{{Short description|Rubber ball}} thumb|upright=0.7|Modern-day Spaldeen A '''Spalding Hi-Bounce Ball''', often called a '''Spaldeen''' or a similar ball called the '''Pensie Pinkie''', is a rubber ball, described as a tennis ball core without the felt.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The encyclopedia of New York |date=2020 |others=David Haskell |isbn=978-1-5011-6695-2 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=1197762213|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZIb-DwAAQBAJ}}</ref> These balls are commonly used in street games developed in the mid-20th century, such as Chinese handball (a variation on American handball), Australian handball, stoop ball, hit-the-penny (involving trying to make a penny flip on a sidewalk), butts up, handball, punchball, boxball, half-rubber, wireball and stickball (variations of baseball).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickson |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=afQVWhAm1TEC&pg=PA466 |title=The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary: A Cyclopedic Reference to More Than 7,000 Words, Names, Phrases, and Slang Expressions that Define the Game, Its Heritage, Culture, and Variations |date=1999 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-15-600580-7 |language=en}}</ref>
==Name== The term arose from a local pronunciation of "Spalding" in Brooklyn, with Spalding being the sporting goods company that produced the balls. The name has become so common that Spalding now uses it in marketing, and it is now a registered trademark.<ref name="Dodgers">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/business/yourmoney/the-spaldeen-is-back-even-if-the-dodgers-arent.html|title=The Spaldeen Is Back (Even if the Dodgers Aren't)|date=13 March 2005|work=The New York Times|access-date=18 February 2017|archive-date=13 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913091540/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/13/business/yourmoney/the-spaldeen-is-back-even-if-the-dodgers-arent.html|url-status=live}}</ref> A similar ball is the "Pensie Pinkie" or "Pennsy Pinky" referring to Penn Racquet Sports, another sporting goods manufacturer brand.<ref name="Cohen-2001">{{Cite book |title=The games we played: A celebration of childhood and imagination |date=2001 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |others=Steven A. Cohen |isbn=0-7432-0166-3 |location=New York |oclc=46240269|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ETjvsAAs5QgC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Chetwynd |first=Josh |title=The secret history of balls: The stories behind the things we love to catch, whack, throw, kick, bounce and bat |date=2011 |publisher=Perigee Trade |isbn=978-1-101-50547-2 |edition=1st|location=New York |oclc=773612052|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tD-fAQAACAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1983-07-25 |title=Memories Of Spaldeens |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/25/sports/no-headline-055910.html |access-date=2026-05-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331|last=Vecsey|first=George}}</ref>
==History== [[File:Rubber handball autographed by Kevin Rudd.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.7|A newer Spaldeen in blue, autographed by Kevin Rudd]]The original Spaldeens were tennis balls that had been rejected for slight defects. Instead of throwing them away, Spalding stamped "Spalding High-Bounce Ball" on the rubber rejects and sold them cheaply to wholesalers. They were popular with children from the 1930s through to the 1970s. The balls sold for 15 cents in the 1950s.<ref name="Cohen-2001" /> In urban areas sparse in grass, Spaldeens became integral to many street games due to their bounciness and light weight. Players of these games at the time said of the spaldeen, if dropped from a person's eye height, it would rebound to half of their total height.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Curran |first=William |title=Mitts: A celebration of the art of fielding |date=1985 |publisher=W. Morrow |isbn=0-688-04489-1 |location=New York |oclc=11650679|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpZYAAAAYAAJ}}</ref> Citing the declining popularity of stickball, Spalding took the ball off the market in 1979, but it returned in 1999 to much fanfare.<ref name="Dodgers" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/05/nyregion/new-life-for-old-favorite-spaldeen-stickball-s-bouncy-foundation-makes-comeback.html|title=New Life for an Old Favorite; The Spaldeen, Stickball's Bouncy Foundation, Makes a Comeback|date=5 May 1999|work=The New York Times|access-date=18 February 2017|archive-date=12 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912212604/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/05/nyregion/new-life-for-old-favorite-spaldeen-stickball-s-bouncy-foundation-makes-comeback.html|url-status=live}}</ref> After reintroducing spaldeens in 1999, Spalding sold more than 2 million in the first year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Noxon |first=Christopher |title=Rejuvenile: Kickball, cartoons, cupcakes, and the reinvention of the American grown-up |date=2007 |publisher=Three Rivers Press |isbn=978-1-4000-8089-2 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=124510965|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QgGLDQAAQBAJ}}</ref>
In his memoir, New York Senator Chuck Schumer recalls playing slapball with spaldeens as a child growing up in Brooklyn, and refers to the baseball-inspired game and its bouncy ball as his era's video game.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schumer |first=Charles E. |title=Positively American: Winning back the middle-class majority one family at a time |date=2007 |publisher=Rodale Books |others=Daniel Squadron |isbn=978-1-59486-572-5 |location=[Emmaus, PA] |oclc=78894999|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzlubnMo7v4C}}</ref>
==See also== * Bouncing ball * Bouncy ball
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.spaldeen.com/ Spaldeen.com] (Spalding's promotional site for the ball)
Category:Balls Category:Ball games Category:Street games