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Article: Batting Around Some History // Softball Rolls On From Those Broomstick Days
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- July 16, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1993 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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Sixteen-inch slow-pitch softball has grown from an indoor sport
to a subculture in the Chicago area, but few players know much about
the rich and colorful history of the game.
Old-timers say softball was born on a rainy Thanksgiving Day in
1887 at the Farragut Harbor Boat Club gymnasium on Lake Park Avenue
on the South Side.
George Hancock, a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, and
a group of young lads were waiting for the outcome of the
Yale-Harvard football game. One young man picked up a boxing glove
and tossed it in fun at another fellow, who swatted it back.
Suddenly, Hancock picked up the glove, and using the laces, tied
it into a sphere. He marked off bases and home ...