Women in baseball
[5] The first girl to play on a boys varsity high school baseball team was Nellie Twardzik, on April 24, 1935.
In 2015, Jessica Mendoza was the first female analyst for a Major League Baseball game in the history of ESPN, and Margaret Donahue (1892–1978) was the first non-owner female front office executive in Major League Baseball, starting as a stenographer for the Chicago Cubs in 1919 before becoming the team's corporate secretary in 1926 and team vice president and executive secretary before she retired in 1958.
One of the most successful was the Boston Bloomer Girls baseball club; they took their name from the comfortable pants that some sports-minded young women had begun to wear instead of a long skirt.
[13] The Bloomer Girls toured the United States in 1897; the press referred to them as the "champion women's club of the world",[14] although this may have been marketing hyperbole, given that the team often seemed inexperienced and did not play very well.
One regular standout for the Bloomers was pitcher Maud Nelson, whose talents as a player were praised by reporters; but her teammates did not seem to have as much polish or skill as she did.
[15] As they gained more experience, they began to play with more confidence; while still regarded as a novelty, the club often drew large crowds of appreciative fans, many of whom came to see Maud Nelson and her curve ball.
[17] On July 5, 1898, Lizzie Arlington became the first woman to play for a professional men's baseball team when she pitched the ninth inning for the Reading Coal Heavers against the Allentown Peanuts.
Philadelphia's Betty Schenkel not only played baseball with the boys during high school, but she was said to be adept in other sports, including basketball, soccer, and cycling.
[5] The first girl to play on a boys varsity high school baseball team was Nellie Twardzik, on April 24, 1935.
[8] During World War II, over 500 baseball players, including super-stars like Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Joe DiMaggio, were drafted.
The owner of the Chicago Cubs, Philip K. Wrigley formed a committee to come up with ideas to keep baseball financially afloat during the war.
[30] In 2022, the television series A League of Their Own, co-created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson, was an adaptation of the 1992 movie with new characters and storylines, about the formation of a World War II-era women's professional baseball team.
[33][34] Due to a lawsuit brought on behalf of Maria Pepe by the National Organization for Women, in 1974 the New Jersey Superior Court decided that Little League Baseball must allow girls to play.
[35][36] In the final week of December 1974, President Gerald Ford signed into law a bill that opened Little League Baseball to girls.
[39] The Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro leagues were the first professional baseball team to hire a female player to a long-term contract that was not voided soon after.
[44] Starting in 1989 and continuing to date (July 2021), Janet Marie Smith oversaw multiple MLB stadium projects for the Baltimore Orioles, the Atlanta Braves, the Boston Red Sox, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
[64] She also threw BP to the Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Astros, and New York Mets.
[71][72] Whitmore pitched to Anna Kimbrell during a game in 2016, forming the first all-female battery since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.
[76][77] Slightly later in May she became the first woman to pitch in an Atlantic League game when she made her first pitching appearance for Staten Island; entering the game with the bases loaded and two outs, she retired Ryan Jackson, a former major leaguer, on a fly out to end the inning.
[81][82] In 2020, Marika Lyszczyk, a player from Canada, became the first woman to catch in a men's college baseball game, while playing for Rivier University.
[101][102] Also in 2024, the video game MLB: The Show enabled users to create and play as a female baseball player for the first time.
[105] That same year, CBS's Andrea Joyce became the first woman to co-host the network television coverage of the World Series.
[106] On July 2, 2015, Jenny Cavnar became the first woman to provide analysis for a series of National League games in the radio booth, filling in on KOA for the Colorado Rockies vs Arizona Diamondbacks.
[112] In 2021, an all-female broadcast crew called a Major League Baseball game for the first time; specifically, Sarah Langs Heidi Watney, Lauren Gardner, Melanie Newman and Alanna Rizzo, called a YouTube Game of the Week featuring the Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
[115] On August 26, 2024, Rylee Pay and Emma Tiedemann became the first pair of women to call a Boston Red Sox game.
[117] "Mandy", as she was called, grew up near a ballpark in her hometown of Hudson, South Dakota, where she was introduced to baseball by her brother Henry.
[128] In 1988 Pam Postema became the first female umpire to officiate a Major League Baseball spring training game, and the last until Ria Cortesio in 2007.
[129][130] Since 2000, Jane Forbes Clark has served as the chairwoman of the Board of Directors at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
[132] She, among other things, initiated a Ladies' Day promotion for Mondays, allowing women free entry to the park if accompanied by a man.
In October, Ng declined to exercise her option for the 2024 season, reportedly because she learned the team sought to hire a president of baseball operations, which would have left her second in command in her department.
