The Games we Played (50's & 60's)

When I grew up we played mainly 2 organized sports, baseball and soccer.  Baseball was played in the summer months with gloves were flat as a pancake, no pocket at all.  You had to oil the glove and put a ball in the middle, tie a string around it to form a pocket. 

Soccer was the other sport we played but it was in the winter.  Not indoor soccer like today strictly outdoor.  I don’t remember any games ever being called off because of weather, actually we looked forward to playing in the mud and slush because that’s just part of being a boy. The coaches for both baseball and soccer were usually the fathers of some of the players. 

Trophies were reserved for the winning teams only, if you lost there was no trophy for your team.  It didn’t bother anyone because we knew you had to win to get a trophy. Participation in a sport did not guarantee you would receive a trophy.  Learning disappointment was just part of the growing process.  Most teams were part of a church league, there were a few select teams but not like today where the majority of teams are select and they play year round. 

We played many other sports/games (football, basketball, Indian ball) but they were pickup games basically who ever showed up played.  Captains were chosen then they each picked the team members. The best players were always picked first of course but everyone got to play, so you learned to get over any hurt feelings you had during the selection process and just have fun playing.  I now enjoy playing tennis but when I was young I had little opportunity or interest for playing tennis and my main objective is having fun.

Indian Ball for those that may not be familiar is a St. Louis Game that we usually played this in the street and used designated cars or light post as the Indians, which were the boundaries.   We probably didn’t play by the official rules (there are official rules) but it worked for us.  There was no pitcher, the batter would just throw the ball up in the air and hit it.  This could go on forever especially if someone got us laughing.  I know Indian ball has been around since the 50's when I played but the name would indicate it has been much longer than that.  I checked the internet to find out some history of this sport and even though Spanish Lake claims to to have the 1st official Indian ball league it goes back well beyond.  Apparently other areas of the country play a similar game called Cherokee ball so maybe this isn't just a St. Louis game, the are probably many Indian names for this game.


Cork ball was also popular in St. Louis which is played in a cage with just the pitcher and batter and this little ball that was as hard as a rock.  Older guys usually played this because the cork ball cage was always right next to a bar.  It was fun to watch but I didn't like being in cage with someone throwing a rock hard ball at me and trying to hit it with a broomstick size bat when the ball could  sometimes ricocheted off the cage.  This game also spawned another similar game called bottle caps which used bottle caps instead of a ball, can you guess where this was played?  That's so obvious I'm not even going to answer that.  As kids we played our own version of Cork ball called Fuzz ball without a cage using a tennis ball and a Wiffle ball bat or broomstick.  Of course we also played Wiffle ball as well, which used a plastic ball with slots in it that would catch the wind and allowed the pitcher to throw wild curves. 

We also played Hide and Seek but with a little twist.  The rules were the same as the well-known hide and seek but we played at night and sometimes changed shirts to make it harder for the seeker to recognize us.  Sometimes when it got very late we would leave the last guy stranded because we would hide then sneak in our house and let him keep looking. We would find out the next day how long it took him before he quit.

Another game we played outside was called SPUD. I don't know the origin of the game or what the letters SPUD stand for but we enjoyed playing.  One player would throw a rubber ball straight up in the air as hard as you can and call out a name.  Everyone else runs away from the catcher.  The named kid has to catch the ball and yell spud.   Everyone must stop when they hear the word spud called.  The catcher can then take 3 giant leaps toward any of the players then he throws the ball at them, if he hits them they get the first letter (S).  This goes on until 1 kid gets all 4 letters (SPUD).  That kid then must go through 1 of 2 punishments.

1.  Crawl through all the other players legs and get slapped on the butt as you crawl through.

2.  Rest your hands on the front steps of someone’s house with your butt facing the players.  Each player will then throw the ball at you butt as hard as he can.  You can move your butt, not your hands.  I believe the punishment for losing SPUD has changed over the years but that's how we played the game.  Thankfully we had no star pitchers in our neighborhood. 

Mumbly Peg was played with a pocket knife because every boy carried one.  Apparently playing with sharp objects were just part of growing up for boys even if they were from a conservative family. 

We also enjoyed playing poker just regular poker for money (nickel and dimes), usually at my house in the basement.  It was just a normal thing for us (12 year olds) maybe it wasn't all that normal for others.  We still play to this day and act like 12 year olds. 

We all saved baseball trading cards which came in a pack of 5 or 6 with a big piece of square gum which was hard as a rock.  We would trade the cards buy many times we would play flip cards.  We used to call it Flip Cards because we would flip or sail the baseball trading cards against a wall in an attempt to get the closet to the wall.  Leaners were the best.  The winner got to keep all the cards thrown.

There were other games but these are the ones I remember most vividly.  What games did you play?