Growing up as a boy in South St. Louis in the early 50’s, we use to play a game called Bottle Caps. Some called it Bottle Cap Baseball.
The game was always played in the back alleys behind our homes. We would go to a corner store or bar and they would usually give us the bottle caps they had saved from the drinks they sold. They were more than happy to give them to us provided we didn’t play behind their establishment.
As I look back on it now, I realize it could have been a bit dangerous to play. At that time though, being young kids, we just wanted to play. The reason it was so popular was because we didn’t have to travel blocks to a park to play. Also you played the game with two but no more than three people. You had a pitcher, catcher and sometimes an outfielder. The catcher would wear cheap jersey gloves. He was the only one allowed to wear them.
Similar to Baseball, three outs made a half inning. There were only two ways to make an out. One way was to catch a bottle cap after it had been hit in the air. The other way was a swinging strike when the catcher held onto the bottle cap after a foul tip or even a swing and miss. No bases were used. Since the alley was so small, the cap had to be hit within the confines of the alley itself. Anything hit outside was ruled foul. Although if a player caught it in the air before it went foul, it was an out.
Ghost runners would be used for all base hits except home runs. Ghost runners could only advance one base on a hit. It was the catchers responsibility to be fair and keep track of the base runners. We would use a common boundary such as a backyard gate, concrete trash pit, or garage to mark the distance for a home run. Anything on the fly hit past that mark was a homer, unless it was caught.
The great thing about Bottle Caps was that a pitcher could throw a curve or slider very easily. With some work, they could even through a riser. This put a lot of pressure on the hitter to make contact. There were many strikeouts and foul tips. That is why a catcher wore gloves. Catching a hit Cap sometimes was very easy and then other times they would be difficult because of their action. A pitcher who would come side arm could really break off a curve on a cap
The bat used was a broom stick. We would take old brooms found in the trash, cut them off at the head and tape the handle grip I remember we had an older man who loved to use his sander on them to smooth them down for us. Sometimes he would even tape them for us. But, most times we liked to do it ourselves. We knew how we wanted the grip..
When a catcher caught the cap, he would toss it into a bushel basket to be used again and again. We actually had two baskets. One was used by the pitcher and the other by the catcher. At the end of the inning, the next pitcher would take the catchers basket and dump it into the one near the pitching area and then return the empty basket to the catcher.
Many Bottle Caps that got hit or fouled off was never retrieved. They would just lay in the alley. Every now and then, one of the younger kids would use a leaf rake and collect them for a game another time.
Games would go 9 innings. The game was very popular in the summertime. Kids would sit and wait for their chance to take on the winners. Many times they would plug in a radio in a garage and listen to Cardinal Baseball being broadcast by Harry Carey and Jack Buck. Every now and then, Policemen who walked a beat would stop and watch us play. Besides enjoying watching us, I think they were making sure we were behaving. In a sense, it was kind of a poor kids style of baseball.
I know one thing for sure, when I did start playing organized Softball, hitting was very easy to do. I think the many times at bat trying to hit a bottle cap helped me improve.
