Posted by Bill Weiss on December 07, 1998 at 00:31:56:
In Reply to: Punch Ball posted by Bernard on November 30, 1998 at 00:13:52:
Punch Ball grew out of the poverty of the NYC school system. The K-6 schools had no equipment for kids, so when they let you out in the schoolyard during the day, you either played handball or punchball (boys) or skipped rope (girls, if a girl brought a piece of clothesline). Insurance was another problem: I remember being stopped by a teacher from playing stickball after school hours because, he said, the school system was insured for softball bats, but not for broomsticks. No point in playing softball in a concrete schoolyard: the cover would wear off before two innings, and you'd have to cover the guts of the ball with electrician's tape. With all that cushioning on it, no one could hit the ball out of the infield.