Wow What a site I grew up in Strawberry Mansion in the late 40’s-early 50’s We played all these ball games, plus many card games w/ baseball cards that now would be worth a lot of money.We flipped, slid them down the slope between the houses, tosed them against the wall-who needed TV Thanks for the memories
I grew up playing this in Washington Heights in the 70’s (160th between Ft. Washington and Riverside Dr.). We used to use specificly Heineken bottles for glassies (we could never get Lowenbrau necks to break off without shattering). At one point we started using two poker chips glued together (the different color combinations helped us keep track). Anyone else use poker chips?
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!
God Bless you and yours MrGodswrench,i use to play slugs in the Bronx and stickball and skellzies i grew up on West Farms Road on the corner of Homes St. and Longfellow Ave.the info. you give about slugs is right thats it no more,no less.I tried to teach some kids and my son here on the island,by the way i live in Ponce,Puerto Rico.But they rather play nintendo,xbox,etc.Iam a born again christian also,Keep The Faith Bro.
Hi, I am not sure if this game I played in the in the mid 70’s was made up in my neighborhood or not, but it was a form of stickball, we called it SCOONY. We played in a bocce ball court, a pitcher, catcher , second baseman all were inside the bocce court. A centerfielder stood outside the bocce court wall. and the first and third basemen stood just outside the court lined up with their base. The pitcher pitched the ball on one bounce, spining the ball if he wanted. We played with rules of baseball, bunting, stealing, tagging up but when you tried to steal, you could not take a lead, and could only steal AFTER the catcher caught the ball. Another rule was that the batter MUST bat his opposite hand, (right must bat left)and for a bunt to be legal, it had to pass a FOUL line drawn into the sand before the game started. This game was very entertaining and we played it for hours. We used a pinky or a spaldeen, and sometimes a tennis ball ( if we couldnt buy a spaldeen). For a bat we used either a broom handle or a store bought stick ball bat.If anyone else played this game, please email me at muns0n015 [at] aol [dot] com and tell me about. I grew up in Long Island City ( QUEENS )
Oh, what great memories we have here! I grew up in the Bronx (Highbridge section) and we played Ring o levio, Round Up (my favorite), Red Rover, Johnny on the Pony, Freeze tag, red light green light, giant step, and someone remmebbered “Hot Peas and Butter” ! The last was one of my favorites. “It” would hide a belt while everyone else hid in the alley so as not to see where. We policed ourselves so that no one peeked. On the streets there were a variety of places to hide the belt like under a car, on top of the tire, etc. Then “it” would call “Hot peas and butter, come and get your supper”. We would all come out and try to find the belt. It would help by saying So and so it hot, or cold……”you’re cold…you’re freezing cold, you’re starting to thaw….you’re lukewarm, you’re getting hotter, you’re getting boiling hot, Etc. The one who found the belt would run after the others trying to hit them until they got to base. Actually, I don’t remember anyone really getting hit, but it was the idea of it that made us run fast and laugh. The person who found the belt got to be “it” the next time.
I grew up in the Bronx, and we called it “crack top” too. Those small wooden tops came in a variety of colors and and spun very well on the city streets and they didn’t cost much to replace if your top did get cracked. I haven’t seen tops like those for sale since I was a kid. It’s too bad. Simple toys like that give the most fun.
I grew up in Woodside, Queens in the seventies and loved Red Rover, Red Rover, Red Light, Green Light, etc. I remember the boys playing stick ball,etc. Being a girl, we did alot of the jumprope games/rhymes, and also more “girlie” steet games. I recall one being called “germany”, where you needed four concrete “squares” and would have to step for “one”, hop for “two”, Skip for “three”, etc. I think it went up to nine, and you couldn’t touch any “lines” and couldn’t step into “germany”, or the third box. Sound familiar to anyone? WE also played “girls, girls, out” This one used six boxes and had different categories in each box like, colors, girls names, boys names, etc. You would have to hop into the box twice saying “girls, girls out”, then go over each box saying a different girl’s name twice, then go into the next category and do boys names, etc. If anyone has more info on these games, please share. Love this website – it’s so nostalgic!