A bat, a ball, a glove: on the surface it seems that baseball and softball are the same game. After all, baseball and softball also share similar rules. Softball is in fact directly derived from baseball. While these two popular team sports share much in common, their status and role in the society is completely different. The origins of baseball and softball are also different. Furthermore, a more detailed examination of the two sports shows that baseball and softball use totally different equipment that impacts gameplay. In spite of their seeming similarities, baseball and softball have different origins, a subordinate status and role in the society, and use different equipment. Softball has a much clearer origin story than baseball, which is possibly an ancient game (World Baseball Softball Confederation). Baseball actually has unknown origins, even though historians now know that the rules of the game of baseball became formalized in the 18th century in Cooperstown, New York, now the apt location for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Abner Doubleday and Al Spalding, whose name is a household word in the sporting goods industry, are the two men most often credited with inventing the game, even though baseball was played in various other forms throughout history (World Baseball Softball Confederation). For example, cricket and rounders were related games and precursors to the modern game of baseball. Softball,...

In 1887, a man named George Hancock invented what was originally a form of indoor baseball by using makeshift materials found in the Chicago Farragut Boat Club (World Baseball Softball Confederation). From there, the popularity of the sport grew, spreading first throughout the American Midwest and eventually, worldwide. In fact, softball has been played in the Olympics since 1996.
Although softball and baseball are both now Olympic sports, softball has subordinate status to baseball. One of the main reasons for the different statuses of the two sports in the society is gender. Softball has long been considered a female sport, whereas baseball has been a male dominated sport. Given the higher status of men in the society, baseball is considered a higher status sport overall. When the United States women’s softball team earned medals the World Series and the World Cup, “the teams’ feat was barely noticed,” (Barak 1). Interestingly, research shows women have also played baseball throughout history and that men have also played softball (Barak). The gender differences between baseball and softball have persisted, though, rendering softball a lower status versus its hardball counterpart. Now, softball is associated more with work teams and informal social gatherings than baseball, which is…