Posted by Bill Weiss on May 08, 1999 at 23:56:09:
In Reply to: Re: The Pink Spalding (Spaldeen) Is Coming Back! posted by Dave L. on March 12, 1999 at 10:40:59:
A Spaldeen cost $.25 in the Fifties--a lot of money for a little kid. If you were lucky, the local toystore would get a box of "Seconds," which were Spaldeens that somehow failed a quality inspection, had no "Spalding" logo, and cost only a dime. The alternative was an "egg ball," so-called because it was a cheap, underinflated product that smelled like stale chocolate, had coarse, uneven seams, and, when hit by a stickball bat, rose straight up in the air and oscillated in an egg-shape that made it impossible to catch. All rubber balls were lost before the end of the day--either down sewers or in the rain gutters that ran along the schoolyard. Of course, you could always go to the Bat-Away on Pennsylvainia and Flatlands, and steal a rubber-covered hardball.