Games we used to play
By Roberta Cannon
Summertime brought all kinds of opportunities to expand creative prowess when we were kids. Everything from clubhouses below the lush green trees with boundaries of sticks to protect my sisters and me from would-be invaders to hopscotch, marbles, kite flying and baseball games were often our activities of choice. We were lucky to have a neighborhood of families whose children enjoyed all of the above and participated almost daily in the activities of the day. I don’t even know how we came up with some of the ideas we had, such as jamming our shoes onto the long sides of metal cans and then walk on asphalt with them so we could hear them click. We would use wooden clothespins to clip playing cards to the spokes in our bicycle tires and listen to the sound of the tat, tat, tat, as they clapped against the tire when we rode down the road.
My parents taught us how to make kites with newspaper, string, two sticks, glue, and cut-up rags for the tails. We lived next to a huge field where the wind would make the kites soar or not. Some days, the kites just did not live up to expectation, either because the newspaper was too heavy, the sticks weren’t aligned or the string broke. But even with the frustration and challenges of getting the kites to fly, it taught us the importance of trying again. When box kites came into vogue, my sisters and I kept asking for one of those because they were different, came in a kit and were colorful. I don’t recall when we got our first box kite but that was a turning point, when we no longer spent the time and effort to make our own.
Kites were often connected with events on the Cape such as Cape Cod’s Festival of Strawberries in Falmouth. The entry fee was one “wooden nickel.” An applicant would complete a form stating their name, address and age, as well as the type of kite chosen from the categories of homemade, bought complete, or package assembly. The types of contests were determined by the height of the kite: large, 5 feet and over; medium, 3 to 4 feet, 6 inches; or small, 2 feet, 10 inches. Any width was acceptable, and one additional division was the box kite that could be any size. The Girls’ Contest was open to all ages and types of kites. One requirement was the kite had to have a strawberry design, painted or glued on it, and the name of the town.
Some other games that could be played either quietly or more actively were Chinese Checkers, Chutes and Ladders, hide and seek, Simon Says, and Red Rover. “When I was a kid, we played marbles, hopscotch, and bounce the ball,” Joy Stosz of Falmouth said. The ball would be bounced against a wall, while one said a rhyme. Ms. Stosz also enjoyed the game Pick-up Stix. The long, colored, thin sticks were dropped onto a flat surface, and the participants took turns trying to remove sticks from the pile using one stick. The trick is not to disturb or move the surrounding sticks on the pile.
Baseball was an after-supper game the kids in my neighborhood played in our field in the evening. One of the star players was my mother, who could hit a home run almost every time she was up to bat. I think it was her years of carrying heavy trays as a waitress that gave her the strength to knock that ball out of the park, so to speak. Everyone would vie to have her on their team, and the team who got her had the best chance of winning.
We would occasionally go to the Sunday afternoon baseball games at Eldredge Park in Orleans to watch the big league potentials play ball, although we didn’t realize the implications of being a member of the team back then. Mashpee had a baseball league from the 1940s into the mid-1950s. The team was known as the Mashpee Warriors, and it won the Cape Cod League Championship in 1948. The Falmouth Commodores have been playing since the early 1900s and won their last championship in 1980. The Commodores continue today as one of the most well- known teams on the Cape.
Rich Saladyga of Mashpee, who grew up in Taunton, had a Little League field across the street from his house. “I loved playing baseball with my brother and father,” Mr. Saladyga said. After dinner in the evenings and Sunday afternoon dinners, everyone in the neighborhood would get together to play baseball. In addition to the field, there was also a playground with swings, see-saws and a merry-go-round. Summertime activities at the playground included arts and crafts programs, where Mr. Saladyga learned how to make items such as potholders, and articles made with gimp.
Although it was not a game, Mr. Saladyga’s wife, Diane, said that one of her favorite activities was fishing. “I liked to go lobster fishing with my dad,” Mrs. Saladyga said. They used to leave at 6 AM and motor to Boston Harbor to check the lobster traps, sort the lobsters and bring home the big ones to eat, Mrs. Saladyga said. They especially enjoyed watching the sun rise, planes taking off from Logan Airport and the view of the Boston skyline. Mr. Saladyga added that he enjoyed fishing as well with his family on the Cape Cod Canal at night.
When people talk about games and activities they did as children, it brings some nostalgia about what used to be or remembrances of the family and friends who played those games with us. Even though my father was in a wheelchair for most of my life, a result of polio, he didn’t hesitate to take me bowling when there was an opportunity to go or be a cheerleader at one of our evening neighborhood baseball games. There are many fun memories tied to baseball games, whether it be the local field, town teams or the major leagues. The creativity of occupying summer days when life seemed a bit less complicated was a goal, not a need. The only technology back then was a radio, television or a telephone on the wall. Those times provided a lot of laughter and whistling, something you rarely hear when kids are listening to their iPhones, computers or watching TV. I probably wouldn’t choose to permanently give up my iPhone or computer these days but an afternoon of hopscotch, a walk on a couple of tin cans, a good round of baseball, or flying a kite on the beach would provide a brief return to the time when life was just plain fun.
Originally published by The Mashpee Enterprise, August 6, 2015