Stoop ball is a game that is played by throwing a ball against a stoop

Urban stoop

In urban architecture, a stoop is a small staircase ending in a platform and leading to the entrance of an apartment building or other building.-Etymology:...

 (stairs leading up to a building) on the pavement in front of a building. The game is also known as "Off the Point". Historically, it has been popular in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 and other inner cities. It first became popular after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. A Portable Stoopball Striker has been patented.

It has been played and enjoyed by a number of prominent personalities. Sandy Koufax

Sandy Koufax

Sanford "Sandy" Koufax is a former left-handed baseball pitcher who played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball career for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers...

 began his Hall of Fame baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 career by playing stoop ball, while Marv Albert

Marv Albert

Marv Albert is an American television and radio sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he is commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball." From 1967–2004, he was also known as "the voice of the New York Knicks."Including Super Bowl XLII, Marv has called...

 missed the city game so much that he once had a stoop constructed at his house in the suburbs. Billy Joel

Billy Joel

William Martin "Billy" Joel is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to...

 played stoop ball on suburban streets

Rules of the Game

Stoop ball is a pickup neighborhood game played on the stairs of a residential dwelling by a minimum of two players. The rules are based loosely on baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

. The object of the game is to score the most runs in 9 innings

Innings

An inning, or innings, is a fixed-length segment of a game in any of a variety of sports – most notably cricket and baseball during which one team attempts to score while the other team attempts to prevent the first from scoring. In cricket, the term innings is both singular and plural and is...

.

One player is the "batter" and the other players the "fielders". The batter stands immediately in front of the stairs while the fielders stand behind the batter across the sidewalk on to the street. The "batter" throws a pink rubber ball (either a "spaldeen

Spaldeen

thumb| 250px|Modern-day SpaldeenA Spalding Hi-Bounce Ball, often called a Spaldeen , is a small pink rubber ball, somewhat similar to a racquetball, supposedly made from the defective core of a tennis ball without the felt. It was the more expensive and more popular version of the Pensie Pinkie...

" or "pensie pinkie") at the stoop

Stoop

Stoop may refer to:* Adrian Stoop , English-naturalised rugby union player* Georgie Stoop , English professional tennis player* Urban stoop, a small staircase or porch* a mild form of kyphosis...

. The ball flies back towards the fielders, who are also facing the stoop. The objective is to hit the ball at such an angle and velocity so that it bounces back in the air as far as possible over the heads of the fielders, therefore registering bigger hits. The number of bases registered by a hit is determined by the distance traveled by the ball before it is fielded, unless the ball is caught on the fly resulting in an out.

The Stoopball League of America holds their annual world championships every July in Clinton, Wisconsin.

Variations

In addition to the "baseball rules" or "bounces" variation described above, there is also the "curbball" version, often played in parks. In the "original" version of stoop ball, only one player at a time throws and catches. In St. Louis, Missouri, this game was known as "stepball", where it was played from at least the 1930 to the 1980s.