2 Page Essay On Softball

Softball was not always a widely-known sport like it is today. It was also not predominantly a women’s sport. In this day and age when softball is thought of most people think of the Women’s College World Series or Little League. But in the late eighteenth century when softball was invented it was meant to be an all men’s sport. Softball came about in the year 1887 on Thanksgiving. A group of men were watching the results of the Yale versus Harvard football game in the city of Chicago when they came up with the idea. What was originally just a fun, silly game to celebrate a Yale victory turned into the next big thing of the century. One man threw a tied together old boxing glove to another man and he in turn hit the glove with a stick, thus
In 1934, a Joint Rules Committee on Softball created a set of standardized rules that were used throughout the country (Athnet Get Recruited). Softball continued to grow as a men’s sport throughout the country for the next several years. It was used as an indoors sport to keep major league baseball players in shape throughout the winter. The first official women’s team was formed in 1895 at Chicago’s West Division High School. The women’s sport did not get any recognition though until 1904 when an article was featured on it in the Spalding’s Indoor Baseball Guide (Demand Media. Inc). Since softball was played indoors during this time, there was no room to have ninety-foot base paths like there are in baseball. When softball was moved outside and an official sport, the shorter base paths stayed which is why softball now days has a base path of sixty-feet. (Demand Media.
Today Little League softball is played by more than 366,000 players around the world. Protect Our Nation’s Youth (PONY) is another league that provides young girls the option to play softball. The ASA, otherwise known as the Junior Olympic program, is also growing rapidly at this time. The ASA has registered more than 3.5 million girls around the country to play ball. Many of these girls try out for elite travel teams that travel around the country playing in competitive tournaments. These tournaments are the most scouted by college coaches and it is the best way to be exposed to them if wanting to play for a collegiate team (iSport Softball ). Since its birth, softball has gone through many milestones to its foundation today. It can hardly be compared to the small game in Chicago it started as. The amount of popularity and support at the recreational and collegiate level has made this sport go nation-wide. The technology advances as well as the passion behind the players will lead softball through the twenty-first century with flying colors. The outlet of softball has brought hope, leadership, and integrity to many young girls which makes all the bumps in the road to get to where this sport is today all worth