Guest Author - Sandi Faist

You might think that softball was derived from baseball, (I did), but you'd be wrong. And as you can imagine, women were not the first to play the game. Its origination came in 1887 when a group of college men gathered in a gym in Chicago's Farragut Boat Club to listen to a football game. One of the young men picked up a boxing glove and threw it at someone who hit it with a pole. George Hancock was the young man who threw the glove and is considered to be the inventor of softball, albeit a very different game then what is played today.

The game was played indoors for many years. Hancock was responsible for developing the rules and called the game indoor baseball. The game's success was immediate. Later that spring, the game was moved outside and played on a smaller version of a baseball field. The name of the game was changed to indoor-outdoor.

Several years later, in 1895, indoor-outdoor gained popularity in Minneapolis, when a fire department official, Lewis Rober, Sr. had his men play the game in their spare time to stay fit. Other fire departments followed. When Rober moved on to another fire company, he put together a team called the Kittens, and indoor-outdoor became known as kitten ball. Another name change came the following year when the name changed to diamond ball. The term "softball" didn't come about until 1926.

You can imagine that the majority of players were boys or men in those early years, but girls' interest in the game soon developed, and they started playing the game in their high schools. There was not enough interest or awareness of the game to develop leagues; however and there were schools that actually forbid girls from playing. In 1901 in Chicago a girls' high school league was developed but the league was unable to sustain due to lack of interest. At the end of the First World War, softball's popularity was rekindled, and leagues were formed, still playing indoors.

It wasn't until the end of the 1920s that indoor ball ended and for the next several decades until 1960, girls played softball primarily in their gym classes. Interschool competition didn't begin until the 1960s, but the biggest change for girls' sports occurred in 1972 with the passage of Title IX which required high schools and colleges to allow girls the same opportunities as boys.

In 1934, the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) was founded. Adoption of one name was established, but more important then what the game was called was the establishment of standardized rules, as prior to that, different rules and field dimensions were used in different areas. The Amateur Softball Association remains softball's governing body for both women and men's leagues. Softball teams can play anywhere in the country and know that the rules are the same. Now softball is primarily played by girls and women, with most of the interest being in fastpitch.

Softball was finally accepted as an Olympic sport in 1996. Unfortunately, the International Olympic Committee has voted to no longer include softball, beginning in 2008. There is a petition to have this changed so that by the 2012 Olympics, it is once again included. PLEASE sign the petition.

We are fortunate to live in a time when girls and women are afforded the same opportunities as boys and men. And for some of us who missed the competition of organized sports leagues, at least out daughters have the opportunity.