Softball

The Olympic Games have been a showcase for world-class athletes dating back to 776 B.C. It put them in the spotlight and allowed them to represent their country and sport. The Olympics are known worldwide and create opportunities for athletes to become well-known at the highest level in sports. Removal from the Olympic Games can be very detrimental and even the death of a sport. Before the Olympics, softball players were not very marketable because the sport had not gained worldwide notoriety. USA Team players such as Jennie Finch and Cat Osterman were young and under the radar while standouts like Lisa Fernandez and Dot Richardson were trying to make a name for the sport of softball. The sport’s landscape all started to change once softball was made a medal sport at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Since then, players such as Finch and Osterman have garnered numerous endorsement deals with high-dollar companies like Under Armour and ESPN,while softball was becoming more and more popular all over the world. The question is, would women’s softball have ever reached its peak performing level and marketing exposure if it were not for the Olympics' The question can be answered by tracking the popularity of the sport throughout its journey prior to the Olympics, its time in the Olympics, and its removal from the Olympics. Going back to the year 1895 when the first softball team was formed at Chicago’s West Division High School, the popularity of softball was far from where it is today. The high school was not able to have a coach which would keep them from competing at a competitive level until 1899, which made it hard to get the exposure the sport was going to need to grow. The Chicago National Tournament in 1933 can be accredited for advancing the sport because it was a competition where males and females were “honored equally” (History of Softball Paraclete). Also in 1933, the American Softball Association was founded, which standardized the game and brought much needed rules to the game.To even be considered a part of the Olympics, the sport of softball was going to have to grow tremendously. During the 1970s, the rules of Little League were modified and allowed girls ages 9-12 and 16-18 to play, which started Little League Softball and Senior League Softball. In 1976, women softball players were given the chance to be closely associated with Major League Baseball with the making of the International Women’s Professional Softball League, where player’s contracts ranged from $1,000 to $3,000 per year. None of the games that were played within the league were televised. The league unfortunately folded in 1980 because of financial problems. Ever since the league disbanded, softball surprisingly has increased in popularity. However, before the phenomenal Jennie Finch, the power-house slugger Crystal Bustos, and the untouchable southpaw Cat Osterman, who were the big names in softball and were they ever on the same level that these superstars are at now' Michelle Smith is one of the most recognized names in the game of softball. Michelle attended Oklahoma State University from 1986-1989. In her four years at OSU, Smith was named NCAA All American, All Academic Big 8 Conference, All Region, Honda Award runner-up, and was the State of Oklahoma College Athlete of the Year named by USA Today (Smith 1). Another name that comes to mind when you think of the history of softball is Dr. Dot Richardson. By 1975, Richardson had joined the Orlando Rebels, which was an Amateur Softball Association fast-pitch team. Before she was in her twenties, Dot was competing in what was thought of as the “major league” of softball. She became the youngest player in the ASA since it’s founding in 1933, holding her own against women twice her age (Dot Richardson 1). She was a four-time All American at the University of California, Los Angeles (1980-1983). Even though the International Women’s Professional Softball League folded, it did not decrease the popularity of the sport of softball. It increased it. There was another league that was formed named the Amateur Softball Association (ASA), reporting that it “annually registers over 260,000 teams combining to form a membership more than 4.5 million” ( History of Softball Paraclete 2). Although these women such as Richardson and Smith were a few of the best during the 1980s, were the young girls that were playing little league softball ever going to know who they were or be able to watch them play' It wasn’t until 1996 that softball was made a medal sport in the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Softball had reached its highest peak when it became an Olympic sport. The women’s team won all three gold medals awarded in softball, which reflected how popular the sport was growing in the Unites States. Nevertheless, the Olympics were going to be the spark softball needed to become one of the power sports for the US. More than 25 million people in the United States alone were now playing the game of softball (History of Softball Softball Performance). Now that it was an Olympic sport, young girls were becoming more and more interested in the sport and were able to see role models of their own play the sport they loved. Not only were the Olympics helping out the girls coming up in the sport, but also was about to open up new doors for the marketing world. Jennie Finch hadn’t been in the spotlight long before people wanted to know who she was and how they could get her on the cover of their magazine. It all began for Finch at the University of Arizona where she became the ace of one the top schools in the country. After dominating every team that she faced, she was a for sure nominee for the US team. There are few well-known American Olympic athletes that are capable of dominating the endorsement world, but Finch had a chance to capitalize before ever stepping onto the field in Athens. Finch showed the world her outstanding talent in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, and when she got back home to the states, there were endorsement deals lined up for her. From Sprint to Bank of America to Sprint, Jennie was the girl every company wanted. She had an agreement to serve as an analyst for ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s College World Series in May and the Little League Softball World Series in August (Rovell 2). Yet all the offers, Finch has been the face of Mizuno since 2002 with her complete line of softball gear, including cleats, gloves, bats and also a clothing line. The fact that Jennie is considered one of today’s hottest female athletes makes her an endorsement that is on the rise and appealing to both males and females. Another player who is “hot” in the endorsement world is University of Texas Alumni Cat Osterman. While she was attending UT, Osterman was named USA Softball National Player of the Year three times and is noted as one of the top softball pitchers in the world (Osterman 1). She was nonetheless a key part of the USA Team when it came time for the Athens Olympics. Cat was not only a gold medalist in 