I just posted this at Rich's site, but, will repeat it here with the hope it starts the discourse......

Back in the day, when I was a kid, we used to play stickball. Not the stickball game that you always see in those Willie Mays film clips from the '50's. (Teams playing each other, with bases in the street.) We played one-on-one, where a wall was your backstop and the pitcher threw to a box on the wall for a strikezone. You hit it - if he (the pitcher) fielded it, you were out - if not, it was a hit (and the distance determined the type of hit).

But, we also played a "short court" version of this game - called "Yankee Doodle." In this game, the batter FACED the wall (standing about 10 feet back from it) and the pitcher stood (about 20 feet) BEHIND the batter. The pitcher would throw the ball (from behind the batter) against the wall. The batter would then have to hit the "pitch" as it bounced off the wall - back towards the wall. And, then, the pitcher would have to field the batted ball as it bounced off the wall. Same rules - catch was an out, miss was a hit (of some kind).

I had some steps in the front of my house, and I always used to play a game involving the number of bounces. A dribbler was an out, and anything caught in the air was an out, but you got hits from line-drives or huge flies according to the number of bounces (1 was a single, 2 a double...) Since the steps had ledges that hung over the lower step, the strategy involved got rather complex. God I loved that game.

My impression is that the percentage of kids that play these types of games is way down from 20+years ago. They seem to spend less time on games that at least have a baseball analogy, and dedicate more time to other sports, as well as video games.

X-Box marks the spot.

My impression is that the percentage of kids that play these types of games is way down from 20+years ago. They seem to spend less time on games that at least have a baseball analogy, and dedicate more time to other sports, as well as video games.

I would agree with that. In many ways, I think we have zapped kids of their creativity. Plus, parents are more protective than ever about their kids playing outdoors, especially outside the property lines of the family home.

We played a game similar to the first described by NetShrineSteve. We had three guys on the field. One was the pitcher and the other two played each other. One guy batted and one guy fielded. In order to register an out on a ground ball, the batter/runner had to be struck by the fielded ball (in other words, a groundball back to pitcher, the pitcher fields and then has to strike the batter/runner (I should note here that we played with tennis balls)). A flyball was an out, of course. We played in several different yards, but they all had a fence and bordered another yard with a fence. Hitting over the closer fence was a double, over the farther fence a homer. If you hit into Jay's pool (relevant in two yards) you were out because it was annoying. We'd play dozens of games a day and keep standings over the summer - there were about eight of us that routinely played.

Thinking about it, I realize I would give a lot to spend a day like that now.

I moved from Cincy to Philly in '61. There were enough open spaces when I was in Cincy that we had some places to play "real" baseball. Wiffle ball was the one alternative. When I was by myself, I would either use the steps for grounder practice or my pitchback for fly practice. We also had a cement and cinder block basement, so my dad painted a strike zone and I could practice all winter long. That was the lone exception to no ball playing in the house.
Once we moved, my sister and I learned so many games from the kids who moved from the rowhouses in Philly to the suburbs. Halfball was played with a half a air-filled rubber ball, so the distance it was hit was limited and the curves that you could throw were fantastic.
Wire ball -- the batter had to throw the ball over a telephone wire. Caught in the air, it was an out, otherwise it was as many bases as you could get.
Hand ball -- the batter would toss the ball up and hit it with his/her fist or open but not-cupped hand and then run the bases. This was best played with a pimple ball. We played a one bounce, pitched version of this game, but if you hit the ball with your wrist it hurt so badly that we dropped the pitched game.
Curb ball -- usually just two players, the batter had to bounce the ball off the ground, then the curb. If caught cleanly in the air or on the ground it was an out. If it got past the fielder it was a single except if you hit the ground/curb combo just right. A ball clearing the street on the fly was a homer.

I tore the bark off one side of the largest tree in Ramsey, NJ playing a solo baseball game with rocks. Lets see if I can describe this layout.

The tree (maybe 4+ feet wide) was in a sunken in patio at the corner of our backyard. The tree was surrounded by brick wall about 3' out from the tree and dropped a foot to the lowest level of the patio. This was a 1/3 circular area floored with white crumbled stone and large round slate slabs. This was the field. Maybe 10-12' out from the tree. The "outfield fence" was a wood fence about 2' high. Behind this was a few feet of ivy (the bleacher seats) that was sloped up to lawn level. Just throw the rock at the tree and field it. All sorts of 10 year old's rules were applied. My own personal ballpark in the backyard. :-)

I used to play full games like this on days my few nearby friends weren't around.

