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Speaking of regional sports: 16-inch softball!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16-inch_softball

I actually played this once in Southern California, so it's not totally regional. But pretty much a Chicago thing.

My father discovered this on a trip to Chicago long ago, and brought a few home to Massachusetts. They were great for playing in our yard, where the fence was too close for a real softball, but these are much harder to hit >100ft so they let us use the whole yard.

We always called them "Chicago softballs"

One of the few sports where a beer belly was actually an advantage!

This was a regular for springtime gym class in my NJ public high school -- easy to run with the only gear needed being a ball and a bat, basically softball but slower and softer.

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