JUST PLAY: STICKBALL

Stickball, still the consummate city game, shown here being played in Harlem. Note the fancy scoreboard. And the materials are simply the end of a broomstick, minus the bristles and a "spal-deen", a pink ball about the size of a hand-ball made by Spaulding. They cost about $1 apiece, if that. No fancy gloves required and you really learn to field a pop-up or grounder with these babies.

So for less than $5 dollars, kids can have enough equipment and materials to play baseball on a daily basis. You can draw a strike-zone on the wall of almost any building that can be used as a backstop. That's' your catcher and umpire. Further disputes are settled by odds-evens shoot or force of personality, as most disputes are settled by kids on the playground.



A great picture of the greatest stickballer of all-time, Willie Mays.

Here's a web site with some history and rules of the game.
http://www.streetplay.com/stickball/

So for the life of me, I can't understand when I hear people say that economics is a barrier to entry for kids to play baseball. IT'S NOT. You needs a few friends, a broomstick and five dollars. Even for most kids today, the five dollars can't possibly be the hard part. Plus they can play this game for hours at a time without any parental supervision or interference. That would seem to remove some of what's wrong with youth sports today.

Kids were playing this game on NY city streets back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. They can certainly play it today. Step away from the X-Box once in a while.




In doing the research for this blog post, I came across this site that documents the sports programs of prominence in Harlem, NY. Note the photo of what appears to be a successful (winning) Little League program. Further below I added details about the legendary Rucker Park. The premier summer basketball league in the country.

http://web.honorscollege.cuny.edu/student-projects/neighborhoods/harlem/sports/sports.htm

A neighborhood is defined by the ways it comes together, and a common manner of achieving this has been through athletics. Few activities bring together such masses of people from diverse outlooks and unite them under a common banner, and in Harlem it has not been different. Since the formation of Harlem as a black community, the teams of the neighborhood have carried this identity with pride and proved it in sports contests. Not only have sports reflected the area’s makeup and pride, they have also ensured its continuing strength and resilience as a place of opportunity. Today many Harlem sports organizations have gained national fame and because of its unique history the neighborhood is a focal point of black pride for sport enthusiasts everywhere. The sports we chose to focus on here – baseball, basketball, and boxing – are the most historically important in knitting together Harlem’s diverse inhabitants and are also continuing to thrive in the area.

Baseball
by Ray Pettit

Location: Marcus Garvey Park (labeled as Mt. Morris Square on map)

Baseball seems like a mismatch with Harlem, as a slow game in the bustling center of change that Harlem stands for. Still, baseball has found room to survive and thrive within the neighborhood, as seen in the recent accomplishments of the Harlem Little League team. In 2002, this unheralded team reached the Little League World Series Semi-Finals, enough to not only “capture the attention and love of Harlem,” as Howie Evans said in the local Amsterdam News, but garnering national attention as well. Harlem is also home to the East Harlem Stickball League, which plays authentic stickball every summer in varying locations throughout the neighborhood. These young ballplayers and older stickballers are not the first players to be based in Harlem; the sport has an extensive history in Harlem. Two Major League Baseball teams, the Yankees and the Giants, played on the Polo Grounds along the Harlem River. The stadium has been torn down and replaced with housing, along Frederick Douglass Boulevard and 155th St. However, a plaque still exists on the exact spot that Willie Mays, a resident of Harlem, made “The Catch.” Harlem Baseball fans were not limited to these two teams though, for many Negro League teams, such as the Cuban Stars, the Black Yankees, and the Brooklyn Royal Giants (who were based in the now absent Harlem Oval on 125th St.) played in the area. From the highs of Babe Ruth on through Willie Mays and the Little League World Series team, Harlem has seen its fair share of baseball excitement, and it continues thrive.

Basketball
by Andy Lawler

Location: Rucker Park

Today when people think of basketball and Harlem, their thoughts turn to one team, namely the Harlem Globetrotters. However, the Globetrotters were actually founded in Chicago. The owner correctly assumed the name Harlem would be effective in drawing the target crowds for an all black basketball team, and his lie reveals the power Harlem had as a black sports neighborhood. The team actually based in the neighborhood was the Harlem Rens (short for Renaissance and also variously known as and descended from the Spartan Braves of Brooklyn, Spartan Five, and New York Renaissance Big Five). Not only was the team created in Harlem, but in 1923, when the Rens were formed, it became the first full-salaried, black professional basketball team under owner Robert Douglas. In the 1920s, the team and its games were an afterthought, as dual admittances with a dance at one of Harlem’s many clubs. The team grew in popularity as the game matured, and was nationally hailed until it folded in the 40s. Unsurprisingly, people continued to play basketball in Harlem and in 1946 Holcomb Rucker started a basketball tournament that has gained legendary status. Discontinued briefly, Holcomb’s son Phil has brought the tournament back on Friday’s during the summer, and EBC games are played Monday through Thursdays. Legendary players both new and old have played at this Mecca of street ball, including Julius Erving, Wilt Chamberlain, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett, and Stephen Marbury-just to name a few. Some lesser-known but equally important players built their reputations outside the NBA at Rucker, including players like Pee Wee Kirkland and Joe “The Destroyer” Hammond. Today Harlem is one of the most popular locations basketball players go through to establish themselves, due to its past and continuing vitality.