Festa Tournament Sunday Oct. 12th!

History of Stickball in San Diego

Stickball is an urban sport that was first played years ago in the streets of New York City. It was brought to San Diego by stickball Hall Of Famer Bobby Ortiz who moved to San Diego from New York for a career change. Bobby was a well-known New York stickball player and wanted to get stickball started in San Diego. He tried for years to get guys interested in stickball and slowly but surely he got enough guys to form a team in San Diego called the San Diego Knights. Since they were the only team in San Diego during the 90's, the Knights would practice year around for the Memorial Day tournament in Bobby's hometown Bronx, NY.

San Diego's version of stickball is "fungo" style and is the version that is used in the New York Emperors Stickball League. Stickball is similar to baseball, except for the pitcher and the catcher. It is played with a stick, made from anything from a broom stick to a rake, and a rubber ball. No gloves are used by the defense and the batter has one swing to pitch the ball to himself and put it in play. Stickball is played in the streets of Little Italy on the first and third Sunday of the month.

Stickball in San Diego has grown throughout the years and is still growing. There are currently eight teams that participate in the San Diego Little Italy Stickball League that runs from April through August with an annual Labor Day tournament attracting the best teams from New York, Florida and Puerto Rico.