Tee-ball

Tee-ball (also teeball, tee ball or T-ball) is a team sport based on a simplified form of baseball or softball.

In tee-ball, the pitcher is usually used for defensive purposes only, though gently pitched balls may be used with older or more advanced players in place of the fixed tee.

(In some clubs, adult coaches give the batter an opportunity to try and hit a few pitched balls before going to the tee in the hope that this will further develop batting skills.

[2] Balls: typically appear identical to baseballs, but slightly softer to reduce injuries: 9 to 9.5 inches around, 4 to 5 oz weight, with a molded core or sponge rubber center.

[3] Claude Lewis, director of the Warner Robins, Georgia, Recreation Department, formed a tee-ball league in March 1958, in which 20 children played the first year.

"[4] A "Tee Ball" trademark was filed in April of 1971 and subsequently registered in February of 1973 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Robert Dayton Hobbs (1924–2006), the pastor of a fundamentalist Christian church he founded in Milton, Florida, and also the organizer in the late 1950s of the first organized youth baseball program in Santa Rosa County, Florida.

[8] A non-profit governing body exists in the United States, the T-Ball USA Association, of West Palm Beach, Florida.

[9] Their stylized "T•BALL USA" logo "identifies the projects and programs created to support the national tee ball constituency and marks licensed and approved products, corporate sponsorships and appropriate alliances.