Letters: Spalding or 'Spaldeen,' it was a ball of fun
Young stickball players in the late '40s and early '50s were in the pink with Spaldeen balls. Credit: Jong Kyu Kim
Thanks for the letter on "a pink ball" [Just sayin', Aug. 15], a wonderful reminder of my youth and a cautionary tale for today's. I must, however, offer one small correction. The ball was a Spalding, and so labeled in black letters. Given our prowess in the language arts, still practiced in some areas, it was called, as the writer so correctly noted, a "Spaldeen."
Richard M. Frauenglass, Huntington
Yea for the great Spaldeen letter. The writer was a Brooklyn kid using sewer covers. I was a Long Island kid who would draw a box on a school building, with a second smaller box inside to indicate a double play. Yes, we used broom sticks for bats, but someone always had a Spaldeen.
Ron Schiller, Garden City Park
I, too, grew up in Brooklyn and spent many great summer hours playing with that great high bouncer. I turned back the clock this summer when I purchased two Spaldeen balls from a toy store in Rockville Centre and taught my grandchildren, ages 5 and 8, to play stoop ball, "hit the penny" and box baseball. They're too young for stickball, but maybe next year.
Eleanor Bruno, Rockville Centre
Growing up in Brooklyn, I played the same games with a Spaldeen, as well as stoop ball. If we didn't have a ball, we played potsy with a clothespin and skelly with bottle caps. When I annoyed my mother, she'd just yell, "Go out and play!," and I did. It was a good time to be a kid.
Barbara Mehlman, Great Neck
