Category Archives: Wallball / Off the Wall/Point

I grew up in philly in the…

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I grew up in philly in the 60’s we had a game you played by yourself or with friends it was called mimseys. You threw the ball and sang a little song. Mimseys to clapseys tworl my hands to bapseys my right hand my left hand as high as the sky as low as the sea touch my knee touch my hell touch my toe and under we go each time you threw the ball against the wall and did a trick… mimseys was just throwing and catching then you threw and clapped and then caught the ball then you threw the ball and rolled your hands and then cought the ball.for bapseys you touched both of your shoulders and then caught the ball next you threw the ball and caught in your right hand and then the left next you threw the ball as high as you could and then catch it after that you threw it the tiniest that you could and caught it. then you threw the ball and touched your knee and caught it then your heel then your toe then you threw it under your led to the wall and caught it. IF you made all this perfectly you started all over but you must clap and the new skill for every catch Ex. clap and catch in right hand then clap and catch it in your left hand. This whole game was played off the wall with a pink ball

I just found this site and…

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I just found this site and it’s great.We played skully for hours on end on 189th St.in Manhattan.In between,we’d play stickball,off the point(curbball)or Johnny ride the pony.Also,I noticed someone mentioned “slugs”.We called this “Chinese” which I found out was short for Chinese handball.How about that,a bottlecap,a broomstick,and a “spaldeen” was all the equipment we needed for fun from March to November.Who needs Playstation?

War and Spud, around my…

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War and Spud, around my neighborhood, West Philly, was called Baby In The Air. Don, I also remember, Wallball, loved it. We played in the back of our houses, across the narrow, one lane driveways. Threw the ball against one house and had to hit the opposite house’s wall, try to avoid the kitchen windows. Some guys were great in just being able to ‘grease the wall’

the spaldeen was the “original”…

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the spaldeen was the “original” for us ’50’s kids. no one mentioned salugi [taking someone else’s ball and throwing it around for awhile before giving it back often ending up in a fight]. we invented a rainy day,indoor game called “off the wall, in the hall ball”. basically stoop ball that hit a wall in back of the fielder where every bounce was an additionally base. one bounce a single, 2 a double, etc. failure to hit the back wall or catching it on a fly was an out. anyone out there remember this from B’klyn?

Of course the spaldeen (especially…

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Of course the spaldeen (especially the much-beloved #4, although #2 was also good) was always better than the pinky, although that pinky could really fly when hit with a bat! Most of you can probably relate, but I wish I could explain to my friends here in the Midwest what it was like growing up on E. 15th St. near Kings Highway in the ’70s. Our street was full of kids and we played all the time: johnny on the pony, stoopball, stickball, hockey on roller skates, scully, red rover, i declare war (losers always “went under the moon”), wiffle ball, ringaleavio. And the games in the schoolyards, like handball, off the wall, paddleball. There’s got to be a million spaldeens on the roof at PS 199 where I went and all the other schools, too. It was like a soap opera, too.

I remember playing stickball…

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I remember playing stickball (fast pitch wall ball against the school wall in the summer months from early morning until the sun set and we could no longer see the ball. Unlike most of the games played in NYC, those of us on Long Island that played usually used a tennis ball instead of a pinkee ball. The advantage of using a tennis ball was it couldn’t be hit as far. This was critical if you were playing on a small field. It was also great for pitching because the seams on a tennis ball are shaped exactly like a baseball and you can throw all of the same types of pitches (curve, screw, 2 & 4 seam fastball, etc). Actually, you can get a lot more movement on a tennis ball than you can with a baseball. One of the great things I remember about stickball was the ability to get a game going just about anywhere at any time. Our group of kids used to go from school yard to school yard and play against anyone who was willing to play. Those were some great times.

Just stopped by , enjoy the…

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Just stopped by , enjoy the site ! My question to anyone out there is Where did stoopball originate and when ? If anyone can answer this It would be appreciated. I remember playing stoopball, curve ball or off the wall when I was a kid, living on 21st in Manhattan. If anyone can direct me to the history of the game , it be great ! I heard so many different stories, one never know what the truth. My name is Joe V. and I can be contacted at: jlv301 [at] frontiernet [dot] net Hey tournament stoopball !

We played many of the same…

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We played many of the same games, as mentioned above, in a little section of heaven, right in Philadelphia. We were considered Wynnefield, but our streets were seperated from the rest of the city by City Line Ave, Belmont Ave, and Conshohocken Ave. Loved chink, wire ball, box ball. 46th and Sherwood was the best box ball locale in the city. You had to be fast and know how to hit low grounders, with spin. We also played a version of wall ball, where we would throw it off of one wall of a back of a row house, onto the opposite row house’s back wall and the opposing player would have to catch it. Some guys were great at making them just kiss the second wall. You had to make basket style catches on those. Great days and great memories.

You got to be kidding the…

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You got to be kidding the pinkie (high bouncer) was always prefered over the pimple ball for both stick ball stepball & halfball at least in the fifties in philly. Does anyone remember wall ball

I’ve been playing Wall-Ball…

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I’ve been playing Wall-Ball for about 10 years now, I remember when I was little I’d walk by the local schoolyard and see older guy playing this baseball game against the wall. Since then a lot of things have changed. I remember we didn’t have a pitching mound so some kids would take wood chips and cover an area on the grass, eventually it killed all the grass in that area and the Local School board paved it over, so now we have a little strip that resembles a mound. Every Sunday here in Toronto the school is packed with 2-3 games going on side by side. We all use tennis ball and normal baseball bats and play 2 outs and we even have Pilons in the outfield marking the foul lines. We got the Double play rule where if you ground out to the pitcher and theres someone on base ( ghost runner ofcourse)the pitcher would pick up the ball and try to hit the box wherever he was standing and the trick was to get it past the hitter who was trying to block it with the bunt technique. Wall ball or Box baseball has come a long way for us and I hope it continues.