SOFTBALL

Although many people assume that softball was derived from baseball, the sport’s first game actually came about because of a football game. The history of softball dates back to Thanksgiving Day of 1887, when several alumni sat in Chicago, anxiously awaiting the outcome of the Yale versus Harvard football game. When Yale was announced as winner, a Yale alumnus playfully threw a boxing glove at a Harvard supporter. The Harvard fan swung at the balled-up glove with a stick, and the rest of the group looked on with interest. George Hancock, who was a reporter for the Chicago Board of Trade, jokingly called out, “Play ball!” and the first softball game started with the football fans using the boxing glove as a ball and a broom handle in place of a bat.