"Question: Was the game prior to this just called softball or was it called fast pitch?"
Softball!
In 1953 the International Joint Rules Committee on Softball created two books. One called the Official Rules of Softball, and in the back of the book a new section called Official Slow-Pitch Softball Rules. (By that, you can assume they considered SP a separate game.)
When ASA published their own rules in 1980 they incorporated FP and SP rules into one book which is the way we see it today. And in 2004 its title is "Official Rules of Softball."
Tom: You make much of the statement that ASA did not mention slow pitch until 195-something...
This is just a reaction to people who think the history of softball and of ASA is the history of slow pitch softball. That is simply not true, as I have pointed out. Even though forms of SP have been played for 100 years, it was only 50 years ago the ASA climbed on the SP bandwagon by promoting a separate set of SP rules and offering championship play.
When I started playing in 1960 it seemed everyone played FP. It was assumed that the guys that couldnt hack it were playing SP. Of course that has changed in the last 40 years and a lot of outstanding athletes are playing SP. But SP allows all sorts of athletically inclined (or athletically challenged
) players. When I go out on even the lower levels of mens FP play I dont see any slouches anywhere. You better be good or you wont make it in FP.
WMB
[Edited by WestMichBlue on Nov 18th, 2004 at 07:15 PM]