Stickball- New York, NY (3D)
Institution: Smithsonian National Museum of American History
State: New York
Object: Ball
Era: 20th Century
Cracked and scuffed from being bounced on asphalt and hit with broom handle-bats, this Spalding ball transports us to East Harlem in the 1950s when the game of stickball was played on every block. The invention of stickball is attributed to the Puerto Rican, African American, and Dominican communities of the early 1900s. With manhole covers and fire hydrants serving as bases, stickball players required little gear besides a bat and a ball.
Spalding balls (or “Spaldeens”) were hollow, high-bouncing rubber balls made from tennis ball cores. The seam of this ball shows the typical tennis ball manufacturing process where two rubber half-shells were glued together. In 1949, the Spalding Company decided to sell surplus and flawed tennis ball cores from their factory in Chicopee, Massachusetts to shops around New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. This ball likely came from one of East Harlem’s bodegas, the main retailers of Spalding balls in 1950s in New York.
This ball was well-used as evidenced by its hardened surface as well as its many marks and streaks. Spalding balls were pink in color when new, but after use, they would turn a brownish hue, their stamped lettering would fade, and their surface would grow thin and harden. This worn condition, however, was ideal for playing stickball. When broken in, a Spalding ball would travel even faster and farther when struck with a bat.
Following the dwindling popularity of stickball over the decades, Spalding stopped production of the ball in 1979 but revived it in 1999 to much nostalgic fanfare. The ball is still manufactured in the same form today and the game of stickball is alive and well in New York.
