Pinners

Pinners is a Chicago neighborhood game played on the front-stoop or walls with angled bricks/stones which can be used to pop the ball up in the air. References and accounts of playing exist to 1949 or earlier. The batter would throw a rubber/tennis ball at the edge of the step or angled wall brick, and the fielder(s) would try to catch the ball as it bounces back. In many cases in the past, the rubber ball used was a pink "superball" that was solid rubber and bounced well off the corners of the steps. Nowadays, there is a comparable pink rubber ball that is hollow and bounces higher than the original. Sometimes the children also wore mitts. The scoring rules are similar to baseball, but with runs being virtual determined by where the ball lands. A single, double, tripe or home run would be predetermined landmarks (i.e. sidewalk, trees, cars, street, curb/sidewalk lines) from the batting area. A catch is an out, and a one-handed catch could be used for a "rushie." As with most neighborhood games, rules varied by the groups playing and house rules would be determined at the start of the game, including the base locations. The game utilizes traditional Chicago neighborhood row house architecture, with most houses having a front stoop or stairs that lead from the front door to the sidewalk that can be used. Many of the schools built in Chicago also have a "perfect" angled section of brick which can be used for the game, and often neighborhood kids would paint a box with an X marking the angled sections.

Some Children called the game "Ledge" or "Bounce Out", but it was not the common name.