Bats and Balls

Whenever we would play baseball or stickball in the park, we needed a red rubber ball. But not just any ball. A lot of the local stores sold red balls but some brands were junk with little bounce. The cadillac of red balls was Spaulding which was more light pink. It gave a huge bounce.

We always played fungo style using a stickball bat (we never used regular bats). Most would lob it up, let it bounce once, then WHAMMO! If you connected, it was outta there, over the fence, and often into the houses. After a while a bunch of us could routinely hit it over the fence so to keep from spending time looking for balls, we changed the meaning of a home run to be the top tier of the far fence. I remember me and Jeffrey Strauss having a home run derby.

Regarding stick ball bats, we would usually use mop handles and wind sticky black tape on one end for a good grip. Perfect! And for some reason we often ran the bases in the opposite direction. Anything hit to the right of second base was considered foul.

Now to basketball. The two hoops furthest from the school were the busiest. I would just watch when I was too young to play with the older crowd. One kid stands out who had the nickname "Critter". His real name was Neal Gefner and his father was a locksmith. He was a few years older than me. He was short but very quick and had a great shot. I also remember that the hoops rarely had a net on them The backboards on those hoops had very little bounce to them and I definitely recall the thud sound the ball would make when it hit the backboard. Because of the backboard's lack of spring, you could shoot a bankshot from "downtown".

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Taylor on May 19, 2008 at 5:11pm

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As far as stickball went, the Pinky was to best. We used to have 4 games going at once behind
PS164 between the bldg and the fence. I know you can relate. Do you remember Bill's deli? Ofd course you do. The mission sodas, great potato salad, Rheingold beer! Wow, I am so old.
Dennis

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Meltzer on September 28, 2008 at 10:56pm

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Yes, the Pennsy Pinkie was first , and the Spaulding was the second choice. And let's not forget all the punchball that was played in Queens in those days. There used to be one kid, Zoltan Stein, who used to punch the Pennsy Pinkie over the 164 fence every time he was up at "bat".

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Permalink Reply by Larry Kingsley on February 28, 2009 at 7:33pm

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Alas, the basketball hoops you mention are gone. So is the handball wall. Didn't you ever use a ball called a pensy pinky (excuse the spelling). By the way, your mother owes me a few bucks from the last time I baby sat you.

Larry Kingsley

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Duzenman on October 1, 2009 at 5:39pm

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I remember Neil "Critter". I always thought "Critter" was his last name. Do you remember Mitch Shorr's bank shot? He had that shot down to a science. I remember returning to PS 164 park after some time had passed and Mitch Shorr was still there. Kinda sad!

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Permalink Reply by robert conti on October 23, 2009 at 11:50pm

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i think the ultimate stick ball was the penzi pinky ball only sold at dotties candy store she had stock in them they went the farest they could also be used in punch ball and home run derby the things were invinceable and let me tell ya u could always find them after u hit themu had to know the bouncing power of the ball and what side of the roof they hit still got a stick ball bat and a penzi pinky ball till this day later for now

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Permalink Reply by Ernie Stock on August 10, 2010 at 11:57pm

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I thought Spauding's were long discontinued, but I was in an ice cream store in SF run by a former New Yorker my age and he had a basket of Spauding's on the counter. We reminisced about the old days and I had to buy one for old times sake. It was $2.95 and worth every penny. The last time I bought one, it was 25 cents.
Brought back great memories. I played a lot of handball on that wall at PS 164.

Bats and Balls

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Russ Schnapp

1970s

1980s