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Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

Second sentence in the second ("Game Play") section:

> Game play for 16-inch softball is mostly consistent with standard softball game play. In contrast to standard, or 12-inch (30.48 cm) softball, it is played with a ball 16 inches (40.64 cm) in circumference.

FWIW, softballs by are sold by their circumference, so it would be unconventional (and unwieldy) to change the page title to "16-inch circumference softball". And I mean, it should be obvious.

(I agree a photo would help and wiki pages are easy to edit, but I looked for a creative commons licensed 16" softball photo and couldn't find one.)

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I don't think "it should be obvious". The world we live in is one where caber tossing, curling, boxing, cheese rolling, quidditch, and sepak takraw (to name just a few) are all sports. So "softball with a 16-inch diameter ball" really isn't so unbelievable of a concept that it should be obvious that it doesn't exist.

One of the things I like about Hacker News is that, when someone throws around a vague sports term, there's a massive discussion to just figure out the heck they are talking about.

Reminds me about this thread about goats: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32191140

i'm not going to get on a soapbox if i can't understand a caber toss, curling, cheese rolling, qudditch or sepak takraw headline, and but i will climb that tallest soapbox in the middle of three and complain if headlines are all so unwieldy that i can glean all the info i don't know about every sport

also, a "16-in circumference softball" article still wouldn't even be allowed into the EU as it's not metric.

a softball with a 16-inch diameter ball would really be unbelievable. A basketball is less than 10 inches, so imagine something ~2x the size of a basketball being swung at with a bat.

Yeah, that's why we clicked on the link.

A softball like 10% bigger isn't that interesting.

if that was the only difference. the fact the ball is designed to get softer the longer it is played makes it so hits at the start of a game are different than at the end. fielders would learn this and change tactics based on that. normally, when the ball goes flat during a game, it is replaced. that in and of itself made it interesting to me as a standout feature.

I played kickball as a kid; as a clumsy nerd it was a lot more fun.

I don't remember ever using a bat with a kickball, other than for laughs. It would work, though.

I would agree with "should be obvious" if this was a sports news website :D. Sorry, sometimes us nerds need more context or a title will seem misleading / clickbait-y.

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