On Christmas Day 1888, fans in Philadelphia gathered indoors at the Pennsylvania State Fairgrounds to watch a ballgame—something almost unheard of in the Northeast. Professional players wintering in the city split into Downtown and Uptown teams, with Downtown winning 6–1 before a sizable crowd. The game was part of a brand-new indoor version of baseball invented just a year earlier in Chicago for winter recreation. That experiment would eventually evolve into the sport we now call softball.

🕵️ Inside Today’s Original Newspaper Coverage:

  • The many forgotten names before “softball” stuck

  • How a boxing glove became the first game ball

  • Why purists still defend the oversized 16-inch ball

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