Stoop ball (also spelled "stoopball") is a game that is played by throwing a ball against a stoop (stairs leading up to a building) on the pavement in front of a building. Historically, it has been popular in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and other

inner cities The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists somet ...

. In

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, the game is known as "Up-Against." In

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the game is known as "

Pinners Pinners is a Chicago neighborhood game played on the front- stoop or walls with angled bricks/stones which can be used to pop the ball up in the air. References and accounts of playing exist to 1949 or earlier. The batter would throw a rubber/tenn ...

." In Chicago's Bridgeport area the game is called "Three Outs". The game is also known as "Off the Point". It first became popular after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Rules

Stoop ball is a pickup neighborhood game played near the stoop (outer concrete stairway) of a residential dwelling by a minimum of two players. The rules are based loosely on

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. The object of the game is to score the most runs in nine

innings An innings is one of the divisions of a cricket match during which one team takes its turn to bat. Innings also means the period in which an individual player bats (acts as either striker or nonstriker). Innings, in cricket, and rounders, is bot ...

. One player is the "batter" and the other players are "fielders". The batter stands on the sidewalk in front of the stoop, while the fielders stand on the street. The batter makes a "hit" by throwing a pink rubber ball (either a

spaldeen A Spalding Hi-Bounce Ball, often called a Spaldeen or a Pensie Pinkie, is a rubber ball, described as a tennis ball core without the felt. These balls are commonly used in street games developed in the mid-20th century, such as Chinese handball (a ...

or a

pensie pinkie A Spalding Hi-Bounce Ball, often called a Spaldeen or a Pensie Pinkie, is a rubber ball, described as a tennis ball core without the felt. These balls are commonly used in street games developed in the mid-20th century, such as Chinese handball (a ...

) at the stoop, with the objective of making it bounce off one of the steps at such an angle and velocity that it flies as far as possible over the fielders' heads. The number of bases registered by a hit is determined from the distance traveled by the ball before it is fielded, unless the ball is caught on the fly, resulting in an out. The Stoopball League of America holds its annual world championships every July in Clinton, Wisconsin.

Variations

In addition to the "baseball rules" or "bounces" variation described above, there is also the "curbball" version, often played in parks. The "original" version of stoop ball is a solitary game, with the same player both throwing the ball and attempting to catch it and earning points based on how many times the ball bounced before it was caught. In St. Louis, Missouri, this game was known as "stepball", where it was played from at least the 1930 to the 1980s. A Portable Stoopball Striker has even been patented.

Popular culture

Stoopball has been played and enjoyed by a number of prominent persons.

Sandy Koufax Sanford Koufax (; born Sanford Braun; December 30, 1935) is an American former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1955 to 1966. He has been hailed as one of t ...

played stoop ball before beginning his

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

career, and announcer

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...

missed the city game so much that he had a stoop constructed at his house in the suburbs.

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...

played stoop ball on suburban streets. A 2010 PBS documentary, '' New York Street Games'' features stoopball and gives a brief history of the sport as it pertains to New York City.

References

{{reflist, 2 Ball games Street games Cultural history of New York City Baseball genres