Punchball

Last updated

Punchball is a sport spawned by and similar to baseball, but without a pitcher, catcher, or bat. [1] [2]

Contents

The "batter" essentially plays "fungo" without a bat, bouncing or tossing up the ball and then using a volleyball-type approach to put the ball (usually a spaldeen [3] or pensie pinkie) in play, punching the ball with his fist. [4] [5] [6] Base stealing and bunting are not allowed.

Popular in New York, especially among poor Jewish children who could not afford bats or baseballs, historian and baseball enthusiast Stephen Jay Gould referred to it as "the canonical recess game", [7] and in The Boys of Summer baseball writer Roger Kahn described how when he grew up it was a boys game, as the girls played "slapball". [8] Punchball's popularity derived partially from the fact that it carried less risk of losing the ball or breaking windows than a standard game of baseball. [9]

Baseball Hall of Famers Nick Hoffman, [10] Sandy Koufax, [11] [12] and Yogi Berra [13] played it growing up, as did sports team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, [14] Senator Bernie Sanders, [15] and former US Secretary of State and general Colin Powell. [16] [17] Major league outfielder Rocky Colavito, when asked if he played punchball, answered "Play it? Man, that was my game. I liked to play that more than anything else ... anything. We used to play for money, too." [18] It was also a pastime of football announcer Al Michaels, who often played with former Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman.

A 2010 PBS documentary, New York Street Games , includes punchball. [19]

In season 10, episode 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David states that he played punchball after grieving the death of his pet turtle.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yogi Berra</span> American baseball player, manager, and coach (1925–2015)

Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra was an American professional baseball catcher who later took on the roles of manager and coach. He played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), all but the last for the New York Yankees. He was an 18-time All-Star and won 10 World Series championships as a player—more than any other player in MLB history. Berra had a career batting average of .285, while hitting 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. He is one of only six players to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award three times. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest catchers in baseball history and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Koufax</span> American baseball player (born 1935)

Sanford Koufax, nicknamed "the Left Arm of God", is an American former baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, as well as the first major sports star on the West Coast, Koufax was the first three-time winner of the Cy Young Award, each time winning unanimously and the only pitcher to do so when a single award was given for both the leagues; he was also named the National League Most Valuable Player in 1963. Retiring at the age of 30 due to chronic pain in his pitching elbow, Koufax was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1972 at the age of 36, the youngest player ever elected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Alston</span> American baseball player and manager (1911–1984)

Walter Emmons Alston, nicknamed "Smokey", was an American baseball manager in Major League Baseball who managed the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 1954 through 1976, signing 23 one-year contracts with the team. Regarded as one of the greatest managers in baseball history, Alston was known for his calm, reticent demeanor, for which he was sometimes referred to as "the Quiet Man."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Drysdale</span> American baseball player and broadcaster (1936–1993)

Donald Scott Drysdale, nicknamed "Big D", was an American professional baseball pitcher and broadcaster who played in Major League Baseball. He spent his entire 14-year career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. Known for being a fierce competitor, Drysdale won the Cy Young Award in 1962 and was a three-time World Series champion during his playing career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Furillo</span> American baseball player (1922–1989)

Carl Anthony Furillo, nicknamed "the Reading Rifle" and "Skoonj", was an American baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), spending his entire career with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, primarily as a right fielder.

The 1966 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1966 season. The 63rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Baltimore Orioles and National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The Orioles swept the series in four games to capture their first championship in franchise history. It was the last World Series played before MLB introduced the Commissioner's Trophy the following year. The Dodgers suffered record low scoring, accumulating just two runs over the course of the series, the lowest number of runs ever scored by any team in a World Series.

The 1965 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1965 season. The 62nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the American League champion Minnesota Twins. The Dodgers won in seven games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1963 World Series</span> 60th edition of Major League Baseballs championship series

The 1963 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1963 season. The 60th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff that matched the American League (AL) champion and two-time defending World Series champion New York Yankees against the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers; the Dodgers swept the Series in four games to secure their second championship title in five years, and their third in franchise history. Dodgers starting pitchers Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Johnny Podres, and ace reliever Ron Perranoski combined to give up only four runs in four games. The dominance of the Dodgers pitchers was so complete that at no point in any of the four games did the Yankees have the lead. New York was held to a .171 team batting average, the lowest ever for the Yankees in the postseason. Koufax was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.

The 1947 World Series matched the New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Yankees won the Series in seven games for their 11th World Series championship in team history. Yankees manager Bucky Harris won the Series for the first time since managing the Washington Senators to their only title in 1924, a gap of 23 years, the longest between World Series appearances in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1953 World Series</span> 1953 Major League Baseball championship series

The 1953 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1953 season. The 50th edition of the World Series, it matched the four-time defending champions New York Yankees against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a rematch of the 1952 Series, and the fourth such matchup between the two teams in the past seven seasons. The Yankees won in six games for their fifth consecutive title—a mark which has not been equalled—and their 16th overall. It was also the last of seven consecutive World Series wins by teams from the American League, the longest such streak for the AL in series history. Billy Martin won World Series MVP honors as he hit .500 with a record-tying 12 hits and a walk-off RBI single in Game 6.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1955 World Series</span> 1955 Major League Baseball championship series

The 1955 World Series was the championship series to conclude the 1955 Major League Baseball (MLB) season. The Series matched the National League (NL) pennant winner Brooklyn Dodgers against the American League (AL) pennant winner New York Yankees, with the Dodgers winning the Series in seven games to capture their first championship in franchise history. It would be the only Series the Dodgers won while based in Brooklyn, as the team relocated to Los Angeles after the 1957 season. This was the fifth time in nine years that the Yankees and the Dodgers met in the World Series, with the Yankees having won in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953; the Yankees would also win in the 1956 rematch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norm Sherry</span> American baseball player and manager (1931–2021)

