Tag Archives: South Bronx

Kenny, I’m glad that you…

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Kenny, I’m glad that you remember the Mott Street team. Actually, the Mott Street team was a collection of all the best players from the various blocks of Little Italy–Mulberry St., Elizabeth St., Mott St., Grand St., Prince St,. etc. Many of the guys who played against your team and the other fine teams of that 1950-1960 era are gone. Do you remember Vinny Head? Tiger? Big Gary? Jimmy Alber? They’d hit the ball as though it were fired from a cannon; they’re all gone. My generation of players–Mike Fink, Smitty, Anthony Arms, Billie Barns, Lil Maxie, Mimi, Crazy Dom, and the Beaver brothers (and a few others I can’t think of right now) were probably the last of the great stickball players from Little Italy (Mott Street). I, myself, was more of a schoolyard type player because crowds made me nervous, and I could never play well with hundreds of people lining both sides of the street during those “big” games. Although, once I did go up to the South Bronx with a Mott Street team to play a doubleheader against an outstanding Puerto Rican squad. On that particular day I fared well–hitting six line drives into the outfield: three of my liners fell in for hits (two singles and a double)and the other three were caught. My seventh at-bat I dribbled out to the third baseman.We got trounced the first game 8-3, but we were leading the second game 3-0 when an argument broke out in the eighth inning, and the game was never finished. That was my last and finest moment “rounding those bases.” Perhaps, it was the summer of ’71 or ’72.

Recently, I typed “Stickball”…

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Recently, I typed “Stickball” in Mozilla Firefox and was amaized at what came back.I thought stickball was a dead sport remembered only by people who had played it in New York City.I played against and with most of the players from the south Bronx during the 1950’s and early 60’s. I played for the Tigers in PS 51 from 1953 to 58 when they broke up. By 1960, most of the south Bronx teams were gone, but from them came a hard core of stickball players who who still wanted to play. We had the only players in the south Bronx that could field a team capable of competing with the Pleasant Avenue and Mott street teams. We had some terrific games against them and a lot of money was bet. Our team had Push-Push, Ralphie Torado, Chibie, Wally, Junior, Poppy, Bouncer, Me-Me, Orlando and Kenny (Me). Are any of you old-timers still out there? If so, send me an e-mail. Kenny

This is a South Bronx tale:…

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This is a South Bronx tale: the setting is mid to late ’60s, Kelly Street 10 hundreds block = longer than most with wall to wall five story tenement buildings. We played stickball starting from the second fire-hydrant sewer lid (homeplate) towards the end of the block. Anything over the “wire” not caught was an automatic homerun. Only two guys ever hit the ball onto the roof of 1069 thanks to a favorable wind: Manny and Junior. We seldom played pitch ball but rather bounced the ball before hitting it or hit it in the air. Balls stuck on fire-escapes or on the roof before the “wire” were outs, down the basements were doubles. sidewalks were all you can run. The wire was a cable hanging across the street behind the second sewer lid which was a few feet behind second base. Only players from our street were allowed to toss their sneakers onto the wire. Those trophies were never taken down. When there weren’t enough guys to play a game, two guys with bats would hit the ball back and forth one from homeplate and the other from the third sewer lid towards homeplate. Spaldeens were the prefered ball, used also for slugs off the wall of Mr. Friar’s building 1045 Kelly Street; or hitting off the stoop of 1048 Kelly Street. Louie, Jorge, Mickey, Augie, Joel, Victor, Junior, Moses, George Pinocchio were the regulars. Stickball on Kelly Street died in 1978 when the whole block was nuked for redevelopment. We also played a mean game of skelzies and had the best aerial kite battles between glass-cord diamonds and razorblade sneekies. Those were the days!

Check this out. My name is…

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Check this out. My name is Parish Da Moment and back in the day, in south bronx on 173 and Monroe ave in 1982,83,84,85. My friend and i played SLUGS(what people call chinesse handball). Now i have to boast about my street game(SLUGS)ON THIS STREETPLAY DISCUSSION. I still and allways have skills in SLUGS(CHINESSE HANDBALL)even at the age iam in 30ish something.THIS IS A ROLL CALL for anybody who thinks they have any skills. I take on the young,old,male,female cause my skills is still on PAR,for THE OLD TIMER AND YOUNGER CATS,that means I HAVE GAME!!! whew! I had to get this off my chest.To get in contact kingptm [at] yahoo [dot] com Any takers. Eastside all day,all night ya heard!!! PEACE.

