Stickball: A Window Into America\'s

Stickball: A Window Into America's Cultural Adolescence

America's National Pastime is the once deeply pure and widely beloved, and now often cynically regarded and business oriented business of baseball. Once a sport and a game, it is now very clearly dominated by a corporate identity, with enormous wage figures and heavy advertising stakes rendering baseball a crass shadow of its former self. Indeed, with the revelations of major steroid abuse in the sport across the last decade and a half, it is challenging to look on the sport as though its reputation has not been drastically tarnished. It has been, with the disillusioning impact of this realization that many of our most cherished heroes have for all intents and purposes cheated their collective way to the top of the record books, quite impossible to return to the pristine impressions of the ballgame that tie it into the trappings of classic America. This is a condition which causes us to retreat into memories of a game that we reflexively perceive as pure and unpenetrated by the loss innocence of its age. In order to do so, we reflect on what might be perceived as baseball on its most untainted stage; played with broom-handles and rubber balls in the alleyways, schoolyards and side-streets of urban America.

If the 18th century was America's birth and the 19th century its youth, its 20th century adolesence would appropriately be colored by much tumult and change, with the massive influx of immigrant populations and the rapid evolution of its cities creating a diverse, rugged and competitive culture. For the Italian, Irish, Hispanic and Eastern European Jewish immigrants who carved their own communities out of the neighborhoods in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Newark, Stanford and Boston. These neighborhoods would be the fertile grounds upon which the democratic tradition of stickball would be germinated. Achieving its greatest popularity during the middle years of the 20th century -- by no coincidence during a time that the professional sport of baseball was also breaking new ground as a passion of urban sons and grandsons of immigration -- stickball would function as baseball's unruly and altogether more accessible little brother. Consisting largely of the same structure, centered on a pitcher, a batsman and, usually, a diamond of four bases, stickball would be retain an improvised characteristic that would make it specifically the province of those who hadn't the means or the location to play baseball in the form that had become a profession to its best competitors.

Ultimately, the connection between baseball and stickball, as this discussion will reveal, is inextricable. And this is not simply because the latter arises as an informal replication of baseball. Perhaps more importantly, stickball would formulate a parallel tradition executed in a mode generally experienced only by those living in cities and more often than not coming from economically disinclined families and neighborhoods. Thus, stickball would inherently be an economically accessible way of allowing poor city kids remain in close and active content with a game and a tradition that were increasingly being reserved only for those of the greatest ability and, especially by the late 20th century, of the most exorbitant earning capacity. Its accessibility is a distinction which both affiliates it with the urban landscape of the 1920s all the way through to the 1980s and which allows it to be preserved in such a warmly nostalgic light.

The game's name is derived from its most distinctive quality. The implement used by the batsman is almost emblematic of the game's poverty and its resultant ingenuity. The bat would typically be a salvaged piece of wood both longer and thinner than a bat. A broom-handle reflects about the ideal size and shape of a proper stickball stick and therefore, any object of similar proportion and texture will suffice. Often, the stick will be fixed with an industrial tape to promote better grip and to provide the object with some weight. (Wikipedia, 1) The Becarry (2007) source also adds that in northern parts of the East Coast such as Boston, a sawed-off hockey stick would be used in order to generate more swinging power. (Becarry, 1) In any event, the specific object is not overseen by any formal rules other than the agreement of participants.

To this very point, the informality of the game is one of its most important features. To this point, the rules are often extremely loose, varied and decided by consensus on the court. Additionally, there is no one accepted way to play stickball, with variations perhaps being as variable as regions and neighborhoods engaging in play. The two most popular forms of stickball are fast-pitch and slow pitch. According to our research, the former "type of play (seen in the picture to the right) is most commonly seen in schoolyards throughout, predominantly, Staten Island, NY, and to a lesser extent, Queens, NY and Jersey City, NJ." (Wikipedia, 1) In this form, the batter will stand in front of a brick wall with a chalk square drawn behind him. A pitcher will fast-pitch the ball, giving the batter an opportunity to swing. Strikes are determined either by a foul ball, a swing-and-a-miss or a non-swing in which the ball returns to the pitcher with a chalk mark from the backstop wall. (Wikipedia, 1) Slow pitch, by contrast, uses no such chalk marking and instead gives the batter an opportunity to swing at a bouncing underhand pitch. (Wikipedia, 1)

Variations are also quite extensive throughout either form of the game depending upon group consensus or, if a league exists, league rules. According to the Beccary (2007) source, there are specifications which are generally used in application to fast-pitch. He indicates that "in fast pitch, no bases are used. It works in the following way: if the ball is hit to the pitcher and he bobbles it, or if it is hit to the fielder and he bobbles it, it is a single. If the ball is hit over the fielder's head, it is a double. After this point, things vary depending on the playing area. If there is large fence at the end of the playing area, and the ball hits the fence, it is usually considered a triple." (Beccary, 1) This will differ in slow pitch, where bases may be used and where hits are scored only by reaching bases safely.

