We played this game back in the day in the School Yard on Hull Avenue in The Bronx;teams of 20-30 per side;we also played Box-Baseball,PunchBall,Stickball(Both Fungo Style and Pitching In Vs a Box drawn on a wall as a strike zone).Also played Ace-King-Queen with the loser playing in a game called Cans Up.Also played Stoop Ball(also called Off The Point)using Spaldeens and Pennsylvania Pinkys!
When we played stickball before WWII in the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn, we used hand me down tennis balls. After a while the fuzzy skin would wear off and the ball had a lot of life. I think but I’m not absolutely sure that the Spaulding company just started to make their tennis ball without the fuzzy cover and sold it as the Spauldeen.
Several years ago, I was trying to explain the game of skully (skullies) to my wife, when I came upon this site. I told my brother and sisters about it, and haven’t been back here since. Recently, we were talking about other games we played in the city (Bronx) and we all remembered the game SLUGS. We never knew it as any other name, no one on the block called it Chinese Handball, Ace-King-Queen, etc. It was always known by us, and everyone around the block, as SLUGS. We lived and played this game around 181 St., on Valentine Ave, and over at P.S. 9/115, which isn’t even called that anymore (damn, imagine that, they changed our school names). Guess I shouldn’t be surprised, it’s been 30 years since I lived and played in the Bronx. Can’t tell you how much I miss playing stickball, and off-the-point (stoop-ball), off-the-wall and skullies (we use to take the school chairs into the hallway or stairs where they had those big iron grids covering the radiators, the grids just the right size to pop the metal chair slide off the bottom of the chairs – which we all know kicked ass over the bottle cap tops, or the bottle rings tops). And then there was kick-the-can, Ringoleavio, and on a hot summer day, we open up those fire hydrants and use a can with the lid removed on both ends to direct volumes of arching water all over… damn, it was great. Anyway… just wanted to share, and will be forwarding this forum to my brother and sisters so that they too can be assured, we weren’t fooling ourselves… it was called SLUGS.
My great uncle, Charlie Ballard, inspires me everday whether is be from sports to living my life to the fullest. This year is my first year as a coach and I have decided to dedicate it to my great uncle for inspiring me to play with my heart in any sport and dream I had in my life. He was such an inspiration….as all of you know…Thank you for giving him so many memories and great stories to share with us all!!!
My name is willie Gregory. brother of Lefty Gregory. Our Team the Home relief from 114th & Madison Ave. In the middle fifty’s we went down to Hells Kitchen in the 60’s to play an allstar team which consisted Snookie and Alby from Pleasant Ave. Guy’s from the Locomotives and the greek brothers Mario, etc. The game was worth $1,500 dollars. Top of the ninth, no score up comes Lefty Gregory and gets a hold of one that not only goes 3 sewers when it crosses the Ave.,but reaches the 4th sewer,we won 1 zip
I grew up on Gerard Ave. in the Bronx in the late 50’s and early 60’s, one block from the Stadium. We used to play stickball from sewer to sewer by bouncing and hitting or by pitching to the box on the door to the garage for the Bronx County Courthouse. Best game was sewer ball using the manhole covers at the corner of 157th St and Gerard Ave. Home, first, second and third. 4 infielders and sometimes one outfielder. Put the wire trash can lying down across the sewer behind 2nd base. Still lost many balls down that sewer. A really great time! Jeff
Up on simpson street in the bronx we hung out on the rooftops. We would plug in a record player to the hall light and dance on the sticky tar.Sometimes we would climb down to the street via the firescape and many times that top ladder to the roof was ajar from the building and shook enough to send us tumbling to the street below if we did not watch it. On the way down,being Puerto Rican neighborhood we would have to jump over jugs of a formenting drink called mavi.Each landing had a different aroma of pork chops, pastelillos, rice and beans and fried chicken. We would reach the bottom of the back yard starving and we had to be quick because there always was a mean dirty dog named buster waiting to bite someone. We would then go out to the street and play kick the can.ringolivio, stickball, marbles, johnny on the pony, skully or hitch on the back of trucks that we leave us somewhere in long island.A typical day back in the fifties.we had mucho fun.