Backyard ball. How did you play?

[tomtom80]

We played a ton of wiffle ball. Had our own “custom” bats. Kept homerun totals. There was a tree in the middle of right field that was the “triple” tree. To this day I would bet I could strike 90% of you out.

Also, not proud of it, but we’d play “Smear the queer”. Fenced in spot, one football, 6-10 guys. Whoever had the football got basically murdered until someone else got the ball.

We called that cream the carrier

 

[HCCForever]

I grew up right behind St Augustine’s School. Played LL at Hyland. Swim lessons and the 0.25 golf card at Goodie. Graduated from HS in 85. What year were you?

I graduated from South a decade before you. Gene and Joe Reilly were our gym teachers.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

We called that cream the carrier

We called it Kill the Carrier.

Forgot to mention wall ball before school started, think it had another name as well that I can’t recall. Throw a tennis ball against the wall, if someone catches it they throw it against the wall again. If you try to catch it and miss, whoever picks it up gets to hurl it as hard as they can at you as you run to touch the wall.

 

[Deepster]

I graduated from South a decade before you. Gene and Joe Reilly were our gym teachers.

Joe was my gym teacher and Joe Jr was a freshman when I was a senior. I'm sure we know lots of common people.

When I was a freshman, first day of gym class Joe Reilly was our teacher. He handed out street hockey sticks and we thought "cool" and he proceeded to teach us how to run military drills (present arms, right shoulder arms) and do push ups until we were exhausted.

 

[Deepster]

My brother shot me with a bow and f$#%ing arrow as a kid right in the thigh. He also gave me a concussion jousting on bikes with mops in the yard. And I still babysit this clowns two kids every Friday.

He posts on here but won't out his screen name to me. NOW IS YOUR CHANCE.

LOL. That reminds me. There was a auto mechanic at the corner of Kenneth and Maple Ave and the area behind it was all rock. We used to grab metal garbage can lids as shields and have rock fights. They usually went until someone's mom screamed from a porch or someone got hit really bad in the head. I have a scar on my forehead to this day from one.

 

[gtcam]

LOL. That reminds me. There was a auto mechanic at the corner of Kenneth and Maple Ave and the area behind it was all rock. We used to grab metal garbage can lids as shields and have rock fights. They usually went until someone's mom screamed from a porch or someone got hit really bad in the head. I have a scar on my forehead to this day from one.

We did the same thing but with no shields and used these huge acorns from a certain oak tree. Lasted 2 years of great fun until 3 of us in the 3rd year were hit in the mouth and broke teeth. Parents put a quick stop to that game via chain saw action on that tree.

 

[Deepster]

We did the same thing but with no shields and used these huge acorns from a certain oak tree. Lasted 2 years of great fun until 3 of us in the 3rd year were hit in the mouth and broke teeth. Parents put a quick stop to that game via chain saw action on that tree.

So funny. In like 18 months, I had ER visits for a sprained thumb, a concussion and stiches in 3 different spots on my head. DCS actually came to our house and interviewed my parents!

 

[HCCForever]

Joe was my gym teacher and Joe Jr was a freshman when I was a senior. I'm sure we know lots of common people.

When I was a freshman, first day of gym class Joe Reilly was our teacher. He handed out street hockey sticks and we thought "cool" and he proceeded to teach us how to run military drills (present arms, right shoulder arms) and do push ups until we were exhausted.

We ran similar drills. I had Gene freshman year. One kid in my class forgot his sneakers so he had to hang from the pullup bar the entire period. Of course, he couldn't. Gene was more intense than Joe.

We were the first class to play street hockey in gym. Our team won the inaugural Tea Cup handed out to the winning intramural street hockey team. I'm not sure if that cup is still around. If it is, it is probably at Northwest Catholic.

 

[bjc42]

It wasn't a hunting arrow--it was a target arrow. Just one made for kids, but it definitely stuck in the meat of my thigh. Less-than-pleasant experience.

That's still crazy lol

 

[Methalius]

Before I could drive, I'd just wander around the neighborhood and see if any of my friends were shooting on their home basketball hoop. Typically it would be 1/2 court 1 on 1 or 2 on 2.

After I got my license like 2 days after I turned 16, I was always driving to a town over which was about a 10 minute ride to a basketball park in Torrington. I played against Murray Williams a bunch growing up. He brought Chris Smith and Scott Burrell with him one time which was mindblowing for everyone who was there but no one showed it.

I was always running full court games until I went off to college.

 

[Jumpman62114]

Growing up the court in the middle of our apartment complex was kind of the beacon for all the kids. Endless days playing half/full court. I never played organized hoops until 8th grade so I learned to play through street ball.

Driving by courts at parks which almost never get used makes me a bit sad. Seems like everything is about organized indoor play from an early age now.

 

[Waquoit]

We liked to play touch football on our rarely travelled street. The telephone poles were the perfect length between end zones. One day, some knob called the cops on us and the guy sat us all down and read us the riot act. That's one way to get the respect of the youth. We were far from troublemakers and afraid of "getting on trouble" yet we were still laughing at the guy after he left. " Whaddaya in for kid?" "Playing football in the street" And they all moved away from me on the bench...