In either instance, another point upon which rules may vary will be the manner in which outs are recorded. Strike counts may be anywhere from one to three strikes as determined by a league or the assembled teams. In some games, a baserunner may be called out for being 'pegged' with the ball from afar instead of simply called on fly-balls and force-outs. (Wikipedia, 1) Whichever of these is used, a homerun is universally any ball which leaves the playing area in fair territory. Unique to the game's urban charm, balls that land on roofs, porches or other neighborhood structures are counted as homeruns.

This helps to highlight the truly important cultural distinction of stickball. That is, its distinctly urban qualities would help to create a game formulated in its way by limitations but ultimately manifesting as something special in its own right. Urban children living in immigrant enclaves during the early and middle of the 20th century were culturally fixated on baseball. Particularly for those whose parents had immigrated to the United States and who, as first generation Americans, desired to adopt aspects of the American culture in lieu of the countries their families had left behind, baseball would represent a very distinct element of this new culture that was itself just coming to an identity. By the middle of the century, heroes such as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams had broken through into the popular consciousness, and thereafter figures with whom immigrant, urban or minority populations could particularly identify emerged such as Roberto Clemente (Hispanic), Jackie Robinson (African-American), Sandy Koufax (Jewish) and Roy Campanella (Italian and African-American). This would endear the sport to the hearts of the youth in many urban centers of the United States who could check baseball heroes as a reference point for the opportunities available to any group or ethnicity in the United States.

Within the context of the city however, this would come with its own distinct limitations, themselves a reflection of the immigrant experience as a whole. These ethnic groups arriving in America in search of work and opportunity gravitated toward the enclaves just outside of city centers, where immigrant children lacked grass, sandlots or other forgiving surfaces. The Beccary text makes an important note of this, emphasizing the correlation between stickball and the presence of asphalt. This article makes a connection between the presence of stickball in those environmental contexts where asphalt is prominent and a total absence of awareness as to this phenomenon where asphalt is rare. Elaborating further on how this feature has shaped the game, Beccary discusses the common use of rubber balls, 'pinkies,' or most frequently today, the tennis ball. The article remarks with respect to asphalt that "a baseball will get ruined on a surface like this: it's too dense and hard for asphalt or brick, and the canvas-like surface of the ball will get chewed up. Not to mention other problems: in densely populated areas, there are a lot houses near school yards with glass windows, and we all know what happens when a baseball hits a glass window. To sum it up: while baseball is a romantically American game, and was without question our most popular pastime for about 50 years, you can't play it in the city." (Beccary, 1) Foregoing this blanket statement -- given the evolution of inner-city athletic youth programs in recent decades -- the point of Beccary's remarks remains useful. Namely, the unique game that was stickball would come to fruition in response to the desire to play baseball and the absence of many of the contextualizing features constituting a true baseball game.

A primary reason for the distinct popularity of stickball in the contexts where it did gain such cultural prominence would be its shoestring affordability. In many ways, stickball is a pauper's game, reserved for the enthusiasm and grit of the young boys and men growing up in close proximity to one another on the city streets. As with the origins of baseball itself, stickball is a game that is typically attributed to the innovations occurring on the East Coast of the United States and thus, its lore is colored by the same warm reminiscence through which we tend to romanticize America's early urban development. Greene (2004), writing on behalf of the Stickball Hall of Fame, an exhibit located in the larger Museum for the City of New York, poeticizes the neighborhood experience stickball, contending that "no game could be more local. Your street became the ballfield. Lamp posts, car doors and manhole covers were recast into bases. Your neighborhood was the stadium and your neighbors were the fans, adding commentary from field level seats (the building stoops) or from windows and fire escapes that comprised the 'upper decks.'" (Greene, 1)

This is a perception which helps to hone in on exactly that which drives the sentimentality and wistfulness with which stickball is described. To Greene, the game would not just incorporate the energy and imagination of the youth. Indeed, it could be a spectacle around which an entire neighborhood could socialize and revel in an often brutally difficult cohabitation. Thus, through stickball, these immigrant neighborhoods could affiliate through one another with an emergent American identity that actually included them. This would be the beauty of stickball's accessibility, for whatever exclusions in baseball were forced aggressively back by the hands of time, stickball would largely exist outside of these controversies. Within one's own neighborhood and amongst one's own neighbors, one could aspire to Babe Ruth proportions on a single fading summer evening.

