If the roof door was unlocked or the sewer had a manhole cover, that spaldeen was retrieved. They were too hard to come by. The stickball crew broke a few apartment windows with a tennis ball which we used if nothing else was available.

My grandfather who raised me, I'm sorry to say, was sooo cheap he refused to buy me a spaldeen....no ice pops, either...for him it was "Drrrink Vater" in his Estonian accent...so if I found a good spaldeen I was so happy. I lived on the top floor, too...so handy. Unfortunately many of the balls that landed on the roof were duds and didn't bounce well. Ah the memories and the smell of a spaldeen. lol