Back in the 50's and 60's, neighborhood kids played outside almost every day. We played many games in the back (driveway) using a pimple ball. I hadn't seen these games played since I was a kid. There were many variations of these games:Stickball - the bat was usually a sawn off broom handle. The batter would face the row house on the other side of the driveway. There were two sets of parallel electric wires that ran horizontally across the row houses, essentially dividing the house into three zones. A ground ball that reached the house would be a single, a line drive of fly ball that reached the lowest zone would be a double, the middle zone would be triple, the highest zone would be home run. Hitting the ball on the roof would also be a home run, but that wasn't desirable because we'd have to use another ball. Kids looked forward to the days when roofers would come to repair someone's roof. Kids stand below and the roofers would throw those 'home run' balls down to us. Also, there was always the risk of breaking someone's window with a batted ball!
To avoid the risk of breaking windows, I'd sometimes walk over to Fels Junior High to play stickball in the yard. Strike zones were chalked on the wall and we'd pitch the ball overhand and fast. That was my favorite game as a kid.
Wallball - one player would throw the ball against the wall and the other player would try to catch it off of the bounce.
Handball - No resemblence to the handball game played on a handball court. No bats used in this game, but the 'batter' would toss the ball up in the air and use his fist to punch the ball, then run to the bases. The bases would be corners of the driveway blocks. Usually, there were two players on each team, one player would be an 'infielder' and the other an 'outfielder'.
Boxball - Similar to handball, but there would be a pitcher who would 'pitch' the ball to the batter on one bounce, the 'batter' would use his fist to punch the ball and then run the bases.
Halfball - When our pimple balls broke in two around the seam, we'd use a half to play this variation of stickball. It's much harder to hit a half ball.
Stepball - Played in front of the house. One player would bounce the ball off of the steps and the other player would try to field the ball.
Update 10/8/09: Thanks to Mike Flaherty for contributing his pimple ball photo to the blog!
26 comments:
Yes thsoe were the days when just a 16 cent (15 cents and 1 cent sales tax)would be the most fun for all the kids in the neighborhood. And I remember many of these games. It was just fun to play and compelte with the neighborhood kids.
@Anonymous - Wow, I'm impressed that you remember the exact cost of the pimple balls including tax! I remember buying balls from a corner store right across the street from Fels Junior High. They kept the balls in a plastic bucket.
Steve from South Philly says; Unless some of you guys originally came from South Philly you stole all our games. What you Northeast guys did have going for you was Linton's, H & H, the best dances and most of the beautiful and wonderful gals in Philadelphia...one of whom I married.The Northeast was also a great place for us South Philly guys to spend the days when we'd cut school and spend the days at NE High. Always nice to spend lunch time with the 'ladies'. Of course you guys lost most of the fights between NE & S Philly. Fortunitely, everything ended well. The best memories I have of NE Phila. is the friendships I made and maintain more than 50 years. N-S-E-W, There's no price to apply to these memories.South Phila. has the strongest ties but you guys are a close second.
If I had 16 cents I would buy a pimple ball but if I only had 12cents I would buy a pinky ball. I used to buy them at Babytown across from H&H. My favorite days were when the roofers would throw down the the half balls from the roof. You can still buy pinky balls from Five and below for $2.00. I taught some of the kids in my neighborhood to play box ball. The liked it when the parents played but didn't play when the parents left.
Hey... You're forgetting Chink? Perhaps not a politically correct name for a game, but an awesome game all the same. You'd need to return a ball to the wall on one bounce and any number of kids can play. Each miss would spell a letter of C-h-i-n-k (similar to h-o-r-s-e).
The game can be played with any ball that has bounce... pimple ball,tennis ball, etc. But, the pinky ball was most desired for the game.
An alteration of the game often played against the wall at the Bushrod Library was assies-up. Where as one loses, he holds on to the wall and must present his posterior (thus assies-up) for the victors, to in turn, take a free throw at the loser. The free throw would typically be the winner(s)'s hardest fast ball, right down the pike (ouch).
It really sucked to get C-H-I-N-K with four guys still in and eligible for a free-throw... Especially if any had a sizzling fast ball.
Michelle from Iowa: Hey, guys. Girls played too! I'm looking for a couple dozen pimple balls for my cousin's 50th birthday! We're south Philly born and spent our childhood there. Any ideas where I can find even one?? magshawk@msn.com
Thanks, friends!
the company that made those pimple balls went out of business, I have looked too. Try the vermont store company they often will find products out of circulation for youu. Good Luck from a swp kid at heart....
To Michelle from Iowa: Here is a link I found and purchased from this guy. The half balls were actually better than the originals. We play fast pitch with a plate and umpire and I am able to make these half balls curve, riser and fastball. Hope this helps. http://www.streetplay.com/cities/philadelphia/
Halfballs
Return of the halfball!
Now you can get halfballs courtesy of our Philly friend, Marc Polish (now he's on the outskirts of Philly–close enough for us). These precut halfballs use the same type of rubber as pimple balls (without stars or pimples). Though Marc isn't selling them online, you can still contact him the old-fashioned way for pricing and order information:
Marc Polish
Marc Polish Associates, LLC
Margate, NJ 08402
609-823-7661
mpolish@verizon.net
How about wire ball? where you had to throw the pimple ball up to hit a telephone wire,and catch it on its way down for an out...if it hit the wire and fell safely it was a run, if it did not hit a wire but you muffed the catch it was a base runner, got it??