Norman Burt Sherry was an American baseball catcher, manager, and coach who played five seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets from 1959 to 1963. Sherry went on to coach and manage the California Angels, and also served as coach of the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gus Triandos</span> American baseball player (1930-2013)

Gus Triandos was an American professional baseball player and scout. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher and a first baseman, most prominently as a member of the Baltimore Orioles where he was a four-time All-Star player. He also played for the New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers of the American League (AL) and the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros of the National League (NL). In 1981, he was inducted into the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clete Boyer</span> American baseball player (1937-2007)

Cletis Leroy "Clete" Boyer was an American professional baseball third baseman — who occasionally played shortstop and second base — in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Athletics (1955–57), New York Yankees (1959–66), and Atlanta Braves (1967–71). Boyer also spent four seasons with the Taiyō Whales of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). In his 16-year big league career, Boyer hit 162 home runs, with 654 runs batted in (RBI), and a .242 batting average, in 1,725 games played.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandy Koufax's perfect game</span> Baseball feat by Major League pitcher in 1965

On September 9, 1965, Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitched a perfect game in the National League against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Robinson (baseball)</span> American baseball player (1915-1966)

Aaron Andrew Robinson was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1943 to 1951 for the New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox. Robinson's tenure with the Yankees spanned the gap between the careers of Yankee Hall of Fame catchers Bill Dickey (1928–1946) and Yogi Berra (1946–1963).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Dodgers</span> American baseball team, 1883–1957

The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays, next year in 1884 becoming a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles, California, where it continues its history as the Los Angeles Dodgers. The team moved west at the same time as its longtime rival, the New York Giants, moved to San Francisco in northern California as the San Francisco Giants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Larsen's perfect game</span> Perfect game pitched in the 1956 World Series

On October 8, 1956, in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series, pitcher Don Larsen of the New York Yankees threw a perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. It was the only no-hitter in World Series history until the Houston Astros pitching staff of Cristian Javier, Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly threw a combined no-hitter in the 2022 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. It remains the only perfect game in the history of the World Series.

The traditional games of New York City are one of the notable aspects of New York City's culture; many of them were brought over by the diverse mix of immigrants that settled in New York City, particularly from Europe. Many of these games used street furniture and other features of New York City's high urban density and were therefore also played in other cities of the United States. Most of these games have declined or disappeared in the modern era.

References

  1. ↑ Prager, Joshua (11 March 2008). The Echoing Green. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 194. ISBN   978-0-307-38933-6 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  2. ↑ Clement, Priscilla Ferguson; Reinier, Jacqueline S. (1 January 2001). Boyhood in America: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 107. ISBN   978-1-57607-215-8 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Connor, Anthony J. (March 1998). Voices from Cooperstown: baseball's Hall of Famers tell it like it was. Galahad Books. ISBN   978-1-57866-016-2 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Streetplay Rulesheets: Punchball".
  5. ↑ Milberg, Alan (1976). Street Games. McGraw-Hill. p. 149. ISBN   978-0-07-041915-5 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Seymour, Harold (19 April 1990). Baseball: The People's Game. Oxford University Press. p. 18. ISBN   978-0-19-802096-7 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Gould, Stephen Jay (17 May 2004). Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville: A Lifelong Passion for Baseball. W. W. Norton. pp. 41–42, 258. ISBN   978-0-393-32557-7 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Riess, Steven A. (1998). Sports and the American Jew. Syracuse University Press. p. 43. ISBN   978-0-8156-2754-8 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Morris, Peter (2006). A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations that Shaped Baseball : the Game on the Field. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   978-1-56663-677-3.
  10. ↑ Dunn, Herb; Henderson, Meryl (1 March 1999). Jackie Robinson: Young Sports Trailblazer. Simon and Schuster. p. 51. ISBN   978-0-689-82453-1 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  11. ↑ Koufax, Sandy; Linn, Edward (1966). Koufax. Viking Press. p. 17. ISBN   9780670415083 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Doeden, Matt (1 September 2006). Sandy Koufax. Twenty-First Century Books. pp. 6–7. ISBN   978-0-8225-5961-0 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  13. ↑ Allen, Maury, Baseball Digest, November 1969, "Yogi Berra: The People's Choice," Vol. 28, No. 10, p. 88, ISSN   0005-609X, accessed December 16, 2009
  14. ↑ Robbins, Michael W.; Palitz, Wendy (2001). Brooklyn: A State of Mind. Workman Pub. p. 84. ISBN   978-0-7611-1635-6 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ Means, Howard B.; Fine, Donald I. (1992). Colin Powell: Soldier-Statesman - Statesman-Soldier. Donald I. Fine, Ins. pp. 48, 59. ISBN   978-1-55611-335-2 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  17. ↑ Hughes, Libby (April 1996). Colin Powell: a man of quality. Dillon Press. p. 24. ISBN   978-0-382-39260-3 . Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  18. ↑ Falls, Joe, Baseball Digest, July 1960, Vol. 19, No. 6, "Two Boys from the Bronx," p. 24, ISSN   0005-609X, accessed December 16, 2009
  19. ↑ Hector Elizondo (Narrator); Matt Levy (Director). New York Street Games (Motion picture). New York City. Archived from the original on 13 November 2011. Retrieved 14 Nov 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.