“Spike Ball” in Ocean Grove. Auditorium Square Park. By Jean Bredin. Blogfinger staff ©
Jean says: Every generation invents a new kind of ball game.
When I was a kid in New York it was curb ball. You would try to hit your Spalding in the right spot so it would go the farthest, so you could run around the bases.
My kids played stick ball.
Today a group of kids were playing Spike Ball. They bounce the ball on the trampoline and then they scurry to catch it.
It was nice to see a bunch of kids not attached to a device.
Editor’s note: All these games used a “Spaldeen” aka a Spalding pink high bouncer ball. We had stoops (3 or 4 steps leading up to the front door) in front of the garden apartments where I grew up, so we played “stoop ball.”—similar to curb ball. You had to hit the corner of the step just right to make it go far. There were one to three fielders—and no pitcher or batter. The rules governed the result: i.e. single, double , triple, homer or out.
Stick ball played in the street. If there were no wall, you would need a catcher. Internet photo
We also played :”stick ball” by drawing a strike zone on a wall, getting up to bat with a broom stick, and having the pitcher try to strike you out. If you hit the ball fair, there were fielders ready to squash your effort. If there were no wall, you would play in the street with a pitcher and a catcher. The best games were when you had a terrific “stick” and a new Spauldeen for maximum bounce to the ounce.
My friend Morty was not allowed to play with us because he was a star Little League pitcher, and his dad was afraid that pitching in a stick ball game would ruin his arm. Even then there were ridiculous dads interfering with kids games.——PG
DR. JOHN from Ken Burn’s documentary soundtrack: Baseball