How it all started

Invented by Minneapolis Fire Captain Louis Rober in 1895, the game of softball was originally played with a 16-inch ball to help the members of the fire station keep fit. He called the sport Kittenball.

Senior Softball dates to the 1930s, when Eveyln Brown Rittenhouse, a retired stage actress from New York, moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, to manage a retirement community.

She was asked to recommend a way to keep older people active. Her idea: Softball. In those days, the players walked the bases. That practice has long since changed.

The sport has evolved since that time. The ball is smaller and harder. The slow-pitch softball game organized by Senior Softball-USA is a fast-paced and vigorous sport. The teams play with a 12-inch ball in a game that's heavy into hitting, running and fielding. The 40,000 Senior Softball-USA players make up the best and most competitive of the 1.3 million senior playing softball in America today.

One thing that remains unchanged, however, is the spirit of fun, competition and camaraderie inspired by the sport. Senior Softball-USA is the leading organization of Senior Softball. "We are dedicated to informing and uniting the senior softball players of America and the world," said founder Bob Mitchell.

Senior softball today

There are more than 1.3 million active senior softball players and that number is growing as better medical advancements and positive aging attitudes increase.

Masters (men & women over 40 years old) and senior (over 50 years old) slow pitch softball hit a high point in participation in 2019, with 1.5 million players, before a decline after Covid hit from 2020 through 2022. But the 2023 season saw a remarkable rebound to 1.3 million players, according to numbers produced by the Sports and Fitness Industry.

Overall, softball, at any age, is one of the few sports in America which has achieved near parity in the numbers of men and women participating.

Senior Softball-USA

Bob Mitchell founded Senior Softball-USA, the world's largest organization of senior softball players, in Sacramento, California, in the Spring of 1988. Since then, the organization has mushroomed in size, growing by an average of 2000 players a quarter. Today Senior Softball-USA players are on over 1,200 teams across every state and in Canada.

Men and women must be 40+ to play and everyone is welcome. "This is a sport that doesn't discriminate," said founder Bob Mitchell. "Not by age, not by sex, not by race and not by religion. Our goal is to provide the opportunity for any senior to play softball."

SSUSA publishes the Official Senior Softball-USA Rulebook annually and provides a national governing body (Senior Softball-USA National Rules Committee) for senior softball play. The rules and regulations within are used by SSUSA and other senior softball companies and leagues.