Tag Archives: I grew up…

I grew up in Hicksville,…

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I grew up in Hicksville, out on Long Island. We had a serious stickball league, stats and all, sometimes announcers throughout the sixties and seventies. I can remember both the Spaldings and the Pencie Pinkies, and somewhere in the seventies, the Pencie Pinkies that came out were almost like superballs by comparison. They were more solid, weighed more, and went further, and as someone said, they probably lasted longer. We used to fantasize that our street field was Yankee Stadium. We had an upperdeck of tall maples, a short right field fence, a deep, deep centerfield fence, and three trees out there which we referred to as the monuments. I’m looking for stickballs and stickball bats for my kids and the neighborhood kids to get something going this summer. If anyone knows where I can order them online, contact me at stevenmfarrell [at] lvcm [dot] com Hopefully, I’ll find them at the store listed above. See ya.

I grew up in the Sunset…

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I grew up in the Sunset Park area during the 50’s too, and we always put “fluke” on the ball as well. I also remenber trying to get the ball out of the sewer on occasion by taking apart a wire hanger and forming a loop on the end to fish out a known good spaldeen. It was like a giant easter egg dipper. Dirty work, you had to be really hard up.

I grew up in Flatbush in…

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I grew up in Flatbush in the 50’s. For some reason, we did not play stickball, but we did play punchball and slapball. In slapball, the ball is pitched on a bounce to the batter who hits it with an open hand. You could put all kinds of different spin on the ball so that after it bounced it would swerve left, right, stop dead, or shoot ahead. We called this “fluking”. Anyone else remember that word? We used mainly Spaldeen, though I do recall Pensy Pinkies. Many balls were lost in the sewers. I recall kids saying to each other, “Walk me to the corner. I have to get a new Spaldeen.”

i grew up in what we called…

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i grew up in what we called south brooklyn , red hook now it carroll gardens and its a pimple ball for fistball and a spalden for stickball and sometimes the white starball for fistball i was a 2 12 sewer man and capt of the ‘brooklyn angels’ from clinton street between carroll st and first place andrew

Hello every-one this is…

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Hello every-one this is a great site, just reading where you are from and the games you played brings back many memories. I grew up on HuntsPoint 901 Faile st. between seneca and garrison it was a private house my family owned. I attended all 5 schools on hunts point 1)the church headstart school 2)kindergarden on coster 3)ps48 4)the mini schools on manida 5)and then i.s.74. one of the best things about the point was we as kids playing had a green light to play all over the point. i CAN REMEMBER every block had a team. it was strictly if you lived on there, you played there no one played for any other block. i mean we played all the games in the past that you can imagine. plus the block to block stickball games where legendary. the block to block games especially. it was so competitive that we had all ladys game. my mother played first an third my aunt played outfield and my grandmother was the official substitude homerun hitter. plus after the games we had block partys on the 4-hills or in 75 or 48 parks. My generation was the last to have all that fun past down from generation to generation. my child hood years where in the 70s and 80s im 37 now. great old days. next neiborhood story. BIG BAD MELLOW -21 NOW A FORCE IN THE HANDBALL WORLD. MEMORY LANE.

I grew up in the Boro Park…

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I grew up in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn (13th Ave, and 48th St.)in the 70’s and our ball of choice was the “Spaldeen” given that we could play handball, stickball, or baseball with a wooden bat. The pinkie was too heavy and mushy and didn’t hit as well (or as far) when playing stick or baseball. We however did use the pinkie for playing punchball, given that it was softer on our knuckles. The Spaldeen for us was the “King of Back Alley Ball”

Someone just informed me…

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Someone just informed me of this site. What fun it is! I was thrilled to see a basket of Spaldeens in the store and bought a half dozen. I don’t think I ever bought one as a kid because during WWII rubber was rationed and the only place you could get them was on the black market. We acquired ours on the roof when the boys lost them playing stickball. We would retrieve them and wash them in hot water, that revived the bounce and we played these familiar girls games. No one in the store where I bought them understood the meaning of these precious balls. I had fun bouncing them on the counter. I remember “A” my name best but the other games ring a bell too. Thanks for sharing. I grew up in The Bronx, near Crotona Park.

I grew up in Bensonhurst…

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I grew up in Bensonhurst in the 60’s and we definitely had our choice of Pensie Pinkies or Spaldeens. We used to get them at Doc’s (later to become Egg Haven) across the street from PS. 97. Though I was a Spaldeen fan, Pensie Pinkies never went dead and never split open. But, there was nothing like writing on a new Spaldeen with a Bic pen. Ahhhhhh!