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Category Archives: Punchball

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grew up in e.n.y. section…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on August 23, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsOctober 20, 2014
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grew up in e.n.y. section of brooklyn.our sports equipment was,broom stick,can, spaldeen(correct spelling), stoop,alley way,one look out for the bad neighbor who would take our balls(no pun intended) lived on van siclen and belmont from 1943 to 1963. went to p.s. 158 jhs 149 and jefferson h.s. played punchball against other streets(hendrix st, miller ave,schneck ave,wyona street.) we were all poor but did not know it.every street had one “rich kid” who had parents with a car.now live in south fla.

Posted in Brooklyn, Hanging Out, Punchball, Reader Stories | Tagged stoop sitting

Man, was I surprised and…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on August 11, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsNovember 19, 2014
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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.

Posted in Ace King Queen, Bikes, Bronx, Punchball, Queens, Skully, Stickball | Tagged crayons, dodgeball, I grew up..., Pennsy Pinkie, spaldeen types, spongeball

Played stick, stoop, punch,…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on August 3, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsJanuary 3, 2020
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Played stick, stoop, punch, hand, box, base and softball in Rego Park, Queens in the late 40s and early 50s. Used spaldeens for the 1st 5, as Pennsy Pinkies were considered inferior in that neighborhood. There were 2 basic versions of stick: 1) balls and strikes against a wall with chalked strike zone (between shoulders and knees of a medium sized kid and about 18″ wide) and pitches thrown on a fly, with a minimum of two players, but no base-running and; 2) in the street with a sewer as home, a car as 1st, another sewer as 2nd and another car as 3rd, pitches on a bounce and base running. This version needed lots of players. Punch ball was like 2nd version of stickball.

Posted in Punchball, Queens, Stickball | Tagged Pennsy Pinkie, spaldeen types

In the two Bronx neighborhoods…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on July 24, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsNovember 19, 2014
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In the two Bronx neighborhoods where I grew up there was no debate…the Spaldeen was the ball of choice. The Pinkie was a very inadequate second choice. Yes, a Spaldeen hurt your hand in punchball if you hit it wrong, but if you hit it just right, it would just take off. Same thing in stickball…seemed that the Spaldeen always flew off the bat a lot harder and faster than the Pinkie. Very very happy to see the Spaldeen has been revived. Now if they only sold ’em in the Atlanta area!

Posted in Bronx, Other Spaldeen games, Punchball, Stickball | Tagged I grew up..., spaldeen types

[no title]

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on July 10, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsFebruary 2, 2019
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A story from Bill Rammelkamp. Years ago the guys from Maujer st and Teneyck st played the Hasidm boys from Marcy Ave in a game of punchball. This must be back around 1960. Before the game a fight almost broke out because we played with a tennis ball and they played with a white pimple ball. It was decided that one game would be played wih each ball. We did some special stuff to the tennis ball. It was taken and put in a brown paper bag. Then the bag was put on fire so all the heavy hair was burned off. We used these heavier balls instead of the Spaldeen because we could get more English on it. When we played stickball if we didn’t have the money for a ball, we would take a newspaper, fold it up to abou 1 1’2 inches. After you had that thickness you’d roll it up, put a rubber band around it as tight as you could get it and then put it on the curb and bang it down with a stickball handle, to make it as hard as possible. You could do all kinds of things with that kind of ball. Great spins & flukes and when you hit it, you could make it fly. ——— Well, we were definitely more interested in that story than the game that was going on. The Bronxfield Bombers won 13-2. We’re cleaning up and getting ready to go. More pictures will be posted on the site over the weekend. See you next week in Manhattan.

Posted in 1999 Stickball Classic, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Punchball, Special topics, Stickball | Tagged pimple ball, spaldeen types

off 164th and the concourse,…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on July 7, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsFebruary 2, 2019
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off 164th and the concourse, in the mid-late 50’s, we played mostly 1 bounce “fungo” (self hit) stickball with a spaldeen. hits dtermined by distance. in riverdale from 1960-69, we played with a shaved tennis ball (which curved, threw screwballs) against a chalk box in the ps 24 schoolyard. sometimes had an outfielder. that was MY game. also played bench ball, punch ball, stoop ball, and curb ball (back in the old neighborhood-the concourse). and box ball.

