THE GOOD OLD DAYS

“YO GEORGIE”. that was the call to play. Friends would gather outside your house and yell out, “Yo Georgie”, Tommy or your name to come out and play. They didn’t knock on doors, ring door bells or call you on the phone; they cup their hands together to call out your name... They’d go down the block sounding the call to play. If your mother said it was”OK” you quickly ran down the stairs and out to greet your friends. There was Swatty, Kenny, Horse, Tadek, Waz, Jerry, Freddie, Bobby and others. The time of year determined what you did. January and February were quiet months when you normally stayed in except to go sledding or engage in a snow ball fight. I remember going out one day when there were older boys in the fight. I was hit in the ear. It felt like as though a rock had hit my ear. My ear got red and blew up... I ran home, but there wasn’t much to do except wait for the swelling to go down. I believe the hit ended my singing career. After that I could never carry a tune, I had become a monotone. I remember the boy who threw the snowball, a few years later he was to lose his life in the Korean War.

March ushered in flying kites and the call to play. Marbles was a game that we played. We’d gather around someone’s front yard which had a hard piece of ground and no grass. Someone would find a stick and draw a circle. It was like playing pool. Each player put an equal number of marbles into the ring. Then we’d take turns with what we called a shooter. The objective was to knock out as many marbles from the ring as you could. When you knocked out a marble it was yours. As the weather warmed, Duncan Yo Yo’s would stage Yo Yo demonstrations at the candy store across from Wicker Park School. They would demonstrate walk the doggie, rock the cradle, looping and other tricks. The kids would buy the Yo Yo’s, and it became a favorite springtime activity. Tops were also fun. The boys would spin their tops and see whose top would spin the longest. Some performed tricks like picking up the top with their top string and continue to spin the top. Lai Lai’s (paddles with attached rubber band and ball) were toys that boys and girls played in the 40’s... Pitching pennies was a way to spend idle time. All you needed was 2 square blocks in a sidewalk and two pennies per player. The objective was too see who got the most points. Points were totaled by seeing how close you got to the liner or line in the sidewalk. You normally got 5 points for a liner and one point if you were closer to the liner than your opponent. It was like playing horseshoes. Collecting and trading baseball and football cards became an exciting activity. You’d buy a pack of bubble gum and got a few cards. I also collected basketball and boxing cards. I’d be a rich man today if I had only kept those cards.

As we moved into April we played with toy cars and cops and robbers. We used a lot of imagination and make believe. We had a lot of hiding places; I remember using squirt guns to squirt your enemy. This also turned into Cowboys and Indians which was played in the empty lot on Evergreen Avenue. As we got older the empty lot became our ball field for baseball and football. In the spring we’d come out and play ball. It was always critical that someone have a bat and ball... The field would be laid out; we’d used a stick to draw the bases. Baseball was our favorite past time and continued thru summer. As we grew older we’d take the streetcar to Wrigley Field. We’d walk to North Avenue and hop on a bus or streetcar to Clark Street. We then picked up the Green Hornet Streetcar which took us to Wrigley Field at Clark and Addison. As you guessed, we were all Cub fans. We would arrive with our gloves for batting practice in hopes of catching a ball. We sat in the bleachers. Tickets were no more than 75cents. I remember watching some of the greats: Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, Eddie Stanky, Leo Durocher, Don Newcomb, Roy Campanella, Willie Mays and many more. After batting practice and the playing of the Star Spangled Banner, Pat Piper the field announcer would echo the sound “PLAY BALL”.

The Cubs didn’t have the best of teams but they were our heroes. Andy Pafko was my favorite... Some of the Cubs stars were: Bill (Swish) Nicholson, Bob Rush, Johnny Schmitz, Bob Scheffing, Peanuts Lowry and Eddie Waitkus. It was somewhere in this period that Eddie Waitkus was shot by a friend. He recovered and went on to play with the Philadelphia Phillies. At that time there were 2 leagues, the American and National leagues, each with 8 teams... The Cubs didn’t win many games, but we continued to root for them.

In the summer we’d catch flies to feed the spiders. We go in the alleys and catch the flies and throw them in spider webs and wait for the spider to pounce on the fly. Our basements were full of webs so it was a great sport. By the way, no one got sick or died. In the evening our interest turned to fire flies. Cork stands were big. The kids would get a wooden box from the grocery store and erect the cork stand. A cork stand was a roulette table. It was divided into areas or slots with a spinner in the center. The spinner was made from an ice cream bar stick and cork and nailed to the top of the box. For chips we collected corks from the soda cooler in a candy store. Some kids used the wooden boxes to make scooters. They would cut a 4 foot plank of wood to which they’d nail roller skate wheels to the bottom to move the scooter. They made handles to steer the scooter.

