Summer means cabbage ball (say whaaat?)

Growing up in New Orleans meant cabbage ball during spring. It was not until I went away to college that I realized this was a New Orleans tradition, primarily played in Catholic schools, which usually had fenced-in playgrounds.

Cabbage ball is, yes, the size of a cabbage – and soft and padded. Often a substitute for softball, which needs a mitt, cabbage ball was popular among girls and later in mixed leagues with the caveat that boys had to bat opposite handed to level the playing field.

Was cabbage ball a premonition of what was to come for us girls?

– Betsie Gambel, Gambel Communications