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A new game
On Thanksgiving day of 1887, a fan at a Yale vs. Harvard football game came with a glove stitched up to create a ball. The "ball" was hit with a broom stick and was played indoors. The ball was soft enough that they could catch it in their hands and didn't need to use gloves. This was the start of a new game. -
Rules
During the 1887 Thanksgiving game, players played inside the gym at the Farragut Boat Club. The club wrote the first rules to softball including George Hancock Of course later these rules were edited or completely taken away but these first set of rules was how many people played. -
Softball gets its name
In 1926 an official from the Denver YMCA suggested the name of softball after it had been given unofficial names like pumpkin ball, cabbage ball, diamond ball and kitten ball. When the sport got an official name, softball began to get more attention. -
Booming Business
As the game of softball got more and more popular, a tournament in 1933 propelled softball onto the world stage. Different teams and leagues from all over the world began to pop up in many U.S. cities. It was estimated that more that 5 million people had played softball. -
Getting an association
With all the success from the tournaments the Amateur Softball Association was founded in 1933 by Leo Fischer. This brought set rules and standards for the game such as playing with a 12 inch ball for the youth, pithing 35-50 feet from home base, and the distance between bases. -
International Softball
In 1952 the first International Softball Federation meeting was held. This meeting helped govern this sport in other countries and the first international tournament that took place 1965 where 5 different countries competed in Melbourne, Australia. -
Moving Outside
A fireman named Lewis Rober wanted something to keep his firemen occupied while they waited for calls. Because the weather was nice and warm they took it outside. Rober thought of limiting the games to 7 innings that way the game could be completed in about in hour while still being active. This drew in other firehouses to compete in competitions. In 1913, the game was adopted by the Minneapolis Park Board to be played in parks all over the city. -
To the Olympics!
In 1996 women's fast pitch softball became an Olympic medal event. The U.S. women's team had won all three gold medal for the sport and was held in Atlanta, Georgia. With the U.S's many wins it showed how big this sport was here in the United States. Softball continued to be in the olympics until 2012. -
Women in the game
The first women's softball team was formed in Chicago, Illinois at West Division High School. The team didn't play in competitions until 1899 when they hired a coach. From here on softball was know as a women's sport. -
Softball Today
Softball is still incredibly popular today with over 40 million players all over the world playing. The sport is similar to baseball in ways but the "first" game of it in 1887 paved the road for how softball is the way it is today. -
