The History of Tee Ball in America
From
"How To Coach Tee Ball Without Going INSANE" by Robert Doss ©
Bullhorn Media Group (INSANEbooks Division). Hitting tees have
been used by professional baseball players for more than fifty years to
help them develop their swings for use against "live" pitching --
the first hitting tees were made by Voit. The tee is great for practicing
that "perfect swing" for players practicing alone and it's
perfect for coaching hitting mechanics in a setting where the coach can pay
close attention to every aspect of the swing. It wouldn't surprise me a bit
to learn that kids around the world have found ways to place baseballs or
tennis balls atop some equipment resembling tees and making a game out of
it for years. As you'll see in your experience in dealing with tee ball
players, some of the neatest and most imaginative things come out of the
minds of kids. However, when it comes to laying credit for inventing the
game of tee ball - - that is, formulating rules, giving it organization and
a name, and being the enabling force behind its development as a sport and
not merely another backyard "hitting rocks with sticks" game, we
go all the way back to 1960 and to Dayton Hobbs, then a thirty-eight year
old elementary school principal from Bagdad, Florida near Pensacola. Dr.
Hobbs had been coaching youth baseball since the '50's and took note over
time of the little "fence grabbers" at the ballfield where his
players worked out -- you know, the kids who clutch and press their noses
into the chain link fence to watch the big kids play. These were kids who,
like we did, made heroes of their neighborhood stars and talked like real
philosophers about who it "it" and who didn't. They'd run home,
gather up whatever equipment they could find and play a game in the back
yard, in the street, or in the vacant lot down the street. Dr. Hobbs was
coaching a group of 14 and 15 year old baseball players on their hitting
when the co-mingling of baseball, hitting, tees, and the "let me try
it" crowd of kids at the ballfield fertilized a creative seed in his
mind and thus, he began work on creating Tee Ball Baseball -- it seemed
like the perfect game for players who had all of the desire but little of
the physical development to play "real baseball." Dr. Hobbs, who
was also pastor of Grace Bible Church
and President of the Santa Rosa Christian School
in Milton, FL near the Naval Air Station at Whiting
Field, went to work on developing rules for the game. A Navy chaplain from
Whiting Field was one of Dr. Hobbs' first Tee Ball coaches (there were only
two teams at first) and as they played, they refined the rules. Dr. Hobbs
soon began work on promoting the game, announcing that the game boasted
some great features worth considering: "1) Inexpensive to play 2)
Plenty of help available 3) Excellent parent cooperation 4) Doesn't require
a large area to play the game 5) Minimum equipment required 6) Teaches
basic baseball skills; and most of all 7) Boys and girls have loads of fun
playing." His promotion efforts paid off as interest in the game grew
and he was soon writing the first Official Tee Ball Baseball Rule Book. His
association with Navy people from Whiting and the growing popularity of the
game in Pensacola,
"The Cradle of Naval Aviation," led to a worldwide promotional
forum he never anticipated. Soon, the game caught on at Navy bases in Japan
and in Europe and across America until the success of the game led Dr.
Hobbs to apply for a patent on the name and game of Tee Ball Baseball with
the U. S. Patent Office in 1970, the same year the first annual Tee Ball
World Series was held. His application met the stringent requirements for
approval and won him recognition as the originator of the game of Tee Ball
Baseball. He also won the patent on the four ounce bright orange official
Tee Ball Baseball. In the Official Tee Ball Rule Book, amended and
published annually, Dr. Hobbs reminds us what the children already know:
"that this is nothing more than a game of children's baseball."
He admonishes managers and coaches "not (to) put pressure on the
children, but attempt to teach them to play the game to the best of their
ability while they enjoy it."
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