Tag Archives: spaldeen types
Any self respecting kid…
Any self respecting kid that grew up in the 50-60s in St.Albans, Queens and went to PS 118 knows that Pensie-Pinkies rule. Its called pensie-pinkie because it had a keystone stamped on the pink ball. The state symbol for Pensylvania is the keystone. The nick name for Pensylvania is the “Keystone state”-hence Pensie short for Pensylvania. I found this site looking for Skelly/Scully rules. Great site. I played all the usual street games including stoop ball, chinese handball, stickball etc. A kid couldn’t live without a Pensie. ANYONE HEAR OF RUNNING BASES??? Two “basemen” on either side of the street and a bunch of kids in the middle. The object was to tag the kids out as they ran back and forth between the two bases. It was like a run down in baseball. One of the few co-ed games at the time. Girls were so icky back then. This site brought back many wonderful memories.
I grew up a suburb kid in…
I grew up a suburb kid in California, have heard of stickball, never played. I loved reading about all your fond memories of these games, makes me wish I had been around to play too. I would like to guess that the origin of the name Pensie Pinky comes from the fact that the Pennsylvania Keystone was printed on the ball, Pensie might be a nickname for Pennsylvania (?).
forget spaldeen or pensie…
forget spaldeen or pensie…
Spaldeens. I was just telling…
Spaldeens. I was just telling my wife about Skelly, and how back in East New York Brooklyn Sutter Avenue projects we used to cram the everyday essentials into a pair of Lee or Wrangler jeans: Bazooka gum Baseball cards Wooden metal tipped top with string Skelly top (I preferred the wax filled cap, mostly due to the fact I could never skim the beer bottle neck just right to get the sweet glass cap.) Spaldeen Somewhere, back in NYC there has to be all the Spaldeens that were roofed, hit between building cracks, sewer bound, between the spokes of our old bikes, and those broken ones used by Mom and Dad to cover sharp objects and second as couch leg lifters. When I see a piece of Bazooka gum today, I think of how we used to break it in four, share the comic, chew up the gum, and place it on the end of a broken mop or broom handle and fish out the coins and subway tokens to buy penny candy. Fish enough coins, you got a new Spaldeen. Pensie-Pinkies were foamier, as I recall. When they got chipped, well, there went the homeruns of the punchball team.
I run a daycare in Ohio,…
I run a daycare in Ohio, and the kids are ALWAYS BORED…..lol I tell them to play…they just do not get it! I grew up in Kings Park Long Island in the 70’s, so I am teaching them Skully, and how to catch pennies off your elbow. I still have a beloved blue ball from the 80’s. I do not know why we started going to the blue ball, but remember everyone getting them and I still had the pinkie. I was poor…lol Could not afford a new ball! I do not remember what the game “composition A” is but remember the name of it, and that I played it. Can someone remind me how to play it….Also if there are any other kool games to pass on to the kids of 2000 let me know!
Of course the spaldeen (especially…
Of course the spaldeen (especially the much-beloved #4, although #2 was also good) was always better than the pinky, although that pinky could really fly when hit with a bat! Most of you can probably relate, but I wish I could explain to my friends here in the Midwest what it was like growing up on E. 15th St. near Kings Highway in the ’70s. Our street was full of kids and we played all the time: johnny on the pony, stoopball, stickball, hockey on roller skates, scully, red rover, i declare war (losers always “went under the moon”), wiffle ball, ringaleavio. And the games in the schoolyards, like handball, off the wall, paddleball. There’s got to be a million spaldeens on the roof at PS 199 where I went and all the other schools, too. It was like a soap opera, too.
I have been searching for…
I have been searching for Spaldeens on the web since I got on the web. Today I find they are back! Yippie! I don’t remember the Pensie Pinkie unless they were the solid foam rubber balls that would get gouges taken out of them and you see the spongy inside. I hated them. We played stick ball all over the dead ends of Sutton Place in Manhattan. We hated loosing the Spaldeens in the East River. I remember a teacher in High School that always carried a Spaldeen. He had huge forearms. All day long he would squeeze his Spaldeen. I am heading for a sporting goods store now to find my first spaldeen in 30 years
I grew up on Linden Avenue…
I grew up on Linden Avenue in Belleville, NJ. My neighborhood friends and I all played punchball with the Pensy Pinkie. They were the best!! Back then it was almost a right of passage as each new generation of street urchin claimed rights to the open spaces between parked cars. As others have said the Spaldeen is harder than the Pensy, so better for stick ball. We used wiffle balls for stickball. We had houses with windows on both sides of the street and parents to answer to when we broke those windows. ( It seems like that happened at least once a year.) The Pensy was a great ball just to practice eye/ hand coordination by yourself. Throw it up as high as you could than catch it. Bounce it while you walked. Bounce it against a wall as you walk and than catch it. Bounce it between yourself and a friend and play catch walking down the street to get a Coke at the corner store. Pop it out in front of you with as much backspin as you could and make it come back to you. See who could bounce it the highest. And don’t forget “Keep Away” when you just had to pester one of your friends who just got a new Pensy. I am now 49 and living in North Carolina. I recently picked up the Pink Ball Book that has a Spaldeen in it. ( The first pink ball I’ve seen in 30 years.) I’ve been using it to play with my 11 year old nephew who had never used a pink ball. He loves it now! I like the Spaldeen a lot but if I could find a Pensy I would buy it.