How about "Ass Ball" if your Mom was around you called it "butt ball", it was played like errors, you threw the ball against a wall and took turns fielding the ball if you made an error you had to go to the wall and bend over, each player then got a chance to throw the ball as hard as he could at your "butt"
Good memories, wireball, boxball, stepball, wallball, and of course half ball.
I took some pics and had Zazzle put them on their items. Check out : http://www.zazzle.com/oldie48/gifts
I hope you enjoy, and it brings back other games and good memories.
I hope to add other memories,skate key, scooto, bike siren(sounded like police car), frogmen, etc.
Great site. Just the memories of all the games we played as youngsters. I try to explain to my kids and they look at me like I'm crazy. Best games were, box ball, wall ball,wire ball. Used to get balls in the sewer as well. Great times and we will never forget them.
LK from Overbrook Park
Just seeing the pic of the Pimple Ball made me smile. We'd play boxball and put "stuff" on the ball, making it bounce to the left, or backwards, anything to make it tougher to hit. Wallball, handball, stepball, wireball, 10 or 12 hours /day in the summer. After dark, we'd play baby in the air with a hardball, cause we were stupid. Pimple balls were preferred to Pinkies, but I'm not sure why. They cost 15 cents at Zafran's pharmacy in Bells Corner.
Just call me a 'Homey' - others lived in a house I lived in a "HOME" - St John's Orphanage 40th & Wyalusing in West Philly. I left there in 1043 and went to "The Hut" in Eddington, between Croydon & Cornwell Heights on State Road.
We rarely hd a new 'pimple ball' but when we did it didn't last long. Then we played 'halfy' with a broom handle that we absconded from the storeroom without letting the Sisters see us throw the straw over the fence onto Westminister Ave. Our Chapel wall was the outfield and if you hit the wall below the chapel window sill it was a single, over the top of the windows and it was a triple, else it was a double to hit the all. Pitched underhand and with a good eye it was a hit if the fielder did not catch it off the wall.
I was talking to my son in Texas just the other day and it sure brought back many memories.
I'll be 82 in 6 days and it was really good to be able to put thses thought down for someone else to read - I am a little too old for joining groups but I want to say THANK YOU for having a place where I couuld 'talk' about the old platground game at St John's.
While reading about all these great childhood memories with the pimple ball,it dawned on me that no one mentioned light ball, which is what we played after dark. Same a wire ball but ball was thrown at the street light. And I also noticed that nobody mention the great game of Hose Ball. Where 4 or 5 inch lenghts of old garden hose were cut and thrown to be hit using the stick ball bat.(I was whacked more than once for cutting my moms good broom down) Ahh, the memories!
My grandfather was a roofer and he'd collect all the balls he'd find on the flat rowhouse roofs and keep them in a drawer for my brother and me to take when we'd visit him.
Pimple balls were great. We'd cut the thick Pennsylvania Pinkies in half for halfball games because the pimple balls were too flimsy to travel far.
Wireball was a two-team, four-person game. The 'batter' would try to hit one of the two wires so the ball would either come straight down and be uncatchable for a single or keep traveling past the second kid for a homer.
Stickball, stepball (two players), wallball, wireball, halfball, handball - we played them all!
Did not need a roofer in my neighborhood (Feltonville). We went up there ourselves once a week to get all the halfies, pimple balls and wiffle balls. I kept the goods one.
Help us bring Half Ball back again. We are looking for stories, photos, videos,Tournaments or meetings and more to get the word out to everyone. Please visit our website at: http://www.haf-rubr.com and our Slogan is: “Introducing an Old Game to a New Generation.” Thanks and this is a great site as well.
how about when the ball went down the sewer....remember the nasty part of the street where everything was washed down there....on days when we didn't have 15 cents and no one wanted to scrub steps or collect bottles for the money...the gang would select the smallest guy...normally me ...lol...and shove me down there to collect old pimple balls and those pink balls...bottles we'd wash for the money....held me by my two feet...and I didn't dare touch the insides or even try to breath,
normally got at least 3-4 balls so was well worth it...
if you are looking for pimple balls or half balls
Contact marcpolish@gmail.com
I don't know about you S. Philly guys. We used to wrap a stretched out a wire clothes hanger around one end of a half ball stick and the other end fashioned into a hoop smaller than the ball. The hoop we would place under the ball in the sewer and pull the stick up with the ball on the hoop. I still play with a friend in front of my house now in the Subs. Most of my neighbors think I'm crazy except their sons who are asking what kind of game we are playing. I'm only too glad to bring them in to the fold.
Bob Nardone originally from E. Boston, MA.
Just wanted to say before moving to the northeast, or I should say fox chase, near Oxford circle area, I lived a couple yrs in Overbrook Park, right directly next to the creek (pennypack?) on Brocton rd. Can't remember the address but it was around 7400 block maybe. I remember the round bank in town. It looked so cool.
found halfball's for sale. Contact marcpolish2GMAIL.COM
found halfballs for sale. Contact marcpolish@gmail.com
my name is Marc Polish I sell HalfBalls. $24.95 plus $8.95 shipping and handling.
marcpolish@gmail.com
Anyone selling the full pimple balls? Please let me know. My email is riven1965@gmail.com.
Marc do you know anyone selling the complete ball? My email is riven1965@gmail.com.
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