Category Archives: Stoopball

I grew up in Summerdale (Oxford…

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I grew up in Summerdale (Oxford Circle) in the early-mid 80s. We played: * wireball * suicide (we called it “sooey”) * pitched quarters * flipped baseball cards * stoop ball (no one called it “step ball”) * Deadbox (not in Summerdale, but played with my * older cousins in Harrowgate) * Wall ball * Hand ball * stick ball * halfies * hose ball (my father grew up in kensington and taught us that) * wiffle ball (regular wiffle ball and padded bat with tennis ball — a lawn chair for the strike zone) * Spring * Freedom * Knock Knock Zoom Zoom * King of the Hill * hide and seek in the back alley/cubie holes * kick the can * foot hockey * 2 hand touch/1 hand touch * steal the bacon * straw races (when someone turned on the fire plug and we’d race drinking straws all the way down the street to the sewer) I can’t count how many pinkies, tennis balls and pimple balls I roofed from the age of 5 to 13!

I grew up in Bayside, Queens…

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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?”

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.

We played this game back…

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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!

I grew up in the Bronx in…

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I grew up in the Bronx in the 1950’s on 146th Street and Brook Avenue. We use to play “Off The Wall” with a Spaldeen. We would stand close to the wall and throw the ball against it to propel it across the street to hit the wall on the other side and you would run bases. Catching the ball off the wall was an out, three outs per inning. If I remember ( I am an active 67 year old) we had three men per team, one on first and third and one in the outfield. You could also “hit” a line drive to the infield to get on base.

Grew up at West Fordham Road…

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Grew up at West Fordham Road (Tolentine parrish) in the late fiftes and early sixties. Played outside all day. Skelly was a favorite, also box ball (each player took a box on the sidewalk, a total of four in a square), stoop ball and stick ball. Kept busy all day. No electronics, but plenty of fun. Fond memories!

I grew up in Richmond Hill…

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I grew up in Richmond Hill NY, playing skelly every day, come summer time in Smokey Park in the early 70’s. I remember using crayons and the rim of the glass beer bottle to make a skelly cap, but there was one more way of doing it that was my favorite. We’d take a twist off beer cap, find a plastic soda cap, and some small pieces of glass for weight. I’d dig the plastic insert piece out of the soda cap. The glass went inside the beer bottle cap and the plastic piece was fitted in side the beer bottle cap, over the glass upside down, to hold the glass in place.I remember always giving the new cap a real good rubbing on the ground to roughen it up. I was a good shooter and didnt want it flying anywhere I didnt want it to. I have taught my kids how to play all the street games I can still remember. Their favorites are: I Declare War, Box Ball, Chinese Hand Ball and Stoop ball and Red Rover.

I am almost 48 years old…

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I am almost 48 years old and grew up in brooklyn. At Saint josephs school(I was in the last graduating class 1973)we called it cocolivio.St Joseph was on Dean street and vanderbilt avenue.When we moved to the linden houses(off of linden blvd.wortman ave to be exact)I think then it was called ringalivio. At St.Joseph we played cocolivio,skelly,off the wall,stoop ball,kings,hand ball,stick ball,punch ball,we had tops,yo yo’s,and flipped baseball cards.Who needed a play station?GOD I miss those days.

I grew up in Floral Park…

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I grew up in Floral Park Queens during the 70’s and played a ton of stoop ball with my pals from P.S. 115. We played with baseball rules, with singles, doubles, triples and home runs determined by the distance an uncaught ball flew before hitting the ground. Bunting wasn’t allowed so the ball had to at least make it past the guy throwing it at the stoop. We had a bit of a lawn in front of our house, and that was all singles territory. Anywhere in the area of the sidewalk was a double. Into the street was a triple and making it across to the other side of the street was a home run. If the ball was caught, or went foul (rebounded off to the sides or up into the door above the stoop) that was an out. Three outs and you changed who was up. You could play with only two people or as many as you liked, but we usually never allowed more than three people in the field at a time, or it was too easy to catch. Pointers were not worth any special amount of points, as in some variations, but considering it was the best way to get distance, you always tried for one. My special “Submarine Sidearm” throw, as I was fond of calling it when I was 8, was very good at getting pointers!