The History of Fastpitch Softball: From Origins to Modern-Day
You probably won’t find a sport that changed names this many times. It was called indoor-outdoor, indoor-outdoor baseball, kitten ball, playground ball, diamond ball, pumpkin ball. It wasn’t until 1930 that the term softball was adopted as the official name of the sport. With that being said, the history of fastpitch softball is as interesting as the name trivia itself.
Early Days of Softball, and What Firefighters Have To Do With All of That
Most people would assume softball originated from baseball or cricket, given their shared characteristics. It's understandable. However, softball has a completely different origin. It was invented accidentally at the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago, where people gathered for a Harvard-Yale game. After the final whistle and 17-8 Yale win, a Yale fan threw a boxing glove at a Harvard fan who defended himself with a broomstick. Standing aside, a guy named George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, comes up with an idea. Why not make this into a sport and call it indoor baseball? He ties up those gloves, grabs some chalk, and makes the basic layout of the field. Springtime rolls in, and Hancock takes the game outdoors, calling it “Indoor-Outdoor”. At the tail end of the 19th century, Indoor-Outdoor Baseball really began to take off, and here’s when another important name in the history of this sport showed up - Lewis Rober. He was a lieutenant of the Minneapolis Fire Department. Rober built a field right next to the station and made some modifications to the field. Firefighters, never ones to pass up on friendly competition or physical activity, quickly turned this into a statewide phenomenon.
The Birth of Fastpitch
Another important stage of softball’s development was a decade or so before the Second World War. It's not clear how softball was forked into two different versions, but fastpitch became more popular and gathered considerable crowds. It was an attractive, fast game, with balls often reaching 85 mph. The Windmill motion of the pitcher allowed for some interesting aerobatics of the ball. While men's fastpitch games gathered crowds, slowpitch was more popular for casual playing (as it is today). After the war, fastpitch softball became a sport of choice in schools and recreational leagues, reaching its peak in popularity. Though it didn’t get the same attention as baseball, fastpitch was slowly becoming a sport that people took seriously. Eventually, fastpitch made it to the Summer Olympics in 1996, which was probably the greatest recognition so far.
Softball in Numbers
Whenever a sport becomes mainstream, the money is involved. North American sports market has a value of around 50 billion US Dollars, depending on the reports. To put it into perspective, the North American online casino industry, a very competitive and fast-growing sector, was valued at “only” 13.36 billion US dollars last year.
It’s well-known baseball is one of the top-gross revenue sports in the world according to Fact.MR reports. Softball market reports are often tied to baseball so it’s hard to distill the exact numbers for fastpitch softball in terms of sponsorships. However, when it comes to apparel and equipment sales, like bats, gloves or protective gear, the combined baseball/softball category is, unsurprisingly, holding its own, showing a solid 6.3% growth from $686.2 million in 2021 to $729.4 million in 2022. Just uniforms sales grew over 20% alone, hitting $515 million, which means, that interest in softball is still significant enough to drive sales and generate serious money, even if it’s clearly not on par with other major sports in North America.
Fastpitch Softball Still Going Strong
It's hard to dismiss the numbers. They strongly suggest fastpitch softball is a popular sport with enough momentum to still not lose its appeal. The flooded talent pool of young boys and girls who want to make it big in the sport is perhaps the best reflection of that. There’s no denying competition is higher than ever today, and the chances of getting noticed are better. According to SFIA, North America has over 2 million fastpitch softball players. Most of them are women – over 70% to be precise.According to this NY Times article, WCWS has also seen a steady rise in average attendance. It’s a good indicator that fastpitch softball is still going strong after all these decades.