Most of the summer was spent playing baseball. We would play softball in the empty lot. I remember an event that scared the wits out of me; I was playing left field. Left field backed up to an alley which housed a barn. In the barn a girl had a horse and German shepherd. On this day the girl was out with her horse and dog. On one of the plays, I went back to catch a fly ball and found myself with the German shepherd’s teeth reaching up and biting my rear end. . You never saw anyone run faster than I did. I can’t remember catching the ball. I ran home and fortunately the dog bite did not go thru my trousers. There was a small mark, but nothing serious. I returned later, but not to left field. During summer vacation a lot of time was spent playing hardball in the Wicker Park Schoolyard... We’d get a number of guys together in the morning to play .They’d hop on their bikes and head for the school yard. I never had a bike so I’d hop a ride with one of the guys. I’d bring along my trusty three finger mitt that I bought with my First Communion money. Home plate was located at the middle of the school yard, against the east alley fence which bordered the school. The gravel made for a lively field. I can remember the excitement and feel of catching a fly ball or fielding a groundball, but nothing was greater than the crack of a bat and ball meeting to give the satisfaction of a hit... When it was exceptionally hot, John, the maintenance engineer would let us get water from the boiler room... Sometimes we’d pitch in and share a Pepsi. In between our regular games we would play ‘Hit Em Outs: a game we played with a small pink ball on the school grounds. We would play in an area were there was a pinner; a pinner was a sharp cement part of the building that was used to simulate a bat hitting the light weight pink ball. One person would be the hitter (have the ball hit the pinner) and another one or two players played the field. We’ set rules for hits and found it to be a fun game. On days when no one was around you could occupy your time playing dice baseball. You prepare a scorecard of the two teams you wanted to play. You needed a pair of dice and then roll them: 12 was a home run, 11 a double, 2 a triple, 5 a single, 7 a strikeout and the rest outs. .In the evenings we‘d watch the Rippers or Wolves play softball.

Summer was also a time for family. Some of the kids would go to Wisconsin or Michigan to spend time with relatives or friends. They would swim or fish. I remember an unfortunate incident when a number of neighbor boys went to Lake Michigan to fish. There was a tragic accident when two brothers fell into the water and drowned. Sunday was a day for church and a ride to Caldwell Woods... We’d take the Milwaukee Avenue streetcar to the end of the line at Milwaukee and Devon. Sometimes we would walk to St. Adalberts Cemetery to visit the graves of relatives. This was the final resting place for most North side Poles. After the visit we’d head to the woods. On a typical Sunday they would have numerous picnics sponsored by various Polish Clubs and other ethnic groups... A number of picnics would have polka bands. It was always a treat when L’l Wally or Eddie Zima played. The woods would be packed and they had two levels, upstairs and downstairs. The difference was a hill that you had to climb up or down. There were cement platforms for dancing and picnics, the big picnics had a bar that was constructed from beer or soda cases and long boards to serve drinks. The older men still wore white flat straw hats, brown and white shoes, long sleeve shirts that were rolled up and ties. The women wore light weight summer dresses. The younger girls would wear black slacks, white blouses and low heel dancing shoes. Everyone was happy as they danced, drank and had a good time. My Uncle Frank would come early on Sunday mornings and save a table where we could meet, play cards, chat and enjoy the day.


As summer ended and school rolled around our interest turned to football. After school a few of us would gather in the empty lot to play touch football... Sometimes we played in the street. The problem playing in the street was parked cars and traffic. I remember for a while we used the old American Football League white football with black stripes. The spiral passes stood out with the white and black flying through the air. Normally we used a standard brown football. It was a ball someone had received for Christmas or their birthday. On a few occasions we’d go to Wicker Park and play tackle football. In the park we would meet other school kids that we normally would not play with. There was a little grass, but the ground was hard. No one had helmets or pads. We were tough and played till dusk. We would play football into December. By that time the ground was frozen which made for a fast field. On occasions we’d go to St. Aloysius to play basketball. St. ALS had a basketball court and if lucky no one would be playing. We’d play “HORSE: and if we had enough players we start up a full court game. HORSE was a game were a basket counted for a letter. The first player to spell HORSE would be the winner. When January and February rolled around some of the kids went to the Association House to play basketball.

When it was time to come home the moms would call out, “Georgie, time to come home”. The mothers would call from their back porches or front windows. Normally it was supper time. If the game was still in progress somebody would be standing by waiting to get into the game. It was a good time; we got plenty of fresh air, exercise, stayed healthy. and didn’t get into trouble...Oh, maybe some of the language got colorful, but nothing serious. We didn’t have TV’s, computers or electronic games. We used our imagination in playing what I call unorganized fun. We had no coaches, sodded fields or special equipment. We used what was available. Those were the good old days.

Next week join me as we discuss old time radio.

Sasiad