All-American Girls Professional Baseball League plate, closer even than in regulation softball and much closer than the baseball distance of 60 feet, 6 inches. Pitchers threw underhand windmill, like in softball, and the distance between bases was 65 feet, five feet longer than in softball but 25 feet shorter than in baseball. Major similarities between the AAGPBL and baseball included nine player teams and the use of a pitcher's mound (softball pitchers throw from flat ground). By 1948 the ball had shrunk to 10 3/8 inches, overhand pitching was allowed, and the mound was moved back to 50 feet. Over the history of the league,
Little League Baseball to become an international organization of nearly 200,000 teams in every U.S. state and over 80 countries around the world. From 1951 through 1973, Little League was for boys only. In 1974, Little League rules were revised to allow participation by girls in the baseball program following the result of a lawsuit filed by the National Organization for Women on behalf of Maria Pepe. In 1953, Robert Francis Morrison filed an official charter with Little League Baseball, Incorporated to admit the Cannon Street Y.M.C.A., as its first all-black team. The league consisted of four teams, sponsored by prominent black businesses