Punchball

From Encyc

Punchball is a sport spawned by and similar to baseball, but without a pitcher, catcher, or bat.[1][2]

The "batter" essentially plays "fungo" without a bat, bouncing or tossing up the ball and then using a volleyball-type approach to put the ball (usually a spaldeen[3] or pensie pinkie) in play, punching the ball with his closed fist.[4][5][6] Stealing and bunting are not allowed.

Historian and baseball enthusiast Stephen Jay Gould referred to it as "the canonical recess game",[7] and in The Boys of Summer baseball writer Roger Kahn described how when he grew up it was a boys game, as the girls played "slapball".[8]

Baseball Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson,[9] Sandy Koufax,[10][11] and Yogi Berra[12] played it growing up, as did sports team owner Jerry Reinsdorf[13] and former US Secretary of State and general Colin Powell.[14][15] Major league outfielder Rocky Colavito, when asked if he played punchball, answered "Play it? Man, that was my game. I liked to play that more than anything else ... anything. We used to play for money, too."[16] It was also a pastime of football announcer Al Michaels, who often played with former Chicago Bears quarterback Sid Luckman.

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  1. ↑ The Echoing Green: The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and the Shot Heard Round the World, p. 194, Joshua Prager, Random House, Inc., 2008, ISBN, 0375713077, 9780375713071, accessed December 16, 2009
  2. ↑ Boyhood in America: an encyclopedia, Volume 1, p. 71, Jacqueline S. Reinier, ABC-CLIO, 2001, ISBN 1576072150, 9781576072158, accessed December 16, 2009
  3. ↑ Voices from Cooperstown: Baseball's Hall of Famers Tell It Like It Was, p. 9, Anthony J. Connor, Galahad Books, 1998, ISBN 1578660165, 9781578660162, accessed December 16, 2009
  4. ↑ [1]
  5. ↑ Street games, p. 149, Alan Milberg, McGraw-Hill, 1976, ISBN 0070419159, 9780070419155, accessed December 16, 2009
  6. ↑ Baseball: The People's Game, pp. 17-18, Harold Seymour, Oxford University Press US, 1991, ISBN 0195069072, 9780195069075, accessed December 16, 2009
  7. ↑ Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville: A Lifelong Passion for Baseball, pp. 41-42, 258, Stephen Jay Gould, David Halberstam, W. W. Norton & Company, 2004, ISBN 0393325571, 9780393325577, accessed December 16, 2009
  8. ↑ Sports and the American Jew, p. 43, Steven A. Riess, Syracuse University Press, 1998, ISBN 0815627548, 9780815627548, accessed December 16, 2009
  9. ↑ Jackie Robinson: Young Sports Trailblazer; Childhood of Famous Americans, Herb Dunn, Meryl Henderson, Simon and Schuster, 1999, ISBN 068982453X, 9780689824531, accessed December 16, 2009
  10. ↑ Koufax, p. 17, Sandy Koufax, Edward Linn, Viking Press, 1966, accessed December 16, 2009
  11. ↑ Sandy Koufax, pp. 6-7, Matt Doeden, Twenty-First Century Books, 2006, ISBN 0822559617, 9780822559610, accessed December 16, 2009
  12. ↑ Allen, Maury, Baseball Digest, November 1969, "Yogi Berra: The People's Choice," Vol. 28, No. 10, p. 88, ISSN 0005-609X, accessed December 16, 2009
  13. ↑ Brooklyn: a state of mind: "Interview with Jerry Reinsdorf, p. 84, Michael W. Robbins, Wendy Palitz, Workman Publishing, 2000, ISBN 0761116354, 9780761116356, accessed December 16, 2009
  14. ↑ Colin Powell: soldier/statesman--statesman/soldier, pp. 48, 59, Howard B. Means, Donald I. Fine, 1992, ISBN 1556113358, 9781556113352, accessed December 16, 2009
  15. ↑ Colin Powell: a man of quality, p. 24, Libby Hughes, Dillon Press, 1996, ISBN 0382392604, 9780382392603, accessed December 16, 2009
  16. ↑ Falls, Joe, Baseball Digest, July 1960, Vol. 19, No. 6, "Two Boys from the Bronx," p. 24, ISSN 0005-609X, accessed December 16, 2009
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