If you fall in line with the thinking that softball is just the girls’ version of baseball, then you’d be wrong. Although the games share a common ancestor and similar rules, there are a few major differences in the games that allows them to exist and operate completely on their own.

George Hancock originally created softball in 1887 and he dubbed it as “indoor baseball.” Hancock was with some Yale and Harvard alumni waiting on game updates from a football game when one of the Yale alumnus tossed a boxing glove at one of the Harvard alumnus, who deflected it with a broom handle. Hancock bound the glove with its laces to mimic a baseball. 

After a friendly match between the men from Yale and Harvard, Hancock documented the game and rules and commissioned the creation of large softballs and rubber tipped bats so the game could be played indoors. 

Although softball was not deemed “softball” until 1926, it has been around for its fair share of years under different names, such as pumpkin ball, mush ball and cabbage ball.

Baseball, invented in the 18th century, was meant to be a gentlemen’s game, adopting modern rules, like no plugging the runner, which was hitting the runner with the ball. The New York Knickerbockers club helped form the game known as America’s Game and pastime despite only ever being an amateur club. 

Although the two games are quite similar there are differences on the field as well, with the pitcher being closer to home plate, the distance between bases, length of the game, and the dimensions of the outfield.

 “The biggest difference between the two sports is the style of pitching,” said Brett Damaskos, media relations representative for the Wichita State softball team. “Baseball is an overhand delivery with the pitcher’s mound raised above the playing field, 60 feet and six inches away from home plate, while a softball pitcher delivers an underhand pitch with a full arm circle off of flat ground from 43 feet away.”

The distance from base-to-base varies depending on what competition level you are watching, but regulation puts the baseline in baseball at 90 feet between bases, while softball is 60 feet. Now let us not take anything away from the girls, as there is no leading off the base in softball. If a softball player leaves the base before the ball has left the pitchers hand it is an automatic out, which can mean a lot more in a seven-inning game.

ESPN Sport Science covered the difference between a softball and baseball pitch and calculated that even though a softball at an average top speed can be pitched at around 70 mph and a baseball at 90 mph, batters hitting a baseball can drop his hands and let gravity speed up his bat to create contact with pitches. 

Softballs pitched on a level ground, underhand, can rise on batters requiring them to fight gravity when swinging their bats. This is especially difficult when, because of the shorter distance between pitcher and batter, the batter has roughly 20 percent less time to react to a pitch. 

Both games are deeply rooted in American history and their respective fans know they deserve to be known as two separate, albeit related, sports.