No Pepper

[goonys evil twin]

When I was younger, my dad told me pepper was a game where everyone stood in circle, bent over, batting the ball back and forth bare-handed. He said it was banned because the ball would get away, and hit fans in the stands.

 

I've seen that, don't know what it's called.

 

I thought pepper was a game where you practice rundowns.

That's pickle. That's why it's called "getting in a pickle."

 

I never heard it called "pickle". We always called it "pepper".

 

That's what we called it, too. Maybe there are a combination of games and they were all lumped together and called "pepper".

 

No, you guys probably just grew up in a hotbed of communist sympathizers.

 

This thread has made me realize that I had a lot more fun doing things that required a lot less money than I do now.

 

As much as people whine "kids these days" no longer going out to the sandlot and playing the games of old, I still see a lot of these games going on. I play a lot of games just like this with my fiance's cousins. In fact, I've seen a huge increase in play in the old classic, whiffle ball. I think it's really just Bob Costas and Billy Crystal waxing poetic about their youth.

[treebird]

I'm about to blow your minds.

 

We called this pickle/running bases game . . .

 

wait for it . . .

 

hot box. I'm not kidding. We played hot box, and it was awesome. We later had variations where you threw a big rubber ball instead of a baseball, so you could just throw the ball at people like in dodgeball. There would be days during recess where we'd be running in between two trees probably 60 feet apart, and we'd have at least 15 or 20 kids running back and forth between the trees (often more).

[AcesHigh]

I can't believ running bases was so popular!

 

Have any of you ever played "Johnny Tackle"?

I can't believe someone else has played Johnny Tackle! That was our tackling drill of choice in freshman football. It was so much fun.

[wekse]

I'm about to blow your minds.

 

We called this pickle/running bases game . . .

 

wait for it . . .

 

hot box. I'm not kidding. We played hot box, and it was awesome. We later had variations where you threw a big rubber ball instead of a baseball, so you could just throw the ball at people like in dodgeball. There would be days during recess where we'd be running in between two trees probably 60 feet apart, and we'd have at least 15 or 20 kids running back and forth between the trees (often more).

 

we called it hot box too tree, so you're not alone!!!! i loved that game so much.

[treebird]

I can't believ running bases was so popular!

 

Have any of you ever played "Johnny Tackle"?

I can't believe someone else has played Johnny Tackle! That was our tackling drill of choice in freshman football. It was so much fun.

 

We used to call "Smear the Queer" by that name. I never knew why though.

[radarluv1]

another vote for hotbox!!! i thought i grew up in bizarro world or something, where everything has a different name. must be regional, i grew up near springfield, and have family near avon i believe.

 

now they have to call STQ "smear the one who is different."

[sandberg23]

I grew up knowing "pepper" as the way people described it as having a batter bunt/slap hit balls to several people about 10 feet away and "pickle" as being caught in a run down.

 

Spud was a great game...totally forgot about that - thanks, JC! I'm going to teach my cousins that game. Never playes Johnny Tackle or Smear the Queer, but have heard of it called Smear the Queer in my neck of the woods.

[TB_11]

 

Have any of you ever played "Johnny Tackle"?

 

Pardon the expression, but if its anything like "Smear the Queer", then yes. (Basically, a kid runs around with a ball until he gets flattened. The ball is then tossed up in the air and the process begins again. Sometimes it involved teams a la rugby; however, sometimes is was twenty against one.)

 

We called that "Kill the man with the Ball"

 

We had a few names for this game...Was also referred to as "Demolishion" or "Maul Ball"...It was also one of my favorite games to play. Now i would hurt myself if i played it.

 

We called it maul ball where I grew up. A great game, until someone's insanely huge older brother would come in and knock the snot out of everybody else.

 

Running bases was a great game - it was a lot more fun when you would play with a football and you could throw it at people to get them out.

[BigbadB]

We also used to play a game called "500". One hitter, everyone else has a glove and collects points fighting for grounders and/or fly balls. Catching a ball on the fly was worth more points. First person to 500 points was the next person to get to hit. Everyone else started over with zero points.

 

By the way, Pepper is what we called "running the bases" in Peoria/Bartonville.

[circlechange]

 

Here's the question: Did you guys enjoy running the bases more or being the fielders?

 

I enjoyed being a fielder more, but there was a higher level of esteem if you could keep from getting tagged out for long periods of time while running the basis. Tough question.

I also enjoyed being a fielder more. It was great when you would throw it high to entice kids to run and then still pick them off.

[biittner77]

I can't believ running bases was so popular!

 

Have any of you ever played "Johnny Tackle"?

I can't believe someone else has played Johnny Tackle! That was our tackling drill of choice in freshman football. It was so much fun.

 

We used to have recess in a big parking lot. In winter when it snowed enough we'd have almost the entire 6th, 7th and 8th grades out there. When someone yelled "Johnny" it was like a thundering herd.

[AcesHigh]

I can't believ running bases was so popular!

 

Have any of you ever played "Johnny Tackle"?

I can't believe someone else has played Johnny Tackle! That was our tackling drill of choice in freshman football. It was so much fun.

 

We used to have recess in a big parking lot. In winter when it snowed enough we'd have almost the entire 6th, 7th and 8th grades out there. When someone yelled "Johnny" it was like a thundering herd.

A parking lot? Wow. You guys are way tougher than me. At least I had pads on.