How Has Softball Changed Throughout History

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The game of softball has changed throughout history in many ways. Many people do not think that softball has ever been an important sport. There are many different levels in the game of softball. The game of softball was invented by a reporter for the Chicago board of trade named George Hancock and a group of young men playing around at a Yale football game on Thanksgiving day in 1887. It started when a young man from Yale threw a boxing glove at a Harvard man as he hit it away with the end of a broomstick which gathered the two and started an illuminati. The teams quickly gathered all around , many people threw in bets. The two began playing and turned it into a game and started developing many rules. The reporter from the Chicago …show more content…

Many people wonder why a softball is bigger than a baseball. A softball is bigger than a baseball because the game of softball was originally played as indoor baseball. Hancock and the men developed many rules for the indoor game and began designing the field the indoor baseball league emerged in its premier league as it became The Mid Winter Indoor baseball league of Chicago. The game of softball was originally called “Kitten Ball” because it is known not to go as far as a baseball would. Many people were very interested in playing this indoor game so it began to be played outside the following summer. This outdoor game became so popular that thousands of people played in parks and all throughout the city. The next summer after the game of softball was first played outside and was so popular by 1930 it spread quickly across the U.S. After the game of was moved outside the following summer it was renamed and people then called it Diamond ball. A fire department wanted to have something to do to stay active and have a good time while they are not on a mission. A lieutenant named Louis Rober from the fire department used a vacant lot to set up a small field for his men to play. The lieutenant got transferred to a different department and he helped establish a new teamed as they named the team the Kittens. This is how Kitten ball got its name in …show more content…

The game of softball continued to grow around the world and women began to get interested in this sport more and more. The idea of women playing softball continued to get popular around the world and it officially became official for women to play in leagues and the rules were way different and standardized. By 1895 the first women's softball team was developed in Chicago's West Division High School. During games women did not require to have a coach until 1899. Women playing softball in the early days mostly played slow pitch. Playing slow pitch was more encouraged because many people believed that playing fastpitch might break their bones. With this women believed that slowpitch was not enough. Fastpitch was officially born in 1991 when the Amateur Softball Association (ASA ) decided to host a women's fastpitch softball tournament as an event for the first time ever at the Olympic Games in Atlanta