 

[mauconnfan]

We played a ton of wiffle ball. Had our own “custom” bats. Kept homerun totals. There was a tree in the middle of right field that was the “triple” tree. To this day I would bet I could strike 90% of you out.

Also, not proud of it, but we’d play “Smear the queer”. Fenced in spot, one football, 6-10 guys. Whoever had the football got basically murdered until someone else got the ball.

I’d take that bet back in the day and give you odds Deep. Either side of the plate too

 

[storrsroars]

" Whaddaya in for kid?" "Playing football in the street" And they all moved away from me on the bench...

No creating a nuisance?

 

[Spaceman213J]

The stories of the BB guns and bows & arrows reminded me of a few things.

I remember one really hot evening in July when I was like 8 or 9, and my parents, sister and I were having dinner out at the picnic table in our fenced in back yard. It was around 5:30, hot and humid with sweat pouring off of us. Then my friend & neighbour appears at the fence and scales it like it's nothing and hops down next to us. He is wearing jeans, work boots, a ski mask, goggles, a long sleeve shirt and a old dirty red plaid jacket (which is how we knew it was him). He asked if we I had seen my brother around. We answered 'No' and he took off out our gate carrying his BB gun. A few minutes later my brother hops the fence asking if we have seen our neighbour. He's dressed in a winter jacket, two pairs of sweatpants, converse high tops, a baseball cap with a hand towel tucked in around it and he's wearing my dad's safety glasses and carrying his BB gun. He runs off. A few minutes later we hear the two of them shooting at each other across the street.

Also, my friends and I used to launch rockets, but then we found out how much more fun it was to launch the engines w/out them inside a rocket. We also shot arrows straight up into the air (target arrows of course). Before my dad finished clearing the lot, a couple of my friends and I would shoot arrows back and forth with us each standing on a bank at the ends of the lot. We'd use a walkie-talkie to tell when we were sending the arrow back over so we could lookout for it.

We also built forts, played football, kickball and a bunch of other made up stuff. We even played a game akin to pickleball with an old badminton net we strung across the driveway using the basketball poll and a small step ladder. We used prokadima balls and paddles.

When I was like 5 or 6, my brother would take me riding down the hill at the top of our street in a Radio Flyer red wagon. That was a lot of fun except for the time a car came around the corner at the bottom and we turned, hopped the curb and fell about 5 feet into a little creek. After that, we aimed for the creek every time down.

 

[AidanFan20]

How did I play?

Badly.

 

[Deepster]

I’d take that bet back in the day and give you odds Deep. Either side of the plate too

Let's go right now. I have an unhittable riser! LOL

 

[Jaydumo20]

We played a ton of wiffle ball. Had our own “custom” bats. Kept homerun totals. There was a tree in the middle of right field that was the “triple” tree. To this day I would bet I could strike 90% of you out.

Also, not proud of it, but we’d play “Smear the queer”. Fenced in spot, one football, 6-10 guys. Whoever had the football got basically murdered until someone else got the ball.

We had custom bats too, with rules about weight and what tape was allowed. We played "cream the carrier" at least that's what I'm writing here in case I run for office

 

[CL82]

@husky429
@bjc42 is your brother

Husky 429: "That bastard shot me in the thigh with an arrow"

BJC 42: "Yeah I did!"

 

[CL82]

We had custom bats too, with rules about weight and what tape was allowed. We played "cream the carrier" at least that's what I'm writing here in case I run for office

I remember that game well, and its original title. I'm surprised it still was called that when you were a kid as I think you may be considerably younger than I am.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

We had custom bats too, with rules about weight and what tape was allowed. We played "cream the carrier" at least that's what I'm writing here in case I run for office

I clean out items from my parents’ basement/garage each time I go visit and found this beauty. Couldn’t bring myself to throw it out so now it’s in my garage.

 

[storrsroars]

I remember that game well, and its original title. I'm surprised it still was called that when you were a kid as I think you may be considerably younger than I am.

I've actually never heard of that game by any name. Maybe Stamford was a leader in progressivism even back then. Although I'm still not sure my mother knew Liberace wasn't a ladies man. Was it a Catholic school thing?

 

[husky429]

Growing up the court in the middle of our apartment complex was kind of the beacon for all the kids. Endless days playing half/full court. I never played organized hoops until 8th grade so I learned to play through street ball.

Driving by courts at parks which almost never get used makes me a bit sad. Seems like everything is about organized indoor play from an early age now.

Kids are overcoached, especially girls.

 

[Scottzer]

How’d we all forget the 7th grade game of punching any guy you saw in the stomach? And, occasionally somebody would have a text book under their shirt?

About 7-10 years earlier, our teacher would put 16 oz gloves on anybody who started to fight. He was a former golden gloves guy and Korean War veteran.

 

[mauconnfan]

Let's go right now. I have an unhittable riser! LOL

When I was playing a lot from 7-14 years old everyone thought they had an unhittable riser. Took it deep a lot more than I swung and missed. Sliders, fork balls, screw balls nothing I couldn’t turn into frozen ropes