From a boxing glove and a pole to today's softball equipment that's specially manufactured for the sport, softball equipment has come a long way since the game's invention. After all, nearly 125 years of history allows for plenty of time to develop, create and manufacture evolutions of softball bats, balls and other equipment.
Origin
At Chicago's Farragut Boat Club in 1887, a group of men were celebrating Yale's victory against Harvard in a Thanksgiving Day football game, according to Shades Valley Softball. One man threw a boxing glove at another man, who hit the glove with a pole. George Hancock, who was among the group of men at the club, decided to make this into a game that was similar to baseball. Hancock tied the glove into a ball-like shape, drew a diamond on the gymnasium floor with chalk and fashioned a broom handle as a bat. The group of young men played the invented game that night, which is considered the very first game of softball every played, notes the International Softball Federation.
Development
Throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s, Hancock's invented game spread throughout the U.S., the ISF says. Called "kitten ball," "diamond ball," "mush ball" and "pumpkin ball," the game was finally named softball in 1926. Less than one week after the first unofficial softball game at the Farragut Boat Club, Hancock made a large ball and small rubber-tipped bat for the new sport, notes Shades Valley Softball. Hancock then wrote up the first set of rules for softball and designed the foul lines on the gymnasium floor. When the new game that Hancock dubbed "indoor baseball" spread to Canada, where athletes began playing the game outdoors as well, he published a set of indoor/outdoor rules for softball in 1889.
Significance
The early 1900s saw plenty of versions of softball equipment, because there were no standardized ball and bat designs yet. The balls used in the game were typically made from soft materials and rather large, ranging from 10 to 20 inches in diameter, according to SoftballPerformance.com. The men's slow-pitch softball competitions began using 16-inch-diameter balls during the 1930s. In 1933, the Amateur Softball Association was founded, which began standardizing the sport's equipment, playing field size and rules. The Association made the standard size 12 inches in diameter for softballs used in youth leagues and 16 inches for adult players. During World War II, American troops spread the game of softball to other parts of the world while stationed abroad, the ISF states. Soon after, the International Softball Federation was founded and the first world championship was held in 1965 in Australia. Unlike many other sports, the women's international championships preceded the men's by one year, with the men's competition occurring in 1966 in Mexico.
Modern Day
Today, softball continues to grow in popularity throughout the world. Women's softball became an Olympic event in the 1996 Summer Games, according to the ISF. Also in the 1996 Games, the International Olympic Committee funded a ground-breaking biomechanical study on softball pitching. Modern-day softball equipment is manufactured especially for the sport and usually varies in design for youths, men and women, as well as for "slow-pitch" and "fast-pitch" softball.
Member Comments