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==History== === Early history === [[File:Chicago Softball Team in 1897.jpg|thumb|First photo of a softball team, Chicago, 1897]] The earliest known softball game was played in [[Chicago]], Illinois, on [[Thanksgiving]] Day, 1887. It took place at the Farragut Boat Club at a gathering to hear the outcome of the [[Yale University]] and [[Harvard University]] [[American football|football]] game.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.16inchsoftballhof.com/history.asp |title=Chicago 16 Inch Softball Hall of Fame / History|website=16inchsoftballhof.com |access-date=2010-06-12 |last=Maag |first=Al |quote=16" Softball History – Chicago's Game |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327134311/http://www.16inchsoftballhof.com/history.asp |archive-date=March 27, 2010}}</ref> When the score was announced and bets were settled, a Yale alumnus threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The Harvard fan grabbed a stick and swung at the rolled-up glove.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.athleticscholarships.net/history-of-softball.htm|title = The History of Softball. Who Invented Softball?| date=9 June 2010 }}</ref> [[George Hancock (softball)|George Hancock]], a reporter there, called out "Play ball!" and the game began, with the boxing glove tightened into a ball, a broom handle serving as a bat. This first contest ended with a score of 41–40.<ref name="ISF History">{{cite web|url=http://www.internationalsoftball.com/english/the_isf/history_of_softball.asp |title=The History of Softball |publisher=[[International Softball Federation]] |access-date=2006-12-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212040653/http://www.internationalsoftball.com/english/the_isf/history_of_softball.asp |archive-date=December 12, 2006}}</ref> The ball, being soft, was fielded barehanded.<ref name=CHM>[[Chicago History Museum]], "Wait Til Next Year" display</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-history/ |title=History of Softball |publisher=SoftballPerformance.com |access-date=January 11, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109135200/http://www.softballperformance.com/softball-history/ |archive-date=January 9, 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Hancock is credited as the game's inventor for his development of a 17-inch ball and an undersized bat in the next week. The Farragut Club soon set rules for the game, which spread quickly to outsiders. Envisioned as a way for [[baseball]] players to maintain their skills during the winter, the sport was called "Indoor Baseball".<ref name="Sports Encyclopedia">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of World Sports|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1996|location=London & [[New York City|New York]]|pages=371–73|editor=David Levinson & Karen Christensen|isbn=0-19-512778-1}}</ref> Under the name of "Indoor-Outdoor," the game moved outside in the next year, and the first rules were published in 1889.<ref name="Sports Encyclopedia"/> [[File:Indoor-baseball.JPG|thumb|Indoor baseball player, 1907]] In 1895, Lewis Rober Sr. of [[Minneapolis, Minnesota|Minneapolis]] organized outdoor games as exercise for [[firefighter]]s;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.startribune.com/softball-started-in-minnesota-or-did-it/429130543/|title=Softball started in Minnesota — or did it?|first=Curt|last=Brown|website=Star Tribune|date=18 June 2017 }}</ref> this game was originally known as kitten ball.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.extraalarm.org/ltrober.htm |title="Minneapolis Fire Department Invents Game of Softball - 1895," excerpt from ''Mill City Firefighters'', pub. EAATC, 1981 |access-date=2017-06-19 |archive-date=2018-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180826191423/http://www.extraalarm.org/ltrober.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Rober's version of the game used a ball {{convert|12|in|cm}} in circumference, rather than the {{convert|16|in|cm|adj=on}} ball used by the Farragut club, and eventually the Minneapolis ball prevailed, although the dimensions of the Minneapolis diamond were passed over in favor of the dimensions of the Chicago one. Rober may not have been familiar with the Farragut Club rules. [[Fire Station No. 19 (Minneapolis, Minnesota)|Fire Station No. 19]] in Minneapolis, Rober's post from 1896 to 1906, was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in part for its association with the sport's development.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Mack |first=Robert C. |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Fire Station No. 19 |url={{NRHP url|id=82002960}} |website=National Park Service |date=1979-07-16 |access-date=2014-11-29}}</ref> The first softball league outside the United States was organized in [[Toronto|Toronto, Ontario]], in 1897. The name "softball" dates back to 1926. The name was coined by Walter Hakanson of the [[Young Men's Christian Association|YMCA]]<ref name="ISF History"/> at a meeting of the National Recreation Congress.<ref name="Inventions and Discoveries">{{cite book|page=127|isbn=0-8160-2865-6|title=Inventions and Discoveries 1993|year=1993|publisher=Facts on File}}</ref> (In addition to "indoor baseball", "kitten ball", and "diamond ball", names for the game included "mush ball", and "pumpkin ball".