Hello All,

My wife asked me an inetersting question last night and this is the first place I thought of to go for some help.

Why do girls play softball and boys baseball? Aside from the obvious, I did not have a good answer from this one. The obvious being that for the most part that's just the way it is. There are no substantial opportunities for a young lady to progress in baseball no matter how talented she may be. So girls who want to continue to play baseball after a certain age opt for softball. I guess?

I went over all the reasons I could think of and nothing really made any sense. Speed and agility, safety, strength? All of these are not really valid reasons. Softball is not a walk in the park anymore.

The conversation started after a HS baseball game last night. My little girl who's only 6 wants to play ball. She practices and played in some games with her older brother's rec league team in the fall and had a blast. My wife is wondering why she should play softball at this point instead of baseball. I'm at a loss. It doesn't help that she's can hit and run with most the boys two years older than her.

If I have misstated anything here or this sounds off the wall it is not meant to. I am just having a mental block and can't answer this one in way that I am happy with.

Thanks in advance,

Tim

Let her play baseball. We had girls on our teams at that age. She will know when / if she wants to change to softball. It may be a social decision more than anything - deciding to hang out with girls instead of sweaty boys.

I really don't have a problem with the younger girls playing baseball with the guys ... but I must admit that, with all due respect to the game of softball and the hard work it takes to play the game, I believe that there is a definite point at which females cannot compete with males in the game of baseball. I know a few have attempted to compete through high school and into college, and onto pro ball, but for me, the physical disparity between males/men and females/women create a very uneven playing field. If nothing else, women do NOT develop the same kind of muscle bulk and structure as men do and I am envisioning a take out at the plate when the catcher is a female ... not a pretty vision for me.

But up to the point that guys and gals start to really develop their secondary traits, I think there is no problem with the gals competing with the guys.

JMHO

My thoughts echo FBM's as well. My now 17 year old daughter played t-ball with with primarily boys followed by baseball at nine years old with the boys. She was the only girl on her team and one of only three or four girls in the league. Softball was really just being developed more widely at that time in our area and there wasn't a good option other than baseball for the girls. She switched to softball that next year in a league that was still in infancy.

I think if there's good options for softball in your area that it would benefit your daughter to begin there. She would learn softball as well as begin to to develop a history in that league along with the relationships that she'll continue to foster if she stays with the sport.

If she truly wants to play baseball now... no harmful effects IMO. Just more beneficial in the long run to go ahead and begin softball I think.

Interesting question.
Are you asking if girls should be allowed to play w/ the boys. . .

quote:

But up to the point that guys and gals start to really develop their secondary traits, I think there is no problem with the gals competing with the guys.

OR (as I suspect) are you asking why the girls play one sport and the boys another? Why Softball and not Girls Baseball?

If that is your question, I'd like to hear some replies as well!

inthestands ...

Re-reading the original question, you could well be correct that the real quandry is ... why don't girls play baseball in a girls' league, just as there is girls' s*cc*r, volleyball, etc. I personally think that are various reasons. (1) I would suggest that there are some physical aspects of baseball that may not be well supported by the female physique, such as running the longer distances on the base paths and in the outfield. (2) Also, because of that, I would imagine that the field size would stay the same as softball fields with the shorter base paths and distance from the mound, and that is very dangerous with a hardball. (3)There is also a societal association that baseball is a 'man's game' much as football is, and I think the girls tend to gravitate AWAY from that. (Some of us old fashioned ones believe that this type of gravitation is natural and not necessarily a bad thing as long as the opportunities are present for girls to make a different choice if they wish.)

Thanks everyone for your input.

inthestands,

I think you have helped to clear up my somewhat fuzzy question. I believe my wifes question really was a why do girls play one and boys the other more than why can't they compete together. I would feel terrible for the young man that got taken deep by my little Abby. I might come out of the stands if she were run over at the plate.

I guess it's just kind of the way it is. Somewhere along the way girls found that they could excell at softball and it stuck. She'll play with the boys another year or so and then she'll probably get into softball. Our youth program for softball is a good one with a lot of support.

Thanks again,

Tim

deacon ...

Remember, too, that a fastpitch softball pitcher never has the problems with her arm that a baseball pitcher can because fastpitch does not use the same unnatural pitching motion ... my son would have loved to pitch in 4 or 5 games in a tournament like the gals do. And I believe that the college scholarships for softball might well outnumber those for baseball**

**Really ... just kidding ... this refers to a comment I made in the 'what age to throw a curveball' thread in the general forum

My daughter,...13 years old. Baby of the family who has grown up her entire life watching her older brothers play baseball.

Now she wants to play,..and theres nowhere for her to go play.

I think softball is a great sport. Even have neices who have gone on to play in college on scholarships.

Daughter still wants to play baseball.

I wish she & other girls could have an opportunity to play.

Its the year 2007.
Why dont we have organized girls baseball?
We even have girls wrestling.
Why not girls baseball?
It makes no sense to me.

Can you think of any other sport that does not have a girls team also? All I can think of is football and hockey.