When we were kids to save money we never bought a real spaldines. We got the ones that failed inspection. They were stamped "seconds". I never saw any real diference with the first class ball. I saw a thirds once

Of course I remember seconds (not thirds though). But did you know that spaldeens started out in life as seconds in the manufacture of Spalding tennis balls. They were the inside core. It was only after Spalding saw how popular they were that they started marketing them on their own.

I don't remember seconds, if money was tight and no spaldeen available we would use a 'pinkie' or a tennis ball (Geez we took some windows out with those)

quote:

Originally posted by dbob: I never saw any real diference with the first class ball. I saw a thirds once

The flaw was usually a chink in the seam. When hit hard, the ball would break in half...each hemisphere going in a different direction.

I dont ever remember the ball breaking in half. The ball was about 5cents cheaper then the spaldine. I had cousines that lived in Baltimore. They played all there ballgames with tennis balls. We were lucky in the Bx.

Later on in the seventies spauldings where hard to find and an English company made spauldings that the candy stores sold and these balls would split in half, as if the halves were glued together.

Hi All,

I am sitting here in my underwear - we are going out to dinner, and I haven't dressed yet - and on the counter in front of me sits a pink ball. On one side it says "Spalding" in script, and below that it says HIGH-BOUNCE BALL. On the other side is the bar code, above which is says MADE IN CHINA. I bought this several months ago, but I don't remember where. Most likely in some sporting goods store. I think it cost me $2.00. It feels mostly like what I remember about the Spaldeen, except possibly a little smaller. It definitely is a high bounce ball. I sometimes sit and repeatedly toss it a few inches while I reminisce about the Bronx. My wife says I should do that while I read BITB magazine.

I don't remember Spaldeens breaking exactly in half like the two halves were glued together, but I do remember them splitting open in many weird and ugly ways. Tennis balls I do remember breaking into halves. When we used tennis balls for "pitching in," I remember that they could be made to curve and dip and knuckle better than the Spaldeens. I wonder if I could throw either kind of ball the forty or so feet we had from the pitching rubber (chalk mark) to the strike zone chalked on the wall. It'd probably bounce twice! And leave me with a sore shoulder.

Fun to think about it, though.

Pete

You know the same walls are still there, but in all my trips to the Bx I never see any of the types of ball games we use to play. Well they still play baseball, but our put together game s, no. I do see sukley on the street now and again

I bought a Spalding about a year ago at a chain drugstore. Mine was made in Taiwan. That's how they spelled it, but it looks just like the ones I use to play with. lol.

Hi All,

My name is Charis Anderson - I'm a reporter for The Bronx Beat and am working on an article about stickball in the Bronx.

If anyone is willing to talk with me about your memories of stickball (or current experiences with stickball), please email me at ca2257@columbia.edu.

Thanks so much!

cheers, Charis