn were you from? We’ve been finding that Stickball in Manhattan was mainly slow pitch, in the Bronx fungo (hitting by yourself). IN Queens – fastpitch, wall ball – or what was jsut called stickball was played mainly as you describe. In fact, we’ve just talked to someone who has a L.I City Queens league based on this. Brooklyn seems to have had a combination.
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The Stickball Classic was scheduled for Staten Island today. Last night’s barrage of rain made the game date questionable. This morning players and game assistants looked out to pouring rain, particularly in the Brooklyn/Queens region. Although the rain had stopped by game time, many of the teams and assistants scheduled to be at the event were not there. Stickball Commissioner Curtis Sliwa decided to call the game. The make up time will be shortly announced. The players were obviously disappointed. As the weather cleared and the sun peaked out, it became clear that games could have been held, however, the call had already been made and announced. Players and fans will have to wait to determine who will represent Staten Island in the 1999 Stickball Classic. It should be noted that one of the 3 teams that showed up were the Brookfield Bomber, a team that has already secured its place in the finals by taking the Brooklyn crown in the first week of competition. Even though the day would not be “official” fun was not to be denied. Players decided to take advantage of the day and play anyway. A good crew of players was on-hand when we left midway in the first game. Please post the results of the games so we know what happened. Hope to see you guys at the next one.
This was a great time for…
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This was a great time for both me & my family. Thanks to Micky Greene, Curtis & his GA crew, the Daily News, Dodger Sym-Phony members, Spalding, NY’s Finest, and the people on 133 Ave in Ozone Park, et al for making it a super quality time day for me & my sons. If you can get out to the SI event this weekend you and your family won’t be disapponted. Warmest personal regards to all! Kevin McGrath Sr. (Father of the Lost Boys and proud winner of a two sewer pin.)
Man, was I surprised and…
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Man, was I surprised and excited to find this site!! First off to Hugh McNally…You’ve done an outstanding job of putting the rules together in an articulate manner. Very professional. (It reads like it was written by a technical writer.) Anyway, I played Skully (or Skelly?) growing up in the Bronx and Queens. The game was slightly different between the neighborhoods I grew up in. In lived in the Bronx until second or third grade. I remember playing first with the broken necks off Coca-Cola or Heinekein bottles which we removed by running the neck-end of the bottles over a manhole cover. Eventually we began using the glides off of the bottoms of chairs and desks. (The desks had large glides, while the chairs had smaller ones.) I remember melting down Crayola crayons into the gliders. (It was pretty cool trying to customize the colors in your cap for that unique look.) I remember just using the plucking technique. There were two: 1)Flicking the middle finger from contact with the thumb (for power shooting, i.e.- Blasting or for long-distance shots) and 2)Flicking the index finger from underneath the thumb, while using the other three fingers as a brace (much like when shooting pool). This technique worked best for finesse shots (i.e.- hitting your opponent soft enough to keep him around for bait on your next shot, or when shooting around the Skully so that you didn’t get stuck inside, or overshoot your intened box.) After moving to Queens (Springfield Gardens area), I remember using the caps off the Dellwood milk containers. We started weighting them down with candle wax. Wax was surpassed by Playdoh or clay later. But eventually the preferred top came to be the bottoms from Push-Up ice cream. We’d weight them down with multi-colors of clay and scrape them against the ground to help smooth them down underneath. They were awesome!!! We would even put a chrome tire valve cap (taken from a car or bicycle) in the center of the cap and use it as an aiming site! The other technique that I was introduced to in Queens was called, “Flying your cap”. This was usually used for covering very long distances (i.e.- shooting back into town to become (or after becoming?) a Killer.) It could also be used to shoot at any time. (It was preferred when shooting from corner to corner across the board.) This is how we did it: 1)Place the cap in between your thumb and the first digit of your middle finger 2)While keeping your forearm parallel to the ground and against your waist, pull your arm back 3)Push your arm forward briskly, while flicking the first digit of your middle finger forward (much like when some flicks away a cigarette butt) The top should now be propelled forward as it rotates (from the flicking of the finger) and should cover a long, or short distance (dependent on the force of the forwrd arm thrust and the flick of the finger). Using this technique you can hit your opponent from long distances. (Think of the little pistol with the rifle stock that Lee Van Cleef used in “For a Few Dollars More”). I also remember the start line being far enough from the “1” box that you’d be better suited trying to “fly your cap” than to pluck it. The shooting sequence of players was determined by the closest one to the “1” box. I also remember the fun of blasting your opponent so hard that he’d start rolling on his side all the way out of town (he wasn’t allowed to stop it on his own.) I live in California (Bay Area) and am 33 now, but still love to play. I’ve shown this game to my nieces and nephews and they all love it!! I’ve also shown it to a few of my buddies and they love it too! It’s like being a kid all over again. I just moved to a smaller town outside of San Jose, and intend on teaching the kids in the neighborhood and in my new congregation how to play this truly timeless game!!! Anyone out there, please feel free to e-mail me at: thunt [at] obsidianinc [dot] com or NYsquared [at] aol [dot] com P.S.- I also have fond memories of playing Stickball (played in the street or between two walls of a school builing), Ring-O-Leavio, Punchball (with the sponge ball or Pinky), Roundup, Freeze Tag, Dodge Ball, and the favaorite with the girls…Run, Catch, and Kiss.