Powerschool GoGuardian Naviance Aimsweb Semstracker EdReflect SchoolDude Virtual Paragon Frontline Alio Service Portal

Softball Inequivalent to Baseball

A column by journalist, Carter Amore. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the original author and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of Hawk Headlines, and/or any/all contributors to this site.

In 1972, President Nixon passed Title IX. Title IX is a federal law that states that if a school has a male sport, then, by law, it needs to offer that sport to females. One of the most popular sports included in this law was softball and baseball . Baseball, “America’s pastime”, is provided at almost every school in the country. So why didn’t Title IX put girl’s baseball in place, instead of softball? Girls do not run on a shorter track, swim in a smaller pool, or shoot into a smaller goal. The size of the playing field remains the same for every sport- except softball.

Softball is a version of baseball played recreationally and professionally by women. It is played in schools by women, but invented by men. Softball was invented in 1887 by tailgaters passing time before a Yale-Harvard football game. They invented an indoor version of baseball using a glove tied into a ball and a broomstick. The first organized leagues were all-men’s leagues in the early 1900s. At the time, women didn’t play softball; they played baseball.

The first all-women baseball league was founded in Springfield, Illinois, in 1875. Two teams named the “Blondes” and the “Brunettes” played each other. The sport of women’s baseball wasn’t popular because people did not attend game, under belief it was less entertaining than men’s baseball. Women did not have a national league until the All American Girls’ Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL)  compensated for the loss of the MLB players to the draft during World War II. There was not a bigger ball, or underhand pitching–just a smaller field. The league disbanded in the 1950s when the end of the war led to return of male players.

While the smaller field is not the problem, the sport girls’ basketball has a smaller ball to compensate for the fact that women are naturally smaller; the ball is a few ounces lighter. Softball is almost a completely different sport. Underhand pitching, different bats, a field even smaller than the AAGPBL fields that just had a shorter fence. Softball has a shorter mound, base paths, and even game length. Women play 7 innings, while men play 9.  No other sport has so many changes from men to women.

Softball is a sport invented by men, it is played by mostly men in adult leagues, and is completely different from baseball. So why do we let baseball be the only sport where men and women don’t have the same rules, equipment, and techniques? While women may not be able to hit a 500 foot home run, or throw a 97 mph fastball, they are required by law to be able to play the same sport.  Title IX says if a school offers a sport to men,  they have to offer the same sport to women, too. So why do they have to play a different game?