Amateur Softball Association (ASA) softball
History of ASA
In 1887 was the year the first softball game was played where a Yale alumni threw a boxing glove at a Harvard alumni who hit it back with a stick. George Hancock who was there at the time got an idea of coming up with an indoor baseball game after seeing what had just happened. Rather than using a glove for a ball he tied up laces together to make a ball and marked of home plate and the bases and a pitchers box inside the room they were in and two teams played against each other. After a couple of months the sport became popular in Chicago and the first team that played the game took on other gyms to play softball. Later Hancock decide to take his indoor game outside to make it more…show more content… The game became popular throughout the country and succeeded in Minneapolis. This was because fire departments who wanted their men to keep fit during their idle time started to play the sport amongst other fire departments. The game had several names from Kitten Ball to diamond ball but it came finally to be known as Softball when Walter Hakanson, in 1926 suggest, the name to the International Joint Rules Committee. Leo Fischer and Michael J. Pauley came up with the idea of organizing thousands of local softball teams in America into cohesive state organizations. Which in turn would turn the state organizations into a national organization. 55 teams from all over the country were brought to Chicago to participate in a tournament in 1933 to organize the sport. The teams that came were divided into 3 classes which were fast ballers, slow pitch and women. It was that ASA was…show more content… The rules are meant to protect the integrity of softball. The ASA has an Equipment testing and specifications committee that looks at the current rules and regulations that are governing various softball equipment’s. The team make recommendations to the ASA council on whatever findings they get. The ASA council is the final decision maker of the rules and regulations with regards to equipment. The ASA has a list of all equipment that are ASA certified which most of the corporate leagues and municipal district leagues follow. They heavily regulate the softball bat that are used whether it is in Slowpitch or Fastpitch softball games. They do so to protect the players and to make sure no team has an unfair advantage over the other teams.
ASA Slowpitch softball bats
For bats to be used for the Slowpitch softball leagues the bats must have the ASA stamp and or marked with BPF1.2. or less. For complete identifications the bats must have their original painting markings. They must all pass inspection done by the NCFTO (national championship finals tournament official). The bats should not be end loaded and they are not meant to give an unfair advantage to the batter.
ASA Fastpitch softball