Were over the line softball was developed?

Answer 1

at hogwarts

Answer 2

I suspect over-the-line softball has roots in a game called "Indian Ball" that was played on the intramural fields at the University of Missouri in about 1946/1950 by guys from the St. Louis area. I was roughly introduced to the game by guys that had attended Soldan High School in the St. Louis area. It used a regulation 12" softball and may have been 2 man teams with the pitcher and batter from the same team.

Another popular 2 man team game, called "Cork Ball", was played with a very light, covered cork ball, and a broom-stick bat. These were 2 man teams but the batter and pitcher were on opposing teams. I was told that Cork Ball leagues were active in St. Louis and that City champions were determined, including Father and Son champions. I believe that a member of our barracks, named Bob Clavanna, and his father, may have been St. Louis City Chanpions, in about the 1946/50 era.

Comment:

I'm not sure about the roots---that part may be accurate. I played Over the Line in 1946. I recall the year because that's when my family moved from Ohio to Chula Vista, California, and my new-found friends were, like me, passionate softball players. Of course during the summer days we didn't always have enough for a game of softball, and they taught me to play Over the Line. It was second nature to my Chula Vista friends, who learned it early on. So the Mission Bay group well may have played it in the 50's (we swam there regularly in the summer, but I don't know who may have taught whom). Nonetheless, the game was almost as defined in some of these entries, except we played it by using a regular softball field with half the field cut out, depending on whether it was a left or right-handed batter. The "triangle" was formed from home plate to third, then to second base and straight in over the mound to home.