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 Howard Goldman on March 17, 2008 at 9:24pm

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Hey David.

Four years younger but the same ground rules apply: right of 2nd Base was a foul ball. I remember one day, my friends starting a fungo game and the 'older boys' maybe you guys, claiming they had the field first. We were offered to play for the field with first team scoring 10 runs, winning the field. Only two homeruns were hit for the junior team. The first was hit by Michael Kagan and surprisingly, yours truly connected for the 2nd round-tripper. Sadly, we lost the game but for one afternoon, I held my head high with pride.

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Permalink Reply by David Neumann on March 17, 2008 at 10:27pm

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Hi Howard,
It was a great place to play. There were always kids of all ages going through the stages of the park. You had the little kiddies in the sandbox or on the mini-swings, next was the sliding pond area and monkey bars. By the way that sliding pond was quite high and had no protection whatsoever. Amazing we're still alive! The next stage was the heavy metal swings and the final stage was the concrete ball fields. I remember kids doing to us what we may have done to you. The cycle of life I guess!!

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Weppler on March 20, 2008 at 4:41pm

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I loved those light pink Spaulding balls! I can still remember the sound it made hitting the sidewalk and how far it would go when it connected with a bat.

I remember playing with smaller, bouncy balls too. They were hard and came in all different colours - super balls, maybe? We'd stand in the street, throw them as hard as we could, and they would go bouncing down the road with all of us running after them (and the balls always rolling under a car.)

Good times......... :-)

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Permalink Reply by David Neumann on March 20, 2008 at 6:00pm

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Hi Patricia,
I remember those "superballs" quite well. They bounced so high and so easily we never owned them for very long!
Regarding KISS, I must have been thinking of Gene Simmons.
Another thing I remember was Yo-Yos. Every now and then someone would bring one to school and then for a month it was the big thing at school.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Platsky on March 23, 2008 at 5:38pm

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The best balls for stickball were Pensy (maybe Pensie) Pinkies. Much better than Spauldings. Spaldings used to crack at the seam after several innings of play and were far inferior to the Pensy Pinkies. I don't remember the Pensy Pinkies having a seam. Dottie's Candy Store on Vleigh used to keep the Pensie Pinkies in a large wooden draw on the right side of the store. Spaldings were always the second choice. We'd only buy them if the Pensy Pinkies were out of stock.

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Permalink Reply by David Neumann on March 23, 2008 at 6:39pm

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You are not the first to speak of the superiority of Pensy Pinkies over Spaulding on this thread. I do remember balls far worse than Spaulding. My friends and I played much more baseball than stickball. On the baseball "field" at 164, the balls were only subjected to the force of the bat, rather than the bat plus the impact against the wall with so many pitches. Thus the Spauldings probably held up much longer with us. Anyway, I stand corrected!. Thanks for the memory.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Schiff on March 25, 2008 at 12:00am

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Hi Jeff, Pensy Pinkies were by far the "Rolls-Royce" of balls for stickball. They out bounced Spaldings especially when they were new. However,I seem to remember that they would go dead quicker than Spaldings(unless the seam cracked).

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy Morales on May 17, 2008 at 5:26am

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Classic stuff guys......either ball would certainly do.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy Morales on May 17, 2008 at 5:24am

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Hey Jeff!!!!
I have been actually wondering where the heck you have been....great to see your still around. Do you want to go see the Beatles...lol
Talk soon...

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Permalink Reply by Warren Berger on April 28, 2008 at 2:06pm

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I disagree, the best ball was the "Pensy Pinky"

Warren Berger

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Permalink Reply by andy tivoli on May 3, 2008 at 9:01am

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I would have to agree with Chief Justice Berger. Any serious stickball game at 164 had to be played with a pensie, if you played with a spalding and won there was an asterik next to the win. Once we were past like 9 years old, a spalding wouldn't last the whole game without cracking, plus with the seam on the spalding you could be almost unhittable on the mound.

Bats and Balls

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