Tag Archives: Pennsy Pinkie

Yes, the great old ‘Spaldeens’…

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Yes, the great old ‘Spaldeens’ have been available again since 1999 at places like The Sports Authority. Now, Spaulding is making the Hi-Bounce ‘EA’. This ball is the closest yet to the famous Pensy Pinky. It’s 2 and a half inches wide, dark pink, smooth surface, hollow with a seam. To check it out, go to Amazon.com. In the left search box click on Sports and Outdoors. In the right search box type in Hi -Bounce Ball. # 1 is the new ‘EA’. # 4 is the Spauldeen type. Or go to esportsonline.com In the search area, type in Hedstrom You will see the ‘EA’. Cost:$ 2.15 each. Thank You

I grew up in Laurelton, L.I,…

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I grew up in Laurelton, L.I, N.Y. in the 50’s and 60’s. I used to get the ‘Pinkys’ for 5 cents and the Spauldeens for 10 cents. The Pinkys were softer, smoother and had that great new rubber smell. They would hand bounce better than the Spauldeen. The words and logo on the Pinky was in dark blue. I guess to keep them newer longer, I used to fill in the words/logo as they wore off with a blue BIC. The Pinky had a thin black seam and that was it’s weakness. Many times a solid hit with a wood bat would split the Pinky right on that seam. The Spauldeens were rough texture, ‘chalky’ bounced less but ‘never broke’. In all fairness, we kids never used stickball bats, but used heavy wood Baseball bats. Thank You.

I grew up playing jacks w/…

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I grew up playing jacks w/ my girlfriend on our linoleum kitchen floors in the 70’s….I can’t believe no one has mentioned the raw spot you’d get on the outside of your pinky from playing jacks!! I remember having to wear band-aids sometimes, the skin would get so raw….what a memory.

I lived in Park Slope and…

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I lived in Park Slope and we were fortunate that on one side of the street we had the amory. So we would use the domed roof that the building had to benefit when playing stickball. The opposing team would not know where the ball would land. The majority of the times the balls would come back down. Other times they wouldn’t. We had a couple of daring friends the would climb the wall and make it up the roof to retreave the balls that were stuck up there. The pinky balls were tossed down so that the younger kids would play w/them and the spaldeens were kept or tossed down to one of us. We would also use the armory wall to play off the wall. To me, it just depend what you were playing. The spaldeen was good for playing stickball and the pinkee was good for playing king’s.

Hi, I am not sure if this…

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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 )

Spaldeens were the best….

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Spaldeens were the best. Had more zing, didn’t split as easily, and were cheaper. It was a sad day when Irv’s candy store started selling Pensy Pinkies in place of good ‘ol reliable Spaldeens. Sacrilege. Hit a Pensy a good whack and ooop’s, we have two halves. Just don’t roof it. I don’t feel like climbing.

In Washington Heights (181st…

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In Washington Heights (181st Street)in the late 50’s/early 60’s, you could get both – Spaldeens were harder and cost 25 cents, while the Pennsie Pinky was only 15 cents and a lot softer and smoother. We preferred the Spaldeen for stickball and the Pinkie for punch ball. When they went “dead” and lost their bounce, the game was to “roof” the ball by throwing it onto the roof of a 6 story apartment building. Sid’s candy store on 181st street was the only place in the neighborhood that let you check all of the Spaldeens and Pinkies by giving them the “bounce test” before buying – holding a ball at about chest height and letting it go to see how high up it would bounce. I broke Mrs. Morrison’s living room window with a Spaldeen and hit the super of the building across the street with a Pennsie Pinkie!

Stickball is a GREAT game!…

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Stickball is a GREAT game! It is sure better to have the kids playing stickball, than sitting around the house playing video games. I am trying to help revive the game. I purchased a large quantity of the original SPALDEENS, or “Pinkys.” I also carry the “official stickball bats” made by Spalding. As you may know, these are VERY hard to find!! If anyone is interested, you may contact me at mlbbaseballs [at] aol [dot] com for more information. Keep on playing everyone!!

Great site. I…

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Great site. I learned about stickball at 15 yrs of age from a fellow by the name of Bobby Graham, a Brooklyn guy who worked at the same place where I was doing summer jobs in Roxbury MA. We used to play after work on Fridays while waiting for our paychecks to be issued. Loved the game from the first moment I laid my hands on that broomstick. We played fast-pitch in local schoolyards with a strike zone on the wall. Ground rules varied according to the game site, but a home run was always over the school building or across the street. The “official” ball was the pimple ball; we only used pinkies when unable to find pimple balls at the 5&10. In fact, pimple balls ultimately got so hard to find that we would go to extreme lengths to retrieve them in the course of game. It was always a sad thing when someone hit a pimple ball right on the seam and split it. Haven’t seen a pimple ball in a LONG time, though. I remember spending many hours practicing and perfecting my pitching technique. Those were the days when a kid had plenty of time on his hands after school and before dinner. It got to the point where I could reliably hit the door handle of my house garage door from across the street. Developed about a half dozen different pitches, including a wicked Elroy Face inspired sinker. Had some wicked grudge match games against local neighborhood rivals. One of my great sports moments was pitching nine straight no-hitters against them. They refused to play us any more. I guess we still own the bragging rights in that rivalry. Nice to be able to share my memories with people who remember and understand this great street sport. Better than golf IMO.