For nearly two centuries now, baseball has been adored and enjoyed by millions and has maintained its title as America’s favorite pastime for about 80 years now. Aside from some small differences in uniforms and equipment, not much has changed over the years since the mid-1840s when baseball was invented in New York. That is, nothing much has changed regarding the game itself. On the other hand, a lot has changed regarding its accessibility and the accessibility of its counterpart, softball.

Allow me to give a brief history lesson. As I mentioned before, baseball was born in New York in 1845 when Alexander Cartwright made the first recording of the official rules of the game. The sport quickly gained in popularity and by 1858 the first organized baseball league was established as well as the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, coming about a decade later. From then on, baseball was incredibly famous among Americans, particularly women. While men’s leagues were more common and were taken more seriously, there were plenty of women’s teams, like the Dolly Vardens and the New York Bloomer Girls. In 1943, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League debuted and introduced rules equal to that of men’s baseball, with the exception of the smaller distances between bases. The league reigned for 11 years before eventually shutting down due to declining interest in women’s baseball compared to that of newly televised men’s baseball games.

So, where does softball come in? Softball has a slightly different origin story, being invented almost on accident by two men waiting to hear the results of a Yale football game in 1887. They played with broomsticks and tied a glove closed to create the ball, inadvertently creating one of the main rules of softball: the larger ball in comparison to baseball. After that, softball increased in popularity as well, especially around WWII when insurance companies and numbers of baseball-related injuries were rising exponentially. People were leaning towards softball as a safer version of baseball, one that caused less injury and that could even be played indoors by the increasing numbers of men and women with office jobs.

At this point in history, the growing numbers of boys and girls involved in sports all around the country influenced the 1972 law, Title IX, stating that there must be total gender equity for federally funded education programs. While this led to the creation of many schools’ women’s basketball, soccer, and tennis teams, among other sports, it didn’t do much to help with the baseball vs. softball situation. All at once, schools seemed to be turning down the idea of girls’ baseball team, deeming softball a good enough equivalent. It’s easy to understand that this simply isn’t true, but, to really gain an insider’s perspective, I talked to a few students here at Tallwood about their thoughts on the differences between the two sports and their perception.

10th grader Mackenzie Howard (center field for Tallwood’s JV softball team and catcher for the West Kempsville League) said, “There’s a lot of differences like the size of the ball, the distance between bases, the way they pitch, the number of innings, etc. I wouldn’t consider them rules, I would just say they have different necessities and fundamentals.”

Carmin Holmes, 10th grader and outfield/second base, said, “I think the biggest difference is how they’re appreciated. More people go to baseball games, even for school, than softball. They’re both sports that should be equally as appreciated.”

Meanwhile, Jack McDowell, 10th grader and catcher/third base for Tallwood’s baseball team, said, “I think there are more people playing softball such as a co-ed league, because it’s a bit slower pace and there are people of all ages playing.”

Regarding whether, if given the chance, they would play the opposite sport at school or not, the responses varied. “I don’t know honestly. I think I would try it out to see if there actually are significant differences between baseball and softball. It would be cool to try a similar sport with different qualities,” said Holmes. Howard answered, “I’m sure I would look into it if there was [a girls’ baseball team], but I would most likely stick with softball because I’ve played it for so long and I love the sport.” McDowell said, “If there was still “boys’” baseball, then I wouldn’t change to softball. But if there wasn’t [still a baseball team], then I would change.”

It’s clear that there are a number of differences between baseball and softball, some more advantageous for one over the other, but softball (at least, slow pitch) generally seems to be regarded as the easier-going and less widely appreciated sport. And, while there certainly isn’t anything stopping men and women from playing either sport, the truth of the matter is that they’re unnecessarily and unfairly gendered. Softball and baseball are similar, yes, but they’re two different sports and, if there’s going to be different teams for each sport at all, why feel the need to make them exclusive for one gender if not simply to stick to old, somewhat sexist traditions?

What are your thoughts on the distinction between softball and baseball? Let us know in the comments under this article!