<ref name="ISF History"/>) The name softball had spread across the United States by 1930.<ref name="Inventions and Discoveries"/> By the 1930s, similar sports with different rules and names were being played all over the United States and [[Canada]]. A tournament held in 1933 at the [[Century of Progress|Chicago World's Fair]] spurred interest in the game. By 1936, the [[Joint Rules Committee on Softball]] had standardized the rules and naming throughout the United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhlMAAAAYAAJ&dq=1906+softball+rules+game&pg=PA151|title=The Journal of Health and Physical Education|date=October 2, 1940|publisher=American Physical Education Association|via=Google Books}}</ref> In this decade, American women transitioned from playing feminized versions of baseball to mainly playing softball.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berlage |first=Gai |date=2000 |title=Transition of Women's Baseball: An Overview |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/24094/summary |journal=NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=72–81 |issn=1534-1844}}</ref> [[16-inch softball|Sixteen-inch softball]], also sometimes referred to as "mush ball" or "super-slow pitch" and is a direct descendant of Hancock's original game. Defensive players are not allowed to wear fielding gloves. Sixteen-inch softball is played extensively in Chicago,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.16inchsoftballhof.com/ | title = Chicago 16 Inch Softball Hall of Fame | access-date = 2010-06-12}}</ref> where devotees such as newspaper columnist [[Mike Royko]] consider it the "real" game,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2010/04/mike_royko_holds_court_at_the.html |title=Mike Royko holds court at the Billy Goat on softball |access-date=2010-06-12 |last=Newman |first=Craig |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502171751/http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2010/04/mike_royko_holds_court_at_the.html |archive-date=2010-05-02 }}</ref> and New Orleans. In New Orleans, sixteen-inch softball is called "Cabbage Ball" or "batter ball" and is a popular team sport in area elementary and high schools. The first cork-centered softball was created in [[Hamilton, Ontario]], Canada, by [[Sports in Hamilton, Ontario#Innovations|Emil "Pops" Kenesky]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.heritagetrust.on.ca/en/pages/our-stories/exhibits/snapshots-of-ontarios-sport-heritage/impact-of-immigration-on-sport/emil-pops-kenesky |title= Emil "Pops" Kenesky - Ontario Heritage Trust|website=heritagetrust.on.ca |date= 27 February 2017|access-date=18 April 2022 |publisher=Ontario Heritage Trust |language=en}}</ref> === Contemporary era === By the 1940s, fast pitch began to dominate the game. Although slow pitch was present at the [[1933 World's Fair]], the main course of action taken was to lengthen the pitching distance. Slow pitch achieved formal recognition in 1953 when it was added to the program of the [[Amateur Softball Association]], and within a decade had surpassed fast pitch in popularity.<ref name="Sports Encyclopedia"/> The first British women's softball league was established in 1953.<ref name="Sports Encyclopedia"/> The [[National Softball Hall of Fame and Museum]] was opened in [[Oklahoma City]], United States, in 1957. In 1991, women's fast pitch softball was selected to debut at the [[1996 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="ISF History"/> The 1996 Olympics also marked a key era in the introduction of technology in softball. The IOC funded a landmark bio-mechanical study on pitching during the games. In 2002, sixteen-inch slow pitch was written out of the [[International Softball Federation]] (ISF) official rules, although it is still played extensively in the United States under [[USA Softball|The Amateur Softball Association of America]], or ASA rules. The [[117th IOC Session|117th meeting]] of the [[International Olympic Committee]], held in [[Singapore]] in July 2005, voted to drop softball and [[baseball]] as [[Olympic sports]] for the [[2012 Summer Olympics]].<ref name="117th session">{{cite web|url=http://www.singapore2005ioc.org.sg/|title=The 117th IOC Session in Singapore – A Summary|publisher=Singapore National Olympic Council|access-date=2008-08-24|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725120417/http://www.singapore2005ioc.org.sg/|archive-date=2008-07-25}}</ref> They were reinstated for the [[2020 Summer Olympics]] held in 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Baseball/Softball {{!}} Olympic Sport|url=https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/baseball-softball/|access-date=2021-07-21|website=Tokyo 2020|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-07-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703153021/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/sports/baseball-softball/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The highest [[Sport governing body|governing body]] for the sport is the [[World Baseball Softball Confederation]] (WBSC). Other sanctioning bodies are [[USA Softball]], [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]], [[National Federation of State High School Associations|NFHS]], AAU, NSA, PONY, [[Babe Ruth League]], ISC, [[United States Specialty Sports Association|USSSA]] and Triple Crown.
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