This is a compelling image that would find the sons of immigrants emerging with expectations of greatness on some level, if not the baseball field. The ties between stickball and actual baseball would also be inextricable in the 1940s and 1950s, as baseball increasingly made itself at home through the radio in homes everywhere. The rising celebrity of baseball heroes and the increased sense of civic pride for children and adults alike in the success of their local teams would have an impact on the popularity of stickball as well. Local baseball success would breed a greater dedication to this backstreet variation of the National Pastime. This is reflected in the first person account by a baseball writer who recalled his own relationship to improvised street play and a shared community affection for the local professional organization. Devlin (2009) would reminisce "born in Philly in 1948, rowhouse kid, always playing stick ball, step ball, box ball, half ball, Wiffle ball, wireball, hoseball and, yes, even baseball; any kind of ball, it didn't matter, but always imagining you were a Phillie. Kids fighting over who was Ashburn, Tony Taylor or Callison; I remember the Hall of Famer Robin Roberts getting off the 56 trolley, walking down our street to visit my neighbor Walt Derucki, who was a Phillies minor league third baseman, and trying to catch popups they would throw us that would disappear out of sight into the urban sky." (Devlin, 1)

Here, Devlin connects the sense of connection to the local team with the urban experience of cobbling together baseball competition on any scale possible. In this respect, the romanticizing of stickball is not mere rhetoric, but instead bespeaks the close connection between urban life and this mode of recreation. To the boys of their neighborhoods, the air of baseball would resonate with both fantasy and reality. Stickball was an opportunity to connect with the occupation of accomplished men, with the larger American culture and with those in their neighborhoods who endured a similar struggle in the new country. With that said, it is still fair to reflect on the elements of stickball's reflection of certain negative aspects of the lifestyle.

With respect to the racial unification alleged in the stickball arena, anecdotal evidence from the sport's heyday suggests that quite to the contrary, such competition could often be the breeding ground for contempt and violence. In some regards, stickball was a reflection of the isolation of different groups and ethnicities. It represented the opportunity for competition generally segregated in the same way that residential settlement and school attendance were segregated. Blacks played amongst blacks. Hispanics played amongst Hispanics. Jews played amongst Jews and so on. Stickball would reflect not just the socioeconomic disparity of the times but also of a set of stark ethnic lines of separation. All united in an affection for baseball, these various ethnicities would nonetheless explore the tradition in isolation from one another.

Further, just as we associate stickball with the halcyon days of American youth and the promise of immigrant ambitions, so too must it be associated with the labor class struggle for survival and the economic disenchantment of those in America's over-crowded ethnic barrios. Where such lifestyles persist, so too will crime, violence and tension. A compelling account in a Time Magazine article from 1957 details the connection between stickball and violence, remarking that this pastime for urban youth would simply serve as a forum for the disaffected and violent way of relating that often emerged from this increasingly rebellious generation. The article reports a deadly attack on two boys by the members of a rival teen street gang such as the many that the article reported to be popping up all over New York City. The article explains the attack by noting that "days earlier, the Egyptian Kings had played stickball (a street version of baseball) with the Jesters. The Kings had lost, refused to pay off a 50¢-a-man bet on the game. Aroused by the Jesters' protests, the Kings decided to whip a few Jesters. Mike Farmer and Roger McShane were the first boys that the Knights met on their caper -- although, as far as the police could learn, neither victim was a member of any gang." (Time Magazine, 1)

This article provides some insight into the culture which often surrounded the sport in urban contexts. Though it would be the province of the very young and innocent, its direct affiliation with the urban lifestyle specifically suggests that many of those who played it would bear the features of a city experience. This might mean exposure to crime, poverty, violence and other elements of city life that invoke a certain preciousness and premature hardening. Such qualities might often be lived out on the stickball course or in relation thereto as in the deadly incident cited above. This helps to suggest much about the culture which is reflected in the game of stickball, a relic to the positive and negative aspects of 20th century immigrant life. As an artifact to this time and place, stickball is frequently glorified. As we see from this example, such a glorification becomes a way of glossing over the less idyllic features of a lifestyle largely disappeared today.

That said, there is a clear interest on the part of many urban dwellers to revitalize some aspects of the tradition. It is somewhat ironic that stickball is less culturally common today, when professional baseball is so economically inaccessible. The salaries and physical training associated with the sport today makes it appear as an activity less compelling to those living in urban poverty. Simpler and more accessible sports such as basketball would cut into youth interest in baseball and thus realization of this interest through stickball. The cultural erosion of its visibility and importance would be a reflection also of the waning period of America as a cultural melting pot for immigrants. Though this remains true in one sense, a shift in the cultural perspective of immigrants has diminished the ambition to assimilate. Cultural enclaves are increasingly reflective of the values and traditions of the countries from which their inhabitants hail.

This pattern has combined with the decline in baseball's democratic appeal through the duration of its player salary strikes, the steroid scandals and the general intensification of costs associated with playing and being a spectator. These aspects have been especially alienating for those so far separating from these lavish and rarified lifestyles. That said, the movement to return stickball to relevance reflects one opportunity to act against this thrust. Stickball's uniquely accessible nature presents a chance to demonstrate baseball's inherently working class values to a working stage of competition.