My house had the biggest yard on the block, so we used to host all the whiffle-ball games for the neighborhood. There were about 10 kids who would play regularly, and we played all afternoon during the summer. I separated my shoulder when I was 6 years old sliding headfirst into third base - I hit a sprinkler head instead. Never slid headfirst again.

By the time I hit high school we had moved and I was playing at least 80 games a year of high school and Legion ball.

Man, I miss those playing days... even though they just ended.

Plus, parents are more protective than ever about their kids playing outdoors, especially outside the property lines of the family home.


SI did a report a few months ago about child obesity, and, this was listed as one of the issues - that parents were so concerned today about having their kids snatched that kids get driven everywhere and don't walk, bike-ride, etc. - as well as play outdoors on their own. The piece said that the percentages of kids being abducted kinda fly in the face of the parents concerns. Still, as a parent, I would hate for my kids to be one of the X% that actually have something happen to them. So, I can understand my parents are doing this today.

I played a pretty obsessive game of solo baseball in my (fairly spacious) backyard, with various distances corresponding to a single, a double, a triple, or a home run. Groundballs and fouls were outs.

I guess the better question is, did you guys play Little League or Lion's Club or anything? I was in LL till I was 12 (I'm 22 now) and even now I still play softball with my friends in the spring. Baseball at its heart is, of course, a team game, and it was always a treat to go back home every summer between college, call up 20 of my friends and get a game going at the public parks.

Oh, and on curb ball, if you missed hitting the curb correctly, it was a strike.

Hell, I must have gotten lost half a dozen times exploring all the bike paths that criss-crossed Bergen county. All this before the age of 12.

*stumbles into old fogey thread, looks around wildly*


In many ways, I think we have zapped kids of their creativity.

In more ways than just outdoor physical activity, this is true. Even legos, which were initially blocks with which you could do anything, have been packaged into sets that build specific things, so that they can sell more "sets." It makes more moeny for the company, but the parents that buy them lose the main joy of the lego, which was the creativity it engendered.

By the time I hit high school we had moved and I was playing at least 80 games a year of high school and Legion ball.

Man, I miss those playing days... even though they just ended.

When did your Legion ball days end? How is Legion ball doing? I should make an effort to see a few games this summer. I played on a Legion team in the late 80s. The summer of 1988 is still probably the best period of my life.

Bunyon

Legion days ended after I graduated high school. I played in the league with my school's team - that's usually the case where I played (Denver area), although there are a few posts who still sponsor teams. I suppose it's not techincally Legion ball in a classic sense, as we played a lot of other schools, some all-star teams, and the odd Post 542 or whatever.

Just because it's not big in Denver though doesn't mean it isn't thriving elsewhere. We played a tournament in Billings, Montana, where the two Legion sponsored teams pretty much dominated the sports page (especially during the week of the tournament).

In Albuquerque, Legion posts sponsor the local high school teams. La Cueva High School, currently in the midst of a ridiculous 3-year winning streak, was sponsored by Post 49. Boy, did they light me up. I don't think I lasted through the second on that lineup.

Oops, wait, guess that really didn't answer your question - I graduated from high school in 2004, so my last Legion game was in 2003.

Hell, I must have gotten lost half a dozen times exploring all the bike paths that criss-crossed Bergen county. All this before the age of 12.

I'm not even old, but I would just go out into the woods, lose myself, and then find my way home every day on the weekends.

Kids these days.

In more ways than just outdoor physical activity, this is true. Even legos, which were initially blocks with which you could do anything, have been packaged into sets that build specific things, so that they can sell more "sets." It makes more moeny for the company, but the parents that buy them lose the main joy of the lego, which was the creativity it engendered.

Give me an old fashioned set of wood blocks. You can build anything. You can then knock it down. You can hit your friends on the head with them. You can throw them. You can play craps with them. Wonderfull things.

In more ways than just outdoor physical activity, this is true. Even legos, which were initially blocks with which you could do anything, have been packaged into sets that build specific things, so that they can sell more "sets." It makes more moeny for the company, but the parents that buy them lose the main joy of the lego, which was the creativity it engendered.


