when i was a child we played a game called new york we would bounce a tennis ball off a wall or side of a house their was a number of way to catch the ball one bounce two bounce behind back etc if you missed you lost your turn it was great i would like to share this with my kids but have forgotten the sequence can anyone help
Yes, Pensie Pinkies were hollow, pink rubber balls, just like Spaldeens. But Pensie Pinkies were a lot softer, maybe because they had less air in them, or maybe the rubber was thinner. In any case, because they were softer, Pensie Pinkies were easy to “fluke” (put a spin on the ball by squeezing it between thumb and knuckles as you tossed it. (Very good for Box Baseball.) I don’t recall any sponge rubber ball. You’da got kicked out of the neighborhood for that. Steve S.
PS 186 bellerose,glen oaks, queens 1950’s 1960’s.We played it behind a small brick school park building.Only enough room for two players.Thats the only way i played,one on one,a very fast game,one side of your sneakers allways wore out.And scrapping you fingers on the cement didnt help.The big kids had the little black hand ball,rock hard,with a glove,that was what every kid wanted,that ‘BOSS’ hand ball and special handball glove.And a ten speed bike too!
I grew up in Bayside, Queens in the 1950s. We used Spaldeens for stickball and stoopball. The new ones cost a quarter and bounced higher than Pensie Pinkies (which, I believe, cost 15 cents.) Girls used Pensie Pinkies for punchball because they were so much softer. For that reason, they were also preferred for box baseball. For stickball, we played “fungo,” that is, no pitcher. Toss the ball in the air and hit it. Anyone remember the term “fungo?”
Just expanding on the comment above– we didn’t start playing stickball in my neighborhood until late teens, maybe adulthood. I wonder if that’s common? I see I posted in the chinese handball section a number of years back that chinese was the ONLY game we played, which was indeed the case until maybe 13-14 years old, when for some reason we switched to stickball, softball, etc. Anybody else do that?