Essay On Women's Baseball During Ww2

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Women’s Baseball during World War II
Women and baseball are two categories that were never put together. Up until the 1940’s, the cliche of American women playing sports was challenged. Due to World War II, all men were off fighting for the Allied Forces, including many sports stars. Not wanting to focus on the negative aspects of the war, women turned to baseball.They played not only as an escape from the gloomy war, but women also played to prove that they had an impact on America. This showed that they were more than just housewives; it showed that women were more than the stereotypes that had plagued them since the early ages of time. Softball allowed women an escape to a world where they were free from judgement, could do what they loved, and were not constantly being haunted by the standard that men and …show more content…

Throughout history itself the game of softball has evolved in several aspects. Just like society today the game changed to meet the new needs of its participants and spectators. Due to the changes that were being made new rules, dimensions, and regulations were constantly being added or revised. The main problem that the league faced was its dimensions and way of playing. For starters, in 1943 the mound was only 40 feet away. (Gregorich 89). For the duration of the eleven years span, the distance from home plate the the pitching mound changed several times. However, in 1954, the leagues last year, the mound distance jumped to 60 feet away (Gregorich 89), which happens to be the same length as a Major League Baseball mound. The distance change was caused by the pitching delivery, which started out as underhand thethen progressed to overhand. The final major change in dimensions was the distance between basepaths. As the bases moved farther apart this gave the catcher at most 0.9 seconds to catch and get a perfect throw down to second. (ESPN Sports Science). With the game of softball always changing it always kept players on their toes and ready at all