Any kid who builds the "set" and then doesn't take it apart and build something cooler is an uncreative git who wouldn't do anything creative with *any* pile of bricks he or she is given.

Thanks Crafty. I'm sure we'd have been crushed by those city teams. Wait, we were. We were just a bunch of guys who talked a local post into sponsoring us. They didn't have a team before and didn't have one after. But it was a good three years.

Remember construx? Those were the ####. You could build a lot better, and bigger stuff than you could with legos. Lego buildings might have been better, but construx had much better vehicle possibilities. I made vehicles out of construx that I would play with for days.

Construx

Too much time on his hands.

Okay, that brings geekdom to another level. Thats past standing on line for a month for Star Wars level.

Okay, that brings geekdom to another level. Thats past standing on line for a month for Star Wars level.

Is it geeky that he did it, or that he he was proud enough to make a website to show other people his creations?

I think the only time I ever played with a hardball as a kid was in organized baseball -- Little league, Senior League (13-15 yrs. old), high school, and Babe Ruth (16-18?). The rest of the time, the kids in our neighborhood either played elaborate wiffle ball games, or basically regular baseball, but with a yellow tennis ball.

We first began using a tennis ball because I lived one street over from a great street, just full of kids more-or-less my age. The street ended in a circle (cul de sac?) and that was our field, with home plate in the middle of the street as it entered the circle. The outfield "walls" were the houses surrounding the circle. Hence, a tennis ball instead of a hardball. There was also a lot of trees; so although the distance wasn't that great, it was pretty difficult to actually hit a home run (on top of one of the houses.) I still think one of the greatest hits I ever had, at any level, was one day late in one of our neighborhood games getting all of a Rawlings glow-in-the-dark ball on the inside corner, and driving it through the branches of the red oak tree in left and onto the roof of the Dean's house. Walk-off HR.

A few years ago I ran into one of the guys who grew up in that neighborhood with me, and of course we started reminiscing. We estimated that for every hour growing up we spent playing or practicing "organized" baseball, we played 4-6 hours of some variation of it, in the neighborhood, just kids making it up as we went, no adults. In the afternoons in the spring, eventually somebody's mom would come out and watch us for a few minutes, and then inform us it was almost time for Little League practice. We were never happy to have to quit our "tennis ball baseball" game, as we called it, to go play the "real" thing.

Awhile back this subject came up, and someone here posted about summer evenings after dinner and how they would start hitting the wiffle ball in the back yard, and then their dad would come out to pitch, and pretty soon kids would be showing up from all over the neighborhood. I think they would even listen to the ballgame at the same time, although I may have invented that detail. Anyway, I just wanted to let whoever posted it know, your memory has stayed with me. I still think of it; hell, I could almost picture the scene in my mind. Usually, we can only really relate to our own memories. But yours was so compelling, it evinced nostalgia in someone else, of different experience, age probably, and XXX miles away.

Pretty cool, I think.

Okay, that brings geekdom to another level. Thats past standing on line for a month for Star Wars level.

says the guys that spend a lot of time talking baseball on the internet :)

The website. I made small ballparks with Legos into highschool, but I never showed them around in public. I later adapted them into drawings after three years of drafting class in HS. Those, I did show to architects. I should have pursued architecture.

The website. I made small ballparks with Legos into highschool, but I never showed them around in public. I later adapted them into drawings after three years of drafting class in HS. Those, I did show to architects. I should have pursued architecture.

ACtually, after giving the website a full long look, I'm going to have to agree with you. I think it was tha table he made for his other gaming interests that is the final straw.

One other thing I was just remembering -- in my childhood in the early 1970's, there was of course no internet, and very little baseball on TV (we didn't even get cable until the late '70's.) But still, the kids in our neighborhood were quite sophisticated about baseball in faraway places. Collecting and trading bubblegum cards (way before anyone knew they'd be worth something) was one way we learned about other teams and players. Also, I guess we read the papers.

Anyway, geographically, we all should have been Astros fans... I was, but now that I think of it, my best friend Craig was an Orioles fan, another kid down the street named Steve I think was a huge Cardinals fan. There were other kids with various other allegiances, too. We would have been considered provincial in most other ways, but were very "cosmopolitan" when it came to baseball.

