Who Invented Softball? Although one man came up with a version of the game in 1887, another modified the game in 1895. A young gentleman from Chicago, George Hancock, is considered the inventor of the game. Minneapolis firefighter Lewis Rober also advanced in shaping softball history.

At first

On Thanksgiving Day in 1887, a group of alumni from Harvard and Yale universities met at the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago. The crowd awaited the classic soccer classic score between the two Ivy League schools. Once Yale’s victory was announced, someone took a boxing glove and threw it at someone else, who hit it with some kind of wooden stick.

Hancock told the group that they should play a ball game. He made a ball out of the boxing glove and tied it up. Then he traced the diamond in the box to fit inside the gym. Someone grabbed a stick or broomstick to use as a bat. This fake baseball game is credited as the first softball game ever played.

Hancock wrote the rules of the game and created the oversized ball so that the equipment associated with the game would be different from baseball. Hancock also invented a smaller rubber-tipped bat.

Minneapolis games

In 1895, Lewis Rober, a Minneapolis firefighter, wanted to find some kind of activity to keep his fire team busy and fit. Rober modified the baseball game to fit the dimensions of the vacant lot adjacent to the fire station. The following year, Rober was assigned to a new firehouse and the game became known as the Kitten Ball, after the name of Rober’s team: the Kittens.

Did Rober borrow the idea from Hancock’s invention? Probably not. Hancock’s adaptation of softball was limited to the Chicago area and it is unlikely that Rober was aware of the game.

No matter which man invented softball, his ingenuity helped shape America’s most popular participating sport.