Backyard ball. How did you play? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

Backyard ball. How did you play?

Wiffle ball, from when the park dried out in the spring until fall basically. We had a league across the whole neighborhood with our own set of rules
 
Whiffleball and had a hoop in my driveway when I was in elementary/middle school. When my brother was around we’d play 1on1 even though he was a bit older, HORSE and Around the World.

When I got older and was able to drive, I had a group of friends who also played hoops at varying levels in college and we would would drive around and play pick up games wherever possible - Waterbury, Beacon Falls, Ansonia, Naugatuck, Monroe, Shelton, New Haven, West Haven, among others. Funny, the toughest players were always the ‘old guys’…who were probably like late 20’s-early 30’s.
 
Jaydumo20 said:
Yeah. The safety factor is crazy to imagine. I remember if it was snowing we'd play tackle on the street.
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I had the back of my heel scraped off from a guy covering me who was wearing steel toed construction boots. We didn't tackle playing in the street, but a favorite pass play was an out thrown just OOB where the receiver would hook his feet on the curb. We eventually moved to a grass field every Sunday, then just a Turkey Bowl till I was 45.

Had a backyard hoop. Played mostly one-on-one and horse. Also played street hockey and street baseball (with a couple broken windows) as well as wiffle ball. At one point we made up a golf course of things around our block, and used crushed soda cans as golf balls.
 
Our neighborhood played every sport depending on the season. Baseball and swimming in the summer. Tackle football (sometimes touch) in the Fall. Driveway basketball was Fall/Winter/Spring. Pond/backyard ice hockey when the weather permitted. Sometimes huge co-ed capture the flag games in the evenings. Everyone had a bike and we rode everywhere.
 
I forgot about Around the World. We played that, too.

Also had a wiffle ball field at my house. My dad cleared our side lot and built a garden, a blueberry bush pen and then build a wiffle ball field, complete with foul poles. We played pond hockey, swam and did a lot of things.

The dumbest things we did was climb about 30-40 feet up in a tree and jump to the next one. (We only did this a couple of times. Had one friend jump and the branch he grabbed broke. He fell about 15 feet before landing on another branch and snagging a different branch at the same time. He had a few bruises. I think back to the row of tree where we did this and how it had a stone wall below it and how that stone wall may have been there since colonial times.
 
Spaceman213J said:
I forgot about Around the World. We played that, too.

Also had a wiffle ball field at my house. My dad cleared our side lot and built a garden, a blueberry bush pen and then build a wiffle ball field, complete with foul poles. We played pond hockey, swam and did a lot of things.

The dumbest things we did was climb about 30-40 feet up in a tree and jump to the next one. (We only did this a couple of times. Had one friend jump and the branch he grabbed broke. He fell about 15 feet before landing on another branch and snagging a different branch at the same time. He had a few bruises. I think back to the row of tree where we did this and how it had a stone wall below it and how that stone wall may have been there since colonial times.
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Looking back, it is crazy to think of some the stuff that we did and survived. I rode my single speed bike down a steep hill behind Bowl-o-Rama and didn't handle the turn. I hit the curb and flew off the bike landing on someone's lawn. The homeowner ran out of the house thinking that I was injured or dead. But I was fine and got back on the bike and peddled home. I was probably 14 at the time. Good to be young.
 
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bjc42 said:
That's wild. I was never allowed to use BB guns when I was a kid, so I could see how badly that could have gone lol.
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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.
 
Mister P said:
Your story brings back good memories of when I grew up next to you in Monroe. We did everything you did and then some.

Our house was “the house” where kids from around the neighborhood would come to play. Basketball, football and baseball were the primary games that seemed to happen from sun up to sun down. During summertime we would make up our own Summer Olympic Games and then we had the Winter Olympics during the winter months. Some of the events would consist of timed laps around the house, shot-putting with a croquet ball, bench and chair hurdling, fastest sled time down a hill, shooting a puck and many others.
Family room football was always a battle. Basically, the ball carrier had a 2yd. run to the couch and the defender had to stop him before he made it there. Either putting him to the floor or holding him up in place. Nerf basketball was also a constant where we picked a pro teams players and kept stats.
Between the broken windows, broken siding shingles, lamps, knick knacks our parents were awesome letting a us be kids and understanding when things would break.
Good times.
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I played family room football all the time too. Same rules as yours. But we called it "goal line"
 
Played a lot of half-court basketball
we play a lot of three on three basketball games
the fall we played tackle football. We were serious as I broke my finger and collarbone playing sandlot football in Middletown our projects.
 
Huskybass said:
I grew up in Newtown on a cul de sac. We played baseball at the end of the street. Wiffle ball in the backyard, basketball in the driveway, and pond hockey on a small pond in the woods. We also had streams, ponds and lakes for fishing within walking or biking distance from home. We used to box in our neighbors basement, and ride sleds down a trail through the woods. We also played full court low hoop basketball in one of the town parks. I also played some tennis on a clay court which was different. Newtown was an awesome place to grow up.
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Didn’t that one elementary school rock the 8’ outdoor rims??
 
In elementary school, a lot of football in the backyard. One of my friends, when it was just the two of us, would stand on either side of the yard, one would punt the ball to the other, then we’d sprint at each other and see who could make/break the tackle.

Soccer was my main sport though, and once I got to high school I would play pickup every day that I didn’t have practice. My friends on my high school team and I all played on various club teams, but we loved playing together. There was a pick up game every day, either in a grass field, on a tennis court, or on an outdoor basketball court. Whoever didn’t have practice with their club team that day would show up. Those days were some of the happiest times for me.
 
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husky429 said:
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.
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That is absolutely wild. What kind of bow/arrow was it? probably some serious bleeding from that, that is crazy.
 
HCCForever said:
I was only three blocks from Hyland Park in Hartford. We played everything depending on the season.
We used to play double or nothing if we didn't have enough for baseball. We sometimes played with as little as two on a side and you had to choose your field, second base and over.
Played a lot of basketball, sandlot football, street hockey in the schoolyard.
When it was cold enough, we would go to the cemetery a half mile away and play ice hockey.
Built a bobsled run one year for our sledding and used those plastic boats to go down the run.
Also golfed a bunch at Goodwin Park with our golf cards for a quarter. Also swam at Goodwin.

We were always busy. Never spent time indoors if we could help it. Much different than today.
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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?
 
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.
 
Wow love this thread. So many memories flooding back..We did most of these things from wiffle tourneys to football cream the carrier to hoops round the world and street hockey

but one of my favs was what we called stickball( not sure if it was our invention or if others did the something similar) our version was played in the rain, 2 on 2 with a tennis ball and a 28” wood bat we cut the barrel to leave a flat side. what made this fun was NO GHOST RUNNERS. So if you made it on base your teammate had to hit you home. Lots of running, slipping and sliding placing your hits strategically away from the only fielder. Anyone do this?
 
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bjc42 said:
That is absolutely wild. What kind of bow/arrow was it? probably some serious bleeding from that, that is crazy.
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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.
 
Deepster said:
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.
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We called that cream the carrier
 
Deepster said:
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?
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I graduated from South a decade before you. Gene and Joe Reilly were our gym teachers.
 
tomtom80 said:
We called that cream the carrier
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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.
 
HCCForever said:
I graduated from South a decade before you. Gene and Joe Reilly were our gym teachers.
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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.
 
husky429 said:
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.
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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.
 
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Deepster said:
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.
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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.
 
gtcam said:
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.
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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!
 
Deepster said:
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.
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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.
 
husky429 said:
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.
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That's still crazy lol
 
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.
 
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.
 
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