In my neighborhood in an urban area there is a building with a big wall with no windows next to an empty lot that is perfect for kid's games. There is a sign on the wall that says: NO BALL PLAYING.

It is a very sad sign.

cardsfanboy - Who else would know better? :-)

cardsfanboy - Who else would know better? :-)

Besides, I admit to spending 6 hours on line to get opening night tickets for The Phantom Menace. Two weeks before opening night.

Griffy - If its anything like some I knew in NJ, its probably because of all the heroin syringes. Sad sign, indeed.

I never had legos as a kid(or construx or any of the cool toys other than one set of lincoln logs, and one erector set that I left outside and rusted...imagine toys made of metal)

mostly I played baseball as a kid, nothing fancy 6 or so per side, using a tennis ball, a wiffle ball bat taped with electrical?(silver) tape to strengthen it. if we were short people then we would have 'automatic' outs for certain types of hits hit to parts of the field that weren't covered. pitching was to let the hitter hit it, batter called his own strikes (I think I was the only one to ever call himself out on strikes though) no walks. and of course you played minimum of three games a day for at least 6 hours. (at least three of us played that way, throughout the day different groups of kids would join the teams or leave...why I finished second in homeruns with over 300 in one season)

Other games I liked when no one was around, of course Ozzie and Willie as I called them. Ozzie was playing against a wall, throwing at one brick, fielding the ball, transferring it and throwing it back at the same brick or else it was an error and the man reached base. Willie was simply playing catch by yourself with dives required...goal was to throw the ball as high as possible as far as you can throw it and still catch it on the dead run or with a dive(preferable)...then wheel around and try to throw a strike to the backstop.

the other game which I played when there was snow on the ground(usually in February or January) and for some reason couldn't get other people to play baseball was batters aim(never really got a good name for it) would go out with as many baseballs I could find, face a backstop, hit the ball to one of the six sections of the back stop (there were actually 9, but the top sections caused me to have to hunt for the ball if I missed) I would have to hit three balls to a section in a row, then go to the next section (bottom right, bottom center, bottom left, mid right, middle, mid left) after making all sections, I was allowed to move back five feet and repeat. (drawback was getting the balls, so hopefully I would have at least three balls, although 9 was preferable) eventually I would work my way too second base, and rare occasions I could make it to short centerfield...although I would then just do the three sides(left, right and mid, not worry about height) of course the loss of a ball was fairly common, wouldn't find it until the snow thawed a week or so later, and always in a muddy splatch.


(of course I played little league, but I always had one of those coaches that believed in everyone plays, and winning is secondary, at least he understood the value of a walk and let me leadoff)

The website. I made small ballparks with Legos into highschool, but I never showed them around in public.

If you were in high school now, you'd have them ballparks on a web site. :)

I'm not sure how cardsfanboy is not in the majors, with all of that practice.



Other games I liked when no one was around, of course Ozzie and Willie as I called them.

Because you didn't want anyone to see you or because there was noone to play with?

In my neighborhood in an urban area there is a building with a big wall with no windows next to an empty lot that is perfect for kid's games. There is a sign on the wall that says: NO BALL PLAYING.

It is a very sad sign.

Of course, there's always the play anyway until someone actually physically makes you leave, or skater, option.

One time we found a bucket of golf balls in the woods and used them to hit fungoes. Man those suckers flew. We also played alot of three on three football, hoops, and various baseball variants like hotbox, home run derby et cetera.

I'm not sure how cardsfanboy is not in the majors, with all of that practice.

Eckstein is taller than me....

no one around, for some reason a lot of the kids did things like eat dinner, watch tv or other stuff not related to baseball or star wars. (basically there was one other kid as into baseball as me, his brother was a naturally gifted athlete who didn't love sports but was great at all of them. while we loved them all, but had physical limits.)

we could usually find enough people for 3 or 4 days a week in the summer, but it was tough to find guys that wanted to play 7 days a week.(they would go swimming or do things with their families, or even worse, since this is St Louis, they would play soccer)

Eckstein is taller than me....

Didn't stop john cangelosi. Damn, he was a pain in the ass.



One time we found a bucket of golf balls in the woods

Spent an afternoon hitting tomatilloes into the woods once. Harder than tomatoes, and apparently unneeded in the large quantities we had, they worked well.

