Halfball: Difference between revisions
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|Invented Game=No | |Invented Game=No | ||
|Description=<p>Halfball was a game using half of a rubber ball and imaginary baserunning. It was apparently the same game as [[Half-Rubber.]]</p> | |Description=<p>Halfball was a game using half of a rubber ball and imaginary baserunning. It was apparently the same game as [[Half-Rubber.]]</p> | ||
<p>It was described as a street game on | <p>It was described as a street game on Wikipedia.</p> | ||
<p>Baby Boomer Jack Hammer (actual name!) describes | <p>Baby Boomer Jack Hammer (actual name!) describes <em>Half Ball </em>as a subspecies of a street game (known there as stickball) as played in Cambridge MA in the late 1950s. The ball used in this game was a hollow pink spiky object known as a "pimple ball," which, when stressed by play, tended to split open along its seam. The players separated the two halves, and the resulting game was called half ball. A half ball had interesting aerodynamic behaviors.</p> | ||
<p>The bat used in this game was a broom handle sawed off at about 30 inches. Man- | <p>The bat used in this game was a broom handle sawed off at about 30 inches. Man-hole covers in the street could serve as bases for actual baserunning. Jack adds: "Besides a manhole covers, sometimes we marked outlines of bases with chalk (rarely available) or with pieces of slate roof tiles. sometimes we used a board for home or second base. First base and third base could be a tree, a utility pole, or the tail light or head light of parked vehicles." Email of 12/31/2019. </p> | ||
|Sources=<p>See also [[Half-Rubber]] and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfball. | <p>(Another subspecies of game , called "Judge." employed imaginary runners.) Oncoming traffic was marked by a shriek --"Carrr!!!" -- that cleared the motorway of lads. </p> | ||
|Query=<p>Was a pimple ball known to be used regularly in other locations?</p> | |Sources=<p>See also [[Half-Rubber]] and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfball. Accessed December 2019.</p> | ||
|Comment=<p>We asked Protoball friend Mark Schoenberg about any experience with Stick Ball in 1950s Brooklyn. He recalls that Spaldeens rarely split open, 'though balls known as "Pinkies" sometimes did. A floppy half-Pinkie could be employed in fungo games, but not in a continuation of a stickball game. (Email of 1/1/2020).</p> | |||
|Query=<p>Was a pimple ball known to be used regularly in other locations for baserunning-type games?</p> | |||
|Has Supplemental Text=No | |Has Supplemental Text=No | ||
}} | }} | ||
Revision as of 17:30, 3 January 2020
| Game | Halfball |
|---|---|
| Game Family | Fungo |
| Location | |
| Regions | US |
| Eras | Derivative, Post-1900 |
| Invented | No |
| Tags | |
| Description | Halfball was a game using half of a rubber ball and imaginary baserunning. It was apparently the same game as Half-Rubber. It was described as a street game on Wikipedia. Baby Boomer Jack Hammer (actual name!) describes Half Ball as a subspecies of a street game (known there as stickball) as played in Cambridge MA in the late 1950s. The ball used in this game was a hollow pink spiky object known as a "pimple ball," which, when stressed by play, tended to split open along its seam. The players separated the two halves, and the resulting game was called half ball. A half ball had interesting aerodynamic behaviors. The bat used in this game was a broom handle sawed off at about 30 inches. Man-hole covers in the street could serve as bases for actual baserunning. Jack adds: "Besides a manhole covers, sometimes we marked outlines of bases with chalk (rarely available) or with pieces of slate roof tiles. sometimes we used a board for home or second base. First base and third base could be a tree, a utility pole, or the tail light or head light of parked vehicles." Email of 12/31/2019. (Another subspecies of game , called "Judge." employed imaginary runners.) Oncoming traffic was marked by a shriek --"Carrr!!!" -- that cleared the motorway of lads. |
| Sources | See also Half-Rubber and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfball. Accessed December 2019. |
| Source Image | [[Image:|left|thumb]] |
| Comment | We asked Protoball friend Mark Schoenberg about any experience with Stick Ball in 1950s Brooklyn. He recalls that Spaldeens rarely split open, 'though balls known as "Pinkies" sometimes did. A floppy half-Pinkie could be employed in fungo games, but not in a continuation of a stickball game. (Email of 1/1/2020). Edit with form to add a comment |
| Query | Was a pimple ball known to be used regularly in other locations for baserunning-type games? Edit with form to add a query |
| Has Supplemental Text |
Comments
<comments voting="Plus" />