Video games and technology have banished these games to memory. I grew up in Brooklyn - there was nothing you couldn't do with a 15 cent rubber ball and a brick wall or sidewalk. Stickball, fungo, box baseball, hit the penny, war, slap ball, stoop ball, and on and on.
And if you had extra dime - 25 cents total - you could score a "spaldeen" or a Pennsy Pinkie. High bounce balls that almost guaranteed a home run if you could connect.
Some games were native to just one borough. A friend of mine grew up in the Bronx - didn't play the same street games and sometimes called the same game by a different name.
Bottle caps, rubber balls, wooden popsicle sticks, and colored chalk...that's all we needed...
2 comments:
Video games and technology have banished these games to memory. I grew up in Brooklyn - there was nothing you couldn't do with a 15 cent rubber ball and a brick wall or sidewalk. Stickball, fungo, box baseball, hit the penny, war, slap ball, stoop ball, and on and on.
And if you had extra dime - 25 cents total - you could score a "spaldeen" or a Pennsy Pinkie. High bounce balls that almost guaranteed a home run if you could connect.
Some games were native to just one borough. A friend of mine grew up in the Bronx - didn't play the same street games and sometimes called the same game by a different name.
Bottle caps, rubber balls, wooden popsicle sticks, and colored chalk...that's all we needed...
- Jeff
Jeff,
That sounds like the makings of a novel or at least a great short story.
Thanks!
Michael
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