<P> George Hancock, at the time a reporter for Chicago Board of Trade, invented the game of softball in 1887 . The first game was played indoors, inside the Farragut Boat Club in Chicago . Someone found a boxing glove and threw it and someone else hit it with a stick . George Hancock shouted, "Let's play ball", and tied the boxing glove into the shape of a ball . The men chalked a diamond shape onto the floor and broke a broom handle to serve as a bat . This is credited as the first softball game which was played on Thanksgiving Day November 24, 1887 after a Harvard - Yale football game that had been followed by telegraph . </P> <P> Hancock's original game of indoor baseball quickly caught on in popularity, becoming international with the formation of a league in Toronto . That year, 1887, was also the premiere publication of the Indoor Baseball Guide . This was the first nationally distributed publication on the new game and it lasted a decade . In the spring of 1888, Hancock's game moved outdoors . It was played on a small diamond and called indoor - outdoor . Due to the sport's mass appeal, Hancock published his first set of indoor - outdoor rules in 1889 . </P>

Who developed the outdoor version of softball and what city was he a fireman for