In retrospect, I had a dream sports junkie childhood. Six months a year we would play ball hockey 5 to 7 days a week, until it got dark. The other six months a year we would play 500 or running bases 3 or 4 nights a week and doubleheader hardball baseball both weekend days (4 total games -- pitch for your own team, and sometimes catch for your own team). We had a group of about 20-25 guys, and every F-in Friday a guy named Adam would call around to get commitments for both weekend days. We needed 14 to 18 each week -- the odd time we'd be stuck with 20, but we'd work it out. It was unbelievable -- like someone said above, these pick up games were SO much better than little league or organized ball. The same group of guys did this from when I was 13 to when I was 22. When I got married at 27 years of age, 18 of us got together for my "stag" and played a triple header. Good times.

One time we found a bucket of golf balls in the woods and used them to hit fungoes. Man those suckers flew.

Just out of curiosity, I wonder why there was a bucket of golf balls out in the woods? I've lost a ball in the woods once or twice, but ...?

We also played alot of three on three football, hoops, and various baseball variants like hotbox, home run derby et cetera.

I have thought it would be interesting to do a study of kids' versions of the major sports, and see how the neighborhood rules varied for neighborhood to neighborhood, or from town to town, region to region.

When we played wiffle ball, throwing the ball at the runner to get him out was legal (my brother drilled me from about two feet away one time -- it started a knock-down, drag-out in the middle of the game that ultimately resulted in my dad grounding me for two weeks... those solid no holes baseball-size wiffle balls could sting at close range.) I assume this was fairly universal, and probably came from kickball or something. On the other hand, we didn't have that rule when we played with a tennis ball. In football, we normally had three-to-four to a side, and played all-pass, no rushing (or a 'three-alligator rush'), three completes for a first down. We usually did something called 'P for K', too -- throwing the ball in lieu of kicking it on kickoffs (I don't think we ever punted.) I have wondered, if P-for-K was fairly widespread, if it didn't contribute in some way to the demise of staright-on, "American" place kickers. Kids weren't kicking in the schoolyards anymore, etc.

I know we didn't make up all these arcane rules. They were passed on to us or something.

At recess in school, we played Kill The Man With The Ball, which I am sure most everyone is familiar with -- one guy runs around with the football until he gets tackled, then has to "fumble" it and another kid picks it up. We'd have 20-25 kids playing that, it often looked like a rugby scrum. But, for some reason, we called the game Gossa-moochie (phonetic spelling.) I have no idea why, or where that came from.

We had the same football rules at recess that you had. Until they made us stop playing because we were getting too violent.

Then we switched to soccer and got even more violent.

and one erector set that I left outside and rusted...imagine toys made of metal)

When I was ten, that may have been the best toy that I had at the time (this is the mid-seventies so there was no such thing as video games in your house). I made cars, boats, fans...you name it, I made it.

As for baseball, I used to play pickup games with my brothers and friends all during the summer. We would play at the local school nearby until we couldn't see because of darkness.

I used to be a damn good handball player, too.

My cousin John and I would replay imaginary World Series in the backyard, often Pittsburgh versus the Orioles. We'd use the standard whiffle ball and a cleanly fielded play was an out, otherwise a hit depending on distance hit. It helped that there was an OF fence.

We kept box scores, when older would have to bat lefty for actual lefties, and would get pretty intense about it. It was probably the most fun that I had as a kid.

But yeah, street hockey, kill the guy with the ball, touch football, fungo hitting, soccer goal kicking, you name it we played it.

I didn't like sports as a young kid, my dad would've loved to play catch with me and turn me into a baseball player, but I was scared to death of failing in front of him, so I avoided it like the plague. By the time my interest in sports developed, the other kids were lightyears ahead of me, so with the exception of a couple of successful stints as a pitcher, I never played sports. When I got older, I moved with my mom to a neighborhood where the kids didn't play sports (in the sticks in northern WI), and never really caught up. I still loved sports, I was the referee/umpire of whatever game was going on at recess, but my skill level never caught up.

But if you want to talk about games set up to involve snowmobile races, I'm all over that.

I grew up (very late 70s, 80s) having computers and (later) video games, and I still did nothing but play sports, mostly baseball. We played year-round too, cuz California weather is sweet.