I am trying to reach Ruben…

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I am trying to reach Ruben Garcia & Danny Diaz.I would be very happy if anyone of you guys could contact me A.S.A.P I would like to talk to you about my stickball stories. I one of the very older sticball players of a lot the famous teams of the south bronx.I think it would be exciting and worth your time to hear from me.Looking foward to hear from you stickball players.well so long for now. My name is jerry Gringer my # is 912 489 3600 I now live in georgia, My email # is www [dot] sandrarosenberg [at] frontiernet [dot] net

I am trying to reach Ruben…

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I am trying to reach Ruben Garcia & Danny Diaz.I would be very happy if anyone of you guys could contact me A.S.A.P I would like to talk to you about my stickball stories. I one of the very older sticball players of a lot the famous teams of the south bronx.I think it would be exciting and worth your time to hear from me.Looking foward to hear from you stickball players.well so long for now. My name is jerry Gringer my # is 912 489 3600 I now live in georgia, My email # is www [dot] sandrarosenberg [at] frontiernet [dot] net

We usually played this game…

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We usually played this game on a dead end street in the south Bronx. They’d be five or more players who would line up on the sidewalk of one side of the street. The person chosen to be a responder would take position on the opposite sidewalk. In unison the group would call out, What’s in the Icebox” and the responder would say an item, after some drawn out elaboration, that would either be something found in an icebox or not. If the item was something in the icebox like, “A delicious bottle of, Milk!” everyone would run and the first one to tag the responder was the next one to be up. The real catch to this game was if the responder said something like, “A big juicy shoe!” In this case, whoever took a step forward to run would be out and usually more than one person was out.

regarding the 3 sewer question…

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regarding the 3 sewer question vs. 4 sewers: i played stickball in Holliswood Queens NY in the late 50s and I was taught by my late father. he once took me back to the South Bronx where he played in the late 1920s and early 1930s. 3 sewers was the furthest for a homerun and the ball had to pass three full sewers. he never mentioned 4.

It’s nice to know there…

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It’s nice to know there is this comraderie of being brought up in Da Bronx. My story might sound a little different. I grew up in the Classon Point area which is a several miles West and South of Castle Hill. There were no number named streets just Randall,Soundview,Beach,Commonwealth,and along with playing ringoleaveo,cracktop,skully,touch football,johnny on the pony,schoolyard basketball, I remember going to Worlds fair and “Freedomland” which was bigger than Disneyland and is now where co-op city is. I also remember going fishing for porgies,fluke,flounder,eels,blackfish,bluefish, stripers and went crabbing during the winter in the Bronx and East Rivers. We would throw them back and keep only the fish(Stripers) we caught further east on the sound.(I don’t know if any of this wildlife is there today.) We hunted pheasants with a bow and arrow(probably illegal) in the many open areas that were still wild in this area in the late fifties and early sixties. My neighbors were the best and consisted of the Archettis’LoContes’,Diazs’,Gorshoffs’Hodges’,Freemans’ to name a few and they were of Italian,Black,Puerto Rican,Irish, Columbian,Jewish, German heritages,a beautiful mix and everybody new each other and their kids. My mom would speak Spanish to our Italian speaking neighbor and they would understand each other. This is a part of the Bronx that had “Shorehaven”,Harding Park,Seven caves,Rubys, Genes’,Classon point yacht club, and the Beach Theater. Our wood frame houses on St. Lawrence ave. were in the area of several projects and one of the oldest sections in the area going back to farming days in the Bronx. We were right across the East River from Shea stadium and from my roof I could see the lights of the stadium as well as the Empire state building and the Twin towers when they were being built. I went to P.S. “69” which is built like a World War II memorial with gorgoyle heads of soldiers looking down at you. The school had painted over asphalt floors in the stairwells and ground floor that had years of high heel marks in them. It had a schoolyard perfect for pitch count stickball played with a chalked in strike zone against a wall. Can’t question a strike when the spaldeen has chalk on it!!