punchball

File:A little pretty pocket-book Fleuron T188881-8.png

The origins of punchball may date to the 18th century and earlier, as John Thorn, official historian for Major League Baseball, has suggested that the depiction of baseball in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, which was the first appearance in print of the sport, may have involved batters hitting with a hand.{{Cite book |last=Thorn |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gqF84JTKCNoC&oi=fnd&pg=PA58 |title=Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game |date=2012-03-20 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-9404-1 |language=en}}

Popular in New York (particularly in the early 20th century),{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x_NWnRI8k54C&pg=PA40 |title=Notes of a Baseball Dreamer: A Memoir |date=2003 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-32961-8 |language=en}} 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",{{cite book|last=Gould|first=Stephen Jay|authorlink=Stephen Jay Gould|title=Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville: A Lifelong Passion for Baseball|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XIJ-ay4GJ_kC&pg=PA41|accessdate=24 March 2014|date=17 May 2004|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-32557-7|pages=41–42, 258}} 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".{{cite book|last=Riess|first=Steven A.|title=Sports and the American Jew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3wX21fXD-QC&pg=PA43|accessdate=24 March 2014|year=1998|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2754-8|page=43}} 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, and that it could be played with fewer people.{{Cite book |last=Morris |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=j_zNttV8VSwC&oi=fnd&pg=PA501 |title=A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations that Shaped Baseball : the Game on the Field |date=2006 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-56663-677-3 |language=en}}

In one version of punchball, a line was drawn between first base and third base, and the batter would be out if the ball was hit into the ground before passing the line. In another variation, the batter had to hit only into the infield.

In slapball, as Roger Kahn and Robert Mayer describe it, the game was played in a triangular field with only three bases. For this reason, the game could also be called triangle.{{Cite book |last=Kahn |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jTrLAgAAQBAJ&q=slapball#v=snippet&q=slapball&f=false |title=The Boys of Summer |date=2013-08-01 |publisher=Aurum |isbn=978-1-78131-207-0 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x_NWnRI8k54C&oi=fnd&pg=PA44 |title=Notes of a Baseball Dreamer: A Memoir |date=2003 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-32961-8 |language=en}} Slapball can be played with up to ten players on each team (with the tenth player acting as a fourth outfielder), with a pitcher throwing the ball underhand on one bounce to the batter.

Punchball could be played with as few as two players on each team, and was typically played with five to six players on each team.{{Cite book |last=Seymour |first=Harold |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=QBroCwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA17 |title=Baseball |last2=Mills |first2=Dorothy Seymour |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-506907-5 |language=en}} There were a number of ways to make the game work with only two players on each team; fewer infielders were required when "pegging" (throwing at a runner instead of tagging them to get them out) and "homing" (throwing the ball toward home plate to get a runner out) were allowed,{{Cite book |last=Levinson |first=Martin H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JKDyEAAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA1905&lr=&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false |title=Brooklyn Boomer: Growing Up in the Fifties (Revised New Edition) |date=2024-02-02 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn=978-1-6632-5657-7 |language=en}} and in Mayer's version, punchball could be played with only three bases, along with something akin to basketball hoops being installed at center field; a home run was declared if the ball was hit into the hoops, but an out declared if the ball was hit just above them. Sliding into bases was also not allowed.{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=x_NWnRI8k54C&oi=fnd&pg=PA52 |title=Notes of a Baseball Dreamer: A Memoir |date=2003 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-618-32961-8 |language=en}}

A 2010 PBS documentary, New York Street Games, includes punchball.{{cite video

| people=Hector Elizondo (Narrator); Matt Levy (Director)

| accessdate=14 Nov 2011

| url=http://www.newyorkstreetgames.com/home.html

| title=New York Street Games

| medium=Motion picture

| location=New York City

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113235948/http://www.newyorkstreetgames.com/home.html

| archive-date=13 November 2011

| url-status=dead

}}

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

Baseball Hall of Famers Nick Hoffman,{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Herb |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C9apQfriaa0C&pg=PT51 |title=Jackie Robinson: Young Sports Trailblazer |last2=Henderson |first2=Meryl |date=1 March 1999 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-689-82453-1 |page=51 |accessdate=24 March 2014}} Sandy Koufax,{{cite book |last1=Koufax |first1=Sandy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUfhAAAAMAAJ |title=Koufax |last2=Linn |first2=Edward |publisher=Viking Press |year=1966 |isbn=9780670415083 |page=17 |accessdate=24 March 2014}}{{cite book |last=Doeden |first=Matt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pUUyfnfeNE8C&pg=PT6 |title=Sandy Koufax |date=1 September 2006 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |isbn=978-0-8225-5961-0 |pages=6–7 |accessdate=24 March 2014}} and Yogi Berra[https://books.google.com/books?id=-jIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=punchball&pg=PA88 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 played it growing up, as did sports team owner Jerry Reinsdorf,{{cite book |last1=Robbins |first1=Michael W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KNUp5E3_tTcC&pg=PA84 |title=Brooklyn: A State of Mind |last2=Palitz |first2=Wendy |publisher=Workman Pub. |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7611-1635-6 |page=84 |accessdate=24 March 2014}} Senator Bernie Sanders,* {{cite news |last=Maslin Nir |first=Sarah |date=April 8, 2016 |title=Bernie Sanders Back in the Old Neighborhood to Make His Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/nyregion/bernie-sanders-back-in-the-old-neighborhood-to-make-his-case.html |work=New York Times}}

• {{cite speech |title=Full Speech: Bernie Sanders Rally in Flatbush, NY (4-8-16) Bernie Brooklyn New York Rally |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsBrNzB7fI0&t=8m20s |first=Bernie |last=Sanders |date=2016-04-08 |location=Brooklyn, N.Y. |event=Bernie Sanders rally at Flatbush childhood home}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}} and former US Secretary of State and general Colin Powell.{{cite book |last1=Means |first1=Howard B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M7B4AAAAMAAJ |title=Colin Powell: Soldier-Statesman - Statesman-Soldier |last2=Fine |first2=Donald I. |publisher=Donald I. Fine, Ins. |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-55611-335-2 |pages=48, 59 |accessdate=24 March 2014}}{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Libby |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfQ5yNSeKkYC |title=Colin Powell: a man of quality |date=April 1996 |publisher=Dillon Press |isbn=978-0-382-39260-3 |page=24 |accessdate=24 March 2014}} 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."[https://books.google.com/books?id=DbcDAAAAMBAJ&dq=punchball&pg=PA24 Falls, Joe, Baseball Digest, July 1960, Vol. 19, No. 6, "Two Boys from the Bronx," p. 24], {{ISSN|0005-609X}}, accessed December 16, 2009 It was also a pastime of football announcer Al Michaels, who often played with former Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman.

• Safe haven games
• Baseball5, a similar game played at an international level
• Kickball

{{Reflist|30em}}{{Notelist}}

• [http://www.streetplay.com/rulesheets/punchball/ punchball rules]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/30/nyregion/l-for-punchball-players-stickball-is-for-sissies-203989.html "Letter to the Editor: For Punchball Players, Stickball is for Sissies"], Seaford, Lou Defichy, The New York Times, April 30, 1989]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=TWW1AAAAIAAJ&q=punchball The boys of summer, Roger Kahn], Harper & Row, 1972

{{Commons}}

Category:Ball games

Category:Street games

Category:Baseball genres

Category:Team sports

Category:Variations of Baseball5