I played a ton of Wiffle Ball, both with friends and my brother, who is 2 years younger than me. We also played peg-the-runner for an out, but most of our strange rules were due to limited-size fields. I had a back yard once with a fence just to the left of where we played, so we had a rule that you couldn't pull the ball hitting right-handed, or you would be out. A friend of mine had the same backyard configuration, so he ended up relying on speed and grounders whenever we played. My brother was lefthanded, and I switch hit, so we tried to hit HRs, which were either past some predetermined distance or a fence, if appropriate.

I started switch hitting because another friend had the perfect baseball yard - a nice diamond shape with fences for left and right field. We played with real bats and tennis balls at his house - after we broke a window, no more baseballs. He had a Gene Tenace full-sized bat supposedly from a late-70s A's bat day, and it was bigger than any of the bats we used when we were 10 or 11 or so. It was hard for us to get around on the ball with the Tenace Bat, but if you hit the ball, it would rocket over the fence and we would have to go find the ball. We made a rule that if you wanted to use the Tenace Bat, you had to bat lefty. That's when I started switch hitting. I kept batting righthanded in Little League, but with my Wiffle Ball and Tenace Bat practice, I started switch hitting in Babe Ruth ball (13-15 yr olds).

Plus, that kid's parents (occasionally with my dad's help) would pick up 7-10 of us and get a pickup game going with his dad as the pitcher. He was a lefty that could throw all sorts of junk at us - palmballs, curves, sinkers, knucklers. Good times. I played pickup ball until I was about 22 before I couldn't get a game going any more.

At that point I could throw in the low to mid 80s, but I hadn't played organized ball since age 15. I was in All-Stars when I was younger, but I was 5'3" when I started high school, 5'8" as a junior, and I only grew to 6'1" as a senior and 6'3" later. I never kept playing, although I finally grew into a baseball body. I still kinda wish I had tried.

Did anyone else play Pickle? We would set up two bases and have a fielder at each and a runner trying to steal bases between throws. In retrospect, that was probably more of an 80s game.

Also, in line with the NO BALL PLAYING signs: we had a lot of trouble getting places to play the older I got. Parks would have no backstop and people playing frisbee or little kids running around, so it was ok playing Wiffle Ball, but to play real baseball, we would go to whatever local diamonds were available. If there wasn't a game or practice going, we would play there even if there were signs that the field was closed. We got chased away periodically because some park dude would tell us the field was closed, or they were working on the grass, or there was a softball league playing later that day. We would even work on the mound and batter's boxes when they were soaked and muddy from the sprinklers, especially if there was nearby dirt to use. Occasionally, there would even be plastic mesh webbing stuff along the outfield grass/infield dirt line (which incidentally made an excellent Wiffle Ball home run fence).

I think it is harder and harder today to use any diamonds outside organized leagues, which is a real shame. Damn you adult supervision! Free the Kids!

This is an awesome thread. It brings back some really, really great memories. All of my best childhood memories involve baseball.

My brothers and I played baseball every single day in the summertime. We had a million games, but the one we played most often was me (I’m the oldest) against the second oldest and then our younger brother was the all-time hitter. Since he was young enough that he struck out almost all the time, it was fair to have him on both teams. We played with a tennis ball and whoever wasn’t pitching or up to bat had to play catcher and called balls and strikes. The field we played on had a short fence with a palm tree in dead center field. If you hit the top of the palm tree it was a home run, but if you missed and it went over the fence you were out (because it was annoying to have to climb the fence). Also, anything hit in the air was a double, anything on the ground was a single. If you hit it hard enough that the tennis ball got stuck in the chain link fence it was a triple. Anything to right field was an out (just to make it harder). If you hit a pop fly the pitcher would run like hell to catch it either in the air or on one bounce (which was an out). Any grounder fielded by the pitcher was also an out. A little nubber that didn’t reach the pitcher was a foul ball. One summer in particular we must have played 100 games.

I joined a baseball team last fall in the Oahu Baseball League. It was the first time I’d played organized baseball since I was 14 (I’m 29 now). I think joining the league was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’m one of the worst players in the league, but I’m having a great time. I highly, highly recommend seeking out a team in your area to anyone who ever loved playing baseball. Everybody on my team and probably in the whole league had these same experiences we’re describing in this thread. You’ll love it, I can’t say enough about how great it feels to be playing baseball again.

Did anyone else play Pickle? We would set up two bases and have a fielder at each and a runner trying to steal bases between throws. In retrospect, that was probably more of an 80s game.

