Growing up in “The Projecks” as pronounced it, the best ball for playing stoop was the Pensie-Pinkie. I’ve heard people say that these were great for punch ball also but they were harder and tougher on the knuckles. There was no feeling – or sound – like hitting a Pinkie off the “sweet spot” the protective metal on a housing project stoop.
I grew up in Manhattan om the lower east side…Jacob Riis Projects….We played there and then as I grew older we played on 13th St between Ave A and 1st Ave…. I just recently found a Spaldeen ball… and I;m looking to start a league here in Virginia…Today is only the second day of this adventure…. My goal is to get a team up and match up with those in NYC… and so on… To eventually play in Puerto Rico’s World Series… I use to play all version’s of this game… and now that I’m 55 years old and in relatively good shape.. I’m looking to play once again!!!!
WHITE CASTLE BURGERS WERE .10 SLICE OF PIZZA, .15 CIGARETTES, .30 MY FAVORITE TY SHOW” AMOS & ANDY” I STILL WATCH IT ONLINE. WENT TO P.S. 112 JOHN PHILIP SOUZA JR.HS 142 AND GRACE DODGE HS IF ANYONE INVENTS A TIME MACHINE, YOU KNOW, LIKE ‘BACK IN THE FUTURE’ LET ME KNOW. LOL NO JOKE BEST LOOKING CAR ’57 CHERRY RED CHEVY [MISS THAT CAR] I COULD GO ON AND ON.,MY BEST FRIEND IN EDENWALD PROJECTS WAS/IS ANA VIENTOS. ANA, WHERE ARE YOU?MISS YOU. I ALSO MISS LEONA LEWIS, ARNETHA BATTS., NORMA ROSARIO,MIRIAM VEGA,WE CALLED ‘MIMI MYRNA,LILY,YVONNE AND MARIA,FOUR SISTERS , THERE FATHER’S NAME IS LUIS.,THEY LIVED ON THE FIRST FLOOR OF ONE OF THE BIG BUILDINGS,ACROSS THE STREE FROM ME.
I GREW UP IN THE 50’S, IN EDENWALD PROJECTS, 225TH LACONIA AVENUE. WITH 2 OLDER BROTHERS AND ONE GIRL[ME],PLAYED ALOT OF STICKBALL [ WITH THE SPALDING OF COURSE] AND HAD THE HANGERS READY. MY NAME IS SONIA SANTIAGO BROTHERS:JUAN SANTIAGO EDDIE SANTIAGO BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE, BEST ERA THERE’LL EVER BE. OF COURSE I LOVE MY DOO-WOPS OH, IF I COULD ONLY TURN BACK THE HANDS OF TIME
I just painted 3 skelly courts in my day schools yard. I am going to teach 100 6th grade boys how to play skelly. I have over 100 bottle and Snapple caps, crayons and magnifying glasses. I am a science teacher at the school and I will be relating the game to Newton’s Laws of Motion. I will teach them the art of weighting the pieces and hiding the washers under the melted crayon. I learned the game in the Pomonok housing projects of Queens, NYC in the 1950’s. This game never goes away and it is addicitng!
I grew up in the Bronx from 1950-1964. For some reasons I thought if you couldn’t afford a Spaldeen you got a Pencie Pinkies. Remember you used to call out a word (maybe tibs) if the ball was yours and it got lost, over a roof or in the sewer, they had to buy you a new one. What a blast those times were. I loved growing up in the Bronx. I lived on Noble Avenue from 1950-1960 and then the Castle Hill Projects from 60-64. On Noble Avenue we had a stoop and we would play stoopball and all the other games you guys mentioned. All great memories.
this is an all out challenge i coach a group of kids in the east harlem projects where i grew up and if any 1 who is reading this reach me at justussports [at] yahoo [dot] com i have pics on my facebook page look up angelo martinez pics also on myspace.com/justussports..it would be cool to hear from any 1 because we r the bestttttt we play with pocker chips the best
I was describing the game to my grandson, telling him how I played the game at the Dyckman Projects in Washington Heights in the 50’s, and how my middle finger would be bleeding and raw all the time because of the ragged edge of the soda bottle caps and how we would rub the bottoms on the sidewalk to smooth them out from the bumps of the soda can opener……he was amazed that they didn’t have screw on bottle tops…..he also didn’t know what a radiator was when I told him that that’s how we melted the crayons into the bottle tops and sometimes the wax would overflow down the sides of the radiator and my mother would yell at me.
I played Skelsies in the 70’s in the Vladeck Housing projects on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I played so much in the summer that my knees were permanently black with dirt all summer long. I discovered the gray lids from the 35mm film worked great with a little melted crayon. I would float a dime in the middle for style and weight. There were quite a few fights due to the Slappsies which shot the opposing cap down the block. I miss the simpler times. Now with giutar Hero you just don’t get the neighborhood feel. Thanks for the warm memories.
The Marcy Projects 1966 to 1972, those were the days I was happy to have either one of these great balls. It meant the games would go on! I had a ball during this time of my life, wouldn’t have it any other way. True sluggers can remember the smell of the pensie pinky ball after it was split open on a good connect.It held the chalk (Strike), well also.