Internet Resources
- Before a League of Their OwnEmotional opening of Women in Baseball exhibit generated a hit film.
- League of Women BallplayersThe history of women playing the game of baseball dates back to at least the 1860s, when Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. fielded a team. Some 80 years later, arguably the first formal women’s professional baseball league, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, first took the field.
- Women's National Team: USA BaseballOfficial women's national team site for USA Baseball.
Streaming Media
- Baseball GirlsForget everything you thought you knew about America’s favorite pastime—the popular sport of baseball. From the early days of the Bloomer Girls to today’s Colorado Silver Bullets, the classic film Baseball Girls features something new and different about women who love the sport. This interesting documentary focuses on various fans of the game, including 7-year-olds learning the rules and skills as well as 50-year-olds hitting home runs and 60-year-olds playing slo-pitch softball. Animation, archival stills, and live-action footage are all featured in this zany and affectionate film to detail the history of women’s participation in the largely male-dominated world of baseball and softball. It is the winner of the Documentary Film Award in the Athens International Film and Video Festival as well as the “Targa Citta” Di Palermo at the Palermo International Sport Film Festival.
- Hardball: The Girls of SummerHARDBALL: THE GIRLS OF SUMMER follows the top female baseball players in the USA, all members of the globally ranked US Women’s National Baseball Team. They play BASEBALL - not softball - and fight for equality, recognition, and acceptance in a sport that continues to exclude women and girls.
- The Role of Women in Baseball's Early DaysFirst, examine the role of women in baseball as spectators whose presence was expected to prevent coarse behavior by male fans. Then, explore how colleges like Vassar allowed a select number of 19th-century women to play baseball without scorn. Finally, consider the changes that the “new woman” brought, both in the stands and on the field.
Per
Breaking into Baseball
While baseball is traditionally perceived as a game to be played, enjoyed, and reported from a masculine perspective, it has long been beloved among women--more so than any other spectator sport. Breaking into Baseball: Women and the National Pastime upends baseball's accepted history to at last reveal just how involved women are, and have always been, in the American game. Through provocative interviews and deft research, Jean Hastings Ardell devotes a detailed chapter to each of the seven ways women participate in the game--from the stands as fans, on the field as professionals or as amateur players, behind the plate as umpires, in the front office as executives, in the press box as sportswriters and reporters, or in the shadows as Baseball Annies. From these revelatory vantage points, Ardell invites overdue appreciation for the affinity and talent women bring to baseball at all levels and shows us our national game anew. From its ancient origins in spring fertility rituals through contemporary marketing efforts geared toward an ever-increasing female fan base, baseball has always had a feminine side, and generations of women have sought--and been sought after--to participate in the sport, even when doing so meant challenging the cultural mores of their era. In that regard, women have been breaking into baseball from the very beginning. But recent decades have witnessed great strides in legitimizing women's roles on the diamond as players and umpires as well as in vital management and media roles. In her thoughtfully organized and engagingly written survey, Ardell offers a chance for sports enthusiasts and historians of both genders to better appreciate the storied and complex relationship women have so long shared with the game and to glimpse the future of women in baseball. Breaking into Baseball is augmented by twenty-four illustrations and a foreword from Ila Borders, the first woman to play more than three seasons of men's professional baseball.
Mighty Jackie
An ALA Notable Children's Book An ILA Teachers' Choice A Read Aloud/Comstock Honor Book An ALA Amelia Bloomer Project Book For as long as she could remember, Jackie Mitchell's father had told Jackie she could be good at whatever she wanted, as long as she worked at it. Jackie worked at baseball. She worked hard. And before long Jackie could outplay anyone in her neighborhood--even the boys. She had one pitch--a wicked, dropping curve ball. But no seventeen-year-old girl could pitch against Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. It was unthinkable. Then on April 2, 1931, the New York Yankees stopped in Tennessee for an exhibition game against the Chattanooga Lookouts. And on that day Jackie Mitchell made baseball history. Marissa Moss tells a true story of determination and heroism, a gem of baseball history sure to inspire ballplayers of all ages. And C. F. Payne's vibrant, glorious illustrations make the golden age of baseball come alive. Other awards include: Bill Martin Jr. Picture Book Award Nominee (KS) Black Eyed Susan Book Award Master List (MD) Capitol Choices List (DC) Chickadee Award Nominee (ME) Child Magazine's Guide to Top Books, Videos and Software of the Year Delaware Diamonds Award Program Master List Garden State Children's Book Award Nominee (NJ) Kansas State Reading Circle List Starred Primary Title Monarch Award Master List (IL) South Carolina Book Award Nominee Virginia Young Readers List WA Children's Choice Picture Book Award Master List
No Girls in the Clubhouse
Even though teenaged girl Jackie Mitchell once struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, women are still striking out on the hardball diamond. This book builds on recently published histories of women as amateur and professional players, umpires, sports commentators and fans to analyze the cultural and historical contexts for excluding females from America's pastime. Drawing on anthropological and feminist perspectives, the book examines the ways that constructions of women's bodies and normative social roles have pushed them toward softball instead of baseball. Sportswriter accounts, Title IX sex-discrimination suits, and interviews with players explore the obstacles and the social isolation of females who join all-male baseball teams, while also discussing policies that inhibit the practice.
Encyclopedia of Women and Baseball
Women have been involved in baseball from the game's early days, in a wide range of capacities. This ambitious encyclopedia provides information on women players, managers, teams, leagues, and issues since the mid-19th century. Players are listed by maiden name with married name, when known, in parentheses. Information provided includes birth date, death date, team, dates of play, career statistics and brief biographical notes when available. Related entries are noted for easy cross-reference. Appendices include the rosters of the World War II era All American Girls Professional Baseball League teams; the standings and championships from the AAGPBL; and all women's baseball teams and players identified to date.
Dirt on Their Skirts
You had to be really, really good to play in the 1946 championship game between the Racine Belles and the Rockford Peaches. Sitting in the stands, Margaret thrills to every crack of the bat. Someday she hopes to join her heroes like Sophie "the Flash" Kurys and Betty "Moe" Trezza. As the ball hurtles toward the plate, Margaret can almost feel what it would be like to be in that batter's position, arms tensed, bat held high.As we see this historic game in the annals of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League through the eyes of a fictional young girl, Dirt on Their Skirts is a potent reminder that women athletes have inspired young fans throughout the twentieth century. Based on written accounts and on the memories of the players themselves, this exciting story is for all those sandlot sluggers whose hearts beat a little faster whenever they hear the words?"Play ball!"