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The history of softball. Have you ever wondered where it all began?

I can tell you that softball originated from Chicago, on Thanksgiving Day, 1887. After a group of about twenty young men had gathered in a Boat Club, to hear the outcome of a football game. After the winner was announced, a man picked up a boxing glove left on the side and threw it at someone...who then hit it away with a pole.

A man named George Hancock is known in the history of softball, as the man who shouted, "Let's play ball!" He tied the boxing glove into a ball shape, drew out a diamond on the floor and found a broom handle to use as a bat.

That is how the idea of the game of softball was born. Now, how did this twisted version of baseball grow into the sport that it is today?

An over-sized ball, a slightly smaller bat with a rubber tip on the end and a set of rules for a game he called indoor baseball were later created.

Indoor baseball spread fast internationally. Many played it to keep practicing during the winter months, a great alternative to playing outside in the freezing cold snow! When the weather became warmer, the game was moved outdoors and the new name indoor-outdoor was given to the sport. The sport exploded in popularity and Hancock published indoor-outdoor rules in 1889.

Another important event in the history of softball was when a fireman decided to limit the game to seven innings. This ment that the game lasted about an hour, thus being a perfect game for his fellow firemen to play between fire call-outs.

In 1926, a Denver YMCA official suggested the name softball, and the name stuck. In 1933, softball was introduced to the rest of the world when it travelled with the world's fair.

An important year in the history of softball was 1933. This was when the Amateur Softball Association was founded. The association brought standardized rules to the game, including rules about different age groups, sizes of balls and sizes of pitches.

In 1939, softball was introduced to Australia and Canadians introduced softball to the Netherlands after the Second World War. Later in 1962, softball was introduced to the United Kingdom, the first British womens softball league was established in 1983.

The first womens fast-pitch world championships in the history of softball were played in 1965 and the first mens world championships in the history of softball were played a year later in Mexico City. Softball world championship tournaments have been played every four years since 1970, and in 1996, womens softball became an Olympic medal event.

Today, million's of people around the world play the game of softball...me included!

This is just a brief segment of information about softball history. For the full version, visit the Baseball Brainiac page "History Of Softball". The links can be found at the bottom of this article.