A tournament held in 1933 at the Chicago World's Fair spurred interest in the game. By the 1930s, similar sports with different rules and names were being played all over the United States and Canada. ) The name softball had spread across the United States by 1930. (In addition to "indoor baseball", "kitten ball", and "diamond ball", names for the game included "mush ball", and "pumpkin ball". The name was coined by Walter Hakanson of the YMCA at a meeting of the National Recreation Congress. The first softball league outside the United States was organized in Toronto in 1897. 19 in Minneapolis, Rober's post from 1896 to 1906, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in part for its association with the sport's development. Rober may not have been familiar with the Farragut Club rules. Rober's version of the game used a ball 12 inches (30 cm) in circumference, rather than the 16-inch (41 cm) ball used by the Farragut club, and eventually the Minneapolis ball prevailed, although the dimensions of the Minneapolis diamond were passed over in favor of the dimensions of the Chicago one. of Minneapolis organized outdoor games as exercise for firefighters this game was known as kitten ball (after the first team to play it), lemon ball, or diamond ball. Under the name of "Indoor-Outdoor", the game moved outside in the next year, and the first rules were published in 1889. Envisioned as a way for baseball players to maintain their skills during the winter, the sport was called "Indoor Baseball". The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders. Hancock is credited as the game's inventor for his development of a 17" ball and an undersized bat in the next week. The ball, being soft, was fielded barehanded. This first contest ended with a score of 41–40. George Hancock, a reporter there, called out "Play ball!" and the game began, with the boxing glove tightened into a ball, a broom handle serving as a bat. The Harvard fan grabbed a stick and swung at the rolled up glove. When the score was announced and bets were settled, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. It took place at the Farragut Boat Club at a gathering to hear the outcome of the Yale University and Harvard University football game. The earliest known softball game was played in Chicago, Illinois, on Thanksgiving Day, 1887. Additionally, the entire infield of a softball diamond is dirt, without grass around the pitcher's plate.įirst photo of a softball team, Chicago, 1897 Softball is pitched underhand from flat ground, with fastpitch using a windmill arm motion, while baseball is pitched overhand from a small hill called a mound, which changes the flight of the pitch. The game moves at a faster pace than traditional baseball due to the field being smaller and the bases and the fielders being closer to home plate. Softball rules vary somewhat from those of baseball. The ball itself is typically 11 or 12 inches (28 or 30 centimetres) in circumference, also depending on specifics of the competition. This differs from baseball, in which the bases are 90 feet apart. While distances between bases of 60 feet are standard across varieties, the pitcher's plate ranges from 35 to 43 feet away from home plate, and the home run fence can be 220 to 300 feet away from home plate. Slow pitch softball is commonly played recreationally, while women's fastpitch softball is a Summer Olympic sport and is played professionally.ĭepending on the variety being played and the age and gender of the players, the particulars of the field and equipment vary. There are two rule sets for softball generally: slow pitch softball and fastpitch. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hancock. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field.
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