Category Archives: Queens
does anyone remember burn…
I grew up in Ozone Park section…
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I grew up in Ozone Park section of Queens, PS 60 and PS 110 area. We played this very similar variation and called it “off the point”. The community parkhouse had a lip of about 3″ that was the building footing. If the ball strike was perfect, the spalding would fly some 40 ft or so and score a HR…we would mentally score the game as well…single, single, double scored one run etc…..We would play up to three per team. Ground balls had to be caught, if error then that throw was a hit…Switching was always fun….where the third out meant teams switched sides quickly…catching the ball and racing toward the point to get a hit while teams were in transition.
I grew up in Woodside Queens…
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I grew up in Woodside Queens in the 60’s and we played a game where a guy would hit a ball with the bat and if you caight it on the fly, you were up. If you didn’t catch it, whoever got the ball would roll it toward the batter (who had to lay his bat on the ground). If you either missed the bat or hit it and the batter caught the ball before it bounced, he hit again. If the batter missed the ball after it hit, you became the hitter. I tried to bring the game to Long Island when we moved to the burbs but it couldn’t compete with baseball fields.
Yes! “I declare war on…..(country)!”…
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Yes! “I declare war on…..(country)!” Long pause before you yelled out the name to heighten the anticipation. We used the exact same rules as Mike. If you forgot who was what country, you sometimes declared war on yourself! (I remember doing this) After everyone froze, the person who caught the ball was allowed three steps towards anyone he chose to target, then threw the ball at him. If hit, the target was “it” and declared war for the next round. For the three steps, we were allowed to place the ball on the ground where we caught it, then back up and take a running jump for our three steps. I grew up playing this in Laurelton, Queens in the late 50’s and 60’s.
Greetings, Streetplayers….
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Greetings, Streetplayers. I’m part of a group that is setting up a “play street” in Jackson Heights, Queens. We’re making one block of 78th Street (next to Travers Park) car-free every Sunday between now and Thanksgiving. Over the long run, we’re very interested in exploring ways to promote traditional street games on our play street. (In the near-term, the population of kids in the area is largely a bit too young for most of these games). We’d also like to find ways to demonstrate that a play street isn’t just for kids, perhaps by organizing an adult stickball game, or other such event. We’d like to invite this community over to play with us, and organize or demonstrate street games on our block. If you’re interested, please contact us at 78thplaystreet [at] gmail [dot] com Thank you!
I’m a woman who grew up in…
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I’m a woman who grew up in Queens in the ’50-’60s, actually in Forest Hills. I’m a manuscript editor who’s just come across the name Pensie Pinkie in a book I’m editing. As a kid I had a number of spaldeen balls, but I never heard of the other, so thanks to all the posters who helped me verify that Pensie Pinkies not only existed, but were rather in vogue, at least in certain circumstances!!
I grew up in southeast queens,119th…
In Astoria, we called it…
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In Astoria, we called it Ace,King,Queen. Asses. up had to be called in the beginning. We also had rules about who chased the ball if it went into the street. Last player to touch the wall had to get the ball. Chips were often called in case the ball went down the sewer. Spaldeens were the preferred ball but sometimes we used a Pennsy Pinky. We also had a rule that if the ball hit a car after only one bounce you could hit “off the car” legally. We the “Ace” got “out” he went to the end of the line, as did anyone else who faltered. I don’t recall if only the Ace scored points but I think so. A good, low “slice” would generally take out a player. We generally used the sidewalk boxes for each players area. Sometimes we would mark it off with chalk but that usually only happened if the landlord with the sidewalk boxes chased us away!
I grew up in Long Island…
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I grew up in Long Island City, Queens in the Ravenswood Projects 1960’s. We played “skezie” religiously every day in the summer and after school. I have vivid memories of playing the game with my friends. I had patches on patches on my dungarees. We used beer or soda caps mostly and we didn’t have twist off’s back then. I remember melting crayola crayons into the bottle cap as we tried to come up with what we thought were cool designs. A few of the kids would use heinz ketchup bottle caps or baby food jar lids – we called those kids fagots. The kids across the street called the game skully. I have taught my 11 year old twins to play the game – but they just don’t appreciate it.