An American doctor named Dr Fredericks started to teach softball to students at Stella Maris College in Gzira. As the activity grew in popularity, Dr Fredericks then moved to the Marsa Sports Complex and using borrowed equipment from the Verdala International School he converted to teaching baseball. His players consisted mainly of Canadian and US centizens living in Malta. After a short while, word started to spread and Maltese children, mostly returned from the USA, Canada and Australia started to join in. Patrick Pace, the founder of the Mustangs Baseball Club was one of these children. A visit in 1983 by representatives and coaches from the Federazione Italiana Baseball Softball to help promote the game helped tremendously in the development of the game. With their assistance, the Malta Baseball & Softball Association was formed. In 1983 the Association joined the Confederation of European Baseball and in 2010, it joined the European Softball Federation (ESF). The first championships were a series of games played late in 1988 between two teams, the Mohawks and the Blue Max. A third team was quickly established in Mellieha by Ray Bartolo, who fell in love with the game after a visit to Detroit. Baseball has continued to grow slowly ever since.