We played *pickle* throughout the 1960s, exactly as you described it. We would each choose a player and count the number of stolen bases. The cheapest ones came when one of the two fielders threw the ball away.

Did anyone else play Pickle? We would set up two bases and have a fielder at each and a runner trying to steal bases between throws. In retrospect, that was probably more of an 80s game.

Pickle?...we called this "Running Bases" or a strange take-off on "Monkey in the Middle".

Also we played...Flies-Up, Stoop Ball, Punch Ball, Box Ball, Green Monster Smash (don't ask), Tennis Court Open Hand (Slap Ball), Wall Climbers, Bizarro Ball (You held the barrel of the bat...and used the handle to hit with...very small "Sweet Spot" there and the pitcher had to hurl with his weaker arm)

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Calvinball!

Also we played...Flies-Up, Stoop Ball, Punch Ball, Box Ball, Green Monster Smash (don't ask), Tennis Court Open Hand (Slap Ball), Wall Climbers, Bizarro Ball (You held the barrel of the bat...and used the handle to hit with...very small "Sweet Spot" there and the pitcher had to hurl with his weaker arm)

Cupball! I just remembered... We'd go to our Little League park most nights even if we didn't have a game, to watch our friends' games, and hang out. Sooner or later there'd be a game going behind the right field wall of the 'major league field', where there was just enough ambient light from the that field's lights to be able to see enough to play. We'd get one of those old-timey waxed paper cups they used to sell fountain Cokes in at the concession stand, and wad it up real tight. The wax gave it more heft than a regular cup. Our open palm was the "bat." Just a silly variation that grew from idleness, but we played hard. I'd ride my bike home all sweaty and streaked with dirt, and my mom couldn't understand why ("You didn't even have a game tonight!")

Never played Pickle I don't think, but maybe a variation of it -- every once in awhile we'd set up the Slip 'n' Slide in the backyard, with a base on one end. One guy would stand by the base, and toss a wiffle ball striaght up into the air. The other would haul it across the backyard and launch into this elongated slide, trying to beat the tag when the ball came down. Fun as hell. No one really cared much if they were safe or out, I don't think. The sliding was the thing.

Also we played...Flies-Up, Stoop Ball, Punch Ball, Box Ball...

How could I forget, Repoz? We played Three Flies Up. Of all the games, this one was about as simple as they came. You caught three flies and you were up. Sometimes, we hit fungoes to the fielders and other times we threw popups and fly balls.

BTW, Rich L., thank you for the article that started this thread. Its been fun recalling things, and reading others recollections.

BTW, Rich L., thank you for the article that started this thread. Its been fun recalling things, and reading others recollections.

My pleasure. I've enjoyed reading everyone's youth games as well. Like you said, a good thread.

Also we played...Flies-Up, Stoop Ball, Punch Ball, Box Ball...


Actually, I have a lot of cousins that are much, much younger than me, and I still play Three Flies Up with them sometimes.

Oh, and we also called "Pickle" "Hotbox" sometimes.

And let me join in Rich L. - this really was great.

Pickle was great.

In elementary school, our playground had a large dirt mound that lent itself well to king of the hill. It was about twelve feet high and maybe 25 feet around the base. We played that for years and there were no rules. For instance, throwing dirt clods and rocks was okay. I got knocked off once when I got hit in the head by a large rock. The Mickey Mouse shirt my mom gave me was sopping with blood. The teachers tried to keep us from playing it, but I think we scared them. I miss that game almost as much as pickup baseball games.

every once in awhile we'd set up the Slip 'n' Slide in the backyard, with a base on one end. One guy would stand by the base, and toss a wiffle ball striaght up into the air. The other would haul it across the backyard and launch into this elongated slide, trying to beat the tag when the ball came down. Fun as hell. No one really cared much if they were safe or out, I don't think. The sliding was the thing.


This is awesome.

every once in awhile we'd set up the Slip 'n' Slide in the backyard, with a base on one end. One guy would stand by the base, and toss a wiffle ball striaght up into the air. The other would haul it across the backyard and launch into this elongated slide, trying to beat the tag when the ball came down. Fun as hell. No one really cared much if they were safe or out, I don't think. The sliding was the thing.

We should have a meet-up in August and do this, but with beer.