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Home run! Stickball Old-Timers return to Ridge for classic street game

Home run! Stickball Old-Timers return to Ridge for classic street game
Photo by Steve Solomonson

On Sunday, oldsters on one Bay Ridge block walked, ran, and stole their way down memory lane.

Some 70 members of the Brooklyn Stickball Old-Timers and their families met on 80th Street between Third and Fourth avenues while the street was closed for the Ragamuffin Parade and revived the tradition of stickball for the 45th straight year.

The Old-Timers formed in 1968, when a generation of Bay Ridge kids graduated college and scattered across the country but resolved to return to the old neighborhood each fall and relive their childhood glory days. This year, two teams of 15 — younger Old-Timers versus older Old-Timers — battled it out over three games. The 60-and-up team took two out of three, but those who founded the street league say the yearly ritual is not about winning and losing; it is about who you play the game with.

“The younger guys, they want to win,” said founding member Peter “Stickball Pete” Syrdahl, who turns 67 this year. “Us older guys, we know the winning part is making it through the game, and seeing each other, and having fun.”

Whammer: Joe Kremar hit a home run, and tagged several cars used as bases on his way around.
Photo by Steve Solomonson

Many of the players — some of whom came from as far away as Florida and Norway — wore pins commemorating late friends and founding Old-Timers Pete “Best” Perlett and Joe “Gump” Saunders. The event also featured a trophy named after Perlett, the Pete Best Three Sewers award, memorializing the man’s big personality and even bigger stickball swing.

“He was always a larger-than-life character, a great guy,” said Syrdahl. “If you can hit the ball two sewers, you’re great. But if you can hit it three sewers, you’re really the best.”

This year’s award went to Mike Mallett, a second-generation Old-Timer who now lives in Seattle. Syrdahl said the goal of the league is to create a lasting link between families and Brooklyn, so that as the original Old-Timers pass on, their children and grandchildren will still return to pick up the broom-handle and ball.

“The kids and grandkids love it, love the physical activity,” said Syrdahl. “We want them to learn the game so they can keep it going.”

Stepping up: Dennis Murphy took his cuts at the plate.
Photo by Steve Solomonson

Reach reporter Will Bredderman at [email protected] or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him attwitter.com/WillBredderman.