2004, but in 2008, she helped lead the team to win the Silver Medal in the Beijing Games. With all of her success, Cat was on the list to be one of the next faces for some of the biggest sport specific companies in the United States. Her top two largest endorsements are Under Armour and Wilson Sporting Goods which don’t expire until 2011. Since these women who are playing at the Olympic level don’t get paid very much, they have to rely on their sponsorships and endorsements. This is true for many female athletes just because there are limited opportunites, unlike those who play Major League baseball that are making millions of dollars. Since softball has been apart of the Olympics, girls across the world have becoming to know the sport they will soon love, but what happens in next few years will have a tremendous impact on the sport as we know it. The International Olympic Committee decided to drop softball and baseball from the Olympics, starting in the 2012 games in London. What had the USA Team done to allow the IOC to make this decision' Nobody really knows why but there are some thoughts about the decision that was made. It is heard that it was removed because softball is the female counterpart of baseball. Another rumor is that Americans are “bulldozing everyone en route to gold, how can anyone claim this is a sport keeping in the Olympics'”(Wetzel 1). Even though the USA team at one point was outscoring their opponents 64-3, does not mean that they should be punished for succeeding. The massive amount of media coverage and the many sponsorships have helped to generate the sport in America, which is the reason why the USA Team has continued to become as strong as it is while the rest of the world has not been able to keep up with dramatic increase of popularity of the United States. Softball is played in 140 nations, but it seems that only one of those countries has been consistently successful, the USA. The removal of softball from the Olympics has not decreased the popularity of the sport as much as people would think. “The National Amateur Softball Association classifies fast pitch as the fourth largest sport in high school and college with 257,000 girls playing high school fast pitch alone”(Flynn 1). According to Bill Redmer, editor of Fastpitch World, he “attributes much of this growth to Title 9 legislation that requires colleges and high schools receiving federal funds to give their women’s sports programs a reasonable proportion of the monies given to the men’s sports programs”(Flynn 2). Since football is given such a large amount of money for scholarships, the equivalent amount has to spread among the women’s sports, which has allowed a rapid growth in fast pitch softball. Also effected in the removal is recreational softball. More young girls are playing travel ball instead of Little League because travel ball allows these players to be seen by college coaches at showcase tournaments with a chance to receive a scholarship to play at the college level. The college level is now seen as the peak of softball because there is no professional organized fastpitch league after college, like the Major League and baseball. There isn’t a league that is at the same level as the MLB but the World Cup of Softball has become one of the “premier international softball events” (Seven World Cup of Softball Games To Be Televised). The World Cup is the only international softball event that is aired in the US on ESPN and ESPN2. ESPN’s vice president Carol Stiff said, “Our coverage of the World Cup of Softball and the NCAA Women’s College World Series in recent years demonstrates ESPN’s commitment to women’s sports and the importance of softball in our lineup.” The World Cup being televised has effected the world of Little League because in 2002, more games were televised nationally than ever before. For the first time, three of the games in the Little League Softball World Series that was played in Portland, Oregon were also televised nationally. Just because softball was removed from the Olympics, girls such as Lauren Chamberlain of Trabuco Hills, say “I still think there’s a chance I can play for an Olympic medal with ‘USA’ across my chest”(Smith 1). The next time softball is able to be reinstated to be included in the Olympic program isn’t until the 2020 games. So what does the future hold for the sport of softball now that it is not a part of the Olympic Games' Will the interest begin to decrease and become a game that is just played at recess or will the love of the game that so many girls share encourage the IOC to decide in 2013 to put softball back into the Olympics in time for the 2020 games' Australian softball players claim to blame the Major League Baseball’s drug problem for the reason why softball was taken out of the Olympics, since baseball is softball’s male counterpart. I believe that softball has the opportunity to be a part of the 2020 games because of how popular the sport is in the United States. There is nothing for young females to look forward to after college unlike those males who play college baseball, they have the chance to play AAA baseball, in the Minor League or if they are lucky, make it all the way to the Major League where they are known to make in the high millions every year. When the statement was made about who would want softball in the Olympics when the USA always dominates every year, I feel that this should motivate those other countries to work that much harder to gain the same respect that the United States does. U.S. coach Jay Miller states the he doesn’t “…think that there’s any way we’re going to get back until the IOC and international leadership changes, but that’s going to change eventually.”( Women's Softball Players). While the decision is yet to be made if softball is going to be reinstated, those players that are currently on the Team USA are left with the decision of whether or not softball is a sacrifice they want to make financially. When thinking about how far the sport of softball has come since before the Olympics, during the time while it was a medal sport in the Olympics, and how it was effected after it was removed from the Olympics, you can only believe that those who participate and love the sport will always be life-long supporters. In the beginning, those competitive females who worked hard and were unlikely to have endorsement deals paved the way for the next generation of athletes, such as Jennie Finch and Cat Osterman. Under Armour and Mizuno were just a few of companies that wanted to use the Olympics to market their products and considered these two outstanding athletes to represent their name. With these strong females being in the spotlight not only allowed them to become financially stable, but also had a huge effect on the next generation coming up in the sport of softball. When the Olympics made softball a medal sport, young girls all across the country were effected, ranging from little leagues to high schools to colleges. Whether it allowed them television time or more scholarship money, the game of softball is essential in the sport’s world today.