Posted in Boxball, Bronx, Curbball, Locales, Other Spaldeen games, Punchball, Stickball, Stoopball | Tagged Riverdale

Well…Sure the Spalding…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on June 30, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsDecember 4, 2019
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Well…Sure the Spalding was a higher bouncer. Sure the Spalding was a few pennies cheaper. But….The Spalding was also harder. Hence, for punch ball, it hurt like he@@. Also, because it was harder and less forgiving, it was more likely to split in half when use for stick ball. Therefore, I vote for Pensy or Pensie Pinky. It didn’t bruise the knuckles as badley and lasted much longer. That is, of course, if you didn’t lose it over the fence to some nasty’s backyard, on the roof of the school, or down the sewer. Do you remember how we would fish them out of the sewers? Ah, such sweet memories! Also, while I hear that the Spalding can be found available these days, I did come accross one recently. It was made in China. Aside from it’s spherical shape, it bears little resemblence to the original. If I could find the old ones, I would gladly buy a case or two.

Posted in Other Spaldeen games, Punchball, Stickball | Tagged Pennsy Pinkie, spaldeen types

[no title]

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on June 29, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsFebruary 2, 2019
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Curtis Sliwa, the Stickball Commissioner is now at the mike. “I’d like to thank all the people for coming out and celebrating what this little pink ball meant for us growing up in the streets of NYC. Stickball in the streets, stickball in the schoolyard, punchball, handball, boxball, and the 100 different games that we played. This ball was an important part of what it meant to grow up in the City of New York, then, twenty years ago it vanished like the Dinosaurs of old. But thanks to Spalding it’s now back Thanks to John Campi of NY Daily News who understood the importance of these games to the youth of our city, and how they actually helped make the streets safer because people were out there playing the games. Today’s contest is the kickoff for the competition that will be taking place in NYC and Hudson County. Today is an exhibition -a distance contest. We’re going to see if the people can hit the legendary 3 sewers. Stepping up to the plate will be 10 members from the Fire Department led by the Commissioner Tom Von Essen, 10 members from the Police Department, led by Commissioner Howard Safir and a celebrity team lead by the greatest manager of all Joe Torre. The celebrities will bat first.

Posted in 1999 Stickball Classic, Boxball, Manhattan, Other Spaldeen games, Punchball, Special topics, Stickball | Tagged Police Plaza

I never found out if there…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on June 26, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsDecember 4, 2019
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I never found out if there was a law against playing stickball but if the cops droveby a game, they would confiscate the stick, stick it in a manhole cover hole in order to break it, or throw it in the squad car. They never bothered us if we were playing curbball or punchball. I guess the offense was playing with a stick. The Leader was a cheaper ball, white-gray in color, and without the bounce and resiliancy of a Spaldeen. I never heard of Pennsy Pink in the late Thirties and early Forties.

Posted in Curbball, Punchball, Stickball | Tagged Pennsy Pinkie

Punchball, running bases,…

Streetplay Discussion Archive Posted on June 21, 1999 by Streetplay DiscussionsNovember 19, 2014
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Punchball, running bases, kickball, and stickball were the popular games in our parkinglot behind our apartment building. The playing field was an asphalt driveway that was actually wide enough to place bases around the “field”. The driveway was on an incline and homebase was at the bottom of the driveway, so you were always kicking or punching the ball up the hill. The Spaldeen ball was the classic ball for punchball. I would always renew my supply at the candystore, but I would only use my one and only ball until it was forever lost (in the sewer, a car ran over it). My kids are 10 and 12 years old now. At that age I was playing in the street all the time, nothing was organized, no carpools… the housephone rang and someone told you to come outside in the back..We played for hours, going from one game to another, until Rudy, the super, would come chasing after us yelling in his thick German accent, scaring the crap out of us, and breaking up the games.. only for the moment. And then there was Building Tag, where the doorman was base The stories are endless, but I really want to find out where I could buy a Spaldeen ball? Laurie, orginally from Riverdale, the Bronx, now in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Posted in Bronx, Food & Drink, Locales, Other Spaldeen games, Punchball, Spaldeen games, Stickball | Tagged Riverdale, running bases

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