The History of Softball: From Chicago to the Olympics

Origins of Softball in Chicago

Softball has its origins in the game of baseball, the bat-and-ball sport first played in America under a codified set of rules in Hoboken, New Jersey, on June 19, 1846. The game of softball appeared in the United States just over thirty years later, in 1887. While the two sports are similar in many ways, they also contrast in a number of ways, as does their history. This paper examines the history of softball and shows how and why it developed out of the game of baseball.

The first known game of softball was played on Thanksgiving Day in Chicago between fans of the Yale and Harvard football teams. The game began quite by accident and quite spontaneously. After the results of the football game between the two rivals were announced and winning parties were awarded their money, a Yale graduate hurled a boxing mitt at a Harvard fan. The man at whom the boxing mitt was thrown did not hesitate — he reacted as any sporting fan with a stick in his hands would: he swung at it.

Just then, a man named George Hancock cried out, "Play ball!" and a good-natured game of makeshift baseball immediately began. The boxing mitt was wrapped up, knotted, and used as a makeshift ball. A broomstick served as a bat, and Yale and Harvard supporters served as the players. Hancock used chalk to outline the baseball field diamond inside the boat club where the men proposed to play, and the men fielded the ball with their bare hands. An hour later, when the game was over and the score stood 41–40, Hancock was determined to make softball a real sport. That very same week, he set about making it one.

Taking his cue from baseball — and from the fact that the game had taken place indoors — Hancock decided that players would use an undersized bat and keep the soft ball. The boat club, named the Farragut Boat Club, helped create the rules for what would eventually be known as softball but was for now simply called "Indoor Baseball," since it continued to be played indoors and was so similar to baseball. Soon, however, players wanted to take the game outdoors as well, and it took on a new title: "Indoor-Outdoor."

Early Rule Development and Naming

In 1889, the first set of official rules was established, and within the decade, variations of Hancock's spur-of-the-moment game were being played all over the country. In 1895 in Minneapolis, for example, a man named Lewis Rober organized games of "kittenball" — so named after one of the teams that played it — for local firemen. The game was also called "lemonball" and "diamond ball." Rather than the 16-inch soft ball developed by Hancock and the Farragut Club in Chicago, Rober called for a smaller version measuring only 12 inches in circumference — a diminutive version of the Chicago ball, roughly less than half the size of a modern-day basketball.

In 1897, softball was made into a league sport in Toronto, Canada, but the game was still not known as "softball." That name did not become official for more than another thirty years. In the meantime, the game was known by any number of names — such as those already mentioned, as well as "mush ball" and "pumpkin ball." It was Walter Hakanson of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) who coined the term "softball" in 1926. While this name caught on and was used to describe the game across the United States as early as 1930, the game was still known by its other titles and played according to a variety of rules and in a variety of ways.

Rober popularized the game — perhaps as inadvertently as Hancock invented it — by using it to keep his firemen occupied between calls. Beside the fire station, Rober plotted out the dimensions of the diamond, keeping it appropriately small. Just as the first game played by the Harvard and Yale fans had lasted one hour, Rober's game for his firemen was limited to seven innings, allowing it to last roughly an hour, much like the original game played in the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago.

Popularization by Lewis Rober in Minneapolis

Rober's games of softball, in which the Minneapolis fire department took such pleasure, began to attract the attention of nearly all the locals. The games were quick, tight, offensively and defensively exciting, and increasingly competitive. Crowds began to form to watch, and sometimes those in attendance numbered as many as 3,000.

Rober's 12-inch softball would become the standard size of the ball used in the sport. The Chicago-style diamond, on the other hand, would remain the standard size of the field used during play. However, it would be more than a decade before the Minneapolis Park Board officially recognized the recreational sport and invited people to play it in parks around the city.

One of the more endearing teams to play the game — which still had so many different names — was a team of 75-year-old men who, ironically, called themselves the Kids and Kubs. These old men traveled the country in 1931 and played the sport in their suits for the amusement of spectators. Truly, the sport appealed to young and old, men and women alike.