Westly, Erica. “Fastpitch: The Untold History of Softball and the Women Who Made the Game.”
I chose to read the story on softball because it was the sport I knew the least history on. I also have had the least interaction with it throughout my life because I have never played it and I have never really watched a game before.
“Softball provided an easy solution because it was highly adaptable, and it resembled a sport people already knew and liked.”
- The meaning behind softball being an easy solution was that during this time when cities were starting to grow, people were needing a new kind of game that could be played in tight spaces and on any surface. People were already comfortable with a sport like this (baseball) so it attracted many people. I thought this was interesting because when I think of softball I think of a similar field to baseball, but when it first originated it was adaptable which is not common with sports nowadays.
“Baseball players had so much trouble facing softball pitchers that pitting them against each other became a popular form of entertainment.”
- I have definitely had the thought that baseball players can play softball and be good or decent at it. After reading this article, I see the true differences between the two sports and how hard it is for a baseball player to adapt to it. I thought it was extremely interesting that people found entertainment in it like when Babe Ruth went against John “Cannonball” Baker at a charity event in New York. Babe Ruth struck out which put things in a new perspective for me.
“The result was that softball became one of the few sports that women in the 1930s were permitted to play and the only major team sport that put men and women more or less on equal footing.”
- When I think of softball I think of women and to find out that men played it first as well as with women for a while was intriguing. Women were able to play softball because it was not as established as sports like baseball and football which were seen as manly. As time went on, women playing softball became more and more embraced. It brought new opportunities and security which was pretty foreign for women back then. Softball allowed women to see the world and experience a life that they could only ever dream of.
