Roslindale Op/Ed Http://TownOnLine.com
Hank Brandli grew up in Roslindale, MA and now lives in Melbourne,
Fla. He will be sharing his memories of his hometown with Transcript readers
over the next couple of months. He can be reached at hbrandli@spacey.net
May 30, 2002
How squash was the kids’ game in
Rozzie
Squash
is a game played with a racket and a small, black, hard ball that has a dead bounce
in a large, closed, white room similar to a handball court. In Rozzie many
years ago, we played squash everywhere; in the schoolyards of the Mozart,
Phineas Bates, Conley and Boston Latin schools; in the streets and backyards;
even on the fairways of the George Wright Golf Course. There were no courts,
rackets or small, hard, black balls. In fact, I don’t know why we called the
game squash.
Large, white
volleyballs, pink high bounce balls, tennis balls (oh, how they hurt your
knuckles), pimple balls (how they flew) and sponge balls (what a soggy
trajectory) were the main ingredients of the game.
Our squash
was played like baseball. You hit the ball with your fist and ran the bases;
nine innings if time permitted and three outs per inning. One difference was
that a base-runner was out if hit by the ball thrown by the opponent. In the
Mozart schoolyard, we pitched a volleyball underhand and the batter hit this
large, white projectile with the front part of his closed fist. Ironically, our
hand got awfully red after a few hits this way. This version of squash was a
lot of fun. We played all the time; during recess, lunch hour, before and after
school.
The big
sluggers of that era in our district; were Babe at the Phineas Bates, Big Jack
at the Conley, and a kid named Gus at the Mozart. Gus once hit a pitched
volleyball over the low, chain-link fence across Beech Street that rolled down
Eastborne almost to the Parkway.
Big Jack had
the same prowess with a hand-held volleyball hit with the front part of fist and
over the high fences at the Conley, where Babe was a master of the knuckled hit
pimple or high bounce ball hit over the back, wooden fence at the huge Phineas
Bates tar schoolyard.
During the
summer, squash was played on the streets, fairways and in backyards because the
schoolyards could get too crowded. Of course, we played stickball, half ball,
wall ball, step ball, metal roller-skate hockey on Walworth Street with a ball
of tar for a puck and Miami
murder with
any ball including a football, but that’s another story.
My kids, when
they were young, played kickball which was similar to squash so at least
similar basic games survives generations.
Marbles was
another game of the fabulous ‘40s and ‘50s that was played in the same arenas. The
added attraction was the gambling and deft skill involved. Every kid had his
" aggie " bag (similar to a purple velvet Seagram scotch whiskey
velvet bag) of boulders, cat’s eyes and steeleys. To chance one of these prized
possessions in a game of keepers was indeed a big risk. As a result, it was
pretty easy to acquire a motley bunch of odd, colored, broken and chipped
marbles.
The game was
similar to golf. First marble in the hole in the fewest strokes – of an index
finger instead of a putter – won the pot of glass, globular goodies of course.
The game was cumulative so a win brought forth all the marbles in the hole from
previous ties (two tie all tie).
Another
marble game required hitting aggies out of a circle with propelled glass globes
using thumbnail and index finger as a launch platform. Do kids play marbles
today?
Talking about
glass objects of art. Boys and girls of the ‘40s were not indifferent to
playing hopscotch together.
Patsy, Janet,
Art. Donna, Chuck, Nancy, Dot and I always got a game going between stickball
innings or when the Rozzie summer heat got to us. Hopscotch could always be
played in the shade. Each person playing would use a colored piece of glass
from the bottom of a tonic bottle for a flat, distinctive rock.
Jump rope was
another popular coeducational game where the real skill came in the game of
" peppers " or when we used dual ropes. Who invented that?
Naturally,
the boys played a lot of conventional baseball at the local lots at Whites and
Fallon fields. Fallon Field games always gravitated to the dirt/tar/clay tennis
courts some with basketball hoops where the small kids used two bases. The
netless tennis poles were first and third. No second base was used in this
three against three, even two against two, baseball game. The thrill here of
course was not hitting the ball past anyone because the fences kept the ball in
play, but hitting the ball over the fence for a home run.
Especially
thrilling was to hit one over the fence onto the railroad tracks next to one of
the courts. In the climbing to retrieve the ball, kids usually placed a penny
or two on the tracks to make the day more interesting. After a wave to the
engineer took place when the next train sped by, we all hightailed it over the
fence to examine the quarter-sized pennies.
Those were
great days in the hot sun playing ball. The cold water bubblers that
continually ran forth with Quabbin Reservoir spirits were at the opposite end
of the field. A great local baseball team called the Rozzie Royals played many
of their games at Fallon Field.
" Westy
" always came around in his music box chime, ice cream truck selling
Popsicle’s, Fudgicle’s, Creamsicle’s, ice cream sandwiches and push-ups. What a
kid could do with those leftover sticks in those imaginative times.— a boomerang,
a miniature kite, a carved knife, toothpick or even a tooth alignment device.
The
Roslindale Royals played their games in the early evenings to a small but
enthusiastic crowd either sitting on the hard benches behind home plate plus
many more on the grass-covered hill off the left field line..
Fallon Field
was our Greek coliseum. Viewing a football game involving the Chippewas on a
fall Sunday afternoon was indeed the lions versus the gladiators, as much as
they could be stuck in the mud at the 50-yard-line on Fallon Field.
We played
pickup football with a bunch of Rozzie locals on the same field, on a much
smaller scale. The 10-yard stripes and sideline was our 50-by-10-yard field
wherever we chose. Ten possible fields could be used actually. The thrill was
the same; the dirt seemed dirtier after a big game.
At sunset
over Fallon Field, or after, we always collected our gloves, balls, bats,
football helmets, basketball, large pennies and Popsicle sticks and made the
long walk home.
We were
dog-tired, dirty and feeling our aches and pains but always ready for the next
day of happiness.