Pinners is a Chicagoland Baseball Game Played by Children Living in Congested Neighborhoods.

Pinners is a Chicagoland neighborhood game played on the front-stoop or against walls with angled trim-work (brick or stone) which can be used to pop the ball up in the air.

There are references to the game of Pinners beginning around 1949 or earlier. 

The batter would throw a rubber or tennis ball at the edge of the step or angled wall brick, and the fielder(s) would try to catch the ball as it bounces back.

The Preferred Pinners Ball.
A Spalding "Pinkie"

The scoring rules are similar to baseball, but with runs being virtually determined by where the ball lands. A single, double, triple or home run would be predetermined landmarks (i.e. sidewalk, trees, cars, street, curb/sidewalk lines) from the batting area. A catch is an out, and a one-handed catch could be used for a "rushie." 

As with most neighborhood games, rules varied by the groups playing, and house rules would be determined at the start of the game, including the base locations. The game utilizes traditional Chicago neighborhood row house architecture (Chicago bungalows), with most houses having a front stoop or stairs that lead from the front door to the sidewalk that can be used. Many of the schools built in Chicago also have a "perfect" angled section of brick which can be used for the game, and often neighborhood kids would paint a box with an X marking the angled sections.

Chicago Public School exterior wall with a ledge used to play Pinners.

Some kids called the game "Ledge," "Bounce Out," or "3-Outs" but those were determined by the school they attended. The universal name for the game throughout the city was "Pinners."

Terminology

Double Play; A play in which the fielder catches the ball creating an out, the fielder may throw or lob the ball so that it bounces once on a step that is parallel to the ground. The fielder may move to catch the ball after the throw. The fielder who did not catch the ball for the original out may move before the ball has been thrown in order to catch the ball for another out. The throw to the step may hit the part of the step that is parallel to the ground once but may hit a part of the step that is perpendicular to the ground as well, the ball, however, is a dead-ball if on the throw it bounces of a backstop before being caught again.

Rush Hour; A play in which the ball is out of play, either by foul ball, home run, or a misplay by the fielder, the fielder must throw the ball to the batter from where he stands or the batter may call stalling if the fielder is walking before he has thrown it in.

Rushies: A one-handed catch, leading to an automatic three outs. The player catching the ball with one hand is allowed to run towards the batter's box and throw the ball while the opposing team is in transition from offense to defense.

Stalling; When called the batting team is awarded a single without the batter, who would be up, having to sacrifice their turn in the order. 

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Lunchtime Theater - Illinois Railway Museum's Railroad Crossing Signals.

THE DIGITAL RESEARCH LIBRARY OF ILLINOIS HISTORY JOURNAL™ PRESENTS

THE LUNCHTIME THEATER.

Illinois Railway Museum's Railroad Crossing Signals.

The 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition Observation (Ferris) Wheel.

The original Ferris Wheel, sometimes called the Observation Wheel or the Chicago Wheel, was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. and was the centerpiece of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. 

Both Ferris and his associate W. F. Gronau recognized the engineering marvel the wheel represented: a giant wheel that would turn slowly and smoothly without structural failure had never before been attempted.

For its inaugural run, no cars had yet been attached. The workmen, however, climbed the structure and settled themselves on the spokes to the accompaniment of cheers from an audience of fair employees who had gathered to watch the momentous event. After the wheel had completed its first rotation, Gronau deemed the test a success. "I could have yelled out loud for joy."

Ferris himself had not been able to attend the launching of his invention. I received a telegram that evening: "The last coupling and final adjustment were made, and the steam turned on at six o’clock this evening. One complete revolution of the big wheel made everything work satisfactorily. Twenty minutes were taken for the revolution ─ I congratulate you upon its complete success midway is wildly enthusiastic."

The Ferris Wheel's statistics begin with the two 250-foot Wheels with 36 enclosed passenger cars hanging between them. The size of streetcars ─ 27 feet long, 13 feet wide, and 9 feet high ─ with large observation windows barred by iron safety gratings, each car was fitted with 40 swivel chairs and had room for 20 more standing passengers for 60 passengers. 

The Wheel rotated on a 142,351 pound (71 tons), 45½ foot axle comprising what was, at that time, the world's largest 'hollow forged' axle weighing 89,320 pounds, together with two 16-foot-diameter cast-iron spiders, for the spokes, weighing in at 53,031 pounds.

Each car weighed 26,000 pounds (13 tons). Stepped platforms at the Wheel's base enabled six cars to be loaded and unloaded at a time. Fully loaded, the Wheel's maximum capacity was an astounding 2,160 passengers. Each car carried a World's Fair employee to monitor the passengers' health and well-being.

The Ferris Wheel took 20 minutes to make two revolutions (your ride), the first involving six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter and the second a nine-minute non-stop rotation, for which the ticket holder paid 50¢... the exact cost as the entrance fee to the World's Fair.

Steps to the platform to enter and exit the Ferris wheel, six cars at a time.

Note the American Banners draped under the Ferris wheel car's windows. 

It was instantly hailed as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

In 1893, skyscrapers were in their infancy. The 264-foot-high Ferris Wheel stood just a bit shorter than the tallest building in North America then, Chicago's Masonic Temple, completed in 1892, which was 302 feet high (demolished in 1939).

The Wheel was outlined at night by 1,400 light bulbs and reportedly could be seen from 50 miles away.

The wheel closed in April 1894 and was then dismantled and stored until the following year, when it was rebuilt for the opening of Ferris Wheel Park in 1896. Ferris Wheel Park was located in Chicago's Park West neighborhood of the Lincoln Park community at 1288 North Clark Street (today: 2600 block of North Clark Street).

ACTUAL FILM FOOTAGE

A Lumière Film: Chicago. Grande Roue (1896)

The Ferris Wheel at Ferris Wheel Park.

Next, it was dismantled and rebuilt for a third and final time for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. It was demolished there in 1906 and is rumored to have been blown up and buried in Forest Park in the City of St. Louis.

The 1893 Ferris Wheel axle's burial site was finally found in 2007 at the St. Louis 1904 World's Fair Grounds.

By Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.

---

For an in-depth history of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition's Midway Plaisance (the birth of the amusement park), where the Ferris wheel was the main attraction, check out my book "The Midway Plaisance at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago."

My Digital Research Library of Illinois History® is the most extensive collection of 1893 World's Fair antique books, documents, and research papers online at the 1893 World's Fair  Library.