Maybe the most popular game, mostly for boys but occasionally a girl might be admitted, was stickball, which has many variations. The urban (New York) variation is for narrow streets with row houses right up to the sidewalk, played usually with a rubber ball and a broomstick. My father, my 2 brothers, and my 2 sisters and I played it with a baseball bat and a ball made up of tightly-rolled-up worn out old sweatsocks in the side yard. It got really challenging (especially for my mother) when the mulberry tree which hung over the infield was dropping ripe fruits.