Dear Editor,

Several months ago during a rainy day with nothing to do, I found a game of softball being played by a local girls' team. I was in awe at the skill and agility of the pitching and batting of the game. I had a plethora of thoughts running through my mind as I watched the game. Who invented the game, when and how popular is the sport.I recall, when I was younger, living in the city across from a park. The game was played by competing pubs in the city (beer league). It was played by a cast of men from 20 to 50. As I recall no one used a glove except the catcher who also wore a mask. The bat was skinny and the field was not grass but rocks. So when you slid into a base, your legs and arms were ripped to shreds. The best part as I recall was the loser had to buy beer for the winning team. As I got older I played softball in the Coast Guard and have many fond memories. And yes without a glove, the ball did sting when it was caught.With my curiosity piqued I went online to discover some of my questions. I found an article written by a softball coach, "Marec Dagenasis." In the early days the first game was played by several young men in 1887. While waiting for a football game between Harvard and Yale, one of the men picked up a stray boxing glove and someone hit it with a pole. This prompted George Hancock, considered the inventor of the game, to tie the glove and turn it into a ball.The first game the score was 41 to 40. The game wasn't even called softball until 1926 when it was coined by Walter Hakanson a meeting of the National Recreation Congress. In 1930, the game became very popular in the United States. In 1951 the International Softball Federation began governing all softball competition in the world. Check this out, the first women's fast pitch championships where held in Australian in 1965. Softball reached the peak of its popularity in 1996, when it became an Olympic medal event. This is not too shabby for its start in 1887.Play ball!K TregerLehighton