I haven’t played corkball since I was a kid, and even then it was only at a couple of family reunions (on the DuParri side of the family at that, too, if I remember correctly), and usually the game was spearheaded by my dad or one of his countless cousins. I remember having an old, weathered corkball and a beatup old corkball bat around the house growing up. That bat was really thin and long, and part of the nob had broken off at some point. Once in a blue moon my dad would toss the tiny, miniature baseball to me in the backyard and I’d try my best to whack at it, usually missing the damned thing miserably. Back then I actually liked playing bottle caps more, and saved a whole shoebox full of them (90% of the caps featuring Falstaff, Ballantine or 905 beer logos) that I’d haul out of storage and use at family gatherings or whenever I could convince some kids from the neighborhood to play. My favorite part about throwing the bottle caps was the way they would zing and curve around before almost hitting the batter right in the face. No, there wasn’t much control in throwing bottle caps, or at least, if there was, I sure as hell didn’t know how to do it. But it was fun as hell, nevertheless.

If you’re like a lot of people these days, you’re probably wondering what the hell it is I’m writing about. Corkball? Bottle caps? WTF? And, I guess it’s because my dad was older—he had served in World War II and played stickball on the streets of Manchester and old North St. Louis when he was a kid—that I knew anything about it. Most of the other kids in my neighborhood had nary a clue what any of it was. To them, there was only one sport and that was baseball. So that’s what we played most of the time, including my junior-high years when we would play baseball every freakin’ day for two or three summers in a row (even if it rained). But that all came later, and once I’d started playing baseball, I never even really thought about corkball or bottle caps ever again. That is, until recently.

Corkball is a St. Louis thing, but unfortunately it doesn’t quite have the attention of other “St. Louis things” like toasted ravioli, St. Louis-style pizza, rolling stops, or our quirky habit of asking other locals where they went to high school. No one is quite sure when the game first started being played, but most local historians point to the turn of the twentieth century, and it’s been played ever since (in fact, the Gateway Corkball League has been around since 1929, believe it or not!). I could go into some great detail about the history of the game, but I couldn’t say it better than it was said in this Esquire Magazine article published on June 1, 2000. Do yourselves a favor and read it! Truly a unique story. And while you’re poking around on the Web for more info about this great old sport, be sure to visit the Corkball page on Markwort Sporting Goods’ website for detailed rules so you can really differentiate it from baseball and, indeed, other forms of stickball. Further reading can be found on the South Saint Louis Corkball Club, the Lemay Corkball Club, the Sportsman’s Corkball Club as well as the aforementioned Gateway Corkball Club sites. In fact, if you’re looking for some more competitive leagues, I would highly recommend any of those over what I’m planning on starting, but more on that in a minute.

So I basically went my entire adult life (so far) without having played even one inning of corkball, much less even watching a game. That is, until this year. I never forgot about nor lost my love of the game, and always had it in the back of my head that someday I would get off my ass and play it again. Well, a few weeks ago I realized that I’m not getting any younger and if I want to start playing, I should do it now. Why wait any longer? And since the four corkball fields at Tower Grove Park (within walking distance of my house) are going virtually unused in the 21st century (thanks to the Sportsman’s Corkball Club hightailing it for the “safer” Jefferson Barracks Park some nine years ago), there’s really no reason why I shouldn’t be playing.

So, I’ve started recruiting players to form a new, relaxed, non-competitive league, named the River City Corkball Club. The emphasis will be on having fun and we won’t be keeping track of stats or wins/losses. In fact, each game will be pickup-game style, just like how some of used to play pickup softball games at Tower Grove Park a decade ago. I figure we’ll start playing on Wednesday nights the third week of April (April 15). We’ll need to purchase some equipment (mainly a couple of masks, a batting helmet, some balls, etc.), and the best way to do that is to have everyone chip in some money. Maybe we’ll even have some shirts made, who knows. But this is definitely not the type of league that will be highly competitive or have bylaws, like those other local corkball clubs (no disrespect intended, naturally).

If you’re interested in checking it out, by all means, let me know. Post a comment below and/or join the Facebook group, and we’ll see you at the park!

Corkball Court