Tag Archives: Pennsy Pinkie
I grew up in Hicksville,…
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 Flatbush in…
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 Bensonhurst…
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!
I’m with Jerry, I never…
We liked to use spaldeens…
We liked to use spaldeens for stickball, pensie pinkies for punchball, king queen, handball. They had a smoother feel. Also, back in the day, Spaldeens cost 25 cents and Pensie Pinkies cost 30 cents. As I recall, Pensie Pinkies had the Keystone symbol of the State of Pennsylvania stamped on it. Can someone please confirm that for me. Hey, back in Flatbush in the late 50’s early 60’s, there wasn’t much car traffic to deal with, so we really got a lot of use out of our block.
I grew up in the Alfred…
I grew up in the Alfred E. Smith Projects (Catherine and Madison Street intersection) across from P.S. 1. Lived there from 1953-1967 when my family moved to Brooklyn. I remember the Essex Street Markets as well as the “pickle man” on Essex Street. If none of you have not seen it, I highly recommend you watching “Crossing Delancey” starring Amy Irving. It was filmed on location! Shows the handball courts on Essex Street and centers around Amy’s character and the pickle man! Used to go with my mom to the Fulton Fish Market (still remember seeing the dead fish staring at me on the ice there! Later on, we bought fish at a market on Monroe Street. The only supermarket in the area was an A&P that was on Market Street and almost directly under the Manhattan Bridge. I played little league ball at Coleman’s Oval near the Manhattan Bridge (off Cherry Street). Played a lot of stickball at Cherry Street Park, across the street from the then Journal American building on one side and Knickerbocker Village on the other. The Journal American building is now the home to the NY Post. Remember the original hand warmers in the winter time? Right. A 15 cent knish off the knish cart! There was so much to do back there: San Gennaro festival on Mulberry Street, Chinese New Year on Mott Street, the Jewish Deli’s (Katz’s and Issac Gellis were my faves). I went to St. James School on St. James Place. That is the same school that Alfred E. Smith went to. It is also the parish that lays claim to the first American order of the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Played lots of chinese handball on St. James Place, on the outside wall of Vanella Funeral Home of all places! Played stickball, slap ball, punchball, stoop ball, all with the Spaldeen. Much prefered that over the Pensie Pinky. I can still hear the echoes of “chips on the ball, 25 cents” before playing a game of ball. Anyone here remember making the chalk socks? You take about 5 big sidewalk chalks put them inside a sock, smash them a bit, tie the sock up and then sneak up on someone and bop them with the sock! It didn’t really hurt but was kind of funny to see the shocked face and the chalk smoke linger a moment in the air over the unsuspecting victim! In my neighborhood we called them Mama Lucci’s. Maybe it was called that because I lived so close to Little Italy. Anyone here remember “salugee”? This was a spontaneous devilish game where you would take a personal item from someone and then keep it from them as you threw it to your friends (keep away). After a while some wise guy would start daring you to “roof it” and you would throw the object towards the roof of the many cold water flats of the area. What rotten kids! I have been contemplating writing a book about growing up in NYC in that time period, illustrating the various street games, rituals, etc. that made that little part of NY so special. If anyone would like to contact me. Bill
Frankly, I never heard of…
Frankly, I never heard of Pensie Pinkies. When I lived Brooklyn in the 30’s all we had were spaldeens. We played all our games with spaldeens: off-the wall, punchball, boxball, stoop-ball and so on. You name it; we played it. Reading the above messages brings on such sweet memories of my early teens. We lived on a block that had four story apartment buildings. My mother would lean out of our fourth floor apartment window and watch us play stickball. Occasionally, if we lost the ball down the sewer, she would wrap 10 cents in a piece of newspaper and drop it down to us so that we could buy a new one.
Spaldings were the ball…
Spaldings were the ball of choice at McCarren Park in Greenpoint, Bklyn. Some used the Pinkies, but everyone had their blue ball with their initials or tags either written with a magic marker or engraved using either a knife or a small piece of broken glass (which there was a lot of back in the day).
is there a difference between…
is there a difference between a pinky ball and a pensie ball. we had only two balls to chose from, one was pink and one was white pimple ball. someone said pensie pinky was rich mans ball, i thought white pimple ball was more expensive. was there three different balls. please e-mail me at mark [at] wallpaperonwheels [dot] com my bus or call at my bus 1-856-468-7701. i am also trying to bring boxball back. sincerely mark siano