The Benefits of Baseball and Softball

Baseball, invented in 1845, derived from a game known as ‘Rounders,’ and later became known as “America’s Pastime.” Years down the road, during the 1930’s a sport known as fast pitch softball evolved, providing firefighters an activity to complete while not on the job. Emerging from the shadows of a creative mind, these sports became very popular and provided a cheap source of entertainment. Areas such as field maintenance, rules, fundamentals of the game, and batting regulations can be compared. While the intention of winning and playing the game compare, many other aspects contrast. Like every sport, the preparation of the field is a major necessity, allowing the first comparison.

Both fields are required to be lined with chalk before every game: two batter’s boxes, on deck hitting circles, coaching boxes down the first and third baseline, and a pitching circle. Each line represents that the ball is foul or “out of play.” Along a baseball infield, four bases sit ninety feet away from each other surrounding a raised pitcher’s mound sixty feet and six inches away from home plate. L...